“You’re supposed to be helping him, ‘getting him off the streets’…”

Here's a refreshingly unacademic post worth a read from the blog of Frog and Amy Orr-Ewing; it's a piece written by Rachel Hughes, a youthworker in Peckham, and speaks of the realities involved in reaching unchurched young people with the gospel - always an exciting thing! It's a conversation between Rachel and two young people at one of the youth clubs she runs, and it rings true with what is fairly normal outside middle-class Britain I guess. I'm always indebted to having the camera zoom-out and being reminded that there is more to Christian ministry than student work.

Something For The Weekend...

'Humility is not a mere ornament of a Christian, but an essential part of the new creature.'

Richard Baxter





Elsewhere:
Bish has a great post here on the soaring and sobbing of the doctrine of election as we read Romans 9-11.
Al Mohler has some interesting observations on the increasingly popular (yet as yet absent from my bookshelf) The Dangerous Book for Boys here.
HT: Ed

Music in a CU context...

At Focus tonight we're looking at Romans 14, as Paul shows how the gospel affects how we relate to brothers and sisters who have different views on disputable matters (in the passage it's food and special days). Where often such differences can quickly end-up causing frustration and friction, Paul calls all to seek the edification of others, following Christ's example. As Paul has shown since the start of Romans 12, the gospel brings about sober-minded selfless thinking with enemies, with authorities, and here across individual churches.

In the context of Christian Unions, student mission teams dedicated to speaking the gospel of Jesus Christ across campuses and colleges, often secondary issues can hamper such critical primary aims. One of these issues is often music/worship; does the way we concieve of music at our CU meetings hamper whether our brothers and sisters feel held back, restricted, left out, relegated, ignored in the work of the CU? The great thing about Romans 14-15 is that everyone is addressed and called to be selfless, which like the marriage in 1 Cor 7.1-4, is the result of gospel-thinking in the believer.

Mark Stone, a UCCF staff worker in the north-east, did a really practical seminar session on the topic of leading music in a CU context, up here in Durham in November. You can download the two files here (1) and here (2).

Bits and Bobs...

Martin Downes hosts an interview with Carl Trueman here who has some important things to say about humility. The internet is a unique portal, where words can be seen by all and brought up long after they were issued. We had a quotation on our bathroom door back home that read 'Keep your words tender, for tomorrow you may have to eat them'. It's true; the bathroom quote page rarely lies.

HT: The Bish

Also, the latest press release from UCCF on the Word Alive issue can be found here.

The definite lack of original content on the blog in recent weeks has been due to the fact that revision is well underway for finals (finishing June 1st). However, I have posted two pics of my own handcrafted dinner-for-one from Saturday night. On the left we have leftovers of my homemade lemon ice-cream, and on the right we have a fish-finger, peas, and lettuce sandwich, with added mayo.

A Year Ago: At church we were looking at God's sovereignty and suffering; where the rubber hits the road and theology is shown to be truly practical.

It Makes Sense...

We are cruel to ourselves if we try to live in this world without knowing about the God whose world it is and who runs it... Disregard the study of God and you sentence yourself to stumble and blunder through life blindfold, as it were, with no sense of direction and no understanding of what surrounds you. This way you can waste your life and lose your soul.

J. I. Packer, Knowing God.

The skill of humility...

Yep, that was intentionally ironic. Five suggestions from Michael Ramsey, former Archbishop of Canterbury and Bishop of Durham, on staying humble...

1. Thankfulness... 'Thankfulness is a soil on which pride does not easily grow'.
2. Confession... be honest about your sin; criticise yourself in God's presence.
3. Accept humiliations... however hard that may be.
4. Don't worry about any status you have apart from how you are in God's sight.
5. Use your sense of humour:

'Laugh about things. Laugh at the absurdities of life. Laugh at yourself. Laugh at your own absurdities. We are, all of us, infinitisimally small and ludicrous creatures within God's universe. You have to be serious, but never be solemn, because if you are solemn about anything there is the risk of becoming solemn about yourself.

Ramsey's words as quoted by John Stott.

Creation waits with eager longing...

BBC Washington correspondent Matt Frei has an interesting article and film on how climate change is dividing evangelicalism in America here.

Packer on the Word...

Mark Driscoll blogs on a lecture he observed from Jim Packer (or 'J.I.', if you know him well) here. Reading Knowing God again has made me realise how brilliantly rich Packer's writings are. You just long to keep devouring the pages as he throws his flashlight on the glorious God of the gospel, inviting us to grasp something of who God is, and marvel and change. Driscoll writes that Packer's address ended with three exhortations, which I'll quote here:

1. The hope of our glory must always lie beyond this world and to nurture that hope a reading of the Puritan Bunyan's book Pilgrim's Progress is essential.
2. Total and continual immersion in the Psalms is exceedingly good for the soul and too infrequently practiced.
3. Studying the lives of those who faithfully handled God's Word is helpful and Charles Haddon Spurgeon and Martyn Lloyd-Jones must be included at the top of that list.

HT: The Resurgence

Gardeners' Questiontime

Reading Genesis 3 again this evening with pizza and brothers.

It simply sums up in narrative form the absolute arrogance of human rebellion, the casting aside of the Creator God and the willed decision to become gods ourselves. Sin is in essence an act of revolution: to replace God with myself.

The woman, knowing that the serpent had outlined that eating the fruit will make them 'like God', still chooses to eat of the forbidden tree. That's despite both the implications laid out by the serpent and it being an act of straight-forward disobedience to God. The narrative also picks out the subtle exchange of authority from what God has said, to what humanity judges to be right; the woman sees the fruit looks good, 'a delight to the eyes' (3.6) and that it is able to make one wise, and it is this that takes preference over obeying God's word.

The clear difference between the actual command God gives in 2.16-17 and the woman's version of what God said (3.3) is peculiar (the lack of 'neither shall you touch it' in the original). Sure, woman hadn't been created when the command was given, suggesting man had passed the command on, but either he'd got it wrong, or she'd not paid enough attention to it. Either way, God's words are not as familiar to the couple as they need to be, considering they are the very words of the God who created them, the very words that previously spoke life into nothingness. Consequently the serpent is able to cause mass confusion by first questioning God's word (3.1: 'Did God actually say...') and then casting doubt on the reality of God's judgement (3.4: 'You will not surely die...').

He's made God out to be incoherent, twisted in intention, and a liar. To read this passage is to see graphicly in a snapshot moment how sin works. And it's easy to point the finger and throw our hands up at this evil anonymous passerby, whom we call 'sin'. But in reality it is us, our hearts, it is me who does this. And then I remember that moment this afternoon when I doubted whether the real world actually needs the gospel. Or that time yesterday when I was reluctant to believe God's desire that I be sanctified was true, rather fancying my own will for myself. Or when I questioned whether the Bible was clear in what it said.

I love that closing line from Chris Tomlin's song 'Indescribable', it speaks so simply of the wonder of Jesus' death for sinners, sinners like Adam, and sinners like me.

'You see the depths of my heart and you love me the same; you are amazing God'

Goldsworthy and the Bible...

Having spent most of the last few weeks trying to submerge myself in the writings of Graeme Goldsworthy for my dissertation, I'm now a massive fan of his work. He's passionate about understanding the Bible as a whole, and a whole that points to Jesus Christ, which is what he calls biblical theology.

Justin Buzzard interviews Goldsworthy on his blog here and it really brings out Graeme's heart for biblical theology to be pastoral, that every Christian might long to see how the Scriptures testify to Jesus Christ.

Faithful workman...

John Stott announced his retirement this last week, at the age of 86. Imagine spending a lifetime devoted to pointing to someone else. A life well spent.

“If He is not who he said He was, and if He did not do what He said He had come to do, the whole superstructure of Christianity crumbles in ruin to the ground.”

Stott, Basic Christianity

Probem solving...

"The greater the problem, the greater the gospel.
The smaller the problem, the smaller the gospel.

"We need to be very clear on the problem, and its magnitude, to understand and be thrilled by the gospel that solves it... many heresies stem from having the gospel without a problem. To have a Jesus who is the ultimate answer, but to not understand the problem, means we come up a problem resembling whatever we think the world's greatest problem is."

Michael You

Being Fishers of Men...

I like Mark Driscoll. He's a thirty-six year old pastor of Mars Hill church (not to be confused with Rob Bell's Mars Hill Bible Church...) in Seattle, Washington. For those of you who like the labels, he describes himself as first Christian, second evangelical, third missional, and fourth reformed. Apart from that you really need to listen to him to see what he's like.

He's big into church planting. A good thing. And he's big into reaching the totally unchurched. Those for whom church is another world. Church planting for the unchurched. Bigtime. To blow away those cobwebs, take a look at an eight-minute video he made for a church-planting conference here. He also said this:

So the question is if you want to be innovative: How do you get young men? All this nonsense on how to grow the church. One issue: young men. That’s it. That’s the whole thing. They’re going to get married, make money, make babies, build companies, buy real estate. They’re going to make the culture of the future. If you get the young men you win the war, you get everything. You get the families, the women, the children, the money, the business, you get everything. If you don’t get the young men you get nothing. You get nothing.

He's got a point, and he's doing everything he can in response to it.

The Morning I Heard God Speak...

Cracking article by John Piper here. Read and marvel.

HT: Nathan

From Times Eternal...

Uploaded some very basic demos of three songs I recorded with the help of my friends Vicky and Gary last week. You can listen and grab the lyrics to them here - I repeat: very basic stuff, but it was great fun to do. Here's the words to one of them, From Times Eternal. It's pretty much the back end of Romans 8, a chapter I've grown to take great delight in since we did it at Focus a few months back. I've noticed that too often the rock solid assurance God has given us, rooted in God's faithful character, displayed in his gracious act of predestining his own, and centred on the cross of Christ, is missing from the pulpits, songbooks, and generally, the churches of our land.

It's no reason for pride, that's clear. It's total grace. And yet without it, without being bathed in the plan of God, without taking time to grasp God's acted-upon will for us (as Romans 8 tells us) we rob ourselves and others of the comfort, security, refuge that the Psalmist loved to sing of. Anyway, here's the song:

From times eternal you have chosen me
Fixed by your counsel secured by your will
I see your purpose in saving me
I marvel at such undeserved mercy

No condemnation in Christ,
No separation from the love of God,
I can claim assurance tonight,
It is your work; it is your will

Your word tells me of my destiny
Planned long before my first breath
And it's destined through all history
The king of love; that he should die for me

Neither death nor life, neither depth nor height,
Can separate me from the Love of God in Christ

To know your working through everything,
That is my good, that is your will.
To make me more like Christ
To bring him glory, to be his family

Word Alive and the Atonement...

Hundreds of students are returning from Word Alive, and Dan Hames reports here from the event with news of the doctrine of the atonement being brought to the fore, as it should be. Consequently, the student Word Alive track will be departing from the Spring Harvest weeks into a new Bible-focused family holiday week, with a student section running alongside it. The current site for the new week is up here.

Pierced for our Transgressions, the new book on the doctrine of penal substitution from Sach, Jeffrey, and Ovey, is already out of stock at publishers IVP having only been on sale for a month. Beginning with Moses are offering a special discount on it - it will be one of those books you'll still appreciate having on your shelf in thirty years, I'm sure. If you haven't checked out the site, or you're not really sure why so much of a big fuss is being made out of what happened on the cross, then do click here. It's packed full of info, downloadable sermons, and even some free song downloads.

HT: Dan

Boundless...

Just discovered Boundless, which is a site full of Christian articles, aimed at 'those in their college years'. There's heaps of stuff to look at on everything from relationships and how you use your time, to encouraging you to form a Biblical worldview. Why there aren't similar sites this side of the Atlantic, I don't know... maybe there are and I haven't found them... or maybe us Brits have trouble dealing with the cheese factor. Boundless is run by Focus on the Family, so its search engine taps into a vast network of documents, book reviews, etc... Worth taking a look at.

'One in 10' attend church weekly...

Christian charity Tearfund has polled 7,000 people, actually not that big a number, and found that '1 in 10' attend church weekly, and '1 in 7' monthly. That actually struck me as quite a high figure. Two-thirds of those polled had not been to church in the last year, except for baptisms, weddings or funerals - the results put the UK among Europe's four 'least observant countries'.

Tearfund said 53% of people identified themselves as Christian, compared with almost three-quarters who had in the last census in 2001. But it said that its survey indicated that three million people who had stopped going to church, or who had never been in their lives, would consider attending "given the right invitation". This could be a personal invite, the chance to accompany a relative or friend, or the offer of help during difficult personal circumstances, it said.

This is encouraging news - that both the term 'Christian' seems to be being abandoned by those who ten years ago would have used it to classify anyone white and British, and that still many are open to 'considering church'. People draw graphs and pie charts and try to work out what 'the church' will look like in 10 years, but so what? The Bible teaches and shows that God is faithful and will keep his church from falling, and then on the last day the true church will be revealed as those who are saved by the name of Jesus Christ, for 'there is salvation in no one else' (Acts 4.12).

If, as many say, it becomes increasingly harder to proclaim his name, and remain on the right side of UK law, then surely many will leave gospel-believing churches, and yet, as has always been the case, people will hear the word of life and believe, for it is God who will gather his elect. As Joel spoke of our day, 'it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved'. Great hope, despite whatever trials and tribulations may - no, make that will - lie ahead.

Tearfund's president, Elaine Storkey, told BBC Radio Five Live that a lot of people would be unsure what to expect if they did visit. "The church for a lot of people is a very strange place these days. They're not familiar with what's going on inside the building, with the form of service, with the way people gather, with what they say, how they pray. "So the first thing they have really got to wake up to is that there is this big cultural gap between churched and non-churched." I've no doubt all of that is true. UK churches must seem incredibly weird to someone who hasn't grown up in that environment. Paul was concerned for the non-believer in the church gathering in 1 Cor 14, and so should we be. We should be only boasting in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; there is the foolishness.

More on the tearfund report here.

Calvin and Avocado...

Thus it is that we may patiently pass through this life with its misery, hunger, cold, contempt, reproaches, and other troubles - content with this one thing: that our King will never leave us destitute, but will provide for our needs until, our warfare ended, we are called to triumph.

John Calvin, Institutes II. xv. 4.

Enjoying life's small pleasures: Baby moorhens taking their first steps among the rushes of the local park's pond; Avocado spread thickly on toast with a little pepper and vinegar.

Lust is a dissatisfaction with God...

Listening to Joshua Harris' series on Purity at the moment. Really good stuff.

I remember reading his first book I Kissed Dating Goodbye when I was 17, and being appalled at his hardcore attitude to relationships. It didn't help that one of my guy mates gave it to the girl I was 'dating' at the time. However, five years later I'm convinced he's the bomb. If you've never digged into his books (Boy Meets Girl, Sex isn't the probem (Lust is), and Stop Dating the Church) they're well worth getting your hands on. A married friend recently told me Boy Meets Girl has been the most helpful book he's read on the issue of relationships. It's worth bearing in mind before you read your first one that he is an American (cue scary music), and, surprise surprise, his books are American too. Don't be put off by the fact that he's clearly addressing an American audience - the truth is his priorities, principles and attitudes will pack a punch in whatever culture you're in. Be aware of the ease and danger of using the Americanisms as an excuse for not applying the Biblical truths to your life, like I did five years ago!

Anyway, the series on Purity is a collection of six sermons he gave at Covenant Life church, which he pastors in Gaithersberg, Maryland. They're available free here, are each about 45 mins long, and he sits right under God's word, preaching grace and repentance. Purity 2 is the only sermon on lust I've ever heard and is absolute gospel-centred gold-dust, and a brilliant summary of his latest book. Listen to it with your friends. He quotes Piper partway through, saying 'Lust (/Sin) is the dissatisfaction with God'. Really got me thinking. We choose to sin because we think it will satisfy, and thus because we think it'll satisfy more than God (we're dissatisfied with Him). We're wrong, and time and time again we're left feeling empty. Surely then, we need to fight to find our satisfaction in Him. Discuss.

Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.
Fear the LORD, you his saints, for those who fear him lack nothing.
Psalm 34.8-9