LeRoi Moore (1961-2008)

Yesterday saxophonist LeRoi Moore died from what appears to have been complications related to his June ATV accident. He was 46. LeRoi could rock the flute like no other. He will be missed.

Lady Wisdom

The dusty Palestinian city was abuzz, despite the blazing morning sun. The city streets were lined with leaders, buyers, sellers, and laborers. Another workday was in full swing as men gathered at the gate to discuss matters of trade and government.

Robed women walked through the dry and dusty streets, scrutinizing lines of chickens and vegetables for the meals of the day. Unsteady wooden carts clicked along the rough streets to bring fresh produce from nearby villages. The city was fully awake with the chorus of conversation and commerce.

With the amount of people lining the streets, it was difficult to see and hear the woman standing where the city gate connected to main street. But she was better dressed than anyone, more sharply fitted than those out for another day of trading and business. In contrast to the men and women walking the streets with their heads bowed down to the street-level bustle, her eyes were raised upward to the burning desert sky.

This woman stood in the middle of the street, visibly removed from the produce, clothing, and other wares. She stood alone in the city square when she started to speak.

Her voice rose in intensity, and at times she would break into a yell–yet her voice barely broke through the accumulated commotion of the market. Turning to the left and to the right, she raised her voice to the people, now buried in their daily routines, who passed around her on all sides.

But apart from the sneering glances, the men, women, and children walked along uninterrupted. The woman now raised her arms, cupped her mouth with her hands, and yelled louder to the disinterested crowd. Many of the people, intently focused on the day, continued with little interest in the pleading woman. Yet it was those ignoring her—even those opposing her—to whom she showed deep concern.

Facing the growing resistance of the crowd, her heart filled with compassion and her voice grew even more strained. She approached two men standing in conversation and cried out, “Hear, for I will speak noble things, and from my lips will come what is right.” The men, annoyed at the interruption, walked away. She continued walking along the streets for one soul to listen and heed—just one! Yet those gathered as spectators of this now ardent woman began to ridicule and mock her as the town crazy. Still others walked on, avoiding eye contact. Others grew angry and lobbed derogatory responses as they passed, telling the woman to shut up. Yet the woman continued, her voice now pleading ever more urgent, with tears filling her eyes. She walked up to groups and spoke with specificity. “How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge?”

In the bustle of our day, God in his compassion and mercy is walking among us, offering the same sweet fruit of wisdom [Prov. 1].

Herding Emerging

“Trying to define the Emerging church is a bit like herding cats.”

-Todd L. Miles, “A Kingdom without a King? Evaluating the Kingdom Ethic(s) of the Emerging Church,” SBJT (Spring, 2008 ) p. 88.

Pocket Puritans

I’m a big guy who drinks big cups of coffee and collects and reads heavy, shelf-warping books of theology. But I still prefer tiny books—ultra-thin, ultra-short, compact thinline ESV Bibles (like the one pictured), and those old Bible and Tract Society books from a century past that fit nicely in the palm. So I couldn’t help but express a bit of excitement over the new Puritan Paperback series from the Banner of Truth, a line of tiny books with a big wallop that will make the Puritans less intimidating and more readable for a new generation of readers.

As you can see, these are not your grandpa’s Banner books. Punchy, contemporary, relevant titles and sharp cover designs connect the timeless wisdom of Edwards, Baxter, and others to contemporary questions and in a format that looks more like a fresh CCEF counseling booklet than thou divines of olde. Current titles include, Heaven: A World of Love (Jonathan Edwards), Impure Lust (John Flavel), Anger Management (Richard Baxter), and Living Faith (Samuel Ward). Provocative topics and perfectly formatted for personal devotions.

And it was the author I was most unfamiliar (Ward on faith and unbelief) that I have most benefited!

The content of each Pocket Puritan has been carefully selected and distilled into a concentrated form of the original. These little volumes are packed with enough humbling punch to expose sin and bring a big guy down to his knees, and packed with enough grace for a tall guy to get even higher in the heavens. Small books, sharp look, concise content, and pointed message. Three big cheers for Banner’s new Pocket Puritans!

Dave Harvey: Don’t Waste Your Ambition

Dave Harvey, pastor, Sovereign Grace Ministries leader, and author of one of our favorite books of 2007—When Sinners Say ‘I Do’ (Shepherd Press)—was in town Sunday to preach on ambition. The topic informs the main theme of a book he is currently writing (proposed title, Wired for Glory: Ambitious for What Matters Most). It looks to be another excellent book.

For a little glimpse into the focus of the book you can listen to the message here:

Or download it here.

Here are my sermon notes from Sunday [not edited for exactness, but a snapshot of sermon flow and overview of content.]

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Don’t Waste Your Ambition
Dave Harvey
John 12:27-29, 36-44, Romans 15:19-20
August 10, 2008
Covenant Life Church; Gaithersburg, MD

Ambition is a frequently neglected topic in the church. Yet without ambition we all become lazy. But we don’t arrive at biblical understanding of ambition by going directly at it, but by building from a foundational understanding of glory.

We chase after what we value. In the text some followers of Christ, true believers, would not confess Christ publicly out of fear of the Pharisees (vv. 42-43). They believed in Christ but lived inconsistently because they loved their own glory, reputation, esteem, etc.

We are glory hunters. We are wired for glory. We are born with an instinct to chase glory. - We pursue what we value. The question is not about whether we seek glory, but where we seek glory. There is a greater glory than self-glorification. So how do we love God’s glory?

[1] The glory that comes from God is first in a Person. Jesus is the embodiment of God’s glory. Christ is the radiance of God (Hebrews 1:3). Back in John 12, for these believers the very embodiment of God’s glory is right there before their eyes, yet they are seeking their own glory (an irony, an absurdity). We are called to love the person of Christ and value Him above all else. This is more than finding Christ contemporarily “cool,” but about looking to the value of the Cross. Notice the future tense reference to God glorifying His name in Christ on the cross: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again” (v. 28). God is more glorified in the cross than anything else (creation, parting of the Red Sea, etc.). [Reminds me of Thomas Goodwin’s book, “The Glory of the Gospel,” where he argues the Cross is now where we now find the unmasked glory Moses so adamantly requested to see on Sinai.] At the cross, mercy and justice kissed. God says to us, “Don’t waste your ambition on anything but Christ.”

[2] The glory that comes from God demands pursuit. We are all familiar with ambition derivative of a zeal for personal glory. We need to learn to transfer glory to God, something modeled so well in C.J. Mahaney’s life. So do I seek my glory or do I seek transfer glory to God?

Ambition is not bad, in fact ambition is essential to godliness and humility. C.K. Chesterton writs, “The old humility was a spur that prevented a man from stopping; not a nail in his boot that prevented him from going on. For the old humility made a man doubtful about his efforts, which might make him work harder. But the new humility makes a man doubtful about his aims, which will make him stop working altogether.”

Scripture makes clear that ambition is not the problem, selfish ambition is. The problem is our aim. I am too “Davebitious.”

Godly Ambition

A. Perceive. We must see the value of God’s glory or we will fail to pursue it. Where we fail to see the value we fail to act.

B. Prize. Affections follow our perceptions. “Ambitions rise to what we prize.” In the Olympics we see athletes who sacrifice throughout their entire lives for one Olympic race that will last but seconds in length.

C. Pursue.

Application

So what does all this mean for tomorrow morning (Monday)?

1. The search for approval is over so ambition for God’s glory can begin. So much of our lives are spent to gain approval. Yet in the cross we have been freed from a life of attempts to meet the approval of God. Christians have all the approval we need. All the energy we invest in personal-image-management can now be redirected towards the glory of God. We now obey God from His approval not for His approval. Ambition for God’s glory can begin when our approval before God has been settled.

2. Godly ambition should lead us to explore new paths and new opportunities to glorify God. Read Romans 15:19-20. Here we see the Apostle Paul moving outwards to find new opportunities for the spread of the gospel. There is too much of God’s glory to spread globally to stifle Paul’s ambition. Here is a model of godly ambition—innovation and initiation—that challenges us to ask how we can serve in the spread of the gospel. It is provoking to think of how we can take new ground for God’s glory today.

We are tempted limit ambition to our occupations and not to think of ambition within the realm of church. Jesus said, “I will build my church” (Matthew 16:18). We seek to align our ambitions with the ambitions of Christ. Ambition is not only played out in global missions. Take your ambition and apply it to the local church. Seek to serve this local church and perceive the paths available to glorify God in your life. Don’t waste your ambition.

Karl Barth: The Wickedness of “Morally Average”

Theologian Karl Barth [1886-1968] was a bright Swiss chap with much to say. The oldest son of a Reformed pastor, Barth was soaked in the Reformed faith throughout his life and with the writings of Calvin and Luther. It was Barth’s approach to theology—his firm belief that God’s Word alone, and not human reason, as the basis for theology—that propelled him into conflict with theological liberals.

In 1919, a time when theological liberalism was thriving, Barth published a commentary on Romans emphasizing the transcendence of God, the radical differences between God and man. The book landed on the contemporary theological liberalists like a bombshell (to use an appropriate, but overworked, war image). Barth found himself to be a spokesman for conservative theology which I assume helped launch what became a prolific writing career that includes one series of books [Church Dogmatics] that sprawls to a length of 6 million words!

But Barth was also neo-orthodox in his theology, which means a lot of what flew off the tip of his pen includes wild and un-Reformed views on a host of subjects too lengthy for this blog post. And because you’ve already paused from reading to investigate which Barth books are carried by Amazon, let me sound a caution. Anyone interested in reading Barth should (1) understand Barth’s theological mistakes before attempting to sift for his theological and exegetical gold (which there are). And (2) ask your local church pastor to see if he is familiar with Barth and what he would specifically recommend for reading (if anything). If you try and read Barth without (1) background discernment and (2) wise direction, you will become easily confused and wander down some theologically treacherous paths.

Let me be clear: I don’t recommend reading Barth. The proverbial baby has dissolved into the bathwater. And there are less expensive and more useful men like Calvin, Edwards, Bunyan, and Bavinck to invest your time and attention into. But what I am seeking to convey today is a specific glimpse into Barth’s Christological interpretation of theology, which is taken a bit far at times but interwoven into occasionally insightful, fresh, and helpful points (much like his writing in general).

The Morally Perfect Man vs. the Morally Average Man

One section in Church Dogmatics I have found beneficial is titled “The Sloth and Misery of Man” (vol. IV.2, pp. 378-498). In this section on defining the sinfulness of man, Barth reminds us that Christ is the incarnate Word, which makes Him the incarnate Law. The point being that Christ’s coming to earth was significant not merely for him to live and die for the salvation of man (which is primary) but also significant as the enfleshed God as the perfect contrast to sinful man.

Let me say it another way. We may, like the Pharisee, compare our moral goodness to other humans and decide we are above the average man (Luke 18:9-14). But this would be a false gauge because the One perfect Man has come. Because of Christ’s glorious perfections, his incarnate arrival on earth brings perfect man alongside non-perfect man as a living comparison. This fact reinterprets our concept of “the morally average man” to really be (in God’s divine perspective) a wicked sinner opposed to Christ.

Among a world of creatures bent on comparing ourselves and the worst sinners, Christ’s incarnation makes the “average man” a depraved sinner and really creates a world (in comparison to Himself) where “there are no outstanding villains, no titans of iniquity,” but all are somewhere about average (p. 390). Unlike the Pharisee, we can no longer compare our morality to other sinners to seek comfort in above-average morality. Like the tax collector, we can only compare ourselves to God and we are broken. Christ is the new moral standard. The perfect One has come and lived among us and we have seen his glory. Therefore all of us—slightly above or slightly below average morality—are all horridly wicked.

This uncovers, or so it seems to me, the heart of Barth’s argument in “The Sloth and Misery of Man”.

Which brings me to a small excerpt I wanted to share with you today. Read this quote in light of the theological liberalism he faced and that lives on today where the stress rests heavily upon moral conformity to the life of Christ as the center of Christianity. I suppose one illustration could be the widespread fascination of the WWJD theme that appears to have been pursued (at least by some) as license to shift the center of Christianity as following the moral example of Christ as opposed to focusing on the finished work of Christ.

Should we live hard for Christ-like holiness? Yes! But may we first realize what Christ’s actions say to our own moral failure.

Now, over to Barth:

“Between us men it is not the case that the one encounters God in the other. It may well be that we mutually attest God, and therefore the fact that we are compared with Him and shamed by Him. It may well be that we can and must lead one another to shame before Him. But none of us is confronted with God Himself, or shamed by Him, in the existence of another man. This takes place only, but genuinely, in the existence of the true man in Jesus, the Son of God. It is in relation to Him—and we all stand in relation to Him—that there is the comparison with a man which is also our comparison with the holy God. And in this comparison with His of our actions and achievements, our possibilities and actualizations, the true expression of that which is within us, and the inwardness of that which we express, our whole whence and whither, the root and crown of our existence, we are genuinely shamed.

We are shamed because our own human essence meets us in Him in a form in which it completely surpasses and transcends the form which we give it. In Him we are not encountered by an angel, or a being which is superior and alien to our own nature, so that it is easy to excuse ourselves if we fail to measure up to it. We are confronted by a man like ourselves, with whom we are quite comparable. But we are confronted by a man in the clear exaltation of our nature to its truth, in the fulfillment of its determination, in the correspondence to the election and creation of man. We are confronted by the man who is with and for God as God is with Him, at peace with God and therefore with His fellows and Himself. But this means that we are all asked by Him who and what we ought to be as His brothers.

What about human life as we live it? What about our thinking and willing and speaking and acting? What about our heart and actions? What about the use we make of our existence, of the time which is given us, of our own distinctive opportunity both as a whole and in detail? What about our coming and going? What about our motives and restraints, our plans and attainments? What about the ordering of our relationship to God and our neighbors and ourselves? And finally and comprehensively, what about our life-act as God’s good creatures within the cosmos of God’s good creation? If we had the freedom to orientate and measure ourselves by other men, or by an abstraction that we regard as God, or by a law invented and established by ourselves, it might well be possible to acquit ourselves creditably, or not too discreditably, in face of these questions.

But we do not have this freedom. We can only imagine that we have it.

The measure by which we are measured is the true man in whom the true God meets us concretely in a living encounter. Compared with Him we stand there in all our corruption. The failure of all that we have and do is revealed. The lost state of our humanity is exposed. Our holiness, however great or small, drops away. Our brilliance is extinguished, our boasting reduced to futility, our pride deprived of its object. The untruth in which we are men is disclosed. The need in which God has accepted us in His Son, and which consists in the untruth of our humanity, is incontestable. This is our actual shaming, whether we see it or not, whether we are ashamed of ourselves or not. We stand there as those who are shamed in this way, in this shame, because and as the man Jesus is among us.”

-Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics: The Doctrine of Reconciliation (T&T Clark, 1958 ) vol. IV.2, p. 386-387.

This sobering insight has helped refocus my interpretation of the life of Christ. When I see His compassion for the lost, I am reminded of the hardness of my own heart at all of the lost souls I ignore. When I see the healing love of Christ given to the sick, I see my own neglect of the sick. In His genuine love for others I see my selfish pride. In His reverence, I see my flippancy. In His contentment with a stone pillow, I see my irritability when stabbed in cheek by the feather in mine.

If we see this side of Christ’s perfections in the Gospel stories we will be protected from the error of making an emulation of Christ’s moral example the center of Christianity.

“The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). As we read and study the person and activity of Christ presented in the Gospel accounts, we should be reminded that Christ’s perfect life, perfect love, perfect obedience is not merely a model for us, but the Law in living flesh. Christ is the gold standard placed beside our dunghill.

Seeing the works and life of Christ from this angle …

(1) … gives us a fresh appreciation for our personal sinfulness. Before we jump to the conclusion that a story in the Gospels is intended for moral emulation, let’s first stop and interrogate off the contrast: “What does this reveal about me and my sinful heart?”

(2) … fills our hearts with thankfulness for what Christ has accomplished as our atoning sacrifice on the cross of Christ! What better way to go from the healing love of Christ extended to bleeding woman to my need for the Savior’s blood?

(3) … grants us eyes to discern theological liberalism (an enduring struggle for the church). Christ’s moral example first condemns us before it beckons emulation.

(4) … reminds us that our kind, morally average neighbors desperately need the gospel. I’ve always found it difficult to share the gospel with nice people who seem morally average, and easier to share the gospel with those I know have dark sin issues.

I could add some more lines—and Barth could add some more books—on the topic. But it’s good place to stop, reflect on the amazing morality on display in the life of Christ, and be reminded of amazing grace—how sweet the sound!—that saved a morally-average sloth like me!

The Process of the Pardon

Voice (Curtis Allen) recently released a new rap album, The Process of the Pardon. The album features the gospel via hard hip-hop and features some theological insights from Dr. Wayne Grudem on the ordo salutis (track 11) and Dr. J. Ligon Duncan on covenant theology (tracks 4 and 5). Another wonderful rap album with biblically derived, Christ-honoring lyrics. I encourage you to check it out.

Voice graciously granted permission to post track 14, “Here I Stand.” Have a listen …

14. Here I Stand [4:13]

Listen:

Download

The Way It Is

Why read Augustine?

Newly released edition of The Southern Baptist Journal of Theology is devoted to the study of the early church preachers and writers (patrology). Nick Needham, a gifted church historian, publishes a fascinating article on why we need to read Augustine today. In part he writes,

“Augustine wrestles endlessly with the most fundamental questions of existence. What can the human mind truly know? What is God? What is truth? What is beauty? What is time? What is history? What is the soul? What is memory? What is faith? What is reason? What is the relationship between faith and reason? What is justice? What is human destiny? What are the proper limits of political action? Where does evil come from? How can we reconcile evil and suffering with a belief in a good and almighty God? Augustine sets the example par excellence of a Christian thinker determined to view the whole of life in the light of his faith, rather than give a little private corner of it to Christ, leaving the rest to be squeezed into the mold of contemporary non-Christian culture.”

-Nick Needham in the journal article, “Augustine of Hippo: The Relevance of His Life and Thought Today.” The Southern Baptist Journal of Theology (vol. 12, No. 2, Summer 2008 ) p. 39. [download the article as PDF here].

Related: Interview with J. Ligon Duncan on patrology
Related: Review of Nick Needham’s church history books.

Good riddance, Manny

Some friends who know of my attachment to the Boston Red Sox have recently emailed to inquire my thoughts on the Manny Ramirez trade. Well here was my response … relieved.

Manny has been a great offensive force for the Sox, but his demand for a contract extension has become a team nuisance and his play under the shadow of the Monster has been horrific.

One play captures his “fielding.” In a game in late July, Manny misjudged a blooper to LF and slid past the ball missing it by a couple feet! Manny got up and ran back to where the ball had come to a complete stop and pulled something of an old stop, drop, and roll routine like he was on fire (never the case in LF) finally coming to a stop laying flat on his back with the ball under his butt. The guys at SportsCenter were in tears it was so bad (you can see the entire blooper here).

To top off this season with the Sox, Manny was recently listed by Mike Freeman as one of the top 50 athlete jerks of all time [article includes some rough language].

Manny will, however, be a useful example in our home and to my son as I teach him that the stats on the back of his Upper Deck baseball cards cannot capture the whole story of a ballplayer’s worth. There is teamsmanship, an effort on the field, and (most importantly) an attitude each player brings.

Manny’s uniform color has changed but Manny will always be Manny. He will continue to hit well but bring his poor attitude and clueless fielding. Sadly the “Manny will be Manny” chant fits because of how many people have given up hope that his attitude will ever change. I for one think it can change, and know of One who can radically transform the heart. But it will take more than a change in leagues, a change in teams, and a change in coasts, for this to happen.

For now Manny is still Manny (look carefully at this picture) …

The Faith to See Justification

I recently stepped out of the daily routine for a few days of reading. I brought with me a tall stack of books (some old, some new) on the topics of practical theology, biblical theology, and systematic theology. My stack on biblical theology included a little book of sermons delivered by biblical theologian Geerhardus Vos, Grace and Glory: Sermons Preached in the Chapel of Princeton Theological Seminary.

The diverse sermons were captivating, revealing a warm pastoral side of Vos that I had never seen.

I should not have been surprised. I’ve found the sermons of theologians to be great entry points into their writings.

If you’ve never read John Calvin, for example, don’t start with the Institutes or even his commentaries–but first read his sermons (say, on the Beatitudes) and then you’ll see a man moved greatly by the things of God. To see these great men of faith behind the pulpit will help frame their thoughts when you begin listening to them from the lecture hall. Readers who neglect these sermon manuscripts and only go for the complex writings often cast Augustine, Martin Luther, Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, B.B. Warfield, and other theologians as overly intellectual and devotionally dry. Start with the sermons and then move into the deeper theological works. Such is true of Vos.

In a message on Hebrews, Vos takes up the topic of faith and addresses the reality of personal justification—that God has declared us perfectly righteous in his sight through the finished work of Jesus Christ. Vos is aware that we can often lose sight of our justification because we are more aware of our dumb, sinful actions, thoughts, and omissions than we are aware of the grace of God in having cleansed our sins forever. Vos reminds us that to “see” our justification is “the supreme victory of faith over the apparent reality of things.”

Vos writes,

In Romans and Galatians, faith is in the main trust in the grace of God, the instrument of justification, the channel through which the vital influences flowing from Christ are received by the believer. Here in Hebrews the conception is wider; faith is “the proving of things not seen, the assurance of things hoped for.” It is the organ for apprehension of unseen and future realities, giving access to and contact with another world. It is the hand stretched out through the vast distances of space and time, whereby the Christian draws to himself the things far beyond, so that they become actual to him. …

Among all the realities of the invisible world, mediated to us by the disclosures and promises of God, and to which our faith responds, there is none that more strongly calls into action this faculty for grasping the unseen than the divine pronouncement through the Gospel, that, though sinners, we are righteous in the judgment of God. That is not only the invisible, it seems the impossible; it is the paradox of all paradoxes; it requires a unique energy of believing; it is the supreme victory of faith over the apparent reality of things; it credits God with calling the things that are not as though they were; it penetrates more deeply into the deity of God than any other act of faith.

-Geerhardus Vos, Grace and Glory: Sermons Preached in the Chapel of Princeton Theological Seminary (Solid Ground) pp. 133, 135

So do we look at our lives by faith in the cross, or do we look at our lives merely by the sight of what appears on the surface? May we penetrate, by faith, into what God has declared true.

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Related post: Luther, God’s Word, and Justification.

CJ on Drums

A better video has surfaced of CJ Mahaney slammin’ on the drums at the Resolved Conference this summer with Enfield. Enjoy!

3 excellent new albums

I was blessed in the first half of 2008 to attend three separate conferences for college students. Each of the conferences were God-glorifying and soul-edifying and each of the conferences were marked by an excellence in musical worship. And to my great delight, studio recordings of each conference band allow me to relive the musical worship. Here they are (with links to iTunes):

1) Lu, or, Looked Upon by the Na Band (Na Conference; Louisville, KY). Watching Devon Kauflin lead worship with his dad Bob supporting him on keys was a neat experience at the 2008 New Attitude conference in Louisville. The songs played live at the conference and recorded in the studio on this album are deeply rooted in the cross of Christ. Track 11, “All I Have is Christ,” is fabulous. Lu (short for Looked Upon) is Wg (that is, worth getting). A superb album. Cross centeredness: A+. [UPDATE: You can download several live recordings from the conference here.]

2) Adore and Tremble by Daniel Renstrom (Missio Dei conference; Wake Forest, NC). My first trip to Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. I had not heard of Daniel before the conference and really didn’t know him after the conference either. I thanked him in person for playing, and assumed he was *just* a gifted college ministry worship leader—until I returned home and received a copy of his album. I immediately recognized his songs featured at the conference. The lyrics include some beautiful, pure cross-centered statements. In the song “At the Cross” he sings, “At the cross, wrath was taken away, / and Christ was in our place. / What marvelous grace. / At the cross, justice was supplied, / by the blood of Christ.” And in the song “Where Could I Go” Daniel takes the cross and daily life and ties them together beautifully. Cross centeredness: A.

3) O For That Day by Enfield, the Resolved Band (Resolved Conference; Palm Springs, CA). The album features solid biblical lyrics and strings from beginning to end. And I listen to it from beginning to end on long drives and long walks. Hearing them play live was a great but the album itself sounds “live” too and you can get a sense of being at the conference (if you play the album loud enough). Though on the album you don’t get C.J. on drums like you do live. All said, it’s a great addition to a musical library (track 4 was written from Isaiah 6 and is worth the price of the entire album). Cross centeredness: B-.

Consider each of these three albums for your iPod as you seek to worship God throughout the day. Each will help foster worship to our gracious God. And each of these albums are reminders of the amazing depth of God’s gracious working in the hearts of a younger generation of Christians—in three diverse spheres in North America—who are writing, playing, and recording excellent God-exalting music.

How God must love to pour out the generous musical gifts (like those featured on these albums) to glorify Himself!

“Obedience is its own reward”

On Sunday Covenant Life Church was given a gift of a sermon from Joshua Harris’s father, Gregg Harris, on the topic of parenting. The entire message is worth a listen (as is Joshua’s Mother’s Day message). The following excerpt previewed the topic of parenting and highlights an essential character of the wisdom literature.

Gregg Harris said,

“The thing that we sometimes fail to understand about God’s Word, and the wisdom that it offers us, is that it’s intended to be the light upon our path. Some of us read our Bible’s like a man looking into the glare of his flashlight in a dark cave. He is as blind as if he had no light at all because he is not relating what Scripture says with what he’s doing. It’s intended to be a light upon the path. Sometimes we fall into the mistaken notion that when we obey God’s Word we are putting God in our debt [legalism]. But obedience is its own reward. When you step over something that’s in your way because you are walking in the light of God’s Word, you don’t suddenly turn to God and say, ‘Okay, God, I obeyed now pay me!’ The fact that you did not fall on your face is reward enough. And sometimes we fail to make that connection. Wisdom itself is that ability to see how one thing relates to another in God’s purposes. That this relates to that because of who He is (and He is good and wise). And when we understand this the commandments of the Lord and the wisdom literature of the Bible become a delight to us, not a burden. It is not a distraction from what would have been more enjoyable but rather it’s rescuing from what would have been horrible.”

- Gregg Harris, sermon, “Don’t Waste Your Kids,” July 27, 2008 at Covenant Life Church (1:39-3:15 markers).

The excerpt reminded me of a sermon by Jonathan Edwards that connected the goodness of God in giving his wisdom and the happiness of man in obeying that wisdom. He said, “Knowing the terribleness of the misery that we shall bring upon ourselves by our disobedience and our own blindness, folly, and backwardness to obedience, He graciously condescends to urge us, and uses and abundance of arguments with us, to persuade us to obedience.” And later Edwards said, “If God should leave men wholly to themselves, to their own exorbitant and wicked dispositions, without any restraints, men would make a hell for themselves. It is a great part of the misery of hell that sin has there its full and free course, and has no restraints.” [1]

For more on this idea that “obedience is its own reward” read Deuteronomy 6:24, 10:12-13, and Proverbs 9:12. May we see God’s kindness in giving His wisdom and be people who delight in His law (Psalm 1:1-2).

—————–

[1] Don Kistler, ed. The Puritan Pulpit American Series: Jonathan Edwards (Soli Deo Gloria, 2004) pp. 236, 240.

Brian Regan on Reading

New material from March 14, 2008.

[FYI-Not an endorsement of Letterman or YouTube. I don't watch the first and rarely browse the second.]