Borrowed Light: Today in Blogworld 12/28

Mike Leake

With 2008 quickly approaching I am getting prepared for the 2008 McCheyne Reading Plan. Thoughts on the Way will be “hosting” a discussion on what we are reading each day. Also helpful is Ben Edington’s McCheyne Reading Calendar website. Extremely helpful on that site is an RSS Feed that you can subscribe to; this will assist in having the readings delivered to your Google Reader daily. (HT: JT)

Timmy Brister also is continuing his “Best of 2007” series. Today we are treated to 20-16.

Erik Raymond, the Irish Calvinist, heard an excellent sermon this morning…from a bird. What an excellent reminder that all creation (in some way) preaches the gospel to us. What was the bird’s sermon? It appears that he chose for his text Romans 8:18-22. His main point? Raymond says, “It is as if this bird said, “Whoa, son of Adam! That is far enough! Don’t you come running up here on me with that evil, perverted, and contrary heart of yours! Do you not know that that which gives you life is the cause of death in all of the earth!! Your heart is more deceitful than anything else!!” This is an excellent gospel-centered post that you are encouraged to check out.

Josh Harris has given us Part 5 and 6 to his series on Affluenza.

New Series in 2008

Mike Leake

Starting this Wednesday we will begin a new series entitled Enjoying Grace. The focal point of the sermon series is the notion that the gospel is meant to be enjoyed. If we wanted to get Piper-ish about it we would say, “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him”. The hope of this sermon series, then, is to admonish you to delight in God.

I am hoping to complete this sermon series in the 5 weeks in January. On February 6th I will be out of town and Chris Kuenzle will be preaching instead. With Isaiah’s due date being January 7th it is possible that I will miss a Wednesday night, then the final sermon would be pushed back to February 13th.

The sermon series will be thus:

Sermon One: The Gospel is Meant to be Enjoyed
Sermon Two: The Impossible Burden of Legalism
Sermon Three: The Suicidal Exchange of Licentiousness
Sermon Four: The All-Sufficiency of the Christ and His Cross
Sermon Five: John Newton: An Example of Enjoying Grace

Borrowed Light: Today in Blogworld 12/27

Mike Leake

Everyone seems to be wrapping up 2007 on their blogs. Timmy Brister is providing for us the Top 30 stories of 2007. So far he has covered 30-26 and 25-21. The Shepherd’s Scrapbook has also released its Top Post of 2007. I would do one of those lists but it would probably only have about 3 posts, because I am so new to blogging. Maybe at the end of ’08.

Randy Alcorn has responded to journalist Joel Stein’s column on Heaven. Apparently after a Stein quote on heaven graced cups at Starbucks some Christians became angered (mostly at Starbucks not at Stein). They sent him e-mail’s, letters, and Alcorn’s book. This led to a conversation between Alcorn and Stein. On the 21st Stein briefly wrote on this encounter. You can read Stein’s article here, or Alcorn’s response here. I must say that I do have a tremendous amount of respect for Randy Alcorn; but I have to disagree with the way he closed this article. “And maybe someday, after the resurrection, when we’re enjoying God and each other on the New Earth, Joel and Shelly and I and Andy Pettitte, and maybe Jesus too, will reflect on this column as, wind blowing through our hair, we ride the back of a brontosaurus…to the glory of God.”

I have not read all of Alcorn’s book and I certainly am no expert on heaven. But my understanding is that heaven will be an enjoyment of God Himself and not so much his gifts. To me riding the back of a brontosaurus seems to cheapen the worth of Jesus. I know that telling an unbeliever that heaven is an eternal enjoyment of Jesus would seem strange and probably not appealing. And I fear that in order to make the rewards of heaven appealing we have made it about playing baseball, riding roller-coasters, and eating more ice cream flavors than Baskin Robbins. I see two problems with this line of thinking. 1) It communicates that Jesus is not a sufficient enjoyment for heaven–so we need other things. 2) If the unbeliever is “won-over” by the prospect of hitting a home-run off Andy Pettite as heaven, then can we really say that he sufficiently sees Jesus as a treasure?

Perhaps my line of reasoning is faulty; and if I so I welcome correction. I tend to get more excited about heaven not in thinking about riding a brontosaurus but in thinking about Sam Storms depiction of an eternal enjoyment of Jesus.

This has very little to do with blogworld but I have to mention that Sunday nights game between the Colts and Titans is huge if you are a Browns fan. Because they stunk worse than a wet dog rolling in stink bait, they are no longer in control of whether or not they make the playoffs. So if the Brownies are going to make the playoffs (despite a possible 10-6) record they have to have the Titans lose. Looks like their season rests on the shoulders of Jim Sorgi (because Manning will sit at least a half). Why is it never simple for Cleveland fans?

Burroughs–Contentment Does Come From Addition

Mike Leake

Last time we looked at Burroughs he helped us see that contentment comes not so much by way of addition but by the way of subtraction. This time Burroughs will teach us quite the opposite. “A Christian comes to contentment, not so much by getting rid of the burden that is on him, as by adding another burden to himself.” This, of course, makes no sense to the worldly mind. Yet Burroughs continues, “the heavier the burden of your sin is to your heart, the lighter will the burden of your affliction be to your heart, and so you shall come to be content”. Burroughs then continues to give several examples of how this seemingly ludicrous statement is actually the way to contentment.

It appears that what Burroughs is attempting to drive deep into our hearts is the notion that our sin before a holy God is so vile and treacherous that any ill situation is fitting. Contentment, it would appear, comes from realizing that every blessing is far better than we deserve. With a mind framed like this a man will quickly become contented. When we realize that we should have been cast into hell a thousand yesterdays ago we quickly feel our blessed estate. Burroughs challenges us to look at our broken estate and come away with a broken heart towards God as well.

This will sound like strange counsel to our 21st century ears. We are told quite the opposite. The prosperity gospel would have none of this teaching. If I am experiencing a trial then it can be directly linked to my lack of faith, says the prosperity teacher. If I would but believe harder and give more then God will pull me out of this mire due to my sin. Burroughs is telling the prosperity teacher that our redemption is enough. The Cross of Christ rescuing us from the burden of sin is all the prosperity that we need. When we feel the burden of our sin, and when the Lord graciously lifts it off, we will experience contentment.

This message will likewise sound foreign to the easy-believism of the 21st century. Simply pray this prayer and God will forgive you, only be sincere, is the cry of the proponents of cheap grace. An adherent to easy-believism will seldom be content when trials come. When the scorching sun comes they will wither away. He has never felt the burden of his sin. The roots of the gospel has never gone deep. He only considers Jesus as a band-aid or a get out of hell free card. The true offensiveness of himself and utter ruin he faces are blind from his sight. He was told to pray a prayer but never to feel the painful burden of sin. Burroughs is admonishing easy-believers to look to their sin. When they sense their utter depravity and hopelessness before God; and when they are opened to see the total justification of Christ; then, and only then, will they find contentment. The Cross is enough!