Kevin DeYoung's Blog, page 176

May Book Briefs

Andrew Ferguson. Crazy U: One Dad's Crash Course in Getting His Kid Into College (Simon & Schuster, 2011). A humorous and surprisingly informative look at the college admissions process. With a breezy style and a knack for turning a phrase, Ferguson explores the madness behind college rankings, the FAFSA application, and the great lengths parents will go to get their children into elite schools. In an act of heroic participatory journalism, Ferguson even retakes the SAT. This book is fun to read, and you'll learn a lot. Highly recommended for parents and teenagers alike.

[image error]Kevin Harney and Bob Bouwer. The U-Turn Church: New Direction for Health and Growth (Baker Books, 2011). Kevin and Bob are ordained pastors in the Reformed Church in America. They are also friends of mine. They have both pastored large evangelical churches in our denomination. Although I am not influenced by Willow Creek as they are and am more inclined to see a connection between message and methods than they might be, this is still a helpful book with a lot of passion for reaching the lost, for theological fidelity, for prayer, and for releasing churches from unnecessary traditionalism. Kevin and Bob are good leaders who love the Bible and the local church. Every pastor should find some cause for encouragement (and courage) in this book. Even if you don't agree with every example (and the authors probably wouldn't want you to), it's worth reading something from Reformed pastors who run in some different circles.

C. John Collins. Did Adam and Eve Really Exist? Who They Were and Why You Should Care (Crossway, 2011). With a cover story from Christianity Today on the same topic, this is a timely and needed book. Collins, a professor of Old Testament at Covenant Theological Seminary, is a scholar who writes with an eye to edifying the church. An expert in Hebrew linguistics and the intersection between faith and science, Collins is the right person to address this important topic. Although I didn't find the logical flow of the book very intuitive, Collins succeeds in presenting a strong case for the historicity of Adam and Eve. According to Collins, a historical Adam makes sense of the biblical storyline, the first chapters of Genesis, and the references to Adam in the rest of the Bible and in the literature of Second Temple Judaism. Believing in a historical Adam, Collins claims, also makes existential sense, historical sense, and (significantly) is not precluded by the changing findings of science. Personally, I find it hard to see how anyone can reasonably conclude that Jesus, Paul, and the biblical authors did not believe in the historicity of Adam and Eve. If you want to disbelieve in a historical Adam, you have to say the Bible got something wrong.

As much as I appreciated this book—its scholarship, its honesty, its pastoral touch–I have one caution. I was surprised to see Collins quickly dismiss (in one paragraph) the traditional view that Adam and Eve were the first members of the genus Homo (122). Although he believes Adam and Eve were historical persons and the result of "special creation," he seems very open to the idea (following Stott and Kidner) that Adam and Eve were created from existing hominids and somewhat open to some form of polygenesis (i.e., the original population size of the earth included more than just Adam and Eve). In the end, Collins leaves a number of important questions unanswered, which made an otherwise good book less satisfying.

A Summer of Sensuality or a Pattern of Purity?

[image error]Hey men–especially young single men–as you hang out on the beach this summer and fraternize with members of the opposite sex, consider that nonbelievers may be watching.

Recently, while rereading a book on gender differences, I came across this fascinating anecdote. A father of an attractive blonde at an Ivy League school was surprised by his daughter's conversion to Christianity. Just as interesting is the reason how this young woman first got exposed to the gospel. The dad explains:

Men were constantly asking her for sex. She noticed that the women in the Campus Crusade for Christ didn't get bothered as much. She began going to the meetings and became more religious.

Guys, will you be treating "younger women as sisters, in all purity" this summer? 1 Timothy 5:2 commands you to. And you never know, if you keep your conduct honorable, some scoffers may see your good deeds, be drawn to your fellowship, respond to the gospel, and glorify God on the day he visits us (1 Peter 2:12).

Don't flirt; someone might convert.

Kings of Judah: Rehoboam's Folly

2 Chronicles 10:1-12:16

And he did evil, for he did not set his heart to seek the Lord. (12:14)

Rehoboam was a foolish king. Solomon, his father, had treated the people harshly, putting on them a heavy yoke of heavy labor. All Rehoboam had to do was treat the people with a little kindness and they would follow him. That was the advice the new king got from the elders. But Rehoboam, young and indecisive (13:7), listened to his rabble-rousing group of young friends.  Instead of lightning the load, Rehoboam made things worse for the people. So the people made things worse for Rehoboam. They packed their bags and ditched their foolish king.

Foolish though he was, Rehoboam was not a total failure. He fortified cities and strengthened the kingdom. But when he became strong, he abandoned the Lord. How often does it happen that leaders lead best out of weakness and worst out of strength?

Rehoboam's life was a roller coaster. He would stumble, get humble, and grow strong, only to be humbled again. In the end, Rehoboam faltered because he did not set his heart on seeking the Lord. He did not consider worshiping God and obeying him to something worth working at. He did not hunger and thirst after righteousness, and so he left this world empty.

Obedience is Possible

I believe with all my heart that we can do nothing to merit eternal life. We are justified by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. God accepts and declares us righteous not because of our good deeds, but because of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We cannot earn God's favor. We depend entirely on his gospel grace

Full stop. Period. New paragraph.

We can also be obedient.

Not flawlessly. Not without continuing repentance. Not without facing temptation. Not without needing forgiveness. But we can be obedient.

Obedience is not a dirty word for the gospel-centered Christian. We are saved from the wrath of God by sovereign grace, and that sovereign grace saves us unto holiness. Our great God and Savior Jesus Christ has redeemed us from all lawlessness to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works (Titus 2:14).

More Spiritual than the Bible

Sometimes in a genuine effort to be honest about our persistent imperfections we make it sound like holiness, of any sort, is out of reach for the Christian. But this doesn't do justice to the way the Bible speaks about people like Zechariah and Elizabeth who "were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord" (Luke 1:6). Likewise, Jesus teaches that the wise person hears his words and does them (Matt. 7:24). There's no hint that this was only a hypothetical category. Quite the contrary, we are told to disciple the nations that they might obey everything Jesus commanded (Matt. 28:19-20).

God expects the Christian to be marked by virtues like love, joy, and peace (Gal. 5:22-23) instead of being known for sexual immorality, idolatry, theft, and greed (1 Cor. 6:9-11). No Christian will ever be free from indwelling sin, but we should no longer be trapped in habitual lawlessness (1 John 3:4). "By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother" (1 John 3:10).

Filthy Rags?

That's true, you may say, but in the end all our righteous deeds are nothing but filthy rags. There's nothing we work we can do that truly pleases God or can be considered righteous in his sight. I've probably explained Isaiah 64:6 with similar words, but I don't think it's quite right. The "righteous deeds" Isaiah has in mind are most likely perfunctory rituals offered by Israel without sincere faith and without wholehearted obedience. In Isaiah 65:1-7 the Lord rejects Israel's sinful sacrifices. There is nothing really righteous about these deeds. They are an insult to the Lord, smoke in his nostrils, just like the ritual "obedience" of Isaiah 58 that did not impress the Lord because his people were oppressing the poor. All that to say, we should not think every kind of "righteous deed" is like a filthy rag before God. In fact, Isaiah 64:5 says "You meet him who joyfully works righteousness, those who remember you in your ways." It is not impossible for God's people to commit righteous acts that please God.

John Piper explains:

Sometimes people are careless and speak disparagingly of all human righteousness, as if there were no such thing that pleased God. They often cited Isaiah 64:6 which says our righteousness is as filthy rags. It is true–gloriously true–that none of God's people, before or after the cross, would be accepted by an immaculately holy God if the prefect righteousness of Christ were not imputed to us (Romans 5:19; 1 Cor. 1:30; 2 Corinthians 5:21). But that does not mean that God does not produce in those "justified" people (before and after the cross) an experiential righteousness that is not "filthy rags." In fact, he does; and this righteousness is precious to God and is required, not as the ground of our justification (which is the righteousness of Christ only), but as an evidence of our being truly justified children of God. (Future Grace, 151)

A Double Danger and a Triple Testimony

It is a dangerous thing to ignore the Bible's presumption, and expectation, that (a certain kind of ) righteousness is possible. On the one hand, some professing Christians may be deceived, thinking that personal holiness isn't really necessary and therefore it doesn't matter how they (or anyone else) lives. On the other hand, some Christians may be too reticent to recognize that they actually do good things. We can think it's a mark of spiritual sensitivity to consider everything we do as morally suspect. But this is not the way the Bible thinks about righteousness. As Piper puts is, "our Father in heaven is not impossible to please. In fact, like every person with a very big heart and very high standards, he is easy to please and hard to satisfy" (152)

There is no righteousness that makes us right with God except for the righteousness of Christ. But for those who have been made right with God through faith alone, many of our righteous deeds are not only not filthy in God's eyes, they are exceedingly sweet.

Obedience is possible, prescribed, and precious.

Monday Morning Humor

An impressive skill. He could really make the special music number in your church feel special.

HT: Greg Gilbert

Speaking of Parenting…

A good definition from Andrew Ferguson:

You fulfill yourself by denying yourself, preparing the people you can't live without to live without you (Crazy U).

Yup, pretty much.

On the flip side, here's an example of how not to parent:

Pray for Matt Hill

Matt Hill is on staff with Campus Outreach, working out of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in D.C. (where Mark Dever serves as pastor). He has been missing since Tuesday. It's a strange and sad situation. Pray for Matt, his family, and our brothers and sisters with CO and CHBC.

A couple brief articles from: Fox DC and NBC Washington.

Glory of God: The Weight of Glory

Revelation 14:6-7

And he said with a loud voice, "Fear God and give him glory…" (v. 7)

Starting next week, we'll look at fourteen specific examples of how we can glorify God in all of life. But first we need to ask more generally, what do "glory" and "glorify" mean? Kabod is the Hebrew word for glory; it literally means "weight." The glory of God is the weight of all that God is, the fullness of his understanding, virtue, and happiness, as Jonathan Edwards put it.

We glorify God when we throw a spotlight on how great God is. To glorify God is to make much of him–as a mother makes much of her daughter when she fusses and frets over her. To glorify God is to magnify the greatness of his character–not as a microscope magnifies by making small objects look large, but as a telescope magnifies by giving us a glimpse of things that are unimaginably big. To glorify God is to honor his worth–just as I honor my wife by taking her out on an anniversary date when I could be watching the Chicago Bears, demonstrating that she is more valuable and desirable than football.

God's perfect love, power, wisdom, sovereignty, and grace make him glorious. Pointing others to the majesty of God and being satisfied with the worth and weight of this majesty make us God-glorifiers.

Thinking Theologically About Memorial Day

This is post probably has something to make everyone unhappy. But here goes.

With Memorial Day on Monday (in the U.S.) and, no doubt, a number of patriotic services scheduled for this Sunday, I want to offer a few theses on patriotism and the church. Each of these points could be substantially expanded and beg more detailed defense and explanation, but since this is a blog and not a term paper, I'll try to keep this under 1500 words.



1. Being a Christian does not remove ethnic and national identities.

In Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, male nor female, slave nor free (Gal. 3:28), but this does not mean men cease to be male or Jews ceases to be Jewish. The worshiping throng gathered around the throne is not a bland mess of Esperanto Christians in matching khaki pants and white polos. God makes us one in Christ, but that oneness does not mean we can no longer recognize tribes, tongues, nations, and peoples in heaven. If you don't have to renounce being an American in heaven, you shouldn't have to pretend you aren't one now.

2. Patriotism, like other earthly "prides," can be a virtue or vice.

Most people love their families. Many people love their schools, their home, and their sports teams. All of these loves can be appropriate. In making us for himself, God did mean to eradicate all other loves. Instead he wants those loves to be purer and in right proportion to our ultimate Love. Adam and Eve should have loved the Garden. God didn't intend for them to be so "spiritual" that they were blind to the goodness around them. In the same way, where there is good in our country or family it is right to have affection and display affection for those good things.

Of course, we can turn patriotism into an idol, just like family can be an idol. But being proud of your country (or proud to be an American or a Canadian or a Russian or whatever) is not inherently worse than being proud of your kids or proud to be a Smith or a Jones or a Dostoevsky. I find it strange that while it is fashionable to love your city, be proud of your city, and talk about transforming your city, it is, for some of the same people, quite gauche to love your country, be proud of your country, and talk about transforming your country.

3. Allegiance to God and allegiance to your country are not inherently incompatible.

Sometimes Christians talk like you should have no loyalty for your country, as if love for your country was always a bad thing. To be sure, this must never be ultimate loyalty. We must always obey God rather than men. But most Christians have understood the fifth commandment to be about honoring not only your parents but all those in authority over you.

Moreover, Jesus shows its possible to honor God and honor Caesar. This is especially clear if you know some of the Jewish history. The tax in question in Mark 12 is about the poll tax or census tax. It was first instituted in AD 6, not too many years before Jesus' ministry. When it was established a man by the name of Judas of Galilee led a revolt. According to Josephus, "He called his fellow countrymen cowards for being willing to pay tribute to the Romans and for putting up with mortal masters in place of God." Like the Zealots, he believed allegiance to God and allegiance to any earthly government were fundamentally incompatible. As far as they were concerned if God was your king, you couldn't have an earthly king.

But Jesus completely disagreed. By telling the people to "render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's" he was saying there are duties to government that do not infringe on your ultimate duty to God. It's possible to honor lesser authorities in good conscience because they have been instituted by a greater authority.

If you read all that the New Testament says about governing authorities in places like Romans 13 and 1 Peter 2, you see that the normal situation is one of compatible loyalties. The church is not the state and the state is not God, but this does not mean the church must always be against the state. In general, then, it's possible to be a good Christian and a good American, or a good Ghanaian or a good Korean. Patriotism is not bad. Singing your national anthem and getting choked up is not bad. Allegiance to God and allegiance to your country do not have to be at odds.

4. God's people are not tied to any one nation.

When Jesus says "go ahead and give to Caesar what belongs to him" he is effectively saying, "you can support nations that do not formally worship the one true God." Or to put it a different way: true religion is not bound with only one country. This means–as we see in Revelation 7 and Isaiah 49 and Psalm 87 and Matthew 28 and Acts 1and a hundred other places–the Church will be transcultural and transnational.

While American churches are in America, they must never be only American churches. We must keep in mind (and when applicable, explicitly state) that our congregations are filled with brothers and sisters from all over the world. Likewise, we must work hard to help people see that Christianity is not just a Western religion or American religion. Christianity started in the Middle East and quickly spread to North Africa, and parts of Asia and Europe. The Church was always meant to be international. Today there are more Anglicans in church in Nigeria than in England, more Presbyterians in South Korea than in the United States. The promise to Abraham way back in Genesis is that through his family God would bless the whole world. Christianity is not tied to just one certain nation. Following Christ is not an ethnic thing. You can be from any country and worship Jesus.

5. All this leads to one final point: while patriotism can be good, the church is not a good place for patriotism.

We should pray for service men and women in our congregations. We should pray for the President. We should pray for the just cause to triumph over the evil one. We are not moral relativists. We do not believe just because all people are sinners and all nations are sinful that no person or no nation can be more righteous or more wicked than another. God may be on America's side in some (not all) her endeavors.

But please think twice before putting on a Star Spangled gala in church this Sunday. I love to hear the national anthem and "God Bless America" and "My Country, Tis of Thee," but not in church where the nations gather to worship the King of all peoples. I love to see the presentation of colors and salute our veterans, but these would be better at the Memorial Day parade or during a time of remembrance at the cemetery. Earthly worship should reflect the on-going worship in heaven. And while there are many Americans singing glorious songs to Jesus there, they are not singing songs about the glories of America. We must hold to the traditions of the Apostles in our worship, not the traditions of American history. The church should not ask of her people what is not required in Scripture. So how can we ask the Koreans and Chinese and Mexicans and South Africans in our churches to pledge allegiance to a flag that is not theirs? Are we gathered under the banner of Christ or another banner? Is the church of Jesus Christ–our Jewish Lord and Savior–for those draped in the red, white, and blue or for those washed in the blood of the Lamb?

In some parts of the church, every hint of patriotism makes you a jingoistic idolater. You are allowed to love every country except your own. But in other parts of the church, true religion blends too comfortably into civil religion. You are allowed to worship in our services as long as you love America as much as we do. I don't claim to have arrived at the golden mean, but I imagine many churches could stand to think more carefully about their theology of God and country. Churches should be glad to have their members celebrate Memorial Day with gusto this Monday. We should be less sanguine about celebrating it with pomp and circumstance on Sunday.

Kings of Judah: A House Divided

2 Chronicles 10:16-17

"Each of you to your tents, O Israel! Look now to your own house, David." (v. 16)

2 Chronicles was written for a confused people.  Abraham was called by God and promised the land of Canaan around 2000 B.C.  Over 500 years later, Moses led the children of Israel out of slavery in Egypt.  Then Joshua conquered (most of) the promised land.  Following Joshua, the Judges ruled, until about 1050, at which time Israel asked for a king (much to God's chagrin).  First came Saul (1051-1011).  Then the Messianic prototype, David (1011-971).  And finally Solomon (971-931).  These were the three kings of the United Monarchy.

But the unity did not last.  Israel, in the north, followed Jeroboam, while Judah, in the south, followed Rehoboam.  Beginning with Rehoboam and going up to the Babylonian captivity, we will take the next fifteen weeks to look at the kings of Judah through the eyes of the chronicler.

2 Chronicles was written after the exile and addressed two questions the post-exile community was asking.  (1) "How did we lose the Lord's favor?"  And (2) "How do we get it back?"  Looking at the Judah's kings answers both questions.  Judah lost the Lord's favor because they disregarded God's law.  They can get it back by humble repentance and obedience.  These were the lessons for the returning exiles and for us.