Jared Wilson

I would recommend to anyone, Jared Wilson's blog, gospeldrivenchurch.blogspot.com. He's a real thoughtful guy with a heart that the Evangelical church would return to gospel centrality. Here's a great piece from today. I used to wonder about the stuff in this piece, because I didn't understand how Bill Cosby wasn't a Christian. (my dad had yet to introduce me to his stand-up work in the 70's) Hey, Cosby's the greatest dad to ever be on t.v.!! :)

Check it out.


And, thanks everyone for checking my bounceback email . . . Didn't you feel loved and affirmed after receiving it? I thought so.

By the way, I won't know how many of you responded because I'm not checking that email account (he he). provi8950@gmail.com is the summer email.

Tough day 2 of the sabbatical. I have some friends going through some crazy hard stuff, and I have a courageous wife who whilst speaking the truth often gets branded a "judger" by people. Alas, . . .apparently "honesty" is no longer a word that has any meaning. It's either "accept everything I do" or "judge" . . .no place for tough love these days. Thanks Jody, for pressing on and loving people enough to be honest. It's certainly saved my life from many a pang.

Bounceback

The proper crafting of an "out of office" "bounceback" email is an underrated skill. I often find them to be terse and having a "why would you even think of trying to get ahold of me!!!!" tone. Needless to say, I thought about my Calvary bounceback email for around 3 weeks :). If you'd like to experience my work, just email me at aaron@calvarybible.com. You should check it out. Or, maybe I was just really excited to get it this morning when I tested it. :)

See, this is the kind of hard-hitting blogging that you have to look forward to this summer. . . you 5 blog readers, you.

Sabbatical Randomness

Randomizer. . .

--Today is day 1 of my sabbatical. It has gone well, I have helped Jody with some projects, started my tan, read, played with Sam, and bought sandals. We'll see what tomorrow has in store:

I will be blogging my thoughts over the next few months. I"ll be visiting quite a few churches, and will try to stay away from "church rater" nonsense and over-evaluating things. That said, since I'm not in the office, I may be motivated to blog more, we'll see. And, I'd love to hear from any of you, don't be scared to say hi, just because I'm not in the office. . . I'm on sabbatical, not quarantine :)

--I'm kind of getting tired of the new worship wars. . . that is. . . over the regulative principle, reformed, should we be relevant, what are we doing on Sunday, etc.. . . . .It's just an exercise in broad brush attacks, and I"m weary of it. These are case-by-case things that need to take into account the motivations of those involved. If you don't know the motivations. . . don't act like you do. Most of you have no idea what I"m talking about, . . . . you should be thankful for that.

--Speaking of that: Here's a great take on the Contemporvant video from last week: Bob Kauflin is such a mature, pastoral guy. I always love his thoughts. I was going to write a blog post similar to his, but he did much better than I would've :). These are good thoughts, and good things to take away from this video.

Notice, he did not use this video has an opportunity to bash the contemporary church, or make broad brush accusations and judgements about contexualization, etc. . . I"m just sayin'

--The NBA playoffs have been really interesting. I fully agree with the Sports Guy's take on Lebron, that we need to recalibrate his career in Dr. J like categories, instead of Jordanesque ones. Jordan, Magic, Bird, 2000 Shaq, Iverson, etc. . .never lets the Celtics do that to them. His warrior cred went down a few notches with that loss. We'll see if the Magic have some warrior in them, I'm not hopeful. However, Gasol will be waiting, and Kobe as well. That could be a really interesting series. I must say, though, I'm rooting for the Suns, and Steve Nash from the West. I'd like to see him get a crack at the Finals. I think they'd give the Celtics big, big problems.

--Is it Football season yet?

--The Marriage Ref is a great, great show. Check it out.

--"Brothers" and "Up in the Air" are my two "spiritually profound, non-oscar, accesible, don't have to brag that you watched it, learn something" great movies of the year. Great flicks!

--And finally:

My facebook diatribe from a few weeks ago seemed to have offended some folks and russled some feathers. It's been weird, I'm feeling avoided by some people since I wrote that.

Hear me say this: That was not my intention there. I'm sorry for being a little "broad brush" myself with that blog. I should've been more nuanced, . . .please accept my apology. If you can use Facebook well, for God's glory, not your own, in balance,. . . then go for it. I couldn't, so those were my thoughts on the matter. Many folks are stronger than me with that kind of stuff, (you know, they can turn off college football after the 1st game is over and not watch the double header. . . . just sayin') and I hope Facebook continues to serve them, and not vice versa.

Looking forward to blogging more this summer. See ya!

Aaron

You need a mediator pt. 2

Hey, better late than never. . . . . .

So, every blog in Christendom has posted the Northpoint video from a couple of days ago (scroll down). And, that, along with this Sunday's services, along with a Bob Kauflin interview. . .brought a thought into my head.

Music is not the mediator of God's presence. Jesus is.

This weekend, we had baby dedications (20 of them!). . . because of that, we only got to spend around 9 minutes singing at the beginning of the service,. . and probably 10 more at the end. That's less than we usually do.

But, God spoke, powerfully through his Word (Tom gave the best Mother's Day sermon I've ever heard), and through the dedication of our children. It's great hearing the dad's pray for their families, . . . It's powerful watching them value the passing down of their faith to their kids. It affects people sitting in the pews (hopefully convicting some of them).

Kind of sounds like the affects that we usually ascribe to the music huh? See, if you're a person who gets fired up about "extended" worship times and hates it when other things happen in the service besides the singing, you might have thought this weekend was a failure at some level, or at least a less satisfying service. But, that's putting music in too high a place. God spoke Sunday, through his Word, and through his dads.

We don't need to be married to an experience (perhaps like the one in the Northpoint video) with lights, candles, and all the cultural trappings. We need to be expecting to meet with Christ through his Word, and through fellowship with our brothers and sisters. We are a family, remember. And Jesus gets us to God, nothing else.

Yo, where my kids at??!!

You're welcome

HT: Keving DeYoung

Ouch

"Sunday's Coming" Movie Trailer from North Point Media on Vimeo.

So, there's alot to say about this video. . . . I'm trying to not take this too seriously since it is, after all, a joke. :) But, I think there's some things to be gleaned. Here are my thoughts:

1. Ouch. I can take a hit. I've been guilty of some of these things. I'll plead no contest. And, as a songwriter for the church. . . double ouch :)

2. Well placed shot that the evangelical world can be a bit cookie cutter. Duly noted.

3. How ironic that North Point church produced this video :) that's all I'm going to say.

4. When people start to point out the problems with this approach to worship. . . some might start with the lights, rock concert vibe, too casual of a preacher, etc. . .the window dressings. But, the problem here, and why the joke is funny and painful, is the lack of God's word. That's the most important and biggest problem with an approach like this. If folks are saturated, affected by, remembering, and confronted with God's word, than change all the window dressings you want. . . .

This might be one of the most important things you ever read.

Assuming you take it to heart of course. . . probably by reading it a few times.

Thank you, Dane Ortlund, for giving me a full-on gospel shot today when I was feeling pretty "sick".


HT: The Gospel Coalition
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Justification’s Double Liberation

“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” –Lam. 3:24

Our tendency in our evangelical universe is to articulate justification by faith alone morally, for the past (conversion) and future (entrance into heaven), without applying the soothing salve of justification emotionally and psychologically, for the present. We embrace Christ for forgiveness of sins but move on to other ideas and strategies when it comes to our emotional life and the daily pressures that do not lie directly in the “moral” realm. This is a great mistake and a recipe for worried, half-hearted Christians, dabbling their toes in an ocean of grace, thinking they’ve hit bottom.

When sinners are justified, however, two (organically linked) liberations wash into their life. The first and more obvious liberation is moral. The second liberation is emotional and psychological.

To be sure, these are two interlocking facets of a single gift. Yet it is easy to embrace the former and neglect the latter, as my own heart has been discovering over the past 22 months (under the tutelage of Martin Luther, Herman Bavinck, G. C. Berkouwer, and Paul Zahl).

The second liberation is more subjective and more slippery. Rescued sinners bring to their new life in Christ a host of latent emotional lifelines onto which their affections have latched—relationships, skills, bank accounts, sexual stimulation, a reputation, a salary, a golf swing, a sense of humor, an education, affection from children, affection from parents. These have provided psychological stability. Often one lifeline in particular is the lifeline of all lifelines. As long as we have this, we know we’re okay.

Transposed onto biblical categories, it is by this that we sought to be “justified.” This provided the security about which our heart of hearts has whispered to us, “If all of life unravels around you, at least you’ll still have _________.” It was a final retreat, a felt lifeline to emotional sanity. Whether familiar with the tune and words or not, every human heart fills in the first stanza of the hymn—“When ____________, it is well with my soul”—with something.

We must continue to clarify in our churches and books and preaching and conferences and blogs how alarmingly easy it is, operationally, to swallow the first liberation without the second. We embrace God’s free forgiveness of sins yet go on funneling our affections and emotions into our old felt securities—what the Bible calls idols. We rest assured of our ultimate destiny; but the internal frenetic scurrying continues in the meantime. The old lifelines lined up in the heart continue to function as psychological nicotine when life’s pressures rise.

This miserable half-liberation manifests itself in any number of ways—seminary students finding their emotional security in academic performance; businessmen finding psychological stability through profits; pastors assuring themselves of the legitimacy of their ministry through congregational favor; mothers undergirding their sense of worth with obedient children; church planters silently validating themselves through growing attendance. Each is a question of securing that elusive sense of “okayness,” of justification. More subtle than deliberate; more sub-conscious than self-conscious; more emotional than moral. But justification nonetheless.

The knife that severs these functional lifelines onto which the heart is latched is the gospel, returned to daily, tenaciously. For Jesus is the one person who ever lived who was, from the womb, “okay.” “Justified.” And on Calvary he allowed himself to be made un-okay, to be condemned, so that you and I can walk into every class, every business deal, every pulpit, every parenting endeavor, every church plant, every anxiety-generating real-life situation, already justified. Not only morally, but emotionally. Not only for the past and the future, but for the present.