Anti-Freeze Theology

Mike Leake 1 Comment

Last week, a brother in Christ was inquiring on Twitter about something good to take for a sinus infection. Me, being the jerk I am, responded, “anti-freeze cures it every time”.

What I said was true. Absolutely, 100% true. Drink enough antifreeze and you will no longer have a sinus infection. Or breath in your lungs.

If we aren’t careful we can become this way with our theology. We can say true things that wrongly applied leads to death. Or we can highlight something that is totally true (drinking anti-freeze cures sinus infections) but leave out an equally important truth (it also causes death).

This was the problem in Corinth.

One group had a pretty good theological argument for eating food offered to idols. They rightly said that “an idol has no real existence” and that “there is no God but one”. Therefore, when people sacrificed to false gods they were sacrificing to only “so-called gods in heave or on earth”.

In their mind this was the end of the case. These believers with a weak-conscience needed to get with the program and stop denying the freedom of the gospel. So, they ate meat and mocked those whose conscience would not allow them to partake. They used true theology to bludgeon weak believers.

Anti-freeze theology “puffs up”. It is true theology held by an arrogant heart. Paul’s argument throughout 1 Corinthians seems to be that knowing right things is only half the battle. Having a grace-captivated heart that responds in love is also a necessity. To have one without the other is as harmful as suggesting anti-freeze for a sinus infection.

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Don’t drink anti-freeze. Ever. This is my DO NOT DO THIS AT HOME disclaimer. Or at church. Or anywhere. If you drink anti-freeze you will die. So don’t do it.

One Reason Why Movie Theaters Are Packed But Your Bible Study Isn’t

Mike Leake

Why do people who pile into movie theaters on a Friday evening complain that the Bible is boring on a Sunday morning?  One reason, and I stress ONE reason, is that we have not rightly been convinced that the Bible is a compelling story. 

If our view of Scripture is akin to Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth then I doubt very seriously that we will be compelled to open its pages.  At least not until something goes wrong.

I’m one of those guys that attempts a project without the instruction manual. Key word in that sentence is “attempts”. I typically read them after the project is “finished” and I’m holding an extra part in my hand. Or I consult a week or so later when the whole thing topples in on itself because that extra piece really wasn’t an extra piece.

If we view the Bible like an instruction manual then we won’t pick it up until we have significant trouble in our lives. And even then it likely will be misread; rather than seeing Christ you’ll see “answers”. In fact any answer will often do. Occasionally, we consult this instruction book just to reassure ourselves that we are doing just fine in our project. Then we go back to building our piece of junk and don’t consult the manual again until the wheels fall off.

Do you realize how hard it is to convince people to find Life in the Scriptures when this is our view?  Or to convince them to attend your Bible study? It’s like trying to convince people that if they want to really enjoy food they should become acquainted with their refrigerator’s manual of operation.  That’s just silly. 

What if instead we started viewing it as a compelling story told by the Creator of the universe or as a drama that is acted out and then explained by God about God?  (I’m indebted to Michael Lawrence for that thought). 

I’m convinced that a good number of people piling into movie theaters on a Friday night are doing so because they are looking for story.  Not everyone mind you.  But story is powerful.  And we have the most compelling story ever told—the story that all stories comes from—but we’ve decided to sell it as an instruction booklet. 

So, please…Let’s stop it!

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Originally posted here.

How Would You Spend $100 on Pastoral Ministry Resources

Mike Leake 4 Comments

I’m a new pastor. I’ve got about $100 and not much of any library. I want hard copies—non of that e-reader stuff. When I was ordained last week a former professor bought me 5 books from your preaching list. Now I need to focus on building a few resources to help me with pastoral ministry. What do you suggest?

Here is my answer:

  1. Dangerous Calling by Paul Tripp for $12 
  2. The Reformed Pastor by Richard Baxter $8
  3. 9 Marks of a Healthy Church by Mark Dever $11
  4. The Conviction to Lead by Albert Mohler $15
  5. Brothers We Are Not Professionals by John Piper $10
  6. Instruments in the Redeemers Hands by Paul Tripp  $12
  7. Download this letter from John Newton $FREE

That’s about 70 bucks. Take the next $30 and take your wife out on a date.

Also there are a couple of books that you can get online for free that are great classics. I know you like hard copies so maybe you can save up a little money and print these off somewhere. Lectures to My Students by Spurgeon is an invaluable resource as is Charles Bridges’ The Christian Ministry.

I would also advise you to find an older pastor that is willing to mentor you. He’ll be really helpful also when you have questions about how to do a baptism, how to train a Sunday school teacher, etc. And he will talk you off the ledge when you want to give up after a few Monday’s on the job.

Lastly, find another pastor from history and make it your life ambition to follow him as he follows Christ. I’ve begun a lifelong friendship with John Newton—I just wish he knew it. You can get his 6 Volume works online for about $100.

How would you answer this question?

Review of Faithmapping: A Gospel Atlas for Your Spiritual Journey

Mike Leake

I saw a movie once—or maybe it was a dream that I had—where a bunch of people had been given a treasure map. This treasure map, like almost all treasure maps, was to help them find buried treasure. Each thought that they had the whole map. But as the movie—or my dream—unfolded everyone realized that they only had a piece of the map. They needed to combine all the pieces in order to find the treasure map.

Am I a loon? Isn’t there a movie with that plot? Maybe it’s about 4 movies combined into one awesome movie that only shows in the theater of my mind. Either way there is a book that makes a similar point. That book is Faithmapping by Daniel Montgomery and Mike Cosper.

Cosper and Montgomery believe that “we are navigating the Christian life with fragments of a map—bits and pieces of the good news—rather than the whole picture”. Faithmapping is an attempt to “put those map fragments together”. They argue that we ought to think of the gospel in a tri-perspectival manner. Rather than emphasizing the kingdom, the cross, or grace we ought to bring these all together into a whole gospel.

The churches identity and mission flow out the gospel. “…the gospel, the church, and our mission are a coherent, organic, interrelated whole, rather than distinct independent ideas”. That is why the authorial intention of this book is to map a “whole gospel for the whole church on mission in the whole world”.

The book is structured around these themes. First, the whole gospel is outlined. One chapter is given to each of the perspectives (kingdom, cross, grace) and then and argument is made that we need the whole gospel. The gospel informs the churches identity. The second section outlines these five aspects of “gospel-informed identity”. These five might sound familiar: worship, family, servants, disciples, and witnesses. The last section, only one chapter, makes the argument that it is within the whole world that the church lives out their “gospel-transformed lives”.

The book is well written. Jessica Thompson is correct when she says “it is theologically profound and yet very easy to read”. Though it may feel a little like being entered into the middle of a theological discussion, I do believe that the average lay person would have no problem navigating their way through this book. In the same vein a well seasoned theologian would not be bored.

With all of the focus these days on gospel-centered books I believe this book is a welcome addition. I appreciate that Cosmer and Montgomery tie together friends that are often treated as enemies; namely the gospel as kingdom and the gospel of the cross. I also believe every disciple would greatly benefit from a thorough exploration of the second section of this book. The Map It section at the end of each chapter would make this book pretty easily adaptable for a small group gathering.

Personally, I found myself convicted, challenged, and confessing as I read through this book. It helped me as a pastor to articulate points better. But even more than that it helped me as a disciple to be a more holistic follower of Christ.

I would recommend this book to anyone. Get it here.