MENU

Scribblings
Category

On October 23, 2015 By In Scribblings

Preserving the Common, Producing Difference: Neo-Calvinism and the Cultural Turn in the Humanities

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (12.6MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

kuyper

In March of last year, the Institute for Christian Studies in Toronto invited Ryan C. McIlhenny to deliver a lecture entitled Preserving the Common, Producing Difference: Neo-Calvinism and the Cultural Turn in the Humanities. McIlhenny, Associate Professor of History and Humanities at Providence Christian College, is the editor of the extremely helpful volume Kingdoms Apart: Engaging the Two Kingdoms Perspective. His lecture, like his work generally, is worthy of attention. More than offering a critique of Two Kingdoms Theology, McIhenny defends the idea of a distinctively Christian education, showing just what is at stake in the “Christ and culture” debates. Below is the lecture itself, preceded by the abstract.

“A crucial element often missing in the contemporary discussions about Christ and culture is a robust definition of culture. This address offers an updated definition that evaluates traditional evangelical understandings on the topic with contemporary cultural studies and critical theory. Culture, as I propose, is the purely phenomenal identity that springs from human interaction with the created order. Such a definition affirms the common and shared/undifferentiated activities of both Christians and non-Christians that, nonetheless, produce different cultures, preserving the neo-Calvinist emphasis on structure and direction.”

 

Read more

On October 21, 2015 By In Scribblings

Jesus Ascended: The Meaning of Christ’s Continuing Incarnation

 

A couple of friends recently chastised me via Facebook for having not yet read Gerrit Dawson’s Jesus Ascended: The Meaning of Christ’s Continuing Incarnation. Based on their high praise, I set aside a couple of afternoons to read the book, and I’m very thankful I did! Honestly, it’d be hard to overstate how helped I was by Dawson’s application of Jesus’ ascension to every area of life. If you don’t have time to read the book, or you simply want to hear the thesis before diving in, take an hour to watch Dawson interact with the subject. It turns out, Dawson is not only a thoughtful, nuanced theologian, he’s also a wonderful teacher!

 

Read more

On September 22, 2015 By In Scribblings

The Mission of God

My sermom series on the Mission of God has provided me with plenty of opportunities to meditate on redemptive history. What follows is a large portion of my Sunday homily largely dependent on Christopher Wright’s massive tome, The Mission of God’s People:

The Bible does not begin with the Fall of man in Genesis 3 nor the restoration of man in Revelation 20. To put it simply, the Bible is not just about solving our sin problem. It has a more foundational beginning. It begins with the creation account. “Well, of course it does you may say!” But remarkably the creation account is rarely mentioned in conversations about mission. Creation is the fundamental starting point of mission. In the creation we learn to answer the questions, “Who owns this world?” and “What is our mission in it?” These questions only find an answer in the creation account.

If you skip this part, everything about the way you view the world will be thwarted. You can’t begin with creation fallen. You must begin with creation as it was intended, and then move from there.

Only then can you move into the second stage of God’s history, which is the Fall. Creation was united under the cause of seeing God’s world prosper in grace and truth. This was the mission of God, but men decided to go on their own mission; to take their own journey apart from God. This, of course, did not catch God by surprise. Evil and sin weave their way into every aspect of human society. Intellectually, we use our mental powers to justify our sins, rather then confess them. Socially, our relationships are fractured: sexual, parental, familial, societal, ethic and on and on. So, if all of creation is broken down, then all of creation needs to be restored. How much of creation was damaged by the fall? All. How much of it needs to be restored? All.

The third part of this narrative is the element of redemption. Creation, Fall, Redemption in history. But here’s where we need to see things aright, because we are not talking simply about redemption in an abstract fashion, nor are we speaking about redemption only of individual souls, we are talking about redemption in history. The mission of God is to redeem creation within history through persons and events that run from the call of Abraham to the return of Christ. By Genesis 11 the human race faced two major problems: the sinfulness of every human heart and the fracturing and confusion of the nations of humanity. What did God do to begin to fix these catastrophic problems? He called and elected Abraham to be a blessing to the nations. We can say that the first Great Commission was given to Abraham. Genesis 12 says: “Go…be a blessing…and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” In Exodus God came as redeemer showing simultaneous his mercy, love, and justice. At Sinai God entered into covenant with his people calling Israel to be his representatives and to be distinctive. Why would God ask Israel of these things? Why would God ask Israel to be holy? Was it so that Israel could grow up to be a good role model to her father? Well, certainly, but any sane reader will know that there is much more at stake. Israel was to be a light to the nations. By serving one another, obeying Yahweh’s commandments, Israel was teaching the nations how to be faithful children. We always tell our children: be faithful, be obedient because others are watching. In Israel’s case, God knew that Israel’s testimony would influence the nations. But we know the rest of the story. Like their father Adam, Israel failed. She was blind to God’s ways, so God sent His Son in the fullness of time to do what Israel could not do.

In Jesus, the reign of God entered human history in a way not previously experienced. With Jesus’ arrival we are asserting that He is Lord and Caesar and his ancestors have no right to rule. That is a fantastic missional mandate in itself.

The Gospel presents us with an accomplished victory that will ultimately be universally visible and vindicated.[1] And as we see this beautiful image emerging we see the Church of Jesus Christ. The Church is the proof that the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation. The Church exists to carry out this mission faithfully locally and also to the ends of the earth. For the Church is nothing less than the multinational fulfillment of the hope of Israel, that all the nations will be blessed through the people of Abraham.[2]

If this redemption occurs in history, then the only thing that is left in this grand mission is the New Creation. The mission of God will inaugurate at the end of history the renewal of God’s whole creation. God is going to tear down whatever evil is left on earth, judge the wicked, and usher in eternity. As John says in Revelation 21: “He who was seated on the throne said: Behold, I make all things new!”

We see then that the entire panorama of history from creation to new creation echoes the mission of God to restore and renew his earth.

This is then the way God intends to put his world right again.

What is mission? Mission is the overflowing of the love of God towards his creation. This overflowing of love lavishes us as his children and calls us to participate in God’s mission to turn the world upside down as the saints did in the first century.

Evil and sin will always be with us, but the Church has a responsibility to turn away from these things and push against it whenever required.

How Now Shall We Then Live?

This story composed of creation, fall, redemption in history, and new creation is your story. The first century church understood it, which is why they always alluded to it. You can’t understand your role in the story unless you know the story. And creation provides us with a little sample of the whole story. It is there where we get our values and principles. It is there where we get the introduction to God’s missional manual. I don’t know if you have this habit, but every new book I receive the first thing I do is to read the acknowledgments. It’s one of my favorite things to do. It’s usually the most intimate part of the book. It’s there where authors thank their friends, their children and spouse.. It’s there where the authors describe the process of writing the book, the hardships involved, etc. It’s an intimate section. The Bible is very similar. The Bible is God’s intimate self-description. It’s his revelation of how the world was made and what he plans to accomplish through his creation. Yes, of course, you can open up to the last chapter or page, but then you wouldn’t know how we got to where we are. We need the acknowledgement section of the Bible. We need Genesis 1 to acknowledge God’s purposes not only in creating, but in restoring his creation.

The way we look at the world and people is shaped very much by how we understand the initial creation account. If we begin in Genesis –where we should– we will have a view of restoration that is more beautiful; we will have a view of reconciliation that is more lovely in God’s eyes and we will have a view of the restoration of creation that is more in accord with God’s self-revelation.

Finally, we need to see that our roles are redemptive as human beings. Everything we do and everything we say needs to be in line with answering the question, “How can I participate in God’s story in a way that builds the body, rather than tear it down?” How can I communicate in the way I worship redemption to my children and those around me?” Does my demeanor communicate truth, grace, gospel rest to those around me? Is my life a story of redemption? Can those around me say that as they contemplate past and present interactions with me that I have been a source of redemption to them? If not, it is never too late to start.

The story of God’s mission began with a purpose: to save humanity and to restore human beings from their own self-destructive mission. We create missionary agendas that have nothing to do with God’s agenda. We see our places in the world like alien visitors taking a little same of dirt here and there, as opposed to resident aliens actually taking the dirt with us. Because believe me: everything you see here: dirt, trees, birds will most certainly be a part of your reality in the new creation. You are here to stay whether you like it or not. When you die, your body will be buried on earth only to be raised again in a new earth, just like this one, except with no pain, sorrow, or sin. On that day you will acknowledge that God’s mission was perfect and redeemed humanity will feast in his eternal presence.

[1] Wright, 43.

[2] Ibid.

Read more

On September 16, 2015 By In Scribblings

R.L. Dabney on Public Prayer

R.L. Dabney has a wonderful chapter on public prayer at the end of his book Evangelical Eloquence.  Public prayer is not something I was taught formally in seminary nor informally watching my ministers growing up.  Like the public reading of Scripture it is ignored. Samuel Miller also wrote a book on public prayer in 1849. But since the 1800’s the importance of prayer in the pulpit has been forgotten.

Dabney begins by saying, “I deem that the minister is as much bound to prepare himself for praying in public as for preaching.  The negligence with which many preachers leave their prayer to accident [chance], while they lay out all their strength on their sermons, is most painfully suggestive of unbelief toward God and indifference to the edification of their brethren.” For many years little thought went into my public prayers. What did I teach my congregation about approaching God when I prayed in a sloppy, poorly thought out manner?  He goes on to say, “The many blemishes which we hear in public prayers are to be traced to two sources: first, deficient piety, and second, deficient preparation.”  We are not holy enough, near enough to God in our daily lives and we do not think about our prayers beforehand.

Then Dabney gives six things we should remember about public prayer.  There is a lot of wisdom in this list.

1. The grace of prayer is to be secured only by a life of personal and private devotion. He who carries a cold heart into the pulpit betrays it not only to God, whose detection of it is inevitable, but almost surely to the hearers also.

2. The pastor should remember that he is praying on behalf of the people, therefore his language should be simple, his petitions corporate, not private and he should make sure he is praying, not preaching…the language of prayer must be wholly unambitious, unaffected, and simple…not such as is proper from a teacher to a congregation, but just such as is appropriate for an accepted sinner speaking to his God.

3. The leader of the church’s prayers shall present distinct and definite petitions, and these not too numerous….The leader of prayer should therefore speak as one who has an errand at the throne, a point to press to God. He should eschew loose generalities of petition, and all that stream of indefinite, goodish talk with which so many prayers are filled, which really expresses nothing save a slumbering faith and a heart void of desire.

4. He who leads the devotions of others must study appropriateness of matter.  He should ask himself what would be uppermost in the hearts of Christians at that time.

5. The language of prayer should be well-ordered and considerate. He who speaks to the Searcher of hearts should beware how he indulges any exaggeration of words, lest his tongue should be found to have outrun his mind and to have “offered the sacrifice of fools.”

6. Above all should the minister enrich his prayers with the language of Scripture. Besides its inimitable beauty and simplicity, it is hallowed and sweet to every pious heart by a thousand associations.  It satisfies the tastes of all; its use effectually protects us against improprieties; it was doubtless given by the Holy Spirit to be a model for our devotions.

Read more

On September 15, 2015 By In Scribblings

New Publication from Kuyperian Press!

Kuyperian Press is proud to announce our third publication.

Dr. David Goetsch has been in the academic and business worlds for over four decades and has become a prized consultant in those fields. This latest publication–originally published by American Vision–is an accessible treatment for the young and older Christian. The question of how we should take our faith to work is an especially salient matter at this day and age. In this work, the author offers not only wise insight into how a Christian ought to conduct himself in secular environments (by secular I am simply referring to environments that are not explicitly Christian in orientation or in vision), but also lays out a vision for a disciplined Christian pattern of work.

Order the Kindle edition now! | Hear an interview with Dr. David Goetsch

Read more

On September 14, 2015 By In Scribblings

Mission understood


 

In his outstanding work, The Mission of God’s People: A Bibical Theology of the Church’s Mission, Christopher Wright shatters modern conceptions of mission and builds in its place a rich biblical missiology. He turns the attention from mission narrowly defined to mission broadly considered. And he does this with tremendous genius and biblical rationale as he navigates the beauty of the Old Covenant scriptures.

According to Wright, echoing closely the more well-known N.T. Wright, “Not everything is cross-cultural evangelistic mission, but everything a Christian and a Christian church is, says and does should be missional in its conscious participation in the mission of God in God’s world.”

Wright sees the whole world as the arena of our mission and calls the Christian church to engage this phenomenal story of creation, fall, redemption in history, and new creation.a As a child of evangelicalism, Wright has seen the concept of mission as a special calling to serve in a far country as the only definition of mission. Instead he calls Christians everywhere to see their calling amidst ignorance and outright rejection of Jesus as their mission field.

There is no intention here of trivializing foreign mission. Its necessity and its supreme importance need to be stressed continually, but the assertion that unless you are engaged in such a task you are not engaging in mission is the mentality Wright so carefully seeks to correct.

  1. Four-fold pattern developed by Wright. Unique to this is the more triumphal addition of the words “in history.”  (back)

Read more

On September 3, 2015 By In Scribblings

Esolen’s Ten Ways: The Wondrous, Terrible Memory

ten ways cover“A developed memory is a wondrous and terrible storehouse of things seen and heard and done. It can do what no mere search engine on the internet can do. It can call up apparently unrelated things at once, molding them into a whole impression, or a new thought. The poet T. S. Eliot understood this creative, associative, dynamic function of a strong memory. The developed imagination remembers a strain from Bach, and smells spinach cooking in the kitchen, and these impressions are not separate but part of a unified whole, and are the essence of creative play. Without the library of the memory—which the Renaissance poet Edmund Spenser compared to a dusty room full of wonders in the attic of the mind, where a wise old man pores over his books, and a little boy called Anamnesis, ‘Reminder,’ sometimes has to climb a ladder to go fetch them—the imagination simply does not have that much to think about, or to play with.”

~Anthony Esolen, Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of a Child

Purchase the book here: http://www.classicalconversationsbooks.com/tenwatodeimo.html

Read more

On August 27, 2015 By In Scribblings

The 2 Great Commandments: 3 Laws We Keep at Once

Love your neighbor as yourself.

This is the 2nd Great Commandment of Jesus’ summary of the law (Matt 22), while it is Paul’s entire summary (Gal 5).

In the first place, Jesus said love God with all your body and being, and secondly, love your neighbor as yourself. The second being like unto the first. Perhaps the second is so like unto the first that Paul did not give a second thought to leaving the first commandment unmentioned when he wrote to the Galatian church.

God is love. The Father is both lover and beloved; the Son is both lover and beloved; the Spirit is both lover and beloved. Bearing His image, we are both lover and beloved—beloved by Him, by our fellow image-bearers, and no less, by ourselves.

We love to be loved. Do we love to love?

We are finite creatures bearing the image of our infinite God, yet in spite of that finitude no temporal qualifications accompany the two great commandments and the necessary corollary to the 2nd: to love ourselves. Every moment, every thought, every word, every deed, every impulse, every glance, every prayer, every purchase, every passing moment is a gift from God that we give back to God and  impart to our neighbor without ever ceasing to love ourselves. The second is like unto the first and the third is logically necessary to fulfill the second.

The commandments are gracious: the mind of God written down for men to read. What a gift!

The work of God in Christ is gracious: we’ve been freed in order to fulfill these laws in this flesh. What a gift!

“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:36-40 ESV)

“For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Galatians 5:13-14 ESV)

 

Read more

Metropolitan Manifesto Richard Bledsoe's "Metropolitan Manifesto: On Being an Advisor to the King in a Pluralistic Empire" Half the world's population now lives in cities, and that is where the Church must learn to serve. Rev. Richard Bledsoe has spent his life as a pastor to city leaders in Colorado. Over the years, he has become the unofficial “bishop of his city,” a recognized “adviser to the king.” In Metropolitan Manifesto: On Being a Counselor to the King in a Pluralistic Empire, Bledsoe lays out the theology behind his work, explains how to minister to leaders, and shares the lessons of his long experience. The Metropolitan Manifesto is an essential, inspiring testament to the transformative power of the gospel in today's world. You can begin placing orders for your copy of Metropolitan Manifesto: On Being the Counselor to the King in a Pluralistic Empire and they will ship out on Tuesday, August 25, 2015 from Athanasius Press.

On August 21, 2015 By In Books, Scribblings

Metropolitan Manifesto by Richard Bledsoe

Metropolitan Manifesto

Metropolitan Manifesto Richard Bledsoe's "Metropolitan Manifesto: On Being an Advisor to the King in a Pluralistic Empire" Half the world's population now lives in cities, and that is where the Church must learn to serve. Rev. Richard Bledsoe has spent his life as a pastor to city leaders in Colorado. Over the years, he has become the unofficial “bishop of his city,” a recognized “adviser to the king.” In Metropolitan Manifesto: On Being a Counselor to the King in a Pluralistic Empire, Bledsoe lays out the theology behind his work, explains how to minister to leaders, and shares the lessons of his long experience. The Metropolitan Manifesto is an essential, inspiring testament to the transformative power of the gospel in today's world. You can begin placing orders for your copy of Metropolitan Manifesto: On Being the Counselor to the King in a Pluralistic Empire and they will ship out on Tuesday, August 25, 2015 from Athanasius Press.

Richard Bledsoe’s “Metropolitan Manifesto: On Being an Advisor to the King in a Pluralistic Empire”

Half the world’s population now lives in cities, and that is where the Church must learn to serve. Rev. Richard Bledsoe has spent his life as a pastor to city leaders in Colorado. Over the years, he has become the unofficial “bishop of his city,” a recognized “adviser to the king.” In Metropolitan Manifesto: On Being a Counselor to the King in a Pluralistic Empire, Bledsoe lays out the theology behind his work, explains how to minister to leaders, and shares the lessons of his long experience.

The Metropolitan Manifesto is an essential, inspiring testament to the transformative power of the gospel in today’s world.

You can begin placing orders for your copy of Metropolitan Manifesto: On Being the Counselor to the King in a Pluralistic Empire and they will ship out on Tuesday, August 25, 2015 from Athanasius Press.

Read more

On August 19, 2015 By In Interviews, Scribblings

Interview with Dr. David Goetsch on Taking Your Faith to Work

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (13.3MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Kuyperian Press is pleased to  announce its third publication, Taking Your Faith to Work: How Christians Can Succeed in Secular Careers. I was able to sit down with David and talk to him about this publication.

Read more