Justin Taylor's Blog, page 333

How Should Christians Think about the Death of Osama bin Laden?

Doubtless there will be much commentary in days ahead about the appropriate Christian response to the death of Osama bin Laden.

I think it's appropriate for Christians to intermingle grieving and gratitude.

Grief for a life made in the image of God but so destructive of human life and so dishonoring to God.

And gratitude for justice being served as an instrument of God's wrath.

If it's true that "God's emotional life is infinitely complex beyond our ability to fully comprehend," it should be no surprise that his followers would reflect some of that complexity as well. After all, we are the people who are "sorrowful yet always rejoicing."

A couple of early pieces that point to this tension in the Christian life:

Christopher Morgan, "Grieving, Rejoicing that Osama bin Laden Is Dead"
Denny Burk, "Some Thoughts on the Death of Osama bin Laden"

Addicted to Technology

On Abraham Lincoln's technology addiction:

At City Point on April 1 [1865], Lincoln received reports and sent messages. He haunted the army telegraph office for news of the battles raging in Virginia. He was addicted to this technology.

It was an impatient habit he had formed in Washington. He did not like to wait for important news. To his delight, the War Department telegraph office was a short walk from the Executive Mansion. He became a habitué of the office, befriending the men employed there, to whom he often made surprise visits at any time of the day or night.

Now he was standing over the telegraph operators at City Point, and as soon as they transcribed the reports as they came off the wire, the president snatched the hurried scribblings from their hands.

—James Swanson, Bloody Crimes: The Chase for Jefferson Davis and the Death Pageant for Lincoln's Corpse (Morrow/HarperCollins, 2010), pp. 18-19.

150 years later, many of us have a similar habit, just with more constant and advanced technology. And of course most of us don't have the excuse of trying to save the Union!

Piper on the Pastor as Prophet (Free Course)

DG:

The video of John Piper's preaching course at Re:Train is now available in our Resource Library.

The Pastor as Prophet (Part 1)
The Pastor as Prophet (Part 2)
The Pastor as Prophet (Part 3)
The Pastor as Prophet (Part 4)

Download the course's 42-page syllabus (PDF).

I don't know if audio is forthcoming, but will update this post if/when it is.

The Government's Sword as an Instrument of God's Wrath

"[A governing authority] not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer."

—Romans 13:4

Explaining the Gospel: Pastors and Theologians Forum

9Marks:

We asked a roundtable of pastors and theologians two questions:

You are standing on stage before 100,000 people from every nation on earth and asked to share the gospel in 100 words or less. What would you say
You are standing before a small crowd from your church's neighborhood and asked to share the gospel in 100 words or less. What would you say? [Authors were asked to include a couple of words describing their neighborhood. We have included these in italics when provided.]

Answers from

Peter Adams—Melbourne, Australia
Greg Gilbert—Louisville, KY
Liam Goligher—London, England
Michael Horton—Escondido, CA
Michael Nazir-Ali—Rochester, England
Frank Retief—Cape Town, South Africa
"Ed Roberts"—Central Asia
Mack Stiles—Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Adrian Warnock—London, England

Or view all the answers on one page.

On sharing the gospel with Muslims, I thought Mack Stiles's contribution was helpful:

Allah commands you to read the Injil. But what does it say? It says salvation comes from Allah's love, not Allah's rules! It says the straight path to Allah is faith in the Jesus of the Injil. The Injil gives only one path: Jesus, fully God – fully man and perfect, ransomed us to God through his death on the cross. He paid our sin-debt. He rose from the dead as proof that he is the path to heaven. Does Allah's strength not protect his word? The Injil says repent; follow Jesus; put your complete faith and trust in him.

[Editor's note: in further conversation with Mr. Stiles, he said he often will use this story with unbelievers (which he says is not original to him): Two men went to the mosque to pray. One was a rich man, the other a poor man. The rich man went through his libations and prayers as he did five times a day. As he was praying, he began to have a sexual fantasy about the young wife who lived next door to his home. But he finished his prayers and went home. The poor man stood off at a distance. He came so infrequently to the mosque, that he couldn't remember the positions for prayer or his libations. But he looked up to heaven, beat his breast, and said, "Forgive me, O Lord, for I'm a sinner." Who went home justified? Mr Stiles says that every Muslim he has asked this question has answered "The rich man."]

The Ultimate Aim of All Christian Preaching

John Piper offers ten theses to explain how all preaching should be gospel preaching, proclaiming Christ crucified:

Whatever lasting good God ever does or ever did or ever will do for any individual person, he does and did and will do because of his free, utterly undeserved grace.
This free grace, that gives every lasting good to people, can benefit us justly only because of Jesus' wrath-absorbing, righteousness-providing, sin-atoning, guilt-removing, substitutionary death for us.
Without this kind of atoning death of Christ, God's grace would not save us, but only increase our condemnation because of the hardness of our hearts.
But by the blood of Christ, God really purchased us for himself and secured not only every lasting good that we receive, but also the gift of repentance and faith through which we receive everything else.
Therefore every sermon that holds out any lasting good to any person (as every Christian sermon must) should be based on, and interwoven with, the gospel of the living Christ's substitutionary death.
This gospel basis and gospel interweaving of our sermons should be clear enough so that gospel-deniers (like Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, atheists, legalists, libertines, etc) will not approve of our sermons. There should be enough of Christ and of his cross that those who deny the gospel don't approve the sermon.
This gospel basis and gospel interweaving of our sermons should be clear enough so that the living Jesus will be honored as the ground and goal of the message because of his grace-securing sacrifice for us.
This gospel basis and gospel interweaving of our sermons should be clear enough so that the imperative that flows from the message is, first and foremost, faith in the blood-bought reality that God is 100% for us in Christ (that is, faith in the justifying work of Christ), and then, secondly, the obedience that comes from this faith (that is, the fruit of the sanctifying work of the Spirit).
In this sense then every sermon proclaims Christ. His atoning work is the ground of all it offers. His glory is the ultimate goal of all it aims to achieve. And the written revelation of Christ's unfolding ways in history (that is, Scripture) is the only authoritative source from which we bring this work and ground and this glory to light (expository exultation).
Thus with Christ-crucified as the ground and goal and matter of every sermon (and all of life) the ultimate aim of God in creation is advanced: the praise of the glory of God's grace, through the joy of his people in him.

To see Scriptural support for these points, see pp. 5-8 of this syllabus (PDF).

Commentaries with Warmth

This is from a letter written by D.A. Carson to Eerdmans editor Milton Essenburg (November 27, 1992) on what he envisioned as one of the distinctives of the Pillar Commentary Series:

I think that there is an enormous market (and need!) for commentaries that are warm — that is, written from a perspective in which the author attempts no artificial 'objectivity' but writes as a Christian at a high level of competence but with devotion displayed in the way he or she shapes sentences and paragraphs.

Within such a framework some overt application or useful historical parallel can be slipped in to strengthen the nurturing component in the book.

The unique factor in the Pillar series, as I see it, is that the series as a whole is not too technical, and every volume has as a goal not merely the conveying of information but something of nurture and edification as well.

Ideally, the Pillar series should be first-class exegesis capturing the flow of the argument, with sufficient interaction with the secondary literature to ensure that the work is current, while at the same time reflecting unselfconscious warmth, a certain spiritual vitality that shows itself in the form of expression and in unobtrusive application."

One of the reasons that Carson's own commentaries are so edifying.

HT: Scot McKnight

How to Pray and Give for Disaster Relief in Alabama

Some guidance from David Platt and the Church at Brook Hills, on responding to the results of the deadliest tornadoes in the US since the Great Depression.

How to pray:

We mustn't overlook the importance and benefit of prayer on behalf of individuals, families, and communities during circumstances like these. We ask that in your personal life, as well as in your family, your small group, or your church, that you pray intentionally, fervently, and continually according to the following needs…

Pray that God will strengthen and give wisdom to emergency workers who are still working to find missing people.
Pray for individuals who have lost family and friends through this storm. Pray that God will sustain them with His presence and strengthen them with His power.
Pray for local churches in the affected areas. Pray that God will enable pastors and church leaders as they conduct funerals and minister to hurting families. Pray that God will grant His people grace to know how best to love and serve their communities.
Pray that God will give wisdom to leaders of various organizations who are coordinating disaster relief across affected areas.
Pray that God will shower these communities with His sovereign mercy and loving provision. Especially in light of this past Easter weekend, pray that people would know the God who is present in our pain and sovereign over our suffering.

And how to give:

We are receiving financial donations for disaster relief and response that we are then channeling to communities through various efforts and organizations with which we are involved. Our goal is to use these funds in gospel-centered, church-focused, reliable, relational, and sustainable ways throughout affected areas. 100% of these funds will be used in disaster relief and response.

CLICK HERE to make a financial donation.

Urban Legends Repeated by Preachers

Trevin Wax has a good list here of biblical or historical "facts" you may have heard or read—but aren't true.

Mohler: The One Great Lesson He Has Learned

From an interview with TableTalk:

Although there are many, is there one lesson the Lord has taught you that you would care to share with us?

I think the one great lesson the Lord has taught me over these years is that the importance of the family and the local congregation supersedes every other relationship to which the Christian is called. Christians demonstrate the glory of God and the power of the gospel by the way we marry and stay married, by the way we raise our children, by the way we love each other, and by the way we live faithfully in the congregation of believers. In the end, I fear that far too much energy is devoted to and far too many hopes are invested in institutions, programs, and projects that will not last. The centrality of Christ's purpose to glorify himself in His church and the blessings of God that are directed to the precious gift of the family — these far exceed our other allegiances.