2008-11-04 The Brief

Posted on by
Reply

As America, and much of the world, awaits the outcome of the election here are two articles that I hope prove to be helpful as you reflect on this election and elections to come. These articles represent a balance that I think is lost in most pulpits around election season when many pastors preach the gospel of this kingdom and abandon the gospel of the Kingdom. I am glad that Piper, Driscoll, and many like them have kept the focus on the true gospel and provided us with a biblical perspective of politics.

Mark Driscoll – In God We Do Not Trust

John Piper – Let Christians Vote As Though They Were Not Voting

2008-10-21 The Brief

Posted on by
Reply
Everything Sexual
  • The Atlantic has published an article that is as hard to read as it is necessary to read.  A Boy’s Life details the lives of several transgender children as well as various methods of treatment, surgery, and hormone therapy and the debate surrounding it all.

    • This was a very hard read especially when you consider that these are children. I do not know any children who are going through this nor can I imagine a place in culture where a four year old desires to change his/her gender. Regardless of what I can, or cannot imagine, there are places where this is occurring and such occurrences will be the ever increasing norm.

    My question is what does the gospel have to say to this? If you are a parent how would you respond to your child? If you are a pastor how does this change the church’s mission or how does the church’s unchanging mission address these issues?

  • In a similar vein Al Mohler has done a series of posts on the gay marriage debate that are worth reading. I appreciate that he points out that while many would argue that it homosexuality is normative that if one views this issue from a global perspective that “same-sex marriage is, by any measure, the exception rather than the rule.” I am not particularly interested in the politics of this debate; however, I do wonder if the only response that followers of Christ have to such a situation is the “opt out.” Your child will be exposed to sex, they will be exposed to it at an early age, and they will be exposed to a wider variety of accepted modes of sexual expression than at any point in US history. As parents desiring to run a gospel-centered home how do you address these issues when they are being raised at such a young age? As pastors how do you equip parents to address such pressing issues?

    • So, What’s Really at Stake in the Gay Marriage Debate? Part One
    So, What’s Really at Stake in the Gay Marriage Debate? Part Two

Politics

2008-10-06 The Brief

Posted on by
7
Culture
Missiology
  • Early last month Dr. David Sills, of SBTS, posted a fantastic article, entitled “The Brain Drain,” in which he looks at contemporary evangelicalism and how our desire to prepare missionaries has taught missions well but failed to model it and is in some sense counterproductive. From the article:

    • It is amazing to me that the most eloquent Bible expositors and scholars who exegete so beautifully the missionary journeys of Paul have often never been on one themselves. . . . They model a ministry that talks about the nations but does not walk among the nations.

    The brightest and best aspire to follow and emulate these godly teachers, preachers, Bible scholars, and theologians who unfortunately do not model missions as a worthy life investment. As much as young people want it to, missions does not seem to fit into any responsible, biblical expression of ministry because none of the leaders or inner circle members is missions focused in anything but talk. After a time of confused struggling, young people pack away their passion for missions as misguided zeal.

    I would love for you to read this article and then share your thoughts.

Theology

The Darkness and the Glory

Posted on by
Reply
Today I received an e-mail from Dr. Greg Harris, Professor of Bible Exposition at TMS, concerning his upcoming book The Darkness and the Glory: His Cup and the Glory From Gethsemane to the Ascension. His previous book The Cup and the Glory: Lessons on Suffering and the Glory of God was phenomenal as his in depth exposition and application challenged me deeply. He has made a sample of the first three chapters available in PDF for download here; I would highly recommend reading this sample and then buying both of these books. I will post to let you know when the newest work is available to purchase

I also recommend listening to the following teaching series at Grace Community Church where Dr. Harris walks through The Cup and the Glory.

Make Disciples not Programs

Posted on by
Reply

This week The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary began their first ever Great Commission Lecture Series; there are several more lectures to come please check that link for updates over the next month.  Starting the series off was David Platt, lead pastor of the Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, Alabama.  In his lecture he offered the following criticism of the lack of biblical vision in SBC churches and followed it up will a practical exhortation to recover the mission of God.

“When you ask a pastor to describe his vision and we say things like, ‘my vision is to have this many hundred or this many thousand people in church, or to have this many buildings,’ when we say things like that we show that somewhere along the way we have lost our pursuit of Christ in the pursuit of stuff and the church. Christ should be our vision. . . .  One of the greatest challenges that I, and the staff that I lead, face is trying to reorient our thinking: the purpose of the staff is not to plan events or to provide services. The purpose of the staff, of church leaders, is to equip people, to build people, to love Christ and proclaim the glory of Christ to the nations” (emphasis added).

An article by the Towers Online is available here and MP3s of the lectures are available below.

·         “The Presence of Christ in the Great Commission”

·         “The Command of Christ in the Great Commission”

·         “The Authority of Christ in the Great Commission”