Make All Things New

The Prodigal God by Timothy Keller is coming out in October. I pre-order my copy already (yeah, I am sick).

Worth reading is Alex Chediak’s interview with Keller regarding the forth coming book.

Many people just don’t like Calvinists. Interestingly though, it’s often not because they think the Calvinists are wrong or too intellectual or too grace-focused or anything like that. Usually, at least in my experience, it’s because Calvinists can come off as proud and self-righteous, as if they have all the answers to how the whole of Scripture fits together. So often Calvinists focus so much on truth that they miss grace altogether. I should know for I have been one such Calvinist in the past. While I am still a Calvinist, I hope to have removed the fatal irony from my “Calvinist apologetic”. The fatal irony? It is ironic that I, as one who loves the doctrines of grace, would fail to show that grace to others when sharing the doctrines with others. What a contradiction! And it often leads to coming off as judgmental and uncaring when we are talking about grace.

In “What’s So Great About the Doctrines of Grace”, Richard Phillips, gracefully provides the necessary Scriptures to argue for the doctrines of grace. And honestly, that alone would be well worth my time to read it. But Phillips goes even further. He attempts to share why these truths are precious for believer lives. Not only does he get biblical, but he gets practical as well (not that there really is a difference in either of these, it just helps to have some one draw the practical out).

I have read quite a number of books that share the biblical basis of the TULIP acrostic but few and far between have been the books that share the beauty of what TULIP means to the individual believer. Phillips does an excellent job of filling the void many Calvinist leave in their explanations – the practical beauty found in the doctrines of grace.

This book will not only help to inform some one as to “why” the doctrines of grace but it will also show them the “wow” of the doctrines of grace. Phillips’ pastoral heart comes through in this short and readable book. I would definitely recommend it to anyone. I plan on giving it out to folks I minister to if they are trying to get a good view on soteriology.

And for those of us who may be quite familiar with the doctrines of grace and be able to explain it quite well, this book will assist you in sharing with grace. It has encouraged me afresh to share the glory of these truths and not just the facts behind them. That, I believe, is a valuable reminder.

The book is available from Reformation Trust.

I was listening to a Tim Keller message a couple of days ago called “The City” (it’s a great message from the 2005 Redeemer Vision series) and he mentioned something I have been meditating on for a day now… Christ chose to die. I don’t get that. See many people have chosen to die for something. Many people will be remembered for choosing the manner of their death. Many people have even chosen when they would die. But Jesus Christ chose to die. All the other people would have died anyway. Jesus Christ is the only one who chose death when He didn’t have to. Jesus didn’t just chose how and when to die, but that he would die. Amazing!

Jesus’ going to the cross to die for my sins is huge but often I lose the proper context of his death. He didn’t just endure the humiliation of the cross, he endured the whole idea of death! No one in history has ever made a decision like that. No one has ever loved like that!

Enlightened Evangelism

Marshall states his view on the Christian life and evangelism quite succinctly on pages 209-210:

When men and women turn to Jesus Christ in real, concrete repentance from sin and, by grace through faith, are restored in God’s favor, they are called to begin to live out the healing and restoration of Christ’s redemption, taking up their Christian responsibility for the direction of human life and culture. Evangelism is, in a way, the recruiting process for this life whereby people are called out for service to God’s kingdom. Evangelism calls people to repentance and to love God. We are called to a new life of service to our neighbors. This is the Christian life.

There is much that could be unpacked and dissected in that statement. While I would not want to copy it verbatim as a statement of what I believe the gospel and Christian life to be completely about, I do think Marshall is right in speaking of “living out the healing and restoration of Christ’s redemption..” I agree with the idea that there is more to the gospel than an individual’s salvation and that there is more to evangelism than sharing about sin and repentance (there’s also restoration – that’s good news!). Evangelism that just focuses sin and repentance often makes us appear (while truthful) very uncaring. However, good works apart from sharing the gospel make us like any other social improvement organization. Recently, I received a letter requestion my support for a friend’s running a race to raise money for cancer. In the letter my friend mentioned that Margaret Mead once said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed that is the only thing that ever has.” Well, I respectfully disagree. Jesus Christ is the changer of the world, not people. While people are used in His plan to restore, make no mistake, apart from Christ our efforts are filthy rags. And likewise, I fear that our mercy efforts, apart from the proclamation of Christ, are just Mead-esque efforts to change the world in our own strength.

In an effort to move towards the center on this, Marshall explains the problem with pulling the other way:

If we try to make all our art, work, detective stories, or legislation simply a means to win others, we cause all sorts of problems. Our art will degenerate to propaganda. People will avoid talking to us at work, except to conduct essential business. Those around us will think that we don’t take our writing seriously, or our job seriously, on its own account. Most important, they will assume that we don’t take them seriously. This is why many non-Christians avoid evangelicals like the plague: they don’t want to get grabbed, buttonholed, “shared” with, or otherwise commandeered. (p 210)

Marshall shares an excellent quote on the subject by C.S. Lewis. While I won’t share the quote in it’s entirety here, I will say that Lewis suggested that “What we want is not more little books about Christianity, but more little books by Christians on other subjects — with their Christianity latent.” (p 211) Latent Christianity planted within the culture is a form of evangelism worth meditating on for sure! Marshall shares how Lewis did just that with the classic Chronicles of Narnia series.

Marshall finish this stirring chapter with thoughts on Christian involvement in media and considering whether Paul would have used TV and radio. Thought provoking reading for me.

I read this humbling reminder from A.W. Pink today:

The truth of God’s sovereignty . . . removes every ground for human boasting and instills the spirit of humility in its stead. It declares that salvation is of the Lord—of the Lord in its origination, in its operation, and in its consummation. . . . And all this is most humbling to the heart of man, who wants to contribute something to the price of his redemption and do that which will afford ground for boasting and self-satisfaction. (from The Sovereingty of God

The moment I start believing, by thought or deed, that I can save myself, is the moment I stop believing in the One who really can and does.

Check out the live feed today, tomorrow and Friday morning.
(HT: Said At Southern)

Worship and Idolatry

Chapter thirteen is the first portion of Part V (the final section of the book) entitled, “Our Hope For the World”.

Marshall begins by sharing that all of creation declares God’s glory (Ps. 19:1) and that when we worship, we are joining in with the creation in glorifying God. He states that worship really isn’t us creating something but rather we join in the creation’s praise to God. While much of the rest of this chapter is quite typical of a discussion on worship, Marshall distinction of all of creation worshiping God was interesting.

Idolarty, according to Marshall is putting creation in the place of God instead of seeing it as a good gift from God. “Whenever we hold something apart from God to be the core or key to our problems, we make an idol.” (p 191) Again, this is typical explanation of idolatry but Marshall adds a distinction, a nuance, that I like on page 194:

“Everything in the creation is given for our good and is meant to be used rightly to bring blessings. But none of them cane be the final cause of hope, or the foundation of peace, or the source of love. none of them can be trusted in or relied upon for our ultimate salvation. All of them find their proper place only when we humbly rely upon God’s faithfulness, justice, and mercy.”

While this may not be earth-shattering, the distinction, in my opinion, is important. And the distinction, if you missed it, is that the creation is a good thing but elevated above God, it becomes a bad thing. Idolatry isn’t necessarily about desiring bad things but more often about desiring good thing too much. I was grateful for Marshall’s reminder that creation, in its proper place in our hearts, is good. Creation isn’t the problem, sin is.

The Baltimore Sun recently published this article about the Messianic Jews’ complaint of hostility directed toward them for their belief in Jesus.

My friend Larry just posted about this book today on his blog. I started reading it as well and have been impressed so far. I also found out that there is a DVD and study guide to go with. You can view two samples below of the DVD below.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKCxOO1r1Lg]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lROCyountL0]

Taylor Buzzard has a great post on her husband’s blog where she shares her “Top Ten Takeaways from Shepherding a Child’s Heart” (must read for parents.)