"$3 worth of Gospel, please!"

From D. A. Carson's Basics for Believers: An Exposition of Philippians, pp. 12-13.

I would like to buy about three dollars worth of gospel, please.

Not too much – just enough to make me happy, but not so much that I get addicted.

I don’t want so much gospel that I learn to really hate covetousness and lust.

I certainly don’t want so much that I start to love my enemies, cherish self-denial, and contemplate missionary service in some alien culture.

I want ecstasy, not repentance;

I want transcendence, not transformation.

I would like to be cherished by some nice, forgiving, broad-minded people, but I myself don’t want to love those from different races – especially if they smell.

I would like enough gospel to make my family secure and my children well behaved, but not so much that I find my ambitions redirected or my giving too greatly enlarged.

I would like about three dollars worth of the gospel, please.

Via: Between Two Worlds.

True Worship = Changed LIves

Here's this week's Worship Quote of the Week:

TRUE WORSHIP LEADS TO FAITHFUL OBEDIENCE It should be clear by now that true worship leads to a life of faith and obedience. It is the purpose of worship, on the human side, to inspire faith and devotion to the Lord, not just for an hour, but for the whole week and for the whole life. This was the emphasis of the preaching of the prophets and the teaching of Jesus and the apostles; and this emphasis was based on the significance of worship as a covenant renewal, a ritual that not only celebrated the blessings that God has bestowed on his people through Christ but also reminded the people of their own covenant responsibilities.

At the heart of faithful obedience is personal holiness and righteousness. True worship has no place for gossip, slander, malice, envy, strife, control, or any other sin that destroys worship. Our celebration of being at peace with God must issue in living in peace with other believers. Our covenant obligations do not stop with out purging out the leaven from our lives. There is a positive side of righteousness that calls for action. If the church claims to be worshipping but has no interest in helping the poor and the homeless, the widow and the orphan, the oppressed and the foreigner, or in championing justice and equity in society, then the worship is empty. And if the worship does not prompt the work of evangelism and missions, or simply sharing the faith, then the worship has not been led by the Spirit of God. With these and many other serious matters we may test whether worship has fully achieved what God has designed it to achieve.

— Allen P. Ross, RECALLING THE HOPE OF GLORY: BIBLICAL WORSHIP FROM THE GARDEN TO THE NEW CREATION. Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 2006, p. 467-68. ISBN 0-8254-3578-1.

P.S.
I highly recommend this weekly e-letter, Chip Stam (over at SBTS) gives us gems of truth, culled from some of the best books, old and new. You'll be blessed...I promise!

Basic Biblical Theology Resources

As we're reading through Him We Proclaim I wanted to make sure that we're all on the same page when we're talking about Biblical Theology. So here's a couple quotes and some resources you'll want to have handy.

From the evangelical preacher's point of view, biblical theology involves the quest for the big picture, or the overview of biblical revelation. It is of the nature of biblical theology that it tells a story rather than sets out timeless principles in abstraction. It does contain many timeless principles, but not in abstract. They are given in an historical context of progressive revelation. If we allow the Bible to tell its own story, we find a coherent and meaningful whole.
Graeme Goldsworthy, Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture, 22.

To understand the Bible as a single divinely-inspired narrative, a revelation of God’s purpose and plan for humanity that unfolds in time and space, is the task of biblical theology. More than just theology that is biblical, biblical theology attempts to understand God’s revelation as it progressively unfolds in history and culminates in the person of Jesus Christ. It tries to understand how the Old Testament points forward to and prepares us for the New, and how the New Testament is contained in the Old.
Michael Lawrence, "Where is Your Story Written", Nov-Dec 06 9News.

Links:
"What is Biblical Theology?" from Beginning With Moses. Tons of great articles on biblical theology that are especially helpful for sermon preparation.

"Biblical Theology" from Monergism. THE place to go for anything that has to do with Reformed theology. Tons of links and articles covering almost every facet of Biblical Theology.

"Biblical Theology" from 9 Marks. The second mark of a healthy church is one committed to biblical theology. Check out the other 8!

"9News on Biblical Theology" from 9 Marks. An entire 60 page newsletter discussing the "ins" and "outs" of Biblical Theology.

Is Gathered Worship for Edification or Evangelism?

For a long time, I used to argue that the Gathered Worship (aka, Sunday church services) were primarily for Christians. And to really show that I went to Bible College, I would argue that the main purpose for such meetings is for edification. And if evangelism took place, it would be because non-Christians saw a group of Jesus followers edifying each other well. I'm beginning to see that such a divorce between evangelism and edification is unnecessary and reveals a minimized view of the gospel.

Taking his cue from Tim Keller and summarizing Keller's paper, The Centrality of the Gospel, Mark Driscoll resonates what I too believe is the point of gathered worship.

"My articulation is, Sunday is for the worship and the adoration and the exaltation of Jesus, and if everything is about Jesus, then it works for Christians and non-Christians. Everyone needs Jesus, and the gospel is for Christians, too. It's not just something you believe and then move on with the rest of your life. The gospel of conviction of sin and repentance and trusting in the finished work of Christ is something that every Christian practices every moment of every day, and I think it's a truncated view of the gospel if it's a few laws, or a sales pitch we give to someone, they pray the prayer, and then we've concluded our evangelistic endeavor. I think it's a very reductionistic view of the gospel."

Mark Driscoll, Modern Reformation "Christless Christianity" May/June Vol. 16 No. 3 2007 Pages 39-42

Reading the Bible Aloud in Gathered Worship 2.0

"Reading the Bible aloud is always central to Christian worship. Cutting back on this for whatever reason--trimming readings so that the service doesn't go on too long, changing scripture passages so that they become merely part of a musical performance, or reading only the few verses the preacher intends to preach about--misses the point. The reason we read scripture in worship isn't primarily to inform or remind the congregation about some biblical passage or theme they have forgotten. Likewise, its much more than a peg to hang a sermon on, though preaching from one or more of the readings is often a wise plan. Reading scripture in worship is, first and foremost, the central way of celebrating who God is and what he's done.

....Just as you're insulting a good wine if you drink it from a plastic cup instead of a glass which shows off its color, bouquet, and full flavor, so you're insulting the Bible if, given the opportunity, you don't create a context in which it can be heard and celebrated as what it really is: the rehearsal of the powerful deeds of God the creator and rescuer."

N.T. Wright, Simply Christian, 150, 151.

Reading the Bible Aloud in Gathered Worship

There is so much information coming at us these days. We're not just wired for sound anymore, we're wired(-less) for info, for data, for SPAM, for "late-breaking news about Anna Nicole", for...what?! So it's no wonder that many churches have opted for a "less filling, tastes great" approach to the public reading of Scripture. But in an effort to improve communication and the understanding of that communication, we've unwittingly removed the very Word that needs to be spoken, heard, explained, pondered. By thinking and modeling that "less of the Bible, is actually more" we also run the risk of distorting what the Bible actually is, "the rehearsal of the powerful deeds of God the creator and rescuer." What we're left with is merely another self-help message, another advertisement, another miracle pill...just another voice calling for our attention in the cacophony of life.

So it falls to me every week to help our congregation see that the Bible is not just another voice, but it is THE Voice, the voice of the Living God. In fact, one of our Key Values of Gathered Worship is that our meetings should be "Bible-Saturated." I haven't figured this out all that much yet, but I do know giving a time and place for a larger portion of Scripture to be read is essential.

Periodically, I take about 2-3 minutes to explain different parts of our gatherings: singing, prayer, Scripture readings, affirmation of the gospel, Lord's Supper, etc. This has been very effective. When it comes to our public reading of Scripture, I often will highlight the nature of Scripture, not just the content of the passage.

For example, this past week I read 1 Cor. 10:1-13 and said something along the lines of "Every day you and I are bombarded with messages and information that we find annoying at best and offensive at worst. At least half our snail mail we immediately recycle, and let's not even talk about email SPAM!! But what we're about to read together is entirely different from any other message you'll ever read or come across. These words, penned by the apostle Paul, are not merely his words to his friends in the city of Corinth. They are God's Words. So listen now, let us listen together, to our loving Creator and Redeemer."

No doubt, it could be said better, but I've found it better to actually get on with it than to wait for the perfect way to say something. The point is not that the introduction of the Scripture reading change people, but that it breaks down barriers and heightens anticipation for the very Living Word that can and will change men, women, and children's hearts!

Heaven's not the end of the world

"Heaven is important, but it's not the end of the world."

I haven't been able to get this quote from N.T. Wright out of my head this week! Over the past couple of years I've been experimenting, trying to speak about things the way the Bible really speaks about things. One result is that I have rid my vocabulary of the phrase "dying and going to heaven." The whole concept, let alone the phrase itself, is simply not biblical in that it stops short of what the Bible really says about the end of the world. Instead, I've been trying to remind myself and others that the end, the goal, of creation and redemption is New Creation, the New Heavens and New Earth (Isa. 65:17; 66:22; Rev. 21:1) So when I die someday, I will, along with all of the redeemed, die and go to the New Heavens and New Earth. But not only that, my new life in Jesus that I experience today is the beginning of this new creation (2 Cor. 5:17) that will come in its fullness when he returns!

"HEAVEN IS IMPORTANT, BUT IT'S NOT THE END OF THE WORLD; God will make new heavens and new earth, and give us new bodies to live and work and take delight in his new creation. And the ‘good news’ of the Christian gospel is that this new world, this new creation, has already begun: it began when Jesus of Nazareth rose from the dead on Easter morning, having faced and beaten the double enemy, sin and death, that has corrupted and defaced God’s lovely creation."

--N.T. Wright, from a sermon entitled "The Road to New Creation."

Christmas Escapism?

“Christmas, then, is not a dream, a moment of escapism. Christmas is the reality, which shows up the rest of ‘reality.’ And for Christmas, here, read Christianity. Either Jesus is the Lord of the world, and all reality makes sense in his light, or he is dangerously irrelevant to the problems and possibilities of today’s world. There is no middle ground. Either Jesus was, and is, the Word of God, or he, and the stories Christians tell about him, are lies.”

N.T. Wright, For All God's Worth: True Worship and the Calling of the Church, p.2.

Shut your open mind...

Yeah that's right, we all need to SHUT OUR OPEN MINDS...on something solid. There is a great temptation and danger in our postmodern context to so overvalue the journey towards God and truth that all we ever do is have a conversation. Absolute truth exists, we may never have exhaustive knowledge of that truth, but we can and must have certain knowledge: that God exists, that forgiveness of sing come only through Jesus Christ, that the Bible is God's authoritative revelation of Himself to us.

I found this quote by G.K. Chesterton both winsome and convincing:

"The object of opening the mind, as of opening the mouth, is to shut it again on something solid." (Autobiography. Collected Works Vol. 16, p. 212)

"The separation of worship into preference groups is everyone's fault"

Carl Stam, over at SBTS, offers a weekly email ministry called Worship Quote of the Week. If you don't subscribe at least put this gem in your favorites cause his archives are chock full of great quotes from the giants of the faith, past and present. This week's quote on the foolishness of the "traditional vs. contemporary music" debate.

THE LIMELIGHT OF CHRISTIAN WORSHIP
Traditionalists have much to answer for in their reluctance to understand that tradition does not mean stasis but change. In their reaction against contemporary styles, they fail to understand that what they have gotten used to was once contemporary and often objectionable. Contemporists likewise fail to understand how blunted their tastes are when only "their music" seems to do the trick and when what they are doing has, ever so quickly, frozen itself into a tradition. So we end up with two kinds of shortsightedness, one supposedly old, the other supposedly new, and both wish fulfilling. The separation of worship into preference groups is everyone's fault, in that narrow musical satisfaction has turned out to be more important than style-proof outpouring. I encourage people of all practices to become intently and intensely curious about each other's ways.

The church desperately needs an artistic reformation that accomplishes two things at once: first, it takes music out of the limelight and puts Christ and his Word back into prominence; and second, it strives creatively for a synthesis of new, old and crosscultural styles. A deep understanding of the arts, coupled to the understanding that at best the music of corporate worship is simple, humble and variegated, would bring something about that would make all churches into worshiping and witnessing churches that happen to sing.

—Harold Best, UNCEASING WORSHIP: BIBLICAL PERSPECTIVES ON WORSHIP AND THE ARTS. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2003, p. 75. ISBN 0-8308-3229-7

Tyrannical Sentamentalism

Sentimentality is subtle. C.S. Lewis once told a young writer: “Instead of telling us a thing is ‘terrible,’ describe it so that we’ll be terrified. Don’t say it was a ‘delight,’ make us say ‘delightful’ when we’ve read the description. You see, all those words (‘horrifying,’ ‘wonderful,’ ‘hideous,’ ‘exquisite’) are only saying to your readers, ‘Please will you do my job for me.’” Lewis complains that authors of gushy and sentimental words are tyrannical because they tell the readers they must feel rather than letting the subject work on them in the same way it did the author. Sentimental worship leading works in exactly the same way that Lewis describes. With typical comments—“Isn’t he just wonderful?” “Isn’t it such a blessing?”—the leader tells people how they ought to feel about God instead of telling them about God.[1]

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[1] Timothy J. Keller, “Reformed Worship in the Global City” in D.A., Carson, ed., Worship By the Book (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2000), 211 quoting W.H. Lewis ed., Letters of C.S. Lewis (New York: Harcourt, Brace, and World, 1966), 271.

"We're in the same tale still!"

I never read Tolkien as a kid. My sister did though. I remember seeing The Hobbit on her bedroom floor once and noticing the dragon on the cover I asked her about it. She said something to the effect that it was a challenging read that I might be someday worthy of. Needless to say, I put off J.R.R.T until the Fellowship of the Ring hit the theatres. I watched the movie and wast totally gripped. Within a week I got my hands on the original sources. Immediately, my wife, Heidi, and I read through The Lord of the Rings, aloud together. It was a blast! Almost every night, we'd spend an hour or two (sometimes even more!) caught up in the drama, wondering what would happen next.

Our journeys into Middle Earth continued for months. One day, I became big-time convicted that I was more captivated by the drama of Tolkien than the drama of Scripture. In an amazing way, reading Tolkien introduced me to the significance of Biblical Theology. As great as it was (and continues to be) to travel alongside of Frodo throughout Middle Earth, it is earth-shattering to realize that I have a role in the Drama of Scripture. I, too am caught up in a epic drama of God's Creation, Humanity's Rebellion, and the Messiah's Redemption. The story Frodo and Sam found themselves in didn't begin at Biblo's one hundred and eleventieth birthday party. It goes way back to Illuvatar's creation of Arda (earth), the rebellion of Melkor, the arrival of elves and men, the forging of the Silmaril jewels and the wars that ensued. The complexity and unity of the Tolkien's story helped reveal the amazing story that Scripture describes.

The following quote describes the "Aha!" moment I experienced several years ago, when, like Samwise Gamgee, it dawned on me that I belong to a much larger story than I ever imagined.

‘I don’t like anything here at all,’ said Frodo, ‘step or stone, breath or bone. Earth, air and water all seem accursed. But so our path is laid.’

‘Yes, that’s so, said Sam. ‘And we shouldn’t be here at all, if we’d known more about it before we started. But I suppose it’s often that way. The brave things in the old tales and songs, Mr. Frodo: adventures, as I used to call them. I used to think that they were things the wonderful folk of the stories went out and looked for, because they wanted them, because they were exciting and life was a bit dull, akind of a sport as you might say. But that’s not the way of it with the tales that really mattered, or the ones that stay in the mind. Folk seem to have been just landed in them, usually—their paths were laid that way, as you put it. But I expect they had lots of chances, like us, of turning back, only they didn’t. And if they had, we shouldn’t know, because they’d have been forgotten. We hear about those as just went on—and not all to a good end, mind you; at least not to what folk inside a story and not outside it call a good end. You know, coming home, and finding things all right, though not quite the same—like old Mr. Bilbo. But those aren’t always the best tales to hear, though they may be the best tales to get landed in! I wonder what sort of a tale we’ve fallen into?’

‘I wonder,’ said Frodo. ‘But I don’t know. And that’s the way of a real tale. Take anyone that you’re fond of. You may know, or guess, what kind of a tale it is, happy-ending or sad-ending, but the people in it don’t know. And you don’t want them to.’

‘No, sir, of course not. Beren now, he never thought he was going to get that Silmaril form the Iron Crown in Thangorodrim, and yet he did, and that was a worse place and a blacker danger than ours. But that’s a long tale of course, and goes on past the happiness and into grief and beyond it—and the Silmaril went on and came to Earendil. And why, sir, I never thought of that before! We’ve got—you’ve got some of the light of it in that star-glass that the Lady gave you! Why to think of it, we’re in the same tale still! It’s going on. Don’t the greatest tales never end?’

J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings 50th Anniversary Edition (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2004), p. 711-712.