Today in Blogworld 02.14.14

Mike Leake 1 Comment

Literally Taking the Bible Literal

I appreciate this article. It might seem like it would complicate things and make your Bible Study difficult but it’s actually the opposite. All he is saying is this: “So the literal meaning of a passage of scripture, the single meaning that the author intended to convey to the original audience, is found in the common usage of words understood in their appropriate circles of context.”

5 Ways to Train Your Kid To Use Porn

Of course nobody wants to do that. But this is a sobering warning. “Porn training doesn’t happen by volition. It happens by default if parents aren’t attuned to the kind of home they’ve created.”

Letter to Lecrae and Andy Mineo

I wasn’t aware of the criticism these men are receiving, but I still appreciated this heartfelt letter.

The Dangers of Entrepreneurship in Pastoral Ministry

Good word from Matt Svoboda.

Never serve on a jury again:

The Beauty of a Predictable God

Mike Leake

An essential part of [Jewish] understanding was that because of his character, God is utterly predictable, unlike the pagan gods, who were not. God will always act in ways that are consistent with one another. (David Wells, God in the Whirlwind, Kindle Locations 1170-1172)

I grew up worshipping a god that was much different than the utterly predictable God that David Wells speaks about. My god was wild. He was capricious. He was big and bold wearing a red suit and flaunting his gluttonous cookie-eating habits.

I diligently served this flamboyant god as I left carrots for his friend Rudolph and day old cookies and milk to appease his wrath for getting my name on the board for talking. I still held out hope that my bearded friend would leave me a Nintendo. You never really knew, though. Was I good enough? Had I left enough cookies as penance? Was my letter to him cute and acceptable enough?

Then one day while playing in my parents room I discovered something that was most interesting. I could have swore that it was glowing. My heart began racing with joy and yet a strange bewilderment. There it was…my Nintendo. “But wait”, my little mind wondered, “why did my jolly friend leave this present unwrapped a couple weeks before the glorious day of his visitation?”

That’s when my parents broke the news to me. My god wasn’t real. He was only a fairy tale. But I was assured that there was a God that was indeed very real and I ought to still believe in him.

Strange thing though, I only tweaked the old god and gave him a different name. This new god, I learned, was more powerful but he was just as wild. And this god was just like the other one, only he didn’t really like cookies. Instead he liked these things called prayers and promises. He was just as concerned with me being a good boy. And I had the same sweat and fear overtake my little heart when I wasn’t a righteous lad.

You never really knew if he was happy with you or not. Had I made big enough vows? Did he accept my prayers? Was I good enough?

Meeting the Predictable God

When I was older I encountered the real living God that my parents had spoke of many years before. Yahweh was his name and He saved me.

But old gods don’t die easy. I met that familiar god when I was introduced to the prosperity gospel. He was a wild and unpredictable god that would respond to my seeds of faith and powerful words of faith and my heart of abiding trust. These were his cookies and milk. And I was assured that so long as I followed his rules of prosperity everything would go swell. And he’d also take me on this wild ride of unpredictable stuff that would blow my mind.

Over the years that old god has been replaced by the beauty of the living God. Yes, an utterly predictable God. A God of whom I know that every time I confess my sin that he is faithful and just to cleanse me of unrighteousness. He is a God that I can confidently say that is working all things together to bring my greatest good; namely, a conformity to Christ.

He’s predictable in His love. It doesn’t change.

He’s predictable in His response to sin. He never likes it.

He’s predictable in His truth. It’s always found in His unchanging Word.

He’s predictable in His view of me. It’s always related to my union with His Son.

He’s predictable in HIs dedication to His glory. His glory He won’t give to another. The prideful will be humbled. And the humbled will be exalted. Always.

That’s why it is fitting for us to remember the character of our great God when things seem so out of hand. When it seems as if the world is turning and moving in ways that are opposed to our God (Read Habakkuk) let us rest in the beauty of serving a predictable God. It is because we know Him that we can trust and say, “Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.

Delight, today, in our utterly predictable God.

Today in Blogworld 02.13.14

Mike Leake

D.A. Carson On What Makes a Good Commentary

He should have just said, “It has the name Carson on it…” and then dropped the mic.

The Execution of Lady Jane Grey

History nerds like me find this stuff interesting.

Seven Problems with an Activity-Driven Church

I wonder if there an equal seven problems with an activity-neglecting church. I’m not sure.

Now Available: New Messages on Union with Christ

All of the sessions from the DG Pastor’s Conference are now online.

A history of break-up songs:

(HT: 22 Words)

Biff and His Book

Mike Leake 1 Comment

In Back to the Future II, Biff Tannen, the stories lug-headed bad guy, travels back to 1955 and hands a Sports Almanac from 2015 to his 1955 self. Biff becomes the “luckiest man on earth” and predictably quite successful. Knowing the outcome of every sporting event might make your Super Bowl party a tad boring but it’d make your wallets quite fat.

Sometimes I think about how sweet it would be to have a world almanac that would “predict” the events that were going to take place for the next sixty years. But I’ll tell you what I’d really like. I’d like a lengthy letter from Jesus that outlined all of the significant things that were going to happen in the next 2,000 something years.

You might think I’m getting ready to tell you that we have such a book and it’s called the Bible. Now go read it!

But I’m not because that isn’t true.

The Bible isn’t synonymous to Biff’s Book, no matter what television preachers with rapture charts try to tell you. It’s simply not intended to secretly tell us the outcome of world events. So if I’m going to have something like Biff’s book then I need that special letter written by Jesus.

I’d like it to include things like this:

  • I’m returning on this date: _________
  • In such and such a year there is going to be a crazy debate in the church about worship styles. Here is what I say on the issue.
  • People are going to divide over this thing called Calvinism. It’s a debate about words that we used in the Bible like election, predestination, etc. Here is what I have to say on the issue. (He then gives a helpful illustration that helps us somehow understand the relationship between divine sovereignty and human freedom).
  • Watch out for a guy named Adolf.
  • This is when the earth was created. Do the math. That’s how old the earth is.
  • This is precisely how I would like to see the church ordered… (Here he’d outline everything on baptism, the Lord’s Supper, altar calls, and everything else we’ve divided over).
  • Best way to win a debate with an atheist…
  • Some of you will have really weird and befuddling things happen in your life. Here is why they happened.
  • Some of you will have situations arise in your church that will leave you scratching your head and not having a clue what to do. Here is exactly what you need to do.
  • Some of you will be left wondering what decision you should make. Here is what you should decide in every circumstance.
  • Here are a few tips for inventions that you might want to consider. Be sure to invent them before such and such a date because somebody else will beat you too it. Invent it first and get filthy stinking rich and give your proceeds to the cause of missions.

That’d be such a wonderful letter. If we had that letter we’d be more successful than Biff and we’d do things that really mattered. We wouldn’t build Biff’s Pleasure Paradise. We would build a beautiful church that was set up exactly the way that Jesus wanted it.

But no such letter has been uncovered. We’ve blown it on inventing the light bulb before Edison and we missed the boat on watching out for that guy named Adolf.

So why didn’t Jesus write us that letter?

For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly. –Psalm 84:11 (emphasis mine)