Jared C. Wilson's Blog, page 56

Your Best Links Now – 2/10/14

How Old is the Universe?

RC Sproul answers. Then so do some other people.



How to Help Someone Having a Panic Attack

A brief answer from a wise man (Ed Welch).



Alien and Predator as Little Golden Books

And now for something completely different.

Why Are We Still on Facebook? (New Yorker)

The answer, according to Maria Konnikova’s article, is not very flattering. “‘Apes groom each other as a way of maintaining connections and making those connections public,’ Sam Gosling, a psychologist at the University of Texas at Austin, told me. ‘That’s what Facebook does. It’s a way of publicly grooming your friends. Those conversations that happen on people’s walls could just as easily have happened in private. Facebook allows us to meet this very basic social need, and to do that on a broad scale.’”



How Should We Read Jesus’ Parables?

I have an article over at the Crossway blog about what the parables are and what they aren’t.

The Janitor’s Revenge

I may do this in my yard from the door to the cars, just to annoy my kids.

Praying for Money and Stuff

A prayer for financial provision inspired by these lines from John Piper’s closing message at the Desiring God Pastors Conference this morning: “Jesus says it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Why would you want riches? Why make it harder?”

Heavenly Father,

Give me neither poverty nor riches,

lest I be full and deny you

and say, “Who is the Lord?”

or lest I be poor and steal

and profane your name.

Give me just enough, Lord, to nourish my family,

to pay my debts

and fulfill my obligations

and keep my promises

and invest in your work according to your will,

in supply of all my needs,

in accordance with the riches of Christ Jesus.

If you should say “no” and give me poverty,

grant me contentment and purest hope

and a deeply settled resolution to the sufficiency of your grace.

If you should say “no” and give me riches,

lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from evil,

and do not give me more than I can bear in service to your kingdom.

If you send increase of my riches,

send increase of my capacity for generosity,

and discipline me from greed,

covetousness,

miserliness,

and inhospitableness.

Lord, grant me some of my material wants, but not too many,

not one more than would distract my joy and treasure from you,

if that be none of my wants or all of them.

I pray your will be done,

even if my will turn out a disappointment to my heirs.

In Christ’s name,

Amen.

Your Best Links Now – 2/5/14

Why I Didn’t Watch the Ken Ham-Bill Nye Debate by Matt Rawlings

“When I saw the debate announced I cringed because I foresaw a media circus with Nye attacking Young Earth Creationism (not that hard to do citing the current scientific consensus) and Ham defending Scripture. Each would preach to their proverbial choir and it would all be sound and fury signifying nothing. I am neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet but from what I could glean from social media last night, that’s exactly what happened . . .”

Queen Latifah’s Grammy Mass Wedding by Carl Trueman

“Pop music used to be about superficial fun, a bit of escapism in the midst of life. Then it gained messianic aspirations . . .”

Denny Burk on Donald Miller’s Admission of Churchlessness

Burk calls it “a prescription for spiritual suicide,” writing, “The scripture is very clear that the local church is the matrix for Christian discipleship. In short, you cannot be a follower of Jesus and be indifferent about the church.” I confess no shock here. Back when I read Blue Like Jazz, when I was of the age and spiritual climate to revel in it, I could only see worship in the sanctuary of “me, myself, and I” in it. But I am a minority voice in my generation in that regard. Wish I’d liked it.

Here’s a more personal take from a friend at 9Marks:

Jonathan Leeman’s Open Letter to Donald Miller

“My way out was deeper in. I’m now an elder in a church with hour-long sermons, several long prayers, lots of singing, membership classes and interviews and meetings. We talk about repentance, practice church discipline, and use phrases like “submitting to the elders.” In fact, Don, it gets worse. I’ve written about these things. I’ve advocated for them. I’ve drunk the Kool-Aid and then filled a tray of Dixie cups to hand out . . .” Jonathan also calls Blue Like Jazz a work of art, but we won’t hold that against him.



Man Surprised to Find Himself in Audience Full of Grown Children He Saved From Nazi Death Camps

Might need the hanky for this one. “Sir Nicholas Winton was invited to a special gathering to honor his work in saving the lives of hundreds of Jewish Czechoslovakian children he saved from Nazi death camps. Right before World War 2 broke out, Winton arranged their escape from certain death. In this video from 1988, the survivors gathered to give him a great surprise . . .”

Your Best Links Now – 1/5/14

Why I Didn’t Watch the Ken Ham-Bill Nye Debate by Matt Rawlings

“When I saw the debate announced I cringed because I foresaw a media circus with Nye attacking Young Earth Creationism (not that hard to do citing the current scientific consensus) and Ham defending Scripture. Each would preach to their proverbial choir and it would all be sound and fury signifying nothing. I am neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet but from what I could glean from social media last night, that’s exactly what happened . . .”

Queen Latifah’s Grammy Mass Wedding by Carl Trueman

“Pop music used to be about superficial fun, a bit of escapism in the midst of life. Then it gained messianic aspirations . . .”

Denny Burk on Donald Miller’s Admission of Churchlessness

Burk calls it “a prescription for spiritual suicide,” writing, “The scripture is very clear that the local church is the matrix for Christian discipleship. In short, you cannot be a follower of Jesus and be indifferent about the church.” I confess no shock here. Back when I read Blue Like Jazz, when I was of the age and spiritual climate to revel in it, I could only see worship in the sanctuary of “me, myself, and I” in it. But I am a minority voice in my generation in that regard. Wish I’d liked it.

Here’s a more personal take from a friend at 9Marks:

Jonathan Leeman’s Open Letter to Donald Miller

“My way out was deeper in. I’m now an elder in a church with hour-long sermons, several long prayers, lots of singing, membership classes and interviews and meetings. We talk about repentance, practice church discipline, and use phrases like “submitting to the elders.” In fact, Don, it gets worse. I’ve written about these things. I’ve advocated for them. I’ve drunk the Kool-Aid and then filled a tray of Dixie cups to hand out . . .” Jonathan also calls Blue Like Jazz a work of art, but we won’t hold that against him.



Man Surprised to Find Himself in Audience Full of Grown Children He Saved From Nazi Death Camps

Might need the hanky for this one. “Sir Nicholas Winton was invited to a special gathering to honor his work in saving the lives of hundreds of Jewish Czechoslovakian children he saved from Nazi death camps. Right before World War 2 broke out, Winton arranged their escape from certain death. In this video from 1988, the survivors gathered to give him a great surprise . . .”

Remembering is the First Change

Yesterday Paul Tripp spoke on Psalm 27 at the Desiring God Pastors pre-conference, and as he was emphasizing how important it was for David to “remember” in times of trouble, my mind went — as it often does in such scenarios — to another Psalm.

It strikes me as I read through Psalm 42 — as I frequently do — how crucial memory is to the process of faith in the midst of difficulty or depression. “These things I remember…” the psalmist says in verse 4. When God allows affliction, it is important to remember his historic faithfulness.

There is a reason the Israelites filled the ark of the covenant with mementos of God’s faithfulness, and it’s not because they were magic talismans.

When you are stuck, deep, despondent, or in despair, think back to what God has delivered you from in difficult times past. Remember how he has never really failed you. Remember your way all the way back to Mount Calvary and the empty tomb. Remembering God’s historic faithfulness is the first step in enjoying his present faithfulness to you, even if you don’t feel it.

“We are simple people. You can’t remember ten things at once. Invariably, if you could remember just one true thing in the moment of trial, you’d be different. Bible ‘verses’ aren’t magic. But God’s words are revelations of God from God for our redemption.

“When you actually remember God, you do not sin. The only way we ever sin is by suppressing God, by forgetting, by tuning out his voice, switching channels, and listening to other voices. When you actually remember, you actually change. In fact, remembering is the first change.”

– David Powlison, Making All Things New

You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.

– Deuteronomy 6:8

Your Best Links Now – 2/4/14

Charles Spurgeon on Mystical Union with Christ

Here’s an excerpt from the excerpt: “The word divorce He will never mention, for ‘He hateth putting away.’ Death must sever the conjugal tie between the most loving mortals, but it cannot divide the links of this immortal marriage. In heaven they marry not, but are as the angels of God; yet is there this one marvelous exception to the rule, for in heaven Christ and His Church shall celebrate their joyous nuptials . . .”

The Prosperity Gospel Almost Killed This Guy (Literally)

Sean DeMars at 9Marks shares his testimony of both the spiritual and physical dangers of believing in the “health and wealth”/”name it and claim it” false gospel.

How Much Snow is Needed to Cancel School?

This handy color-coded map shows you just how much in each US county.

Joe Namath Would Not Want His Kids to Play Football

Well, and if they think they’d have to wear those silly fur coats, they probably wouldn’t want to anyway.

Jordan Ballor’s Response to Tullian Tchividjian’s Take on the Good Samaritan Parable

Ballor writes, “Tchividjian is right to temper the common tendency to moralize the parables too quickly and easily. These are difficult teachings and our inability to ‘go and do likewise’ in any kind of proper fashion ought to be convicting. But neither should we take Jesus’ command to ‘go and do likewise’ to mean that we should simply ‘stay in,’ albeit as ones who have ‘inwardly come out’.” I would agree with Ballor here.

I’ve written on the Good Samaritan parable here and more extensively in my new book on the parables, The Storytelling God, which releases later this month (but is already for sale in the bookstore at the Desiring God Pastors Conference this week.)

Philip Seymour Hoffman’s Funniest Scene

We lost a great actor recently to his addictions, and while Hoffman gave us some powerful dramatic moments on stage and in film — I was first impacted by his work in the film Magnolia — this lighthearted moment in the lightweight comedy Along Came Polly is one of my faves. I copy it whenever I’m on the court myself. “White chocolate!”

Your Best Links Now – 2/3/14

4 Early Church Writings Every Christian Should Read

Zachary Perkins writes of his list at Relevant: “New books are great, but they are untested—we don’t know which ones will stand the test of time. But old books have been sifted by time. It’s always good for us to look at the context of the people that came before us and see how the world looked from their time and place . . .”

God Hears Your Super Bowl Prayers

A Christianity Today interview with atheism-embarrasser William Lane Craig. “The Biola apologist says every pass, every point, every sideline prayer matters to God.”

When Does a Person Become Our Neighbor?

Doug Wilson responds in his inimitable way to a narrow bit of Rachel Held Evans speculation about when abortion, contraception, and when personhood begins, writing, “The size of these tiny people only affects the clarity of the situation if we define the humanity of others on the basis of our limited eyesight. But why is the question of a soul connected to size, as though the naked eye were in charge of these things? Once the DNA strand is established, we can say any number of things about this person that we cannot say at all before that point, whether we are talking about about sperm or eggs . . .”

The Definitive Ranking of Monsters

Definitely not “definitive” but this Buzzfeed piece is a good cryptid primer.

Happily Ever After by Jen Thorn

Thorn’s guest post at Time-Warp Wife blog elaborates on the following: “Romanticism can be deadly if it leads us to expect such neat and clean storylines for our lives. Romanticism will cause discontentment and dissatisfaction with the husband and life God has given us. However, behind these princess stories are three things that remain eternally true for the people of God . . .”

Insane Space Jump

“In October 2012, Felix Baumgartner leapt from a balloon floating 24-miles high and fell to Earth, breaking the sound barrier on the way down. Now, newly released footage shows in unprecedented detail what Baumgartner saw on his record-breaking descent . . .”

Your Best Links Now – 1/31/14

The Grammys Were a Liturgy Revealing the Culture’s Idea of “Love”

So says David Fitch. “Love was celebrated loudly at the Grammys through music, numerous speeches and then 33 marriages. It was all performed before a celebratory audience and millions of viewers. And yet the Grammys didn’t reflect much on the question “what is love?” The songs, the art, the speeches all offered love as a given fact assuming everyone already knows what it means . . .”

Why Trip Lee Married a White Girl

Says the Christian hip-hop artist, “My wife is a mix of Hungarian, Italian, and Polish—which to most people just means she’s white. This is irrelevant to some, but shocking or even disappointing to others. I don’t think anyone should be shocked or disappointed by interracial marriages, but I still wanted to address why I married outside my race . . .”



Atheists Keep Losing Debates to William Lane Craig

And so they’re all like, “Get better at debates, atheists!” Luke Muelhlhauser at Common Sense Atheist warns:

You can’t just know the arguments to win a debate (though many atheists fail at even this, anyway). You must also know how to debate. It’s a skill. If you haven’t specifically studied and practiced debating for several years, then you suck at debates. You might think you can debate because you “win” little arguments with uber-ignorant Christian fundamentalists, but trust me: you suck at debates. Your suckage will be especially obvious if you debate a master like William Lane Craig.

Christ Pays the Ransom, But to Whom?

My contribution to the Theology of Atonement series over at Trevin Wax’s blog.



Looking for Time Travelers

Two scientists scoured Twitter for evidence of time travelers. What they found may (not) surprise you.



Instant Pillow Fight Prank

Pretty funny. And I’m gonna assume the arrest at the end is staged.

Your Best Links Now – 1/30/14

Beware the New Affluenza by Ed Welch

“Absent from [lists] of harmful influences [have] been wealth and privilege. Then along comes affluenza and we wonder if the apocalypse is right around the corner. Each alleged cause of bad behavior seems to subtract another piece of personal responsibility, and without moral culpability, we become an infantile people.”

Ask Pastor John: Why is Jesus My Advocate if I’m Already Justified?

If our sins are already atoned for by Christ, why does the Bible say he is still interceding and advocating for us in heaven?

Seahawks QB Russell Wilson is Playing for Nick Magnotti

Nick’s testimony has officially gone viral. Some backstory here. Our church has been paying for Nick and his family for the last year or so as Nick’s cousin Kathryn is one of our members.



New Zealand School Ditched Its Playground Rules and Kids Got Safer and Bullying Disappeared

“Chaos may reign at Swanson Primary School with children climbing trees, riding skateboards and playing bullrush during playtime, but surprisingly the students don’t cause bedlam, the principal says. The school is actually seeing a drop in bullying, serious injuries and vandalism, while concentration levels in class are increasing.”

This is Not a Success Story by Shaun Groves

“Compassion International successfully releases children from poverty in twenty-six countries around the world. But it’s not working all that well for this family. Theirs is not a success story . . .”

First Lines from Bestselling Christian Books

Karen Ball has a quiz for you over at Steve Laube’s blog.

Shoot Christians Say

Already a classic.

Contentment, the Stealth Prosperity Gospel, and Spiritual Greed

The real devil in the details of the prosperity-type teaching permeating so much of evangelicalism is not really that it skips over the stuff about sin. Sure, it does that too, but the pernicious paradox of this stuff is that it champions “victorious Christian living” yet does not equip believers for sustainable discipleship. It emphasizes feelings and “outlook,” not the power of the Spirit, which is hard for some folks to notice since the latter is often conflated with the former (so that being optimistic or a go-getter is ipso facto being Spirit-empowered). The problem over time is that, going from victory to victory, expecting victory after victory, cultivates a contagious form of spiritual greed. (Is it any wonder that this sort of teaching often goes hand and hand with talk of financial riches and prosperity?) The real stuff of discipleship — what Eugene Peterson calls “a long obedience in the same direction” — involves hard stuff like discipline and the fruit of the Spirit. In pop discipleship discipline is replaced by steps, tips, and amazingsupercolossal breakthroughs.

When my children were tiny, we had a couple of Laws of Raising Children active in the house. The first law is that no item in the universe is more interesting than the one a sibling is currently holding. The second law is that no matter where you are (and it could be Disney World), there is some other place you’d rather be.

Getting what we don’t have, being somewhere we aren’t. That defines the childishness of the children in our house. But they are children, so they have an excuse.

Prosperity gospel, then, which promises an abundantly fulfilling life, ironically breeds discontentment. We are never abiding with God where we are, because we always consider what we have less than what’s available (or at least less than what our neighbor has). We always think of today as less than tomorrow. But you cannot get to resurrection day without going through the cross.

There’s a fine line between contentment and complacency, also, and I think this implicit confusion is why contentment is rarely spoken of these days. It implies stagnation or laziness. But complacency isn’t about not caring. Contentment is about caring for the needs of the moment. It is about obedience and faith. Paul was not complacent about his repeated imprisonment and torture. But, amazingly enough, he was content.

Contentment trusts God to be God. Discontent evidences our fear of everything but God — it fears for safety, for financial solvency, for what others might think of us, for even “spiritual maturity.” The content soul, however, fears God (Prov. 19:23).

So the great irony of prosperity gospelism — and more people teach and believe this stuff than the walking cartoons on TBN, trust me — is that it actually cultivates its own need for itself. It is built on discontentment and greed and desire and accumulating (whether stuff or “spirituality”), and therefore it turns in on itself, self perpetuating, continuing to create the needs it promises to fill. We all know what happens when you try to fill a God-shaped void with anything not God-shaped. We all know that money doesn’t buy happiness, etc etc.

But contentment! Being content with what we’ve got, with where God has us, whether it be on top of a mountain surrounded by beauty or down in a valley walking toward a pit we cannot see — now is true gain!

But there are no easy steps to contentment. The word “content” evokes feelings of peace and tranquility, of being carefree. And those things are true, in a sense. But the way to contentment is difficult, and the place of contentment itself may be in a harsh and barren land. That is, after all, how you know you’ve reached contentment anyway. Being content involves the tough stuff of trust and discipline and obedience and biblical love. As Chesterton said:

True contentment is a thing as active as agriculture. It is the power of getting out of any situation all that there is in it. It is arduous and it is rare.

Christians are to essentially believe that “God loves you and has a difficult plan for your life.”

So how do we get it? How do we reach contentment?

We start where we are, not looking ahead to what is next. We begin with a hope for deliverance, provided we are really in need of it, but also with a trust that God is refining us through the circumstances in which He’s presently placed us. It just that — being present. Show up, in this moment, for submission to God. Trust that the cross you are bearing is not the end of His story, but accept that cross as necessary and get everything out of it that is there to get.

There are no formulaic steps or aphoristic strategies. Just the Spirit and the power He gives by His good pleasure. You cannot achieve discontentment with your achievements all by yourself. You will need the convicting, chastening God of love.

I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

– Philippians 4.12-13