Borrowed Light

Why Your Faith Might Not Be Able to Stand in the Marketplace

January 8, 2015Mike Leake

We really hate being seen as dolts. Most of us want to be seen as one that is fair and balanced and intellectually honest. And because of this there is a lie that we far too quickly believe.

This lie is that if I don’t spend at least an equal amount of time listening to contrary opinions then I’m being brain-washed and I’m intellectually dishonest.

And so in an effort to be seen as wise and humble and willing to be open-minded we are tempted to concede far too much. We abandon Christian presuppositions and embrace presuppositions of unbelief, and then wonder why our faith is rocked and it can’t stand in the marketplace.

Friend, the reason why your faith often can’t stand in the marketplace is because you’ve cut its legs out when you decided the only rational way to engage was to abandon Christian presuppositions. To spend an inordinate amount of time deliberating isn’t making steps of faithfulness it is taking steps towards apostasy.

I like what Spurgeon says on this:

“Oh but surely you are open to conviction?” they say. We are open to no conviction that shall be contrary to the Truth of God that has saved us from going down to the pit. We are open to no conviction that shall rob us of our eternal hope and of our glorying in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. We do not deliberate, for we have decided. To be forever holding the Truth of God as though it might yet turn out to be a lie were to lose all the comfort of it. To be forever prepared to desert our Lord and Master to follow some brand new philosopher would be perpetual disloyalty…We neither speculate nor hesitate. But we know whom we have believed and by His Grace we will cleave to Him in life and in death. (From Spurgeon, Trembling at the Word)

There comes a point when asking and trying to answer perpetual questions isn’t intellectual honesty its just unbelief masquerading itself around as humility. Do you believe in Christ or not? If you do, then enough deliberating.

Imagine with me the year is sometime around 27 AD and Jesus is giving his Sermon on the Mount. Across town there’s another guy named Chuck the Prophet that is also giving a speech, his topic is on this false prophet named Jesus who comes from Nazareth.

Now let me ask you a question. If you profess to be a disciple of Christ which of these sermons do you frequent? Which of these would you follow to learn about kingdom life, love, ethics, etc.? What does it say if you are constantly following around Chuck the Prophet in order to learn about the validity of Jesus of Nazareth? How well do you think you are going to grow as a disciple of Jesus of Nazareth if you spend all your time even trying to debunk the ramblings of Chuck?

So what’s it going to be? Are you going to devote yourself as a disciple and be called a dunce and a damned-fool or are you going to bow at the idol of open-mindedness?

Yes there is a humility that we must embrace as finite people. But there is also a faux humility that positions itself as the humble determiner of truth that we dare not embrace. Let’s be a people humble enough to cleave to Jesus alone.

Today in Blogworld 01.08.15

January 8, 2015Mike Leake

What Would Jesus Say to Someone Like Leelah Alcorn?

You’ve likely heard of the 17-year old kid who killed himself over gender-identity confusion. I think Garrett Kell offers a gracious response here.

I Want to Read a John Piper Book, but Where Should I Start?

Handy guide to reading Piper.

30 Things Turning 30 in 2015

This makes me feel terribly old.

Five Questions with Twitter Rockstar Sammy Rhodes

Sammy Rhodes is his typical funny self in this interview—but there are also nuggets of wisdom for online interaction in this post.

I’m intrigued by watching hummingbirds fight. Who knew?

Review of Gospel Formed by J.A. Medders

January 7, 2015Mike Leake 1 Comment

Gospel Formed, by J.A. Medders, has become one of the most difficult books that I have reviewed. The difficulty, I am convinced, has more to do with my own journey and less to do with the book itself. But I believe an exploration of my difficult in reviewing actually will help provide a basis for the review itself.

My first difficulty is that I am utterly sick of books with the word “gospel” somewhere in the title. As I’ve noted previously, “We are becoming proficient at telling people gospel but not showing people gospel…What I mean is that we insert the word gospel here and there rather than showing the gospel.”

This makes reviewing a book entitled Gospel Formed difficult. I know that my own boredom with this genre will have an impact on the way that I read and review the book. And it is not fair to the author to give bad marks on his book just because he happened to write it later than other “Gospel” books.

And honestly this book does not deserve a bad review. If judged entirely on its own apart from any sort of gospel-speak movement the book is quite helpful.

In fact, I believe the author himself is a tad bored with the gospely drivel coming out of many of our publishing houses. He says this much when he notes his aim is to “not merely enjoy a parade of gospel-centered jargon” (13). And again when he says, “Pharisees can yack away with hyphenated gospel-talk, but we are after the spirit and truth of gospel-centeredness: worship.” (26)

So to review this book as if it falls in line with all of the other gospely gobbledygook would be a great disservice. But that leads me to my second problem. I know how to write a review as a gospel-centered sycophant and care little about doing that. And so I fear by giving high praise to this book with Gospel in its title I’ll be guilty of pimping known commodities—something I swore off awhile back.

Nonetheless, I will suggest this book as one worthy of your reading.

My Honest And Brief Review

With all of those difficulties before me I offer you an honest and brief review of the book.

If you read this book as J.A. Medders has intended I am convinced that it will help you to worship Jesus more. He writes in a fun and engaging way. Read on devotional per day and chew on the passages of Scripture like the author suggests. There are nuggets in here that will benefit you greatly.

There are a few occasions in which I believe the author edges towards a type of gospel-speak sanctification* but for the most part I believe this is the type of book that gospel-centered literature needs to resemble. He is not just telling us the gospel he is showing us the gospel. And for that reason I deeply appreciate the work put into this book.

So I would whole-heartedly recommend this book as a devotional to help us delight in Jesus more. I know there were sections in the book that stirred up delight in my own heart and for that I am grateful.

You can purchase the book here.

—

What I mean by “gospel-speak sanctification” is the idea that if we just remind ourselves of grace and speak the gospel to ourselves then we will somehow become more like Christ. While I’m convinced of the need to preach the gospel to ourselves daily, I believe sanctification involves a little more than just remember the gospel. And I believe the author would agree with this, which is why I said he “edges toward” such a thing in a few places.