Thank You Desiring God/Lukas Naugle!
During my year and a half at Whitworth College I got to know a classmate named Lukas Naugle. Over the years Lukas and I lost touch. We reconnected at the Together for the Gospel conference in 2006 where I learned that Lukas was working as Director of Resource Strategies for Desiring God.
A few weeks ago Lukas and three friends from Desiring God/John Piper’s Bethlehem Baptist attended the 11am service at CPC where I preached a sermon about The Secret of Contentment. After the service I had a long, laughter-filled, encouragement-filled, edification-filled lunch with Lukas and his friends. Good times. I was very impressed with these four men, with the type of questions they asked and with the quality of their thinking regarding the gospel and the church.
After lunch Lukas gave me a small handful of free resources from Desiring God and asked if I might have use for a larger volume of these resources at my church. I said yes. Little did I know that I’d receive 7 boxes from Lukas, some of them 36 lbs. in weight, filled with John Piper resources!
After hauling these boxes into my office yesterday I opened them with great excitement, all the while praying and thinking about how to best use them to advance the gospel and disciple the people under my care. I’m looking forward to start emptying these boxes and getting these booklets, books, and CD’s into other people’s hands.
Thank you Desiring God! Thank you Lukas Naugle!
5.6 Earthquake Hits the Bay Area
Twenty two minutes ago a 5.6 earthquake hit the Bay Area. My family and I felt the quake. We first heard a loud thundering noise and then our condo shook mildly for about 30 seconds. We immediately grabbed our son and, along with the friends we had over for dinner, hustled outside where all of our neighbors had also retreated.
We’re all okay. This quake wasn’t too large. I’d imagine there were no serious injuries sustained from this quake. The epicenter looks to be in Alum Rock.
This wasn’t only my son’s first earthquake, it was also my first earthquake.
See, this is why we pay the expensive cost of living on the San Francisco Peninsula–life’s just so exciting out here.
Dr. Daniel Wallace at CPC, Sunday November 11
Dr. Dan Wallace will be preaching here at CPC on Sunday November 11, addressing the reliability of our OT & NT manuscripts.
Dennis Johnson, Him We Proclaim
Dennis Johnson’s excellent new book on preaching, Him We Proclaim, is based upon Colossians 1:27-28:
“To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.”
If you’re a preacher, read through Johnson’s seven-point summary/unpacking of Colossians 1:27-28. This simple summary sums up what Him We Proclaim is all about and should be enough to persuade you (preachers) to purchase this book if you haven’t done so already.
(For a full review of this book go here).
From pages 64 & 65:
1) Paul defines the purpose of his proclamation: to ‘present everyone mature in Christ.’ His aim is not merely to convey information but to be instrumental in God’s effecting transformation of the most radical and comprehensive sort in the hearts, lives, and relationships of those who hear his preaching.
2) That purpose brings into consideration the identity and need of the listeners to whom Paul refers: the ‘everyone’ includes Gentiles, once excluded from God’s presence, but now incorporated into the community in which the riches of God’s glory are unveiled in Christ. They need the word that Paul proclaims precisely because they are now far from ‘perfect in Christ,’ although that is the destiny that God has for them.
3) Paul knows that he has good news from God that is fully adequate to meet his listeners’ spiritual needs in all their depths and diversity. His message has content to be communicated authoritatively and persuasively, and Paul encapsulates the entire content of his message in a single word–or, more precisely, a single person: ‘Him we proclaim”–the Christ who now indwells even Gentiles.
4) The twofold character of his listeners’ need is implied in the participles that identify the concrete communication tasks that Paul’s preaching accomplishes: ‘teaching and admonishing…in all wisdom.’ His hearers need, and Paul delivers, not only the declaration of Jesus’ redemptive achievement but also direction regarding the response appropriate to this glad news.
5) Paul mentions the price to be paid by the preachers of his gospel–sufferings, afflictions, toil, and struggle–just as elsewhere he exposes the great cost borne by Christ to accomplish the redemption that displays his glory among the Gentiles. The bearers of Christ’s gospel–a message of life imparted through sacrificial death, of strength imparted through weakness–must themselves be illustrations of their message, sacrificing themselves, out of gratitude for mercy received and eager longing that others share that mercy.
6) Paul also refers to the divine power that operates through the frailty and travails of the gospel’s human preachers: ‘struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.’ Although preachers bear the responsibility both to interpret God’s Word accurately and to convey its message clearly, apostolic preaching cannot be reduced to exegetical techniques and communication skills. The preaching of the apostles and their successors is a ministry that imparts life and achieves its purpose only because it is ‘the ministry of the Spirit’ of the sovereign and gracious God (2 Cor. 3:7-9).
7) Finally, this text introduces the motif of the preacher’s office, entailing authority and accountability, through the imagery of stewardship. As the servant of Another, entrusted with a most precious treasure, the apostolic preacher must be prepared to answer to his Master as one found faithful in administering his stewardship, both preserving and propagating the message of life without modifying its context.
The Cross: Your Greatest Criticism & Your Greatest Affirmation
The cross of Christ is simultaneously the greatest criticism and the greatest affirmation you could ever receive.
The great criticism of the cross is that you are so sinful that God had to sacrifice his Son on the cross for your sins. The great affirmation of the cross is that you are so loved that God sacrificed his Son on the cross for your sins.
The cross criticizes you, it reveals the extent of your sin. The cross simultaneously affirms you, it reveals the extent of God’s sacrificial love for you through Jesus.
Don’t Spend More Than One-Half Hour Looking At Your Sins
I’m continuing to enjoy Jack Miller’s The Heart of a Servant Leader. The letters in this book provide a great model for how to counsel people biblically, for how to counsel with the gospel. I highly recommend this book.
Two quotes that struck me from my reading today:
“…don’t spend more than one-half hour looking at your sins.”
“…I like to think of repentance and praise as allied to each other–both forms of sanity…what a simple thing it is to humble the heart and return to sanity by repentance and praise.”
Gender Blog
The Gender Blog thoughtfully interacts with David Gushee’s gender roles piece from a few weeks ago.
As a complementarian, I appreciate the questions that Gushee (an egalitarian) raises.
A Biblical Understanding of Sleep
A few weeks back, Bo Lotinsky of Sovereign Grace Ministries sent me an email announcing that all Sovereign Grace audio messages are now available for free download via the Sovereign Grace website. I’m finally getting around to spreading the word. And I hope this word does spread because the SGM website offers a wealth of excellent material for you to put onto your ipod and into your head.
To get you started, I’d encourage you to listen to the sermon that I listened to today when I took a break from sermon writing and went for a run in the hills near my home. The sermon that I listened to is titled, A Biblical Understanding of Sleep, by C.J. Mahaney.
This message was a great word for my soul. This week, as I’m preparing to speak at our twenties group tonight on Hebrews 2:1-4, officiate a wedding on Saturday night, meet with a variety of people from the church, and preach Sunday morning on Philippians 4:14-23, I’m tempted to neglect sleep and to forget the rich connection that exists between sleep and my relationship with God. This message spoke a restful word to my restless soul. I think you’ll receive a similar benefit from listening to this message.
And, as a note to pastors, somewhat early in this message from C.J. you’ll detect a great nugget about the relationship between sleep and sermon preparation.
Technology & Bringing Your 5 Senses Back to Life
During my vacation this last summer I made one of the better decisions of my life: I didn’t bring my laptop or cell phone with me. For ten days I didn’t look at a computer screen, read an email, answer a ringing phone, or surf the internet. I loved those ten technology free days. My 5 senses came alive again as I looked at the ocean, felt cool breezes, tasted fresh food, listened to my son’s baby talk, and smelled freshly cut grass.
Ever since those ten days I’ve been trying to be much more discerning in my use of technology. I’ve been thinking a lot about the interaction between our 5 senses and our technology-driven culture, wondering if if we’re engaging our 5 senses as God would want them to be engaged.
It would seem to me that many of us spend eight or so hours of our day limiting our 5 senses to interact with a 15 inch computer screen, rather than seeing, touching, tasting, hearing, and smelling the full scope of God’s creation.
The intersection of multi-tasking, technology, and our 5 senses is also an issue. The latest Comcast Cable commercials (is Comcast only a California company?) show that we’ve become a people who often engage our 5 senses with three or more pieces of technology at the same time–watching TV, surfing the internet, and talking on the phone all at once. Is this a good idea?
Below are some of the questions I’m in the process of asking about these issues.
Sense of Sight: Are you glorifying God with your sense of sight?
How many hours a day are your eyes looking at a computer screen? God made our eyes to observe the sky above, the trees outside, the sunset from last night, the faces of the people we live and work with, etc. What’s one practical step that you could take this week to look at your computer screen less and look at everything else more?
Sense of Touch: Are you glorifying God with your sense of touch?
How many hours a day are you touching your keypad and mouse? God made our bodies to touch more than plastic–to appropriately touch other people, feel the warmth of a fire, feel the startling shock of a cold shower, etc. What’s one practical step that you could take this week to touch and feel your laptop less and touch and feel non-plastic items more?
Sense of Taste: Are you glorifying God with your sense of taste?
How often do you eat rather than dine, stuff rather than taste, multi-task rather than single-task your meals? God gave us a sense of taste so that we might savor and enjoy the process of eating. What’s one practical step that you could take this week to truly taste your food and enjoy your meal, rather than racing through your meal while you answer emails?
Sense of Hearing: Are you glorifying God with your sense of hearing?
How often do you listen to voices over a cell phone or read voices over email? God gave us ears so that we could enjoy conversations with friends, exchanges with strangers, and the sounds of breaking branches and singing birds. What’s one practical step that you could take this week to listen to people through devices less and listen to people in person more?
Sense of Smell: Are you glorifying God with your sense of smell?
How often do you smell out of a box, smelling only the scents in your office, home, and car? God gave us our sense of smell so that we might enjoy a rich variety of scents, like the smell of early morning, the smell of a garden, and the smell of a wildflower. What’s one practical step that you could take this week to smell out of a box less and smell outside more?
Living on The San Francisco Peninsula: Nudists, Clowns, & Mayors
If you don’t live here on the San Francisco Peninsula it can be difficult to understand just what a unique, beautiful, and depraved part of the country this is for doing ministry. The following video, which highlights some of the candidates running for mayor in San Francisco, including a nudist and a clown, is a helpful depiction of what the Bay Are is like.
