Exodus 15:11 says, “Who is like You among the gods, O’ Lord? Who is like You, majestic in holiness, awesome in praises, working wonders?”
This verse teaches us two things: a) what it means to Moses and his context, and b) what it means to our context.
a) First of all, this verse finds itself within a song, that Moses sung directly after God has rescued Israel out of slavery in Egypt. Therefore, 15:11 is loaded with redemptive overtones because that was what just took place! After being enslaved by the Egyptians for 400 years, God showed up and saved His people! What happens when God saves His people? His people sing about the great works God did to save them, and that is what 15:11 is for the Israelites.
b) Second of all, this verse is what I call, the “cry of the redeemed” throughout redemptive history. I call it this because from the rescue out of Egypt all the way up to the present day, we, the blood bought people of God, sing this same song in all sorts of different ways upon reflecting over the redemption God has wrought in us through the death of His Son. AMEN! God is glorious, no one is like Him, He is majestic in holiness, awesome in praises, working wonders for His glory in behalf of His people. Amen indeed!
In July 2011, Sovereign Grace Ministries (SGM) installed an interim Board of Directors. Our primary task was to determine C.J. Mahaney’s fitness to serve SGM as President in light of accusations made against him by a former SGM leader, Brent Detwiler. To accomplish this, we sought to apply the teaching of 1 Timothy 5:19-21 regarding the examination of an elder. As described in our October 28 blog post, we created three panels to review Brent’s allegations and report their findings to us, after which we would determine if C.J. was to continue in his role as President.
After examining the reports of these three review panels, we find nothing in them that would disqualify C.J. from his role as President, nor do they in any way call into question his fitness for gospel ministry. Therefore the Board has decided unanimously to return C.J. to the office of President, effective immediately.
After briefly describing the background and the review process, they conclude:
This has been a trying season for our family of churches and for C.J. and his family in particular. The recommendations made by the panels delineate some of the weaknesses we see in our ministry, and we expect to learn even more when the separate AOR-led Group Reconciliation process is completed this spring. Our hope and prayer is that all of us evaluate these matters humbly, apply the forgiveness that comes through the gospel appropriately, and relate to one another about these matters graciously as we work together to reform what needs reforming, reaffirm the goodness of God in our midst, and continue to plant and build local churches with our chief aim the glory of God through the gospel.
Three fundamental charges had been brought against C.J. by Brent Detwiler, and each of the three review panels sought to answer one of the following questions:
Was Larry Tomczak’s departure from Sovereign Grace Ministries handled properly?
Did C.J. wrongly influence the process of Brent Detwiler’s dismissal from his church in Mooresville, NC?
Was C.J.’s participation in fellowship in 2003-2004, including the giving and receiving of correction, in keeping with the teaching of Scripture?
On the three charges, the independent panels reached the following conclusions:
No, Tomczak’s departure from Sovereign Grace Ministries was not handled properly. [This is the most complicated and painful report. Attempts to summarize it would likely be inaccurate, but they summarize their findings---focusing on the SGM side of responsibility---under the following headings: (1) SGM board members share culpability; (2) the coercive threat was sinful; (3) public critique hurt Tomczak's reputation; (4) fear affected some board decisions; (5) deficient processes contributed to the conflict; (6) Larry Tomczak contributed to the conflict surrounding his departure; (7) the SGM Board failed to aggressively pursue reconciliation. At the same time, they show that there has been repentance and confession of sin by those involved, reconciliation has been pursued, and some of the perceptions about this story are inaccurate.]
There is no evidence that C.J. directly or indirectly wrongly influenced the events leading up to and including the resignation of Detwiler as senior pastor of GCC.
C.J.’s participation in fellowship from 2003-2004, including giving and receiving correction, was in keeping with the teaching of Scripture.
You can read the entire reports in PDF form here. In short, these issues seem to have been bound up with sin (by more than one person), miscommunication, and unclear polity and policies. The review reports offer a number of recommendations for C.J. and Sovereign Grace Ministries going forward.
What’s next for C.J.? In a response to the review panels, he expresses his gratitude and talks about his future plans:
Over the last six months I’ve spent many hours reflecting upon Sovereign Grace, our history together, and our purpose and mission. I’ve also taken time to think and pray about my calling and how I might best serve Sovereign Grace in this new season before us. I have sought counsel from friends and leaders within SGM and in the broader evangelical church. There is much work for SGM to do in the years ahead, and I want to do all I can to make this work fruitful. The opportunities for church planting in this country and throughout the world are numerous. The requests we receive for help exceed our resources. And one can’t help but be excited about the immediate future given the present Pastors College class and the church planting ventures we have planned for the next few years.
In light of all of this, here is how I think I can best serve you in the days ahead: as I step back into the role as president, I will do so only temporarily. I think it would be wise for SGM to have a new president who has gifts better suited to serve Sovereign Grace in this next season. I love SGM and I want the best for SGM. Lord willing, I look forward to serving SGM more effectively in a different role. So my return will be temporary and with a few important intentions. Let me briefly explain what they are.
First, I want to give immediate attention to helping the interim board transfer governance to their successors. In 2010 we began considering how to expand the SGM board and better define their role in evaluating and overseeing the president. Now that the interim board has served its purpose, it is time for us to complete the transition to a more permanent expanded board. I look forward to seeing this process through and benefitting from the leadership that an expanded board will provide for Sovereign Grace. Despite the many evidences of grace in our midst, I’m aware of a number of present weaknesses in SGM and some past failings; as our president, I take full responsibility for these and I am grateful that with a new board in place we can together continue to address these issues.
Second, once the new board is formed I want to assist them however I can in identifying and installing my successor as president, although that decision will be for the board to make. There are a few other matters I want to address in my remaining time as president, all of which is subject to the priorities that the board establishes for me. But I hope these primary goals can be accomplished within the next few months.
After supporting the board through these important transitions, I hope to return to what I believe is my primary calling from God—pastoral ministry and the pulpit. This plays a significant role in why my return as president is temporary. Let me explain. I think preaching and pastoral ministry are where grace is most evident in my life and where my leadership is most effectively expressed. Others seem to agree. And I think I have neglected this call to preach for a number of years as I have endeavored to serve as president. Over the past five years many faithful friends have brought this concern to my attention and impressed upon me the importance of preaching as a primary means of my serving and leading. However moved I was by their concerns and encouragement, the many responsibilities of the presidential role would quickly preoccupy me again and the effect of their counsel would subside. Over the past six months I have seen more clearly than ever the wisdom of their counsel. So I think the most effective way I can serve Sovereign Grace is by planting a church and leading a local congregation through faithful expository preaching and teaching, as well as serving Sovereign Grace in other tasks and roles the board might recommend for me. I also hope to continue to serve the broader church where strategic opportunity and invitation present themselves, as I have with my good friends in Together for the Gospel. I simply can’t wait to get started. And I can proceed into this future confidently when our new board and president are in place. So that is what I am returning to do and why my return as president will be temporary. I would be most grateful for your support in prayer in this season of transition.
Like I said, you should’ve seen this by now, 16 million of your friends have…
This video has caused quite a stir on the net, even onto the CBS morning show, really. Also, my Stepfather pointed out that even the Wall Street Journal has a piece on a similar story, click here for that. Though it’s message is genuine and very good in my opinion, it does need some further clarification. To find that clarification, read Kevin DeYoung’s thoughts below:
The video—which in a few days has gone from hundreds of views to thousands to millions—shows Jefferson Bethke, who lives in the Seattle area, delivering a well-crafted, sharply produced, spoken word poem. The point, according to Bethke, is “to highlight the difference between Jesus and false religion.” In the past few days I’ve seen this video pop up all over Facebook. I’ve had people from my church say they like it. Some has asked me what I think. Others have told me there’s something off about the poem, but they can’t quite articulate what it is. I’ll try to explain what that is in a moment.
Before I say anything else, let me say Jefferson Bethke seems like a sincere young man who wants people to know God’s scandalous grace. I’m sure he’s telling the truth when he says on his Facebook page: “I love Jesus, I’m addicted to grace, and I’m just a messed up dude trying to make Him famous.” If I met him face to face, I bet I’d like Jefferson and his honesty and passion. I bet I’d be encouraged by his story and his desire to free people from the snares of self-help, self-righteous religion.
And yet (you knew it was coming), amidst a lot of true things in this poem there is a lot that is unhelpful and misleading.
This video is the sort of thing that many younger Christians love. It sounds good, looks good, and feels good. But is it true? That’s the question we must always ask. And to answer that question, I want to go through this poem slowly, verse by verse. Not because I think this is the worst thing ever. It’s certainly not. Nor because I think this video will launch a worldwide revolution. I want to spend some time on this because Bethke perfectly captures the mood, and in my mind the confusion, of a lot of earnest, young Christians.
Verse 1
What if I told you Jesus came to abolish religion
What if I told you voting republican really wasn’t his mission
What if I told you republican doesn’t automatically mean Christian
And just because you call some people blind
Doesn’t automatically give you vision
Okay, so the line about Republicans is a cheap shot (if you vote GOP) or a prophetic stance (if you like Jim Wallis). While it’s true that “republican doesn’t automatically mean Christian” and in some parts of the country that may be a word churchgoers need to hear, I doubt that putting right-wingers in their place is the most pressing issue in Seattle.
More important is Bethke’s opening line: “Jesus came to abolish religion.” That’s the whole point of the poem. The argument—and most poems are arguing for something—rests on the sharp distinction between religion on one side and Jesus on the other. Whether this argument is fair depends on your definition of religion. Bethke sees religion as a man made attempt to earn God’s favor. Religion equals self-righteousness, moral preening, and hypocrisy. Religion is all law and no gospel. If that’s religion, then Jesus is certainly against it.
But that’s not what religion is. We can say that’s what is has become for some people or what we understand it to be. But words still matter and we shouldn’t just define them however we want. “Jesus hates religion” communicates something that “Jesus hates self-righteousness” doesn’t. To say that Jesus hates pride and hypocrisy is old news. To say he hates religion—now, that has a kick to it. People hear “religion” and think of rules, rituals, dogma, pastors, priests, institutions. People love Oprah and the Shack and “spiritual, not religious” bumper stickers because the mood of our country is one that wants God without the strictures that come with traditional Christianity. We love the Jesus that hates religion.
The only problem is, he didn’t. Jesus was a Jew. He went to services at the synagogue. He observed Jewish holy days. He did not come to abolish the Law or the Prophets, but to fulfill them (Matt. 5:17). He founded the church (Matt. 16:18). He established church discipline (Matt. 18:15-20). He instituted a ritual meal (Matt. 26:26-28). He told his disciples to baptize people and to teach others to obey everything he commanded (Matt. 28:19-20). He insisted that people believe in him and believe certain things about him (John 3:16-18; 8:24). If religion is characterized by doctrine, commands, rituals, and structure, then Jesus is not your go-to guy for hating religion. This was the central point behind the book Ted Kluck and I wrote a few years ago.
The word “religion” occurs five times in English Standard Version of the Bible. It is, by itself, an entirely neutral word. Religion can refer to Judaism (Acts 26:5) or the Jewish-Christian faith (Acts 25:19). Religion can be bad when it is self-made (Col. 2:23) or fails to tame the tongue (James 1:26). But religion can also be good when it cares for widows and orphans and practices moral purity (James 1:27). Unless we define the word to suit our purposes, there is simply no biblical grounds for saying Jesus hated religion. What might be gained by using such language will, without a careful explanation and caveats, be outweighed by what is lost when we give the impression that religion is the alloy that corrupts a relationship with Jesus.
For Weighty Wednesday today we’re in the book of Leviticus, and some of you (I know, because I do it too) avoid this book because you think that it is filled with ceremonial and judicial laws that absolutely make no sense to today’s world. Well, that’s wrong. Why all the laws then? Easy: A holy God can only be approached by a holy people. In honor of this truth our weighty verse for today is Leviticus 10:3, “…By those who come near Me I will be treated as holy, and before all people I will be honored.”
10:3 finds itself within the narrative of Nadab and Abihu. This is a story of two priests who decide to offer sacrifices to God, not in the way God has told them to, but in the manner they wanted to. 10:1 tells us that they offered “strange fire” before the Lord, and in response to this strange fire, God caused fire to come back out of their sacrifice and consume them. 10:8-10 gives us a bit of insight into these events as well by indicating that before offering this sacrifice the two young priests had been drinking heavily. The point of this story, and the point of 10:3 is that God will not allow His holiness to be violated, not even by priests.
Well, Israel continued on, and on, and on, and on, and kept on sinning and grieving the heart of God by obeying their own desires instead of God’s. What about God’s righteousness? What about God’s holiness? How can He let His name be profaned by such a sinful people? Recall when David sinned by murdering Uriah to cover up his adulterous affair with his wife Bathsheba, after being rebuked by Nathan, God told David that “your sin has been put away.” WHAT?! No good judge, let alone God Himself, ever puts away sin without doling out the due penalty for it. So what happened to David’s sin, and Israel’s many sins against their God? Where did they go? Onto Jesus. Why? To prove that God is still holy and righteous.
How do I get that conclusion? Two places:
a) Ezekiel 36:22-23, “‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am going to do these things, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you have gone. I will show the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, the name you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Sovereign LORD, when I show myself holy through you before their eyes.” This passage shows us that God is about to ACT, not for the people’s sake, but for His sake, and by this action He will prove Himself to be holy, no longer allowing His name to be profaned by unpenalized sin.
b) What act was God talking about? Romans 3:24-26 says, “But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.”
You see it? Why did Jesus die on the cross? To prove that God was still holy and righteous by taking the penalty for sins unpunished. Leviticus 10:3 is such a weighty verse because in it we find the reason God sent Jesus to die.
Charles Hodge (1797-1878) is regarded by many as the most significant American theologian of the nineteenth century. He drove forward the rapid growth of theological education and contributed to Presbyterianism’s wide-ranging influence in public life. His advocacy of a Reformed orthodoxy combed with evangelical piety attracted a broad following within Old School Presbyterianism that spilled over into American evangelicalism as a whole. Hodge helped to define a distinctive ministerial model — the pastor-scholar — and his finger prints can be observed all over the Reformed Christian scene today.
About the Author: Dr. Andrew Hoffecker gained advanced degrees at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and Brown University. He is currently Professor of Church History at Reformed Theological Seminary.
Below are the endorsements:
“Andrew Hoffecker’s biography of Charles Hodge is a wonderfully entertaining and informative read. Hodge is one of the historic giants of Presbyterianism, combining the virtues of scholarship, churchmanship and a delightful personality. For those who may have read some of his writings but know little of the man and the professional triumphs and personal tragedies he faced, this book will be a great introduction. To those already familiar with Hodge’s life, this book will be welcomed as a twice-told tale which will reinvigorate their interest in the man and his work, and set before them an example to be emulated. Andrew Hoffecker has perhaps done as much as anyone to make Old Princeton attractive to a new generation; and this is surely a worthy capstone to his career.” - Carl R. Trueman, Westminster Theological Seminary, PA
“A many-sided theologian demands a many-sided biography, which is exactly what Andrew Hoffecker has provided in this careful, balanced, discerning, and insightful book. Although the volume offers an unusually full treatment of the unusually full life of Charles Hodge, who is universally recognized as one of the leading American theologians of the nineteenth century, Hoffecker also has an argument to make. The argument is that in his long career as the mainstay of Princeton Theological Seminary, Hodge successfully combined a strong commitment to confessional Reformed theology and a winsome practice of humble evangelical piety. . . . Hoffecker’s life of Hodge demonstrates much more conclusively that any fair reading of Hodge must recognize at least three things: a full and well-rounded life of steadfast Christian devotion, a more-than-capable advocacy of classical Calvinist doctrines such as universal original sin and the substitutionary atonement, and a set of intellectual instincts commonplace among Americans in the first two-thirds of the nineteenth century.” - Mark A. Noll, Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History, University of Notre Dame, and author of America’s God: From Jonathan Edwards to Abraham Lincoln
“Professor Hoffecker stresses the fundamental significance of Charles Hodge’s lifelong adherence to his pietist-confessional upbringing, a determination reinforced by his formative time in Europe as a young man. Treating Hodge’s life thematically, as the author does, draws out the many-sidedness of his career – as Christian believer, educator, theologian, churchman, evangelical statesman, and controversialist. Those who may associate Hodge only with his Systematic Theology (great work though that is) are in for a surprise! Written clearly and accessibly, and thoughtfully and reflectively, and full of interesting detail, this biographical study adds momentum to the flow of recent serious writing on Princeton theology and its theologians.” - Paul Helm, Regent College, Vancouver
“While several prominent evangelists led by Charles Finney and a handful of princes of the pulpit, most notably Henry Ward Beecher and Phillips Brooks, had a tremendous influence on the nineteenth-century American religious scene, arguably the impact of Princeton Seminary professor Charles Hodge surpassed them all. In his masterful biography of Hodge, Andrew Hoffecker describes the theologian’s many contributions: his educating of 2,500 Presbyterian ministers, editing one of the nation’s religious journals for more than half a century, writing a three-volume systematic theology, and engaging in debates over the direction of the Presbyterian Church, Darwinism, and serving as the leading voice of Reformed theology. Hoffecker clearly shows how Hodge combined a powerful intellectual defense of Reformed orthodoxy with evangelical piety. He carefully situates Hodge in the changing religious and theological world of nineteenth-century American and Europe. Hoffecker makes Hodge come alive as a person, controversialist, apologist, and professor. Hodge led Princeton Seminary in training pastors to be rigorous scholars, careful exegetes, solid preachers and teachers, and spiritual guides.” - Dr. Gary Smith, Chair and professor of History, Grove City College has advanced degrees from John Hopkins University and Gordon-Conwell Seminary. He was awarded Pennsylvania’s ‘Professor of the Year’ award.
“There has been a happy little renaissance of attention to Charles Hodge of late (e.g. Charles Hodge Revisited and Charles Hodge: Guardian of American Orthodoxy) as we mark the 200th anniversary of the founding of Princeton Seminary, and now Andy Hoffecker has made an essential entry in the current discussion with Charles Hodge New Side-Old School Presbyterian. Hoffecker is uniquely qualified and widely respected as a scholar of Hodge and the Princetonians. His presentation of Hodge as combining in his life and ministry both the warm-hearted piety of the New Side and the sturdy confessionalism of the Old School is not only historically accurate but deeply relevant to the needs of our own time. But Hoffecker also captures Hodge’s fairness to the Old Side, the development of his own views, his instincts as a churchman, his participation in polemics, his engagement with the broader church and dozens of other aspects necessary to a real appreciation and assessment of Hodge as a theologian and doctor of the church. This is now the first book to read for an introduction to Charles Hodge.” - Ligon Duncan (PhD, Edinburgh), Senior Minister, First Presbyterian Church, Jackson, Mississippi, USA
“Years ago I read Andrew Hoffecker’s Piety and the Princeton Theologians, a very moving account of the vital spirituality among the founders of the Princeton Theological Seminary. That point needs to be renewed in our own day, when some writers are suggesting that it is un-reformed to find anything good in revival or in pietism. Who better to meet that need the Hoffecker himself, who has now returned with a full-scale biography of Charles Hodge, the great systematic theologian of Princeton. Hoffecker teaches us that Hodge’s theology is rooted in the confessional traditions of the reformed faith, but also in the “new side” Presbyterianism that emerged from the revival of the Great Awakening. We learn, too, that Hodge also valued friendships with German scholars of pietistic background and spirit. So Hodge developed a form of Presbyterianism known for its balance, a balance sorely needed in our own day. Although church history is my normal field of specialization, I could not put Hoffecker’s book down. It clearly and vividly presents Hodge’s theology and his story. I thoroughly enjoyed my trip to the nineteenth century, with this book as my guide. I pray that God will give it a broad readership and use it to promote balanced Reformed theology in our day.” - John Frame, Reformed Theological Seminary, Florida
“In 1981 Andrew Hoffecker published his Piety and the Princeton Theologians, creating renewed interest in “Old Princeton Seminary” and, surprisingly, focusing that interest more on Princeton’s piety than on its theology. Now in his biography of the central figure of Princeton’s great triumvirate—Alexander, Hodge, and Warfield—Hoffecker has done it again. In his Charles Hodge: New Side-Old School Presbyterian he has given us a long-needed biography of Hodge that is properly sympathetic—and critical—with careful attention to the life and thought of this many-sided man. This book provides great reading for Princeton Seminary’s bicentennial history in 2012.” - David B. Calhoun, professor of church history, Covenant Theological Seminary
“Charles Hodge has for too long been victimized by stereotypes. In this fine biograph Andy Hoffnecker sets the record straight. Here we meet Hodge the careful Reformed thinker who nurtured a deep piety. This book gives us a winsome portrait of a theologian who still deserves to be taken with utmost seriousness.” - Richard Mouw
“Andrew Hoffecker’s biography of Charles Hodge is a beautifully written, compelling analysis of the theologian whose name is synonymous with the Princeton Theology. Incisive, “appreciatively critical,” and refreshingly judicious, Hoffecker’s Hodge is neither a rigid rationalist nor an unbridled religious enthusiast, but a “man of the center” who combined both the head and the heart—both “Presbyterian confessionalism” and “evangelical pietism”—in the ideal of the Princeton tradition. Hoffecker’s study, which clarifies the role that Hodge played in the development of American Presbyterian identity and uncovers the relevance of his European sojourn both to his understanding of theological education and to his infamous claim that no new idea ever originated at Old Princeton Seminary, is a masterful examination of the life and ministry of the theological giant who—to the dismay of some and the delight of others—continues to exert a formative influence on the life of the evangelical mind.” - Paul Kjoss Helseth, author of “Right Reason” and the Princeton Mind: An Unorthodox Proposal
“This is a first rate work by a seasoned historian of American religion. Hoffecker’s treatment of the towering figure of 19th century American Presbyterianism is both sympathetic and constructively critical. Hoffecker helps us grasp why Hodge had such enduring influence beyond his life. One cannot understand the 19th century without taking Hodge seriously, nor can one understand the Reformed tradition in America without seeing Hodge as its foremost advocate. Hoffecker has reminded us throughout of both these realities. This is a masterful biography lacking any vestiges of hagiography but warmly appreciating the larger theological project which motivated Hodge. Hoffecker’s Hodge is a mediating figure in an age of increasing polarities.” - Richard Lints, Andrew Mutch Distinguished Professor of Theology Gordon-Cownell Theological Seminary
“I welcome this new biography of Charles Hodge. In a time when it is far too easy to patronize or dismiss the stalwarts of Old Princeton, detailed and attentive biographical writing calls for equally attentive readers. I hope that this book finds many of them.” - Douglas Wilson, Christ Church, Moscow, Idaho
“Charles Hodges’s magisterial systematic theology has rightfully earned its place on bookshelves for the last two centuries. Thanks to the skillful work of Professor Andrew Hoffecker you can now get to know the man behind the book. Here you?ll find Hodge waxing anxious over his Greek as a college student and you?ll see him standing valiantly for truth in times of conflict. Ultimately, you?ll see a theologian in the service of the church. Professor Hoffecker has already set the record straight on the Princetonian constellation; now he helps us fully appreciate the legacy of its North Star.” - Stephen J. Nichols, Research Professor of Christainity and Culture, Lancaster Bible College
Many people, Christian or not, know that Jesus gave the “Sermon on the Mount.” Some people know this sermon holds within it what we call, the Beatitudes. Few to no people know that the Beatitudes flow together extremely well. Before I show you, here are the Beatitudes:
Matthew 5:3-12 says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
Alright follow me here. When you recognize that you are spiritually poor (poor in spirit), you mourn over your dead spiritual condition. When you mourn over your dead spiritual condition, it makes you humble (or meek). Once you’ve been made meek, you begin to hunger and thirst for what you don’t have, namely, righteous character. When you begin to hunger for righteous character, you become merciful and pure in soul. Once these changes begin to take root inside of you, you’re attitude begins to change toward others and you crave for “peace where there is no peace.” When you begin to become a peacemaker, some people who have not been changed as you have been (by God) will persecute you, but blessed are those who are persecuted, for your reward in heaven will be great.
I have been doing a very in depth study on the beatitudes with the youth group at my church, so this will be the first of many posts on the beatitudes.
If you want to know God better this year in 2012 than you did in 2011, you’re in for a FREE treat. Christian Audio.com’s free audio book this month (they do one each month by the way) is the classic from J.I. Packer, Knowing God. To wet your appetite, here is a quote from the book:
The conviction behind my book is that ignorance of God – ignorance both of His ways and of the practice of communion with Him – lies at the root of much of the church’s weakness today. Two unhappy trends seem to have produced this state of affairs.
May God use Packer’s book, Knowing God, to move you further up and further into God this year.
Well, it’s weighty Wednesday today, and we’re on Exodus. When thinking through what weighty verse sticks out the most in the book of Exodus, one has many choices. You could easily pick the “magnum-opus” of God’s love found in 34:6-7, when God says of Himself, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands,forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.” One could also choose 3:14 where Moses hears God call Himself the name that Jesus also owns as his own in John 8:58, “Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”
Rather than going with these verses, I’ve chosen 4:22 which says, “Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the LORD, “Israel is My son, My firstborn.’”
I can hear some of you thinking, “Ummm…why did you choose this verse over the others?” Good question! I chose it because God is setting up a foreshadow in this verse by calling Israel His firstborn son. How? Lots of other people throughout the whole Bible are God’s son, but out of all of them, one rises to the top, Jesus. Because both Israel and Jesus are called God’s s(S)on, God is showing us that a comparison exists between these two (Israel and Jesus) for us to see.
Paul call’s Israel’s red sea crossing their baptism in 1 Cor. 10:2, and we know that after this “baptism” the Holy Spirit drove Israel out into the wilderness where they would be tested. While in the wilderness they proved to be a rebellious stubborn people who were faithless to God. So too, in like fashion, Jesus was called God’s Son at His baptism (Matthew 3:17), and was then led out, as Israel was, into the wilderness by the Spirit (Matthew 4:1) to be tested.
Why does this matter? Because where Israel was faithless when tested, Jesus was faithful. He is the greater Israel (read “Son”) of God who fully obeys His Father’s wishes. So when we read Exodus 4:22 it is indeed weighty, because in it we find a glorious picture of what the true Son of God Himself will be, both for us and for His Father, obedient.
After some thought, I put together this little sentence about the Trinity, hopefully it will be as much fun for you reading it, as it was for me writing it.
The opportunity to witness the clarity, complexity, duality, creativity, intensity, joviality, and veracity of unity existing alongside diversity is not found in a university, it is found only in the community of divinity we call the Holy Trinity….honestly.
Before the New Year began, I resolved in my own heart that this year I would read through John Calvin’s magnum opus – The Institutes of the Christian Religion, and having begun to do this, I was encouraged to come across Justin Taylor’s post concerning this very same thing today. In it he describes ways of reading through it that one might not normally think of, and gives links a bunch of good resources to aid you in this endeavor. I am re-posting his entire post below because I would love for some of you to join me in this read, or to take it on yourselves to do this sometime in the future. The version (translation) most preferred is in the sidebar to the right, check it out, buy it, and read away!
If you haven’t yet read C. S. Lewis’s introduction to Athanasius’s On the Incarnation, I’d highly recommend it.
He wants to refute the “strange idea” “that in every subject the ancient books should be read only by the professionals, and that the amateur should content himself with the modern books.”
Lewis finds the impulse humble and understandable: the layman looks at the class author and “feels himself inadequate and thinks he will not understand him.”
“But,” Lewis explains, “if he only knew, the great man, just because of his greatness, is much more intelligible than his modern commentator.”
Lewis therefore made it a goal to convince students that “firsthand knowledge is not only more worth acquiring than secondhand knowledge, but is usually much easier and more delightful to acquire.”
I suspect this holds true with respect to evangelical Calvinists and Calvin’s Institutes. Are we in danger of being a generation of secondhanders?
Let me forestall the “I don’t have time” objection. If you have 15 minutes a day and a bit of self-discipline, you can get through the whole of the Institutes faster than you think. Listen to John Piper:
Most of us don’t aspire very high in our reading because we don’t feel like there is any hope. But listen to this. Suppose you read about 250 words a minute and that you resolve to devote just 15 minutes a day to serious theological reading to deepen your grasp of biblical truth. In one year (365 days) you would read for 5,475 minutes. Multiply that times 250 words per minute and you get 1,368,750 words per year. Now most books have between 300 and 400 words per page. So if we take 350 words per page and divide that into 1,368,750 words per year, we get 3,910 pages per year.
The McNeill-Battles two-volume edition (for now the generally accepted authoritative standard) runs about 1800 pages total—so you could technically read it twice in one year at just 15 minutes a day!
Three reasons why this book in particular should be a particular object of serious study:
1. The Institutes may be easier to read than you think.
J. I. Packer writes, “The readability of the Institutio, considering its size, is remarkable.”
Level of difficulty should not determine a book’s importance; some simple books are profound; some difficult books are simply muddled. What we want are books that make us think and worship, even if that requires some hard work. As Piper wrote in Future Grace, “When my sons complain that a good book is hard to read, I say, ‘Raking is easy, but all you get is leaves; digging is hard, but you might find diamonds.’”
3. The Institutes is one of the wonders of the world.
Karl Barth, the most influential theologian of the 20th century, once wrote: “I could gladly and profitably set myself down and spend all the rest of my life just with Calvin.”
Packer explains that Calvin’s magnum opus is one of the great wonders of the world:
Calvin’s Institutes (5th edition, 1559) is one of the wonders of the literary world—the world, that is, of writers and writing, of digesting and arranging heaps of diverse materials, of skillful proportioning and gripping presentation; the world . . . of the Idea, the Word, and the Power. . . .
The Institutio is also one of the wonders of the spiritual world—the world of doxology and devotion, of discipleship and discipline, of Word-through-Spirit illumination and transformation of individuals, of the Christ-centered mind and the Christ-honoring heart. . . .
Calvin’s Institutio is one of the wonders of the theological world, too—that is, the world of truth, faithfulness, and coherence in the mind regarding God; of combat, regrettable but inescapable, with intellectual insufficiency and error in believers and unbelievers alike; and of vision, valuation, and vindication of God as he presents himself through his Word to our fallen and disordered minds. . . .
3. The Institutes has relevance for your life and ministry.
It can be read as simply an exercise in historical theology, but it should also be read to further your understanding of God’s Word, God’s work, and God’s ways. Packer writes:
The 1559 Institutio is great theology, and it is uncanny how often, as we read and re-read it, we come across passages that seem to speak directly across the centuries to our own hearts and our own present-day theological debates. You never seem to get to the book’s bottom; it keeps opening up as a veritable treasure trove of biblical wisdom on all the main themes of the Christian faith.
Do you, I wonder, know what I am talking about? Dig into the Institutio, and you soon will.
If you are persuaded, here are a few resources you might want to consider:
As mentioned above, the McNeill-Battles two-volume edition is the most referenced standard edition. The one-volume Beveridge translation is much cheaper, and can also be found online. If you want the cheapest print option and want to get a good feel for theInstitutes without reading the whole thing, consider this abridged version by Tony Lane and Hilary Osborne.
But I would recommend the full McNeill-Battles version, along with Tony Lane’s reader’s guide to the Institutes. In the introduction he explains the various options for using it:
The Institutes is divided into thirty-two portions, in addition to Calvin’s introductory material. From each of these an average of some eighteen pages has been selected to be read. These selections are designed to cover the whole range of the Institutes, to cover all of Calvin’s positive theology, while missing most of his polemics against his opponents and most of the historical material. My notes concentrate on the sections chosen for reading but also contain brief summaries of the other material.
Readers have four options:
Read only the selected material and my brief summaries of the rest.
Concentrate on the selected material but skim through the rest.
Read the whole of the Institutes.
The notes guide the reader through the text and also draw attention to the most significant footnotes in the Battles edition. At the beginning of each portion is an introduction and a question or questions to focus the mind of the reader.
If you want to do more inductive work, or to use Calvin’s work in a small-group or classroom setting, you might want to consider Douglas Wilson’s Study Guide for Calvin’sInstitutes. (You can read the preface and a chunk of this online for free.) Wilson explains how this book can be used:
I would suggest reading the appropriate section in Calvin, then looking at the questions in the study guide, and writing down Calvin’s answers in a separate notebook. The reader can then compare his answers with those that are provided in the guide. . . .
Another possible use is for a leader to utilize this guide for a group study. He can assign a reading, give the questions to the participants beforehand, and then use the guide to help conduct the discussion. The same can be done for classroom use.
So you know that I do really like reading Dr. Lawson, here is a quote from him that is just awesome.
One of the great doxologies of the Bible, Romans 11:36 reads, “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen.” In this text, which is a passionate magnification of God’s sovereignty, highest glory is ascribed to Him for several reasons. First, all things are from Him – that is, He is the source of all that comes to pass. Second, all things are through Him – that is, He is the means by which all things come. Third, all things are to Him – that is, He is the appointed end or highest good. This theocentric realization alone gives glory to God.
This past Tuesday I wrote a post stating why (scroll down to read) I think that two of Dr. Lawson’s statements are very unhelpful and wrong. This is a follow up post, so read the other one before reading this one. Here is one quote to help Dr. Lawson think through these things.
Quoting T.H.L. Parker from Lawson’s own book The Expository Genius of John Calvin, page 103,
There is no threshing himself into a fever of impatience or frustration, no holier-than-thou rebuking of the people, no begging them in terms of hyperbole to give some physical sign that the message has been accepted. Preaching is simply one man, conscious of his sins, aware of how little progress he makes and how hard it is to be a doer of the Word, sympathetically passing on to his people (whom he knows to have the same sort of problems as himself) what God has said to them and to him.
Just as we don’t base our eternal security on our own holiness, we must never base our sermons on the same. The criteria which we base the power of our sermons on is and always is, God Himself. He is the source of our power.
Genesis 3:15 says, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.”
Historically, Christians have interpreted this verse as the “proto-evangelium” meaning the “first-gospel.” The Church has done this through the ages because this is the first time in the Bible, where God Himself speaks of the One who is to come and save us from our sin – Jesus. In context, God is speaking here to the serpent, the devil, telling him that there will be hatred (enmity) between his children and woman’s children on earth. The descendants of the serpent are then found in Genesis 4, while the descendants of the woman are found in Genesis 5. One of the woman’s children, Jesus, will one day crush the serpent with a fatal blow, on the head, while the serpent will only give Jesus a non-fatal blow, to the heel (this is referencing the death on the cross, which Jesus was raised from).
The question then comes, is this really the first time the gospel is in the Bible? No. Though not as clearly, Genesis 1:2-3 is quoted by Paul in 2 Corinthians 4:6 and 5:17 to display how God turns us into new creations after He says, “Let there be light!” in our hearts, giving us the knowledge of the gospel. The reason 3:15 is called the first-gospel is because it is the first time where God Himself speaks of the redeemer to come, though one can make the argument that Paul believes God spoke of it in 1:2-3 (a position I hold).
Genesis 3:15 marks the beginning of our WEIGHTY Wednesdays, and weighty it is. For God tells the serpent of his impending doom through the work of a descendant of the woman, which we know is Jesus. When you think of Genesis, 3:15 should not be far from your mind.
I never thought I’d write a title like that before to a post, but it’s true. The David Crowder Band is officially done, not because of strife, but because the purpose for their endeavor is now over. But, as I sit here typing out these words I am listening to their final offering to God and us, and it is classic Crowder Band – awesome! Give Us Rest or (a requiem mass in c [the happiest of all keys]), is an epic, triumphant 2 CD album that poetically illustrates that in death something new is reborn. The album showcases the band’s unique music style and touches on worship, pop, rock, bluegrass and electronic genres. For $13.99 it features 34 tracks, including the first single “Let Me Feel You Shine”.
If you don’t know of The David Crowder Band, you should. Here’s a brief bio: Named among the “most thoughtful, progressive and exciting acts in contemporary Christian music” by The New York Times, the popular yet unconventional David Crowder*Band released their last GRAMMY® nominated album Church Music in 2009 which debuted at No. 1 on the Christian retail chart scanning over 35,000 units. This gave David Crowder*Band their largest street week to date ranking in at No. 11 on the Billboard Top 200. David Crowder*Band’s latest music video for “SMS (Shine)” nabbed coverage on NBC’s The Today Show, Fox & Friends, USA Today, Billboard and Paste Magazine online as well as a GMA Dove Award win for “Short Form Video of the Year.” The video was also recognized at the LA Film Festival in 2011. Along with the group’s 9 GMA Dove Awards and 22 nominations, the band was the first Christian artist to be named MSN.com’s Artist of the Year in 2006. The band is also part of the Passion Movement, participating in university student gatherings in the US and around the world. The group’s leader David Crowder is further an acclaimed author, having penned two books, including his acclaimed, highly personal, Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven, But Nobody Wants to Die: Or (The Eschatology of Bluegrass).
Thank you Crowder Band, in giving me your music, you’ve given me more than I could have ever asked for, because you’ve given me Jesus…over and over again…thank you!
