One of the main reasons why the Holy Angels and the Holy Saints honor Holy, Holy, Holy God in heaven is because of His work of creation (see Revelation 4). The theory of evalution is not spiritually neutral! It is a slap in the face of the Omnipotent Creator. It questions the veracity of one of God’s greatest miracles. It detracts from God’s transcendent glory! So I repeat one more time, evolution is not morally neutral!
Revelation 4:9-11 And when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying, "Worthy art Thou, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for Thou didst create all things, and because of Thy will they existed, and were created."
Friday, June 26, 2009
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Hero Worship and Holy Emulation
Hero Worship and Holy Emulation
By John Piper
I have unanswered questions about how to navigate the new world of media-driven celebrity attention to pastors. As Advance09 started in Durham, North Carolina, the News & Observer ran the headline “Celebrity Pastors Visit for Conference.” One might wish they had printed: “Imperfect, Passionate Pastors Come to Serve.” But that’s not news.
When I say media-driven attention, I am not mainly thinking about radio, TV, and newspapers. They are almost irrelevant. I mean Internet media. Most churches have websites. Sermons and articles and books are available. Often there is audio and video. Recently, for example, John MacArthur and Alistair Begg joined many others, including Desiring God, in making their online audio sermons free.
What happens then is that anywhere in the world people can read, watch, or listen. If they are helped, they can click in order to share it immediately with others anywhere in the world, who in turn share it again. This is what is meant by viral spreading.
Tens of thousands of linkings may take place almost instantly—through blogs, Twitter, texting, Facebook, and a dozen other sharing tools. This means that what a pastor does or says may be known in hours by hundreds of thousands of people around the world. This contributes to media-driven celebrity status.
Then stir into the mix that some pastors write books. There is a mystique about authors. “Author” connotes authority, or creativity, or wisdom. Authors are generally thought to be interesting people. I think very often these conceptions are not true. But for some, the fact that an author writes is more significant than what he writes.
What is the meaning of the attention given to well-known pastors? What does the desire for autographs and photographs mean? The negative meaning would be something akin to name-dropping. Our egos are massaged if we can say we know someone famous. You see this on blogs with words like “my friend Barack” and the like. And I presume that, for some, an autograph or a photo has the same ego-boost.
However, I don’t assume the worst of people. There are other possible motives. We will see this below. But it is good to emphasize that all of this is more dangerous to our souls than bullets and bombs. Pride is more fatal than death.
When I say “our souls” I mean all of us—the signature-seeker, the signer, and the cynic who condemns it all (on his very public blog). There is no escaping this new world. The question is, How do we navigate it for the glory of Christ, the crucifixion of self, the spread of truth, the deepening of faith, and the empowering of sacrificial love?
Here is one small contribution. In spite of all the legitimate warnings against hero worship, I want to risk waving a flag for holy emulation—which includes realistic admiration. Hero worship means admiring someone for unholy reasons and seeing all he does as admirable (whether it’s sin or not). Holy emulation, on the other hand, sees evidences of God’s grace, and admires them for Christ’s sake, and wants to learn from them and grow in them.
This theme is strong in the New Testament.
“Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1).
“Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us” (Philippians 3:17).
“What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you” (Philippians 4:9).
“And you became imitators of us and of the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 1:6).
“[Do] not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises” (Hebrews 6:12).
“You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness” (2 Timothy 3:10).
“Continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it” (2 Timothy 3:14).
“Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity” (Titus 2:7).
The old Puritan Thomas Brooks comments on holy emulation in The Secret Key to Heaven: Bad men are wonderfully in love with bad examples.... Oh, that we were as much in love with the examples of good men as others are in love with the examples of bad men. Shall we love to look upon the pictures of our friends; and shall we not love to look upon the pious examples of those that are the lively and lovely picture of Christ? The pious examples of others should be the mirrors by which we should dress ourselves. He is the best and wisest Christian...that imitates those Christians that are most imminent in grace.... It is noble to live by the examples of the most eminent saints.
It is right and risky to aim at being worthy of emulation. It is more foundationally right to aim at being helpful. It is essential in both that we be amazed that we are forgiven through Christ, and that we serve rather than seek to be served.
This does not answer all my questions about navigating these waters, but it helps.
Always in need of your prayers,
Pastor John Piper
By John Piper
I have unanswered questions about how to navigate the new world of media-driven celebrity attention to pastors. As Advance09 started in Durham, North Carolina, the News & Observer ran the headline “Celebrity Pastors Visit for Conference.” One might wish they had printed: “Imperfect, Passionate Pastors Come to Serve.” But that’s not news.
When I say media-driven attention, I am not mainly thinking about radio, TV, and newspapers. They are almost irrelevant. I mean Internet media. Most churches have websites. Sermons and articles and books are available. Often there is audio and video. Recently, for example, John MacArthur and Alistair Begg joined many others, including Desiring God, in making their online audio sermons free.
What happens then is that anywhere in the world people can read, watch, or listen. If they are helped, they can click in order to share it immediately with others anywhere in the world, who in turn share it again. This is what is meant by viral spreading.
Tens of thousands of linkings may take place almost instantly—through blogs, Twitter, texting, Facebook, and a dozen other sharing tools. This means that what a pastor does or says may be known in hours by hundreds of thousands of people around the world. This contributes to media-driven celebrity status.
Then stir into the mix that some pastors write books. There is a mystique about authors. “Author” connotes authority, or creativity, or wisdom. Authors are generally thought to be interesting people. I think very often these conceptions are not true. But for some, the fact that an author writes is more significant than what he writes.
What is the meaning of the attention given to well-known pastors? What does the desire for autographs and photographs mean? The negative meaning would be something akin to name-dropping. Our egos are massaged if we can say we know someone famous. You see this on blogs with words like “my friend Barack” and the like. And I presume that, for some, an autograph or a photo has the same ego-boost.
However, I don’t assume the worst of people. There are other possible motives. We will see this below. But it is good to emphasize that all of this is more dangerous to our souls than bullets and bombs. Pride is more fatal than death.
When I say “our souls” I mean all of us—the signature-seeker, the signer, and the cynic who condemns it all (on his very public blog). There is no escaping this new world. The question is, How do we navigate it for the glory of Christ, the crucifixion of self, the spread of truth, the deepening of faith, and the empowering of sacrificial love?
Here is one small contribution. In spite of all the legitimate warnings against hero worship, I want to risk waving a flag for holy emulation—which includes realistic admiration. Hero worship means admiring someone for unholy reasons and seeing all he does as admirable (whether it’s sin or not). Holy emulation, on the other hand, sees evidences of God’s grace, and admires them for Christ’s sake, and wants to learn from them and grow in them.
This theme is strong in the New Testament.
“Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1).
“Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us” (Philippians 3:17).
“What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you” (Philippians 4:9).
“And you became imitators of us and of the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 1:6).
“[Do] not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises” (Hebrews 6:12).
“You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness” (2 Timothy 3:10).
“Continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it” (2 Timothy 3:14).
“Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity” (Titus 2:7).
The old Puritan Thomas Brooks comments on holy emulation in The Secret Key to Heaven: Bad men are wonderfully in love with bad examples.... Oh, that we were as much in love with the examples of good men as others are in love with the examples of bad men. Shall we love to look upon the pictures of our friends; and shall we not love to look upon the pious examples of those that are the lively and lovely picture of Christ? The pious examples of others should be the mirrors by which we should dress ourselves. He is the best and wisest Christian...that imitates those Christians that are most imminent in grace.... It is noble to live by the examples of the most eminent saints.
It is right and risky to aim at being worthy of emulation. It is more foundationally right to aim at being helpful. It is essential in both that we be amazed that we are forgiven through Christ, and that we serve rather than seek to be served.
This does not answer all my questions about navigating these waters, but it helps.
Always in need of your prayers,
Pastor John Piper
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
The Unwavering Resolve of Jonathan Edwards
Check out this book here http://www.ligonier.org/publishing_reformationtrust_catalog_unwaveringresolve.php
Jonathan Edwards is well known as perhaps the greatest theologian the United States has ever produced. He is equally noted for his preaching and writing. But in this Long Line Profile, Dr. Steven J. Lawson considers the unique focus and commitment with which Edwards sought to live out the Christian faith.
Lawson examines Edwards’ life through the lens of the seventy resolutions he penned in his late teens, shortly after his conversion. Lawson is quick to note that in writing these resolutions, Edwards was not merely seeking to bolster his own determination. As Edwards himself said before writing the first resolution, “Being sensible that I am unable to do anything without God’s help, I do humbly entreat him by his grace to enable me to keep these resolutions . . . for Christ’s sake.” Edwards knew he would never keep his resolutions in his own strength.
The resolutions cover everything from glorifying God to repenting of sin to managing time. Drawing on Edwards’ writings, as well as scholarly accounts of Edwards’ life and thought, Lawson shows how Edwards sought to live out these lofty goals he set for the management of his walk with Christ. In Edwards’ example, he finds helpful instruction for all believers.
Jonathan Edwards is well known as perhaps the greatest theologian the United States has ever produced. He is equally noted for his preaching and writing. But in this Long Line Profile, Dr. Steven J. Lawson considers the unique focus and commitment with which Edwards sought to live out the Christian faith.
Lawson examines Edwards’ life through the lens of the seventy resolutions he penned in his late teens, shortly after his conversion. Lawson is quick to note that in writing these resolutions, Edwards was not merely seeking to bolster his own determination. As Edwards himself said before writing the first resolution, “Being sensible that I am unable to do anything without God’s help, I do humbly entreat him by his grace to enable me to keep these resolutions . . . for Christ’s sake.” Edwards knew he would never keep his resolutions in his own strength.
The resolutions cover everything from glorifying God to repenting of sin to managing time. Drawing on Edwards’ writings, as well as scholarly accounts of Edwards’ life and thought, Lawson shows how Edwards sought to live out these lofty goals he set for the management of his walk with Christ. In Edwards’ example, he finds helpful instruction for all believers.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Why don't I blog more often?
Why don't I blog more often? That is a good question. Here is my short answer to a very fair question.
1. The primary reason is that each and every week my main writing project is the Sunday morning sermon. In total 15+ hours are spent trying to craft sermons from Biblical texts that will be doxological, edifying, and convicting. I normally don't have time to edit down the sermon manuscripts into helpful blog posts. My primary ministry is to my family and my church family.
2. I also have 2 children under 3 (Evelyn and Jude) with a third baby on the way (due date is Jan 15). Funny story. As i finished writing this blog my daughter brought me a broken glass. "Here dad!" As you well know, trying to be a good father and a loving husband requires lots of time.
3. When i do have spare time I am typically quite tired. Surfing the net, doing home improvement tasks, watching sports with my wife, reading a good book, or something like this normally takes precedence over blogging.
4. These days their are a million blogs out there to read. My personal favorites are Pyromanics and Albertmohler.com Some of these Christian blogs are very helpful and instructive. Plus my readership is quite modest.
1. The primary reason is that each and every week my main writing project is the Sunday morning sermon. In total 15+ hours are spent trying to craft sermons from Biblical texts that will be doxological, edifying, and convicting. I normally don't have time to edit down the sermon manuscripts into helpful blog posts. My primary ministry is to my family and my church family.
2. I also have 2 children under 3 (Evelyn and Jude) with a third baby on the way (due date is Jan 15). Funny story. As i finished writing this blog my daughter brought me a broken glass. "Here dad!" As you well know, trying to be a good father and a loving husband requires lots of time.
3. When i do have spare time I am typically quite tired. Surfing the net, doing home improvement tasks, watching sports with my wife, reading a good book, or something like this normally takes precedence over blogging.
4. These days their are a million blogs out there to read. My personal favorites are Pyromanics and Albertmohler.com Some of these Christian blogs are very helpful and instructive. Plus my readership is quite modest.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Some great advice
I came across this great quote today.
“I know the vanity of your heart, and that you will feel mortified that your congregation is very small, in comparison with those of your brethren around you; but assure yourself on the word of an old man, that when you come to give an account of them to the Lord Christ, at his judgment-seat, you will think you have had enough.” -- John Brown, to a newly ordained young pastor.
“I know the vanity of your heart, and that you will feel mortified that your congregation is very small, in comparison with those of your brethren around you; but assure yourself on the word of an old man, that when you come to give an account of them to the Lord Christ, at his judgment-seat, you will think you have had enough.” -- John Brown, to a newly ordained young pastor.
Monday, June 15, 2009
Attacks on Biblical Womanhood
Because the Days Are Evil
by Carolyn Mahaney
Biblical Womanhood Series Current Series
I was in bed with a stomach virus one morning and wanted to distract myself from how miserable I felt, so I turned on the Today Show. Co-Host Ann Curry was interviewing two moms who recently wrote a book entitled Getting to 50/50. The point of the book is this: A woman can have a great career, a great marriage, and be a great mother—all by getting her husband to share equally in the responsibilities in the home. Thus the title, Getting to 50/50.
These two authors were very pleasant and gracious. They were not the militant, angry type who can easily offend many. And they weren’t men bashers; in fact, they seemed to want to pursue a loving relationship with their husbands. And yet, the premise of their book is in direct contradiction to Scripture, which assigns men and women equally important, yet different roles (Gen. 1:26-27, 2:18, 21-24; 1 Cor. 11:7-9, 1 Tim. 2:12-14). These women believe that there is no difference or distinction in the roles men and women are assigned. They want men to take on fifty percent of the woman’s role and women to assume fifty percent of a man’s role. Their assertions fly in the face of God’s creation design and mandate—and they do it all with a smile.After watching the interview, I turned the TV off. Instead of distracting myself from how sick I felt, now I felt sick and depressed!
Millions of people watch this show. And no doubt, many of the women watching were convinced of the rightness, the wisdom, and the attractiveness of these two woman’s assertions. “The days are evil” it says in Ephesians 5:16. And this form of evil is attractive and persuasive. We are living in days where biblical womanhood is being assaulted and undermined by feminism. Over the past fifty years, the ideology of the feminist movement has so permeated our culture and even the church, that today many of its tenets are simply assumed and accepted.
That’s why we blog about biblical womanhood. We want to help women discern the evil of feminist ideology gift-wrapped in pleasant and appealing words. We want to encourage women to receive God’s grace and strength to fulfill one hundred percent of the role to which He has called them.
by Carolyn Mahaney
Biblical Womanhood Series Current Series
I was in bed with a stomach virus one morning and wanted to distract myself from how miserable I felt, so I turned on the Today Show. Co-Host Ann Curry was interviewing two moms who recently wrote a book entitled Getting to 50/50. The point of the book is this: A woman can have a great career, a great marriage, and be a great mother—all by getting her husband to share equally in the responsibilities in the home. Thus the title, Getting to 50/50.
These two authors were very pleasant and gracious. They were not the militant, angry type who can easily offend many. And they weren’t men bashers; in fact, they seemed to want to pursue a loving relationship with their husbands. And yet, the premise of their book is in direct contradiction to Scripture, which assigns men and women equally important, yet different roles (Gen. 1:26-27, 2:18, 21-24; 1 Cor. 11:7-9, 1 Tim. 2:12-14). These women believe that there is no difference or distinction in the roles men and women are assigned. They want men to take on fifty percent of the woman’s role and women to assume fifty percent of a man’s role. Their assertions fly in the face of God’s creation design and mandate—and they do it all with a smile.After watching the interview, I turned the TV off. Instead of distracting myself from how sick I felt, now I felt sick and depressed!
Millions of people watch this show. And no doubt, many of the women watching were convinced of the rightness, the wisdom, and the attractiveness of these two woman’s assertions. “The days are evil” it says in Ephesians 5:16. And this form of evil is attractive and persuasive. We are living in days where biblical womanhood is being assaulted and undermined by feminism. Over the past fifty years, the ideology of the feminist movement has so permeated our culture and even the church, that today many of its tenets are simply assumed and accepted.
That’s why we blog about biblical womanhood. We want to help women discern the evil of feminist ideology gift-wrapped in pleasant and appealing words. We want to encourage women to receive God’s grace and strength to fulfill one hundred percent of the role to which He has called them.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Is the President really saved?
From albertmohler.com
The issue of homosexuality presents all morally serious persons with an unavoidable question: What is the moral status of homosexual acts and relationships? One way or the other, some judgment on this matter will be made.
Are homosexual acts inherently wrong, dishonorable, and sinful? Or, is homosexuality morally neutral, with specific sexual acts and relationships determined to be either right or wrong by context and intention? Are homosexual acts morally good and honorable? These assertions of moral judgment represent something of the range of possibilities and cover most of the main alternatives.
Most Americans come to moral judgments by a complex and often confused process that combines moral intuition with emotivism and some (often quite minimal) knowledge of the history of moral judgment. Add to this the fact that most Americans are highly influenced by popular culture and mass opinion. In the end, as many observers have argued, most Americans are probably moral pragmatists at heart.
On an issue as controversial as homosexuality, moral confusion abounds. Americans respond to questions related to homosexuality with a range of often inconsistent and contradictory moral judgments. Ask a question about same-sex marriage one way and you get one answer. Change the question slightly, and you might get a very different response from the very same person.
President Barack Obama recently signed a proclamation designating the month of June as "Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month, 2009."
The President declared:
Forty years ago, patrons and supporters of the Stonewall Inn in New York City resisted police harassment that had become all too common for members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. Out of this resistance, the LGBT rights movement in America was born. During LGBT Pride Month, we commemorate the events of June 1969 and commit to achieving equal justice under law for LGBT Americans.
President Obama is not the first American president to make such a declaration. In 2000, President Bill Clinton signed a similar executive order declaring June of that year as "Gay and Lesbian Pride Month."
The issue of homosexuality presents all morally serious persons with an unavoidable question: What is the moral status of homosexual acts and relationships? One way or the other, some judgment on this matter will be made.
Are homosexual acts inherently wrong, dishonorable, and sinful? Or, is homosexuality morally neutral, with specific sexual acts and relationships determined to be either right or wrong by context and intention? Are homosexual acts morally good and honorable? These assertions of moral judgment represent something of the range of possibilities and cover most of the main alternatives.
Most Americans come to moral judgments by a complex and often confused process that combines moral intuition with emotivism and some (often quite minimal) knowledge of the history of moral judgment. Add to this the fact that most Americans are highly influenced by popular culture and mass opinion. In the end, as many observers have argued, most Americans are probably moral pragmatists at heart.
On an issue as controversial as homosexuality, moral confusion abounds. Americans respond to questions related to homosexuality with a range of often inconsistent and contradictory moral judgments. Ask a question about same-sex marriage one way and you get one answer. Change the question slightly, and you might get a very different response from the very same person.
President Barack Obama recently signed a proclamation designating the month of June as "Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month, 2009."
The President declared:
Forty years ago, patrons and supporters of the Stonewall Inn in New York City resisted police harassment that had become all too common for members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. Out of this resistance, the LGBT rights movement in America was born. During LGBT Pride Month, we commemorate the events of June 1969 and commit to achieving equal justice under law for LGBT Americans.
President Obama is not the first American president to make such a declaration. In 2000, President Bill Clinton signed a similar executive order declaring June of that year as "Gay and Lesbian Pride Month."
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