KELLER ON FAiTH

It is not the strength of your faith but the object of your faith that actually saves you. Strong faith in a weak branch is fatally inferior to weak faith in a strong branch.

[from pg 234 in "Reason for God"]

GOSPEL COALiTiON

I just went to Chicago for a pastor's conference - The Gospel Coalition. It was a really sweet time. A few of my seminary pals and I try to go to one every year for good fellowship and encouragement. The Spirit really challenged me to "fan into flame the gift of God" [2 Tim 1.6] and "fight the good fight" [2 Tim 4.7].

The conference theme was "Entrusted with the Gospel: Living the Vision of 2 Timothy."

One thing I absolutely detest about these conferences is that usually it feels like Calvinists patting other Calvinists on the back for being Calvinists. How utterly stupid. I usually walk into the huge conference hall and am immediately drenched with pride. I feel like I know more than at least 80% of these yahoos, who have only read every John Piper book and can give you 8 proof texts for each point in TULIP.

I was talking to this one guy who was probably about my age. I asked him what had encouraged him the most thus far. He mumbled off something vague and then jokingly said that he wasn't going to wash his hand because he shook Mark Driscoll's. I wanted to equally throw up, cry, and kick him in the face.

But our God is good and wise. The way that He humbled me in all of this, which was almost worth the trip itself, was through music. On one side you have the older pastors with their high-water pleated pants, braided belts, and "casual" Sunday morning blazers. On the other hand you have your late 20s/early 30s, black rimmed glasses, bed-headed [or faux hawk] church planters who are going to change the world because they have a tattoo.

BUT...

When all 4,000 of us came together to sing, those oddities didn't mean a thing. I just can't have pride in my heart at the Mark Driscoll-look-alike seven seats down when we're all belting out "He breaks the power of cancelled sin. He sets the prisoner free. His blood can make the foulest clean, His blood availed for me."

Slowly, my arrogance was shot down. And it was not only shot down, but transformed. By the end of our time, I didn't look at those different from me and think, "What the heck? Are you kidding me?!" I was able to look them eye-to-eye, smile, and ask our Father in my heart to mold them, use them, and humble them.

Lastly, the reason that guys like Tim Keller, John Piper, and Mark Driscoll are loved is because they DO love Jesus and the Spirit has empowered them for kingdom work. So, it was a great blessing to sit under their teaching and wisdom. Did I agree with every small detail they said? No. Am I still a young idealist? Yes. Was I hugely convicted and prodded to more diligently put my hands to the plow and plead for grace in the journey? Absolutely.

Go listen and read [also here and here]. Good times.

Tim Keller on the Church and Politics

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St Paul First Reformed Bapti-costal Holiness Tabernacle of the Second Coming

Here's a random list of things I believe. I think it is important try to articulate some of this stuff. I try to explain why at the bottom. And if these beliefs had a local church name, I'm hoping it would be the one above :)

Eschatologically, I'm probably an optimistic Amellinialist. People get beat up for that sometimes. But Augustine, Greg Beale, NT Wright, and Tim Keller are decent company. Moreover, we are the temple [1 Cor 3.16, 6.19]. He has made us a kingdom of priests [Rev 1.6-9]. The kingdom is here AND it is coming [Mt 4.17, 6.10].

Ecclesiastically, I am congregational and baptistic. Of course, if we are in Christ, we must all be catholic with a little "c" because this just means universal. When Paul wrote to Thessalonica, he addressed them as the church. He also said that Jesus died for the church. These aren't the same. We are part of A church local and THE church universal and eternal.

Soteriologically, I'm more Reformed. God saves people for the great glory of Jesus. Quit fighting about it already. Just believe and behave the gospel.

Spiritually and affectionately, I have a little charismatic in me. The gifts of the Spirit are still here. He Himself is still here and moving mightily! Get your head out of the theoretical and Dispensational ground. They were not just for the apostles. They are for us too [Rom 8, Gal 3, 1 Cor 12-14, Jn 14-17, 1 Ths 5, Rom 12]! If you abide by a system, you don't abide fully in Christ.

Sacramentally, I believe that baptism should follow faith and repentance. This seems to be the pattern in Acts and the NT. But as far as the weight given to the Lord's Table and Baptism, I'm somewhere between an Anglican and a Baptist [don't worry Presby friends, I understand the covenantal hermeneutic as well]. I enjoy some of the liturgy as well. I also respect how the Free Will Baptist denomination holds a third ordinance: foot-washing [Jn 13, 1 Tim 5.10].

Regarding church polity and church offices, the NT always refers to elders in the plural. I'm all for that. I believe women can and should be deacons [Rom 16.1-5]. I believe the office of elder-bishop-pastor-shepherd should only be held by a man. Call me sexist.

I say all of this for several reasons:

1. I've been thinking for a while about what a theological mutt I am. It makes me laugh.
   
2. Nobody fits a mold. Fitting a mold is arelational and not gospel-centered.
3. I'm not trying to be Brian McLaren and throw everybody's name in the hat so I'll be loved by millions [I'm sure Brian is a nice guy, but he needs to read the pastoral epistles and get a theological backbone].
4. I am saying this because I feel [after being with God, with His church, and in His Scriptures] that these are views that most honor Jesus in some way or another. Go ahead and shoot me for this, but this is what we're called to do - not just give a WHAT we believe, but a WHY we believe it.

SO... to Him and for Him and from Him are all things. To Him be glory in the Church both now and forevermore. Amen.

the paradoxical fruit of the gospel

This is from Tim Keller's recent book.

“The Christian gospel is that I am so flawed that Jesus had to died for me, yet I am so loved and valued that Jesus was glad to die for me. This leads to deep humility and deep confidence at the same time. It undermines both swaggering and sniveling. I cannot feel superior to anyone, and yet I have nothing to prove to anyone. I do not think more of myself nor less of myself. Instead, I think of myself less.”

good article

A recent USA Today article is entitled "Has the 'notion of sin' been lost?" Among those quoted are Al Mohler, Joel Osteen, Pope Benedict XVI, Mark Driscoll, Tim Keller, and others. It begins by asking,

"Is sin dead? No, not by a long shot. Yet as Easter approaches, some pastors and theologians worry: How can Christians celebrate Jesus' atonement for their sins and the promise of eternal life in his resurrection if they don't recognize themselves as sinners?"

Read the rest here.

WiDOWS and ORPHANS

Caring for the widow and the orphan is where the Bible puts emphasis when discussing social justice and mercy. The Lord has really dealt with my heart on these issues over the past year or so, especially reading Shane Claiborne and listening to Tim Keller. Here are the main texts that directly address this:

• Lam 5.5
• Js 1.27
• Is 1.17
• Is 1.23
• Dt 24.17-22
• Dt 10.18
• Ex 22.22
• Jb 22.9
• Is 9.17
• Is 10.2
  

But that wasn’t enough for me. I wanted to know why the widow and why the orphan? Why not the rape victim, the war victim, the jobless father, or the sojourner? Why widows? Why orphans?

I remember leaning back in my chair and asking God this after I read Deuteronomy the other day. Here's what came to me... that He desires to reveal Himself as the perfect Husband and the eternal Father [Jn 14.16-31, Is 54.5, Is 62.4-5, Hos 2.19-20, others].

I guess the point here is that the extending of the Gospel should revolve around Him. Even the way we serve “the least of these” should cause us to dwell on His character. Lord, give me specific grace to this end.

oh, blessed self-forgetfulness!

Never in my life have I heard Christian character and Gospel humility articulated like Tim Keller does here. He paints a picture of humility from the Apostle Paul that is drastically against modern culture and even against what mainline Christianity has posited as walking humbly. You must listen and be challenged.