Ahhhh.... The HORROR!

But alas it was fake. Read the confession here.

Reflections on the Incarnation

“Infinite and yet an infant.
Eternal and yet born of a woman.
Almighty, and yet nursing at a woman’s breast.
Supporting a universe, and yet needing to be carried in a mother’s arms.
Heir of all things, and yet the carpenter’s despised son.”
-Charles Haddon Spurgeon


"That man should be made in God's image is a wonder,
but that God should be made in man's image is a greater wonder.
That the Ancient of Days would be born.
That He who thunders in the heavens should cry in the cradle?"
-Thomas Watson

"Idols Are Nothing"

All who fashion idols are nothing, and the things they delight in do not profit. Their witnesses neither see nor know, that they may be put to shame. Who fashions a god or casts an idol that is profitable for nothing? Behold, all his companions shall be put to shame, and the craftsmen are only human. Let them all assemble, let them stand forth. They shall be terrified; they shall be put to shame together.

The ironsmith takes a cutting tool and works it over the coals. He fashions it with hammers and works it with his strong arm. He becomes hungry, and his strength fails; he drinks no water and is faint. The carpenter stretches a line; he marks it out with a pencil. He shapes it with planes and marks it with a compass. He shapes it into the figure of a man, with the beauty of a man, to dwell in a house. He cuts down cedars, or he chooses a cypress tree or an oak and lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest. He plants a cedar and the rain nourishes it. Then it becomes fuel for a man. He takes a part of it and warms himself; he kindles a fire and bakes bread. Also he makes a god and worships it; he makes it an idol and falls down before it. Half of it he burns in the fire. Over the half he eats meat; he roasts it and is satisfied. Also he warms himself and says, “Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire!” And the rest of it he makes into a god, his idol, and falls down to it and worships it. He prays to it and says, “Deliver me, for you are my god!”

They know not, nor do they discern, for he has shut their eyes, so that they cannot see, and their hearts, so that they cannot understand. No one considers, nor is there knowledge or discernment to say, “Half of it I burned in the fire; I also baked bread on its coals; I roasted meat and have eaten. And shall I make the rest of it an abomination? Shall I fall down before a block of wood?” He feeds on ashes; a deluded heart has led him astray, and he cannot deliver himself or say, “Is there not a lie in my right hand?” Isaiah 44:9-20

Tozer on True Faith

"The man of pseudo faith will fight for his verbal creed but refuse flatly to allow himself to get into a predicament where his future must depend upon that creed being true. He always provides himself with secondary ways of escape so he will have a way out if the roof caves in. What we need very badly these days is a company of Christians who are prepared to trust God as completely now as they know they must do at the last day."

Seven Stanzas at Easter by John Updike

Make no mistake: if He rose at all
it was as His body;
if the cells’ dissolution did not reverse, the molecules
reknit, the amino acids rekindle,
the Church will fall.

It was not as the flowers,
each soft Spring recurrent;
it was not as His Spirit in the mouths and fuddled
eyes of the eleven apostles;
it was as His Flesh: ours.

The same hinged thumbs and toes,
the same valved heart
that—pierced—died, withered, paused, and then
regathered out of enduring Might
new strength to enclose.

Let us not mock God with metaphor,
analogy, sidestepping transcendence;
making of the event a parable, a sign painted in the
faded credulity of earlier ages:
let us walk through the door.

The stone is rolled back, not papier-mache,
not a stone in a story,
but the vast rock of materiality that in the slow
grinding of time will eclipse for each of us
the wide light of day.

And if we will have an angel at the tomb,
make it a real angel,
weighty with Max Planck’s quanta, vivid with hair,
opaque in the dawn light, robed in real linen
spun on a definite loom.

Let us not seek to make it less monstrous,
for our own convenience, our own sense of beauty,
lest, awakened in one unthinkable hour, we are
embarrassed by the miracle,
and crushed by remonstrance.

It goes from bad to absolute worst...

95 Theses the Rap

If you havin' Church problems then don't blame God, son...
I got ninety-five theses but the Pope ain't one.

Listen up, all my people, it's a story for the telling
'bout the sin and injustice and corruption I been smelling:
I met that homie Tetzel, then I started rebelling
Once I seen the fat Indulgences that he been selling.
Now the Cath'lics of the world straight up disgracin' me
Just because I waved my finger at the papacy.
My people got riled up over this Reformation...
That's when Leo threatened me with Excommunication.
I warned y'all that Rome best agree to the terms.
If not, then you can eat my Diet of Worms!
You think you done something spectacular?
I wrote the Bible in the vernacular!
A heretic! [What?] Someone throw me a bone.
You forgot salvation comes through faith alone.
I'm on a mission from God. You think I do this for fun?
I got ninety-five theses but the Pope ain't one.
Save me!

CHORUS

Ninety-five theses but the Pope ain't one.
If you havin' Church problems then don't blame God, son...
I got ninety-five theses but the Pope ain't one.

One Five One Seven... that's when it first went down.
Then the real test was when it started spreading around.
Sixty days to recant what I said? Father, please!
You've had, what? Goin' on fifteen centuries?
"Oh snap, he's messin' with the holy communion."
But I ain't never dissed your precious hypostatic union!
"One place at one time." Well, thank you Zwingli.
Yeah, way to disregard that whole "I'm God" thingy!
Getting' all up in my rosary... you little punk.
Your momma shoulda told you not to mess with no monk.
What you bumpin' me for? Suddenly you sore.
Keep that up, you'll have yourself another Peasant War.
You blame common folk for the smack they talkin'...
You ain't even taught them proper Christian doctrine.
With my hat, my Bible, and my sexy little nun,
I got ninety-five theses but the Pope ain't one.
Save me!

CHORUS

When I wrote the ninety-five, haters straight up assailed 'em.

Now they only care whether or not I nailed 'em or mailed 'em.
They got psychoanalytic. Now everyone's a critic,
And getting on my case just because I'm anti-Semitic.
I've come back from obscurity to teach y'all a lesson,
Cuz someone here still ain't read their Augsburg Confession.
I said Catholicism brings a life of excess,
And we all remember what went down with Philip of Hesse!
But you forgot about me and my demonstration?
Like you can just create your own denomination?
"We don't like this part, so we'll just add a little twist."
Now we Anglican, Amish, and even Calvinist.
I gave you the power, you gone and abused it.
I gave you God's truth, you just confused it.
Don't you never underestimate the s*** that I done...
I got 95 theses but the Pope ain't one.
Save me!

CHORUS

Shout out to Johann Gutenberg... I see you baby.

The Reformation Polka

Lyrics	Explanation
When I was just ein junger Mann I studied canon law;	Luther originally was supposed to be a lawyer.
Though Erfurt was a challenge, it was just to please my Pa.	Luther’s father Hans Luder [5] (Luther) was a mining entrepreneur who worked hard to put Martin through Law school at Erfurt University [6]. Luther did not like law school & soon dropped out.
Then came the storm, the lightning struck, I called upon Saint Anne	Luther was caught in a terrible storm wherein he thought he’d die. He prayed to the patron saint of miners, St. Anne [7] (traditionally the mother of Mary)
I shaved my head, I took my vows, an Augustinian!	Luther had vowed that if he was spared death during the storm, that he’d become a monk. He chose the Augustinian order [8], which claimed its founder as Augustine of Hippo [9] known for his very “Calvinistic [10]” teachings.
Papal bulls, indulgences, and transubstantiationi [11]	This refers to the decrees Popes (Papal) would issue called “bulls [12]” & in this case is about the specific bull [13] issued against Luther. Indulgences [14] were simply a partial payment for the remission of sins or early release from purgatory (temporary hell). In his now famous 95 Theses [15] Luther wrote against the practice of selling indulgences. Transubstantiation [16] refers to the Roman Catholic teaching that the actual presence of Christ’s blood & body inhabit the wine & bread of communioni [17]. Luther advocated something a bit different, sometimes referred to as consubstantiation [18].
Speak your mind against them and face excommunication!	Referring to Luther being removed from the Roman Catholic Church
Nail your theses to the door, let's start a Reformation!	Referring to Luther’s 95 Theses whereof it is traditionally believed he nailed them to the church door of his city, Wittenberg [19].
When Tetzel came near Wittenberg, St. Peter's profits soared	Johann Tetzel [20] was a Roman Catholic friar that was tasked to go about Europe selling Indulgences to raise money to fund the building of a church in Rome called St. Peter’s [21]. Wittenberg was Luther’s home city.
I wrote a little notice for the All Saints' Bull'tin board	Another reference to posting the 95 Theses on the church door. Tradition says that public posting were commonly nailed to a city’s church door.
You cannot purchase merits, for we're justified by grace!	Referring to Luther’s most famous teaching, “justification by faith…alone” though Luther was not the first to teach it.
Here's 95 more reasons, Brother Tetzel, in your face!"	Another reference to the 95 Theses & a poke at Tetzel
They loved my tracts, adored my wit, all were exempleror	Luther often wrote “tracts” or little booklets. These were often printed, sometimes without his urging or permission by local printers & sold to the German public. People liked his tracts because not only did they challenge the Roman Catholic authority, but were simple enough for many non-theologians to understand.
The Pope, however, hauled me up before the Emperor.	Referring to Luther’s “trial” in the city of Worms [22] before Emperor Charles V [23].
"Are these your books? Do you recant?" King Charles did demand	Referring to a call for Luther to recant his writings.
I will not change my Diet, Sir, God help me here I stand!"	A play on the fact that Luther’s “trial” was called the “Diet of Worms” [22] which simply means conference at Worms the city.
Duke Frederick took the Wise approach, responding to my words	Referring to the Duke Frederick [24], which protected Luther from the Roman Catholic Church, by refusing to hand Luther over to their authority.
By knighting "George" as hostage in the Kingdom of the Birds.	Referring to the situation where Duke Frederick had Luther disguise as a knight named George & hide in the Wartburg castle [25] for almost a year. Kingdom of the Birds refers to another time Luther was hidden away in Coburg Castle [26] during the Diet of Augsburg. Luther felt like a hostage having to hide away like this. (thanks to Fugli for correcting the Kingdom of the Birds reference)
Use Brother Martin's model if the languages you seek…Stay locked inside a castle with your Hebrew and your Greek!	Referring to Luther’s translating the Latin Bible into the language of German while in exile at Wartburg. Luther attempted to translate directly from the Hebrew & Greek.
Let's raise our steins and Concord Books while gathered in this place	Referring to German beer drinking mugs often made of metal called “steins” [27]. A Concord Book [28] is a book of Lutheran doctrines but this book was not compiled until after Luther’s death.
And spread the word that 'catholic' is spelled with lower case	Referring to the fact that the word “catholic” simply means universal – a jab at the Roman Catholic Church.
The Word remains unfettered when the Spirit gets his chance	Referring to how when the Bible is opened up for the common man, that the Spirit will work to bring about better understanding among Christians.
So come on, Katy, drop your lute, and join us in our dance!	Referring to Luther’s wife Kathrina Von Bora Luther [29]. A lute is a musical instrument.

HT: The Kingdom Come

Being Self-Righteous Regarding Not Being Self-Righteous

Tullian Tchividjian reflects on the irony of being self-righteous about not being self-righteous:

There’s an equally dangerous form of self-righteousness that plagues the unconventional, the liberal, and the non-religious types. We anti-legalists can become just as guilty of legalism in the opposite direction. What do I mean?

It’s simple: we can become self-righteous against those who are self-righteous. Many younger evangelicals today are reacting to their parents’ conservative, buttoned-down, rule-keeping flavor of “older brother religion” with a type of liberal, untucked, rule-breaking flavor of “younger brother irreligion” which screams, ”That’s right, I know I don’t have it all together and you think you do; I know I’m not good and you think you are good. That makes me better than you.” See the irony?

In other words, they’re proud that they’re not self-righteous!

Listen: self-righteousness is no respecter of persons. It reaches to the religious and the irreligious; the “buttoned down” and the “untucked.” The entire Bible reveals how shortsighted all of us are when it comes to our own sin. For example, it was easy for Jonah to see the idolatry of the sailors. It was easy for him to see the perverse ways of the Ninevites. What he couldn’t see was his own idolatry, his own perversion. So the question is, in which direction does your self-righteousness lean?

Thankfully, while our self-righteousness reaches far, God’s grace reaches farther. And the good news is, that it reaches in both directions!

The Fate of the Apostles as Evidence for the Resurrection

Michael Patton writes:

". . it is very feasible to believe that all but one of the Apostles suffered and died a martyr’s death, even if we can’t be sure of the exact details.

Amidst some uncertainty, one thing is clear—the reason given for their death was the same in all accounts. They were killed because they proclaimed to have seen Christ die and then to have seen Him alive. They all died because of an unwavering, unrelenting claim that Christ rose from the grave. They died for Easter.

Personally, in my mind, the gruesome death of the Apostles as recorded below was one of the greatest gifts that God ever gave to the Church. It contributes much to Christian apologetics by answering the “how do you know?” question concerning the resurrection of Christ."

His summary of the fate of the apostles can be found here

The Spread of the World's Major Religions

The Church as a Thermostat not a Thermometer

Martin Luther King Jr. wrote the following in his Letters from a Birmingham Jail...

"In deep disappointment I have wept over the laxity of the church. But be assured that my tears have been tears of love. There can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love. Yes, I love the church. How could I do otherwise? I am in the rather unique position of being the son, the grandson and the great-grandson of preachers. Yes, I see the church as the body of Christ. But, oh! How we have blemished and scarred that body through social neglect and through fear of being nonconformists.

There was a time when the church was very powerful in the time when the early Christians rejoiced at being deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society."

Casual Sex is a Con

A child of the sexual revolution, Dawn Eden, writes:

The Sixties generation thought everything should be free. But only a few decades later the hippies were selling water at rock festivals for $5 a bottle. But for me the price of “free love” was even higher.

I sacrificed what should have been the best years of my life for the black lie of free love. All the sex I ever had — and I had more than my fair share — far from bringing me the lasting relationship I sought, only made marriage a more distant prospect.

And I am not alone. Count me among the dissatisfied daughters of the sexual revolution, a new counterculture of women who are realising that casual sex is a con and are choosing to remain chaste instead.

Martin Luther and the High Call of Parenting

Now observe that when that clever harlot, our natural reason . . . , takes a look at married life, she turns up her nose and says, “Alas, must I rock the baby, wash its diapers, make its bed, smell its stench, stay up nights with it, take care of it when it cries, heal its rashes and sores. . . ?” [LW 45:39]

But into this context Luther breathes fresh gospel air:What then does Christian faith say to this?

It opens its eyes, looks upon all these insignificant, distasteful, and despised duties in the Spirit, and is aware that they are all adorned with divine approval as with the costliest gold and jewels. It says, O God, because I am certain that thou hast created me as a man and hast from my body begotten this child, I also know for a certainty that it meets with thy perfect pleasure. I confess to thee that I am not worthy to rock the little babe or wash its diapers, or to be entrusted with the care of the child and its mother. How is it that I, without any merit, have come to this distinction of being certain that I am serving thy creature and thy most precious will? O how gladly will I do so, though the duties should be even more insignificant and despised. Neither frost nor heat, neither drudgery nor labor, will distress or dissuade me, for I am certain that it is thus pleasing in thy sight. . . . God, with all his angels and creatures is smiling—not because the father is washing diapers, but because he is doing so in Christian faith.[LW 45:39-40]

Dr. Mohler on Pornography

"Consider these two pictures. The first picture is of a man who has set himself toward a commitment to sexual purity, and is living in sexual integrity with his wife. In order to fulfill his wife’s rightful expectations and to maximize their mutual pleasure in the marriage bed, he is careful to live, to talk, to lead, and to love in such a way that his wife finds her fulfillment in giving herself to him in love. The sex act then becomes a fulfillment of their entire relationship, not an isolated physical act that is merely incidental to their love for each other. Neither uses sex as means of manipulation, neither is inordinately focused merely on self-centered personal pleasure, and both give themselves to each other in unapologetic and unhindered sexual passion. In this picture, there is no shame. Before God, this man can be confident that he is fulfilling his
responsibilities both as a male and as a man. He is directing his sexuality, his sex drive, and his physical embodiment toward the one-flesh relationship that is the perfect paradigm of God’s intention in creation.

By contrast, consider another man. This man lives alone, or at least in a context other than holy marriage. Directed inwardly rather than outwardly, his sex drive has become an engine for lust and self-gratification. Pornography is the essence of his sexual interest and arousal. Rather than taking satisfaction in his wife, he looks at dirty pictures in order to be rewarded with sexual arousal that comes without responsibility, expectation, or demand. Arrayed before him are a seemingly endless variety of naked women, sexual images of explicit carnality, and a cornucopia of perversions intended to seduce the imagination and corrupt the soul.

This man need not be concerned with his physical appearance, his personal hygiene, or his moral character in the eyes of a wife. Without this structure an accountability, he is free to take his sexual pleasure without regard for his unshaved face, his slothfulness, his halitosis, his body odor, and his physical appearance. He faces no requirement of personal respect, and no eyes gaze upon him in order to evaluate the seriousness and worthiness of his sexual desire. Instead, his eyes roam across the images of unblinking faces, leering at women who make no demands upon him, who never speak back, and who can never say no. There is no exchange of respect, no exchange of love, and nothing more than the using of women as sex objects for his individual and inverted sexual pleasure.

By logical consequence, he achieves sexual gratification at the expense of women who have been used and abused as commodified sex objects. He may imagine a sex act as he fulfills his physical pleasure, but he almost certainly does not imagine what it would mean to be responsible for this woman as husband and accountable to her as mate. He can sit in his soiled underwear, belching the remnants of last night’s pizza, and engage in a pattern of one-handed sexual satisfaction while he “surfs the net” and forfeits his soul.

These two pictures of male sexuality are deliberately intended to drive home the point that every man must decide who he will be, whom he will serve, and how he will love. In the end, a man’s decision about pornography is a decision about his soul, a decision about his marriage, a decision about his wife, and a decision about God.

Pornography is a slander against the goodness of God’s creation and a corruption of this good gift God has given his creatures out of his own self-giving love. To abuse this gift is to weaken, not only the institution of marriage, but the fabric of civilization itself. To choose lust over love is to debase humanity and to worship the false god Priapus in the most brazen form of modern idolatry."

Early Account of Penal Substitutionary Atonement

The Epistle to Diognetus written AD 130 contains the following description of PSA:

He himself took on Him the burden of our iniquities, He gave His own Son as a ransom for us, the holy One for transgressors, the blameless One for the wicked, the righteous One for the unrighteous, the incorruptible One for the corruptible, the immortal One for them that are mortal. For what other thing was capable of covering our sins than His righteousness? By what other one was it possible that we, the wicked and ungodly, could be justified, than by the only Son of God? O sweet exchange! O unsearchable operation! O benefits surpassing all expectation! that the wickedness of many should be hid in a single righteous One, and that the righteousness of One should justify many transgressors!

(ANF1, Epistle to Diognetus, chapt. 9, p. 28)

Charles Spurgeon's Strategy for Church Growth

My good ministering brother, have you got an empty church? Do you want to fill it? I will give you a good recipe, and if you will follow it, you will, in all probability, have your chapel full to the doors.

Burn all your manuscripts, that is No. 1. Give up your notes, that is No. 2. Read your Bible and preach it as you find it in the simplicity of its language. And give up all your Latinized English. Begin to tell the people what you have felt in your own heart, and beseech the Holy Spirit to make your heart as hot as a furnace for zeal. Then go out and talk to the people. Speak to them like their brother. Be a man amongst men. Tell them what you have felt and what you know, and tell it heartily with a good, bold face; and, my dear friend, I do not care who you are, you will get a congregation.

But if you say, "Now, to get a congregation, I must buy an organ."

That will not serve you a bit.

"But we must have a good choir."

I would not care to have a congregation that comes through a good choir.

"No," says another, "but really I must a little alter my style of preaching."

My dear friend, it is not the style of preaching, it is the style of feeling. People sometimes begin to mimic other preachers, because they are successful. Why, the worst preachers are those who mimic others, whom they look upon as standards preach naturally. Preach out of your hearts just what you feel to be true, and the old soul-stirring words of the gospel will soon draw a congregation. "Where the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together."

But if it ended there, what would be the good of it? If the congregation came and listened to the sound, and then went away unsaved, of what use would it be? But in the next place, Christ acts as a net to draw men unto him. The gospel ministry is, in God’s Word, compared to a fishery; God’s ministers are the fishermen, they go to catch souls, as fishermen go to catch fish.

How shall souls be caught? They shall be caught by preaching Christ. Just preach a sermon that is full of Christ, and throw it unto your congregation, as you throw a net into the sea; —you need not look where they are, nor try to fit your sermon to different cases; but, throw it in, and as sure as God’s Word is what it is, it shall not return to him void; it shall accomplish that which he pleases, and prosper in the thing whereto he hath sent it.

The gospel never was unsuccessful yet, when it was preached with the demonstration of the Spirit and of power. It is not fine orations upon the death of princes, or the movements of politics which will save souls. If we wish to have sinners saved and to have our churches increased; if we desire the spread of God’s kingdom, the only thing whereby we can hope to accomplish the end, is the lifting up of Christ; for, "I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me."

Martin Luther on Prayer

If you've seen the movie Luther you no doubt will know that Luther's barber had issues... In any case, Martin Luther outlined a Biblical exposition on prayer for his barber which can be purchased here. Here is Peter Hammond's summary:

The German Reformer, Martin Luther, taught that prayer should be living, powerful, strong, mighty, earnest, serious, troubled, passionate, vehement, fervent and ardent.

Luther described prayer as: “The hardest work of all – a labour above all labours, since he who prays must wage almighty warfare against the doubt and murmuring excited by the faint-heartedness and unworthiness we feel within us…that unutterable and powerful groaning with which the godly rouse themselves against despair, the struggle in which they call mightily upon their faith.”

“Audacious prayer, which perseveres unflinchingly and ceases not through fear, is well pleasing unto God,” wrote Luther. “As a shoe maker makes a shoe, or a tailor makes a coat, so ought a Christian to pray. Prayer is the daily business of a Christian.”

REFORMING PRAYER

In 1535, Luther wrote and published: “A Simple Way To Pray,” dedicated to his barber, Peter Beskendorf. His barber had asked him for some guidelines on how he might improve his prayer life. In response, Luther wrote this 35-page book which became so popular that 4 editions were printed that first year alone.

Martin Luther has been described as one of the most dedicated men of prayer in all of history. The historical records show that Luther prayed for 3 to 4 hours each day. In the 16 th Century, the Church of Rome had buried Biblical prayer under layers of institutional, mystical and theological error. Prayer for most in the 16 th Century was a mechanical, religious rite, a legalistic work, requiring little thought. Luther worked hard to reform prayer. He spent long, solitary nights in fervent prayer and fasting.

GUIDELINES FOR PRAYER

In “A Simple Way To Pray” Luther wrote: “First, when I feel that I have become cool and joyless in prayer, because of other tasks or thoughts (for the flesh and the devil always impede and obstruct prayer), I take my Psalter, hurry to my room…and as time permits, I say quietly to myself and word for word the Lord’s Prayer, The Ten Commandments, The Apostles Creed and … some Psalms…

“It is a good thing to let prayer be your first business in the morning and the last at night. Guard yourself carefully against those false, deluding ideas that tell you, ‘wait a little while. I will pray in an hour, first I must attend to this or that’…Those who work faithfully, pray twice…Christ commands continual prayer: ask and it will be given to you, seek and you shall find; knock and it will be opened to you…pray without ceasing… we must unceasingly guard against sin and wrong doing, something one cannot do unless one fears God and keeps His Commandments…we become relaxed and lazy, cool and listless towards prayer. The devil who besets us is not lazy or careless, and our flesh is too ready and eager to sin and is disinclined to the spirit of prayer.

“When your heart has be warmed by such recitation to yourself (of The Ten Commandments, the Words of Christ, etc)…Kneel or stand with your hands folded and your eyes towards Heaven and speak or think as briefly as you can.

“O Heavenly Father, dear God, I am a poor, unworthy sinner. I do not deserve to raise my eyes or hands toward You or to pray. But, because You have commanded us all to pray and have promised to hear us and through Your dear Son, Jesus Christ has taught us both how, and what, to pray, I come to You in obedience to Your Word, trusting in Your gracious promises.”

Luther recommended that our prayers be numerous but short in duration. Luther taught that we should pray: “Brief prayers…pregnant with the Spirit, strongly fortified by faith…the fewer the words, the better the prayer. The more the words, the worse the prayer. Few words and much meaning is Christian. Many words and little meaning is pagan.”

The Lord’s Prayer and the Psalms were tools which Luther considered most important for any Christian’s prayer life. “A Christian has prayed abundantly who has rightly prayed the Lord’s Prayer.” The Lord’s Prayer is the model prayer of Christianity and it is not essentially a prayer of one individual, but a common prayer that binds all Christians together, uniting us with all believers, past, present and future, whether in Heaven, or on earth, in a Biblical Kingdom focused prayer.

PRAYING THE PSALMS

Luther taught that praying the Psalms brings us: “into joyful harmony” with God’s Word and God’s Will. “Whoever begins to pray the Psalms earnestly and regularly will soon take leave of those other light and personal little devotional prayers and say, ‘Ah, there is not the juice, the strength, the passion, the fire which you find in the Psalms. Anything else tastes too cold and too hard.’”

STRUCTURE PRAYER

Luther also recommended that we structure our prayers according to The Apostle’s Creed and the Catechism, to connect doctrine and devotion. He also recommended praying according to The Ten Commandments, meditating on each item as instruction, thanksgiving, confession and petition. By meditating on the instruction, giving thanks for the blessings that flow from these principles, confessing where we have personally failed in obeying and applying these commands, and as petition to being able to honour and obey God’s Word in our daily lives, would revive our prayer lives.

SPIRITUAL WARFARE

Luther lived daily exposed to what he called the “Anfectung,” the unbridled, vicious assault of Satan. At times, it seemed as if the whole world was against him, as well as the flesh and the devil. In the midst of this spiritual warfare, Luther’s enriching approach to prayer strengthened him. The Apostle’s Creed, The Lord’s Prayer, The Ten Commandments, The Catechism and the Psalms deepened and focused his prayer life.

In his preface to the “Larger Catechism,” Luther wrote: “We know that our defence lies in prayer. We are too weak to resist the devil and his vassels. Let us hold fast to the weapons of the Christian; they enable us to combat the devil… our enemies may mock at us. But we shall oppose both men and the devil if we maintain ourselves in prayer and if we persist in it.”

OUR FIRST PRIORITY

Luther recommended a set time for personal devotions, early morning or at night, and warned against postponing them for any “more urgent business.”

FLINT FOR THE FLAMES

He thought that one should see The Ten Commandments as a school textbook, a songbook, a penitential book, and as a prayer book. He advised that that one take The Ten Commandments as one’s structure for prayer on one day, a Psalm or a chapter of the Holy Scripture for another day, and use them “as flint and steel to kindle a flame in the heart.”

PRAYING THE LORD’S PRAYER

“A Simple Way To Pray” gives some examples of the intercessions Luther was inspired to pray on the basis of The Lord’s Prayer: “Hallowed be Thy Name. Yes, Lord God, dear Father, Hallowed be Your Name, both in us and throughout the whole world. Destroy and root out the abominations, idolatry and heresy of all false teachers and fanatics who wrongly use Your Name and in scandalous ways take it in vain and horribly blaspheme it…Dear Lord God, convert and restrain them… restrain those who are unwilling to be converted so that they may be forced to cease from misusing, defiling and dishonoring Your Holy Name and for misleading the poor people. Amen.

“Thy Kingdom Come. O dear Lord, God and Father, convert them and defend us… so that they with us and we with them may serve You and Your Kingdom in true faith and unfeigned love and that from Your Kingdom which has begun, we may enter into Your eternal Kingdom. Defend us against those who will not turn away their might and power for the destruction of Your Kingdom so that when they are cast down from their thrones and humbled, they will have to cease from their efforts. Amen.

“Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. O dear Lord, God and Father, You know that the world, if it cannot destroy Your Name or root our Your Kingdom, is busy day and night with wicked tricks and schemes, strange conspiracies and intrigues, huddled together in secret counsel, giving mutual encouragement and support, raging and threatening and going about with every evil intention to destroy Your Name, Word, Kingdom and children… for Your sake gladly, patiently and joyously enable us to bear every evil, cross and adversity, and thereby acknowledge, test and experience Your benign, gracious and perfect Will…

“Give us this day our daily bread. Protect us against war and disorder. Grant to all rulers’ good counsel and a will to preserve their subjects in tranquility and justice. O God, grant that all people be diligent and display charity and loyalty towards each other. Give us favourable weather and good harvests…

“Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. O dear Lord, God and Father, enter not into judgment against us because no person living is justified before You. Do not counter it against us as a sin that we are so unthankful for Your ineffable goodness, spiritual and physical, with that we stray so many times each day. Do not look upon how good or how wicked we have been but only upon the infinite compassion, which You have bestowed upon us in Christ, Your dear Son. Amen. Also, grant forgiveness to those who have harmed or wronged us, as we forgive them from our hearts…we would much rather that they be saved with us. Amen

“Lead us not into temptation. Keep us fit and alert, eager and diligent in Your Word and service, so that we do not become complacent, lazy and slothful as though we had already achieved everything. In that way the fearful devil cannot fall upon us, surprise us and deprive us from of Your precious Word or store up strife and factions among us and lead us into other sin and disgrace…

“And deliver us from evil. This wretched life is so full of misery and calamity, of danger and uncertainty, so full of malice and faithlessness… but You, dear Father, know our frailty. Therefore help us to pass safety through so much wickedness and villainy…”

WARM WHOLEHEARTED WORSHIP

Luther warned: “I do not want you to recite all these words in your prayer. That would make it nothing but idle chatter and prattle. Rather do I want your heart to be stirred and guided concerning the thoughts, which ought to be comprehended, in The Lord’s Prayer. These thoughts may be expressed, if your heart is rightly warmed and inclined toward prayer, in many different ways than with more words or fewer… listen in silence, and under no circumstances obstruct them. The Holy Spirit Himself preaches here, and one Word of His sermon is far better than a thousand of our prayers. Many times I have learnt more from one prayer than I might have learned from much reading and speculation.”

He warned against: “A cold and inattentive heart”, teaching that prayer required “the full attention of all one’s senses and members… concentration and singleness of heart…”

SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINE

Luther taught that in praying through The Ten Commandments “I think of each Command as first, instruction , which is really what it is intended to be and consider what the Lord demands of me so earnestly. Second, I turn it into a thanksgivin g; third a confession ; and fourth a prayer .”

He taught the importance of Spiritual disciplines, including solitude, silence, listening, meditation, journaling, praying and obeying.

DEEPER DEVOTION

May God be gracious to use the example and teachings of Martin Luther to revive our prayer lives, to discipline, sharpen and focus our prayers in a Biblical and Kingdom focused way. As we work through The Lord’s Prayer, The Ten Commandments, The Apostle’s Creed, The Psalms and The Catechisms, may the Lord be merciful to revive our prayer lives, deepen our devotional lives, and use us more effectively for the extension of His Kingdom and for His eternal glory.

Educating Ourselves into Imbecility

". . . [I]t has become abundantly clear in the second half of the twentieth century that Western Man has decided to abolish himself. Having wearied of the struggle to be himself, he has created

his own boredom out of his own affluence,
his own impotence out of his own erotomania,
his own vulnerability out of his own strength;

himself blowing the trumpet that brings the walls of his own city tumbling down, and, in a process of auto-genocide, convincing himself that he is too numerous, and labouring accordingly with pill and scalpel and syringe to make himself fewer in order to be an easier prey for his enemies; until at last, having educated himself into imbecility, and polluted and drugged himself into stupefaction, he keels over a weary, battered old brontosaurus and becomes extinct."

Malcolm Muggeridge

The Incarnation by DA Carson

Before there was a universe,

Before a star or planet,

When time had still not yet begun --

I scarcely understand it --

Th' eternal Word was with his God,

God's very Self-Expression;

Th' eternal Word was God himself --

And God had planned redemption.

The Word became our flesh and blood --

The stuff of his creation --

The Word was God, the Word was flesh,

Astounding incarnation!

But when he came to visit us,

We did not recognize him.

Although we owed him everything

We haughtily despised him.

In days gone by God showed himself

In grace and truth to Moses;

But in the Word of God made flesh

Their climax he discloses.

For grace and truth in fullness came

And showed the Father's glory

When Jesus donned our flesh and died:

This is the gospel story.

All who delighted in his name,

All those who did receive him,

All who by grace were born of God,

All who in truth believed him --

To them he gave a stunning right:

Becoming God's dear children!

Here will I stay in grateful trust;

Here will I fix my vision.

Before there was a universe,

Before a star or planet,

When time had still not yet begun --

I scarcely understand it --

Th' eternal Word was with his God,

God's very Self-Expression;

Th' eternal Word was God himself --

And God had planned redemption.

Puritan Poem and Prayer

O God of grace,

Thou hast imputed my sin to my substitute,
and hast imputed his righteousness to my soul,
clothing me with a bridegroom’s robe,
decking me with jewels of holiness.

But in my Christian walk I am still in rags;
my best prayers are stained with sin;
my penitential tears are so much impurity;
my confessions of wrong are so many aggravations of sin;
my receiving the Spirit is tinctured with selfishness.

I need to repent of my repentance;
I need my tears to be washed;
I have no robe to bring to cover my sins,
no loom to weave my own righteousness;

I am always standing clothed in filthy garments,
and by grace am always receiving change of raiment,
for thou dost always justify the ungodly;

I am always going into the far country,
and always returning home as a prodigal,
always saying, Father, forgive me,
and thou art always bringing forth
the best robe.

Every morning let me wear it,
every evening return in it,
go out to the day’s work in it,
be married in it,
be wound in death in it,
stand before the great white throne in it,
enter heaven in it shining as the sun.

Grant me never to lose sight of
the exceeding sinfulness of sin,
the exceeding righteousness of salvation,
the exceeding glory of Christ,
the exceeding beauty of holiness,
the exceeding wonder of grace.

Arm Yourself with the Bible

Bishop J C Ryle in his candid fashion asks: Do you use your Bible as much as you ought?

You live in a world where your soul is in constant danger. Enemies are round you on every side. Your own heart is deceitful. Bad examples are numerous. Satan is always laboring to lead you astray. Above all false doctrine and false teachers of every kind abound. This is your great danger.

To be safe you must be well armed. You must provide yourself with the weapons which God has given you for your help. You must store your mind with Holy Scripture. This is to be well armed.

Arm yourself with a thorough knowledge of the written word of God. Read your Bible regularly. Become familiar with your Bible. . . . Neglect your Bible and nothing that I know of can prevent you from error if a plausible advocate of false teaching shall happen to meet you. Make it a rule to believe nothing except it can be proved from Scripture. The Bible alone is infallible. . . . Do you really use your Bible as much as you ought?

There are many today, who believe the Bible, yet read it very little. Does your conscience tell you that you are one of these persons?

If so, you are the man that is likely to get little help from the Bible in time of need. Trial is a sifting experience. . . . Your store of Bible consolations may one day run very low.

If so, you are the man that is unlikely to become established in the truth. I shall not be surprised to hear that you are troubled with doubts and questions about assurance, grace, faith, perseverance, etc. The devil is an old and cunning enemy. He can quote Scripture readily enough when he pleases. Now you are not sufficiently ready with your weapons to fight a good fight with him. . . . Your sword is held loosely in your hand.

If so, you are the man that is likely to make mistakes in life. I shall not wonder if I am told that you have problems in your marriage, problems with your children, problems about the conduct of your family and about the company you keep. The world you steer through is full of rocks, shoals and sandbanks. You are not sufficiently familiar either with lighthouses or charts.

If so, you are the man who is likely to be carried away by some false teacher for a time. It will not surprise me if I hear that one of these clever eloquent men who can make a convincing presentation is leading you into error. You are in need of ballast (truth); no wonder if you are tossed to and fro like a cork on the waves.

All these are uncomfortable situations. I want you to escape them all. Take the advice I offer you today. Do not merely read your Bible a little—but read it a great deal. . . . Remember your many enemies. Be armed!

Richard Rorty on his disgust for both liberal and conservative Christianity

“I’m delighted that liberal theologians do their best to do what Pio Nono said shouldn’t be done – try to accommodate Christianity to modern science, modern culture, and democratic society. If I were a fundamentalist Christian, I’d be appalled by the wishy-washiness of [the liberal] version of the Christian faith. But since I am a non-believer who is frightened of the barbarity of many fundamentalist Christians (e.g. their homophobia), I welcome theological liberalism. Maybe liberal theologians will eventually produce a version of Christianity so wishy-washy that nobody will be interested in being a Christian anymore. If so, something will have been lost, but probably more will have been gained."

Calvin's Reflections on Penal Substitutionary Atonement

Without the gospel

everything is useless and vain;

without the gospel

we are not Christians;

without the gospel

all riches is poverty,
all wisdom folly before God;
strength is weakness,
and all the justice of man is under the condemnation of God.

But by the knowledge of the gospel we are made

children of God,
brothers of Jesus Christ,
fellow townsmen with the saints,
citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven,
heirs of God with Jesus Christ, by whom

the poor are made rich,
the weak strong,
the fools wise,
the sinner justified,
the desolate comforted,
the doubting sure,
and slaves free.

It is the power of God for the salvation of all those who believe.

It follows that every good thing we could think or desire is to be found in this same Jesus Christ alone.
For, he was

sold, to buy us back;
captive, to deliver us;
condemned, to absolve us;

he was

made a curse for our blessing,
[a] sin offering for our righteousness;
marred that we may be made fair;

he died for our life; so that by him

fury is made gentle,
wrath appeased,
darkness turned into light,
fear reassured,
despisal despised,
debt canceled,
labor lightened,
sadness made merry,
misfortune made fortunate,
difficulty easy,
disorder ordered,
division united,
ignominy ennobled,
rebellion subjected,
intimidation intimidated,
ambush uncovered,
assaults assailed,
force forced back,
combat combated,
war warred against,
vengeance avenged,
torment tormented,
damnation damned,
the abyss sunk into the abyss,
hell transfixed,
death dead,
mortality made immortal.

In short,

mercy has swallowed up all misery,
and goodness all misfortune.

For all these things which were to be the weapons of the devil in his battle against us, and the sting of death to pierce us, are turned for us into exercises which we can turn to our profit.

If we are able to boast with the apostle, saying, O hell, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting? it is because by the Spirit of Christ promised to the elect, we live no longer, but Christ lives in us; and we are by the same Spirit seated among those who are in heaven, so that for us the world is no more, even while our conversation is in it; but we are content in all things, whether country, place, condition, clothing, meat, and all such things.

And we are

comforted in tribulation,
joyful in sorrow,
glorying under vituperation,
abounding in poverty,
warmed in our nakedness,
patient amongst evils,
living in death.

This is what we should in short seek in the whole of Scripture: truly to know Jesus Christ, and the infinite riches that are comprised in him and are offered to us by him from God the Father.

The Danger of "Chick Flicks"

Ponder the perilous past time of participating in protracted periods of purveying such films here

Happy Anniversary RZIM

RZIM began in Canada before migrating to the US and then branching out to the ends of the earth. Thanks for 25 years of faithful and intelligent evangelism.

Calvinism Quiz

Click here to find out how Calvinistic you really are.

Family Worship

For parents wanting to initiate or develop their family's worship times, here is a great resource to help in this worthwhile endeavor. May God grant you and your family the grace of drawing near to Him as a covenant community.

Augustine's description of the Incarnation

Man’s Maker was made man

that the Bread might be hungry,
the Fountain thirst,
the Light sleep,
the Way be tired from the journey;
that Strength might be made weak,
that Life might die.

– Augustine

Islam vs. Christianity

Brilliant!

Jesus' Resurrection Appearances

A very helpful catalogue of all of the recorded resurrection appearances of our Lord can be found here.

Thoughts from Proverbs 19 (Part Two) "Laziness versus Resting"

Verse 15 contains the following proverb: "Laziness brings on deep sleep, and the shiftless man goes hungry." It is clear that the "deep sleep" mentioned here is nothing other than death.


Contrast this with the Scriptures teaching on rest. Isaiah 30:15 declares that "In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength..." Again, Jesus emphasizes the promise of rest when invites us to "Take [His] yoke upon you and learn from [Him], for [He is] gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls..."

Clearly being lazy and resting are two very different things. Laziness is avoiding work; resting is ceasing from it. The call of the gospel is not spiritual laziness but spiritual rest. A person is lazy when there is work to do but he or she avoids it. A person rests when the work is complete. When we rest in Christ, we are acknowledging with all that we are that the work of our salvation is complete. There is nothing left to do. So, rest.

Thoughts from Proverbs 19 (Part One)

Reading through Proverbs 19 this past week. Much wisdom to be found here; much to meditate upon. For instance Proverbs 19:3 says... "A man's own folly ruins his life, yet his heart rages against the LORD."

Here is the essential human predicament. I love my foolish choices and sinful habits. I am committed to them despite the desctruction they are wreaking in my life. Yet, when all is said and done and my folly has laid waste to my life, my folly is only magnified as I shift the blame away from myself and land it on God.

Yet, herein lies a hint of the gospel: Though my own foolishness should result in the destruction of my own life. Jesus Christ, the very wisdom of God, became an utter fool on the cross and it was His life that was ruined- not mine! And instead of my heart raging against the LORD I can only stand amazed for Jesus Christ received the raging wrath of His Father in my place.

As the songwriter says, "You became nothing, poured out to death..."

Is the God of the Bible the same as the god of the Koran?

What I especially love about his response is his forthrightness. This is a good example of using words to communicate truth not to conceal it.

58 States in America according Obama

Something's rotten in the United States. Methinks that the media doth not protest enough. If his predecessor or opponent's running mate had made a similar gaff I doth suspect that the vox populi would demand a resignation, no?

Reincarnation and Evolution

Why do religions which hold to reincarnation gravitate towards evolution so strongly? The top two religious blocks are Buddhists and Hindus with 81 and 80% respectively. Interestingly Jews come in at 77%. Unfortunately the stats do not allow for the wide swath of Jewish groups (Orthodox, Reformed, Conservative etc.) yet they do recognize some of the major groups under the umbrella of Christianity.

See here for the full report from Pew Research.

The Temple Part One

Peter Gentry in SBJT's Spring 2009 edition answers the question: What makes the Biblical Temple unique? His answer is as follows:

If we consider the plan of the Tabernacle or the plan of Solomon’s Temple, there is nothing unusual or unique. Its overall plan was just like any other temple in the ancient Near East. They all had an outer courtyard, an altar of sacrifice, and a central building divided into a “Holy Place” and a “Holy of Holies.” What made the faith of Israel different from the faith of the pagan religions surrounding her? If one were to enter a pagan temple, passing through the courtyard, and the Holy Place into the Holy of Holies, what would one find there? An image representing one of the forces of nature. But that is not what one finds at the center of Israel’s worship. What was in the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle? First of all, there was no image or statue there because God is spirit and cannot be properly represented by man-made images. All there is in the Holy of Holies is just a little box. And what is in that box? The Ten Commandments. Thus, what God is saying to the Israelites is that he cannot be manipulated by magic. If they want the good life, they must conform their lifestyle to his revealed standards of right and wrong. Ethics guarantees the good life, not manipulation of the powers that be by magic. The meaning is clear when one both compares and contrasts the biblical text with the ancient Near Eastern cultural setting. At the outset, the differences appear to be small and insignificant. Yet in the end, the differences are so radical that only divine revelation can explain the origin of the text.

Penal Substitutionary Atonement

This "prayer" from the Valley of Vision excellently scratches the surface of the glory that is the Christian gospel...

"Christ was all anguish that I might be all joy,
cast off that I might be brought in,
trodden down as an enemy that I might be welcomed as a friend,
surrendered to hell’s worst that I might attain heaven’s best,
stripped that I might be clothed,
wounded that I might be healed,
athirst that I might drink,
tormented that I might be comforted,
made a shame that I might inherit glory,
entered darkness that I might have eternal light.

My Savior wept that all tears might be wiped from my eyes,
groaned that I might have endless song,
endured all pain that I might have unfading health,
bore a thorned crown that I might have a glory-diadem,
bowed his head that I might uplift mine,
experienced reproach that I might receive welcome,
closed his eyes in death that I might gaze on unclouded brightness,
expired that I might for ever live."

"Love - that's what I felt..."

Jellyfish Christianity Part 2

John Stott quotes Dr. Lloyd Jones in his commentary on Matthew 6:30:

Faith according to our Lord’s teaching in this paragraph, is primarily thinking; and the whole trouble with a man of little faith is that he does not think. He allows circumstances to bludgeon him. … We must spend more time in studying our Lord’s lessons in observation and deduction. The Bible is full of logic, and we must never think of faith as something purely mystical. We do not just sit down in an armchair and expect marvelous things to happen to us. That is not Christian faith. Christian faith is essentially thinking. Look at the birds, think about them, draw your deductions. Look at the grass, look at the lilies of the field, consider them. … Faith, if you like, can be defined like this: It is a man insisting upon thinking when everything seems determined to bludgeon and knock him down in an intellectual sense. The trouble with the person of little faith is that, instead of controlling his own thought, his thought is being controlled by something else, and, as we put it, he goes round and round in circles. That is the essence of worry. … That is not thought; that is the absence of thought, a failure to think.

"Jellyfish Christianity"

This quote from J C Ryle has the ability, like very few quotes, to inflame me with zeal...

[Dislike of dogma] is an epidemic which is just now doing great harm, and specially among young people…. It produces what I must venture to call…a “jelly-fish” Christianity in the land: that is, a Christianity without bone, or muscle, or power. A jelly-fish…is a pretty and graceful object when it floats in the sea, contracting and expanding like a little, delicate, transparent umbrella. Yet the same jelly-fish, when cast on the shore, is a mere helpless lump, without capacity for movement, self-defense, or self-preservation. Alas! It is a vivid type of much of the religion of this day, of which the leading principle is, “No dogma, no distinct tenets, no positive doctrine.” We have hundreds of “jelly-fish” clergymen, who seem not to have a single bone in their body of divinity. They have not definite opinions; they belong to no school or party; they are so afraid of “extreme views” that they have no views at all. We have thousands of “jelly-fish” sermons preached every year, sermons without an edge, or a point, or a corner, smooth as billiard balls, awakening no sinner, and edifying no saint. We have Legions of “jelly-fish” young men annually turned out from our Universities, armed with a few scraps of second-hand philosophy, who think it a mark of cleverness and intellect to have no decided opinions about anything in religion, and to be utterly unable to make up their minds as to what is Christian truth. They live apparently in a state of suspense, like Mohamet’s fabled coffin, hanging between heaven and earth…and last, and worst of all, we have myriads of “jelly-fish” worshippers-respectable Church-going people, who have no distinct and definite views about any point in theology. They cannot discern things that differ, any more than color-blind people can distinguish colors. They think everybody is right and nobody wrong, everything is true and nothing is false, all sermons are good and none are bad, every clergyman is sound and no clergyman is unsound. They are “tossed to and fro, like children, by every wind of doctrine”; often carried away by any new excitement and sensational movement; ever ready for new things, because they have no firm grasp on the old; and utterly unable to “render a reason of the hope that is in them.” …Never was it so important for laymen to hold systematic views of truth, and for ordained ministers to “enunciate dogma” very clearly and distinctly in their teaching.

Sin as debt, enmity and crime

Thanks to Tim Challies for this helpful summary of Sproul's description of sin...

In his book The Truth of the Cross, R.C. Sproul spends some time discussing the human condition and as he does so he uses three biblical concepts: debtors, enemies, and criminals. The Bible describes all of us in these terms. What Sproul does here, and this really helped it hit home for me, is show how it is always the Father who has been offended and the Son who intercedes. We have committed crimes against God and are, thus, justly termed criminals. The Father stands as Judge, passing the just sentence of death. But Christ stands between us and the Father, acting as substitute. Our sin puts us in debt to God so that we are debtors to Him. God is the creditor who demands repayment, but Christ stands in as surety. And sin puts us at enmity with God, making us His enemies. He has been violated by our sin, but Christ intercedes as mediator, opening the way between man and God.

Sproul breaks this down into the following simple table:

Sin As…	Man	God	Christ
Debt	Debtor	Creditor	Surety
Enmity	Enemy	Violated One	Mediator
Crime	Criminal	Judge	Substitute

He concludes this: “Christ, then, is the One Who made satisfaction. By His work on the cross, He satisfied the demands of God’s justice with regard to our debt, our state of enmity, and our crime. In light of the facts of God’s justice and our sinfulness, it is not difficult to see the absolute necessity of the atonement.”

What a great Savior!

The Church - Christ's Bride and Joy

Loved the following editorial in the Washington Post...

Here's what Bono, Oprah, and the guru speakers on PBS won't tell you: Jesus believed in organized religion and he founded an institution. Of course, Jesus had no patience for religious hacks and self-righteous wannabes, but he was still Jewish. And as Jew, he read the Holy Book, worshiped in the synagogue, and kept Torah. He did not start a movement of latte-drinking disciples who excelled in spiritual conversations. He founded the church (Matt. 16:18) and commissioned the apostles to proclaim the good news that Israel's Messiah had come and the sins of the world could be forgiven through his death on the cross (Matt. 28:18-20; Acts 2:14-36).

For almost two millennia, it was axiomatic that Christians, like, actually went to church (or at least told other Christians they did). From Cyprian to Calvin it was believed that for those to whom God "is Father the church may also be Mother." But increasingly Christians are trying to get more spiritual by getting less church.

Take a spin through the religion section at your local bookstore. What you'll find there is revealing - there are "revolutionary" books for stay at home moms, teenagers, and Christian businessmen. There are lots of manifestos. And most of the books about church are about people leaving the church to "find God." There are lots of Kerouacian "journey" stories, and at least one book about the gospel according to Starbucks. It used to be you had to overthrow a country to be considered a revolutionary, and now, it seems, you just have to quit church and go pray in the woods.

We've been in the church our whole lives and are not blind to its failings. Churches can be boring, hypocritical, hurtful, and inept. The church is full of sinners. Which is kind of the point. Christians are worse than you think. Our Savior is better than you imagine.
But the church is not all about oppression and drudgery. Almost every church we know of visits old people, brings meals to new moms, supports disaster relief, and does something for the poor. We love the local church, in spite of its problems, because it's where we go to meet God. It's not a glorified social/country club you attend to be around people who talk and look just you do. It's a place to hear God's word spoken, taught and affirmed. It's a place to sing praises to God, and a place to serve others. It's a place to be challenged.

The church is more than plural for Christian. It is both organism and organization, a living thing comprised of a certain order, regular worship services, with doctrinal standards, institutional norms, and defined rituals. Without the institution of the church nurturing the flock and protecting the faith for two thousand years, there would be no Christianity. If Gen Xers (like us) and their friends want to be against something, start a revolution. If you want to conserve truth and grace for twenty centuries, plant a church.

We love the church because Christ loved the church. She is his bride--a harlot at times, but his bride nonetheless, being washed clean by the word of God (Eph. 5:25-26). If you are into Jesus, don't rail on his bride. Jesus died for the church, so don't be bothered by a little dying to self for the church's sake. If you keep in mind that everyone there is a sinner (including yourself) and that Jesus Christ is the point and not you, your dreams, or your kids, your church experience might not be as lame as you fear.

Perhaps Christians are leaving the church because it isn't tolerant and open-minded. But perhaps the church-leavers have their own intolerance too--intolerant of tradition, intolerant of authority, intolerant of imperfection except their own. Are you open-minded enough to give the church a chance--a chance for the church to be the church, not a coffee shop, not a mall, not a variety show, not Chuck E. Cheese, not a U2 concert, not a nature walk, but a wonderfully ordinary, blood-bought, Spirit-driven church with pastors, sermons, budgets, hymns, bad carpet and worse coffee?

The Church, because it is Christ's church, will outlive American Idol, the NFL, and all of our grandkids. We won't last, but the Church will. So when it comes to church, be like Jesus: love it, don't leave it. As Saint Calloway once prophesied to the Brothers of Blues, "Jake, you get wise, you get to church."

Kevin DeYoung is senior pastor at University Reformed Church in East Lansing, Michigan. He serves on the executive team of RCA Integrity, a renewal group within the Reformed Church of America. Ted Kluck's work has appeared in ESPN the Magazine, Sports Spectrum Magazine, ESPN.com Page2, and several small literary journals.

They are the authors of the new book Why We Love the Church: In Praise of Institutions and Organized Religion.

Top Commentaries

In university, Pastor Doug graciously gave me one hour of his time every week. The time together was instrumental in shaping my deep appreciation for the pastorate. I remember my greatest difficulty during those meetings in his office was the challenge of looking him in the eye. You see, he had wall-to-wall bookshelves lined with commentaries.

I asked him once about building a library. He gave me a very important piece of advice... "If you're planning to buy a book which you know you will only open once / read once, then don't buy it."

"So, what should I get, then?" I asked.

"Buy good commentaries." he replied.

So, naturally, I asked "What's a good commentary series?"

To which he gave me yet another important piece of advice: "Never buy an entire commentary series. Buy only the good volumes from a series and leave the others behind."

And so, I have been searching for those good volumes ever since. Someone has done the hard work of identifying them. The titles can be found here.

Worshipping Worship Part Two

Returning to this topic of "worshipping worship" comes a discussion at Granger Community Church's pastor's blog. He heralded the singing of a song with no mention of God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit etc as a song of worship. The song itself was well executed but only referenced a generic "love."

In the ensuing melee of discussion, the pastor insisted that it was worship for him and might not be worship for others. At the bottom of the thread, I raised my concern that unless he is being worshipped, his preference or appreciation of the song is essentially irrelevant.

My comments were summarily dismissed...

Worshipping Worship Part One

Recently came across a survey asking the members of a church for their personal preference regarding worship. Isn't that most peculiar? To me, that's tantamount to asking children for their preference regarding Mother's Day Cards. Ask Mothers not children! Ask the one being worshipped for His preference, not the worshippers.

But I digress and I divert to Dr. Carson...

In an age increasingly suspicious of (linear) thought, there is much more respect for the “feelings” of things - whether a film or a church service. It is disturbingly easy to plot surveys of people, especially young people, drifting from a church of excellent preaching and teaching to one with excellent music because, it is alleged, there is “better worship” there. But we need to think carefully about this matter. Let us restrict ourselves for the moment to corporate worship. Although there are things that can be done to enhance corporate worship, there is a profound sense in which excellent worship cannot be attained merely by pursuing excellent worship. In the same way that, according to Jesus, you cannot find yourself until you lose yourself, so also you cannot find excellent corporate worship until you stop trying to find excellent corporate worship and pursue God himself. Despite the protestations, one sometimes wonders if we are beginning to worship worship rather than worship God. As a brother put it to me, it’s a bit like those who begin by admiring the sunset and soon begin to admire themselves admiring the sunset.

This point is acknowledged in a praise chorus like “Let’s forget about ourselves, and magnify the Lord, and worship him.” The trouble is that after you have sung this repetitious chorus three of four times, you are no farther ahead. The way you forget about yourself is by focusing on God—not by singing about doing it, but by doing it. There are far too choruses and services and sermons that expand our vision of God—his attributes, his works, his character, his words. Some think that corporate worship is good because it is lively where it had been dull. But it may also be shallow where it is lively, leaving people dissatisfied and restless in a few months’ time. Sheep lie down when they are well fed (cf. Psalm 23:2); they are more likely to be restless when they are hungry. “Feed my sheep,” Jesus commanded Peter (John 21); and many sheep are unfed. If you wish to deepen the worship of the people of God, above all deepen their grasp of his ineffable majesty in his person and in all his works.

We do not expect the garage mechanic to expatiate on the wonders of his tools; we expect him to fix the car. He must know how to use his tools, but he must not lose sight of the goal. So we dare not focus on the mechanics of corporate worship and lose sight of the goal. We focus on God himself, and thus we become more godly and learn to worship—and collaterally we learn to edify one another, forbear with one another, challenge one another.

Heteronormativity

First the Christians boycotted Disney for their support of homosexuality. Now the homosexual community has a reason to boycott Disney. The reason? Why its blatant heteronormativity, of course!

Thanks Wikipedia

To every student in school after January 15, 2001.

Jason Eubanks of Ali G fame reconsiders his original views on masturbation. With humility he acknowledges he was wrong. Read his reconsideration here. See his disastrous interview with Sacha Baron Cohen aka Ali G here.

Consider the Ant

Proverbs 6:6 enjoins the sluggard to consider the ant. Justin Taylor linked to this fascinating gigapan of an ant from Madagascar today.