Kevin DeYoung's Blog, page 138

Theological Primer: The Attributes of Scripture

Today, I’m starting a new intermittent blog series. I can’t tell you when the next installment will be or how many I’ll do, but given the subject matter there could be dozens (if the series seems to meet a need). I want to look at different areas of systematic theology and write a short primer on a given topic in under 500 words. We’ll start with the attributes of Scripture. My 500 words are on the clock…now.

Historically, Protestant theologians have highlighted four defining attributes of Scripture: necessity, sufficiency, clarity, and authority. Each of these attributes is meant to protect the truth about the Bible and safeguard against common errors.

The doctrine of Scripture’s necessity reminds us that we need God’s word to tell us how to live and how to be saved (1 Cor. 2:6-13). General revelation is not adequate. Personal experience and human reason cannot show us the gospel. We need God’s gracious self-disclosure if we are to worship rightly, believe in Christ, and live for ever in heaven.

The doctrine of Scripture’s sufficiency reminds us that God’s word tells us all we need to know for life and godliness in Christ Jesus (2 Tim. 3:14-17). We don’t need new revelations. We don’t need dreams or vision. We don’t need a council of prophets or a quorum of apostles to present to us new information about Jesus Christ and the gospel. Scripture doesn’t tell us everything we might want to know. But it tells us everything we truly need to know.

The doctrine of Scripture’s clarity (or perspicuity) reminds us that the saving message of God’s redemption can be understood by all who care to hear it (Deut. 30:11-14). This does not mean every passage in the Bible is obvious or that we should shun proper training in all the biblical disciplines. But when it comes to the central tenets of Scripture, we can discern God’s word for ourselves, apart from official church interpretation. There is a meaning in the text and God knows how to communicate it to us.

The doctrine of Scripture’s authority remind us that God’s word stands above all earthly powers (Psalm 138:2). On every matter in which the Bible means to speak, the last word goes to Scripture, not to councils or to catechisms or to science or to human experience, but to the word of God. We all have someone or something that we turn to as the arbiter of truth claims. For Christians, in the final analysis, this authority must be, and can only be, the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments.

These evangelical attributes are an easy and important way to remember all that Scripture is for us and to us: necessity, sufficiency, clarity, and authority. Or to put the list into four sentences:

God’s word is needed.

God’s word is enough.

God’s word is understandable

God’s word is final.

Five Reasons to Love Church-Based Counseling

We are extremely blessed to have a full-time biblical counselor on staff at our church. Pat Quinn is just what a counselor should be–wise, knowledgeable, patient, caring, and focused on the gospel. I’m grateful for all the hard, glorious, messy work he does.

Over at the Biblical Counseling Coalition blog, Pat has written a nice piece on why he loves church-based counseling. It’s worth reading. I like his first point in particular because I hadn’t really thought about it before.

First of all, no one has to pay me anything! I’m so thankful that the church pays my salary so I can counsel for free. Congregants appreciate it too. It feels more in line with gospel ministry (“freely you have received; freely give”) and I think it promotes a less “professional” and more pastoral relationship.

I’ve often wondered in “pay for service” counseling how anyone knows whether the counselee got her money’s worth at a particular counseling session. How much do insights, practical suggestions, or encouragements cost? Some days I might feel the need to give them a refund! I’m also glad I don’t feel pressure to meet only for one hour or for only a certain number of weeks, etc. I like the flexibility to meet longer or shorter, depending on what’s happening and what the needs are.

Read the whole thing.

Exchanging Fear for Fear

Why is the fear of the Lord the beginning of wisdom? Because the end of folly is the love of the praise of men. Or to say the same thing in a different way: there is no sin so prevalent, so insidious, and so deep as the sin of fearing people more than we fear God.

Think of Saul, that tall Benjaminite who became the first king of Israel. His downfall was the result of misplaced fear. As he explained to Samuel after the whole business with the bleating sheep, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice” (1 Sam. 15:24). Here’s this powerful, impressive looking king worried about what people think of him. And it’s not his enemies the Amalekites he’s worried about. Except for Agag, they were all dead. Saul wasn’t afraid of his enemies; he was scared of his friends—afraid that they would desert him, afraid they would revolt, afraid he would he be an unpopular King.  Saul was a head taller with more authority than anyone in the kingdom and yet he disobeyed a clear command from God because he feared people. He was the Lord’s cautionary tale for Proverbs 29:25 (“The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe”) and a preview of Christ’s indictment in John 12:42-43 (“but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God”). Saul is but one of many sad examples of those who counted it more precious to be acceptable and palatable and influential in the eyes of their peers, than to be honored and affirmed and found faithful in the sight of God.

It’s easy to see how foolish Saul was, but each one of us struggles with the same fear of man and love of the praise of man.

Do you struggle with peer pressure?  Do you give in to things against your will just to go along with the crowd?  That’s the fear of man.  And it doesn’t get any easier when you get older.  Adults just find more creative ways to mask it and more socially acceptable ways to channel it.  We don’t set things on fire as much.  But we still feel peer pressure when gossip starts, or a raunchy movie is on, or bad mouthing someone begins.


Are you over-committed?  Is it impossible for you to say no? Could be a sign that you love to be loved by others.


Are you a people-pleaser?  I hate to say this all of the very nice people out there, but if everyone likes you all the time, then it might be that you aren’t really the most kindhearted person in the world, but you simply know what people expect and how to please them. Unrelenting niceness can be man-centered.


Are your relationships more about being loved and seeming lovely than actually loving others?  Many times our fear of offending and fear of confronting are less about our great love for the person and more about our desire to feel loved.


Do you have low self-esteem?  It may seem counter intuitive, but self-esteem issues are usually rooted in pride. You reverence the opinions of others.  You use them to build up your identity and sense of well-being.


Are you easily crushed by criticism?  No one likes to be criticized, but be careful that you aren’t putting your identity in other people’s opinions and so that’s why criticism devastates you. People pleasing is why many of us “can’t forgive ourselves.”


Do you feel trapped by people’s praise, because you can never live up to their expectations?  I know in my own life I am much more likely to be swayed by the people who think I’m great than by the people who think I’m a jerk.  Being criticized is a burden, but the weight of people’s praise can feel even heavier.


Are you always second-guessing yourself, worrying what people think about your decisions? You may be naturally timid. Or you may be loathe to disappoint others or be thought foolish.


Do you get embarrassed often?  We all do silly things and it’s healthy to laugh at ourselves, but if you are constantly embarrassed by little things you do or your family does, then it may be that you are ruled by other people’s opinions.


Do you tell little white lies to make yourself look better?  It’s all to easy to save face or gain credibility by telling l little lies about how much you pray, what you weigh, when you wake up, where you’ve been, or what you’ve read.


Do you avoid people for fear of their rejection? There is something not right in your heart if you are constantly suspicious that others don’t like you and must be thinking ill of you.


Are you obsessed with your body?  Paul says physical training is of some value.  It’s good to want to take care of our bodies.  But the fear of man turns a healthy self-care into an obsession with our shape, color, and size.


And if all these questions have missed the mark, then consider: When you compare yourself with other people, does that make you feel good?  Perhaps the most dangerous form of the fear of man is the successful fear of man.  Some people are quite confident, but only because everyone has almost always been keen on them. We don’t feel like a life built on the praise of man—until it’s gone.

At this point you are thinking “Great.  Thanks Kevin.  That was really discouraging.  I’ve always felt bad about myself and now I feel even worse.  I had no idea so much of my personality and idiosyncracies were mixed up in sin.”  But cheer up, if our problem is sin and not personality, at least we know we can be forgiven and God wants to help us change.

And how do we change? Well, the biblical remedy is not easy, but it is simple.

First, we must fear God. This is the famous conclusion at the end of Ecclesiastes. After going through all the world’s options and declaring them vanity, a chasing after the wind (all of them, sex, money, power, pleasure, work), the Teacher gives his final verdict: fear God and keep his commandments (Eccl. 12:13).  It’s that simple. And that challenging. Care more about what God thinks than about what people think.

Second, we must pay more attention to God and less attention to people. The Pharisees in Matthew 22 were trying to trick Jesus, but they still managed to say something true: “Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone’s opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances” (Matt. 22:16). Jesus was a man of integrity. He was honest, forthright, and not blown over by public opinion. But how did he do it? Did he rely on super powers? Did he call down angels? Did he resort to miracles? How did Jesus maintain his integrity? Well, in part, it was simply what the Pharisees recognized about him—he didn’t care about anyone’s opinion.” Obviously, Jesus was never rude or thoughtless. He had compassion on people and listened to children and the brokenhearted. But when it came to living a life in obedience to God, he knew better than to rely on the opinions of men.

We will never overcome our fear of man until we see-as Ed Welch would say-that people are small and God is big. Human beings are a paradox.  We should be honored and respected as image-bearers and the crown of God’s good creation.  And yet, we’re worms too.  Instead of the slogan “I’m ok, you’re ok” we’d be better saying, “I’m dust, you’re dust.”

This is a faith issue which takes a lot of fight. We will not fear God more than people unless we know the truth about God and people. Do you believe that pleasing God is more important and more satisfying than pleasing people?  Do you believe that God is the only one to whom you will give account at the end of the age?  Do you  believe that God has forgiven all your sins at the cost of his Son’s blood, that Jesus needs none of your self-abuse to make him suffer enough and none of your feelings of perpetual misery to make him loving enough?  Do you believe that fearing God, keeping his commandments, and living to hear him say “well done, good and faithful servant” is the most freeing life you can live? Do you believe that God is God and no one else is? Do you believe that is God ain’t happy, it don’t matter who likes you, your political positions, or your Ph.D.? And that if God is pleased with you, there ain’t a hell on earth or a hell to come that can take his smile away from you? Will you and I, with all our worry and pride and self-righteousness, have faith enough to exchange our fear for fear?

Monday Morning Humor

The Necessity of Good Works and Sanctification

Francis Turretin (1623-87) on the necessity of good works as they relate to justification:

Although we acknowledge the necessity of good works against the Epicureans, we do not on this account confound the law and the gospel and interfere with gratuitous justification by faith alone. Good works are required not for living according to the law, but because we live by the gospel; not as the causes on account of which life is given to us, but as effects which testify that life has been given to us. (Institutes of Elenctic Theology, 2.705)

And here is Turretin on the necessity of good works as they relate to our final glorification:

For since good works have the relation of the means to the end (Jn. 3:5, 16; Mt. 5:8); of the “way” to the goal (Eph. 2:10, Phil. 3:14); of the “sowing” to the harvest (Gal. 6:7, 8); of the “firstfruits” to the mass (Rom. 8:23); of labor to the reward (Mt. 20:1); of the “contest” to the crown (2 Tim. 2:5; 4:8), everyone sees that there is the highest and an indispensable necessity of good works for obtaining glory. It is so great that it cannot be reached without them (Heb. 12:14; Rev. 21:27). (2.705)

So to summarize: good works are the effect of justification (not the cause) and the means to the end of glorification. And for the record, when Turretin speaks of “good works” he means that which is (1) done from faith, (2) according to the will of God in Scripture, (3) from the heart), and (4) for the glory of God (2.706).

An Email Charter for the World’s Sanity

[image error]A few months ago I notice that a friend was linking to this email charter at the end of his messages. I ignored it several times, but eventually was curious enough to open the link and see what this was about. Perhaps this charter is already familiar to you, but I hadn’t seen it before. I found it eminently sensible. I’m still thinking about how to implement some of the good advice.

Take a few minutes to read the “10 Rules to Reverse the Email Spiral” for yourself. I’ll intersperse a few comments along the way in italics.

1. Respect Recipients’ Time

This is the fundamental rule. As the message sender, the onus is on YOU to minimize the time your email will take to process. Even if it means taking more time at your end before sending.

Good word. Let’s think about who needs this email and what we are asking from them, if anything. And let’s not ask too much. Pick up the phone if you want to converse at length.

2. Short or Slow is not Rude

Let’s mutually agree to cut each other some slack. Given the email load we’re all facing, it’s OK if replies take a while coming and if they don’t give detailed responses to all your questions. No one wants to come over as brusque, so please don’t take it personally. We just want our lives back!

Since we can respond immediately, we start to expect responses immediately. I find myself thinking, “It’s been two hours, what’s the deal?” Allow for hours or even days before a response. And let’s be okay with terse emails that don’t involve a lot of “how are things” and “I hope you are doing swell.” Email is a different medium than letter writing.

3. Celebrate Clarity

Start with a subject line that clearly labels the topic, and maybe includes a status category [Info], [Action], [Time Sens] [Low Priority]. Use crisp, muddle-free sentences. If the email has to be longer than five sentences, make sure the first provides the basic reason for writing. Avoid strange fonts and colors.

Yes. One bold or italicized line makes a point, but several different fonts with multiple colors and extraneous underlining and exclamation points makes it harder, not easier, to get the big idea.

4. Quash Open-Ended Questions

It is asking a lot to send someone an email with four long paragraphs of turgid text followed by “Thoughts?”. Even well-intended-but-open questions like “How can I help?” may not be that helpful. Email generosity requires simplifying, easy-to-answer questions. “Can I help best by a) calling b) visiting or c) staying right out of it?!”

Multiple choice is a great idea. Or again, pick up the phone.

5. Slash Surplus cc’s

cc’s are like mating bunnies. For every recipient you add, you are dramatically multiplying total response time. Not to be done lightly! When there are multiple recipients, please don’t default to ‘Reply All’. Maybe you only need to cc a couple of people on the original thread. Or none.

Don’t keep people in the know unless they want to know or truly need to know.

6. Tighten the Thread

Some emails depend for their meaning on context. Which means it’s usually right to include the thread being responded to. But it’s rare that a thread should extend to more than 3 emails. Before sending, cut what’s not relevant. Or consider making a phone call instead.

And please try to adjust your settings so that your reply comes at the beginning of the email instead of at the end of the whole thread. That’s a lot of scrolling to get your “You betcha.”

7. Attack Attachments

Don’t use graphics files as logos or signatures that appear as attachments. Time is wasted trying to see if there’s something to open. Even worse is sending text as an attachment when it could have been included in the body of the email.

Indeed, this has confused me before.

8. Give these Gifts: EOM NNTR

If your email message can be expressed in half a dozen words, just put it in the subject line, followed by EOM (= End of Message). This saves the recipient having to actually open the message. Ending a note with “No need to respond” or NNTR, is a wonderful act of generosity. Many acronyms confuse as much as help, but these two are golden and deserve wide adoption.

Like the goal, but not sure my life needs more acronyms. But I do appreciate “no need to respond.”

9. Cut Contentless Responses

You don’t need to reply to every email, especially not those that are themselves clear responses. An email saying “Thanks for your note. I’m in.” does not need you to reply “Great.” That just cost someone another 30 seconds.

Some of us find this harder than others. I feel like I should reply to someone’s reply, even if it is three words. But things would be simpler if we let clear responses have the last word.

10. Disconnect!

If we all agreed to spend less time doing email, we’d all get less email! Consider calendaring half-days at work where you can’t go online. Or a commitment to email-free weekends. Or an ‘auto-response’ that references this charter. And don’t forget to smell the roses.

I heard this great idea years ago. Still don’t do. The spirit is willing but the mobile device is too convenient.

Final thought: just because you can email someone doesn’t mean they must email you back. Please respect people’s time and privacy, especially if they don’t know you. We are all more accessible than ever before. It’s not possible to respond to all (or most? or many?) of the strangers or long lost acquaintances that find a way to get a hold of us.

 

A Blast from the Past on Preaching

Every Presbyterian knows and respects the Westminster Confession and Catechisms. Most of the young, restless, reformed crowd know and respect them too (though to a lesser degree I imagine). But I wonder how many Presbyterians, let alone evangelical Calvinists, have spent much time with the Westminster Directory of Public Worship. There’s a lot of gold in them there hills.

To cite but one example from one section, consider what the Directory says about preaching doctrine from a text of Scripture:

In raising doctrines from the text, his care ought to be, First, That the matter be the truth of God. Secondly, That it be a truth contained in or grounded on that text, that the hearers may discern how God teacheth it from thence. Thirdly, That he chiefly insist upon those doctrines which are principally intended, and make most for the edification of the hearers.

These are wise words. It isn’t enough that we preach what is true. That’s certainly better than preaching what is false. But good preaching should be more careful and more arresting. We must also press home true doctrine for the edification of our hearers. Personal, passionate, pleading is what John Murray called it.

Just as importantly, we ought to preach what is true in the text we are considering and show our people where that truth is in that text. It is eminently true and edifying to remind our people of justification by faith or the inerrancy of Scripture or the exceeding sinfulness of sin, but we teach our people to read the Bible loosely when we consistently preach the right thing from the wrong texts. Preachers and teachers must stick closely to the text so that people can see the doctrine we are presenting is manifestly found in this text, and not just in our hearts, in our systematic theologies, or in our estimation of what would be best for people to hear.

The Church and Homosexuality: Ten Commitments

Of the many complexities involving the church and homosexuality, one of the most difficult is how the former should speak of the latter. Even for those Christians who agree that homosexuality is contrary to the will of God there is little agreement on how we ought to speak about homosexuality being contrary to the will of God. Much of this disagreement is owing to the fact that there are many different constituencies we have in mind when broaching the subject. There are various groups that may be listening when we speak about homosexuality, and the group we think we are addressing usually dictates how we speak.

If we are speaking to cultural elites who despise us and our beliefs, we want to be bold and courageous.
If we are speaking to strugglers who fight against same sex attraction, we want to be patient and sympathetic.
If we are speaking to sufferers who have been mistreated by the church, we want to be apologetic and humble.
If we are speaking to shaky Christians who seem ready to compromise the faith for society’s approval, we want to be persuasive and persistent.
If we are speaking to liberal Christians who have deviated from the truth once delivered for the saints, we want to be serious and hortatory.
If we are speaking to gays and lesbians who live as the Scriptures would not have them live, we want to be winsome and straightforward.
If we are speaking to beligerent Christians who hate or fear homosexuals, we want to be upset and disappointed.

So how ought we to speak about homosexuality? Should we be defiant and defensive or gentle and entreating? Yes and yes. It depends on who is listening. All seven scenarios above are real and not uncommon. And while some Christians may be called to speak to one group in particular, we must keep in mind that in this technological day and age anyone from any group may be listening in. This means that we will often be misunderstood. It also means we should make some broad basic commitments to each other and to our friends and foes in speaking about homosexuality.

Here are ten commitments I hope Christians and churches will consider making in their heads and hearts, before God and before a watching world.

1. We will preach through the Bible consecutively and expositionally that we might teach the whole counsel of God (even the unpopular parts) and to avoid riding hobby horses (even popular ones).

2. We will tell the truth about all sins, including homosexuality, but especially the sins most prevalent in our communities.

3. We will guard the truth of God’s word, protect God’s people from error, and confront the world when it tries to press us into its mold.

4. We will call all people to faith in Christ as the only way to the Father and the only way to have eternal life.

5. We will tell all people about the good news of the gospel, that Jesus died in our place and rose again so that we might be set free from the curse of the law and be saved from the wrath of God.

6. We will treat all Christians as new creations in Christ, reminding each other that our true identity is not based on sexuality or self-expression but on our union with Christ.

7. We will extend God’s forgiveness to all those who come in brokenhearted repentance, everyone from homosexual sinners to heterosexual sinners, from the proud to the greedy, from the people pleaser to the self-righteous.

8. We will ask for forgiveness when we are rude, thoughtless, or joke inappropriately about homosexuals.

9. We will strive to be a community that welcomes all those who hate their sin and struggle against it, even when that struggle involves failures and setbacks.

10. We will seek to love all  in our midst, regardless of their particular vices or virtues, by preaching the Bible, recognizing evidences of God’s grace, pointing out behaviors that dishonor the Lord, taking church membership seriously, exercising church discipline, announcing the free offer of the gospel, striving for holiness together, and exulting in Christ above all things.

Faith Enough to Ask

Faith is a humble confidence that Christ can do whatever he wills and will do whatever he promises. Which means that if we are people of faith we will ask Christ to do more than we dare to think possible.

Real faith is not self-righteous, arrogant, or presumptuous. But neither is it feeble and mealy-mouthed. We are never instructed to pray saying, “Dear Jesus, I’m sorry to bother you. You’re busy. You may not even be able to help. I’m not sure I have the right guy. You probably have more important people to attend to. But if you can, and if you don’t mind, and if you have a few moments, could you consider my problems?” Jesus loves gutsy faith much more than he loves safe faith. In fact, there is nothing Jesus likes more in the gospels than desperate people expressing their humble confidence that he can take care of anything. Just look at the woman with twelve year’s of bleeding, the Centurion with an ill servant, or the Canaanite lady with the sick girl. They all asked for much and Jesus praised them for it.

Obviously, there is a danger that we take these examples, isolate them from the rest of Scripture, and come away with a theology that says God will give us whatever we want, no matter what and no matter when. Such a theology flies in the face of Jesus’ experience in the garden, Paul’s experience with the thorn, and real life for everyone else.  We should not think that faith guarantees all our dreams coming true here on earth.

But if presumptive faith is a danger, so is puny faith. Some of us, when it comes to prayer, are all humility and no confidence. We’ve stopped asking Jesus for anything, because we’ve stopped believing that he really can and really cares. We get cautious. And unrelenting caution often masks over cynicism, and cynicism is a close cousin to unbelief. The hows and why of prayer can be a mystery at times, but if there is one thing we know about prayer for sure it’s that Christ wants us to pray. There is nothing he teaches more repetitively about prayer than simply “ask.” Jesus wants us to pray and not give up. He wants us to ask and keep asking. Christ loves to see bold, gutsy faith, what Ben Patterson calls “holy chutzpah.”

Have we lost all confidence in Christ? Do we only ask him for sure bets and safe things? Has our faith gotten so meek that it’s hardly even faith anymore? The men and women in the gospels most pleasing to Jesus are those who completely distrust their own piety and worthiness, but at the same time trust him to the uttermost.

Too often we ask for only small things. We except an even smaller response. True, God wants us to be a plodding people who do not neglect the days and years of small things. But God does not want us to be a people of small faith. We worship a Christ who can do miracles upon miracles. He healed the sick, cast out demons, walked on water, raised the dead. He can do whatever he pleasess. And it pleases him when we demonstrate our confidence in that ability by asking him to work on our behalf. For his glory, of course. In keeping with his will, always. Understanding that his ways are not our ways, absolutely. But asking often and with confidence. We do not have true faith unless we have true prayer. And we do not truly pray unless we ask for that which only God can do.

O Lord, we believe, help our unbelief.

Monday Morning Humor