I Love...

...Valentines Day with my wife of almost exactly 8.5 years.

Brotherly Wisdom

"The man who seeks to occupy himself with dogmatics and deliberately puts himself outside the Church would have to reckon with the fact that for him the object of dogmatics would be alien, and should not be surprised if after the first steps he could not find his bearings, or even did damage. Even in dogmatics familiarity with the subject must be there, and this really means familiarity with the life of the Church." -Karl Barth Dogmatics in Outline p. 10.

Theology as a (strictly) academic exercise is a contradiction. One cannot seek to know God and not be in relationship to His Son. This does not mean that theology cannot be done in academic contexts or to the greatest degree of erudition. It does mean that those in such contexts must always have in mind how their task of learning will be useful for the building up of the Body of Christ. They must pray with one of my favorite professors, "Lord be helpful to us, that we may be helpful to the Church."

Brotherly Wisdom

"Don't think you know a lot about the church just because you've read a bunch of contemporary books on church models and leadership." -Tyson Guthrie, New Found Kin

A bit of my own wisdom encouraging my brothers and sisters to look outside your own decade, century, yea, even millennium for information on what the Body of our Lord is. Because if you want to know how it's "done" you darn well better know what it "is." And the opinions of a few white 21st century Americans aren't going to paint you the clearest picture. But that's just the opinion of this white 21st century American.

I love...

...when truck-driver-looking men with beards bend over to smell the flowers in the Wal-mart bathroom.

Brotherly Wisdom

"Most people seem to assume it's God's job to love them. Of course God loves us. What else does he have to do? He is weak, small, and maybe even a little nerdy. He needs us. He pines for us. And if we pay him any attention--go to church, do a good deed, recycle, or maybe meditate while listening to soothing music--then we've done him a really big favor.
The love of God is wonderful news only when we understand his transcendence--when we tremble at his holiness, when we're awed by his perfection and power." -Joshua Harris Dug Deep Down p. 46.

Fatherly Advice

"For now full of what was in fact my punishment, I had begun to desire to seem wise. I did not mourn my ignorance, but rather was puffed up with knowledge. For where was that love which builds upon the foundation of humility, which is Jesus Christ? Or, when would these books teach me this?" -St. Augustine of Hippo Confessions 7.20.26

The books Augustine speaks of are the books of the (neo)Platonists--books he is grateful to have had knowledge of, but books he is even more grateful to have placed under the Holy Scriptures. I used to have this quote framed, setting on my bookshelf.

Fatherly Advice

"Grant me, O Lord, to know and understand whether first to invoke Thee or to praise Thee, whether first to know Thee or call upon Thee. But who can invoke Thee, knowing Thee not? For he who knows Thee not may invoke Thee as another than Thou art.
It may be that we should invoke Thee in order that we may come to know Thee. But 'how shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? Or how shall they believe without a preacher?' Now, 'they shall praise the Lord who seek him,' for 'those who seek shall find him,' and finding him, shall praise him. I will seek Thee, O Lord, and call upon Thee. I call upon Thee, O Lord, in my faith, which Thou hast given me, which Thou hast inspired in me through the humanity of Thy Son, and through the ministry of Thy preacher." -St. Augustine of Hippo The Confessions 1.1.2

Brotherly Wisdom

"The acute sense of the inadequacy of words explains why Augustine at the beginning of the Confessions experiences difficulty in finding any way of addressing God intelligibly, or speaking about God correctly. The answer to the question he finds in the reception of Scripture in the Christian community. The Bible consists of words, human indeed but for the believing community a gift of God so that within the sign there is also the divine reality..." --Henry Chadwick, "Introduction" to The Confessions p. 22.

The believing community receives the Word of God as a gift. A gift. A treasure. In it they find everything necessary for life and godliness. God has spoken and it is sufficient. It pains me to see so many today claiming to be part of this same believing community who are apparently dissatisfied with the Word of God. To say that God has spoken seems so "limiting." They want to say He speaks to them internally and privately. Now, that definitely sounds more exciting, more romantic. But think for a second about what they are saying about God's Word. (Without putting words in their mouths) I hear them saying, "Sure the Bible is useful for teaching, reproof, training in righteousness, etc, but I need more." It seems to me that Paul's concern in the context of that great passage on Holy Scripture is exactly our need for more. He warns "evil men and imposters will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and been convinced of. Because you know those from whom you learned it." (2 Tim 3:13-14) The main difference between Paul's opponents and what he is asking his readers (us) to be is continuance in what has been received. This is why he assures us in vs 16 that the Scriptures are sufficient. They are enough. Eat them. Listen to them. Dwell on them day and night. In the words of Ron Heine, "Inhabit them."

Fatherly Advice

"The same thing appears in the nature and design of the sacraments,
which God hath appointed. God, considering our frame, hath not only
appointed that we should be told of the great things of the gospel, and
of the redemption of Christ, and instructed in them by his word; but
also that they should be, as it were, exhibited to our view, in
sensible representations, in the sacraments, the more to affect us with
them." -Jonathan Edwards The Religious Affections 1.2.9

Edwards wants to point out God's design in worship is to have physical actions which engage the mind and the affections. "Affect" or "affections" are Edwards words for the inclinations of our will. The opposite of being "affected" is being indifferent.

Brotherly Wisdom

"Jonathan Edwards, as a defender of the Great Awakening, always insisted that a living spirituality was the one indispensible thing. Yet Edwards also realized how vital it was to struggle toward distinctly Christian views of the world. To him there was no antithesis between heartfelt devotion and the most recondite labors of the mind." -Mark Noll Scandal of the Evangelical Mind p. 77.

You might ask which Brother's Wisdom is this, Jonathan Edwards' or Mark Noll's? History, as little as we like to admit, is always biased. Noll is not offering us an objective account of the demeanor of a Christian figure. He is holding Edwards up as an example of the Evangelical ideal. He even tells us in this quote those specific qualities that make him so venerable. Edwards becomes a vehicle for Noll to communicate the need for Evangelicalism to recapture the vision for critically thinking coupled with hearty devotion.

Fatherly Advice

"Gracious light of the holy glory
of the holy, blessed,
immortal, and heavenly Father,
Jesus Christ!
Having come to the setting of the sun,
seeing the evening light,
we hymn the Father and the Son
and the Holy Spirit of God.
Worthy are you at all times
to be praised with holy voices
Son of God, the giver of life.
Therfore the world glorifies you."
-A Greek Evening Hymn
(Everett Fersuson, Early Christians Speak: Faith and Life in the First Three Centuries, pp. 149-150)

Brotherly Wisdom

"Sometimes we say and do the silliest things, but one of the silliest things we could possibly imagine, is that somehow within us naturally there dwells, apart from grace, the possibility of being authentically and truly pious." -D. Jeffrey Bingham, The Possibility of Piety (Sermon delivered at Redeemer Church)

Brotherly Wisdom

Everywhere I go I see You
--Rich Mullins, I See You

Fatherly Advice

Think for a moment, and ask yourself if the business of the world could be carried on without the figure of the cross. The sea cannot be crossed unless the sign of victory--the mast--remains unharmed. Without it there is no ploughing: neither diggers nor mechanics can do their work without tools of this shape. The human figure is distinguished from that of brute beasts solely by having an upright posture and the ability to extend the arms; and also by the nose through which the creature gets his breath, which is set at right angles to the brow, and displays just the shape of the cross. It was said of the prophet, "The breath before your face is the Lord Christ." (Lam. 4:20) --Justin Martyr Apologia 1.55.

Fatherly Advice

"We can be lifted up toward the Most High only if the Lord who lifts up the humble has stooped down to what is below. That is whay the soul that rises toward the things that are above asks the help of the Transcendent One and begs him to descend from His majesty in order to become accessible to those who are below." -Gregory of Nyssa Homily 10 on the Song of Songs

I prefer the early Christian vision of the nearness of God. Not that God is innately "near" or "approachable," but that the One who is essentially Transcendent will, when we humbly beg Him, stoop to help us.

Brotherly Wisdom

"Once again hear Jesus' words in John 14:13: 'Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.' Suppose you are totally paralyzed and can do nothing for yourself but talk. And suppose a strong and reliable friend promised to live with you and do whatever you needed done. How could you glorify your friend if a stranger came to see you? Would you glorify his generosity and strength by trying to get out of bed and carry him? No! You would say, 'Friend, please lift me up...please put my glasse on for me.' And so your visitor would learn from your requests that you are helpless and that your friend is strong and kind." -John Piper Desiring God p. 160

A professor in seminary defined prayer as "a symbol of complete dependence on God." I think this is a very helpful explanation of why a sovereign God--who's desires for us are clearly better than our desires for ourselves--whould instruct us to pray...so that we would learn and teach that we are helpless and our Father in heaven is strong and kind.

Fatherly Advice

"We are always together with one another. And for all the things with which we are supplied we bless the Maker of all things through his Son Jesus Christ and through his Holy Spirit. And on the day called Sunday there is a gathering together in the same place of all who live in a city or a rural district." -Justin Martyr Apology 1, 67.1-3, 7

Brotherly Wisdom

"The heart is also deceitful. It excuses, rationalizes, and justifies our actions. It blinds us to entire areas of sin in our lives. It causes us to deal with sin using only halfway measures, or to think that mental assent to the Word of God is the same as obedience." -Jerry Bridges The Pursuit of Holiness p. 64

So if my heart really is "deceitful above all things and beyond cure" (Jer 17:9), wouldn't it be just like it to pretend to be the Spirit talking to me?

Fatherly Advice

"Therefore, O Lord, who grants to faith understanding, grant to me ... that I may understand that You are, as we believe; and also that You are what we believe You to be." Anslem of Canterbury Devotions 2

Reading Tozer's quote below brought this prayer to mind. (Not that Anslem just "comes to mind," it just fits.)

Brotherly Wisdom

"What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us...For this reason the gravest question before the church is always God Himself, and the most portentous fact about any man is not what he at any given time may say or do, but what he in his heart conceives God to be like...Before the Christian church goes into eclipse anywhere there must first be a corrupting of her simple basic theology. She simply gets a wrong answer to the question, "What is God like?" and goes on from there." -A.W.Tozer The Knowledge of the Holy pp. 9-12

Or as Dr. Bingham would paraphrase, "The most important thought you think is the thought you think about God, because it effects every other thought that you think and everything that you do."