Barnabas Piper's Blog, page 55
October 16, 2018
He Reads Truth: Jesus is Risen
I have the privilege of contributing to He Reads Truth, a website of whose purpose is “To help men become who we were made to be, by doing what we were made to do, by the power and provision that God has given us to do it, for the glory of Jesus Christ.” They do this by providing scripture reading plans accompanied by reflections that can be accessed for free online or purchased as print books. For those of you looking to engage scripture in a fresh way – either because you are dried up or have been away from it, these studies/plans will refresh your soul and engage your mind.
What follows is one of the pieces I wrote for the plan on Matthew. You can find the full plan HERE.
Matthew 27:1-66, Matthew 28:1-20, Psalm 22:7-8, 1 Corinthians 15:6, 2 Corinthians 3:18
Innocent, betrayed, questioned, traded, mocked, beaten, tortured, ridiculed, brutalized, executed, abandoned, sacrificed, dead—so went the end of Jesus’ earthly life. To pacify jealous leaders, the sinless God-man was put to death in the fashion of traitors and rebels. He was displayed like a bloody yard sale sign for all passersby to see and to scorn.
That is one side to this story, the unjust and bloody murder of the Messiah.
There is another side woven throughout the same events, the side of signs, wonders, and hope. In the face of questioning and mockery, Jesus remained silent, like a sheep being peacefully led to slaughter. The purple robe, crown of thorns, and placard declaring Him to be “King of the Jews”—all of these details were meant to demean Him but were infinitely more accurate than His accusers knew.
With His final words, Jesus referred to Psalm 22, which speaks of being forsaken by God, but also of His rescue and good pleasure in doing so. Just as He gave up His spirit as a willing sacrifice, darkness fell at midday, displaying the Father’s sorrow. In that moment, the rending of the temple curtain made the holiest place accessible to all. Somehow, in the midst of the blood and gore and screams and agony, a Roman centurion saw the signs and recognized the truth: “Surely this man was the Son of God” (Matthew 27:54). And so He was.
And so He is.
Just as the Son of God gave up His spirit, He then took it back again, rising from the dead, resurrected. With an earthquake and angelic entourage, Jesus exited the grave. He greeted friends, spoke tenderly to the doubting, made public appearances to hundreds, and gave life to the tales His murderers sought to spread. He left witnesses in His wake and left them with a charge: go and make disciples. And then He left them with a promise, saying, “I will be with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20).
When Jesus departed earth, He had fulfilled His mission: to live a perfect life as one both completely divine and completely human; to die the death He alone did not deserve in order to give salvation to all those who did; and to bring about the death of death with His own resurrection. He then established His church by commissioning His followers to be disciple-makers, promising to impart the Holy Spirit to them as teacher, guide, empowerer, and life-giver.
Indeed, this man was, and is, the Son of God. And one day, He will come again.
October 15, 2018
New Happy Rant: Friendship, Cats, and Middle Age
In this episode of The Happy Rant Ted and Ronnie pseudo interview each other about a variety of things including:
The origin of their friendship
The best sports movies
The differences between cat owners and dog owners
Hitting middle age
SPONSOR
We’d also like to thank sponsor Noah’s Event Venue. Noah’s offers fantastic venues for churches to expand, to plant, or to start a campus and comes equipped with high end A/V, classroom space, and all the general meeting needs churches have (aside from a pour-over bar and leather aprons) – though they do have coffee/cafe services! They have multiple venues across the country in most major metro areas, so if you are a church leader looking for space to grow, plant, or move your congregation check them out.
Be sure to visit HappyRantPodcast.com where you can:
Order fresh roasted coffee from Lagares Roasters
Order your Happy Rant swag from Missional Wear (Use code RANT to get discounts on swag and/or shipping)
Please consider supporting the podcast financially as well. We have set up a Patreon page, and your donations help us cover production costs, do live events, and grow the podcast by trying some new things. Oh, and of course there are perks for those who commit to helps us such as free books and coffee!
To listen you can:
Subscribe in iTunes.
Listen on Google Play
Listen on Stitcher.
Leave us a rating in iTunes (it only takes 1 click and it really helps us).
Listen using the player below.
Episode #217
October 13, 2018
3 Things I Like – October 13
Each week (give or take one here and there) I share three things I like – It could be a book, a movie, a podcast, an album, a photo, an article, a restaurant, a food item, a beverage, or anything else I simply enjoy and think you might too. You can find a whole pile of things, especially books, I like and recommend HERE.
1. Edwards Apple Orchard
[image error]Since it finally feels like fall in Tennessee I can stop sweating and start to think about autumn, the most wonderful time of the year. And then I bemoan how much less awesome fall is in the south than in the midwest where I spent the first 30 years of my life. One of the experiences I miss most is an annual visit to Edwards Apple Orchard on the Illinois/Wisconsin border (about 90 minutes from Chicago). It is the quintessential fall experience replete with cider press, cider donuts, apple picking, hay rides, pumpkin patch, live music, food on a stick, and a retrofitted barn full of every fall product/snack/decoration you can imagine. And they make and sell fudge. After re-reading those sentences I am strongly considering the 9 hour drive from Nashville just to go there again AND I am convinced heaven will have a neighborhood that is just like Edwards Apple Orchard.
2. The Man in The High Castle
[image error]This Amazon Prime Original show is truly original, or rather the book it is based on is original. The premise is that the Axis forces won WW2 and split America, so the Reich Owns the Eastern States and the Japanese Empire owns the Western States. It is set in the early 60s and centers around a cast of characters from both coasts, both empires, and some who are rebelling. The hinge on which the story turns, though, are films that show alternative endings to the war–like the Allies winning–that are produced by a mysterious figure known as “the man in the high castle.” It is like watching historical fiction, but an alternate history. The acting and writing for the show are strong, especially the villains. The setting and tone are pitch perfect as well. It is suspenseful, but not a roller coaster. There is action, but it’s not a thriller. It is character driven without being brooding or morose. The best ting I can say about the show, though, is that is unique. I’m not aware of any other like it.
3. Career Highlights of The Reignman, Shawn Kemp
With the NBA hosting a recent preseason game in Seattle (a fantastic basketball city) it pulled me back to the first NBA game I remember watching in person. I sat baseline and saw Shawn Kemp and the sonics beat the brakes of the Minnesota Timberwoles. And sweet grandma Moses, was he a terrifying force. Enjoy these highlights.
October 10, 2018
New Happy Rant: Book Proposals, Vocation, Ambition, and Excitement
In this unique episode of The Happy Rant Ted interviews Barnabas. They discuss the following:
Barnabas’s in-the-works book proposal
Ambition as an author and in life
Excitement vs. expectations
Realistic hopes and expectations for our work
SPONSOR
[image error]Big thanks to our sponsor IVP Books, specifically Disruptive Witness by Alan Noble. We live in a distracted, secular age. These two trends define life in Western society today. We are increasingly addicted to habits―and devices―that distract and “buffer” us from substantive reflection and deep engagement with the world. And we live in a secular age―an age in which all beliefs are equally viable and real transcendence is less and less plausible. But the gospel of Jesus is inherently disruptive: like a plow, it breaks up the hardened surface to expose the fertile earth below. In this book Noble lays out individual, ecclesial, and cultural practices that disrupt our society’s deep-rooted assumptions and point beyond them to the transcendent grace and beauty of Jesus.
We’d also like to thank sponsor Noah’s Event Venue. Noah’s offers fantastic venues for churches to expand, to plant, or to start a campus and comes equipped with high end A/V, classroom space, and all the general meeting needs churches have (aside from a pour-over bar and leather aprons) – though they do have coffee/cafe services! They have multiple venues across the country in most major metro areas, so if you are a church leader looking for space to grow, plant, or move your congregation check them out.
Be sure to visit HappyRantPodcast.com where you can:
Order fresh roasted coffee from Lagares Roasters
Order your Happy Rant swag from Missional Wear (Use code RANT to get discounts on swag and/or shipping)
Please consider supporting the podcast financially as well. We have set up a Patreon page, and your donations help us cover production costs, do live events, and grow the podcast by trying some new things. Oh, and of course there are perks for those who commit to helps us such as free books and coffee!
To listen you can:
Subscribe in iTunes.
Listen on Google Play
Listen on Stitcher.
Leave us a rating in iTunes (it only takes 1 click and it really helps us).
Listen using the player below.
Episode #216
He Reads Truth: David and Abigail
I have the privilege of contributing to He Reads Truth, a website of whose purpose is “To help men become who we were made to be, by doing what we were made to do, by the power and provision that God has given us to do it, for the glory of Jesus Christ.” They do this by providing scripture reading plans accompanied by reflections that can be accessed for free online or purchased as print books. For those of you looking to engage scripture in a fresh way – either because you are dried up or have been away from it, these studies/plans will refresh your soul and engage your mind.
What follows is one of the pieces I wrote for the plan on 1 & 2 Samuel. You can find the full plan HERE.
1 Samuel 25:1-44, 1 Samuel 26:1-25, 1 Samuel 27:1-12, Romans 12:19, 1 Peter 2:22-25
A few mornings ago I was having breakfast with my daughters, and it came time to pray before we headed out for our respective days. It dawned on me then that my older daughter had prayed a few days prior for confidence and focus in a performance she was part of. The performance went off without a hitch, so I brought that up as a reminder of ways in which God answers prayer and works on our behalf. It was a helpful, if small, lesson for us.
Often this is how we think of God working: we ask and He helps. But more often than that, perpetually in fact, God is working in ways that are deeper and wider and more complex than we know. The stories of David and Abigail, and then of David and Saul, show this so clearly.
When David was insulted and shamed by Nabal, he was ready to mete out vengeance. His overtures had been made with respect, his men had protected Nabal’s shepherds, and they were in need of help. So of course, he became enraged when he was not only turned away, but with insults.
This is where we see God intervene on behalf of David. The story says Abigail—Nabal’s wise and beautiful wife—rode to meet him, offer assistance to his men, and plead for mercy. What we should see in that is God being merciful to David by protecting him and his future kingship from his own rage.
David recognized it. He saw in Abigail a wise and beautiful messenger from God sent to redirect and protect him, so he blessed the Lord and the Lord blessed them.
A few verses later we see David fleeing from Saul. Again, an opportunity for revenge arises. David could have ended his problems in a single blow. He could have dealt with Saul the same way he intended to deal with Nabal. Instead, he showed humility and discretion. Maybe God’s intervention earlier had made a lasting impression.
God’s direction in David’s life was not always obvious and not always asked for, but David saw it. He saw God leading him, and he learned to trust God even through the odd and unexpected. David had the power to take vengeance, to act on his own behalf, but he learned to let God do that. The more David looked for God’s hand at work, submitted to it, and let God work, the more God led and blessed him. Do we think it should work any different for us?
October 5, 2018
Happy Rant Sports Episode #19 – Ridiculous Trades, Genius Coaching, and Jimmy vs. Thibs
In this episode of The Happy Rant Sports Podcast Ted Kluck, Barnabas Piper, a guest host discuss the following:
Ridiculous trades in fantasy football
The Manziel Minute
Sean McVay is a genius.
Dumb Titans Thing Update: The Rishard Matthews edition
Jimmy Butler vs. Tom Thibodeau: the predictable war
NBA Coaching Culture
Be sure to visit HappyRantPodcast.com where you can:
Order fresh roasted coffee from Lagares Roasters
Order your Happy Rant swag from Missional Wear (Use code RANT to get discounts on swag and/or shipping)
Please consider supporting the podcast financially as well. We have set up a Patreon page, and your donations help us cover production costs, do live events, and grow the podcast by trying some new things. Oh, and of course there are perks for those who commit to helps us such as free books and coffee!
To listen you can:
Subscribe in iTunes.
Listen on Google Play
Listen on Stitcher.
Leave us a rating in iTunes (it only takes 1 click and it really helps us).
Listen using the player below.
Episode #19
October 4, 2018
He Reads Truth: The Exiles Came Back Home
I have the privilege of contributing to He Reads Truth, a website of whose purpose is “To help men become who we were made to be, by doing what we were made to do, by the power and provision that God has given us to do it, for the glory of Jesus Christ.” They do this by providing scripture reading plans accompanied by reflections that can be accessed for free online or purchased as print books. For those of you looking to engage scripture in a fresh way – either because you are dried up or have been away from it, these studies/plans will refresh your soul and engage your mind.
What follows is one of the pieces I wrote for the plan on Nehemiah. You can find the full plan HERE.
Nehemiah 7:1-73, Exodus 28:29-30, Psalm 34:19-22
The number 42,000 sounds like a lot of people. It’s about double the number that attend a sold-out NBA or NHL game. It would pack out most MLB stadiums and be a huge concert turnout. It’s quite a crowd.
But 42,000 is a small city—barely a city at all, in fact. It’s really more of a town. And that is the entire number of the exiles who returned to Jerusalem. Millions departed Judah in captivity, and 42,000 returned. When we think about it in these terms it sounds feeble and small. It is more sad than celebratory.
Yet this small number is no more sad than the seed that dies and shrivels and cracks to give life to a new plant (Matthew 13:1-22). For that is what these 42,000 exiles were: new growth of God’s people in God’s promised land. They were a fresh start and a kept promise and measure of God’s faithfulness.
While the list of names upon names (fifty verses worth) might seem cumbersome and meaningless as we struggle to read them, they are a record of a legacy. Every family represented had roots in Jerusalem and would grow there again because God was faithful. Every priest and Levite would once again serve God in the temple because God brought them home to do so, and they took this responsibility seriously. They sought to keep God’s law in selecting leaders. Those who “feared God more than most” (Nehemiah 7:2), and those of the correct lineage were selected according to God’s priestly dictum and manner (Urim and Thummim), so that God’s house would be unsullied.
These 42,000 had paid the price for their ancestors’ unrighteousness, and they had every intention of clinging to the God who had never let go of them. They clung to the words of David from Psalm 34, that “the Lord redeems the lives of His servants and all who take refuge in Him will not be punished” (v.22). Because they were small in number and barely established, God’s people held to the promise that “one who is righteous has many adversities, but the Lord rescues him from them all” (v.19). How could they not? They’d already been rescued from Egypt, from invaders, and now from exile too.
From this humble restart Israel would be established again. Families would resettle, the temple would be rebuilt, and hope would come again—hope for a Messiah, One who would gather the exiles from every tribe and nation around the globe. For God will always bring His people home and redeem the righteous.
October 1, 2018
New Happy Rant: Changing Worship Song Lyrics, Destiny Pants, and Christian Witchcraft
In this episode of The Happy Rant Ted, Barnabas, and Ronnie rant about the following:
Why do reformed people feel the compulsion to change the lyrics to hymns and worship songs?
When is it even ok to mess with a writer’s work like that?
Introducing DESTINY PANTS–yes, they are as awesome as you might think
What’s the deal with Christalignment (not a typo) tarot cards? Is that Christian witchcraft?
SPONSOR
[image error]Big thanks to our sponsor IVP Books, specifically Disruptive Witness by Alan Noble. We live in a distracted, secular age. These two trends define life in Western society today. We are increasingly addicted to habits―and devices―that distract and “buffer” us from substantive reflection and deep engagement with the world. And we live in a secular age―an age in which all beliefs are equally viable and real transcendence is less and less plausible. But the gospel of Jesus is inherently disruptive: like a plow, it breaks up the hardened surface to expose the fertile earth below. In this book Noble lays out individual, ecclesial, and cultural practices that disrupt our society’s deep-rooted assumptions and point beyond them to the transcendent grace and beauty of Jesus.
We’d also like to thank sponsor Noah’s Event Venue. Noah’s offers fantastic venues for churches to expand, to plant, or to start a campus and comes equipped with high end A/V, classroom space, and all the general meeting needs churches have (aside from a pour-over bar and leather aprons) – though they do have coffee/cafe services! They have multiple venues across the country in most major metro areas, so if you are a church leader looking for space to grow, plant, or move your congregation check them out.
Be sure to visit HappyRantPodcast.com where you can:
Order fresh roasted coffee from Lagares Roasters
Order your Happy Rant swag from Missional Wear (Use code RANT to get discounts on swag and/or shipping)
Please consider supporting the podcast financially as well. We have set up a Patreon page, and your donations help us cover production costs, do live events, and grow the podcast by trying some new things. Oh, and of course there are perks for those who commit to helps us such as free books and coffee!
To listen you can:
Subscribe in iTunes.
Listen on Google Play
Listen on Stitcher.
Leave us a rating in iTunes (it only takes 1 click and it really helps us).
Listen using the player below.
Episode #215
September 28, 2018
3 Things I Like – September 28
Each week (give or take one here and there) I share three things I like – It could be a book, a movie, a podcast, an album, a photo, an article, a restaurant, a food item, a beverage, or anything else I simply enjoy and think you might too. You can find a whole pile of things, especially books, I like and recommend HERE.
1. Virgil Wander by Leif Enger
[image error]Enger is one of those authors who writes so sublimely that I cannot stop reading but who almost makes me want to quit writing because he is so far beyond where I will ever be. He may be the best novelist alive today. His stories are about people, and the plot flows from the richness of the characters. He communicates deep, true things with wit and subtlety so as not to bludgeon readers. He is hilarious in a delightfully understated, Scandinavian manner. Virgil Wander is his third novel (Enger is profound, not prolific), and it is as excellent as his first two, Peace Like a River and So Brave, Young, and Handsome. It is difficult to describe these books because they are not about an event or a place or a plot. They are about the normal, yet profound, lives of their characters. Enger taps into the soul, mind, and imagination but his books don’t lack action or suspense. They are page turners for all the best reasons, and you should get ALL of them.
2. The Peaky Blinders
[image error]This is a Netflix Original show starring Cillian Murphy, Helen McRory and a host of other exceptional, if lesser known, performers. It is about the leading crime family in Birmingham, England shortly after WW1. It is a steel town with a violent underbelly, and the Peaky Blinders (the gang led by the family) rule it. Throughout the various seasons they face betrayal, invasion, intrigue, war, and more. The villains are villainous. The good guys are confusing; you are rooting for a crime family after all. The show is violent and profane (or what evangelicals like to call “gritty” and it has “some content”). They acting is exceptional, the writing is strong, and the plots are gripping. In all it is a rough and rowdy ride in an exceptionally cool setting.
3. Songs I Heard by Harry Connick Jr.
[image error]Harry Connick Jr. has long been one of my favorite musicians. He is what Michael Buble wants to be when he grows up. I remember hearing for the first time when my youth pastor played his album 11 when I was in junior high. I have loved his music ever since. This album is one of his most creative. He reimagines songs from his favorite childhood movies – Sounds of Music, Mary Poppins, Wizard of Oz. and more – as jazz and big band tunes. Connick is a genius, and this album is really fun.
He Reads Truth: Gifts from the Holy Spirit
I have the privilege of contributing to He Reads Truth, a website of whose purpose is “To help men become who we were made to be, by doing what we were made to do, by the power and provision that God has given us to do it, for the glory of Jesus Christ.” They do this by providing scripture reading plans accompanied by reflections that can be accessed for free online or purchased as print books. For those of you looking to engage scripture in a fresh way – either because you are dried up or have been away from it, these studies/plans will refresh your soul and engage your mind.
What follows is one of the pieces I wrote for the plan on 1&2 Corinthians. You can find the full plan HERE.
1 Corinthians 14:1-39, Exodus 25:8, 1 John 4:1-3
The devil loves nothing more than believers taking our eyes off Jesus. It’s his sole mission—to pull people away from Christ—and he excels at it. One of the devil’s most devious and effective methods is stirring up dissension and debate within the church, what Scripture calls a spirit of confusion. We get mired in arguments, frustration, judgment, preferential tug-o-war, and all of it under the guise of defending truth or seeking good things. In reality, though, we’ve forgotten the reason for church: joining together to worship and reflect Jesus. Confusion has defeated us, and that’s what this passage in 1 Corinthians 14 is about.
Here, Paul sets out to offer clarity, the opposite of confusion. From the top, he says he wishes people would pursue love and desire spiritual gifts, and he follows that up a few verses later by saying that all gifts are for the good of the church, to build one another up. This is Paul’s thesis, and everything else in the passage points to that.
Our temptation is to tie others and ourselves in knots with debates over speaking in tongues and prophecy. What do they mean? How should people do them? Are they gifts for everyone? These questions matter enormously, and they’re also a temptation—a temptation toward confusion and distraction.
We can never forget that we are to “seek to excel at building up the church” so that, “everyone may learn and everyone may be encouraged” (vv. 12,31). This is why God grants gifts of the Spirit, and anything that doesn’t move the church in this direction is of a false spirit, as 1 John chapter 4 tells us. We are to test the spirits (vv.1–6). If this sounds oddly mystical or confusing, John clarifies:
Does the spirit profess Christ or does it not?
Does it point people to Jesus or distract them?
Does it diminish Jesus or make Him bigger?
This is a sharp knife to divide the false spirits from the true, and the helpful gifts from the unhelpful.
We ignore these instructions at our own peril and at the peril of our churches. We are called to be a sanctuary, a dwelling place of God, both individually and corporately. But when we allow chaos and confusion to supersede Jesus, we stop being a church and become nothing more than a gathering of people. Only when we seek to excel in building up the church with spiritual gifts, confessing Christ above all else, will we be the church God calls us to be through Paul’s words.
