Imagine the Potential – Life

See why NBC refused to show this during the Superbowl.

(HT: 9Marks Blog)

Mohler answers questions about abortion

from Challies.com:

Here is a great Q&A session with Dr. Mohler as he answers questions about abortion (What about women who are raped? What about pregnancies where the mother’s life is at risk? Etc…).

I haven’t heard it yet, but I plan to.

Popular post update: The Role, responsibility, and tasks of the pastor/elder/overseer/bishop

The post can be found here.

I just added some resources and Piper’s view of the role of elders.  See the post to which I’m referring to get more thoughts on the topic.  I place the addition here:

Other resources:

1. The Desiring God staff’s description of the role of the elder.
2. The Gospel Coalition has resources on the topics of “eldership” and “pastoral ministry“
3. 9Marks has a bunch of good articles (also this set of articles) and audio resources (see more categories on that page) on the topic.

John Piper’s take on the function of Elders:

The responsibilities of elders are summed up under two heads: governing and teaching.

5.1. Governing

1 Timothy 5:17

Let the elders who rule (proestotes) well be considered worthy of double honor. . .

1 Timothy 3:4-5

He must manage (proistamenon) his own household well, keeping his children submissive and respectful in every way; for if a man does not know how to manage (prostenai)his own household, how can he care for God’s church?

Acts 20:28; 1 Peter 5:2

The duty of elders to “oversee” or “supervise” the flock implies a governing function.

1 Thessalonians 5:12

But we beseech you, brethren, to respect those who labor among you and are over you (proistamenous)in the Lord and admonish you. . .

(No reference to “elders” but the function of the leaders is governing and the natural assumption is that the leaders are elders that Paul had appointed according to Acts 14:23.)

Hebrews 13:17

Obey your leaders and submit to them; for they are keeping watch over your souls, as men who will have to give account.

Obedience and submission implies a role of leadership and governance. Again, the reference is probably to the elders, though the leaders are not described.

5.2. Teaching

Ephesians 4:11

Pastors and teachers are pictured as one office, so that the pastor (whom we have identified as an elder) has the responsibility of teaching.

1 Timothy 3:2

The overseer must be “able to teach.” And we have seen that the overseer and elder are the same office. This qualification is not included in the list of qualifications for deacons.

1 Timothy 5:17

Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching.

Note that all have to be able to teach; but only some “labor,” that is, they devote more time and energy to it, perhaps earning their living by it. Each elder is vested with the right to teach and exercise authority in the church and so must have the qualifications for it.

Titus 1:9

He must hold firm to the sure word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to confute those who contradict it.

Note: Not all elders need to be able to do public preaching. The requirement is not for a preaching gift, but for a solid grasp of doctrine and ability to spot and correct errors and explain Biblical truth plainly.

5.3. Conclusion

The function of elders may be summed up under two heads: teaching and governing. They are the doctrinal guardians of the flock and the overseers of the life of the church responsible to God for the feeding and care and ministry of the people.

We have seen from Philippians 1:1 and 1 Timothy 3:1-13 that deacons served alongside the elders. These two are mentioned together in a way that suggests their unique official and ongoing role in the churches. We turn now to examine the role of “deacon.”

Some thoughts re: Driscoll on Nightline (ABC News)

Watch the video to see how one reporter and profiles and represents not only Mark Driscoll, but in a way Calvinistic evangelical Christianity.  This is important to me to get a pulse on how we might be portrayed.  Here are some of my thoughts:

1. They kept talking about Driscoll’s image (hipster, indie rocker).  This is part of what makes him stand out and it had to be considered.
2. Mark Driscoll answered one question well: Sex and Jesus? “I like both. Sex with my wife and I dig Jesus.” That was winesome and goes well with his follow up words on sex (see #4).
3. Sermons on edge and topics that make the church blush – I hope people don’t come primarily for the shock factor.  His wife’s take on Mark’s talk about sex – “if it’s helpful then that’s great, if not, we don’t need to talk about it.” I don’t think the type of specifics that Driscoll mentions from the pulpit are necessary because of the diversity of ages in the congregation.  I think those are better discussed in closed sessions.  I think they tried to make them closed sessions.  I just don’t think Sunday services should be the context for closed session (in the category of prudence, not sinful/not sinful).  I think Driscoll’s discussing of oral sex the way he does from the pulpit is not wise, but I would not say it is necessarily sinful.  I feel that I’m a bit fuzzy on not calling it sin, but I don’t have any confident ground to call it sin at this point.  May God grant me wisdom in thinking about this.
4. Driscoll’s thoughts on sex: “I think that married people should have free and frequent sex. That’s what I think.” I think this too. But the reason we both think that is 1 Corinthians 7:1-5. Mark’s answer is right, but it conveys the truth as merely his opinion and not what the Bible says. The effect is that he looks radical and God’s message does not. I don’t know if he referred to the Scripture and ABCNews just edited it out, but I hope (and will give the benefit of the doubt that) he did refer to Scripture to clearly display God’s message which gives God the glory, not Mark.
5. Driscoll’s grin when the reporter mentioned Driscoll has critics is probably not a good display of brokenness and desire for the truth.  The report may have hid any brokenness that Driscoll displayed.  The important lesson here is that critics are heard (like Driscoll says, “turn critics into coaches”) and prayed for even if they must be firmly opposed.
6. Driscoll on Jesus – I think Driscoll’s view of Jesus is needed to be heard and I’m glad he corrected the use of the word “queer.” He presents Jesus as tough and real. Again I think he should have explicitly rooted his view of Jesus as the reading of the New Testament (again, which he probably did and it was edited out).  Nonetheless, what Driscoll was able to say about Jesus on the air was helpful and clarifying for those who watch.
7. The evangelistic fruit, which was shown in part by a man who didn’t go to church before attending there is something for which to praise God (assuming that the man is saved, but at least he’s regularly hearing the gospel).  People need to hear the gospel and be captivated by the glories of God in Christ!  I praise God that many in Seattle get the opportunity to hear the word of Christ, and that some by God’s grace believe it savingly.
8. The coffee shop and free wi-fi in the church meeting facility – I don’t think this is a bad thing in this church because if people come for this they will hear the gospel and Christ preached.  I think if people join the membership of the Mars Hill Church family for these things then it is a problem.  At this point, membership process and church introduction is crucial.
9. Driscoll’s “beliefs are strict” (referring to the exclusivity of Christ and the pre-determined will of God in the salvation and damnation of people). Driscoll refers to the things he believes (God saves, Jesus is God, the Bible is true, people are going to hell) which was good.  Again, I think he should’ve (or did) tie these beliefs directly to the Scriptures clearly teaching this.  The reporter tries to influence the culture to see these views as strict.  Well, the culture already thinks these as strict.  But I think it is exactly this distinctness in our message and the lives it produces that make the gospel attractive to the unbelieving peoples.
10. Was this report helpful to the gospel’s proclamation?  I think so.  He did talk about his beliefs in some core doctrines which I’m really grateful for (#9).  It did seem like the message of the report is that Mars Hill Church is growing and needs to be on the radar screens of people.  That is a good thing because Driscoll clearly preaches the gospel and applies it to his hearers.  I think the report clouded the gospel message and doctrinal truth with Driscoll’s personality and ministry, but that’s not surprising for a secular news station to do and I’m grateful that they did air what they did.

To be clear, I consider Driscoll a brother in Christ and I rejoice that he preaches Christ and the gospel clearly, firmly, and passionately to those God sends to hear him.  To God be the glory for this and may he keep Mark faithful and pure before him.

Update: See Driscoll’s thank you to nightline here.  Read and join the discussion on Justin Taylor’s blog here.

New D.A. Carson audio mp3 – “A Day with Dr. Don”

He spoke in Seattle for The Resurgence – “A Day with Dr. Don” (December, 2008).

1. An Interview with Mark Driscoll – download direct:  audio | video
2. Session 1 - Romans 3:21-26 – “The Center of the Whole Bible” – download direct: audio| video
3. Session 2 – Revelation 12 – “The Strange Triumph of the Slaughtered Lamb” – audio|video
4. Session 3 – John 11 – “A Miracle Full of Surprises” – audio|video
5. Session 4 – John 20:24-31 – “Why Doubt the Resurrection of Jesus” – audio|video
   
6. Session 5 -  Matthew 27:27-51 – “The Ironies of the Cross” – audio|video

For all Carson audio MP3’s click here.

“Preaching through Bible Books” by D.A. Carson

Advertisement: Support this site by visiting Westminster Books. Even just clicking and visiting helps! It’s an excellent site for good Christian books.

This is from a conference in 2003 called, “Katoomba Christian Conference Centenary (Sydney, Australia).”  D.A. Carson lectured on 12 points in preaching through a book of the Bible.  You can listen to the audio by downloading the message here (left-click).  This is taken from The Gospel Coalition website.

(These points assume you’ve already picked the book, though that is an important consideration in how to pick that. No particular order of importance among some of these 12 points.)

1. (1:38 ) – Read and re-read and re-read and re-read and re-read the book. – It’s a mistake to read the book once and then start reading commentaries (Read it in English and the original language).
2. (3:11) – Ideally start the process early. Give time to re-reading, meditation, and saturation.
3. (4:58 ) – Eschew the division of head and heart.
4. (6:14) – Early on attain sufficient grasp of the book that you can succinctly state (a) what the book is about, (b) what this book contributes to the canon that overlaps with what other books bring to the canon, and (c) what distinctive things this book brings to the canon. (All these things need to be thought about simultaneously. This is what brings clarity and precision). Scan biblical theologies on the book to get a large scale picture of the book.
5. (11:10) – At roughly the same time determine (a) the number of sermons you’ll devote to the book and (b) the large scale outline of the book insofar as it impinges on your text boundaries for each sermon (11:10).
6. (19:27) – Start working on individual sermon preparation (either in advance or week by week). Ideally work on the text first.  A. (23:26) – Ideally develop note taking techniques. This keeps your tools sharp and keeps your files for resources for future ministry (writing, preaching, evangelism, etc.);  B. (29:32) – from these detailed exegetical notes, start writing the sermon. (Note for young preachers: you must determine and discipline yourself to leave stuff out). You need to know what to leave out. The sermon is the best of the material and the highlights of what you learned. The aim is to think through what contributes to the burden of that text; C. Work on the text’s structure. Work on it so that it is fresh and appealing and helpful.
7. (32:27) – Each sermon must simultaneously stand alone and constitute a part of the series.
8. (33:34) – Remember the different contributions of a Paul House (corpus/book) biblical theology and a Charles Scobie (thematic) biblical theology.
9. (38:11) – Recognize that there may be special study and focus necessary for certain books (historical, cultural, literary genre, etc).
10. (42:32) – Ideally try to make your sermon material reflect in some way the genre of the book you are treating.
11. (44:24) – Remember constantly that this is not an exercise in artistic creation. The sermon is not an end in itself, but it is a re-revelation of God to his people. This means that as you prepare you ought to be thinking about the people to whom you are ministering.
12. (50:28 ) – ideally keep revising, praying, preparing so that it is not so much that you have mastered the material as that it has mastered you. There is a way of preaching that projects an image of being an expert and an image of being captured by the text.

To see all D.A. Carson audio, click here.

Advertisement: Support this site by visiting Westminster Books. Even just clicking and visiting helps! It’s an excellent site for good Christian books.

Update: Link directly to the audio is now fixed.

If you serve teens you should check this book out (on a crazy sale for 3 days!)

Get Outta My Face: How to Reach Angry, Unmotivated Teens with Biblical Counsel

SPECIAL INTRODUCTORY PRICE – 50% off our regular discount on this book (= 65% off List Price)! This price expires at noon EST on January 24, 2009

“Rick Horne knows from life experience how to do what seems impossible—how to connect with teens. If you care about teenagers, if you work with teens, if you live with a teen, this book will help you reach their hearts.”
- David Powlison, Adjunct Professor of Practical Theology, Westminster Theological Seminary

“Rick Horne has invested in teens his whole life. He has learned that he is more like them than unlike them. From years of first hand experience, he knows how to talk with them and his is not afraid of the tough ones. What you will read here is the wisdom of a man who has experienced the courage and hope that transforming grace can give to you and that hard teenager God has chosen for you to be near. This book is a call to action with biblical perspectives and practical steps that God can use to change the teenager and you as well.”
- Paul David Tripp, Paul Tripp Ministries and author of Age of Opportunity: A Biblical Guide to Parenting Teens

“Rick Horne knows teens—the kind that won’t talk and those that won’t stop talking. If you have a teenager, you need this book. In fact, don’t wait for the teen years! Arm yourself now with the timeless truths from this book that counsels moms and dads with gospel-hope for teenage trials.”
- Dave Harvey, Sovereign Grace Ministries and author of When Sinners Say “I Do”

“I can’t say if it’s because I’m a professional youth worker or if it’s because I’m not a professional counselor – maybe it’s all of the above – but, what I can say is that I found this book, Get Outta My Face, to be especially helpful. I’ve known Rick Horne and his ministry for a long time, and this book really demonstrates the values that give his counseling ministry such integrity. First of all, he’s down-to-earth and practical. Secondly, he knows real, live teenagers with real world issues. He’s not afraid to bump against the “messiness” of authentic relationships – whether those relationships are parent to child, youth worker to student or student to teacher. And, most of all, Rick treasures the wisdom that comes to us in God’s Word. He understands it to be more than just platitude and “niceness”, kind of a watered down Mr Rogers Goes to the Holy Land. The four process features of his Wisdom-Framed, Solutions-Initiated Youth Counseling (SI Counseling) offer parents, teachers, counselors and youth workers an excellent resource for dealing with some of the hard issues we have to reckon with if we really love our kids.”
- Duffy Robbins, Professor of Youth Ministry, Eastern University, St. David’s, PA

“Get Outta My Face journeys beyond the clash of teen’s desires for respect, privileges, freedom and “being treated better than they deserve” with the harsh realities of personal responsibilities under others’ authority. Drawing upon the lessons from the Biblical book of Proverbs, Dr. Horne teaches to gently come alongside teenagers, jointly uncovering what they don’t want, and formulating wise solutions they will desire to embrace. In this way students confront themselves and, with a mature mentor, engage to responsibly change self-destructive (or self-deluding) behavior. Over the last ten years I have admired the way Rick and Betty Horne have applied these truths in their own family (through some tempestuous years) as well as at the school and am grateful Rick has codified them for our instruction and the sake of the next generation.”
- Carroll Wynne, Family Ministries Pastor, Tenth Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia

The Gospel Coalition Conference (I just registered)

If you are going to this conference, particularly if you’re from L.A. (but even if you’re not), then please let me know!

The Gospel Coalition has extended early-bird registration for the April conference until January 31. (In February the regular price kicks in.)

I’m really looking forward to this conference, as some of our best pastor-theologians preach and teach through 2 Timothy. Check out the sessions below. I know of no other conference that provides this degree of biblical, practical content.

Plenary Sessions

• Tim Keller: “The Grand Demythologizer: The Gospel and Idolatry” (Acts 19:21-41)
• John Piper: “The Promise of Life” (2 Timothy 1:1-12)
• Phil Ryken: “The Pattern of Sound Words” (2 Timothy 1:13-2:13)
• Mark Driscoll: “Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth” (2 Timothy 2:14-26)
• Edward Copeland: “Shadowlands: Pitfalls and Parodies of Gospel-Centered Ministry” (2 Timothy 3:1-9)
• Bryan Chapell: “Preach the Word!” (2 Timothy 3:10-4:5)
• Ajith Fernando: “Gospel-Faithful Mission in the New Christendom”
• Ligon Duncan: “Finishing Well” (2 Timothy 4:6-22)
• D.A. Carson: “‘That By All Means I Might Win Some’: Faithfulness and Flexibility in Gospel Proclamation” (1 Corinthians 9:19-23)

Special Event

“The Pastor as Scholar, and the Scholar as Pastor.” (Reflections on life and ministry by John Piper and D.A. Carson. Held at Park Community Church in Chicago.)

Workshops

Session 1

• Thabiti Anyabwile, “The Decline of African-American Theology”
• Buster Brown, “Preaching in a Christianized Culture”
• Michael Bullmore, “The Functional Centrality of the Gospel”
• Steven Chin, “Working Faithfully Under a Senior Pastor”
• Graham Cole, “Homosexuality and the Bible: Texts, Hermeneutics, and Pastoral Wisdom”
• K. Edward Copeland and Charlie Dates, “Mentoring Younger Pastors”
• Andy Davis, “The Gospel and Social Action”
• Joshua Harris, “Ministering in a Church-Hopping Society”
• David Helm, “Biblical Reflections on Building a Staff”
• Bill Kynes, “Complementarianism: Definition and Priorities”

Session 2

• Crawford Loritts, “Staying Faithful, Staying Relevant: The Use and Abuse of Polemical Preaching”
• Jeff Louie, “Gospel and Community: Definitions and Crucial Issues”
• Erwin Lutzer, “Finishing Well in Life and Ministry”
• C. J. Mahaney, “Trinitarian Pastoral Ministry”
• Tom Nelson and Matt Perman, “The Gospel and Money”
• Tim Savage, “Power in Weakness: The Heart of Gospel Ministry”
• Colin Smith, “Transformational Expository Preaching”
• Scotty Smith, “A Biblical Theology of Worship: On Preference and Other Matters”
• Stephen Um, “On Ministry and Revolving Doors: Practical Challenges and Ideas for Ministry in a Mobile Society”
• Sandy Willson, “Gospel Mission to the World: Arrogance or Love?”

Incongruence in my heart and the L.A. Lakers

I praise God for the L.A. Lakers and for them losing last night. That second phrase is hard to type in some ways since I am a Laker fan of the first order (Christianly-speaking), but it’s true. I am thankful because through the Lakers loss I have been able to see the incongruence in my heart. Two things make it hard: (1) they lost by one point last night on a bad play by Derek Fisher and either a bad call by the refs or a bad play by Ariza and (2) they lost to the San Antonio Spurs, one of the last teams I’d want the Lakers to lose to. So it bugs me to think what could’ve been different about the end of the game that changes the outcome. So how did I see the incongruence of my heart?

I valued the Lakers game last night and wanted them to win. No sin there. Nothing wrong with wanting the Lakers to win and it is possible (and necessary) to be a Laker (or whatever) fan to the glory of God. But as I was frustrated with the fact that they lost, I asked why I had a greater frustration with that than hardness of the hearts of those who are my friends that heard the gospel and refuse to come (at least for now). I saw that I cared more about last night’s game than edifying my brothers and sisters in Christ that I was hanging out with last night after our bible study. I saw that I cared more about Fisher’s foolish foul than for wanting to see my brother in Christ who is in close accountability with me defeat a certain sin that is plaguing his soul. When I put my son to sleep last night and said a blessing on him (the one from Numbers 6) I realized that my son and God’s blessing on him is far more important to me than the Lakers winning last night. And I can feel my passion for the Lakers’ win a bit stronger than my passion to have God’s face shine upon my son. What a distorted heart, mindset, set of passions and affections! But I praise God for showing this to me through the Lakers loss, because this incongruence was already there, God just used the Lakers loss to show it to me.

N.T. Wright and John Piper on Justification

N.T. Wright was interviewed regarding his debate with John Piper on justification (HT: Patrick Schreiner).

Denny Burk responds with things I thought as I read Wright’s last answer to the interview above.