Consider the following conversation from the mockumentary movie “Spinal Tap”. Guitarist Nigel Tufnel is giving documentary director Marty DiBergi a tour of Spinal Tap’s equipment when they stop at an amplifier:

Nigel Tufnel: The numbers all go to eleven. Look, right across the board, eleven, eleven, eleven and…
Marty DiBergi: Oh, I see. And most amps go up to ten?
Nigel Tufnel: Exactly.
Marty DiBergi: Does that mean it’s louder? Is it any louder?
Nigel Tufnel: Well, it’s one louder, isn’t it? It’s not ten. You see, most blokes, you know, will be playing at ten. You’re on ten here, all the way up, all the way up, all the way up, you’re on ten on your guitar. Where can you go from there? Where?
Marty DiBergi: I don’t know.
Nigel Tufnel: Nowhere. Exactly. What we do is, if we need that extra push over the cliff, you know what we do?
Marty DiBergi: Put it up to eleven.
Nigel Tufnel: Eleven. Exactly. One louder.
Marty DiBergi: Why don’t you just make ten louder and make ten be the top number and make that a little louder?
Nigel Tufnel: [pause] These go to eleven.

This morning our pastor was in revelation 5, a scene of raucous worship, and it gave me great pause to think of the intensity of our corporate worship. The scene in heaven pictures uncountable numbers of angels and saints praising the Lamb for what He has accomplished and what He is about to do: unleash the full cup of God’s judgment on a rebellious earth.

“Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.” And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, “To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.” And the four living creatures kept saying, “Amen.” And the elders fell down and worshiped. (Revelation 5:11-14)

It makes me think of me going to Nebraska football games when everyone is shouting together “Go Big Red” or echoing “Husker…Power” back and forth in anticipation of the Tunnel Walk in which the team takes the fields after being show on camera leaving the locker room. This heavenly scene outstrips the earthly comparison in every way. Christ is the only object worthy of our praise, and He is worthy of our greatest focus and affections when we meet together in church.

Nevertheless, the comparison of a the sound of a large crowd chanting in unison to the sound of rushing waters is a beautiful one. Anyone who has ever attended a major sporting event can attest to this. Imagine the uncountable numbers in heaven shouting with perfected praise forever.

Heaven lives with the volume set at eleven! The praise there is loud and will get louder as the numbers of saints entering grows to its climax. What a scene it will be.

You can take your sissy harps, clouds, and androgynous angels. THAT vision of Heaven bores me to tears. I’ll take THIS kind of worship forever. The thought of it gives me goosebumps. Let’s remember this not only as we sing and pray together on Sundays, but as we love sacrificially throughout the week.

See you at Revelation 5. Save me a spot!

I’d like to take a moment in reflection of today’s events in my family. I have a 2 1/2 year-old son, Caleb, who took a trip to the emergency room today. He took an unseen fall in his bedroom and bloodied himself a bit. Four stitches and and some serious parental sweat later, you’d barely be able to tell that he was hurt if you watched him play. The emergency room was pretty traumatic for him, and it was for me too as the designated comforter during the suturing. Before and after he was his normal sefl, though.

That said, I’m pretty impressed with the skill of the medical staff that helped him. The the things medical science can do routinely amaze me. It makes me think of what God said as He watched we humans work away at the tower of Babel.

“The LORD said, “Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them.” (Genesis 11:6)

The capacity of the human mind is astounding, even as a pitiful reflection of God’s unsearchable knowledge. That the power of the human mind is so aptly seen in medical science bears reflection on the role of Jesus Christ as our Great Physician. Doctors can do so much to heal the body, but they cannot heal the soul. Only God can forgive sin, and He has done so in the person of His beloved Son, Jesus Christ:

When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that He was eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they said to His disciples, “Why is He eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners?” And hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Mark 2:16-17)

In a month or so i will get a hefty bill for our little visit. No matter: it’s a small price to pay for the well-being of my son. The Great Physician charges nothing (Eph 2:8-9), though, save for the acknowledgment of those who are sick that ther are indeed sick. Jesus puts it another way here:

And Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind.” Those of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these things and said to Him, “We are not blind too, are we?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but since you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains. (John 9:39-41)

Today I praised God in prayer with my wife and children that God heals the soul, and that we need only come to him in our need. I praise God that today’s drama was more stress than danger. More than that I praise God that the real danger of sin (Rom 6:23) has been dealt with at the cross through the finished work of His Son.

Way to go, mainline evangelicalism!

Seems that the Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormon’s are among the few religious groups left who believe their message is exclusively true. In this major study just released by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life, most major “Christian” groups (in name, anyway)  believe there is more than one way to heaven. Their findings are disturbing but not surprising.

To remedy this alarming finding, I’d like to suggest everyone actually start reading their Bibles. Try starting at Acts 4:12, speaking of Jesus:

“And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”

The exclusivity of the gospel is a bedrock doctrine whose abandonment betrays the dead, rotting corpse that is the visible church here in the US. I could wish that people would think through the implications of ecumenicalism. Ecumenicalism ultimately destroys truth and we depend on truth for even the universe itself to hold together. We don’t want to live in a world where truth is relative. That’s why we have prisons. We are sinners and have to be protected from others who would violate our pursuit of life in the name of their own preferences.

That’s a discussion for another day. Then again, I’ve had it with myself already. Read about it here.

As a side note, while many who have reviewed this poll find it fascinating that many atheists leave room for some kind of universal spirit, I think the issue is simply that many who call themselves atheists don’t know the difference between atheism and agnosticism. Calm down, everyone.

Please pardon the following unconscionable play on words:

Are you ready for another post about fasting?

Man, have I been away from this topic for a while.  I had a stack of commentaries sitting on my desk for more than two months, borrowed from my pastor who for a while was taking in the sights in Israel. I knew he was getting back soon and had asked about them before he left, so I figured my time was limited. The commentaries I had borrowed were on the Gospel of Mark. Specifically I’ve been wanting to study Mark 2:18-22. Here is the passage in question:

“Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. Some people came and asked Jesus, “How is it that John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees are fasting, but yours are not?” Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? They cannot, so long as they have him with them. 20But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day they will fast. “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse. And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, he pours new wine into new wineskins.”

Significant to this passage is the fact that it is the only New Testament passage that deals with fasting with more than a passing reference. In trying to understand the practice of fasting, I’m looking to this passage for help.

In case you’re new to my discussion of fasting, I have been perplexed by the question of whether fasting is useful for the pursuit of holiness. Fasting is never prescribed in the New Testament, and only in reference to the Day of Atonement in the Old Testament. It is understood to be a common practice in New Testament times, and is never prohibited, and yet precious little is said about the proper way to do it. I’ve already concluded that fasting does not make one holy, but that it may be useful for subduing the appetites of the flesh.

A remaining area of interest is the relationship of fasting to the ministry of Christ. As we see in the passage quoted above, the practice of fasting was impacted by the presence of Christ. I wanted to see how and why this was the case. I’d like to share some important observations I gleaned from my use of commentaries:

1. The Pharisees were concerned chiefly with asserting their own righteousness, not in the practice of fasting itself. They fasted twice a week and made quite the public show of it. Their question was a veiled was of noting their own piety. (WE fast…why don’t YOU?)
2. Jesus response is not meant, again, to teach on the subject of fasting but to condemn the Pharisees’ hypocrisy. Jesus seems to imply that fasting is a somber practice, and His presence with His people was a cause for joy. For His followers to fast would have been contradictory to their mood.  In saying this Jesus implied that the Pharisees’ show of somber fasting was hypocrisy because they were inwardly prideful.
3. The parables used by Jesus underline the fact that the Pharisees and Jesus were completely at odds and that no compromise could be forged. The Pharisees employed fasting to establish a righteousness of their own. This is not how true holiness is obtained. Christ came to provide an alien righteousness which the Pharisees would reject. Any practice which seeks to please God must refer to our need for a righteousness outside of ourselves. This is not the point of the passage, but I believe it is rightly inferred.
4. This time of abstention from fasting on account of Jesus’ presence was not permanent. In other words, it was not His coming per se, but His actual presence.  Christians need not view fasting as having been rendered permanently suspended  because Christ has come once.

Top to bottom, I am seeing that I was dangerously viewing this passage though isogetical eyes. I wanted to learn about fasting, but this passage teaches only by inference about the practice. This is always an obstacle when studying topically.

I do think it is fair so say that this passage implies that fasting is something to be done in somber humility. While fasting is not explicitly prescribe I am seeing, more and more, that there is a proper way to fast. It is not what I thought it might be. There are still many pieces I need to fit together, and already the picture is turning out much differently than I expected. Glory be to God for His goodness and wisdom!

Just a gram of humor from the mouth of my children, tonight.

My kids have a fairly elaborate bedtime ritual. It involves reading stories, particularly Bible stories, prayer, rocking together in a rocking chair (also called “snuggling” in some circles) and bedtime songs. Bedtime songs are always about Jesus. We go with the standard issue numbers from Awana, Christian children’s classics like “Jesus Loves Me”, and some that I just make up. The original creations are usually favorites. They give me the chance to teach specific theologies in song and the kids really seem to pick up on them. Many of the melodies are probably lifted, pirated, or otherwise inspired, but the words are my own. here’s an example of a popular song, lately:

Grace is a gift you can not earn, grace is a gift for free

Jesus obeyed all God’s laws and died on Calvary

Jesus came from Heaven, He died for all our sins

Grace is a gift you can not earn, grace is a gift for free

Grace is a gift you can not earn, grace is a gift for free

Grace is a gift you can not earn, grace is a gift for free

Jesus obeyed all God’s laws, He did it for you and me

Jesus came from Heaven, He died for all our sins

The subject of “grace” has been a major topic in terms of trying to help them understand the definition of the word. Tonight’s Bible story was about the conversion of Saul. Before beginning I reminded them that in the previous story, Saul watched the Christians and hated them. “What happened to Saul?” I asked. “God gave him grace!” On cue the children’s Bible ascribed the grace of God to Paul’s conversion.

So later in bed we sang the “Grace” song again and in the middle of it my four-year-old daughter, Madison, starts interrupting me to say that she was supposed to have gone to bed without songs this night because of poor behavior the previous night. It’s a consequence that has had weight with her and given her leave to consider her bedtime behavior.

When I finished the song I realized that he interruption was relation to our lesson. I said, “Madison, grace is a gift you do not deserve. You told me you did not deserve songs, but you got them anyway, didn’t you? That is GRACE!”

Feeling somewhat self-satisfied at this point, I asked her, “Madison, what do you think about that?” She looked me dead in the eye and said:

“Daddy, you were WRONG!”

What a keen sense of justice, eh? Short of finding a perfect substitute to go to bed without songs, she’ll have to live with this gross injustice on my part!

I suspect that the topic of discernment is one that, while important, is not often examined by Christians. That this is the case is evident when looking at life in our mainline evangelical churches. Anymore, anyone that mentions that name of God or Jesus is considered part of the crowd. Too often, barely any thought goes into which shepherds the flock is following or which wave the church is riding.

It’s a bit scary that I remember the last time I heard about a book on the actual topic of discernment. True there are many books critical of unbiblical theology, and for good reason. What we don’t see are book written on how to think about these matters Biblically. In this respect, “The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment” by widely-read blogger, Tim Challies, provides a good entry into a seldom examined and yet critical aspect of Christian life.

For the most part Challies is clear and gets quickly to the point. Sometimes authors can make the subject accessible enough that the reader doesn’t feel challenged. It’s a strength for an author that can make a useful book seem shallow. This is nearly the case here, though it is offset by it’s isolation in the landscape in Christian publishing.

My favorite chapter, Chapter 8’s “The Dangers of Discernment”, is a wise anticipation of the abuses of testing all things. Every discipline suffers from under use. In American culture, under use of discernment is the spirit of the times. However, those pockets of hyper-vigilance have historically bred the disdain for doctrine that is so popular today. Challies lists several kinds of abuses in discernment that pain me to agree. For my money, I’d like to see future printings use a larger font for this entry.

This book, short as it was, probably could have been a bit shorter. At several points throughout the book I wasn’t convinced that subsequent points were distinct enough to warrant elaboration. The final chapter, an exercise in practicing discernment, went counter to the simplicity of the book by rolling through seventeen steps.

Challies’ book makes a good tool for ministering to fellow believers who need to be introduced to discernment. Where I see this book being most useful is for a particular Christian demographic: mainline evangelicals who have not learned to be critical thinkers. Many of these Christians do not read outside of popular Christian literature if they read at all, they consider theology proper inaccessible and even divisive, and they tend to value the unity of the visible church above truth or being “correct”. Challies can be helpful in these cases because it is not heavy handed and yet it makes a convincing case.

A: They are both known for surrendering.

I’ve been stewing for the past few days about comments from Rick Warren, recorded recently (I’m not sure where it happened), and posted in audio format by The Way of the Master Radio at Youtube. Literally Warren says that preaching and prayer will not grow a church, a fact “proven” by studies that state that people forget 95% of what they hear. Warren had several other ridiculous things to say, but this point is the one I can’t get past.

That Warren believes this has been fairly implied by his methods, but now he’s just come out and said it. When I ponder these remarks from ‘America’s pastor’ it just makes me so sick. It literally makes me feel physically ill.

I am a teacher in my church I have trained teachers in the past and am planning to continue training teachers as a part of my church’s new campus. One of the axioms I have camped on is that as a teacher people are only going to remember 5% of what you say, and you job is to choose the 5% that they will remember. I’ll concede to Rick Warren that what people remember is minimal, but this is a cause for determination, not surrender.

Why has Rick Warren surrendered? You guessed it, I have a few ideas. Here they go:

1. Rick Warren despises the power of the Scriptures. By “despise” I mean that he reckons their value to be nil. Maybe hoe should re-read Hebrews 4:12-13: “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.”
2. Rick Warren despises his audience. You read that right. He thinks so little of them that he resorts to what he has now openly referred to as “bait” (see above link) to draw people in. Apparently his congregation has no capacity to learn the Scriptures, so Warren has turned to methodology. Let’s look at what 2 Tim 4:2-4 says about this: “Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.”
3. Rick Warren is concerned more with the visible church than the true church. By the visible church I mean simply the sum of professing Christianity. Matt 7:21 reminds us that not everyone who professes faith is actually saved. Warren clearly measures his church more by size than by the spiritual health. of its members. If i believed that preaching and prayer were not changing the people in my church, I would conclude that my church was DEAD! That’s not that crazy is it? Trading quantity for quality has been a defining mark of the church’s descent into liberalism, or the loss of doctrine from the church. It’s sad to see Warren jumping into the new liberalism with both feet.
4. Rick Warren has put the cart before the horse. His measure of what it good is what works, NOT what is Scriptural. This is also called pragmatism. Pragmatism sees the church in terms of a business model, with the pastor as the CEO. Comments like those Warren recently made highlight this. If the church grows, he says, it must be good. Never mind the fact that Bibles are harder to find at Saddleback than MP3 players.

In a way I’m relieved. Now we can plainly see that as a pastor of a church, Rick Warren lacks faith in the Bible. My question to all of you out there is: what do your pastors think of the Bible? Look hard. Is the Bible the catalyst for change, or is it the man in front of it? Is the Bible the foundation of church life, or is it research results? Is the Bible, and the gospel, the power of God for salvation, or is it manipulation? Rick Warren has answered. What’s yours?

Preach the Word.

I had the chance to hear a friend of mine preach for the first time last night at my church. He has served as a pastor for many years in other churches, tough I have only known him for the last two years or so. He preached in John 15 and I have to say it was a real teat. Our care groups recently finished going through the “I Am” statements in John, and for me the exercise was a baptism in John’s writing. In the way that Paul is legal and linear in his writing, John is intimate and vertical, so to speak. The following verse is what my friend spent the most time on and certainly what impacted me the most:

“No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. (John 15:15)

What a mind blowing statement this is. The God preached by the Pharisees was harsh and fear-inspiring. The god worshiped by the pagans were fickle and untrustworthy. But the Father, as “explained” (John 1:18 ) by Jesus Christ was personable, knowable, and approachable. More than this, in Christ the Son, God was your friend.

Now i mean to say that this is more than could be expected or asked. Certainly God, as Christ explains Him, is good, loving, kind, generous, just and everything you could hope for in a King. It would be more than adequate to be allowed to be a servant. This is the feeling that Peter put across to Christ earlier in John 13 when he objected to Christ washing his feet, insisting that he himself wash Christ’s feet. Peter was obviously missing the point here, but it was not such a bad thing to want to serve Christ. After all, Martha washed Jesus’ feet with expensive oil and her hair (John 12:2-4).

Certainly service is part of the picture. Christ pointed to His sacrificial death on the cross just two verses prior (15:13). But because of His death we are brought nearer than simply servants, we are called “friends”. To illustrate this Christ points to His disclosure of His most personal plans. How incredible is this?

Ever see someone famous and balk at asking for an autograph? Imagine that celebrity came to you (John 15:16) and didn’t give you an autograph at all, but rather invited you to his home for dinner. Or, as my preaching friend illustrated, does a five-star general ever show up at the door of a private’s home and invite him to view his war room? Does the president of the company you work for have you named in his will?

Being called “friend” by the God revealed to us in Scripture is absolutely wild. Don’t pass over how radical an idea that is. And don’t forget to revel in it, too…friends!

Tonight I am teaching my care group about Jesus’ statement in John 14, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through me.”

You could come and hear me speak, or you could just read this:

“Follow thou me. I am the way the truth and the life. Without the way there is no going, without the truth there is no going, without the life there is no living. I am the way which thou must follow, the truth which thou must believe, the life for which thou must hope. I am the inviolable way, the infallible truth, the never-ending life. I am the straightest way, the sovereign truth, true life, life blessed, life uncreated. If thou remain in my way thou shalt know the truth, and the truth shall make thee free, and thou shalt lay hold of eternal life.” (Thomas a Kempis in “The Imitation of Christ” as quoted by F.F. Bruce’s commentary “The Gospel & Epistles of John”)

I’ll never forget meeting a young man in a bookstore coffee shop in Kansas City. My wife and I were on a weekend trip with some friends in a popular shopping plaza, taking a break from all of the walking around. We see this guy reading his Bible, Greek helps out on the table. My wife, being the well-assuming kind of person she is, figures that if he has his Greek helps out, he must be our kind of guy.

As it turns out he was a charismatic who believed that baptism is necessary for salvation. “Believe and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins (acts 2:38…uh…sort of).” was all he kept saying. According to this guy, Acts was the ONLY book of the Bible that contained the gospel.

So I asked him, “What about Romans?”

He actually said, “The gospel isn’t in the book of Romans.” That was it for me. At that point I was no longer interested in discussing the nature of the gospel with him. His gospel was a perverted, works-based gospel, and he clearly approached Scripture with heretical baggage. If he didn’t find his twisted message, there was no message at all.

That encounter, among other things, left me with the impression that what you believe about the book of Romans says a lot about you. Time has done nothing to change that.

As my pastor is warming us up to go through Romans, he has been showing us many facets of the book. One things that stands out to me is that Romans makes clear, expansive statements about controversial documents. I can only think that these doctrines are controversial because people don’t take Romans seriously, or the Bible itself for that matter.

Romans teaches at length about such difficult subjects as the total depravity of man, the necessity of faith alone in Christ alone for salvation, the Lordship of Christ, and the perseverance of the saints. Romans is steeped in the doctrines of sovereign grace, teaching that because of the depravity of man, we depend on God to initiate our salvation and carry it out to its end. Romans teaches that the nature of salvation is to glorify God, reflecting His nature in His subjects, meaning that God’s salvation produces holiness and endurance.

Why do people resist the doctrine of Romans? The doctrine of Romans is consistent with the rest of Scripture, and yet Romans is explicit about the gospel of God’s sovereign grace in a way that pushes people’s buttons. What button is that? I’d say the main button pushed is the “pride” button.

The gospel destroys boasting (Rom 3:27). It strips a man of his ability to congratulate himself on his salvation. To tell a man that he not only isn’t a partner in his salvation but an unwilling, resisting rebel can really sting. To tell a man that God alone acts to save can sting too.

Beyond pride, Romans exposes doctrinal laziness. For the professing Christian who does not prize wisdom and learning, Romans is pretty intimidating. Some professing Christians do openly disdain doctrine with a kind of “all head and no heart” criticism of scholarship, but most claim to be interested in learning the Bible. However, Romans is a book that when opened up for discussion draws a lot of blank stares. It reminds me of when Jesus began teaching in parables (Matt 13:13, Mark 4:10-12). By simply covering His teaching with a thin layer of effort, many turned away.

Romans also exposes hardened hearts. Its teaching about the depth of sin and the importance of God’s election has often resulted in the hearers changing their opinion about God. When confronted with the necessity of election, I have personally heard many turn and try to place the blame for their sin on God (Rom 9:19). I think this is because Romans is so direct, so plain, it is like a theological jackhammer that doesn’t let you say “Well, let’s just agree to disagree.” Romans says “It’s my way or the highway.” Sadly, theological push comes to shove.

I’m looking forward to going through Romans, though my participation in the starting of a new church campus will prevent me from hearing most of it. I have been reminded what an exciting book Romans is. The precision of the arguments pt forward have always appealed to be. I love, like in Romans 6:1, Paul keeps anticipating our response (”What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?”) and crushing our objections with truth, unto the mercy of His gospel.

I am reminded that I was saved during my same pastor’s teaching of the book. I can’t recall an exact moment. There was a period of time in which I came to see that my beliefs had changed; I knew I then understood the gospel, and that I hadn’t understood before.

What a great book. What is your response to the book of Romans? Do you love it? Do you find it difficult? Do you find it dull. Are you indifferent? Have you even read it all the way through, once? My challenge to you is to read through as often as you must to gain an understanding of its meaning and flow. Gauge yourself as a Christian by how you respond to its teaching. I pray that it will direct to glorify God for His gospel of sovereign grace!