A Year In Hebrews
I’ve spent the last year leading the twentysomethings of our church through a study of the book of Hebrews. Last night we brought study of Hebrews to a close with an evening of extended group sharing where we shared with one another how God has affected our individual lives and our community through our 9 month soak in Hebrews.
It was an encouraging night. I was filled with joy as I listened to story after story from both new believers and veteran believers who came to better understand, apply, and glory in the supremacy and sufficiency of who Jesus is and what he has done as a result of studying Hebrews.
Never Read, Never Be Read
“The man who never reads will never be read; he who never quotes will never be quoted. He who will not use the thoughts of other men’s brains, proves that he has no brains of his own.”
-Charles Spurgeon, Sermon: Paul, His Cloak And His Books
The Three Pillars of Learning
“Seeing much, suffering much, and studying much, are the three pillars of learning.”
-Benjamin Disraeli
New Attitude Live-Blogging
This afternoon my wife and I fly to Louisville, Kentucky. My friends from New Attitude are flying us out in order for me to live-blog the conference. Beginning Saturday evening you can catch my live-blogging on the New Attitude website. I may also post a few reflections/experiences from the conference here on my blog
The 57-to-1 Ratio
As an application point in my sermon from Sunday I asked everyone in the congregation to think about one area of their walk with Christ where they’re presently experiencing failure/guilt/shame/lack of progress. I then asked the questions:
“In that area of life, are you more aware of your failure/guilt than you are of God’s love and grace for you?”
“Do you know that God wants you to be more aware of the work he’s already accomplished on your behalf than of the work you have yet to do for him?”
I then spent a few minutes explaining what I call “The 57-to-1 Ratio” in 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15 is made up of 58 verses. The final verse, verse 58, is a verse that deals with our work as Christians, a big umbrella command to “be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord…” I then highlighted how this verse about our work only comes after 57 verses about Christ’s work–57 verses that explore in rich detail the life, death, and resurrection work that Christ accomplished on our behalf.
It’s as if the message the apostle Paul is trying to get across is that for every hour of our day we ought to spend 57 minutes aware of the gospel-work Jesus has accomplished and spend only 1 minute or so thinking about our work. Unfortunately, most of us have this ratio backwards. If we were to adopt this 57-to-1 ratio in our thought life/our pursuit of sanctification, I think we’d observe and experience some wonderful changes.
Note: my friend Toby Kurth gets the credit for directing me to this structure in 1 Cor. 15
If You Can’t Communicate a Truth, You Don’t Understand It
“Regarding writing, let me simply say that there is no discipline more suited to force the mind to organize and communicate truth than that of writing. If you can’t communicate a truth, you don’t understand it. If you can’t communicate it in more than one way, you don’t understand it. If you can’t communicate it clearly you don’t understand it. Writing helps in all these areas.”
-Ligon Duncan, Dear Timothy, p. 207
Buzzard Boys
It’s a boy! Today’s ultrasound revealed a studly looking boy in my wife’s womb. I’m looking forward to meeting him in October. Cru and I are excited about adding another member to the Buzzard Boys Club. I just need two more sons and then I’ve got a basketball team.
The Gospel In All Its Forms
If you subscribe to Leadership magazine (I don’t, but my co-worker does and I can just read his copy) you’ll want to read, in the latest issue, Tim Keller’s article, The Gospel In All Its Forms.
After making the case that the one gospel message is expressed in a variety of forms throughout Scripture and stating the difficulty involved with expressing the gospel message in a single statement, Keller proposes and unpacks the following gospel definition:
Through the person and work of Jesus Christ, God fully accomplishes salvation for us, rescuing us from judgment for sin into fellowship with him, and then restores the creation in which we can enjoy our new life together with him forever.
A Pastor’s 3 Books
“As an old divine used to say, …a preacher has three books to study–the Bible, himself, and his people.”
-Charles Bridges
My Church
For those of you who read this blog from afar: ever wonder what things look like here during our Sunday morning services? Here’s a picture of me preaching from this last Sunday. The only way I could get this wide angle shot to show up properly was to turn the photo sideways, as I did above.
