History...

Hey all! I wish I were posting more blogs, but it is hard to find the time. I think a part of me was expecting this whole Israel thing to be a vacation with some solid background info thrown in, but this trip really is a class. A class with tests and assignments. What I am saying is that this study in the land has been fairly mentally rigorous and has not left me much free time for reflection or musings. Still, one idea has been repeatedly popping up in my scattered mind, and that is that the Bible is history. Yes it is theological history, but history nonetheless. The people and places it describes were/are real people and places. The Bible is not full of Disney fantasies wherein you may hear about a genie and a magical carpet but you could never actually take that carpet ride. No, when the Bible speaks of Jericho it is saying that there was actually a city called Jericho which was an oasis in the desert that Joshua actually sacked. And you can go visit that oasis because it actually exists. Just as you can actually go visit the site where the temple described in the Bible once stood; you can see some of its old wall and walk on some of its steps. This is because the Bible is history. I'm no archaeologist so I'll state this in simple terms, but what has happened a lot is that people have read about sites in the Bible and thought 'Well this text describes this site as being here, so we should dig here to find the site'; and then people have found stuff. That's because the Bible is history. What this means is that it records the history of God actually visiting earth at various times- in a tent or in a vision or in a temple; even in a man. When the Bible talks about Jesus walking around and teaching and doing miracles and telling people about their sin and telling people that He is God and getting killed for it and rising from the dead, it is not telling a fairy tale. It is recording history. Jesus actually did those things. God actually in history in a real place that we can all go to became a man and died and rose again. He did things in a very particular way and this calls for a very particular response. We do not have the freedom to make up what we want about Jesus and twist and contort him to fit our own sense of religion or spirituality in the same way that I don't get to go around and tell you that Joe DiMaggio played for the Milwaukee Bucks. The Bible is a not a fairy tale but a theological history, and it records the story of God dwelling with people, and it records the story of God dying for His people. Surely this demands some kind of response beyond treating the Bible as some sort of nice story.

Devotion...

I cannot help but be in many ways amazed yet at the same time in some regard not surprised by the level of devotion shown by the orthodox Jewish people. A religion and culture with such heavy practice and ritual does not last this many years and through the trials they have faced without much devotion and even stubbornness. The dress that is so specific, praying at the same times daily, the manner in which they pray rocking back and forth, the strict adherence to Sabbath rituals, all of it paints a vivid picture of the Jewish religious culture. This was highlighted as this evening is Shavuot or Pentecost, the celebration of the giving of the Torah, in which men and women celebrate and study the Torah all night, rejoicing in the Law. The scene at the Western Wall displayed a mixture of jubilant dancing, singing, and shouting and also fervent prayer. In many ways these people are more devoted, more reverent, more religious, more ritualistic, more moral, more conservative, and more traditional than we as evangelicals in the West could ever dream of, but it is all for naught if they have not Jesus. No manner of ritual matters if Christ is rejected in it. If you don't have the Son then you don't have the Father, and you can't please the Creator while casting aside the One through Whom all things were created. Any level of admiration in my mind that is engendered by the people's religious practice is rapidly swallowed by an overwhelming pity; outside of Christ they will never know what true Spirituality is or to Whom the Law is to point us. I cannot help but wonder that they can read all of the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament to us) and not understand that they have no true ability to keep Torah; they are embarking on a quest that is destined to fail. With all of our best religion we are still sinners in the end, and to think that we can somehow work ourselves to a worthiness acceptable to God is the height of arrogance and paramount of sin. It is not that I have figured something out that others could not, as I would not know God were it not for the Spirit first moving in me; I only love God because He first loved me. Under their religion I surely would have given up long ago. They are in a lot of ways better than I, but in the end depraved, unworthy, and thus doomed, just as we all are if Christ is not our bedrock.

Leaving For Israel...

Hey all, been a little while, been busy. So I got a unigue opportunity; I am leaving in the morning for Israel. I will spend three weeks there touring and studying the land of the Bible. While there I will do my best to post impressions and photos of the experience, should be one of those once-in-a-lifetime things! Peace!

Reflections On T4G...

10) The 'T4G' acronym might be improved upon my switching it to 'T4TG', as in Together For The Gospel. There are not many gospels, but only the Gospel.
9) The church is to be multiethnic but not multicultural. The implications of this thought are surprisingly far-reaching.
8) Seeing 7,000 men rejoice while singing the line "I know that it is finished" is a rapturous experience.
7) The men who spoke at T4TG are not physically impressive men, but they are formidable; not by their aesthetic grandeur but by God's empowering.
6) Sitting around a dinner while talking theology and Christian ministry with the good men of Christ Our Redeemer is exactly why listening to the lectures online doesn't compare to being at the conference.
5) Watching C.J. Mahaney worship is almost as edifying as listening to his sermons.
4) Even if given 20 free books, when presented with a bookstore the size of a soccer field you're gonna' walk away a couple Washingtons lighter.
3) The moment we feel compelled to 'save' the Gospel, to adjust it in some way to make it more palatable or effective, we run the serious risk of losing it altogether.
2) If we are to live a life of faithfulness to God, we must develop the God-given courage to stand in antithesis to false ideologies and theologies.
1) Behind the 7,000 men who came to be built up in the Lord are many more thousands of church members faithfully serving God and community. God is building His kingdom.

T4G Day 3 (The Day After)...

Well I'm writing about day three of Together For The Gospel a day later, as I didn't have time to record my thoughts with all of yesterday's travels and assignments due today. Just by way of general retrospect, the whole conference was a great time of worship and focusing of the heart and mind on God. If you can make it down there in two years, do it. Anyway, day three was essentially just a morning session, but it was packed with three messages. Ligon Duncan got up first and gave a lecture on the presentation of the gospel in the church fathers' writings (the leaders of the Christian church for the first few-hundred years after the Apostles). I know this sounds dry, but it was absolutely fascinating and Duncan demonstrated what happens when intellect is fueled by passion. After this, Matt Chandler gave some personal testimony as to what God has done through suffering. After radiation treatment, he is now going through chemotherapy to treat a malignant brain cancer. Chandler is a very gifted communicator, but the real highlight of that time was just hearing his prayer; that his children and family would never grow bitter toward God no matter what happened to Him. I hope this is included in the download on the T4G site. Lastly, C.J. Mahaney gave a sermon geared at all of us normal people in the crowd who do not have the gifts of a Piper, Dever, or Duncan. With much emotion (a Mahaney trademark), he encouraged us normal men to be faithful pastors, a fitting commission as we all returned home. I would strongly, strongly encourage you all to listen to the lectures, sermons, and discussion panels from the conference; they will impact you. Here's a link, all of the video should be made available in the coming days; http://www.t4g.org/resources/. I hope to Lord willing return for T4G 2012, and would love for many of you to come along as well.

T4G Day 2...

I'm going to keep this one short, as I am tired and feel as if my brain is about to melt. The day started off with a talk by Thabiti Anyabwile, in which he talked about the new culture that is created in Christ, and how we as Christians are called to more identify ourselves with this new culture over against our earthly culture of origin. The thought-provoking statement from his lecture was that the people of God are multiethnic but not multicultural. This talk was prededed by another great session of worship, and one moment in particular stood out to me. As we were singing "How Deep The Father's Love For Us", we came to the line 'I know that it is finished', and much of the room erupted in cheers and applause. I hope I don't soon forget the power there is in seeing scores of individuals rejoice in unison over the fact that their very real sins, the lusts of their flesh, their pride in selflessness, their mistreatment of their family... all of their sins were once and for all in one moment of time completely accounted for on the cross of Christ. It was unreal to see a group that large collectively rejoice in the once-and-for-all forgiveness of mountains of sin. This is the power of the gospel of Christ. After Anyabwile, John MacArther taught out of Mark 4 about the work of God in salvation, that as the seed-sower plants the seed and then sleeps, it is the power of God that makes the seed grow. In the afternoon I went to a break-out session, in which Brian Habig talked about the fears of the minister, and man did this one hit home. He expounded on the people-pleasing and self-doubting tendencies of the minister, how these desires to live for men and make our name known can distort true proclamation of the gospel, and how our justification in Christ alleviates this malady. I think everyone in that room went away convicted and refreshed. After dinner with the Christ Our Redeemer boys and a discussion about mentoring and the church, we came back to the auditorium for some more worship and a sermon from John Piper. I thank the Lord for that man. He preached from Luke 18 about justification by faith alone as seen in the parable of the pharisee and tax collector praying in the temple, and the implications of this doctrine. This again is one of those sermons that I highly recommend everyone listen to when it becomes available, I promise you will not regret the investment of time. The night was capped off for me by having a brew and talking theology with Chris Smith and Jason Pancheau; an excellent way to finish a day. And of course, we got more books. I think I'll be taking about 25 home with me from Louisville, and that makes me a happy boy. Well I said this would be short and I failed, but there was quite a bit packed in to the day. I'm looking forward to hearing from Ligon Duncan, Matt Chandler, and C.J. Mahaney tomorrow.

T4G Day 1...

Day one of Together for the Gospel 2010 is drawing to a close, and I think just today's events would be worth the trip. For those of you who don't know, T4G is a conference aimed at leaders in the Christian church and focused on placing the gospel at the center of Christian ministry. Here are a few of my highlights so far. First, the books- we've been given a lot of books (eight and counting). For those of you who are nerds like me, this is a very exciting thing. Second, getting to hang with guys like Brett Sweet, Jason Wakefield, Dan Morse, Chris Smith, Jason Pancheau, and my little bro is a good thing. Getting to sing praises to God with them and almost 7,000 other men is a great thing. And of course, the lectures from Mark Dever, R.C. Sproul, and Al Mohler, to understate a little, were compelling. Dever spoke on the church and its evangelistic role as the bearer of the gospel. Speaking of the universal relevancy of the gospel to a fallen world, he mentioned that "we give them the diagnosis that finally makes sense of their condition". Sproul later gave a talk that assuredly went over the heads of half of us in attendance, speaking on how we have over the years attempted to 'improve' the gospel by synthesizing it with earthly idealogies. A couple of quotes to give you an idea of what he was talking about; "..the church is to stand in the awful, awful discomfort of antithesis", "the unvarnished Word of God... doesn't need to be made more palatable with the brass of pagan philosophy", and quoting Francis Schaeffer, "The problem that is facing the church is that it has lost its sense of antithesis". This is one I'm going to want to listen to again. Finally, Mohler expounded on the ways in which the church tends to adjust the gospel, listing modern, postmodern, moral, aesthetic, therapeutic, pragmatic, emotional, and materialistic lines of thought that distort the gospel. I really recommend everyone listen to this talk, I'll have a link on my blog to where you can download it once it becomes available. And I recognize that I have used the word 'gospel' quite a bit in this post without really defining what it means. Maybe I'll succinctly define that in another post, but for now I'll recommend that you do some searching on your own and see what comes up. Also, I may put pics up here if I figure out how to post them on this here blog. Peace out, I'll try to give an update tomorrow.