Intersected

From Colin Hansen at ChristianityToday.com

Big Truths for Young Hearts: Teaching and Learning the Greatness of God by Bruce Ware

Your beach companions will think you’re prepping for Sunday school or family devotions. You’ll actually be learning plenty yourself from an unusually gifted theologian equally adept at teaching seminary students and young children.

Christless Christianity: The Alternative Gospel of the American Church by Michael Horton

Maybe you should wait to read this book on a rainy day when you can’t go to the beach. Horton, a discerning and clear-thinking theologian, diagnoses what ills American believers, including consumerism, individualism, and nationalism.

Fearless Pilgrim: The Life and Times of John Bunyan by Faith Cook

Biographies make for a quick, engaging read. Cook explores the times that gave us Bunyan, the pastor and prisoner whose best-selling The Pilgrim’s Progress brought theology to the masses.

The New Shape of World Christianity: How American Experience Reflects Global Faith by Mark A. Noll

Venerable historian Noll expands on the contributions of missiologist Andrew Walls to show how American Christianity has shaped the rapidly expanding global church.

Politics for the Greatest Good: The Case for Prudence in the Public Square by Clarke Forsythe

The senior counsel for Americans United for Life advocates the neglected virtue of prudence for fighting abortion. His timing is impeccable for Christians dealing with the ramifications of George Tiller’s murder.

When Athens Met Jerusalem: An Introduction to Classical and Christian Thought by John Mark Reynolds

Theology has always confronted and conformed to the intellectual trends of its cultural context. Like some early Christian apologists, Reynolds draws connections between Hebrew theology and the Greek philosophy so popular in ancient Rome. He even dares to recommend cooperation between faith and reason in order to save Western civilization.

Justification: God’s Plan & Paul’s Vision by N. T. Wright

Read for yourself what all the fuss is about. Bring along the handy chart from the June issue of Christianity Today to compare Wright with his chief critic, John Piper. Justification is too important to be left to professional theologians, so bring your Bible, too, and trace the sometimes-complex arguments.

Why We Love the Church: In Praise of Institutions and Organized Religion by Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck

The authors of the award-winning Why We’re Not Emergent return to tackle another set of theological innovators. Whether committed, disgruntled, waffling, or disconnected from the local church, this book will help you love the bride of Christ.

Predestination: The American Career of a Contentious Doctrine by Peter Thuesen

Want to celebrate the summer of John Calvin’s 500th birthday? Then read about the history of the doctrine most closely associated with him. You’ll see just how far theology can stretch over space and time.

Adopted for Life: The Priority of Adoption for Christian Families & Churches by Russell Moore

Readers rave at Moore’s ability to link important theological concepts with contemporary concerns. But you better handle this book delicately. You might return home from the beach with a new calling that will change your family’s life.

From FeedingonChrist.com comes this article which provides links to articles by both Ligon Duncan, of First Presbyterian of Jackson, MS, and Tim Keller, of Redeemer Presbyterian in Manhattan, NY.

Here is the audio from the discussion that Ligon Duncan and Tim Keller had at the 2009 PCA GA concerning the role of women and the deaconate. One of the most significant points in the discussion, in my opinion, was Ligon’s brief exposition of Acts 6. While there is some debate as to whether deacons are in view there or not, Duncan made the observation that men were ministering to women (i.e. the widows mentioned there). This is significant because many egalitarians insist that women need to be the ones ministering to women. Duncan followed up his observation with a strong pastoral note, calling men to care deeply for the needs of the women in the church. It is certainly true that Acts 6 is not prescriptive, but it is certainly descriptive. One cannot argue that there were women chosen from among the seven, but you can most certainly assert that men were. This only serves to strengthen ones understanding of the prescriptive passages.There were many other helpful observations from both Duncan and Keller in the discussion.  I’d love to know what  you think after you listen to it.

You should also look at the aritcles that these men submitted to By Faith Magazine on the subject.Tim Keller’s article “The Case for Comissioning (Not Ordaining) Deaconesses” can be found here. Ligon Duncan’s article “The Case for Our Current Policy on Women Deacons” can be found here.

From Keith Mathison via Justin Taylor

OLD TESTAMENT:

• Genesis
• Exodus
• Leviticus
• Numbers
• Deuteronomy
• Joshua
• Judges
• Ruth
• 1 & 2 Samuel
• 1 & 2 Kings
• 1 & 2 Chronicles
• Ezra & Nehemiah
• Esther
• Job
• Psalms
• Proverbs
• Ecclesiastes
• Song of Songs
• Isaiah
• Jeremiah
• Lamentations
• Ezekiel
• Daniel
• Hosea
• Joel
• Amos
• Obadiah
• Jonah
• Micah
• Nahum
• Habakkuk
• Zephaniah
• Haggai
• Zechariah
• Malachi

NEW TESTAMENT:

• The Gospel of Matthew
• The Gospel of Mark
• The Gospel of Luke
• The Gospel of John
• Acts
• Romans
• 1 Corinthians
• 2 Corinthians
• Galatians
• Ephesians
• Philippians
• Colossians & Philemon
• 1 & 2 Thessalonians
• The Pastoral Epistles
• Hebrews
• James
• 1 Peter
• 2 Peter & Jude
• The Epistles of John
• Revelation

These are amazingly helpful thoughts from C.J. Mahaney on teaching Proverbs

As the book of Song of Solomon is a unique gift for married couples, the book of Proverbs is a unique gift for parents and children. For preachers looking to use the summer months to preach this unique book, here are a few tools that may be useful.

Preaching Proverbs in Calvary’s Shadow

It can be difficult to balance the call to obedience with the cross-centered life. Yet that is what William Arnot accomplishes in the final chapter of his old commentary on Proverbs, Laws from Heaven for Life on Earth (published in 1873). The final chapter, “Faith and Obedience—Work and Rest,” models this balance well and I commend it to you.

You can read or download the entire commentary for free online. But you can download the isolated chapter I mention as a PDF here (0.9MB).

Thematic Structures

Of importance to the preacher of Proverbs is getting a handle on a few recurring themes and character developments featured in the book (i.e. wisdom, folly, discernment, understanding, knowledge). Derek Kidner’s excellent commentary will certainly help here.

I also recommend a newer commentary on Proverbs by John A. Kitchen (Mentor, 2006). In the appendix of his commentary, Kitchen has written a very useful systemization and summary of the path of the righteous and the path of the fool (pp. 727–736). Kitchen uses three graphics to distinguish the two paths and the several steps along the way.

The explanations behind these charts are developed in the commentary appendix. And the editors of Christian Focus have granted us permission to post the entire appendix here as adownloadable PDF (2.4MB).

Summer Series Outline

Due to its structure, the book of Proverbs is difficult to preach expositionally from beginning to end. The book lends itself to topical exposition, a feature that makes it a suitable text for preaching during the summer months.

Sovereign Grace Church in Fairfax, Virginia, is using the summer to preach a ten-week series on Proverbs. The pastors have divided the first nine chapters by topic (I was honored to participate in the series by preaching the second message).

FEAR GOD (1:1-7)
LISTEN (1:20-33)
SEEK (2:4)
TRUST (3:5)
GUARD (4:23)
DRINK (5:15)
GO (6:6-8)
KEEP (7:1-2)
HEAR (8:1, 32)
CHOOSE (9:6)

The church printed full-color bookmarks to outline the series and, as you will see, to capture the series as an opportunity to encourage and equip the church to interpret the book of Proverbs for themselves. Here is the graphic they used for the series:

From Kevin DeYoung, pastor of University Reformed Church in East Lansing, MI. This is an issue that I’ve been thinking about a lot lately, as I continue in my Acts 29 application process and begin the membership process at Grace Ann Arbor, which is part of a denomination (Reformed Church in America) that ordains women.

1. Historically, opening the door to egalitarianism in one generation leads to bigger errors in the next. I know slopes aren’t always slippery, but this one seems to be. Once your hermeneutic allows for egalitarianism, it becomes hard to stand firm on homosexuality. I’m not saying that all egalitarians believe homosexuality is acceptable, only that blurring gender roles and overstating the implications of Galatians 3:28 has often slid, over time, into an acceptance of sexual immorality.
2. The role of men and women is a huge issue for our day. Our millennial views matter, but in terms of ministering in and to the culture, where we stand in gender issues matters more. There is so much confusion on manhood and womanhood, that wherever we can speak clearly and with one voice that’s a good thing.
3. Complementarianism tends to signify a number of other important convictions. I don’t know any complementarians who don’t also affirm inerrancy, penal substitution, and eternal punishment (I’m not counting Catholics because though they don’t ordain women, the reasoning has more to do with their view of the priesthood than a complementarian theology of manhood and womanhood). In other words, if someone is a Calvinist and a complementarian I can generally assume a lot about their theology. These are not the two most important issues of the faith, but they are two issues that if embraced in our day, almost always include a lot of other important theological beliefs.

   Egalitarians can also believe in the sort of core doctrines listed above, but it is far less automatic. For example, the Common Loon mentions several Calvinist/Egalitarian academics: Roger Nicole, Nicholas Wolterstorrf, John Webster, Mark Husbands, Todd Billings, Bruce McCormack, Richard Mouw, Bill Dyrness, Laura Miguelez, and Donald Bloesch. With the exception of Nicole, how many of these scholars would embrace inerrancy? Some perhaps, but I best most wouldn’t. This doesn’t mean they aren’t worth listening to, but it does suggest that the Calvinist/Egalitarian package is different from the Calvinist/Compelementarian package in more ways than one.

4. Practically, it is very difficult for groups and organizations and movements to make both complementarians and egalitarians happy. If a new movement tried to embrace both views, how would this work? Would women be asked to be part of the leadership team? Would women preach to pastors at their conferences? This would not fly with most complementarians. And yet many egalitarians would see this as a matter of justice (they do in my denomination). Someone is bound to be upset. It is simpler and better for the long-term peace of an organization to take a stand on this issue. Cross-denominational movements can allow for different views of baptism, because they don’t ever have to baptize anyone. But such movements will have to make decisions on leadership structures and speaking requests. So going one way or the other on the gender issue becomes a practical necessity.

This is Randy Alcorn and Alan Hlavka’s list of anticipated consequences of either of their immortaity. Here’s Randy’s introduction

About twenty-five years ago, while pastors at Good Shepherd Community Church, my friend Alan Hlavka and I both developed lists of all the specific consequences we could think of that would result from our immorality as pastors. The lists were devastating, and to us they spoke more powerfully than any sermon or article on the subject.

Periodically, especially when travelling or when in a time of temptation or weakness, we read through our list. In a personal and tangible way it brings home God’s inviolate law of choice and consequence. It cuts through the fog of rationalization and fills our hearts with the healthy, motivating fear of God. We find that when we begin to think unclearly, reviewing this list yanks us back to the reality of the law of the harvest and the need both to fear God and the consequences of sin.

An edited version of our combined lists follows. I’ve included the actual names of my wife and daughters to emphasize the personal nature of this exercise. Where it involves my own lists of specific people’s names, I’ve simply stated “list names” so you can insert the appropriate ones in your own life.

Some of these consequences would be unique to me, just as some of yours would be unique to you. I recommend that you use this as the basis for your own list, then include those other consequences that would be uniquely yours. The idea, of course, is not to focus on sin, but on the consequences of sin, thereby encouraging us to refocus on the Lord and take steps of wisdom and purity that can keep us from falling.

(While God can forgive and bring beauty out of ashes, that’s a message to those who have already sinned…not to those who are contemplating sin! On the “front side” of sin we must not give assurances of forgiveness and restoration. We must put the focus where Scripture does—on the love of God and the fear of God, both of which should act in concert to motivate us to holy obedience.)

Powerful stuff and something for me to contemplate deeply as I look toward the ministry. Here’s the list itself

• Grieving my Lord; displeasing the One whose opinion most matters.
• Dragging into the mud Christ’s sacred reputation.
• Loss of reward and commendation from God.
• Having to one day look Jesus in the face at the judgment seat and give an account of why I did it. Forcing God to discipline me in various ways.
• Following in the footsteps of men I know of whose immorality forfeited their ministry and caused me to shudder. List of these names:
• Suffering of innocent people around me who would get hit by my shrapnel (a la Achan).
• Untold hurt to Nanci, my best friend and loyal wife.
• Loss of Nanci’s respect and trust.
• Hurt to and loss of credibility with my beloved daughters, Karina and Angela. (“Why listen to a man who betrayed Mom and us?”)
• If my blindness should continue or my family be unable to forgive, I could lose my wife and my children forever.
• Shame to my family. (The cruel comments of others who would invariably find out.)
• Shame to my church family.
• Shame and hurt to my fellow pastors and elders. List of names:
• Shame and hurt to my friends, and especially those I’ve led to Christ and discipled. List of names:
• Guilt awfully hard to shake—even though God would forgive me, would I forgive myself?
• Plaguing memories and flashbacks that could taint future intimacy with my wife.
• Disqualifying myself after having preached to others.
• Surrender of the things I am called to and love to do—teach and preach and write and minister to others. Forfeiting forever certain opportunities to serve God. Years of training and experience in ministry wasted for a long period of time, maybe permanently.
• Being haunted by my sin as I look in the eyes of others, and having it all dredged up again wherever I go and whatever I do.
• Undermining the hard work and prayers of others by saying to our community “this is a hypocrite—who can take seriously anything he and his church have said and done?”
• Laughter, rejoicing and blasphemous smugness by those who disrespect God and the church (2 Samuel 12:14).
• Bringing great pleasure to Satan, the Enemy of God.
• Heaping judgment and endless problems on the person I would have committed adultery with.
• Possible diseases (pain, constant reminder to me and my wife, possible infection of Nanci, or in the case of AIDS, even causing her death, as well as mine.)
• Possible pregnancy, with its personal and financial implications.
• Loss of self-respect, discrediting my own name, and invoking shame and lifelong embarrassment upon myself.

From Pat Aldridge via Jared Kennedy at SojournKids.com

Since coming back from the Children Desiring God conference, I’ve been doing a lot of reading about helping kids develop a passion for God and His Gospel. Mostly “how-to” type stuff. The books I have been reading all start by making two things very clear: 1) The importance of family devotions, and 2) The importance of personal growth. I want to explore these issues in reverse order.

Personal Devotions

The reason I want to start with personal devotions is because apart from them, family devotions won’t have as much, if any, impact on our kids. Our kids need to SEE us spending time reading our Bibles, praying, and handling life in a godly way. They need to SEE grace in action. Whether you understand it or not, parents have the most influence over their children. Two things to keep in mind about that: 1) parents are the people that spent the most time with their children, and 2) kids are like sponges – they absorb a lot from those they spend the most time with. What are we teaching our kids about the value of God, that it’s a private thing not to be disturbed, or that it is in the things of everyday life?

Another reason I start with personal devotions is that you as the parent/teacher need be growing in the graces and mercies of God. If we as the parents/teachers are growing ourselves our teaching will be more mechanical (”going through the motions”) and less life transforming.

Finally, personal growth as a parent means at least one more thing; we need to let our kids SEE us deal with our sin, especially when that sin is against them. We are sinners, just like they are, and we need to deal with that sin openly and honestly if we expect them to do the same. They struggle with the same sins we do – selfishness, stubbornness… do I need to go on? The bottom line in all sin is pride. If our kids don’t see us deal with sin, they won’t understand its devastating power.

Family Devotions

I like to think of family devotions as a kind of “small group” for your family. Most churches have small groups and when they are done well, this is where a lot of spiritual maturity happens. It shouldn’t be different with our families. At this point I must confess that I (like I suspect most of you) struggle with making this a habit. Our current schedule (my wife and I work opposite shifts with just a little overlap) compounds the problem. What we are learning is important in all aspects of child rearing; be intentional. We need to use the time God gives us to the best of its ability. Something I’ve had to say to myself is, “Stop making excuses, and just do it!”

I know what you may be thinking at this point, “Now that I have decided to do it, what should I do?” Here are some great resources to start you down the family devotions road. I have decided to start with a booklet put out by Children Desiring God called Helping Children Understand the Gospel by Sally Michael, Jill Nelson, and Bud Burk. I choose to start here because the Gospel is foundational. If I get this wrong it doesn’t matter what else I teach, it could (and probably will) be corrupt. I want my kids to cherish the richness of the message of the Gospel. Once the foundation is set we are planning on moving on to Bruce Ware’s book Big Truths for Young Hearts. It’s a great devotional that breaks down theology and helps kids (and parents as well) understand (as much as we can this side of heaven) how big God really is. From there we will probably us one of the many Catchisms that are out there. One of the ones we have is the Truth and Grace Memory Bookby Thomas K. Ascol put out by Founders Press. There are a lot of good resourses out there, ask people you trust they can probably recommend more, these are the ones I have come in contact with and will work for me.

Conclusion

Keep the following things in mind:

1. As parents we have the PRIMARY responsibility to raise our children in the ways of God. It’s not the church’s job to see that our kids get God. We spend the most amount of time with our kids and they learn a lot from watching what we do, say, and how we handle life.
2. Help your kids see God in the mundane, everyday situations of life.
3. Let your kids see you deal with sin. Don’t hide it or rationalize it away. Deal with it. This will teach your kids volumes about how dangerous sin is.
4. If you need help, ask. It doesn’t matter what stage you or your kids are at, start working to deepen their faith (yours will be deepened in the process).
5. Be intentional. We don’t know how much time we have so use it wisely.
6. Always have the heart in mind. Work on the heart not the behavior.

From Tony Reinke

(David) Powlison suggested three categories of questions to ask your husband or wife. Each of these categories can be asked on a daily basis. And each of these categories are simple and broad, but certainly provide helpful reminders. Here are the three:

1. What are your present burdens? The Bible tells us that we are born for trouble (Job 5:7). So what is the trouble? A sin? A responsibility? An issue at work? A particular conflict? What weighs you down? What was your lowlight of this day? These burdens are the “heat of life.”
2. What are your present joys? What were your highlights from the day? These joys are the “dew of blessing.”
3. What is your calling? This could include the mundane tasks, or broader life-purpose questions. What are your duties for this day? What do you need to do? What are your goals for this day? For example, a parent could say, “Today, I don’t want to lose my temper with the kids.” It could be as simple as this.

These three categories are helpful in getting to substantive conversation with your spouse. And Dr. Powlison alluded to, this list can be useful in talking with your children as well. The answers to these three categories of questions will help us better know how to serve and care for those in our lives.

From Jonathan Dodson of Austin City Life. This is great advice to work through at Grace Ann Arbor and beyond.

• Don’t forget to ask the pagans! If you are fundraising, remember that God used the pagan king Cyrus to fund the rebuilding of an entire city. He can definitely handle your church planting needs. Most pagans know more about your city than you do, and some of them love it more than you.
• Spend more time with people and less time with books in the first year of church planting. Learn your city, know its lostness, love your city, re-learn how to share the gospel in your context. Fall in love with your target people. The more you know and love them, the better your witness to the gospel will be, including your preaching.
• Identify the top 10 Obstacles to the Gospel in your Context. Don’t do this from the armchair, do it from anecdotes (conversations) and cultural exegesis (spending time in pockets of resistance or indifference).
• Identify the top 10 Obstacles to the Church in your Context. Anecdotes and exegesis. Learn the history of hypocrisy in your city or town so that you can apologize and distance yourself from mockeries of the Church. What do people think of when they think “church”?  Have they ever gone to one? Why did they stop?
• Don’t spend ungodly amounts of money or time on developing your first website. It will all change anyway, several times. You should be with people, not websites and blogs (!). Here are two good, inexpensive web solutions for early stage church planting: Church Root & Clover Sites.

From SojournKids.com, children’s ministry at Sojourn Community Church in Louisville, KY where I will, Lord Willing, get assessed for the Acts 29 Network in the fall.

Father’s Day Sojourn Kids Music by Bill Bell

Male singer and guitarist: “Hi, I’m Mr. (First name)”

Female singer: “I’m Ms. (First name)”

Guitarist/other instrumentalist: “I’m Mr. (First name)”

Male Singer/Guitarist: Does anyone know what holiday we celebrate this month?  That’s right, Father’s Day.  Father’s Day is a day that our whole country celebrates daddies.  Dads are the ones who protect their families and care for them in hard times.  When you fall and scrape your knee, it might be your daddy who picks you up and holds you while you cry.  Can you tell of other times where your daddy cared for you in hard or painful times? (take 2 or 3 stories)  Well, God the Father is like that, but even more so.  He cares for us perfectly and is always there when things are good or bad.  This song tells about this Father, who cares for all his children every moment of every day.

1. “Sovereign One” Words and Music by Zach Jones (c) 2004 Sovereign Grace Music

Female Singer: Do you all know the ultimate way that God showed his love for us?  By sending his Son to die for us.  “But God demonstrates His own love for us in this, while we were sinners Christ died for us.”  God the Father did something really loving when he sent his Son to die for sinners like you and me.  And by doing this, he invites sinners to call him Father for all of eternity—that’s a long time!  Let’s sing this song to help us remember: “But God demonstrates His own love for us in this, while we were sinners Christ died for us.”

2. “Romans 5:8 (NIV) Scripture Memory Song,” Music by Mark Altrogge
As Recored on “A Ransom For Many,” Hide The Word, Volume 2 © Forever Grateful Music

Male Singer/Guitarist: Some of you may have daddies that you see every day.  Some of you don’t have a daddy who’s around very much.  Some of you may not have a daddy at all.  Whether your dad is around a lot or not, no dad is perfect because every dad is a sinner just like I am and just like you are.  Because we all sin, we fail not only to love each other perfectly, but also to love God perfectly.  When we or daddies or mommies or whoever should show love all the time, we fail and show anger or meanness or rudeness or disrespect.  But God the Father has a love that is unending.  For those that believe in him, he never turns his back, never fails, never leaves, never lets go.  His love lasts forever.

3. “Your Love” Words and music by Bob Kauflin (c) 2004 Sovereign Grace Praise

Guitarist or other instrumentalist: We are going to pray. . . fold your hands and be still and talk to God. Let’s pray.

Thank you, God, for sending your Son to die on the cross so that all who believe in you can call you our heavenly Father.  And thank you for letting us see what your love and care is like through our daddies here on earth.  Help us to honor our fathers. Please show special grace to our dads as they love us.  Help them to trust in Jesus alone for salvation and hope. God, help our dads to teach us about you every day.  In Jesus name we pray, Amen.

4.  “His Love Will Last Forever,” Words and Music by Chandi Plummer
© 2009 Chandi Plummer/Sojourn Music