Aug
4
from one illegal immigrant to another
Posted by Champ Thornton at 6:37 pm
A Christian is a human being who seeks permanent residence in a distant Homeland though he intrinsically lacks right or title to it. There is a legal outrage to making sinners into citizens of the Kingdom of God, to seating outcasts around the table of Christ. As believers we are all illegal immigrants, welcomed Home by the grace of our Savior.
Missionary David H. cuts to the quick of popular, conservative American culture.
Instead of seeing this issue [of illegal immigration] as an opportunity to reach lost people, we are forming and fueling strong negative feelings against immigrants by spending more time listening to unregenerate radio personalities than meeting actual people from all over the world, praying for them, and telling them about Jesus. Shame on us.
Read the entire post here.
HT: DtG
Jul
5
Tact and Contact
Posted by Champ Thornton at 4:11 pm
Here’s an excellent list of questions designed to tactfully turn discussion toward Jesus.
Charles Wesley, author of the hymn text O For A Thousand Tongues, had the same kind of question that he used to direct attention to the Savior. Same, yet different. Here is an excerpt about Charles Wesley from Whitefield’s biography by Arnold Dallimore (volume 1, pages 190-91).
“He was still dogmatic and blunt, and had no scruples about offending anyone if he felt the soul’s need required it. He says of one of his meetings in a Religious Society, “I urged upon each my usual question, ‘Do you deserve to be damned?’ Mrs. Platt, with the utmost vehemence cried out, ‘Yes, I do! I do!’”
Now that’s not a question you’d read in most lists of Gospel-directed questions.
Jul
1
a case of theological amnesia
Posted by Jon Trainer at 10:49 pm
Christians who are very anxious about the fate of God’s truth must have forgotten the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, which implies that God does not send his truth into history like a ship that is launched and then forgotten. He is the source at once of the truth human beings face and of the inspiration that enables them to recognize it as truth and, in a measure, to understand it. If God were not the Holy Spirit, who provides understanding, his Word would be inaudible and the life of Christ without significance….Need Christians, then, fear that God’s voice will be drowned out by human error? When they succumb to the temptation of intolerance, do they not betray an assumption that God is incapable of caring for his own concerns?
Glenn Tender in The Political Meaning of Christianity
May
7
Alistair Begg Speaking in Columbus on June 4
Posted by Champ Thornton at 12:07 pm
May
4
Is doctrine really important? (part two)
Posted by Champ Thornton at 3:57 pm
Doctrine is to the spiritual world what wisdom is to the visible world.
God hardwired the world we live in to work in particular ways. This means that there are certain observable realities that can be ignored at your own risk. If you don’t work hard to tend your garden, God’s design ensures that your crop will be overgrown by weeds. If you jump off a cliff, God has designed gravity to make that decision your last one.
Wisdom is simply living in harmony with the way God has worked to form His world.
Similarly, God has entered this world and taken action to redeem fallen creation and sinful humanity. That means there are certain invisible realities that cannot be ignored without cost. If you don’t acknowledge the Bible’s teaching about indwelling sin, you may find yourself overcome by the enemy within. If you don’t rest in the atoning work of Jesus Christ, you will not experience the peace of heart God always intended humanity to enjoy.
Doctrine is simply living in harmony with the way God has worked to redeem His world.
So, why is doctrine important? It isn’t about being “right.” It isn’t about being “orthodox.” It’s all about living in harmony with the world God has designed and is redeeming for Himself. Wisdom and doctrine inform a life that is truly human—rightly related to Creation and Creator.
Apr
28
a gospel movement
Posted by Jon Trainer at 12:35 pm
In just over a month the Greater Columbus Gospel Coalition (GC Squared or GC2) will be hosting its first meeting at Grace Bible Church in Canal Winchester. The purpose of this gathering is to give thought and action to the task of gospel dissemination and living in central Ohio. A longing for effective gospel proclamation is certainly not new, but there appears to be a fresh desire for like-minded churches to stand shoulder-to-shoulder in the endeavor. The formation of The Gospel Coalition at a national level reflects this impulse, while the establishment of regional chapters, like San Fancisco and Ontario, are natural by-products. One of the members of the Ontario group (I am assuming here), Darryl Dash, wrote this post after their recent regional meeting which includes the following thoughts:
Most of us, if we’re part of a church, are focused on the growth of that church. I’ve become increasingly convinced that we need to continue focusing on our individual churches, while also developing a concern for something much bigger. We need to develop a vision for a gospel movement within our area, and ultimately in our country as a whole.
Let me give an example. I pastor in Toronto, and I have my hands full just trying to stay ahead of the challenges in my own church. But no matter how well my particular church does, it will never be able to have the kind of impact that’s needed on the entire city. Toronto doesn’t need one or even a dozen churches to do well. It needs all kinds of churches from all kinds of movements to revitalize existing churches and to start new ones. This means we need to be working together a lot more than we would if we’re focused only on our own churches or our own movements.
We all need to learn from others. We’re used to learning from big and successful churches in other countries. It’s much more effective to learn from good churches in our own contexts. That means that I can probably learn more about effective ministry in my city from other churches in my city, and places like it. The resources I need may not be found within my own movement, but within churches that belong to other movements.
Read the whole thing. While I am not necessarily focused on the numerical growth of our church (though I am praying more about that of late), I am increasingly aware of our need to be more effective in our gospel witness and concern for Kingdom growth (as I was recently reminded at a gathering…adding Christians from other churches to one’s flock is not Kingdom growth). One way to be stimulated in this area is through the sharpening of others with the same heart and mind. Time, energy, and resources must be expended to build these relationships; they have to be a priority in our lives. While we may not achieve the Tim Keller ideal of a “gospel ecosystem” (if that is even to be desired), we should at the least steward the resources at our disposal as the Church in a given area. As I asked our congregation on Sunday, “What is our reputation in the community? Do we even have a reputation in the community? If not, why not? What can we do to make that a different reality?
Apr
27
Is doctrine really important? (part 1)
Posted by Champ Thornton at 7:19 pm
Doctrine is important the way roads are important.
I’ve recently driven across several states–all through the night, in fact. Why? Not because I love driving (which I don’t). Not because the roads through Pennsylvania are models of engineering (which they’re not).
No, I spent seven hours on dark roads in order to spend time with extended family. Don’t misunderstand. I am incredibly thankful for roads (even the ones in Pennsylvania). Modern roads make my trip possible within a single night, not a single month hacking through thick forests. The four-lane interstate keeps my trip safer than navigating hundreds of miles along narrow dirt paths. I love roads . . . because they enable me to spend time with my family. Roads are the means, not the destination.
The apostle Paul reminded his protege, Timothy, why doctrine is important. “The aim of our command is love” (1 Timothy 1:5). Love was Paul’s goal. Doctrine (“the command”) is the road to get there. Doctrine is important as a means to a goal: the aim of love.
Without biblical teaching (doctrine, “the command”), it’s impossible to attain biblical love. Without the goal of biblical love, it’s impossible to correctly handle biblical teaching.
Can we connect each truth (let’s start with the ones we love) with increased love for God and others? Can we travel the beloved roads of doctrine without stopping short of our destination?
Apr
26
Telling Stories
Posted by Champ Thornton at 3:04 pm
This past weekend our Sunday School class reviewed five different Bible story books for children. In approximate order of age-appropriateness (with the youngest first), the books were as follows:
2. The Jesus Storybook Bible (Here also are two excerpts from the audio book version: “The Story and the Song,” & “A New Beginning.”
If you were able to attend or weren’t, what are your thoughts about any or all of these books? Are there other Bible story books that you’d additionally recommend?
Apr
21
on beauty and replication
Posted by Jon Trainer at 11:05 pm
Wittgenstein says that when the eye sees something beautiful, the hand wants to draw it. Beauty brings copies of itself into being. It makes us draw it, take photographs of it, or describe it to other people. Sometimes it gives rise to exact replication and other times to resemblances… (Elaine Scarry in On Beauty and Being Just, 1999).
And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit (Paul in 2 Corinthians 3:18).
Apr
14
on beauty and wanting
Posted by Jon Trainer at 6:39 am
“Wanting something for its beauty is wanting it, not wanting to do something with it….Wanting [something] for its beauty is not wanting to inspect it: it is wanting to contemplate it–and that is something more than a search for information or an expression of appetite. Here is a want without a goal: a desire that cannot be fulfilled since there is nothing that would count as its fulfillment” (from Roger Scruton’s Beauty, p. 19).
The Psalmist writes…
One thing have I asked of the Lord,
that will I seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord
and to inquire in his temple.
Apr
8
on beauty and humility
Posted by Jon Trainer at 10:50 pm
William Edgar commenting on Elaine Scarry’s work On Beauty and Being Just writes…
Drawing on the ancients, particularly Plato and Dante, she makes the point that a person gazing on a beautiful object is vulnerable, even weak. Think of Dante as he moves higher and higher toward the Paradisio. Think of his account of contemplating Beatrice. He is awed and humbled. The beautiful, according to Scarry, makes the viewer more modest, ready to revise his location, looking higher up….The beautiful bursts the bubble of our own autonomy, makes us attuned to the needs of the world around us.
Again, the Psalmist writes…
One thing have I asked of the Lord,
that will I seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord
and to inquire in his temple.
Apr
5
on beauty for the sake of beauty
Posted by Jon Trainer at 10:23 am
“When our interest is entirely taken up by a thing, as it appears in our perception, and independently of any use to which it might be put, then do we begin to speak of its beauty” (Roger Scruton in Beauty).
And so the Psalmist writes…
One thing have I asked of the Lord,
that will I seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord
and to inquire in his temple.
To behold his beauty for what he is in himself, not for some utilitarian purpose to which he might be used.
Mar
31
on beauty in harmony
Posted by Jon Trainer at 10:25 am
We may be tempted to search for what is always most beautiful, but in our search for the towering masterpiece and its effect upon us, we miss the wonder of ordinary beauty. We are so awestruck by the vaulting spires of the cathedral that we overlook the order and charm of the shops arranged neatly on a side street. Or in our passion to have our senses overwhelmed at the ocean’s edge we are blind to the wonder of raindrops beaded upon roses in our own gardens.
Roger Scruton writes, “In fact too much attention to beauty might defeat its own object. In the case of urban design, for example, the goal is, in the first instance, to fit in, not to stand out. If you want to stand out, then you have to be worthy of the attention that you claim….This does not mean that the humble and harmonious street is not beautiful. Rather, it suggests that we can understand its beauty better if we describe it in another and less loaded way, as a form of fittingness or harmony.”
And so God arranges the members in the body as He chooses (1 Corinthians 12:18). And it is beautiful. And I can be content where I am placed.
Mar
30
on cleaning one’s room
Posted by Jon Trainer at 8:37 am
“It is well and good for philosophers, poets and theologians to point towards beauty in its highest form. But for most of us it is far more important to achieve order in the things surrounding us, and to ensure that the eyes, the ears and the sense of fittingness are not repeatedly offended” (Beauty, Roger Scruton, p. 13).
“Order in the things surrounding us” — that’s all I ask from my kids. A little beauty in their rooms. They don’t have to duplicate Michelangelo’s work with God reaching out to touch Adam in Eden on their ceiling, just dust the dresser and stop using last week’s wardrobe as a substitute for the wall-to-wall carpeting we graciously installed for your use. Now to be honest, my kids are actually pretty good about this. I pretend to get “repeatedly offended” about little things just to keep them on their toes. But doesn’t this speak to a deeper appreciation for achieving degrees of beauty in our daily lives?
We can’t paint a masterpiece everyday, but we can work diligently “to achieve order in the things surrounding us.” There is a kind of beauty to a life in which daily obligations are met with discipline and grace.
In light of this holy week’s reflection, there is a kind of horrific beauty in which the demands of holiness are met in the perfect order of Christ’s crosswork–a work in which a life that never knew disorder was willingly sacrificed for sinners more intimately acquainted with chaos.
Mar
29
o sacred head now wounded
Posted by Jon Trainer at 10:00 am
I never went to see “The Passion of the Christ” preferring not to limit my imagination’s boundaries as I thought on the last days of the Lord. Even as I listen to Fernando Ortega sing these lyrics I let the music play while moving to another open window on the desktop. I am more interested in the lyrics here than the movie, but I could not find a better rendition online of “O Sacred Head.” No doubt someone will.