9 Things You Should Know About Down Syndrome
Joe Carter continues his series on nine things you need to know, this time he focuses on down syndrome.
I especially appreciate the first point.
Facing the Music with Jennifer Knapp
Trevin Wax hits this one out of the park. Seriously. One of the best reviews I’ve ever read.
Husbands, Hold Your Wife’s Hand
This is a sobering reminder.
This made me laugh…poor guy:
I completely agree with Dr. Russell Moore’s response to the recent non-action by the Supreme Court which all but legalized gay-marriage in five states. Dr. Moore closed with this:
Let’s hold fast to what the gospel reveals about the meaning of marriage and the gospel behind it. Let’s articulate a Christian vision of what marriage should be, and let’s embody that vision in our churches. Let’s love our gay and lesbian neighbors. Let’s move forward with persuasion and with confidence. This is no time for retreat or for resentment. This is a time for mission.
That first sentence is key. My contention is that we’ve all but lost the gay marriage debate because years ago we lost the gospel. Instead of the heralding the biblical gospel of a holy God redeeming unworthy sinners the church has tried to Christianize our cultural narcissism.
At this point, to many, opposing same sex marriage feels like opposing the gospel. In our culture the good news of Jesus is that God primarily exists to make me happy. God has a wonderful and prosperous plan for my life, every thing He does is aimed at accomplishing this goal.
When this “gospel” confronts homosexuality it is powerless.
If this is your gospel try arguing against this: “Being gay is how God made me. Loving my partner is the most natural and joyful thing to me. It makes me happy. And doesn’t God want us all to be happy?”
Our narcissistic “gospel” believes that opposing personal happiness is opposing God. This is why in our cultural climate it feels like you are opposing the gospel by opposing same-sex marriage. And this is why many professing believers are accepting the above argument.
If it feels anti-gospel to oppose same-sex marriage my guess is that your gospel has a little too much culture in it.
Confronting the cultural gospel
This is less about homosexuality and more about the gospel. While our culture scoffs at these truths, homosexuality is but the natural outgrowth. And when our churches begin to give and twist these truths—they too will bow a knee to Uncle Sam’s gospel.
1. God is radically dedicated to your joy…in Him.
Forget that last part and you miss the gospel. God is the most glorious and joyful being in the universe. He is radically dedicated to our finding joy. But he is the fountain of joy, not us. Therefore, he defines joy and happiness. Not us. The biblical gospel tells us that what you believe is happiness in a homosexual union is but a sham. And it is a sham because…
2. God is holy and really does forbid certain actions.
There is more joy found in holiness than in sin. Sin really is met with God’s wrath. He cannot tolerate it because it destroys His kingdom and His people. He created us and he defines for us what is right and what is wrong. You and I do not. And as Creator…
3. God has certain intentions for marriage.
God has set up marriage as a picture of the blessed Gospel. Marriage is not primarily for us. Marriage is meant to be a display of the greatness of God. While marriage makes us both holy and happy it is but a shadow of our beautiful God. As Sam Allberry has rightly noted, “A man and a man, or a woman and a woman, cannot reflect the union of Christ and the church, instead only reflecting Christ and Christ or church and church”.
4. Jesus saves us from very real guilt.
I acknowledge that my guilt before a holy God is very real. Though, my sin is different it is no less odious before God. My sin deserves the wrath of God. On the cross Jesus died for real, tangible, and ugly sins that I have committed. And he did this because of love. He has saved us from very real guilt. And this same Jesus calls us to die to self and find life in Him.
5. It’s all about Jesus.
It’s not about us, it’s about Him. And that is really the crux of the issue. If you’ve got a gospel that places anything in the center except for Jesus—then you’ve missed it.
This is why I’ve said previously:
It’s not just homosexuality that needs to be confronted. It’s an entire mindset. The gospel directly confronts these “virtues” and defines them as the vices they really are. What we need in our day is a robust gospel. One that has God at the center instead of man. One that is willing to suffer for the sake of Christ. One that has it’s identity grounded in Christ and His work and not our own innate awesomeness. One that believes our greatest virtue is conformity to Christ and not some “being true to myself” hogwash.
This is what is needed. And the gospel really does have the power to rock mindsets and transform entire cultures.
Bleep! Why Christians Shouldn’t Cuss
This article should never have to be written. But potty-mouthed Christians seem to be on the rise so I’m thankful for Clint Archer’s words here.
It is unreal how much some of these people look like cartoon characters.
Are We Using the Word “Brokenness” Biblically?
Bob Kellerman tackles the question. What do you think?
Job told God that he was being cruel. Should he have? Can we?
I must confess I didn’t even know Brits used two separate taps—but not that I do—the explanation for why is also interesting:
Lord I want more of You
Living water rain down on me
Lord I need more of You
Living breath of life come fill me upWe are hungry
We are hungry
We are hungry for more of You
We are thirsty, oh Jesus
We are thirsty for more of you
This was one of my favorite songs in college. It summarized the cry of my heart. I wanted to know God more. I wanted to have a deeper relationship with Jesus (whatever that means). I wanted more passion.
But I think what I really wanted was some strawberry pie.
Strawberry pie is the perfect cap to an awesome meal. It’s sugary sweet goodness on top of graham cracker crust never fails to make me smile. I’m always hungry for strawberry pie.
Gospel hunger isn’t strawberry pie hunger, though.
Strawberry pie hunger is a craving from a mostly full belly. It’s a luxury. The sugar on top of an already satisfied life. You can be hungry for strawberry pie but if you don’t get your wish you aren’t going to die…you’ll just be slightly less happy.
In my opinion, that describes much of our hunger for the Lord. We’ve got things mostly together on our own, but we are hungry for a little Jesus to sweeten up our lives. And so we sing about being hungry for Jesus…
But I think we are really just singing for some strawberry pie.
And then the heavens become silent.
God is silent because the gospel isn’t meant to be a strawberry pie. God and his precious gospel will never simply be the dessert to your already cozy life. He can’t be. To happily take his place as a luxury in your life would be for him to bow a knee to his competitors. He can’t cease being God. Therefore, he can’t simply be your strawberry pie.
No, the gospel is for desperate people. As Martin Luther said,
The Gospel tastes best to those who lie in the straits of death or whom an evil conscience oppresses; for in that case “hunger is a good cook,” as we say, one who makes the food taste good. For when they feel their misery, the heart and conscience can hear nothing more soothing than the Gospel; for this they long, on this they are eager to feed, nor can they get too much of it…But that hardened class who live in their own holiness, build on their own works, and feel not their own sin and misery, do not taste this food. Whoever sits at a table and is hungry relishes all; however, he who is sated relishes nothing but is filled with loathing at the most excellent food. (Quoted from William Farley, Gospel Powered Humility, 69)
This is great news because we are desperate. We are broken. The problem, though, is that we like to convince ourselves and others that we are better off than we actually are. We like to pretend that all we really need is a strawberry pie type of gospel. We do this to our peril.
The gospel will never be sweet as a dessert. The gospel is your life. It is your sustenance. Without the gospel we die. The sooner we get this the sweeter our gospel will become.