Making Sure We See Christ at Christmas

If you are a Christian, it's likely that in recent weeks you've heard someone say (or said yourself) that we need to make sure we keep "Christ" in Christmas. I guess it's only natural; in our ever-increasingly secular society, the reality is that Christmas too has become increasingly secular. Materialism, Santa Claus and any number of other competitors vie to steal our attention from the Savior.
 
I saw a good post this morning though from Jared Wilson that took a slightly different tack. It was entitled, Don’t Let Christmas Distract You From Jesus, and I found that it really struck a chord with me. In it he states,

There is a great danger this Christmas season of missing the point. And I’m not referring simply to idolatrous consumption and materialism. I’m talking about Christmas religiosity. It is very easy around this time to set up our Nativity scenes, host our Christmas pageants and cantatas, read the Christmas story with our families, attend church every time the door is open, and insist to ourselves and others that Jesus is the reason for the season, and yet not see Jesus...(T)here is something about indulging in the religious Christmas routine that lulls us into thinking we are dwelling in Christ when we are really just set to seasonal autopilot, going through the festive and sentimental motions...Don’t get distracted from Jesus by “Jesus.” This year, plead with the Spirit to interrupt your nice Christmas with the power of Jesus’ gospel.

Click here to read the entire post.

Wednesday's Words of Wisdom...Jared Wilson on a Resurrection Gospel

“A resurrection gospel is a full gospel. What we are accustomed to is a simplistic, stripped down gospel, a gospel that suggests, ‘You have issues, but Jesus died for you; now be a good person.’ The full gospel says, ‘The problem is a radical one no less serious than death and it requires a radical intervention no less powerful than resurrection’ The full gospel says that the level and quality of your messed-up-ness is complete, exhaustive, and irreconcilable by you, but the gift of God's grace extends infinitely, eternally, covering it all. It reconciles us fully to God in a way that can only be described as bringing a dead person back to life.”

Jared Wilson
Your Jesus Is Too Safe

The Explicit Gospel

Not sure if you've heard about it yet, but I wanted to alert you to a new book by Matt Chandler with Jared Wilson entitled The Explicit Gospel. I've not read it yet, but Matt and Jared are two guys who love the gospel and love to proclaim it, and I can't wait to get my hands on a copy of this book as soon as it becomes available this month! Check out the short video below to get a feel for the book.

Wednesday's Words of Wisdom...Douglas Wilson on Christian Liberty

The way others are to view your liberty is not the same way that you should view your liberty. Other Christians should let you do what you want unless the Bible forbids it. That’s how we guard against legalism. But you should use your liberty differently—you should be asking what the reasons are for doing it, and not what the reasons are for prohibiting it. Liberty is intended by God for you to use as an instrument for loving others (Gal. 5:13), and not as an instrument for suiting yourself.

Douglas Wilson

Best Books of 2011

I enjoy books. And I enjoy "best of the year" lists. So you can imagine how I feel about lists of the year's best books!

Last year I decided to take it a step further and I compiled a list of such lists.  Perhaps some day I will have done this enough times that I could compile a book of lists of lists of books.  One can only dream.

For now though, we'll have to settle for this year's installment of the lists from various sources, each with their own slightly different qualifications for what gets a book on the list.  Here they are:

Tim Challies
Kevin DeYoung
David Murray
Jared Wilson
Sam Storms
Tony Reinke
TGC Staff: Collin Hansen, Kathleen Nielson, John Starke & Andy Naselli
Matthew Robbins
Trevin Wax
Aaron Armstrong
J.J. Sherwood
Zac Hicks

Jared Wilson on Taking Notes During Sermons

Jared Wilson offers some helpful thoughts today at The Gospel Driven Church on the value of note-taking during sermons. Though generally against note-taking, Wilson is far from dogmatic and his reasons are well-considered and developed.

For a long time I have been a note-taker.  I tend to get distracted easily and it helps me to focus my attention to take notes. Along with Wilson though, I was prompted to think about this issue a couple years ago when I heard Tim Keller say, "I don't mind if you take notes at the beginning of a message, but if you're still taking notes at the end, I feel like I haven't brought it home."

So should I ditch my note-taking?  I don't know.  In the end, this much is certainly true: How we receive a sermon says a lot about what we understand preaching to be.  Though I will most likely (at least for the meantime) continue to take notes during sermons, there is real value in what Wilson has to say:

Ditching the note-taking preaching ethos both elevates sermons and properly diminishes them. It treats a sermon as proclamation aided by the Spirit, which gives the sermon a supernatural weight. On the other hand, by treating all words in a sermon as expendable to memory, it puts the preacher's words in the right place compared to the Scripture's words. It diminishes the impact of a well-turned phrase and magnifies real revelation.

Click here to read his entire post.

Reducing the Bible to One Sentence

Dane Ortlund had a really neat post over at his blog today.  He asked a number of prominent pastors and theologians an interesting question and compiled their answers for our perusal.  The question: "What's the message of the Bible in one sentence?"

Among the answers I really enjoyed were the following:

Kevin DeYoung: A holy God sends his righteous Son to die for unrighteous sinners so we can be holy and live happily with God forever.

George Robertson: The Bible is the record of God's promise of and deliverance through Jesus Christ.

Jay Sklar: The first sentence that comes to mind is that of my colleague Michael D. Williams, who describes the Bible's story about the world as follows: God made it, we broke it, Jesus fixes it!

Erik Thoennes: The main message of the Bible is that the one true God is displaying his glory primarily in redeeming and restoring his fallen creation by fulfilling his covenant promises and commands through the glorious person and atoning work of Christ.

Doug Wilson: Scripture tells us the story of how a Garden is transformed into a Garden City, but only after a dragon had turned that Garden into a howling wilderness, a haunt of owls and jackals, which lasted until an appointed warrior came to slay the dragon, giving up his life in the process, but with his blood effecting the transformation of the wilderness into the Garden City.

You can read the whole post here.

Is Technology Evil?

Much has been made of the perils of technology in our age.  Douglas Wilson wisely points out though, that the problem is not the technology, but the way we use it.  Twitter, facebook, and the internet in general certainly can encourage narcissism, laziness and superficiality.  Ultimately, though, they are not the problem and need not be cast as such.  As Wilson puts it, we needn't fear Google making us stupid:

Don't mistake me. Google does make many of us stupid, but only in the same way that libraries have made us stupid for many centuries. Libraries make a handful of people really wise, and provide many others with artificial props for their footnotes.

By virtue of the fact that I have a blog and can be found on facebook, you've probably figured out that I agree  that we ought not fear "technology" as an evil.  We need to be aware that technology can be used for evil purposes and guard against that (David Murray has some great thoughts on this), but we need to realize that the problem ultimately isn't the technology.  Wilson puts it this way:

The constant and ever present temptation in the Church is the gnostic temptation of locating sin in the stuff, sin in the matter, sin in the wealth, sin in the technology . . . instead of locating it where it belongs, in the heart of man.

A truly "Christian" response to technology is to use that technology (over which Christ is sovereign) to the glory of God...which is exactly the idea behind this blog.  You can read Wilson's whole post here.

What Gets You Excited?

Far too often, we get excited about the wrong things.  As a big sports fan, I know I can certainly be guilty of this.  Jared Wilson offered a helpful corrective over at his blog the other day:

What is the message of the gospel?

That the greatest good (God) offers the greatest action (love) to the greatest need (wrath-owed sinners) by sending the greatest treasure (Jesus) in the greatest invitation (to everyone) into the greatest life (everlasting).

How is this not exciting?

We Praise What We Enjoy

Today I read another great post from Jared Wilson. In it he insightfully states that we offer praise to those things which we truly enjoy.

Worship of God is enjoyment of God. We have no problem laughing at something funny, smiling at something pretty, "mmmm"-ing something delicious, humming something catchy, or cheering something exciting in the stadium, but when we get into church on Sunday mornings, we have trouble worshiping because we don't know and enjoy God the same way we know and enjoy jokes, pictures, food, songs, or sports.

Click here to read the whole post.

Can a Message of Social Justice Be "The Gospel?"

Today over at his blog, The Gospel-Driven Church, Jared Wilson analyzes the confusion that many have as to what exactly "the gospel" is.  With his usual insightfulness, he specifically counters the notion that "the gospel" is a set of things we are to do and not to do.  Good deeds are indeed good, he points out, but they are not the good news.

Heck, Angelina Jolie has adopted, what?, 300 orphans? Isn't George Clooney saving the world? Matt Damon fights for social justice, and he does it without a splinter's notion of the gospel.

Are we supposed to be doing these things too? Yes. It is the command of God to love our neighbor. But social justice is not unique to Christianity, and in fact if social justice is the good news, we bear the same message as lots of people who are going to hell. Social justice, then, is salvifically neutral. And therefore, while it accompanies and may testify to the good news, it cannot be the good news itself.

Wilson goes on to point out that instead of being something we do, "the good news" is the message of what Christ has already done (living, dying and rising again to reconcile sinners to God) and what he is currently doing (empowering our conversion and obedience).  Read the whole post here.

In Support of the Institutional Church

These days it is increasingly fashionable to bash "the church."  In Why We Love the Church by Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck, the lament is voiced, "Community is hip, but the church is lame.  Both inside the church and out, organized religion is seen as oppressive, irrelevant, and a waste of time.  Outsiders like Jesus but not the church.  Insiders have been told they can do just fine with God apart from the church."

Today though, Jared Wilson offers up a helpful piece reminding us of the biblical support for the institutional church:

1. The New Testament presumes church governance

2. The New Testament commands church discipline

3. The New Testament designates insiders and outsiders in relation to the church

4. The image of "the body" presumes unified order

5. The New Testament churches had recognizable structures. The apostles sent their letters to somebody

6. "Spirit-filled community or institutional organization" is a false dichotomy that presumes the Spirit is powerless against institution

7. Logically speaking, there is no such thing as "no institution" except chaos or anarchy. Every community made up of people is institutional to some degree

8. That institution is not eternal is not grounds for jettisoning it. Marriage isn't eternal either.

9. The subjection of kings and nations presumes institutional subjection to Christ and therefore that God works in, with, and through institutions

10. No one in 2,000 years has successfully cultivated an enduring institution-less expression of the local church

Read the whole post here.

Book Review: Your Jesus Is Too Safe

Perhaps the most important question we will ever be asked is the one which Jesus posed to his disciples in Luke 9:20: “Who do you say that I am?”

Against the backdrop of all sorts of inadequate responses, Jared C. Wilson offers twelve appropriate answers to Christ’s question in Your Jesus Is Too Safe: Outgrowing a Drive-Thru, Feel-Good Savior.

Early on, Wilson makes the point that, “No message has been more used and exploited and appropriated than Jesus Christ’s.” In this book he speaks out against these perversions of the gospel in an effort to present a truly biblical Christ.

It is definitely written for a popular audience and he regularly injects humor into his writing. Some may find this style to be irreverent; I just found it to be fun. For instance, I don’t know which I liked more: the fact that he referred to Mark’s account as “the Die Hard of the Gospels,” or the fact that he followed it with a footnote asking the reader if they were angry yet.

That being said, it is not just a fluffy, feel-good book. That is precisely the kind of message that Wilson is trying to counteract. As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, Wilson makes sure we do not lose sight of the Cross, nor of the blood that washes us clean of our sin. And while light-hearted at times, the book is heavily grounded in Scripture. I didn’t count, but Wilson included what must have been hundreds of footnotes referring the reader to the various biblical passages to which he was alluding.

I have long enjoyed Wilson’s blog at www.gospeldrivenchurch.com. I can truly say I enjoyed this book as well.

Don't Forget the Blood

I suppose it has always been the case, but it seems especially prevalent in our day. Many people love the message of Jesus (or at least what they think this message might be), they just don’t love the message of the cross. To put it another way, they simply can’t abide by the idea that a holy God requires payment for my sins and yours, and that Jesus provided this payment when he shed his blood as an atoning sacrifice. We long to love Jesus for who we want him to be, as opposed to loving him for who he was and is.

I’ve been reading through Your Jesus is Too Safe by Jared Wilson, and I came across a passage yesterday that does a great job of capturing this idea:

The cross of Christ is foolishness to those who are perishing, which is a stinging indictment of so many self-appointed “Christian” spokespeople who have conveniently forgotten all about the cross. The cross is a foreign concept to the religious hucksters on television, and those in the pulpits and in publishing, who would ask you to take Jesus without taking his cross.

My friends, Jesus is not a pop song, snuggly sweater, affectionate boyfriend, a poster on your wall, self-help book, motivational speech, warm cup of coffee, ultimate fighting champion, knight in shining armor, or Robin to your Batman. He is blood.

And without blood, you die.

Are You a Good Person?

Are you a good person? I suppose that most of us would instinctively answer, "Yes." After all, we try to be nice to people, help out when we can, and avoid anything we would perceive as a grievous misdeed.

But if we are to even begin to judge our "goodness," the question that is begged is, "Against what standard will we measure it?" Our tendency is to grade on a curve, comparing ourselves to others in the world (and usually to the worst of others at that). But God does not grade on a curve. When it comes to goodness, his standard is perfection. It's pass/fail and we all fail.

I saw this great thought today from Jared Wilson:

"Measure up to us" was the expectation of the Pharisee.

"Measure up to me" is the expectation of God.

Which is harder?

Thank God that in Christ Jesus the harder is done and the easier is worthless.

Indeed, Christ Jesus not only died the death that we should have died, but before that he lived the life we should have lived. That is why God can look upon us and account us as "good." If we are united with Christ through faith, then his righteousness becomes ours. By receiving this goodness that Christ offers, true goodness can truly be ours. But if instead we say, "I'll pass," then we are only destined to fail.

Not Just a Cute Church

I really enjoyed the post I saw today by Jared Wilson. He is the pastor of Middletown Springs Community Church in Middletown Spings, VT and the author of the blog, The Gospel-Driven Church. I enjoy his blog for a couple reasons:

1) His postings are almost always insightful, motivated by grace and filled with gospel wisdom.

2) One of my interests is family history, and his church is only about 10 miles from the family farm in Wallingford, VT where my father spent many of his boyhood summers. I have never been there (or to Vermont at all, for that matter), but I have always wanted to visit, and hope to do so some day. Perhaps I will have the opportunity to worship with Jared at Middletown Springs.

In today's post he cites how people often refer to the building where his church meets (pictured above) as "cute" because it is small, old and traditional. He cautions against such short-sightedness in his post, recounting some of the church's history. You should really read the whole thing here (it's not very long), but he concludes with the following:

Our building is just a building, but it's not just a building. It's a symbol of the enduring evangelical presence, small but hearty, in this least-churched state in the nation, and of the endurance of the great salt-of-the-earth people who are the church that gathers in the building for which they're called.

The gates of hell will prevail against espresso bars and KidzTowns. But not our church.

Our church is not cute. It is epic.

Can God Make a Rock So Big That He Can't Move It?

It's a terribly flawed question, but Jared Wilson gives the best answer I've heard right here.