Very cool infographic of OT / NT references

When Christoph Römhild, a Lutheran pastor in Hamburg, Germany, sent Carnegie Mellon Ph.D. student Chris Harrison a list of 63,779 cross-references between the Bible’s 1,189 chapters, the two became enthralled with elegantly showing the interconnected nature of Scripture. Each bar along the horizontal axis represents a chapter, with the length determined by the number of verses. (Books alternate in color between white and light gray.) Colors represent the distance between references. Graphic by Chris Harrison, Carnegie Mellon University

Excellent series of articles by Dr. Russell Moore of SBTS

Musings on God’s Providence

Christians have a unique perspective on the unfolding of history–whether on the broad, cosmic level or on the small, personal level of our own stories. We believe that God is king, and that he governs the flow of events around us. As Southern Baptists, we confess our belief with other Christians in what we call divine providence in this way: “God as Father reigns with providential care over his universe, his creatures, and the flow of the stream of human history according to the purposes of His grace.”

The Goal of God’s Providence

It is far too easy to confuse providence with a pagan vision of “fate” or “chance,” as though God were an impersonal force driving history along. Our confessional statement rightly though sums up the Christian consensus by noting that God rules “as Father.” God’s purposes in history have a goal, and that goal is not a “what” but a “Who.” The goal of history has a name, a face, and a blood type: Jesus.

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The same is true in our individual lives. Paul tells the church at Rome, “All things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Rom 8:28). This isn’t a cheery “What don’t kill you makes you stronger.” The Bible doesn’t identifry everything as good. It says that every aspect of our lives is part of a goal to move us toward glory. That glory is itself part of a larger goal, that we’d be “conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers” (Rom 8:29).

Every believer’s story includes circumstances designed by God for our sanctification, to strip away from us everything that isn’t modeled on the image of Christ.

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All of human history is staging ground for the revealing of Christ–whether it’s the caravan of travelers that stumble across Joseph in a pit or the rise of the Roman Empire. In the same way, all the events of your life are pulling you toward conformity with Christ, for life in his Kingdom

The Extent of God’s Providence

Some of us think that God rules providentially over the broad parameters, the “big things,” but not over the incidental details of history or of our lives. But, as I’ve noted before, so much of history–and our lives–is itself detail driven. The Bible tells us God raises up and tears down nations and rulers–the kinds of spectacular things we read about in our history books and hear about it in real time on CNN. But Jesus also tells us that a bird doesn’t hit a window and break its neck apart from the Father’s care.

It turns out God saves the world through very minute and (it seems) random details. Apologist Peter Kreeft puts it this way: “If one Egyptian tailor hadn’t cheated on the threads of Joseph’s mantle, Potiphar’s wife would never had been able to tear it, present it as evidence to Potiphar that Joseph attacked her, gotten him thrown in prison, and let him be in a position to interpret Pharaoh’s dream, win his confidence, advise him to store seven years of grain, and save his family, the seventy original Jews from whom Jesus came. We owe our salvation to a cheap Egyptian tailor.”

Think of all the biblical prophecies that are dependent on the tiniest of details. What if Pilate had decided to whisk Jesus off to Alexandria, to protect him from the crowds? What if Judas had been murdered on his way to betray Jesus? What if the guards at Golgotha had decided to break Jesus’ bones to make it easier to pull him down from the cross? What if Paul had drowned in his first shipwreck because he wasn’t paying attention to a tidal surge, preventing him from taking the gospel to the Gentiles? We’d all be in hell right now. But God’s purposes aren’t dependent on chance or luck. He works all things out according to the counsel of his will.

The Mystery of God’s Providence

There’s also a horrible danger for humans to try to read divine revelation through the outworking of providence, rather than the other way around. That’s why the Old Testament is filled with warnings not to assume that God is blessing the wicked man, just because he’s flourishing right now. That’s why Peter warns against dismissing the Day of the Lord just because it hasn’t yet arrived (2 Pet 3:1-13). God is patiently bearing with evildoers. He’s working out his purposes in Christ. But judgment will come–and suddenly.

God doesn’t explain why he allows things to happen the way he does, in our lives or in the broader scope of history. It would be comforting, we might think, if God ended the Book of Job with the familiar “Footprints” poem, showing Job all the places at which God was “carrying” him–along with all the reasons why. Often we don’t know why God is doing what he’s doing. But we know God. We trust him, and, sometimes, we just shut our mouths and bow our heads (Job 42:5-6).

Challenges to God’s Providence

The major challenge to the Christian notion of providence though doesn’t come from a pipe-smoking heretic in a faculty lounge somewhere. The most dangerous sub-Christian theology of providence I can find is my own. It doesn’t show up in typed out discourses like this one. It shows up when I worry about the future–as though God does not have my future planned for me. It shows up when I’m anxious about how to pay for college educations or how to avoid my family’s genetic predisposition to heart disease or whether my church is going to do well next year. My fretfulness or my mistrust or my manipulation reveals a heart that doesn’t truly believe that God knows–or can do–what is best for me. These also reveal a heart that doesn’t yet fully get the goal of divine providence–conformity to Christ Jesus.

A Christian vision of providence ought to bring about a kind of enraged tranquility. Because we know the goal to which God is moving history–and us–we ought to cry out in anguish when we see what doesn’t please him–especially in our own hearts. At the same time, though, we’re not fearful. We know that no one or nothing can harm us apart from the Father’s permission (John 19:11), and God’s silence in the face of our suffering doesn’t mean God has forgotten us.

From What We’re Looking For in An Elder–Someone Who’s “Elderly” by Greg Gilbert

IV. We Are Looking for Men Who Are Already Recognized as “Elderly”

- We want men who are known, because they attend.

- We want men who are known as a person of love.

- We want men who are known as a person of wisdom and knowledge and confidence

- Discipling others, serving faithfully.

- Putting the church’s interests above his own.

- All this makes you a center of gravity in the church. Not a loyal opposition center-of-gravity, but a person whom the people of this church are already gravitating to as a pastoral figure.

- We want to say, “How could we not recognize this person as an elder?”

Great post from Joe Carter about why reporting about, and talking about, the small things things is okay

But the world is not normal and won’t be until Christ returns to establish a new creation. We can’t wait until war has ceased or before human nature has been redeemed before we carry on with the job of living, laughing, marrying, lighting Sabbath candles and — as seemingly small as it might be — caring about sports

For 10 months, we as a church family are participating in a season devoted to learning great hymns of the faith. Memorizing hymns is one of the ways we can obey Scripture’s command to “let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God” (Colossians 3:16).

We’re doing this project because we want to benefit not only from the songs written in our lifetime, but also from hymns that have served the people of God for generations and will endure long after we’re gone. They are time-tested and true. They speak to every circumstance of life and point us to the wisdom, love and power of our gracious God and Savior.

Each month, we will highlight a different hymn in corporate worship and seek to learn it together by memory. We encourage you to sing these hymns with your family, your Care Group, and on your own to drive these truths deep in your heart.

Songs are available for download and additional information is available here.

From Fr. John Jay Hughes, serving in the Archdiocese of St. Louis, Missouri

A good entry point for persuading people that abortion is wrong is pointing out the chilling similarities between the arguments for slavery in the 1850s and those used to defend abortion today. Like today’s pro-choice people, slaveholders said they weren’t forcing others to own slaves. They simply pleaded for the right to do what they wanted with their “property.” That word disguised, of course, the fact that human lives were at stake. The question of pro-choice people today, “Doesn’t a woman have a right to do what she wants with her body?” similarly disguises the fact that exercising these so-called rights involves taking a human life.

The slaveholders’ pro-choice argument also lives on today in the bumper stickers that read: “Against abortion? Don’t have one.” Would those who display that sticker display one which said: “Against slavery? Don’t own one”? They’d be ashamed. (For further information about the parallels between pre-Civil War slaveholders and pro-choice people today, see the book by federal judge John T. Noonan, A Private Choice.)

When Americans are as ashamed of abortion as we now are of slavery, the battle will be won.

Part three of Greg Gilbert’s talk on eldership given at Third Avenue Baptist in Louisville

We Are Looking for Men Who Have a Pastoral Maturity and Confidence

- A ship has ballast that keeps it from rocking too much and helps it to cut a steady course. We want men who have some obvious ballast in their lives.

- Some of that is what Paul is getting at when he writes in Titus and Timothy, “not a recent convert” and “well thought-of by outsiders.”

- There is a lot we could talk about here. But just a few points:

1. Has a Compelling Command of Scripture. People trust you with Scripture and with wisdom. They trust your counsel. That doesn’t necessarily mean you have to be a master preacher. But even if your teaching gifts manifest themselves mostly in private, you need to be comfortable and trusted in that role. And even so, you need to have some ability to instruct the church publicly, too, even if that’s not your primary gifting or role.

2. You’re not overly complex in your teaching, but able to apply Scripture helpfully. Someone once told me that the simplicity of ignorance eventually gives way to the complexity of learning, which then eventually gives way to the simplicity of mastery. We’re looking for men who have made it over that hump a bit.

3. Has Learned to Keep Things in Good Perspective. Some people have theological landmines in their heads. You never know when you are going to hit one. KJV-only, etc. We want people who are able to see the relative importance of issues, and how Christian doctrine fits together as a whole.

4. Knows Largely Where He Stands. Being an elder is very much about applying theology and biblical knowledge to the church’s life. Learning is good—and we all are and should be constantly learning. But it is not elder-like to be in a constant mode of questioning, re-conceiving, and testing, especially on the most important matters. Elders should know where they stand and have a steady hand.

- All this is about a certain evident pastoral maturity and confidence. Ballast.

Thought-provoking article from Dan Kimball . Is multi-site the new mark of effectiveness? My thoughts mirror his below.

When we add our next gathering in our church, we will then maximize our space. We are talking about launching other gatherings at other building or “sites” in our county as our next step. If we do this, for our church community, we would never use video. Although I don’t say “never” too often, I can say “never” with pretty good assurance about us never launching video venues. For our philosophy and culture we would be training new leaders and communicators and sharing the teaching via a live team vs. video. We actually do use live video now. But it is for overflow on the church campus in a room and it still feels somewhat like everyone is together. .

Excellent article from T. M. Moore, dean of the BreakPoint Centurions Program, on reducing the Gospel of the Kingdom to Near Christianity

It’s rather like saying that the Good News is that Jesus provided an example for us to follow. Is that true? Of course. But is it the Gospel? Hardly. Or it’s like saying the Good News means you have a reason to do good works on behalf of others. Is that true? Certainly. But is it the Gospel? Not at all.

The Good News that Jesus and the apostles proclaimed is a message so comprehensive, so altogether new and radical, that it requires deep-seated, heart-felt repentance, complete surrender to the risen Christ, and whole-hearted belief leading to obedience in every area of life. It is the message of the Kingdom of God. Anything other than the Gospel of the Kingdom is not the Gospel at all, but a form of near Christianity that holds out promises germane to the Kingdom, prescribes means related to the Kingdom, but holds back on making the full vision and demands of the Kingdom clear to those who would enjoy the conditions of blessedness.

Near Christianity, therefore, leaves little in the way of Kingdom evidence in the lives and churches of those who embrace it. It leaves what it promises, and what people who embrace it desire: a sense of forgiveness, and the peace of mind that accompanies that, and a tentative hope of going to heaven when we die. As for power to transform sinful lives into beacons of holiness, goodness, beauty, and truth—well, that’s something to affirm, but not necessarily something to seek. [From Near Christianity - Prison Fellowship]

From Jordan Hylden’s article Aliens and Citizens

Hauerwas really did say it best: “The first responsibility of the church is to be the church.” It’s only when we learn to live first and truly as the body of Christ that our politics can be a witness to the city of man; it’s only when we set our eyes on the New Jerusalem that our life in Babylon can shine like a “city on a hill.”

The paradox of it can’t be let go—if for the sake of political witness or “relevance” we immerse ourselves in the politics of the world, we will wind up having nothing to say that the world has not already heard. But if our witness truly does flow out of the gospel politics of the church, we will begin to find that our words have surprising freshness and power—because finally, they will be telling the city of man about what it most needs to hear, which is the peace of the city of God.

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But while it’s absolutely correct that the church’s gospel politics needs to come first, we should remember that the church nevertheless is the “already” in what is mostly still a “not yet” world. Paul argued that although the new age opened up by Christ’s resurrection does indeed take priority over the old age, it’s not quite right to say that the old age is simply over and done with. Paul thought that secular governments are used by God to govern the world, and that they can be a force for good, even in their coercive roles. Theologians such as Augustine, Luther, and Bonhoeffer took up Paul’s line of thought, reasoning that because God providentially works through governments, jobs, and families, Christians can and should participate in them.

It’s no compromise to believe that Christians are called to act like Christians in the many places in the world that are not the church—in our jobs, schools, communities, and governments. Involvement in secular institutions is no substitute for the gospel, of course. But it would be a small gospel indeed that could have no effect on the way they are run. As William Wilberforce showed, such involvement can make a real difference in the world and can itself be a witness to the gospel. Wilberforce would argue that it’s by no means less than Christian to “seek the good” of the Babylons where we live by participating in secular politics, as did Daniel and the rest of the exiled Israelites.

The trick is never forgetting where we come from, where our true homeland lies, and which Sovereign we ultimately serve. The second-century Letter to Diognetus described the Christian life in the world this way: “They live in their own countries, but only as aliens; they have a share in everything as citizens, and endure everything as foreigners. … They busy themselves on earth, but their citizenship is in heaven.”

It’s not a bad way to put it. “In this world we have no abiding city,” as Scripture tells us—but so long as we are here, our call is to work and pray that our Father’s will be done “on earth as it is in heaven.” That’s gospel politics.