Friday, October 30, 2015

Practical advice for service planning

Mark Ashton and C. J. Davis reflect on Archbishop Thomas Cranmer's impactful contribution of the "Book of Common Prayer," and how the Anglican church today should apply the principles which sanctioned its writing.

The authors helpfully provide a framework that both reformed and pentecostal church leaders should find useful in planning for the worship service. 

The preacher and worship leader/team should not be working independently if the church is to be pointed to a unified direction - to that of Christ, God's redemptive plan and what is demanded of his adopted sons, etc. These meetings should focus on prayer rather than on administrative "arrowing" of responsibilities. Hopefully, the lead preacher is not be too afraid/proud to have his exegesis (or eisegesis) preparation examined (be it prior to or after the sermon). The preacher who takes on the stance that he is infallible and can preach no false message is treading in extremely murky waters.


From Pages 80-82 of Worship by the Book

It is helpful to have a meeting to plan and review services in order to learn from mistakes and to develop good practice. Obviously some churches do not have this opportunity, but where the person responsible for the Bible teaching and the person responsible for the music can confer and pray together, it will raise the quality of the services. If such a meeting can be weekly and can include one or two others, with draft outlines of the service prepared and circulated in advance, it will be better still. It is particularly important to assess the sermon and to consider how the rest of the service relates to it. Sermons should not be divorced from the context in which they are delivered. Every preacher benefits from hearing his sermons reviewed, and every service benefits from the preacher playing a part in its preparation.

Careful preparation need not rule out spontaneity. Open prayer, impromptu testimony, a "flow" of singing, and other forms of unscheduled congregational participation may be appropriate according to the culture of the congregation. It was to regulate rather than exclude such activity that Paul wrote 1 Corinthians 14. The planning group will want to weigh how such participation fits with the collective temperament of their congregation and how outsider-friendly it will be. The preacher will be able to suggest what will be the best congregational response to his next sermon: a time of silence, a time of open prayer, a time for repentance, discussion groups, questions to the preacher, an after meeting for those in need of an opportunity to respond to the gospel, or a time of counseling or prayer. Then the service leader need to have the freedom to change what has been planned when the time comes, within whatever prearranged guidelines are appropriate.

Together with planning, prayer is an important purpose of this meeting. If we believe that we are involved in planning something God has ordained (the gathering of Christians), for God's purposes (winning and building up disciples), and that this is his work (in which we are simply co-workers), we will make prayer a priority as we plan. It is a way of acknowledging the importance of church services and our dependence on God as the One who alone can build his church.

Every occasion when believers gather in the name of Christ is too precious an opportunity to be allowed to go by without care being taken over it. For those in isolated ministry positions with no colleagues to pray or plan with, it is a high priority to find someone who will share in this task. The best services are normally team efforts, demonstrating the corporateness of the Christian life. But a mistake we often make is to draw others in to help with the execution of the service rather than with the planning and preparation of the service. The isolated vicar will be more helped by hearing someone else's assessment of his last sermon and service than by someone leading next week's intercessions for him. It is the difference between asking someone to do something for us and to do something with us. Some ministers never manage to establish teams because they never allow anyone alongside them to become a genuine yoke-fellow, sharing both encouragement and criticism. It will be much easier to prevent services from being doctrinally off-beam or dull if we draw in others to help.

Clowney on Jesus transforming the second commandment

I have never seen this passage quite this way before. Jesus asks us, who do we belong to and whose image we bear. If it is God's, then the only appropriate response would be to give him our lives.


From pages 27 of: How Jesus Transforms The Ten Commandments

A true understanding of the second commandment must come as we look at Jesus, who transformed it. Jesus shows us the richness and depth of this commandment when he answers the hypocrites who ask him, "Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?" In response, Jesus asks to be shown a denarius, a coin used in paying Roman taxes. "Whose portrait is this?" he asks his opponents. "And whose inscription?" They were forced to reply, "Caesar's." As he always did in his responses to their provocation, Jesus avoids the trap and forces them to deal with the true meaning of God's law: "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's" is his stunning answer (Matt. 22:17-21).

In recognizing the authority of Rome, Jesus makes an enormous transition from Old Testament theocracy to a new notion of kingdom. But he goes much further in this simple
statement about a Roman coin. It becomes obvious that he is teaching us to give back to God what bears his image, just as people had to give back to Caesar the coins that bore his image. If Caesar gets a coin, what does God get? We give God back his image by giving him ourselves.

Clowney on the Soul and the Body

From pages 24-25 of: How Jesus Transforms The Ten Commandments

Explanations of man's qualities as being the "image of God" are insufficient if they focus uniquely on the physical or intellectual aspects of our human nature. The New Testament makes clear that it is the soul of man, not his reasoning ability or his physical features, that makes him a person in the image of God. Scripture distinguishes between the soul and the body. Jesus said to the thief on the cross, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise" (Luke 23:43). Surely this has to mean that Jesus and the thief would be together apart from their bodies, since Jesus' body would remain three days in the grave. But is the soul the only part of man that is in God's image? Jesus rose from the dead in his body. He left the tomb and greeted Mary Magdalene on Easter morning. To demonstrate that his risen body was real, he ate a piece of fish, smiling, perhaps, as he chewed it. All of this seems to emphasize the importance of the body as a part of God's image. Can it be possible that the body is a part of the divine image in man?

This body—soul union and distinction is puzzling. Our souls or spirits may rejoice with the Lord apart from the body. Paul said, "I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body" (Phil. 1:23-24). Yet Paul also says, "We do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life" (2 Cor. 5:4). The Lord does provide a form in the intermediate state for his redeemed in heaven before the resurrection. We were not created as disembodied spirits. After God had said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness" (Gen. 1:26), he formed Adam "from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life" (Gen. 2:7). We are made body
and soul, and our redemption cannot be complete until the resurrection of the dead, when we receive our resurrection bodies (2 Cor. 5:4). Man in his body—soul created state is made in God's image. God chose to reflect himself in human beings, both male and female.

Clowney on Jesus as the perfect sacrificial lamb of God

From pages 19-20 of: How Jesus Transforms The Ten Commandments

To do his redeeming work, Christ must be true God and true man. Jesus was therefore born of the Spirit in the womb of Mary. But incarnation is insufficient to redeem. When the Ten Commandments were given as the seal of the covenant agreement between God and his people at Sinai, the blood of sacrifice was sprinkled on the altar, on the law, and on the people. We have seen that the altar sacrifice was at the heart of the covenant. Israel's worship centered on the sacrifice as the substitute for the sinner. Isaiah picks up the theme of sacrifice in his prophecy, emphasizing especially the work of the suffering Servant, who takes the punishment for our sins. By his wounds we are healed, and he must pay the cost of redemption. Abraham was able to spare his son Isaac from the altar, since God provided a substitute, in the form of a ram caught in the bushes. Ultimately, however, there could be no substitute animal when the Father dealt with our sin. He could not spare his own Son, but had to deliver him up for us all. Jesus, God the Son in his human nature, can alone pay the infinite price of our redemption. Jesus is the Lamb of God: the Lamb given by the Father (Gen. 22:8; John 1:29; 1 Peter 1:19).

Clowney on God's two mountaintop revelations to mankind

Yahweh issued ten commandments in a terrifying revelation of himself on Mount Sinai, many years later on another mountain, he gives us only one commandment - to listen to his beloved son!


From pages 11-12 of: How Jesus Transforms The Ten Commandments

We have biblical background for the phrase "mountaintop experience." The Bible often speaks of mountains, and God marks his glorious presence by drawing his people's eyes upward to the mountains. Two mountaintop experiences frame God's revelation of himself to his people. The thunder and lightning of the Old Testament experience at Mount Sinai have been depicted in many a piece of art and in many a film. God's terrifying presence, the threat of death, the fearful quaking of the people—all these are physical signs of the importance of what happened on the mountain in the Sinai peninsula. God spoke, and declared his law to his people, revealing his person, his presence, and his commands.

Many years later on another mountain, in an incident recorded in the New Testament, God spoke again. The terrible, glorious, frightening, exhilarating cloud of the glory of God's presence once again overshadowed those on the mountain. Three disciples stood transfixed as they saw Moses, the scribe of the law, and Elijah, the representative of the prophets, speaking with Jesus. Moses, who had not been allowed to enter the Promised Land, found himself once again on the mountain with God. But this time, he was allowed to see the fulfillments of all that he had first on Mount Sinai. Instead often commandments, written on tablets of stone, and shattered at the foot of the mountain because of the people's sin, God uttered only one commandment—the true summary of the Law and the Prophets: "This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!" (Mark 9:7).

Jesus reveals the I AM God in the fullest possible way. The law is only a pale reflection in comparison. The Ten Commandments, God's first specific, verbal revelation of his nature to his people, help us to understand him and to understand Son, who is the fulfilment of that law.

Thursday, October 29, 2015

Waltke on how Pagans look for signs

Waltke highlights some ways pagan people determine the mind of God: 
  1. by studying the liver of sacrificed animals (hepatoscopy)
  2. by studying the direction of arrows (rhabdomancy)
  3. by making sacrifices to idols (teraphim)
  4. by watching the stars (astrology)
  5. by fortune telling (hydromancy)
  6. by talking to spirits


Selected text from Pages 48-58 of Finding the Will of God

Pagans devised all sorts of special tasks to help them determine the mind of God. Each of these tasks included searching for some special sign given by the gods. The most popular was hepatoscopy, the study of the liver. Pagans believed that memory and intelligence resided in the liver, not the brain, and they created an entire course of study to read livers. The liver was the heaviest organ, and therefore if God was going to reveal His mind to man He would do so through the heaviest and supposedly most important organ. This may not be as incredible as it first sounds. Earlier in this century we had phrenologists, who studied the brain's wrinkles and protuberances to determine the character of the individual. Likewise the ancient priests studied the liver and intestines to determine the mind of the gods. They would sacrifice a sheep, and "read" the liver's shape to see what God had to say to them, much as a carnival gypsy might read your palm at the fair. One of the greatest kings of Assyria, Ashurbanapol, spent much of his life studying livers in order to divine the will of God. Most of the ancient texts offer explanations for reading the liver of a sacrificed animal, and they include special notations for encountering unique situations.

The ancients saw hepatoscopy as being particularly important, especially in times of war or famine. It was not unusual for a team of priests to slaughter a dozen sheep and study their livers, hoping to find similar signs in several animals. They felt that the use of many livers, with the work being done by a number of different priests, assured them of a measure of certainty in their work.

As silly as this may seem to us now, this was common practice and the people put much faith in it because they all recognized that there is a God, and they all wanted to communicate with Him. Since the shedding of blood and the very thought of life was wrapped up in a sacrifice, they thought this would offer them a sign from God. It was certainly more bloody, but theoretically not much different from a modern man or woman who asks God for a sign to guide them. Both are methods of divination that require God to work in a miraculous way to reveal His will.

Another method of looking for a sign was that of rhabdomancy, the use of arrows as a sign from the Lord. An example of this occurs in Ezekiel 21:21: "For the king of Babylon will stop at the fork in the road, at the junction of two roads, to seek an omen. He will cast lots with arrows, he will consult his idols, he will examine the liver." The king, unsure of which road his armies must take to conquer the holy land, uses three different forms of divination to make up his mind. There were various ways to use arrows in determining the will of God. The could be cast, or tossed, to see which way they pointed. This may seem like nothing more than an ancient equivalent of spinning a lottery wheel, and that would be a valid analogy. But the people of that day believed in the superintendence of the gods in all matters, so even the direction of dropped arrows could not be chalked up to mere chance. As a matter of fact, at least once in history a king turned his soldiers around and refused to attack the enemy because even though he had superior forces, the arrow's strongly suggested a retreat.

Teraphim, the use of idol images, is one other method of looking for a sign from God. Making sacrifices to idols was a common practice, and the people hoped to intercede for themselves and gain the favor of the gods. Scripture is very clear about how God's people are to respond to idols: "Do not turn to idols or make gods of cast metal for yourselves. I am the Lord your God" (Leviticus 19:4). We have a jealous God who does not want His people involved with any sort of idol worship. "All who make idols are nothing, and the things they treasure are worthless. Those who would speak up for them are blind; they ignorant, to their own shame. Who shapes a god and casts an idol, which can profit him nothing?" (Isaiah 44:9—10). Idols were usually statues of a god, sometimes in the form of an animal or other being, although Scripture makes clear that anything which inspires our devotion can be an idol. After trying to please the idol, questions would be asked of it and the people would await the idol's reply.

God's people are never to be involved with idols. The prophet Hosea criticized the people of his day by saying, "They consult a wooden idol, and are answered by a stick of wood. A spirit of prostitution leads them astray; they are unfaithful to their God (Hosea 4:12), and Jonah adds, 'those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs' (Jonah 2:8). That's why the people of Israel were so reviled. Rather than worshiping the various gods of the pagan cultures, they held to their belief in the one true God. And when the nation turned away from worshiping God and began chasing after pagan deities, the country's problems began. "What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said, 'I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people'" (2 Corinthians 6:16).

The Bible tells us that when people bow down to worship an idol, they are actually worshiping a demon. "They sacrificed to demons," we read in Deuteronomy 32: 17, "which are not God—gods they had not known, gods that recently appeared, gods your fathers did not know." Paul, writing to the church at Corinth, teaches us that "the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons" (l Corinthians 10:20). Satan is behind all idol worship, since it is a means of turning people away from the true God. So any time an individual worships at an Idol, he is actually worshiping Satan. That's why Paul commends the Thessalonians for being people who "turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God" (1 Thessalonians 1:9), and why the apostle John warns his flock to "guard yourselves from idols" (1 John 5:21).

Any time a believer gets into a behavior pattern where they perform some activity to gain God's pleasure, then await His word through some obscure sign, I believe they are in very treacherous waters. Certainly Christians who use their Bible like a magic book, letting it fall open to a page and randomly pointing to a verse, come dangerously close to idol worship. And those who use a promise box, with various Scripture verses written on cards that are pulled out at random to speak to the need of the moment, behave like those involved teraphim. We should stay away from that sort of divination. We are no longer pagans, and we should have nothing to do with these pagan behaviors.

(text omitted)

Priests and other learned men believed they could determine the divine mind by reading the stars, and they created elaborate systems for doing so. The prophet Isaiah, writing to comfort the exiles in Babylon, mocks the astrologists in Isaiah 47:33: "Let your astrologers come forward, those star gazers who make predictions month by month." The premise behind astrology was originally that the stars, as the celestial home of God, would reveal His mind. Later the harmony of science led astrologists to believe that the eternal purposes of God would be evident in the message of the heavens.

Based upon the observations and the traditions of the centuries, astrologers claim that certain heavenly phenomena are synchronous with earthly circumstances. The movements of the planets are believed to influence the events of mankind. The heavens are divided into twelve sections, called "houses," and as the planets pass through each section they form geometrical patterns, known as "aspects," which exert a beneficial or troublesome influence. By plotting the signs under which a person was born, an astrologer creates a horoscope that summarizes the individual's personalities and tendencies. When this information is applied to a particular date, the astrologer claims to offer specific predictions regarding success, failure, warnings, opportunities, and the like.

Astrology gained much favor during the Hellenistic age, offering a supposedly more precise method of determining the will of God. The introduction of the Julian calendar made astrological computations easy, and people from all walks of life began to depend upon horoscopes. Emperor Tiberius made decisions in accordance with his horoscope, and intellectuals through the centuries have found astrology's claim of universal harmony appealing. However modern astronomy, in revealing the vastness of the universe, has shown the lack of information available to those drawing up astrological charts and the implausibility of anyone relying on them for important decisions.

Having said that, two York University professors have found that 45 percent of first year university students studying the liberal arts believe there is something to astrology, and that 20 percent have made at least one decision in the past year based on their horoscope. Even more astonishing is that 37 percent of those studying in the hard sciences at university hold some belief in astroloor, telling the researchers that astrologers can "predict one's character and future by studying the heavens." Michael De Robertis, who along with Paul Delaney conducted the study, said the survey reveals how science and mathematics courses in public high schools have failed. "In education we should be teaching students what real life is all about... They don't know that statistically there is nothing to (astrology) and there never has been anything to it."

(text omitted)

Scripture clearly warns against depending on astrologers and any other diviner. 2 Kings 17:16 warns of people who "forsook all the commands of the Lord their God and made for themselves two idols cast in the shape of calves, and an Asherah pole. The bowed down to the starry host and they worshipped Baal." Later in that same book we read of King Josiah ordering the high priest "to remove from the temple of the Lord all the articles made for Baal and Asherah and all the starry hosts" and to do away with the pagan priests, "those who burned incense to Baal, to the sun and moon, to the constellations and to all the starry hosts" (2 Kings 23:4-5). The prophet Jeremiah warns us, This is what the Lord says, do not learn the ways of the nations or be terrified by signs in the sky, though the nations are terrified by them, for the customs of the peoples are worthless" (Jeremiah 10:2-3).

One of the oldest forms of determining the will of God for an individual's future was by hydromancy, or using water to tell fortunes. If you remember the story of Joseph having a steward hide his cup in his brother Benjamin's sack, the cup itself was noteworthy. In Genesis 44:5 we read, "Is this the cup my master drinks from and also uses for divination?" His statement is sarcastic. The cup could not even reveal who stole it! The ancients, however, believed they could read the liquid left in a bowl, and that it would predict the future of the person who used it. It is the same principle as reading tea leaves or mixing tarot cards, believing that a person's "karma" somehow significantly influences all that he touches.

(text omitted)

Much of our modern new age religion is based upon this principle of divine influence in everyday articles. People who worship the earth, those who believe in reincarnation, and the growing interest in universal harmony all stem from this same idea that there is a mixing of the spiritual and the physical that can be attained by those who study it. Nearly all of the new age movement is focused on trying to attain some hidden knowledge of God, with the hope that the knowledge will change both the individual and the world. Books, tapes, and seminars preach a pantheistic message of finding supernatural power that fills the spiritual void of the individual.

(text omitted)

Those writing books on seeking the will of God by meditation or hallucinogenic drugs are getting rich. And the fable that man can somehow tell the future continues to intrigue the gullible.

Talking with spirits
God laid down the law with Israel:

"Do not practice divination or sorcery... Do not turn to mediums or seek out spirits, for you will be defiled by them" (Leviticus 19:26,31)

"Let no one be found among you who... practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord" (Deuteronomy 18:10-12).

"They practiced divination and sorcery and sold themselves to do evil in the eyes of the Lord, provoking him to anger" (2 Kings 17:17).

"When men tell you to consult mediums and spirits, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living?" (Isaiah 8:19).

The Bible rejects these pagan forms of divination because they imply some other spiritual power rules the universe than Israel's good, wise, and just God. He rules along the lines of justice, ultimately rewarding the good and punishing the evil. For Christians, Christ's active obedience satisfies God's demands of justice and the Holy Spirit enables them to live righteously and for Christ to live in them.
Throughout history men have turned to prophets, oracles, and seers to help interpret the signs of God. In our own day we have witnessed the rise in phony messiahs and spiritual charlatans who deceive many people, usually getting extremely wealthy in the process.

(text omitted)

With all of this interest in the supernatural, with all of this activity aimed at getting in touch with the will of God, it is amazing how few people seem at peace with the Almighty. The fact is all of this divination activity has done little more than confuse people. Meanwhile, a loving and patient God waits for His people to turn to Him in obedience.

Waltke on suffering, hunches, violence to Scripture and special revelation

Many of us pentecostals tend to ask for God to solve our problem more than we desire for a greater measure of surrender to his will. Maybe we try to ask God to bend his will so that he can answer our prayers and fulfil our desires. We even try to quote Scripture in the manner that we think it means to us, perhaps even searching through multiple bible translations to find one that is most in line with what the text to say.

I have done an extensive study throughout Scripture about "asking God for a sign," covering about ten main passages, and I find it difficult to conclude that the normative experience supports such actions. There are probably a handful of passages I would like to add to the study, but I am quote certain that they would affirm rather than rebut my interim take on the matter. If you would like a copy of study, just contact me for it and I'll be happy to share it.



From Pages 35-38 of: Finding the Will of God

The problem of suffering, such as Abel's, leads to think that either (a) there is no God, and life is merely a pathetic Joke, or (b) God is a cruel and arbitrary God who cares nothing for the people dearth, or (c) God is powerless, or (d) God is alive and at work in our lives, but we do not completely understand Him. It takes faith to believe in the latter; something many people refuse to do. But the Bible is clear, and according to Romans 1 nature itself evidences, that God is alive and powerful, that He loves us, and that He has a plan for everyone. Being far beyond what our finite minds can comprehend, we do not know everything about Him nor are we able to always discern His plan. Yet my faith continues in Him. As Job put it, Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him."

That's why my following of God is based upon my relationship with Him, rather than on a special "sign." Rather than looking for some sort of wrapped spiritual package from the Almighty, I want to rely upon my closeness to Him. So when I wonder about which job offer to take, I don't go through a divination process to discover the hidden message of God. Instead I examine how God has called me to live my what my motives are; what He has given me a heart for, where I am in my walk with Christ; and what God is saying to me through His word and His people.

I have observed Christians making major decisions based upon this faulty notion that God has a hidden will that He wants them to discover, and it has often led to disaster. One couple I know quit their jobs and went into a specialized ministry based on a "hunch" that God wanted them to make a change. I certainly believe the good Lord gives us desires and inclinations, but we need to examine our motives behind them. Instead the couple should have spend time discussing their love for God. When you clarify your love for God, and you stand right and clean before Him, it becomes much easier to see how the desires of your own heart match up to those of God. It is certainly cheaper and easier to say, "I've got a feeling," but it lacks the necessary depth and relationship that the Lord uses to shape His people.

Too many have used the "hunch" method to rationalize poor decisions or to excuse their carnal living. "God told me to buy this expensive home even though it is beyond my financial ability" is certainly convenient for assuaging the conscience, but it also happens to run in direct contradiction to God's own Word as given to us in the Bible. This sort of cheap reasoning requires no character development. God doesn't change you; you simply change your mind. "Wisdom" in the Old Testament is a character trait, not simply thinking soberly. People with wisdom have the character whereby they can make good decisions. They don't have to rely on faulty logic.

Not only is the logic of many Christians faulty, but their exegesis is terrible. Countless times I have heard people quote Proverbs 3:5-6 as their basis for divining God's will: Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths." Many people read the word "direct" and assume that verse means God will give them special direction in the everyday decisions of life. But that Hebrew word literally means to "go straight," so a sound exegesis will reveal that if you will trust God you will not go outside the bounds of what the book of Proverbs teaches. When it says that "He will direct your path," it does not mean God will offer you special revelation, but that He will make your track right because you are living your life in accordance with the words of Proverbs. Using a verse as a magic incantation does not mean God is obliged to hand you an answer to your problem. That is simply not true to Christian experience. Receiving a message from God is nearly always in conjunction with having a loving heart toward God. The Spirit of God in your life, together with the influence of the Word, illuminates the thoughts of the Lord. As you put God's Word into practice, He establishes your thoughts so that you participate in His eternal plan.

Any time you take the Bible out of context you destroy the intent of His word. That's why you cannot take instances of God's special revelation and make them normative for the Christian experience. Paul saw a great light, fell to the ground, and was blinded when he met Jesus Christ. It was an amazing encounter, but if we try to make that the norm for all new Christian experiences we leave most believers out of the kingdom of God. By the same token, the apostle Paul took the gospel message to much of Asia Minor without ever having a divine intervention. When he did experience a special revelation, seeing a vision of a man calling him to Macedonia, he obeyed. But the special revelation of God was a rare and unique experience, even for Paul.
The disciples obeyed their calling to preach the good news in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost part of the world, but they did so as they were given an opportunity. There are few instances of divine intervention like that of Philip being transported to a new location. And when God did miraculously intervene and lead someone to a special task, it was significant enough to be recorded in Scripture. I do not think we can take special circumstances and make them the norm by which we live our lives. Special revelation for guidance was not the normal apostolic experience. And at the time it was received (by Paul, by Philip, by Peter as he lay on his roof), it was not being sought. God intervened to change the course of their lives in a dramatic way, not simply to tell them to alter their plans a bit. Special revelation came at a time when God wanted to lead them apart from the normal ways in which His people make choices.

There is no place in the New Testament where we are taught to seek a special revelation, and the practice may actually lead to disobedience if it causes Christians to neglect the everyday opportunities life brings us to wait for a special word from the Lord.

Having said that, I do believe in special revelation, and I think too many conservative scholars have no place for God's special intercession because they have no control over it. We can't force God to talk, yet sometimes He completely surprises us and talks anyway.

Waltke on seeking God's will through special signs

From Pages 31-32 of: Finding the Will of God

The New Testament gives no command to "find God's will," nor can you find any instructions on how to go about finding God's will. There isn't a magic formula offered Christians that will open some mysterious door of wonder, allowing us to get a glimpse of the mind of the Almighty. The Bible forbids pagan divination (Deuteronomy 18:10) and claims severe penalties for those who resort to magic for determining the will of God in this way. Simon Magus was severely rebuked in Acts 8 for seeking supernatural powers, and Christ criticized the perverse generation that always asks for a sign from God.

God is not a magic genie. The use of promise boxes, or flipping open your Bible and pointing your finger, or relying on the first thought to enter your mind after a prayer are unwarranted forms of Christian divination.

The reliance on special signs from God is the mark of an immature person; an individual that cannot simply believe the truth as presented, but must have a special, miraculous sign as the symbol of authority from God.

Sunday, October 25, 2015

The Genre of Revelation from a "secular" viewpoint

F F Bruce recounts the occasion whereby a Christian was giving away a New Testament translation of the Bible as part of his evangelistic endeavors, on the condition that the undergraduates at the university who received them would read them. When he bumped into one of these students a few months later, he found that that student did in fact read it. In response to the question of what did the "unchurched" undergraduates thought of it, he replied, "the front end was a bit repetitious, telling the same story four times, but I sure like that bit of science fiction at the end."

D A Carson cites this exchange as an example of how to interpret any form of literature, we need to recognise the genre, "you don't interpret all text the same way! They are not all chronicles, they are not all parables, they are not all poems, they are not all history. The bible is made up of many different genres... Most things that you read, you You dont take the editoral page the same way as "

For the extended explanation and discourse, please refer to his lecture (starting at approx 8mins) at Revelation (part 1)

Friday, October 16, 2015

Stott on our first obligation to the biblical text

How much do we love God's word? Enough so that we do not impose the twenty first context to interpret what the ancient authors addressed to an ancient audience?

From Page 26 of: The Art and Craft of Biblical Preaching

John Stott, "The first obligation [in expounding the text] is faithfulfulness to the biblical text. You and I have to accept the discipline of thinking ourselves back into the situation of the biblical authors-their history, geography, culture, and language. If we neglect this task or if we do it in a halfhearted or slovenly way, it is inexcusable. IT EXPRESSES CONTEMPT FOR THE WAY IN WHICH GOD CHOSE TO SPEAK TO THE WORLD [my emphasis]. Remember, it is the God-inspired text we are handling. We say we believe this, but our use of Scripture is not always compatible with what we say is our view of Scripture. With that painstaking, meticulous, conscientious care we should study for ourselves and open up to others the very words of the living God! So the worst blunder that we can commit is to read back our twenty-first century thoughts into the minds of the biblical authors, to manipulate what they said in order to conform to what we would like them to have said and then to claim their patronage for our options."

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Hybels on a leader's need to turn a vision into action

From Page 51 of Courageous Leadership

I run across an alarming number of leaders who would rather cast vision than to roll up their sleeves and attempt, with the Spirit's power, to achieve it!

Such leaders eventually lose credibility. I've never known a leader who could keep the vision hot and the team motivated indefinitely without eventually being able to say to the troops, "we're making progress. That dream we've been dreaming, that prayer we've been praying, that picture of the future that's fired us up--well, it's happening. We're not just blowing smoke."

A leader who can't point to actual progress will eventually have to answer an awkward question from someone on the team: "oh great Visionary One, when might we get some indication that we're getting closer to the destination?" A question like that should tip off a leader that teammates will not ensure mere vision casting indefinitely. They need to see results.

Sunday, October 11, 2015

Walton on not violently bending and imposing on Scripture

Wise words from respected Old Testament John Walton that I cannot agree more emphatically with, “We are not free to impose our own questions, our own culture, our own agendas, our own issues on the biblical text, and demand that it address our situation. It’s addressed to an ancient culture, in an ancient language, in an ancient time. And we need to make sure that we are entering that world instead of dragging the text as if it were talking to our word and in our terms. The message transcends the culture, but the form is culture bound. And so we have to recognise then that we are reading the text as outsiders… If we are going to get the full focus of God’s revelation to us and get the full force of its authority, we have to try to take our place in that audience, and try to hear as that audience would have heard it…”

Source: Outsiders: Reading the Bible Out of Context

Saturday, October 10, 2015

Review & Highlight: Crazy Busy: A (Mercifully) Short Book about a (Really) Big Problem

Crazy Busy: A (Mercifully) Short Book about a (Really) Big Problem Crazy Busy: A (Mercifully) Short Book about a (Really) Big Problem by Kevin DeYoung
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

DeYoung authentically shares about his personal struggle with busyness. DeYoung shares that busyness is not a worn as a badge of honour, but because he is so bad at managing his life that he writes as a fellow straggler. In his words, he hopes that us readers will find the book "highly practical and accessibly theological" (p17).

Indeed many of us are addicted to crazy busyness in spite of the emotional, spiritual and physical toll it has on us. An anecdote from DeYoung that resonated with me: "I read an anecdote once about a woman from another culture who came to the United States and began to introduce herself as 'Busy.' It was after all the first first thing she heard when meeting any American. Hello, I'm Busy. She figured it was part of our traditional greeting, so she told everyone she met that's who she was." (p16)

DeYoung suggests that busyness can ruin our joy (p26), rob our hearts (p28) and cover up the rot in our souls (p30). In Chapter 4, The terror of total obligation, I was reminded that "Jesus didn't do it all. Jesus didn't meet every need. He left people waiting in line to be healed. He left one town to preach in another. He hid away to pray. He got tired. He never interacted with the vast majority of people on the planet. he spent thirty years in training and only three years in ministry. He did not try to do it all. And yet he did everything that God asked him to do." (p50)

I relate to his sharing that "I can forget that my circle of influence will inevitably be smaller than my circle of concern. Above all, I can lose sight of the good news that the universe is not upheld by the word of my power (see Heb. 1:3). That's Christ's work, and no-one else can do it. Hallelujah - he doesn't even expect me to try." (p51)

We must set priorities because every yes we say, means saying no to something else. In chapter 5, Mission Creep, Deyoung shares that he too must set priorities because "I cant do it all" (p57) and "if I am to to serve others most effectively" (p60). He also "must allow others to set their own priorities" (p63), sharing that his "own tendency is to to be overly accommodating when put on the spot by an invitation like that. I usually overcommit and lead people on, rather than stating up front what my priorities are (probably because I like pats on the back and prestige and so many of the Ps in Chapter 3 - The manifestations of Pride (People-pleasing, Pats on the back, Performance evaluation, Possessions, Proving myself, Pity, Poor planning, Power, Perfectionism, Position, Prestige, Posting online).

He also helpfully advises "Don't always expect the lunch request to work. Don't get upset when your 'what do you think?' email doesn't get answered. Don't be offended if your need doesn't go to the top of the pile. Understand that people often say 'I'm busy' because saying 'I have many priorities in life and right now you aren't one of them' would be too painful. Don't think it rude if some people have less availability for you than you have for them. And don't begrudge people the time you are so so desperately fighting for. Unless we're God, none of us deserve to the priority for everyone else all the time." (p64)

No book about rest is complete without commenting about the Sabbath, to which DeYoung cites G K Beale's conclusions (from Pages 800-801 in his 2011 book titled A New Testament Biblical Theology): "First, the seventh-day commemoration in Gen. 2:3 and Israel's Sabbath ordinance is transferred to the first day of the week because of Christ's resurrection. Second, Israel's way of observing the Sabbath, with all its detailed requirements, falls away, and there is a return to the creational mandate. The observance of this mandate is a day of commemoration of God's creative rest, a celebration that Christ has entered that rest, that believers have begun to enter such rest, and a pointing forward to believers completely entering that rest. In addition, Christ's coming fulfills Israel's unique Sabbath commandment, since he is Israel's Messiah, accomplishing Israel's end-time exodus and representing true Israel and the end-time temple." (p90-91)

DeYoung puts forth a summary reflection about the sabbath in commenting, "I think the most important part about the Sabbath command is that we should rest in Christ alone for our salvation. But along with that there is still an abiding principle that we ought to worship on the lord's Day and trust God enough to have a weekly routine where we cease from our normal labours." (p91)

Busyness, as DeYoung disgnoses it, "is as much a mindset and a heart sickness as it is a failure in time management. It's possible to live your days in a flurry of hard work, serving and bearing burdens, and to do so with the right character and a right dependence on God so that it doesn't feel crazy busy. By the same token, it's possible to feel amazingly stressed and frenzied while actually accomplishing very little. The antidote to busyness of soul is not sloth and indifference. The antidote is rest, rhythm, death to pride, acceptance of our own finitude and trust in the providence of God." (p102)

[Spoiler alert - I highly recommend that you stop here and read the book to find out what DeYoung emphatically advises us to do to put a stop to our crazy busyness]

In the penultimate chapter of this mercifully short book, this is the "one-point plan" DeYoung calls us to restore order to our life (p113) - "spend time everyday in the Word of God and prayer," that is if you are "sick and tired of feeling so dreadfully busy." This unfortunately is no-quick fix, which would have been great for us consumeristic people. Deyoung did not give us a specific time, as the emphasis is on a consistent habit rather than "a sporadic burst of fits and starts".

Even as a seminary student, I am heartened that DeYoung, the theologian and passionate student of the bible he is, relates to struggling with a devotional time just like I do. And to that, he tells us that "no single practice brings more peace and discipline to life than sitting at the feet of Jesus."

In the ending paragraph of the book, DeYoung has this word of encouragement to leave us with, "It's not wrong to be tired. It's not wrong to feel overwhelmed. It's not wrong to go through seasons of complete chaos. What is wrong - and heartbreakingly foolish and wonderfully avoidable - is to live a life with more craziness than we want because we have less Jesus than we need." (p118)

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Review: Implications Abound: A collection of curiously Christian comics

Implications Abound: A collection of curiously Christian comics Implications Abound: A collection of curiously Christian comics by Adam4d
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Can I like give 6 stars out of 5? It's been a long time since I have found a book that I like so much and find so very useful for the equipping of the saints to do God's work (Eph. 4:12)! If you have been pulling your hair out, frustrated that the young people simply are not interested in meatier theology, having been content with the baby food, fret not!

Adam4d is a gifted artist with a brilliant scholarly mind. His dedication to the word of God is conveyed through satirical cartoons and lingo of young people today. You probably will not regret buying a couple of copies to keep as standby presents (a pity that at the time of writing, the price went from ~US$10 to about US$12.50 and has not gone down since)!

The content, while deeply serious, is presented in such a light hearted manner (and with accompanying lively illustrations). Youth and young adult leaders/pastors will find that book is a brilliant bridge to these crucial theological and hermeneutical concepts. It will definitely prod the interest of the reader and you may find them asking actually you what the author is trying to convey.

I recommended the book to one of my classmates, and when I passed it to him, we seminary students happened to be on an outing for food and more food. The book was in great demand with much competition to devour the highly engaging content. The friendly snatching back-and-forth and demands of "MY TURN!" is testimony to how Adam4d has put deep theological truths in a language that young people thoroughly identify with. All they need is a pastor-teacher to build on from that foundation to explain the deep truths of the faith and how to keep hold of them (1 Tim. 3:9 NIV)...

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Clowney on not withdrawing into secluded communities

Clowney suggests that we are not called to withdraw into a Qumran-like community in seclusion from the "secular," but that our discipleship is measured by the things we spend our time on. So, do we Christians spend more time pursuing our own interests, or do we desire for God's will to be in our lives and in the diverse communities we are part of?


From Pages 24-25 of: Called to the Ministry

A further danger of corporate Christian action is that the program of the kingdom may be forgotten, and the "Go!" of Christ's calling ignored. Christian villages, towns, retirement communities, year-round conference centers and the like may serve to demonstrate Christian solutions to social problems, but they cannot long flourish, for they are centers of withdrawal; Christ did not pray that his disciples should be taken from the world, but that they should be kept from evil (John 17:15). If the leaven stops working, the light is soon extinguished...

What your hands make, what your money buys, what your heart desires-in these you live; in these Christ calls you to gather with him those for whom he died. Because his name is written on all that you are and have, all must serve his purpose. Measure your discipleship by the things you have time for.

Friday, October 9, 2015

Clowney on sacred-secular work conundrum

Paraphrasing one of Clowney's students, Timothy Keller, "all work is God's work."

Indeed we are often so caught up with the things of this world - the pursuit of material goods, travelling the world and perhaps an early retirement etc, that we treat our jobs as merely means to an end. We as Christians are called to minister, even if we are not in "full-time" ministry. It is often a mental stretch to try to figure out what kind of flourishing does our work promote in the lives of others... Can our work be a mode or a vehicle, by which we can, through our conduct share the gospel (if necessary, using words)?

There must be more to life than just slogging our guts out in the insanely busy marketplace, only to pass on a bank-full of wealth and assets onto children? Some of whom may not necessarily cherish the preciousness of money, or be generous with these money that they did nothing to receive? Or perhaps that we had spent almost everything on ourselves such that our children would have to support us in our golden years?

Dear Lord, please help us to find meaning and purpose in our paid-work, and in our volunteer service to the church and to others! It is much easier to be lazy and expect the government to hand us unemployment benefit, but shape our hearts to desire the blessedness of working so that others may be blessed with the work of our hands and the word of lives. Amen.




From Pages 20-21; 23 of Called to the Ministry

The distinction commonly made between secular pursuits and Christian service comes dangerous close to the distinction between what the Gentiles seeks and what the children of the kingdom seek. Christian calling cannot be secular. The man who hesitates between a money-making career and the ministry is not merely in doubt about his calling to the pastorate, he is questioning his commitment to Christ.

Kingdom service may include agriculture, industry, or art; but only as such labour is done with a view to the purposes of the kingdom. Again, the calling of God is decisive. Since the program of God's kingdom requires a period of time between the first and second comings of Christ, the expectation of the kingdom to come does not call for the abandonment of God's command to subdue the earth. When certain Thessalonians quit work to await Christ's return, Paul commanded them in Christ's name to work with quietness and eat their own bread (2 Thess. 3:12). Only in this way can they fulfill their kingdom calling not to be weary in welldoing (v13). The "well-doing" of which Paul speaks is described more fully in Galatians 6:9,10. It refers particularly to supporting the work of the gospel financially and providing for those in need both within the church and outside of it.

...In what residence can your service be most effective? What about employment? American society is unique in the flexibility of job opportunities. The job you take is under Christ's Lordship. In what way does it honour him? Automation has not yet removed drudgery and monotony from industrial processes. Useful work is often mechanical; it is not therefore secular. A Christian girl worked as an inspector of rubber products. She spent hours at a table with other women rapidly picking up surgical gloves, spinning them from the wrist to inflate them, and then squeezing each finger to reveal flaws or punctures. The work was necessary: flawed gloves could mean infection in surgical use. It was also monotonous. She found that her real job was more challenging: to participate as a Christian in the endless conversation of the women kept at the table by their weary task.

Clowney on one's purposeful call is not to self-obliteration

Clowney suggests that the life of a believer is not one that seeks self-obliteration, but one that seeks surrender in God's purpose and call. The death that the Christian pursues appears therefore to be to one's sinful nature and will to live life "my way".


From Page 15 of: Called to the Ministry

From the twelve apostles to the Auca missionaries of our generation, the history of the Christian church is the history of "wasted" lives. The Christian may tabulate all the assets of his personality and take inventory of his preferences, but he casts all these at the feet of Christ. He is not seeking fulfilment but expendability. He counts not his life deal to himself, for he holds it in trust for Christ. His goal is beyond the grave; the crown of his high calling is in the hand of his risen Lord.

Yet the calling of the cross is not a calling to destruction, abandonment and frustration. Christ went to the cross only when the Father's hour had come and when his public ministry was finished. Our calling, too, has purpose and sets a task to be fulfilled.

Thursday, October 8, 2015

The Process of Fathering as Preventive Discipline

Chong makes a fascinating case of how confucian values are part of a Singaporean's DNA, and how that affects the way church leaders manage it. This perhaps applies more to the more "Asian" baby boomers, than to the "Western" millennials. Could it explain the huge generation gap on the understanding and preference of the mode of authority?


On another note, I thoroughly enjoyed the section on "The Process of Fathering as Preventive Discipline":

Paul saw himself, foremost as a "father," when describing his pastoral leadership. The language of church leadership that he used was often in the context of the family. The relationship between the leaders and the people was in terms of parenthood and children. The first task of church leadership is to help those under them to live and serve in obedience to the will of God. From Paul's viewpoint, the organization of the Church is a family. The church leader is like the father of this family.

Just like the father in the world of his day, Paul saw himself as responsible for the education of his spiritual children. As a father, Paul sought to bring up his spiritual children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. He clearly believed that both encouragement and correction were necessary for healthy development within the Christian family For Paul, discipline was not reserved to be an essential part of Christian nurture to build up individuals and churches in the faith. Discipline was a form of pastoral care. Such a discipline was always born of love, like that of a father for his child.

Source: Pages 211-2 of Paul's theology of church discipline in I Corinthians : a holistic model of discipline for the Church in Singapore / by Timothy Keng-Hoi Chong.

Wilkinson and Keller on the unconverted "Christian"

I was reading two different authors (Bruce Wilkinson and Timothy Keller) write about the topic of "revival." I came on this fascinating notion of the unconverted "Christian." The realisation that we are living so far off the marks calls us to humble repentance for wanting our wills done in our spiritual journey. Perhaps we have yet to be converted?


From Page 438 of The Seven Laws of the Learner

"Many teachers assume that their students already are Christians and become 'children of God, to those who believe in his name' (John 1:12). Many teachers assume that their students already are Christians because they come from a good family, or appear to be Christians, or attend Christian institutions.

Would it not be wise, therefore to present the plan of salvation at appropriate moments during our teaching? Some teachers take this responsibility so seriously that they visit their students individually to determine their spiritual condition and present the gospel."


And from Page 60 of Center Church

"it is possible (even common) for a person to be baptised, to be an active member of the church, to subscribe to all biblical doctrines, and to live according to biblical ethics, but nonetheless to be wholly unconverted... conversion and spiritual renewal, not only for those outside the church, but also for those inside the church. Some need to be converted from clear unbelief; other needs to see, to their surprise, that they've never been converted; still others need to sense their spiritual stagnation.

Keller on why modern Christians lives lack testimony

I was compelled to reflect about the importance of a formal membership process to a closely knit gospel community.

A person may have said "the sinner's prayer", and perhaps even completely understood the implications of what he had uttered. However, there may be a disconnect between the worldviews of the modern-thinking generation of baby boomers, and the postmodern-thinking millennials. To assume that the youth or young adult will fully trust his assigned church leader/discipler with the respect as the "Lord's anointed" is perhaps an intellectual step of faith.

I believe that I am leaning more toward the practice of discipline to come after formal membership and discipleship, the latter of which goes beyond a structured series of lessons on doctrine. Man-made programs are powerless to make a Christian out of a sinner. We are less interested in being told what the bible says or how we should live, but would be compelled to imitate somebody who models a lifestyle that is synonymous to the faith he professes. I suggest that the cry of every person's heart is for discipleship by an authentic spiritual father.

Furthermore, possibly the way to see the lives of Christians more closely aligned with Christ's lies in a pursuit of the community of the Acts 2 church. Then there probably would not need to be an painful cajoling or arrowing of unwilling members to do anything for the church or for the gospel.


From Page 57 of Center Church

"Our truth-allergic, experience-addicted populace wants transformation but doesn't want the loss of freedom and control associated with submitting to authority within a committed community. Many "converts" seem to make decisions for Christ but soon lose their enthusiasm because they are offered quick programs for follow-up and small group fellowship rather than a lifelong, embodied experience of community. Many churches do not even have process for becoming a member. As a result, converts' lives are often not visibly different from those in the culture around them."

Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Wilkinson on teaching/preaching to meet your audience's needs

I find the following thought extremely hard to digest. I am compelled to meditate on what could be a critical principle, even though my convictions thus far were on a very different tangent. This helps me to better understand why the busy pastor often goes into eisegetical sermons.
But here's the implication: how well do we know the Bible such that we can exegete from a passage to directly speak to the congregation's need without doing violence to Scripture to bring our per-determined message across? How long would it take for us to first study and then be able to preach/teach? I reckon decades?

Ask the average person who sits in our churches and schools, "do you feel most preaching and teaching is relevant to your needs?" Less than 20 percent of those I ask say yes. The other 80 percent feel like we are teaching 1 Chronicles 1-9 to them.
But we teachers blame our students for not paying attention. We preachers blame our congregation for not wanting "good preaching" anymore. In reality, they are screaming for good preaching. They are pleading for preaching that is good-for them! It's what meets their real needs.
Believe it or not, the Bible does not have a need to be taught. Only people have a need to be taught, and it is their real need that should determine our teaching and preaching calendar.
If you sense I feel strongly about this, you have sensed correctly. Because I have my ear to the ground across the country, I am aware the widespread frustration that exists in students.
The teacher is off teaching about something that is useless to life-and doesn't make the link that at that moment he is also useless to his student. The preacher is off preaching about something irrelevant to his congregation-and won't realize that the declining attendance is proof that he's missed the mark so many times, his sheep have left for greener pastures. They were starved and went in search of food.

Sunday, October 4, 2015

Seeking covenental feedback when you are "in love"

To this insightful piece of advice, I would just like that to add that beyond seeking the feedback from covenantal friends, trusted mentors who you know have your best interests at heart will be great check to our fuzzy judgment when we are "in love."


A feedback base to see reality (From Page 178-179 of): Boundaries in Dating

Being "in love," in the beginning of a relationship, is an illness. It is treatable, but it is an illness nevertheless. The illness is the inability to see reality. For the very state of "being in love" is a state of idealization, where the other person is not really viewed through the eyes of reality. He or she is mostly seen through the eyes of someone's own wishes or fantasies that the other person is able to symbolize...

The problem is that if the idealizations are strong enough, and the person's need for them to be true are strong enough, then he or she can omit large chunks of reality about the person he is in love with. This is why staying connected to a group of friends who know you well is so important. Your friends and often family can see things about your new love that you will not be able to see. And you should trust them. Unless there is something wrong in your relationships with them, or they are particularly dysfunctional, they will not be looking through the eyes of idealization and need and will see the person more clearly. Have you ever wondered how some people that you know and love were able to pick the difficult, or sometimes awful person that they are with? Do you think the prince just one day turned into a frog? Most times not. The frog was always a frog, even if he was dressed up like a prince in courtship. But the princess was looking through the eyes of idealization or denial. Borrow your friends' vision. You might need it.

Also, they know you, and they know what is important to you. They can see if you are becoming someone other than yourself. They know who you are and will be able to see if you are growing into more of who God created you to be.

Russell on seeking quick fixes for the church

When we were kids we had a taunt-rhyme that went something like that, "copy cat, kiss the rat, go home let your mother slap..."

I remember back in Poly when I went to Central School of Speech of Drama for a three week summer school. I kept asking the guest lecturers/practitioners for a list of how-to steps, to the point when my courses would go "SHAUN..." because clearly I had missed the point. I had been part of a consumerist civilisation that preferred a quick fix rather than understanding the principle of how a method worked in a different cultural context. It was not meant to be a cut-and-paste application. Now hopefully, I understand this principle a little bit better.


From Page 6 of When God Builds a Church :

"Many church leaders go to conferences... hoping to discover some fresh program, some unique gimmick that will jump-start their church... but what works in one culture... may not work in another. What one church adapts as positive change may be a source of division in another... You cant fight Goliath wearing Saul's armour. You cant minister with someone else's style. You have to be yourself and adapt to the culture around you... remember that the secret ingredients are the principles themselves, not the applications."

Saturday, October 3, 2015

Fast and furious dating poses the danger of a marriage tragedy

Source: Page 163 of Boundaries in Dating

To make a hasty, impassioned, or reactive decision can be disastrous. All things being equal, a bad marriage is probably more painful than a bad single state. Why? Because in a bad marriage, the structure of intimacy is in place, but it does not have the heart of intimacy. Two people live their lives together-intertwined by being in the same house, sleeping in the same bed, and raising the same children-yet emotionally they live alone. Living alone within the marriage contract makes the disconnection feelings so acute that many people leave the marriage. With such serious factors at stake, is it worth to take ample time to get to know someone.

Is it wise to date a person you aren't even friends with?

Romance is great. Sexuality is great. Attraction is great. But here is the key: if all of those are not built upon lasting friendship and respect for the person's character, something is wrong...

If you do not allow yourself to rush into falling for someone that you have not become friends with first, you will be more sure when you let yourself go to the next step. Certainly you might find yourself having all sorts of feelings. Enjoy them. But do not believe them. Only believe your experience of getting to know a person and seeing if you can share at a deep level. See if you find that he or she is a person is a person of the kind of character you would trust as a friend. And as important as all that, see if that person is a person that you would like spending time with if there were no romance at all.


Source: Page 118-9 of Boundaries in Dating

Friday, October 2, 2015

Platt on what draws us to go to church

Will we still go church if it did not have any bells and whistles/smoke and mirrors; how often do we think/pray about the persecuted church who risk their lives to gather?

From Page 26-28 of 
Radical

Is his word enough for us?
This is the question that often haunts me when I stand before a crowd of thousands of people in the church I pastor. What if we take away the cool music and the cushioned chairs? What if the screens are gone and the stage is no longer decorated? What if the air conditioning is off and the comforts are removed? Would his Word still be enough for his people to come together?
At Brook Hills we decided to try to answer this question. We actually stripped away the entertainment value and invited people to come together simply to study God’s Word for hours at a time. We called it Secret Church.
We set a date-one Friday night-when we would gather from six o’clock in the evening until midnight, and for six hours we would do nothing but study the Word and pray. We would interrupt the six-hour Bible study periodically to pray for our brothers and sisters around the world who are forced to gather secretly. We would also pray for ourselves, that we would learn to love the Word as they do.
We weren’t sure how many would show up that first evening, but by night’s end about a thousand people had gathered. Our topic of study was the Old Testament. After our first try we decided to do it again, and again, and now we have to take reservations because we cannot contain all the people who want to come.
One of my favourite sights is to look across a room packed with people with their Bible in their laps, studying who God is and what God had said–after midnight (we have never ended on time). Granted, we still have the cushioned chairs-though we did discuss the possibility of removing them! And we still have the comforts of a nice building with indoor bathrooms. But we are taking steps, I hope, toward discovering what is means to be a people who are hungry for the revelation of God.
What is it about God’s Word that creates a hunger to hear more? And not just hear the Word but to long for it, study it, memorize it, and follow it? What causes followers of Christ around the world literally to risk their lives in order to know it?
These questions cause us to step back and look at the foundations of the gospel. Fundamentally, the gospel is the revelation of who God is, who we are, and how we can be reconciled to him. Yet in the American dream, where self reigns as king (or queen), we have a dangerous tendency to misunderstand, minimize, and even manipulate the gospel in order to accommodate our assumptions and our desires. As a result, we desperately need to explore how much of our understanding of the gospel is American and how much is biblical. And in the process we need to examine whether we have misconstrued a proper response to the gospel and maybe even missed the primary reward of the gospel, which is God himself.

The altar call

I last reflected about "the sinner's prayer" and then this article came up on its related sibling "the altar call," another 19th century innovation that most of us thought came from Jesus' time. I am hesitant to say that we should abolish "this vile and manipulative" practice, but rather am inclined to suggest that pastors and leaders be more mindful of how they want to invite a person to the point of unconditional surrender to God's Lordship of their lives. Because if this is a compulsory tool in the handyman's box, the discipleship process is going to be alot more challenging trying to persuade unconverted "christians" of God's ways.

Source: You Asked: Should Churches Perform Altar Calls?

"The altar call relies on the powers of emotion, rhetorical persuasion, and social pressure to induce people to make a hasty and premature decision. And producing professions is not the same thing as making disciples. Surely a number of factors are responsible for the many nominal Christians that typify Christianity in the West, but I believe that the altar call is one of them."

Thursday, October 1, 2015

Stuart on exegetical applications

Sometimes we sit through a sermon and at the end yes there will be an altar call, and then we wonder how did the pastor come up with this-or-that group of people to come forward to respond... Maybe you will wonder to yourself, "did the text really speak to these four groups of people?" But then if the sermon was just an hour or so of personal stories and illustrations without bringing the ancient context of Scripture to bear on today's audience, then we may have all just had our ears tickled...

But if the preaching was spirit-led and responsibly exegeted, should not it have brought us to a crossroad - whereby we are forced to choose either to follow God's way or persist in the sin and folly of our own way?


From Pages 27-28 of Old Testament Exegesis (3rd Edition)

"An application should be just as rigorous, just as thorough, and just as analytically sound as any other step in the exegesis process. It cannot be merely tacked on to the rest of the exegesis as a sort of spiritual afterthought. Moreover it must carefully reflect the data of the passage if it is to be convincing. Your reader needs to see how you derived the application as the natural and final stage of the entire process of careful, analytical study of your passage."


Practical Application in Preaching

Summarised excerpts from Beeke, Joel R., and David P. Murray. “Practical Application in Preaching.” Puritan Reformed Journal (January 2012) 4, no. 1 (2012):


J. I. Packer once said that preaching consists of two elements: teaching plus application. Where those two elements are missing, “something less than preaching occurs.”

Application is the process by which the unchanging principles of God’s Word are brought into life-changing contact with people who live in an ever-changing world. Applicatory preaching takes place when the unchanging truths, principles, and doctrines of God’s Word are brought to bear upon people’s consciences and every part of their lives to increasingly transform them into Christ’s likeness.


Other preachers want to connect Scripture with practical living but believe that application is the Holy Spirit’s job, not theirs. They say, “We explain the text, the Spirit applies it.” This tends to leave listeners at the mercy of their own subjective inclinations. Douglas Stuart talks about the unfairness of this approach, saying, “The exegete leaves the key function—response—completely to the subjective sensibilities of the reader or hearer, who knows the passage least. 
What is more likely is that listeners will do nothing at all. John Calvin writes: “If we leave it to men’s choice to follow what is taught them, they will never move one foot. Therefore, the doctrine of itself can profit nothing at all.”


Scripture justifies and warrants application. Here are just a few of the many examples of application that we find in the Bible:
  • In Matthew 19:16–22, Christ applies the law to a rich young ruler. 
  • Peter, in Acts 2:22–27, applies the prophecies of the Old Testament to his generation (vv. 25–28; 34–35). His intent is to change his hearers. Notice how often he uses the second person (vv. 22, 23, 29, 33, 36) to call people to action (vv. 38, 39). By the Spirit’s grace, such preaching prompts this question in listeners: “What shall we do?” (v. 37). 
  • In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul says the history of Israel was written as an example and admonition to later generations (10:11).

Prerequisites to Applicatory Preaching

First, to be sound applicatory preachers, we must first have personal, experiential knowledge of the doctrines we preach. Applicatory preaching cannot be learned in seminaries or through textbooks unless preachers have studied in Christ’s school and fed on the manna of the Word. If we endeavor to preach on the intercession of Christ, we will fail to apply it adequately if we are not personally acquainted with its reality and riches. As under-shepherds of Christ, we feed the flock with the nourishment our Shepherd gives us. If we would have our congregants know how to live, we ourselves must walk in the footsteps of our Master.

Second, to be sound in application as preachers, we must cultivate personal closeness with God. Fellowship with God makes Christianity real and personal; a man cannot, consequently, be a great preacher if he lives distant from the Lord. In 2 Cor. 2:17, the apostle Paul explains the contrast between true and false preachers. A true minister of the gospel is sincere, Paul says; he cannot fake nearness to the Lord. Like children who listen to every word and observe every move of their parents, true children of God are always listening to their preacher, looking at him, and examining the way he lives. If he is not living close to God, his preaching and counsel will eventually expose any falseness and hypocrisy. How is this closeness to be cultivated? God reveals Himself to us in His Word, in prayer, and in other spiritual disciplines. A minister’s solemn duty and joyful privilege, then, is to labor tirelessly in private prayer and to be a diligent student of the Bible. Prayer must be the life-blood behind the sermon, for you need divine assistance, first, as you prepare for the sermon and, second, as you deliver the sermon. We should also consult teachers of the Bible who will help give us clarity and insight into the mysteries of the gospel.

A third prerequisite for applicatory preaching is to understand human nature. If you want to connect your message with people, you must know people’s natures and personalities, especially those in your own flock. The heart is the throne of natural corruptions, fears, weaknesses, and sin. A preacher must strike a balance between how things are and how they ought to be. A medical doctor must know how the body ought to operate before he can diagnose an ailment. You trust his prescriptions, or even his scalpel, because he has proven himself to be an expert of the human body. Likewise, the pastor must discern from the Scriptures how things are and ought to be as well as how biblical remedies should be applied. You must be a master of the human soul so that your people can trust what you prescribe.

Adam4d on how people pray

If we talked to people the way we talk to God - Adam4d.com

Adam4d on apologetics and ministry

It is so sad to think how biblically illiterate we have become. Often time church has its focus more on fun and games... 


From Let's talk about Moralistic Therapeutic Deism - Adam4d.com

Stott on Christian Living

Commenting on Gal. 5:24, Stott comments:

"It is a great mistake to suppose that our whole duty lies in passive submission to the Spirit’s control, as if all we had to do was to surrender to His leading. On the contrary, we are ourselves to ‘walk’, actively and purposefully, in the right way. And the Holy Spirit is the path we walk in, as well as the guide who shows us the way."

From Page 153 of 
The Message of Galatians

Chambers on Ministry Burnout

"The everlasting God…neither faints nor is weary." —Isaiah 40:28

Spiritual exhaustion is never the result of sin, but of service. Whether or not you experience exhaustion will depend on where you get your supplies. Jesus said to Peter, “Feed My sheep,” but He gave him nothing with which to feed them (John 21:17). The process of being made broken bread and poured-out wine means that other people’s souls must drain you completely— to the verylast drop. Until others learn to draw on the life of the Lord Jesus directly, they will have to draw on His life through you, until they learn to take their nourishment from God.

Is your source based on your own understanding or is it grounded on the redemption of Jesus Christ? Continually look back to the foundation of your love and affection and remember where your Source of power lies. You have no right to complain, “O Lord, I am so exhausted.” He saved and sanctified you to exhaust you. Be exhausted for God, but remember that He is your supply.

From 
Are You Exhausted Spiritually?

Keller on Theologically-driven Ministry

"Gospel-centered ministry is more theologically driven than program driven. To pursue it, we must spend time reflecting on the essence, the truths, and the very patterns of the gospel itself."

From page 28 of Center Church

Reservations of "the Sinner's Prayer"

At first I was horrified to discover that some churches did not encourage using "the sinner's prayer" and that it was a very modern invention. As I reflect further, I begin to better understand why. When a person comes down to the altar, he may not necessarily want "God's will and not my will be done;" rather, it may be just an addition of another spiritual force that can be manipulate according to one's will.


From Pages 36-38 of Radical

Radical Revelation to be Radically Received

So how do we respond to this gospel? Suddenly contemporary Christianity sales pitches don’t seem adequate anymore. Ask Jesus to come into your heart. Invite Jesus to come into your life. Pray this prayer, sign this card, walk down this aisle, and accept Jesus as your personal Saviour. Our attempt to reduce this gospel to a shrink-wrapped presentation that persuades someone to say or pray the right things back to us no longer seems appropriate.

That is why none of these man-made catch phrases are in the Bible. You will not find a place where a superstitious sinner’s prayer is even mentioned. And you will not find an emphasis on accepting Jesus. We have taken the infinitely glorious Son of God, who endured the infinitely terrible wrath of God and who now reigns as the infinitely worthy Lord of all, and we have reduced him to a poor, puny Saviour who is just begging for us to accept him.

Accept him? Do we think Jesus needs our acceptance? Don't we need him?

I invite you to consider with me a proper response to this gospel. Surely more than praying a prayer is involved. Surely ore than religious attendance is warranted. Surely this gospel evokes unconditional surrender of all that we are all that we have to all that he is.

You and I desperately need to consider whether we have ever truly, authentically trusted in Christ for our salvation. In this light Jesus’ words at the end of the Sermon on the Mount [Matt. 7:21-23] are some of the most humbling in all Scripture.

Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

Jesus was not speaking here to irreligious people, atheists, or agnostics. He was not speaking to pagans or heretics. He was speaking to devoutly religious people who were deluded into thinking they were on the narrow road that leads to heaven when they were actually on the broad road that leads to hell. According to Jesus, one day not just a few but many will be shocked-eternally shocked-to find that they were not in the kingdom of God after all.

The danger of spiritual deception is real. As a pastor, I shudder at the thought and lie awake at night when I consider the possibility that scores of people who sit before me on a Sunday morning might think they are saved when they are not. Scores of people who have positioned their lives on a religious road that makes grandiose promises at minimal cost. We have been told all that is required is a one-time decision, maybe even mere intellectual assesnt to Jesus, but after that we need not worry about his commands, his standards, or his glory. We have a ticket to heaven, and we can live however we want on earth. Our sin will be tolerated along the way. Much of modern evangelism today is built on leading people down this road, and crowds flock to it, but in the end it is a road built on sinking sand, and it risks disillusioning millions of souls.