So Still and So Restful

So still and so restful she lays,
Cold against mother’s breast
The warmth that was hers fading
Even as hot tears come to mother’s cheek.

Her life was brilliant and short
Like a shooting star streaking and burning~
Mother saw and wished and hoped
But could not keep her here

So mother holds her and remembers
The kicks and rolls and sickness
And joy and wonders why she went
So quickly and could not stay

So still and so restful she lays,
Mother’s shooting star that
Seared the joy of life into her heart
And has left her mark there forever

Update: My wife and our baby are doing well. I wrote this poem from going through this experience with others and not my own.

Calling out the Called

Last week, I sent an 'open letter' to the members of our church with the sole intent of calling out the men of our congregation who are interested in pastoral ministry. It is my sincere hope that several men of sound confession and character will join this fellowship. I'm going to post the contents of that letter here, and I'd love your thoughts and feedback concerning it. So far, I've had six men who have come forward with an interest in being involved in this. Here are the contents:

Looking for a Few Good Men

Unless I am greatly mistaken, this newsletter article will only immediately affect around six to eight men in our fellowship. In a newsletter that is mailed out to around 262 homes that seems like an inefficient use of space, but I do not believe that this is the case. Indeed, while this article may only immediately affect six to eight men, the impact, I hope, will influence the entire church for years to come. This article is dedicated to the men in our congregation whom God has called or will call out to do pastoral ministry in this body. I will talk briefly about the individual call to this great task, the responsibility of the church in this task, my personal mission in this task, and finally why I believe this is very important for our church.

First, I want to ‘demystify’ the call to pastoral ministry. Men, you are not looking for a burning bush or an angelic messenger from heaven in order to know that God is calling you to pastoral ministry. All you have to have is a good testimony, a blameless lifestyle, and a strong to desire to learn the Word of God and to teach it to others (see 1 Timothy 3:1-7). Unfortunately, many ‘pastors’ testify that when God called them to preach that they ran away, only to be forced in some sort of wrestling match of God to finally surrender to the ministry. While that makes for a great story, and while it may be true of some, the fact is that the man called by God will actually want to do pastoral ministry. If you have a desire to learn and to grow in order to teach others to learn and to grow, see me for further details.

Secondly, I want to let the church know what her responsibility is in this ‘calling out’ process. First, we are to be on the lookout for the type of man described in 1 Timothy 3:1-7. Have you noticed a man who is blameless (not perfect) in his conduct? Is he able and eager to teach? Does he demonstrate loving affection toward his wife and children? Does he have a good reputation amongst those outside the church? Keep an eye on that man and encourage him to pursue the desire that God has placed in his heart. In Acts 13:2 we learn that the Holy Spirit spoke through the church to set Paul and Barnabas aside for their special work to which He called them. God still does that to men today in our midst. Look for them, encourage them, pray for them, and when one presents himself for service that you have had your eye on, rejoice! We are not to be pushy, simply encouraging. If you know someone like that, encourage them to come to the class I am about to talk about, and if you have questions or thoughts come and talk to me.

Thirdly, I want you to know that this desire I have is not just a ‘good idea’ I had while brainstorming in my office. It is, I believe, my direct responsibility to train men in this church for pastoral ministry. Paul wrote this to Timothy, and I believe that it applies to every pastor, “The things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also” (2 Timothy 2:2). If a men desires to do the work of ministry, if the church affirms that this man displays the characteristics described in 1 Timothy 3:1-7, then it will be my sacred duty to help such a man grow and learn and to be the best that he can be. To that end, we will meet every other Thursday evening. We will study the Bible, books by God gifted teachers, discuss, give reports, learn to teach, and generally hold one another accountable. It will require serious thought, personal cost to buy the books, time spent in study and prayer, and a sincere devotion to this body of Christ that is called “Mount Calvary Baptist Church.” In the period between each meeting, I will personally meet with any man willing one on one at least once to discuss any questions and for general fellowship.

Finally, I want everyone to think about why this is so important for our church. Wisdom should inform us that the more mature our leadership the better our church will weather future storms. Further, it is not God’s intention for this church to be built around the cult of personality of one man. The early church did not have the convenience of heading down to the local association and picking up resumes when their pastor was martyred, died, or called to missions. They had to rely on God to raise up leadership from amongst themselves, and because they sought out this leadership, when one man was removed from the picture the church could function without a hitch. While the oversight of the ministries of this church will be my responsibility as long as it pleases this church andthe Lord, I am more than happy to share the burden and rewards of ministry with others.

The immediate effects of this ministry will, perhaps, be minimal. In the long term, I believe the impact will be great. We will have men who will be better Sunday School teachers, men who will begin new ministries in this church, and hopefully, God will raise up men from inside our own fellowship to come on staff and serve in ministry. That may be years down the road, but it is a future that I am hoping for. I am praying for God to call out young men from our number to serve in ministry, and I am praying that he will call out older ones as well. Man, are you excited about this? Then join me, I need your help. Church, do you believe that God can do great things through the men of our church? Pray that He will call them out. The nations are waiting, the fields are ripe for harvesting; pray that God will send laborers into His fields from our number.

If you are interested, talk to me after church, call me in the office, or stop by and see me there. We will begin the first Thursday of March. I look forward to growing with you.

Calling out the Called,

Bro. Brad

Searching for Help

Currently, I have the great pleasure of being the Senior Pastor of a church with two full-time vacancies. The bad side of that is that I am quite busy. The good side, which is far better, is that I get to be here for the hiring of the staff, and I have the opportunity to "tweek" the job descriptions. One of the positions that I am tweaking is going to be called "The Pastor to Families."

Originally, this position was called the "Minister to Children and Youth." I wanted to move away from the language of "minister" because I think that the word "pastor" more clearly defines the role. I changed the latter part from "Children and Youth" to "Families" because I want to send the clear message that this individual is a pastor for everyone. Our goal in this ministry will be to instruct children and students in godliness and doctrine, and to incorporate their parents into that process.

I have admonished both the committee and the church to consider someone that they would feel comfortable calling as their own pastor. He may be younger, and perhaps less experienced, but his character should be such that they would trust themselves to his model of maturity and to his knowledge of the Scriptures. If you cannot do that, then why on earth would you allow this individual to instruct and set the example for your children? Hopefully, we will find such a person...soon.

By the way, did I mention that we are looking for a Worship Pastor as well?

Musical Mayhem?

If you are interested in an analysis of Church Music, I highly recommend reading this article by Greg Gilbert.

HT: Joe Carter

Providential Irony: A Puritan Reader Update

I'm supposed to be reading John Flavel's The Mystery of Providence this month. Oddly enough, I've misplaced the book, which could be a providence in itself. I don't know what to do now except begin the next book in the series and hope that it turns up. Bummer...I guess. Maybe I was supposed to be reading that other book now anyway....hmmm...

Training Pastors

I heard from a reliable source that Al Mohler was recently asked a question along the lines of, "Dr. Mohler, when do you think that seminaries should stop training young men for the ministry and the local church start doing the job." His response was, "Tomorrow morning." (Dr. Al Mohler is the president of Southern Seminary.) In saying this, I don't believe that Dr. Mohler meant that seminaries are unnecessary, but rather that the churches should not abdicate their role in the training of men for the ministry.

To that end, I have been struggling over a curriculm to begin at my church in order to train men for the ministry. I believe and know that there are men in this church who are gifted for that service. The studies will consist of Systematic Theology, preaching/teaching help, and studies in Biblical exegesis. All of these things go hand-in-hand. My problem is that there is so much to learn that I am having trouble breaking it down into mouthfuls. Should I go with a Systematic Theologies for teaching Systematic Theology, should I write something on my own? Should I look up particular articles considering subjects : i.e., atonement, Divinity of Christ, etc., and pass these out for study and discussion? How long should I spend on each, and where should we start?

I want to do this well, and so I would appreciate any thoughts you have on the matter.

Burning Our Noodle Part 4

Two nights ago, I was awakened at 4:30am by the sound of sirens that heralded the coming of devastation. While I tried to go back to sleep, my wife watched and listened intently to the news to see where the tornado was headed. By the grace of God, the storm passed us by unscathed, and yet not everyone was spared. As of today, the casualty count from that storm registers 55 persons, some entire families being wiped out by the dreadful storm.

I propose that there are generally two ways to view such catastrophes. One, we can believe that God was unable to stop the tornado from wreaking havoc and claiming lives, or two, we can believe that God was able to stop the tornado but did not choose to do so. Any Christian worthy of the name will believe the latter.

I want to take it a step further and ask this question: Is it possible that God ordains such disaster for the glory of His name and for the good of His people? I believe that it is not only possible, but that this is precisely the reason that things occur the way that they do. I truly believe that "for those who love God all things work together for good" (Rom. 8:28:). This may be hardest to swallow in the face of tragedy, but I believe that it is precisely then that these words are most precious. Consider this quote from one of my mentors, John Piper:

It's worth asking as a parenthesis here how a good God can be happy when the world is shot through with suffering and evil. It's a huge and hard question. Two things help me. One is that it doesn't help much to save God's reputation by saying that he is not really in charge. If someone had tried to comfort me in December 1974 when my mother was killed in a bus accident, by saying, "God didn't will this to happen; you can still trust him; he's good," I would have answered by saying, "My consolation does not come from thinking that God is so weak he can't divert the lumber on top a VW van." My God is sovereign. He took her in his appointed time; and I believe now and someday I will see that it was good. For I have learned in Jesus Christ that God is good. The biblical solution to the problem of evil is not to rob God of his sovereignty.

John Piper's mother died instantly when a piece of lumber came through the windshield of the bus and struck her. Could God not control the trajectory of the lumber? Could he not have altered the course of the bus? Certainly He could have, but He did not. Would you rather have a God who allows such things to purposely take place, or would you rather have the solace of knowing that even in the darkest night of tragedy that God is good, that He is close, and that He is working even this circumstance for your good and for His glory. Do you trust Him enough for that?

I sleep comfortably at night knowing that God holds the wind in His hand, that He commands the waves and the water, that not one sparrow falls to the ground outside of His sovereign notice, and that He has numbered my days and the days of my family. I trust Him with every detail, and I know that each has been sovereignly ordained to bring me into conformity to the likeness of His son and that all things are working together for my good and for His glory. I may not understand all things, but I know why all things happen. So the proper question for me in the face of tragedy is not, "Why did God let this happen?" Rather, it is, "Do you trust the Lord, even now, even when the pain is great and the grief a burden?" Joachim Neander, who died at only 30 years of age, expressed this truth aptly in the late 1600's in his great hymn, "Praise to the Lord, the Almighty." He wrote:

Praise to the Lord, who o'er all things so wonderously reigneth,
Shelters thee under His wings, yea, so gently sustaineth!
Hast thou not seen How they desires e'er have been
Granted in what He ordaineth?

May God grant us the wisdom to see this truth in the difficulties of our past, and may He give us the wisdom to believe He will do the same in the future.

Burning our Noodle Part 3

I want to ramp things up again for the sake of our sanctification and return to our discussion of God's ordination of all things that come to pass. This is a most frightening thing for us humans, and it can make us feel insignificant and even "robotish" if not handled with care. After all, if God has already predetermined all things, what becomes of human responsibility and free will? While good and natural questions, such thoughts must be answered after we have established whether or not God has ordained things. If He hasn't, then the point is moot.

I want to further suggest that, upon reflection, we will all be much happier and the universe will make far better sense, and that we can have tremendous peace knowing that God is in control and does indeed ordain all things that come to pass. Consider the alternative! That God is not in control of all things, that certain things happen for no reason, and that terrible evil may be propagated without consequence or from which no good arises. That, beloved, is a horrid thought.

So let us examine a few passages that indicate that God has indeed ordained things, even evil things, so that He may receive the glory and that He might triumph over sin and the very evil that was committed. (I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "Why would He ordain an evil simply to overcome it?" We'll deal with that in a later noodle burner dealing with human responsibility.) Here are some verses to consider, and do yourself a favor, actually read them and think about the implications before we move on:

Then He said to Abram: “Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions. Now as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete. (Gen. 15:13-16).

For truly against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done. (Acts 4:27-28)

Now when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed. (Acts 13:48)

Studied over those few examples yet? If you are skimming and trying to get the gist of this, go back and read them! Now you're done? Good.

In the first example, we see that the time of Israel's captivity in Egypt was ordained of God. It would last exactly 400 years, and at the end of that 400 years, God would set them free. Their freedom would come at precisely the right time as well because that would mark the time when their inquity would be complete. We further see that Abraham was promised to have a full life and die in old age, which he did. Every day was numbered and determined by God, and although God does not will that His people be hated and abused, He ordained that very thing by the hand of the Egyptians.

In the second example, we see that it was determined before that Herod, Pilate, the Jews and the Gentiles would mock and crucify the Son of God. Bar none, the crucifixion of Jesus Christ is the most heinous atrocity ever perpetrated by man, yet we see that it was predetermined that this would take place, and that Herod and Pilate would play a part.

Finally, we see in the Acts passage that everyone who was "appointed" to eternal life believed the gospel. If we cannot discern the sovereignty of God in Acts 13:48, I am at a loss as to where we will find it! To these examples we could add many more, and if your curiousity is aroused over this I heartily recommend you avail yourself to this article by John Piper entitled, "Is God Less Glorious Because He Ordained that Evil Be?". Let me quote from that article some examples he gives:

God often expresses his will to be one way, and then acts to bring about another state of affairs. God opposes hatred toward his people, yet ordained that his people be hated in Egypt (Genesis 12:3; Psalm 105:25 – "He turned their hearts to hate his people."). He hardens Pharaoh's heart, but commands him to let his people go (Exodus 4:21; 5:1; 8:1). He makes plain that it is sin for David to take a military census of his people, but he ordains that he do it (2 Samuel 24:1; 24:10). He opposes adultery, but ordains that Absalom should lie with his father's wives (Exodus 20:14; 2 Samuel 12:11). He forbids rebellion and insubordination against the king, but ordained that Jeroboam and the ten tribes should rebel against Rehoboam (Romans 13:1; 1 Samuel 15:23; 1 Kings 12:15-16). He opposes murder, but ordains the murder of his Son (Exodus 20:13; Acts 4:28). He desires all men to be saved, but effectually calls only some (1 Timothy 2:4; 1 Corinthians 1:26-30; 2 Timothy 2:26).

Tomorrow, God willing, I will continue this by drawing out why this truth of God's Sovereignty is a precious doctrine will bring peace into the suffering of life, especially in the face of unexpected tragedy. After that, we will deal with human responsibility in the face of Divine Sovereignty. I conclude this section with the quote from the 2nd London Baptist Confession of 1689:

God has decreed in Himself from all eternity, by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely and unchangeably, all things which shall ever come to pass. Yet in such a way that God is neither the author of sin nor does He have fellowship with any in the committing of sins, nor is violence offered to the will of the creature, nor yet is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established.

Puritan Reading Challenge Continues!

For those of you who are keeping up, it is now February. I hope that you've finished Richard Sibbes' The Bruised Reed. I confess that I am a few pages short, but I will finish it within the week. It is my second time through the book, and I confess that it has blessed me more the second time through than the first.

The next book we'll read is John Flavel's The Mystery of Providence. I am stoked about it. Hopefully, it will help answer a couple of the "noodle burner" questions about God's orchestration of all things. Hang in there! Keep reading! And if you have a favorite quote from your reading of Sibbes, why don't you share it in the comment section?

Setting it Back to 'Simmer'

I'm working through a few thoughts before I finish my "Burn Your Noodle" provocations. Specifically, I'm thinking about Supralapsarianism, Infralapsarianism, and sublapsarianism. I know that those words might put you on the edge of your seat with anticipation, but they have brought me to the edge of madness with the implications. I believe that John Calvin was right when he said, "The predestination of God is truly a labyrinth from which the mind of man is wholly incapable of extricating itself. But the curiousity of man is so insistent that the more dangerous it is to inquire into a subject, the more boldly he rushes to do so. Thus when predestiantion is being discussed, because he cannot keep himself within the proper limits, he immediately plunges into the depths of the sea by his impetuosity" (Calvin, The Epistles of Paul the Apostle to the Romans and the Thessalonians.) More on that sort of thing in "noodle burning 3".

In the meantime I have another fun problem for everyone, myself included, from the first letter of Paul to the Corinthians chapter 7 verse 14. I will quote the passage here, the context concerns Paul's teaching on marriage and why a believer should stay with an unbelieving spouse if the unbeliever is content to stay:

The unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.

Here's are some thoughts to ponder: How can an unbelieving spouse be said to be "holy"? What are the implications of how faith and grace work through a believer in the marriage union? How can it be said that children are "unclean" if they belong to an unbelieving couple, and how does having a believing parent make them holy? I'll anxiously await your thoughts in the comment section.

Burning our Noodle Part 2

It is nearly universally accepted by Christians that God knows everything. We call that God's "omniscience." We have no problem grasping the idea that God knows every person on earth, the atomic structure of an atom, how many stars there are in the galaxy, and how many licks it takes to get to the center of a tootsie roll tootsie pop. However, our meditation on God's foreknowledge rarely goes beyond such basic thoughts. The problem comes in when we realize that God's knowledge of the facts may actually create the facts themselves. Let me elaborate a bit.

We tend to make God like us, and so when we think of God knowing something, we think that He knows it like we do. That is, we tend to think of God knowing geometry like we do. He simply has a set of truths and facts memorized and He uses those facts to build things. The problems is that those geometric facts and truths cannot exist outside of God. God does not memorize a set of facts, the facts come into being by His will. Without God willing it, there is no geometry.

This trouble is part of the problem we have with God's foreknowledge of human events. We have the idea that God, somewhere back in "time", started this thing called "creation." After He created things, He sort of looked down the corridor of time into the future to see what would happen. The problem with that is that God did not simply create "Creation" and let it go. He actively ordained whatever comes to pass. Indeed, things cannot come to pass apart from His will because it is by His will that all things consist and hold together (Col. 1:17; Heb. 1:3; 2:10). God is actively sustaining the universe at this very moment, and it cannot exist independently of His will. So God's foreknowledge of something cannot simply mean that God is simply seeing how things will "play out." He has decreed everything that comes to pass.

Another thing that Christians ought to agree on is that everything comes to pass precisely the way God means for them to, and that the end result of the universe is assured. Think on the implications of the Book of Revelation. John saw, over a thousand years ago, what will certainly come to pass at some unknown time in the future. He saw all of the future redeemed, indeed, he saw the full number of them. Each individual that John saw must certainly be there, and every tongue and tribe and nation will certainly be there. The end is assured. Every redeemed soul that John saw will certainly be redeemed, and every condemned soul will certainly be condemned.

The natural question that arises is to wonder, if God has indeed scripted the history of the universe and everything turns out precisely as He means them to, then how can man be said to be free in any real way? And how does our involvement affect the outcome? And where, if God has ordained all things, does evil come from?

While confusing at first, God's sovereignty in all things will turn out to be a great source of hope if understood correctly. Today we have not answered any questions, we've just made the questions a little clearer. Soon, we'll take a look at some evil things that God predetermined to take place and how that harmonizes with human responsibility.

This Will Burn Your Noodle

I want to submit a quote from the 2nd London Baptist Confession of 1689. I happen to agree, but that does not make the concept any easier to grasp:

God has decreed in Himself from all eternity, by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely and unchangeably, all things which shall ever come to pass. Yet in such a way that God is neither the author of sin nor does He have fellowship with any in the committing of sins, nor is violence offered to the will of the creature, nor yet is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established.

Let's break this down since we don't all speak the good English of 1689. First, God decreed all things from eternity, and His decision on how things would be were of His own will and without coercion or being dependant on any creaturely input or action. That's pretty easy to grasp I think. God has decided everything that has happened and will happen and everything will happen just as He meant for it to. The next section makes this clear: Although God knows everything which may or can come to pass under all imaginable conditions, yet He has not decreed anything because He foresaw it in the gurture, or because it would come to pass under certain conditions.

Here's where it gets difficult: if God planned everything, then that include the Fall, sin, famine, hurricanes, tornados, murder, mayhem, and everything else. How can we say that God has planned for, indeed that He decreed all these things, and still come away with a good God? And if that is not enough to burn your noodle, try and imagine the alternative, which is particularly awful: God did not ordain all things that come to pass, and some certain events are random and even gratuitous! That is, some events, particularly tragic ones, serve no redemptive purpose at all.

Think on these things and we'll come back to look a little more into second causes and man's volition. Hope you've got your coffee/tea in hand for this!

Onward, Thinking Baptist

Yesterday, I paid a visit to a retired Southwestern Baptist Seminary professor. During his tenure, he saw around 25,000 students come through his classes and oversaw well over 50 Ph.D's. His name is Dr. Leon Marsh, and he is quite the character at a spry 87.

I enjoy Dr. Marsh's wit, and one then that he said made me laugh and it made me sad. He said, "Son, if you'll be a thinking Baptist you'll find that you don't have any competition." I hate it, but I am afraid he's pretty on target there, at he has been. I hope that things are changing.

Dr. Marsh and I do not agree on many things. He claims to be a 3 point Calvinist with a laugh. His idea of inerrancy and infallibility of the Scriptures are not the same. I did not argue with him but I let him have say his mind. I enjoyed his banter and candidness if not his theology. His love of Christ was evident, and his joy at our visit was apparent. I was thankful to have gone and hope to go back.

His comment on being a thinking Baptist stuck in my head. Thinking, after all, is no easy task. Even though many Baptists have grown up under "Bible teaching," I find that few have been forced to think through Scripture. Few have dealt with Romans 9 and Ephesians 1 concerning election. Few want to deal with the warnings against apostasy in Hebrews. We have no idea, in general, of what to do with the Old Testament and the law and grace relationship. I believe that the greatest struggle that many have endured revolves around church music, and that is sad. A good debate over theology and coffee is a about the best thing in the world. After all, how will we be conformed to truth if our errors are never confronted, and conversely, won't we be more grounded in the truth and confident of it after it survives a hearty challenge?

So I hope that the Church I pastor will be a thinking church. And I hope that we will trust one another enough to allow our assumptions about things to be questioned Scripturally.

Woody Allen and the Meaning of Life

I have a strange sort of appreciation for Woody Allen, though I can't say that I've ever seen a single one of his many films. My entire sympathy for Allen rests in the interviews and comments that I read about him from time to time. Some day, I may have a Woody Allen film fest to get to know him a little better.

Today I read another interview/excerpt about Woody Allen, and it did a good job of expressing his hopeless world view. Here is a quote for you to get the feel of his philosophy, "The fact that there is no god and that we're alone in the universe makes it more important than ever to act decently, but people don't, very frequently." Allen believes that there is no God at all, and yet he persistently and stubbornly insists that people ought to "act decently." The natural response to that is, "Why, Woody, should we act decently then?" It seems that it is precisely this sort of question that has driven his most recent films.

His latest film, "Cassandra's Dream," demonstrates Allen's struggle with this very question. He says, "I've always felt that the worst kind of crimes and sometimes not the worst crimes often go unpunished. Everyday, from genocide in the political spectrum to street crime, people do terrible things and get away with it." If there is no God, then Allen is precisely right, which again begs the question of why people ought to "act decently." Allen has no good answer for that.

Eventually, this sort of reasoning must lead one to ponder why to live at all, which is another thing that Allen ponders. What, exactly, is the point of life. Here's Allen again, "I feel the trick is to try and find, not meaning, because there is no meaning, but to try and find some enjoyment in that context and know that it's meaningless, short, nasty, brutal, and still, you know, find a modicum of enjoyment, get what you can get out of it, which is not a lot." Can you see the connection between believing that there is no God to the inevitable conclusion that there is no meaning to life? Once God is erased from the equation, one is left with a meaningless existence in which the best one can hope for is to scratch a "modicum of enjoyment" out of life.

This leads to the final Allen quote in the article. His philosophy of life eventually cause people to ask him the ultimate question. Here he answers in his own words, "People say, `Well, why go on at all?' Camus' question, why choose life? And the only answer I can ever give to that is we seem to be hard-wired to. The brain asks the questions, but the blood says live. So if a guy comes in here with a gun, you do everything you can to get it away from him. You do whatever you can to live. You bargain, you lie, you jump on top of him.

"You're hard-wired for self-preservation, but when you think about it cerebrally, why, to what end, what am I savoring here? And you can't really think of a good answer, so you give up and say, `I can't think of an answer, but my body fights to live, so I'm not going to resist that. I'm going to go along and trust the impulse toward life."

I find Woody Allen interesting because his reasoning is sound. He is right to say that if there is no God, then art and life and love and everything here is meaningless. I like reading about him because he is clearly uncomfortable, or so it seems, with this dismal outlook. His philosophy forces him to admit that horrible crimes will ultimately go unpunished, and that truly, there is no reason to go on living because life is both meaningless and without purpose. In his films, he struggles with this Godless reality. I grieve for him and for others like him who can have no hope for any meaning beyond fleeting, worldly pleasures.

Perhaps you wonder why I find this interesting at all and not simply morbid. I find it interesting because Woody Allen displays the inherent hopelessness of a godless universe and the bleak truth that without God, there truly is no purpose in the anything. That explanation will never satisfy one made in the image of God. Fallen as we are, we still long for something more than that. I hope that Woody Allen can find mercy in Jesus Christ, in whom we find purpose and justice and meaning for life.

Quote of the Day

I may put up a quote each day from the current Puritan Paperback I'm reading. The next several should come from Richad Sibbes' The Bruised Reed. Here is today's quote:

It would be a good contest amongst Christians, one to labour to give no offence, and the other to labour to take none.

An Exciting Project

One of the first things I desire to do here at Mt. Calvary is to take the church through the church covenant. It is my goal, and I believe my duty as a minister, to have oversight of the membership of the church. Technically, that means I am currently responsible for some 1,200 souls. Of that number, we have had in the 250's present on Sunday mornings for worship. That makes for quite a large number being unaccounted for!

I believe that these absentee members, to the best of our ability, need to be contacted. First, we need to find out why they aren't attending, as is their duty (and joy!) in the Lord. Then we may be able to seek reconciliation for them to the body, or else we may remove them from the membership role. This sounds harsh in modern ears, but it is a necessary part of serious, loving church ministry.

In order for the body of Christ here to understand this, it will be important to understand the obligation and responsibility of every member who joins this covenant fellowship. To that end, I plan on teaching through the church covenant this Sunday night, beginning with the Baptist Faith and Message.

As I am certain is fairly typical across the Baptist landscape, Mt. Calvary has never made the transition from the 1963 BFM to the 2000 BFM. I doubt this is due to any opposition, but rather it is most likely attributable to the lack of zeal in amending constitutions and by-laws. This gives me, as a pastor, a great opportunity to teach through the BFM, to highlight the revisions and the reasons behind them, and to point out those things which remain the same. The BFM is foundational for our covenant since has been adopted as our statement of faith.

It will be an ambitious project. We have suspended all other classes on Sunday nights until this is finished. It is my goal to be finished in eight weeks. From these classes, I will endeavor to create a prospective members class that will be a pre-requisite to membership. It is only fair that someone seeking to join with this fellowship knows what their obligations and responsibilities are before they actually join.

I am looking forward to this time of learning. I believe that if other churches would do something similar, we may find our associations to be strengthened and many problems addressed.

The Puritan Reading Challenge

Timmy Brister has issued a challenge this year to read one Puritan paperback per month. The books he has listed are quite excellent, and they are by no means impossible to get through. In fact, the first one is a personal favorite which I have blogged on here: Richard Sibbes' "The Bruised Reed." I encourage you to take up the challenge with me. The total reading will be about 7 pages a day. I think you can handle it! (Of course, the Puritans are sometimes a little harder to digest than modern fluff, but they are worth the effort.)

Here is the list:

January: The Bruised Reed by Richard Sibbes (128 pp)
February: The Mystery of Providence by John Flavel (221 pp)
March: The Godly Man’s Picture by Thomas Watson (252 pp)
April: Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices by Thomas Brooks (253 pp)
May: Come and Welcome to Jesus Christ by John Bunyan (225 pp)
June: The Mortification of Sin by John Owen (130 pp)
July: A Lifting Up for the Downcast by William Bridge (287 pp)
August: The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment by Jeremiah Burroughs (228 pp)
September: The True Bounds of Christian Freedom by Samuel Bolton (224 pp)
October: The Christian’s Great Interest by William Guthrie (207 pp)
November: The Reformed Pastor by Richard Baxter (256 pp)
December: A Sure Guide to Heaven by Joseph Alleine (148 pp)

Go to Timmy's website and encourage him in this if you will. Also, there are some package deals being offered through his site for the books. Here's the link: The 2008 Puritan Reading Challenge

Family and God's Glory

Last night at the student service I spoke on the 5th Commandment and highlighted its importance. It is, as Paul notes, the first commandment with a promise attached. "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you" (Exodus 20:12). My first point to show, in general, why honoring of parents is critical to society for it to function. This, I said, should be self-evident even to those who are not believer's.

The second and third points revovled around the idea that parent-child relationships mirror God's love for us and even serve as a parable for God's love relationship within Himself. That is, we are told by Jesus to call God "Father" as we pray, and Jesus is called God's beloved "Son." When God expresses His affection toward us and His Son, He most often employs the language of family.

This lesson reminded me of the horrors of divorce and the chaos we may reap as a society due to the breakdown of the family. It further drove home the challenge of communicating God's love and relationship to a generation that has never known a father or mother in a healthy relationship. Unless God does a great work, the problem will only get worse.

Francis Schaeffer was told a parable involving parking lot stripes. He said that the reason we can park without chaos is because we have a striped parking lot so we know where to put our cars. He likened a rebellious generation as a generation who removes the stripes. They, despite their rebellion, are still able to park with some semblance of order because they still have a memory of the order the stripes brought. However, the next generation will devolve into chaos piled up at the front door of the supermarket because they have never seen parking lot stripes and have no idea how to maintain order. The divorce of the last generation was terrible, but at least the parents knew how a marriage was supposed to look and how parents should relate to their children. The next generation has no such luxury.

So I am grieved this morning that words like "father", especially father, are nearly a semantic blank for many of our country's youth. Instead of instilling feelings of peace, love, protection, and safety, "father" brings up memories of abandon, anger, and neglect. How very sad for such children, and what a stumbling block to faith that is. This is yet another way in which the image of God has grown dim in us.

The only hope I have, and this is the only hope I ever have, is that in His grace, God will be a father to the fatherless. I know that He is able to rebuild that which is fallen and to repair that which is broken. That is my prayer this morning for those who have no idea the great joy that is ours when we say "Our Father."

Textual Variance at Its Aggravating Finest

For the second time in my life, I am endeavoring to preach through the book of Genesis on Sunday Morning. I believe that if God ever calls me to another work, I will do so again. I believe that Genesis, and actually the Torah in general (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy), is the foundation upon which the rest of Scripture rests. Indeed, if you read the prophets, especially John's Revelation, you will find that the prophets are speaking "Torah."

Nevertheless, I am now faced for the second time with a very difficult textual variant in Genesis. Here is how the New King James translates the text:
"The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it" (Gen. 2:15). This makes it seem as if the first duty of man in the garden is to work and cultivate the garden paradise. There's only one problem: the pronouns don't agree in the Hebrew. In the Hebrew, there are pronouns attached to the words translated "tend" and "keep". Literally, it would be to "tend it" and to "keep it." In Hebrew, these pronouns are feminine. The thing which they seem to refer to later in the verse, "garden", is actually a masculine noun. The problem is that the pronouns should agree in gender with the antecedent, or the noun they are representing, which they don't.

Now the OT Hebrew did not origninally have vowels. These vowel points were added by a group called the Masoretes who worked on the text between the 7th and 11th century A.D. If you take away the vowel points and search have a translation which would correspond with gender agreement, the text becomes, "The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to worship and obey." The only commentary that I know of that directly addresses this gender-bender problem is Dr. John Sailhamer's The Pentateuch as Narrative. Even the usually super-scholarly Keil and Delitzsch pass over it without comment. The only one who even seems to notice is Victor Hamilton in his commentary in the New International Commentary of the Old Testament series. He writes in a footnote:

The pronominal suffix "it" on "dress" and "keep" is feminine. "Garden" is masculine. Does this indicate thtat the reference is to the ground/earth (fem.) in the garden that man is to till and tend? Or is it the case that many nouns deoting places have a variable gender (GKC 1221)? I am inclined to prefer the former explanation, if only for the fact that nowhere else is gan treated as feminine.

Now, you aren't already asleep, I want to pose to you a question. If you knew about this, would you bring it up in your lesson? Does it change how you view this verse? How would you address it in a sermon? Would you? Just some food for thought. Comments appreciated.

Hiatus Over?

Wow. I haven't posted a thing since December 20th. I've been a little busy moving, getting started at a new church, and trying to get my books in some recognizable and findable order on my new book shelves. Books are like dear friends. I like to be surrounded by them at all times. My philosophy in life is to buy books, and if I have any money left, I buy food.

So I suppose this little post means that I am back in the blogworld, even if it means I have to come in a little earlier to post my thoughts. I need to write. It helps me think.