Today in Blogworld 04.07.14

Mike Leake

Band of Bloggers 2014

I’m astonished at how many free books we’ll be receiving at this years Band of Bloggers. This is the list. I am also pleased that my book, Torn to Heal, will be given away.

Some Thoughts on Self-Promotion and Why Arrogant People Think it’s Wrong

The topic at Band of Bloggers is on platform and the gospel. I found this reflection from Donald Miller interesting. I’m not saying that I agree with all of his points—but I found them interesting.

Are You a Grammar Cop?

If you are then you will love this infographic.

Christian Celebrity and the Conference Culture

I agree. And I am also going to T4G and will enjoy every bit of it. I think part of the problem here is that most people don’t know who the experts are in a given field. But we do know the names of really faithful Bible teachers. Also those that are experts in a field might not be the best at speaking about said field.

PBS looks at New Calvinism:

Sibbes and the Primacy of Christ (YWS Week 13)

Nick Horton 2 Comments

richardsibbessmallWelcome to a year of reading Richard Sibbes together! The reading plan for the entire year can be accessed here. I encourage you to stick with us, allow yourself time to read, and soak in the riches of this gifted and prolific Puritan preacher. You will be edified and encouraged.

If you have trouble with how Sibbes used words, check out the Lexicons of Early Modern English for definitions from the period.

Summary/Engagement

What would the Bible be if Christ never lived? Or, what would the Bible be if there was no mention of Christ? It would be a book of laws. A book of morals and good truths. A book of history and poetry with riveting narrative. Would it be like Beowulf or The Odyssey: great fanciful tales from millennia ago. Some indeed hold the Bible to be nothing more than myth and fantasy. Non-believers argue that the Bible is inconsistent, self-contradictory, and irrelevant to modern life. Christ never lived, they say, and if he did he was just a good teacher of great moral truths like many other notable philosophers of antiquity.

However, if you spend some time in the Bible you start to realize that the Old Testament points forward to something. Who is the seed of the woman in Genesis 3:15 who will crush the head of the Serpent? What sense is there in the Bronze Serpent story, where people must merely look and be healed? And what of the sacrificial system of temple Judaism where the streets must have run red with blood from the altar. Why do we have these constant appearances of prophets, priests, and kings? What is the significance of David boldly coming forward while Israel cowered behind under the shadow of Goliath, and slaying this giant that no one from Israel could kill, much less fight?

The Old Testament points to something, specifically to someone. The Law lets all humanity know that no one is right with God in his own merit. No one can say they are without sin. Without Christ we would be left in misery, realizing we do not measure up to God’s demand for our holiness. Our lives would be one of pain and failure as we sought to reconcile ourselves to God by appeasing him with sacrifices and moralistic obedience.

But we are not left there. Christ appears in the flesh. Christ accomplishes a mission. Christ is crucified and then glorified. In light of this momentous event we now see all other things.

“What is the scope of the whole Scriptures but Christ?”

Application / Further Discussion

Christ is the Rosetta Stone of the entire Bible. He is the key by which the doors of the Scriptures are unlocked. Sibbes called him the Spirit of all truths. Christ is the seed of the woman who crushed the head of the Serpent on the cross. Christ is lifted high, like that bronze serpent of old, that we may look and be healed. Christ is our David, as we shake like frightened children, as he defeats sin.

“The kings, and priests, and prophets, they were types of Christ; all the promises they were made and fulfilled in Christ. The law ceremonial aimed at Christ; the law moral is to drive us to Christ.”

The Bible makes no sense without Christ at the center. Revelation progresses to a climactic point at Golgotha where the longing of the Old Testament promises reach their crescendo in the death and subsequent resurrection of Christ the Lord. Here, here is the point of time on which our faith is founded. Here is the key that unlocks the door of his word.

“Christ is the Spirit of the Scriptures, of all truths, of all ordinances. We may by this be able to reconcile the Scriptures, one place with another, where they seem to contradict.”

In your reading of the Bible, do you seek to understand more of Christ? Christ is not the point of every unit of text. However, every text can tell us something of ourselves, our lives, God, or human nature by which we can understand more fully Christ. When the Bible speaks of horrible things in Hosea 13:16, you will not find Christ explicitly there, but you will find the depravity of man that necessitates a savior. Taken a verse at a time the Song of Solomon doesn’t seem to point to Christ. However, as a whole, it points to the deep love between Christ and his church.

Lastly, reading the Bible without seeking Christ is indeed like reading a book of stories, or myths, or fables. Until you believe in your heart that he is who he says he is, that God raised him from the dead, and confess with your mouth, you will not know him. The Scriptures point to Christ. They find their fulfillment in Christ. They find their reconciliation in Christ. We too can find our reconciliation in Christ.

Repent. Believe.

 

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Last week, we read “Violence Victorious.”

Next week, we’ll read chapters 3 and 4 of Glorious Freedom: The Excellency of the Gospel Above the Law.

Today in Blogworld 04.04.12

Mike Leake 1 Comment

40 Joys Through Jesus

David Murray has found in the Scriptures forty joys that we have through Jesus.

Platt Wasn’t Enough for My Church

And unless you go to Brook Hills he isn’t enough for your church either.

Are Your Efforts to Contextualize the Gospel All About You?

This is an interesting question and something I’ve wondered myself at times.

The Fault Lines Before the Evangelical Earthquake

I really wish that Trevin Wax was wrong here—but I don’t think he is. And yet that fact still gives me hope because I know that the Lord loves His Church and whatever happens will ultimately end in His glory and our good.

If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to be Superman this might help:

Mayhem, Murder, and the Body of Christ

Joan Hartley 3 Comments

The wolves slink over the knoll, first one and then another. Bold in their efforts to assess their prey, one passes a male ox who notes its presence but raises no alarm.

Patient.

Focused.

Now committed, they act. Working in concert, one wolf scatters the herd while the other zeroes in on its weakest member. The music builds. My heart races. Their goal to separate the calf from the others is accomplished, and the wolves combine forces to bring down the target of their premeditated murder.

A struggle ensues. Mayhem builds. Tufts of baby ox hair fly. I hear the isolated calf’s panicked screams and the wolves’ fearsome snarls even though the video registers neither. Certain that the little ox’s death is imminent, I wince and begin to turn my head to the left.

Ten degrees.

Twenty.

At forty, I stop. Though I can still see the wounded calf and its attackers in my peripheral vision to the right, what my eyes capture on the left changes everything.

As if in a moment of epiphany, the herd stops its crazed stampeding and turns toward the scene of unfolding violence. Regrouping, its members shake off their confusion. Is it instinct or is it thought? It would seem that instinct caused them to scatter, but a higher level of reasoning results in what happens next.

They advance.

As one.

And now they charge doing a bit of their own scattering. Unlike the wolves, however, the herd’s goal is not one of destruction but of preservation. As quickly as they free the calf, they sweep their weakened member between their powerful hooves and shield him in the midst of their great, hulking frames. Circling their young, they pivot. Now facing outward brandishing horns like weapons of bronze, the mighty oxen dare the wolves to complete their murderous deed.

The narrator is heard saying these words, “Musk oxen have been observed forming these defensive circles around the elderly and sick as well as their young,” and I can almost hear the unspoken ending “for centuries.” The camera zooms in on the bewildered but most relieved calf’s sweet face. And then in one final unified move, the herd advances slowly toward the defeated wolves who now slink back over the knoll from where they came.

Tired.

Wasted.

And my heart sings.

To be sure, wolves do what wolves do, and wolves need to eat. There is no one leaving bags of kibble for them to consume a civilized diet, nor should there be. I would not begrudge a wild carnivore his daily “bread”. So here is where I must leave my examination of how the tundra’s fittest survive and turn my attention to what this nature drama can teach those of us in the Body of Christ.

Do we, as the Church, work in unison to protect our weakest members? Are we intentional in our missions of rescue? Can we say we are confident and unified in our show of strength when the weapon we wield is the very Word of God? And what of those of us who desire our “freedom” apart from the Body? What is our plan of defense when the evil one comes, for indeed he is hungry and like a lion is “seeking someone to devour” (1 Pet. 5:80).

God in his providence has provided many lessons in nature. May this be one that encourages us in the Church to live in unity. Defending. Rescuing. Permitting ourselves to be rescued. Whether strong, weak, old, young.

In centuries past and for centuries to come.

Watch the video:

(HT: Challies)