Church membership is a blood-bought gift of God’s grace. More than most of us realize, it is a life-sustaining, faith-strengthening, joy-preserving means of God’s mercy to us. I urge you not to cut yourself off from this blessing. [From How Important Is Church Membership? :: Desiring God Christian Resource Library]

Amen to this quote from Donald Macleod’s The Humiliated and Exalted Lord, cited by Ligon Duncan:

:Theology exists in order to be applied to the day-to-day problems of the Christian church. Every doctrine has its application. All scripture is profitable and all the doctrine is profitable. Similarly all the application must be based on doctrine. In both the Philippians example-passage and the Corinthian example-passage, Paul is dealing with what are surely comparative trivia, the problem of vain glory in a Christian congregation and the problem of failure of Christian liberality. As a Pastor one meets with these difficulties daily. They are standing problems. Yet Paul, as he wrestles with both of them, has recourse to the most massive theology. It’s not only that you have the emphasis on the unity between theology and practice but you have the emphasis on the applicability of the profoundest theology to the most mundane and most common-place problems. Who would ever imagine that the response to the glory of the incarnation might be to give to the collection for the poor? Who might imagine that the application of the glories of New Testament Christology might be to stop our quarreling and our divisiveness in the Christian ekklesia? That is what Paul is doing here. He is telling them: You have these practical problems; the answer is theological; remember your theology and place your behavior in the light of that theology. Place your little problems in the light of the most massive theology. We ourselves in our Christian callings are to be conscious of this. We must never leave our doctrine hanging in the air, nor hesitate to enforce the most elementary Christian obligations with the most sublime doctrines.

[From The Answer to Practical Problems Must Involve Robust Doctrine]

From Thabiti Anyabwile’s great blog PureChurch.

Grudem’s chapter in Preach the Word offers some helpful reminders on correctly interpreting the Scripture.

1. Spend your earliest and best time reading the text of the Bible itself.

2. The interpretation of Scripture is not a magical or mysterious process, because Scripture was written in the ordinary language of the day.

3. Every interpreter has only four sources of information about the text: (a) The meanings of individual words and sentences; (b) the place of the statement in its context; (c) the overall teaching of Scripture; (d) some information about the historical and cultural background.

4. Look for reasons rather than mere opinions to give support to an interpretation, and use reasons rather than mere opinions to attempt to persuade others.

5. There is only one meaning for each text (though there are many applications).

6. Notice the kind of literature in which the verse is found.

7. Notice whether the text approves or disapproves or merely reports a person’s actions.

8. Be careful not to generalize specific statements and apply them to fundamentally different situations.

9. It is possible to do a short or long study of any passage. Do what you can with the time you have, and don’t be discouraged about all that you cannot do.

10. Pray regularly for the Holy Spirit’s help in the whole process of interpreting the Bible.

Grudem goes on to encourage his readers to keep the “big picture” in mind with 6 other reflections.
1. The Bible is a historical document. Therefore, always ask, “What did the author want the original readers to understand by this statement?”

2. The original authors wanted the original readers to respond in some way. Therefore always ask, “What application did the original author want the readers to make to their lives?”

3. The whole Bible is about God! Therefore we should always ask, “What does the text tell us about God?”

4. The center of the whole Bible is Jesus Christ. The entire Old Testament leads up to him and points to him, and the entire New Testament flows from him. Therefore, we should always ask, “What does this text tell us about the greatness of Christ?”

5. All history can be divided into several major “ages” or “epochs” in salvation history. Therefore, we should read every passage of the Bible with a salvation history timeline in our minds and constantly remember where every passage fits on the timeline.

6. Themes: Because the Bible is a unity (it has one divine Author though many human authors), there are many themes that develop and grow from Genesis to Revelation. Therefore, for each significant element in any text, it is helpful to ask, (a) Where did this theme start in the Bible? (b) How did this theme develop through the Bible? and (c) Where is this theme going to end in the Bible?

Happy Bible interpreting! [From 10 Tips from Grudem on Bible Interpretation]

I’ve been holding onto these posts for a while, saving them in the Clippings section of NetNewsWire. Some are profound and some are less-so, but all are worth revisiting in the future

• Developing church strategy–you are what you measure
  Mars Hill (Seattle)’s strategic framework
• How to Help Your Husband When He’s Criticized
  I can tell you this: For any marriage, correction of the husband by the wife would be one category on my short list of most important. If I observed a wife who was reluctant to correct her husband I would be concerned with that marriage. Obviously, I’m not arguing for a contentious marriage, but correction, humbly communicated, must be part of every marriage.
• Leaders do not just show up first, LEADERS GO FIRST
  My former pastor, Chris Rhodenhizer’s, exhortation for leaders to lead
  • with passion
  • with vision
  • through relationships
  • with patience
• Mark Driscoll on Raising Up “Timothys”
  From a great organization in Portland dedicated to connecting “Pauls” and “Timothy’s”
• The Answer to Practical Problems Must Involve Robust Doctrine
• On the Preparation and Delivery of Sermons
  C.J. Mahaney and Mark Dever talking about how Dr. Dever prepares his sermons. I especially like the part about the Application Grid. We got a sample in our 9Marks Weekender Notebook
• The solution is not to change the gospel
  Great reference from Tim Keller’s sermon “on the temptation to move away from a gospel that deals with individual sin”
• C.J. and Carolyn Mahaney on Parenting
  1. Gospel-Centered Parenting + Young Children (9:27)
  2. The Gospel + Parental Sin (2:39)
  3. The Gospel + Discipline (5:37)
  4. Teaching Children to Love the Church (10:59)

I realize this post is very late, but here are my thoughts on the 9Marks Weekender

• I was humbled by the congregational care demonstrated by the elders during the Elders Meeting. To be able to pray specifically for over 40 members of the congregation speaks volumes
• Capital Hill Baptist is a loving church, one that could serve as model for any church out there
• Staff, of both CHBC and 9Marks, were extremely gracious and helpful. Their advice and input related to our church search was very helpful
• The Weekender would be helpful for anyone anywhere who cares for and about their church home
• The Sunday Night service – wow. I will not be faithful to God if I do not find someway to include something like this when, Lord willing, I pastor a church.