Kevin DeYoung's Blog, page 189

Monday Morning Humor

Don't Call It A Comeback: TOC, Blurbs, Free Books

Table of Contents

Foreword (D. A. Carson)

Introduction: All Grown Up and Nothing to Say (Kevin DeYoung)

Part 1: Evangelical History: Looking Forward and Looking Back

1.  The Secret to Reaching the Next Generation (Kevin DeYoung)

2.  The Story of Evangelicalism from the Beginning and Before (Collin Hansen)

Part 2: Evangelical Theology: Thinking, Feeling, and Believing the Truths That Matter Most

3.  God: Not Like You (Jonathan Leeman)

4.  Scripture: How the Bible Is a Book Like No Other (Andy Naselli)

5.  The Gospel: God's Self-Substitution for Sinners (Greg Gilbert)

6.  New Birth: "You Must Be Born Again" (Ben Peays)

7.  Justification: Why the Lord Our Righteousness Is Better News Than the Lord Our Example (Jay Harvey)

8.  Sanctification: Being Authentically Messed Up Is Not Enough (Owen Strachan)

9.  Kingdom: Heaven after Earth, Heaven on Earth, or Something Else Entirely? (Russell Moore)

10.  Jesus Christ: The Only Way and Our Only Hope (Tim Challies)

Part 3: Evangelical Practice: Learning to Live Life God's Way

11.  It's Sometimes a Wonderful Life: Evangelicals and Vocation (Ted Kluck)

12.  Social Justice: What's God Got to Do, Got to Do with It (Darrin Patrick)

13.  Homosexuality: Grace, Truth, and the Need for Gentle Courage (Eric Redmond and Kevin DeYoung)

14.  Abortion: Why Silence and Inaction Are Not Options for Evangelicals (Justin Taylor)

15.  Gender Confusion and a Gospel-Shaped Counterculture (Denny Burk)

16.  The Local Church: Not Always Amazing, but Loved by Jesus (Thabiti Anyabwile)

17.  Worship: It's a Big Deal (Tullian Tchividjian)

18.  Missions: The Worship of Jesus and the Joy of All Peoples (David Mathis)

Endorsements

"I absolutely love this book! First, each chapter solidly tackles a critical component of our Evangelical faith and practice. Second, the authors demonstrate not only a strong grasp of God's Word, but also of the perspective of church history, which is sadly lacking in most contemporary books. Third, these guys write tight, making every sentence count, so even though it packed with truth, the book is a quick read.

In 1976, the Regular Baptists of Canada held their annual convention. D. A. Carson was asked to be the morning Bible teacher, and I was asked to be the Bible teacher for the evening sessions. Don was twenty-nine and I was twenty-two! Psalm 145:4 says, 'One generation shall commend your works to another,' so it is fitting that thirty-four years later we team up again to endorse this book by some young friends of ours. I am so proud of these brilliant, godly men, and after you've read their book, you'll understand why Don and I deeply believe in their ministries."

—Rick Warren, Pastor, Saddleback Church

"It brings this aging man great joy to see a rising generation address contemporary questions with theologically informed answers. These are the right guys, on the right topics, at the right time."

—C. J. Mahaney, Sovereign Grace Ministries

"Sometimes I wonder how I could have spent my entire life in the church, safely ensconced in the evangelical subculture, and yet have such a difficult time articulating the essence of significant biblical concepts and convictions that I claim to have built my life upon. And I don't think I'm alone. Don't Call It a Comeback is more than just a primer for the young and uninitiated; it is essential reading for all who want to make sure they are clear and convinced on the things that matter most."

—Nancy Guthrie, Bible Teacher; author, The One Year Book of Discovering Jesus in the Old Testament

Free Book

If you want to get registered for a free copy of Don't Call it a Comeback simply leave a comment on this post before 5pm ET.  To make the thread more interesting please mention in your comment one book (besides the Bible) that has been influential in teaching you the truths of the Christian faith. At the end of the day we'll pick 10 winners at random to receive a free book. If you don't get an email by 5pm on Tuesday, it means you didn't win. I look forward to hearing about your best books.

Make Way for Da Bears

Even the dead want to watch the Bears-Packers game this Sunday:

Charles S. Childs Jr. won't have to worry about his two Chicago funeral homes while he's watching the NFC championship game from his seats at Soldier Field.

That's because no one has scheduled a wake or funeral for Sunday, traditionally a busy day for services, Childs said. Not that anyone would admit they'd move a funeral for the mega matchup between the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears. But Childs thinks the coincidence is, well, too coincidental.

"I've seen it before," said Childs, an owner of A. A. Rayner & Sons Funeral Home. "I saw it during the Bulls' championship games. I've seen it obviously with the Bears in '85, the White Sox when they were in the World Series. I think people are intentionally avoiding that day."

Sunday's 2 p.m. game has eclipsed every other event taking place that afternoon. Realizing resistance is futile, many organizations say they're willing to make way for the contest.

Idolatry? Eh, probably just realistic planning ahead in most cases. Though I will tell you we are most definitely still having our evening service at 6pm. I will not even bring my Blackberry into the service.

Though it may be in my office for a quick peak after the benediction.

Jesus Loves the Little Children

Tomorrow is the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court ruling that made up out of judicial thin air a constitutional right to abortion on demand. Some view the ruling as a giant step forward, but it was really a quantum leap back–back about two millennia.

The ancient world was incredibly open to the killing of children. For starters, they had almost none of the sentimentality we have towards kids in 21st century America. There was no Disney, not Toys R Us, no Chuck E. Cheese (can I get an Amen?). Family life–even if there was such a thing–certainly did not revolve around the children. Children, if I may generalize, were useful at best, burdens at worst, and rarely coddled.

The dominant fact regarding children in the ancient world were the high mortality rates, especially infants. Many newborns were still born or died in labor. Those who made it often went hungry. There were too many mouths to feed and too little food. As a result, children were often abandoned, exposed to the elements, literally left on trash heaps to die. From 230 B.C. onward, the commonest family in Greece was a one-child family. Families of four or five were rare. Some families might want two sons, but rarely would they want two daughters.

Unwanted children were disposed of, often sold into slavery. Others were aborted in the womb. Many more were simply killed as infants. Newborns were not considered part of the family until the father officially acknowledged them and received them into the house by religious ceremony. Consequently, the ancient Greek and Romans thought little of little babies, and thought even less of getting rid of them.

In the ancient world, it was uniquely the Jewish people who prohibited abortion and infanticide. And the practice was not overturned until Christianity became privileged in the empire. Christians have always opposed killing children, whether infants outside the womb or infants inside the womb. The two were one and the same crime. "You shall not abort a child or commit infanticide," commanded The Didache, a late first century church constitution of sorts. Despite the muddled arguments of denominational study groups (whose obfuscation with language is positively Orwellian), opposition to abortion and infanticide is not simply one position for Christians, it is the Christian position.

Jesus welcomed children when others wanted to shoo them away (Mark 10:13-16). Moreover, he said the measure of our love for him would be measured by our love for children (Mark 9:36-37). He took the children in his arms as if to say, "Honor these little ones, and you honor me. Send them away because they are weak, socially insignificant, and bothersome, and you've demonstrated you don't understand the values of the kingdom."

On the eve of Roe, let's pray for our society to change its mind regarding the smallest and most helpless of its citizens. Let's pray the change starts in the church (those parts too cowardly or confused to condemn abortion). Let's pray that every judge, politician, and doctor becomes convinced of the sanctity of unborn life and acts accordingly. Let's pray for the flourishing of pregnancy centers and women's clinics that provide an alternative to abortion. Let's pray for the women contemplating such a tragic choice, and for the family members encouraging them in the wrong direction. Let's pray for men to be men, to stop fooling around and to stop fleeing when they have. Let's pray that hundreds of politicians, thousands of pastors, millions of would-be moms and dads, and 300 million hearts are gripped by a Jesus-inspired view of children.

Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world. Whether they've got an umbilical cord or not.  

Unifiers and Purifiers

Now if anyone has caused pain, he has caused it not to me, but in some measure- not to put it too severely- to all of you. For such a one, this punishment by the majority is enough, so you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. (2 Corinthians 2:5-7)

This passage contains two simple, fundamental commands for the church of Jesus Christ: discipline and forgive.

The command to discipline is implicit in this passage.  It's an explicit command in other passages (like 1 Corinthians 5 and Matthew 18), but here it's only implied because the discipline has already been administered.  The explicit command, the major theme of the score, is forgiveness.  The church of Jesus Christ generally, and you specifically, must do these two things if she is to be a healthy, biblical, God-honoring church.  She must discipline and she must forgive.

If a church doesn't discipline, if she can't hold sinners accountable and correct those who defiantly and unrepentantly disobey, then the church will cease to be the church.  Protestants have for almost five hundred years talked about the three marks of the church.  What distinguishes a true church from a false church is: (1) the pure preaching of the word of God, (2) the right administration of the sacraments, and (3) the practice of church discipline for correcting faults.  The church is the body of Christ and as the body the church is supposed to look like Christ and bear a resemblance in her character to God himself.  If the church fails to label sin as sin and fails to set boundaries for its faith and life, then the church is no longer striving to resemble Christ in all his purity and goodness and moral excellence.  The church cannot turn a blind eye to moral sin and doctrinal error without becoming a pale reflection of its own culture. She will become nothing more than a social club of people that look alike, vote alike, or share the same belief in nothing in particular except for tolerance.

Likewise, and just as importantly, the church must forgive.  A church that doesn't forgive, Jesus would say, does not understand forgiveness.  There are few things as foundational to Christianity as undeserved mercy.  We have been forgiven much, much more than we will ever have to forgive another human being.  So when we grow bitter, petty, vindictive, and devoid of grace (and graciousness), we grow more and more unlike the Christ we profess to worship.  Christians who can't get along with each other, Christians who tear each other apart and put impossible burdens on each other are doing the work of the Devil, not of the Lord.

In an excellent article several years ago J. Robertson McQuilken explained the tension between discipline (or faithfulness) on the one hand and forgiveness (or love) on the other.

There is a great polarization between the professional unifiers on the one hand and the professional purifiers on the other.  It seems that a person must work at uniting all churches no matter how delinquent in doctrine or life or that he must give himself wholly to separating all the wheat from the tares now…It is impossible to have too much love or too much faithfulness.

However, it is quite possible to have unfaithfulness masquerading as love.  When God's people compromise through sentimentality or self-love or for some other reason are unwilling to exercise church discipline, they are unfaithful though they speak much of love.  Again, it is quite possible to have unlove masquerading as faithfulness.  When God's people create schism by disciplining the wrong person, or with the wrong motive, or in the wrong way, they are unloving though they speak much of faithfulness.  I do not ask the ecumenist to be less loving.  I urge him to be more faithful.  I do not ask the separatist to be less faithful.  I urge him to be more loving."

Read those paragraphs again. They are overflowing with wisdom. The true Christian will not pit grace against truth, love against faithfulness, discipline against forgiveness, unity against purity. But neither do we want the fullness of one half of the pair to be an excuse for a deficiency on the other side.

There are two things that will always tear a church apart, sometimes slowly and imperceptibly and sometimes quickly and loudly, but these two things will always rip the fabric of Holy Spirit unity: having no standards and having impossible standards.  If you can get one of those two things going on in a church you will be well along your way to ruining that church.  But if you can by God's power find a way to uphold moral and doctrinal standards with a spirit of mercy, humility, and eager forgiveness, then that will be a mighty church and even the gates of hell will not prevail against it.

Just for Fun (With the Help of Wodehouse)

I've mentioned before my delight in P.G. Wodehouse. He is simply the best humorist in the English language. His ways with words–oh my, my.

The next someone looks at you cross, try this line:

She looked at me in rather a rummy way. It was a nasty look. It made me feel as if I were something the dog had brought in and intended to bury later on, when he had time.

And to express your discouragement:

I've examined the darned cloud with a microscope, and if it's got a silver lining it's some little dissembler!

For use with the outdoorsy members of your family:

I ordered another. If this was going to be fish-story, I needed stimulants.

Looking for a good put-down?

It seemed to me almost incredible that a fellow could be such a perfect chump as dear old Biffy without a bit of assistance.

And one last example of Wodehouse's genius for word pictures and similes:

Honoria, you see, is one of those robust, dynamic girls with the muscles of a welter-weight and a laugh like a squadron of cavalary charging over a tin bridge.

If you want to write better, I encourage you test drive some P.G. Wodehouse. You'll have fun doing so.

(All the quotes above are from the short stories in Carry On, Jeeves.)

Don't Call It a Comeback: Interviews, Part 2

We have a few more interviews from the contributors of Don't Call It a Comeback: The Same Evangelical Faith for a New Day.  Today we'll hear from Ben Peays, Jay Harvey and Russell Moore.

Ben Peays is the Executive Director of The Gospel Coalition. Ben is married to Lynae and they have three children. His chapter is called "New Birth: 'You Must Be Born Again.'"

What does Jesus mean when he says, "You must be born again"?

Jesus speaks these words to a Jewish rabbi, Nicodemus, in John chapter 3 in the context of explaining what must be done in order to enter the kingdom of God. Although each person is physically born, they are dead in their sin and need a second, spiritual birth in order to receive true, eternal life.

These were difficult words for Nicodemus to hear because it meant salvation could not be earned through obedience to the Law. Everyone desperately needed a spiritual birth, but God's spirit was not something that could be summoned or brought upon oneself (John 3:6). It was available entirely as a gift of grace from God.

Becoming born again is a glorious moment when several things seem to take place in the same instant: God provides faith for belief in the atoning work of Christ, which serves as a payment for our sins and satisfies God's wrath; God's spirit indwells the individual regenerating them into a new creation with new affections, abilities to deal with sin, spiritual fruits, etc.; this union with Christ allows an inheritance of His righteousness and not-guilty status before God; God welcomes us into his kingdom and eternal life in heaven.

Jay Harvey, Senior Pastor of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Newark, DE. He is married to Melody and they have four children. Jay writes the chapter titled, "Justification: Why the Lord Our Righteousness Is Better News Than the Lord Our Example."

Some people may find debates over justification to be rather esoteric. What do you think are the practical implication of getting the doctrine of justification right (or wrong)?

I think that justification can seem esoteric because there has been a shift away from being concerned about the justice of God in the classic, orthodox sense of the term.  The vast majority of the history of the church has been  focused on the justice of God with regard to human sin.

The Scriptures are clear that God is Holy, that he can by no means clear the guilty, and that we cannot rush past his holiness and justice to bask in his blessings.  When the holiness and majesty of God of God's justice regarding sin are in the forefront of our minds, the doctrine of justification will likewise seem very relevant to us.  We will have to deal with our condemnation.  Which is why Romans 8–a chapter that is rich with the personal spiritual blessings that God has for us–begins with the statement that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  Justification–that we are declared innocent and righteous before God–is the opposite of condemnation.  So, if we get justificaion wrong then we remain in condemnation.  I think that the last thing anyone who calls themselves a Christian wants to do is to live with a sense of condemnation.

The bible doesn't say that I am going to be rid of this condemnation by looking past God's holiness, or by loving God and others more.  It certainly does not say that I can deal with my condemnation by comparing myself to others.  The Bible says that condemnation is dealt with by justification by faith in Christ alone.  Once I grasp this justification by faith, the rest of the blessings of the Christian life will follow in its wake.  So, at the end of the day the doctrine has extremely practical implications for every Christian.

Russell Moore is Dean of the School of Theology, Senior Vice-President for Academic Administration, and Professor of Christian Theology and Ethics at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He also serves as a preaching pastor at the Highview Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky. He is married to Maria and they have four sons. Russell pens the chapter titled "Kingdom: Heaven after Earth, Heaven on Earth, or Something Else Entirely?"

The kingdom is a huge theme in the Bible, and yet it can be difficult to define. How would you explain the kingdom of God to a 15-year-old?

Sometimes even those who've followed Jesus for a long time find the kingdom message a difficult one to grasp. We sometimes assume "kingdom" is just a metaphor for "getting saved" or for another denominational program or political crusade. We hear chatter all around us about the Prince of Wales or the local high school homecoming queen or the advertising slogans of the "King of Beers" or the "Dairy Queen."

Against this kind of potential confusion, the mission of Christ starts and ends not just in the announcement of forgiveness of sins or in the removal of condemnation—although both of those things are certainly true. The mission of Christ starts and ends with an announcement that God has made Jesus emperor of the cosmos—and he plans to bend the cosmos to fit Jesus' agenda, not the other way around.

The kingdom of God, then, is the good news that the right rule of God, and the right rule of man—a rule our ancestors Adam and Eve lost—have come together in the right rule of one right God-man: Jesus of Nazareth. In his sin-resisting life, his wisdom-saturated teaching, his demon-exorcising power, his substitutionary, conquering death, and his justifying, victorious resurrection, Christ is king.

That king, through his Spirit, invites all men to believe by faith what they'll someday see by sight—what everyone will someday see by sight: Jesus is Lord. Jesus forgives. Jesus is king. And his reign will extend to the corner of every galaxy, forever.

What Made David Great

Everyone who knows the Bible knows that King David was a great man.

And yet everyone familiar with the Bible will also recognize that David did a lot of not-so-great things. Of course, there was the sin with Bathsheba, the murder of her husband Uriah, and the subsequent cover-up. That was not exactly delighting in the law of the Lord (Psalm 1:2). But there was also the ill-advised census motivated by David's pride, not to mention a series of lessons in how not to manage your household well. For being a man after God's own heart (Acts 13:22), David managed to follow his own heart quite a bit.

So with all these flaws, what made David great? One could easily mention David's courage, his loyalty, his faith, his success as a leader, musician, and warrior. But he was great in other lesser-known ways as well. In particular, David was a great man because he was willing to overlook others' sin but unwilling to overlook his own.

David was a gracious man, bearing with the failings of others, eager to give his enemies a second chance. Twice, while his friends advised him to strike down their enemy, David spared Saul's life, (1 Samuel 24; 26). Though Saul opposed him at every turn, David did not rejoice at his death, but wept for the king and his son Jonathan (2 Sam. 1:17-27). David welcomed Abner when he defected from the phony king Ish-bosheth and mourned for him when distrusting Joab stuck him down (2 Sam. 3). David was unnecessarily kind to Mephiboseth (2 Sam. 9) and uncommonly patient with Shimei's spiteful cursing. Later David would pardon those who rebelled against him during Absalom's insurrection (2 Sam. 19:16-23). Time after time David showed himself to be unlike the sons of Zeruiah who lived to hold grudges and settle scores. David knew how to forgive. More than anyone prior to Jesus, David loved his enemies. Like no other Old Testament king, David was willing to welcome rebels back to the fold and overlook the sins of those who had opposed him.

But amazingly, David's kind-hearted attitude toward his enemies did not translate into a soft attitude toward his own sins. Usually, people who are soft with others are soft with themselves, and those hardest on themselves are even harder on others. But David was different. He was gracious with others and honest with himself. I believe David's greatness was simply this: for as much as he sinned he never failed to own up to his sin. I can't find a single instance where David was rightly rebuked for his failings where he then failed to heed the rebuke. When Nathan confronts David for his adultery and murder, David, after he sees what Nathan is up to, quickly laments, "I have sinned against the Lord" (2 Sam. 12:13). When Joab sends the woman of Tekoa to change David's mind about Absalom, he listens. When Joab rebukes David for loving his treacherous son more than his loyal servants, David does what Joab tells him to do (2 Sam. 19:1-8). Joab was often wrong in his advice to David, but when he was right David saw it and changed course. Likewise, after his foolish census, David's heart struck him and he confessed, "I have sinned greatly in what I have done" (2 Sam. 24:10).

David knew how to forgive, and he knew how to repent too. He never blamed others for his mistakes. He did not make excuses based on family history, peer pressure, or the demands of leadership. He did not use passive language, referring to his sin as a dysfunction or a growth edge. He did not lament over his sins simply because of the negative effects they could have over his kingdom and his relationships. He saw his transgressions primarily in their vertical dimension, as an offense against almighty God (Psalm 51:4). He never ran from the light when it exposed his darkness. Instead, he squinted hard, admitted his iniquity and worked to make things right. When we consider how rare it is in our day for athletes, movie stars, and politicians to candidly and clearly take responsibility for their public sins, we should be all the more amazed that the king of Israel, arguably the most famous man in the history of God's old covenant people, was humble enough to listen to the chastisement of those who were beneath him and change accordingly.

David was a man after God's own heart because he hated sin but loved to forgive it. What better example of God could there be? God doesn't just welcome his enemies in, he dies in their stead (Rom. 5:6-11). He is always eager to show mercy, always willing to give traitors a second chance. And yet, God is not soft on sin. He exposes it and calls on us to exterminate it (John 16:8-11; Col. 3:5). But of course, God, unlike David, is never guilty of his own sin. God showed his condescension not by humbling himself before a needed rebuke, but by humbling himself to take on human flesh and take up a cross (Phil. 2:5-8). David was great, but not nearly as much as great David's greater Son.

This article also appears in the January issue of Tabletalk.

Monday Morning Humor

This is pretty funny. A few of the clips are hilarious. I hope you'll excuse a little bathroom humor.

HT: Light and Shadow

The Great Bigness of Considering Yourself Inconsequentially Small

Here are some wise words from Gregory the Great (540-604) on the perils of pastoral pride. First, a warning against the intoxication of authority:

Therefore, those who preside over others should consider not their rank, but the equality of their condition.  Moreover, they should revel not in ruling over others but in helping them.  For indeed, our ancient fathers are not remembered because they were rulers of men, but because they were shepherds of flocks.

Next, a plea not to lose the truth because you love applause:

And [it happens that] while he is encircled with immense favor, internally he loses his sense of truth.  Forgetful of who he is, he scatters himself among the voices of others and believes what he hears them say about him rather than what he should discern about himself from within.

And one final warning on the dangers of a haughty spirit from the life of Saul, Israel's first king:

[Saul] had previously seen himself to be of little consequence, but after he received temporal authority, he began to think of himself as greater than everyone else.  In a wonderful way, when he was small to himself, he was great to the Lord; but when he thought of himself as great, he became small to the Lord. (The Book of Pastoral Rule)