Mark Driscoll - Loving the Pastor's Wife
Mark Driscoll has written a really good piece on a few ways that the church tends to be insensitive to the Pastor's wife and ways that they can change that. Read it, especially if you go to my church, there will be a quiz. Called life.
God Bless,
Jon
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Monday, March 14, 2011
A response to Love Wins
thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevindeyoung/rob-bell-love-wins-review
The above is a 20 page review of Rob Bell's new book, Love Wins, by reformed pastor and speaker Kevin DeYoung. I think it's very well written and informative to anyone interested in subjects such as universalism, Rob Bell, or Jesus. Go read it, it's worth it.
In case anyone is interested, I wrote a letter to the editor of my college's paper defending the reformed bloggers who reacted to Bell's promo video and publisher's quote. That defense can be found here.
A Defense of Reformed bloggers
May the Lord open your eyes and draw your heart to himself daily.
The above is a 20 page review of Rob Bell's new book, Love Wins, by reformed pastor and speaker Kevin DeYoung. I think it's very well written and informative to anyone interested in subjects such as universalism, Rob Bell, or Jesus. Go read it, it's worth it.
In case anyone is interested, I wrote a letter to the editor of my college's paper defending the reformed bloggers who reacted to Bell's promo video and publisher's quote. That defense can be found here.
A Defense of Reformed bloggers
May the Lord open your eyes and draw your heart to himself daily.
Friday, March 4, 2011
Can Anybody Show Me... Getting to Know the Real Jesus
Worldview. Preconceptions. Lens. Perspective.
These have become pretty popular buzz words in the Christian community over the course of the last couple decades. Everyone is very much aware of the worldviews of individuals and the resulting preconceptions that those encourage. Sometimes I wonder if we've maybe missed the fact that those terms go beyond which religion you're a part of to the very heart of every idea we have as human beings.
Today I'd like to talk a little bit about our perspective when it comes to Jesus. You see, I feel like when it comes to Jesus, those of us Christians who have been part of the church since before we can remember tend to have rather... inaccurate portraits. We have built ourselves a comfortable... well I guess a good term for it would be the Jesus-sphere. We have our Christian music, Christian books, Christian movies now even, and I think that we can lose sight of some important facts when we get lost inside of the Christian culture we've created.
The band Downhere has a great song (I'll link to a video of it at the end of this post, and yes I realize the irony of critiquing our Christian culture using a Christian song) called "The Real Jesus". The song talks about all the places that Jesus shows up in our culture today and all the different roles that he plays, and I think it really brings up a great point.
Who is the real Jesus? Moving beyond the reformed-liberal, cessationist-charismatic, catholic-protestant, so on and so forth debates, which do have an importance but I don't think so much for this particular conversation, I think it's a great question. I mean really, who is he? Somebody want to throw out a definition? Probably not, which is a good thing in some ways.
I think we all have our own personal perspective of Jesus. We of the Young and the Reformed probably see Jesus as a loving, powerful, authoritative character. Some liberals might see him as a bold pioneer of social justice and one pursuing the Kingdom of God on earth. I could on and on, and others could do it better than me, but I want to focus on something here. I think these ideas of Jesus can often become idols in our minds. God told us not to make physical idols, but when we create an image of him in our minds, is that much better. But I'd like to talk about a more positive topic today so we'll move on to the idea of knowing the Real Jesus.
How do we know Jesus? Do we know him by reading the Bible? Or the newest book from our favorite Christian writer? Or through daily devotional prayer? Or through constantly listening to music measured in JPMs (Jesus' per minute)? Do we know him by seeking justice for others? Or by loving our neighbor? Or by fasting and spending time in silent meditation?
Well, in a way, I think we can get to know Jesus through each and every one of those means. But at the same time, not a single one of those by itself will aid in our relationship with God, and that's because it is a relationship. How do the greatest relationships in our lives get developed? By directing our hearts toward that person we're seeking a relationship with and by spending time with them and directing our efforts toward them.
So how do we translate this into our relationship with God? I think something that often gets lost in translation when we're talking about our relationship with God is the Augustinian/Edwardian idea of the affections. Both Augustine and Edwards focused quite a bit on the subject of the affections, essentially the idea that our hearts are naturally inclined towards something, and what that object is determines our actions. Basically what I'm trying to say is this: Where's your heart at? Do you hunger spiritually for more knowledge of the Lord? Do you praise him in spirit and truth, emotionally and intellectually when you hear that Christian music? Do you want to talk to him throughout the day to express your love for him and joy about the blessings he has given you?
If the answer to these questions is no, maybe your heart is in the wrong place. Is there something else that your heart is hungering after? What do you wake up in the morning being driven by? I don't know what the answers to this question are, but I challenge you to figure it out. Don't let your relationship with Christ be driven solely by your mind, get your affections involved, fall in love with Jesus Christ.
May the Lord draw you closer to him and capture your heart.
Jon
These have become pretty popular buzz words in the Christian community over the course of the last couple decades. Everyone is very much aware of the worldviews of individuals and the resulting preconceptions that those encourage. Sometimes I wonder if we've maybe missed the fact that those terms go beyond which religion you're a part of to the very heart of every idea we have as human beings.
Today I'd like to talk a little bit about our perspective when it comes to Jesus. You see, I feel like when it comes to Jesus, those of us Christians who have been part of the church since before we can remember tend to have rather... inaccurate portraits. We have built ourselves a comfortable... well I guess a good term for it would be the Jesus-sphere. We have our Christian music, Christian books, Christian movies now even, and I think that we can lose sight of some important facts when we get lost inside of the Christian culture we've created.
The band Downhere has a great song (I'll link to a video of it at the end of this post, and yes I realize the irony of critiquing our Christian culture using a Christian song) called "The Real Jesus". The song talks about all the places that Jesus shows up in our culture today and all the different roles that he plays, and I think it really brings up a great point.
Who is the real Jesus? Moving beyond the reformed-liberal, cessationist-charismatic, catholic-protestant, so on and so forth debates, which do have an importance but I don't think so much for this particular conversation, I think it's a great question. I mean really, who is he? Somebody want to throw out a definition? Probably not, which is a good thing in some ways.
I think we all have our own personal perspective of Jesus. We of the Young and the Reformed probably see Jesus as a loving, powerful, authoritative character. Some liberals might see him as a bold pioneer of social justice and one pursuing the Kingdom of God on earth. I could on and on, and others could do it better than me, but I want to focus on something here. I think these ideas of Jesus can often become idols in our minds. God told us not to make physical idols, but when we create an image of him in our minds, is that much better. But I'd like to talk about a more positive topic today so we'll move on to the idea of knowing the Real Jesus.
How do we know Jesus? Do we know him by reading the Bible? Or the newest book from our favorite Christian writer? Or through daily devotional prayer? Or through constantly listening to music measured in JPMs (Jesus' per minute)? Do we know him by seeking justice for others? Or by loving our neighbor? Or by fasting and spending time in silent meditation?
Well, in a way, I think we can get to know Jesus through each and every one of those means. But at the same time, not a single one of those by itself will aid in our relationship with God, and that's because it is a relationship. How do the greatest relationships in our lives get developed? By directing our hearts toward that person we're seeking a relationship with and by spending time with them and directing our efforts toward them.
So how do we translate this into our relationship with God? I think something that often gets lost in translation when we're talking about our relationship with God is the Augustinian/Edwardian idea of the affections. Both Augustine and Edwards focused quite a bit on the subject of the affections, essentially the idea that our hearts are naturally inclined towards something, and what that object is determines our actions. Basically what I'm trying to say is this: Where's your heart at? Do you hunger spiritually for more knowledge of the Lord? Do you praise him in spirit and truth, emotionally and intellectually when you hear that Christian music? Do you want to talk to him throughout the day to express your love for him and joy about the blessings he has given you?
If the answer to these questions is no, maybe your heart is in the wrong place. Is there something else that your heart is hungering after? What do you wake up in the morning being driven by? I don't know what the answers to this question are, but I challenge you to figure it out. Don't let your relationship with Christ be driven solely by your mind, get your affections involved, fall in love with Jesus Christ.
May the Lord draw you closer to him and capture your heart.
Jon
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Women and Ministry: Roles, Places, and Why Caution is Prudent
My response to… “it just seems kind of clear when the scripture says a woman should not be in a position of authority over men in the church. Pastor is a big position of authority.” And other arguments like this.
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That's using the same hermeneutical rubric that led to saying slavery was okay because Paul said slaves should stay slaves... You have to look at the context, the greater picture of scripture as a whole, what other specific things in that book say to the topic you’re discussing, etc.
Hermeneutics are a lot harder than the "It says it, so I do it" logic that many Christians use on this issue. For instance, Paul also says women should never be in church without their head being covered. Do all the women reading this wear hats to church every Sunday? Probably not. Are they then sinning? Also probably not.
The folks here who are saying a 100% no to women preaching may very well be right, I think there's a lot of evidence that says they could be, but I think people tend to ignore the valid arguments of their opposition on this and other common hermeneutical difficulties.
So let me introduce those who say an absolute no to woman pastors to some difficulties therein. Not saying I think these are bulletproof, just trying to introduce some food for thought on the side that seems to usually be a little less well represented in conservative Christian circles.
1. The role of pastor today didn't really exist in the churches Paul planted. Paul appointed teams of elders who would work out the role pastors do today. So we really don't have a direct NT analogy to a pastor. The closest thing we have (in my opinion) is prophet or apostle, which you will see in the next point creates difficulties. And the thing is, the role of the apostle is to lead through service and self sacrifice, much more so than to teach which is the primary responsibility we give the pastor today. So the question here would be, what's wrong with a woman leading in service? Especially when in most church governing structures the pastor is only in "authority" in that he helps create the vision, the elders/presbyters/deacons usually make the policy decisions (which makes me ask why many who don't want women pastors are okay with female deacons?)
2. Paul mentions a female apostle (Junia), female missionaries (Priscilla, who taught Apollos, a man, about Christ), female prophets, and female deacons in his end of letter greetings. Do missionaries never teach? Apostles were required to be able to explicate the letters they delivered, does that not count as teaching? The primary role of prophets was and is to apply the word of God to our current lives, that sounds a lot like a pastor to me.
3. Would women being pastors be a major issue without Paul's comment in I Timothy? Would we have major moral qualms without that comment? Which is horribly hard to place contextually by the way.
There are other interesting points to explore, but I think these demonstrate that there are hard questions that need to be answered by both sides. Due to that fact, I don't like placing as much emphasis on my position on the subject as a lot of other reformed pastors do, because I don't think one can have a scriptural answer without reservations or at least knowing that their position has problems, therefore I don't believe it's an issue worthy of breaking fellowship or unity over.
Hermeneutics are a lot harder than the "It says it, so I do it" logic that many Christians use on this issue. For instance, Paul also says women should never be in church without their head being covered. Do all the women reading this wear hats to church every Sunday? Probably not. Are they then sinning? Also probably not.
The folks here who are saying a 100% no to women preaching may very well be right, I think there's a lot of evidence that says they could be, but I think people tend to ignore the valid arguments of their opposition on this and other common hermeneutical difficulties.
So let me introduce those who say an absolute no to woman pastors to some difficulties therein. Not saying I think these are bulletproof, just trying to introduce some food for thought on the side that seems to usually be a little less well represented in conservative Christian circles.
1. The role of pastor today didn't really exist in the churches Paul planted. Paul appointed teams of elders who would work out the role pastors do today. So we really don't have a direct NT analogy to a pastor. The closest thing we have (in my opinion) is prophet or apostle, which you will see in the next point creates difficulties. And the thing is, the role of the apostle is to lead through service and self sacrifice, much more so than to teach which is the primary responsibility we give the pastor today. So the question here would be, what's wrong with a woman leading in service? Especially when in most church governing structures the pastor is only in "authority" in that he helps create the vision, the elders/presbyters/deacons usually make the policy decisions (which makes me ask why many who don't want women pastors are okay with female deacons?)
2. Paul mentions a female apostle (Junia), female missionaries (Priscilla, who taught Apollos, a man, about Christ), female prophets, and female deacons in his end of letter greetings. Do missionaries never teach? Apostles were required to be able to explicate the letters they delivered, does that not count as teaching? The primary role of prophets was and is to apply the word of God to our current lives, that sounds a lot like a pastor to me.
3. Would women being pastors be a major issue without Paul's comment in I Timothy? Would we have major moral qualms without that comment? Which is horribly hard to place contextually by the way.
There are other interesting points to explore, but I think these demonstrate that there are hard questions that need to be answered by both sides. Due to that fact, I don't like placing as much emphasis on my position on the subject as a lot of other reformed pastors do, because I don't think one can have a scriptural answer without reservations or at least knowing that their position has problems, therefore I don't believe it's an issue worthy of breaking fellowship or unity over.
More responses to issues regarding women in ministry…
First, the difference between Deacons and Elders. There may be a difference in their roles today, and possibly even in the New Testament. If there is a difference in the NT it likely lies in the fact that deacons are not expected to teach, though this does not disqualify them from doing so. However, if you look at the list of qualifications for the two positions, Deacons in I Timothy 3 and Elders in Titus 1, they are remarkably similar. I have two points to make here. First, there are female deacons referred to in the closing of Paul's letters, and yet the requirements for deacons refer specifically to a man. Why then would there be exemptions to the norm for deacons but not elders? Second, if teaching is the main difference between Deacons and Elders, isn't it true that both have authority and thus women should be allowed to be neither?
Another hole in the argument against female pastors is the question, if we can't trust women to teach men, why do we trust them to teach other women? Or kids! Especially kids, easily impressionable young minds. We seem to equate teaching with authority in our culture, and yet I don't think how that's supposed to go at all. I believe that I can teach John Piper something, does that mean I'm wiser than him or am in authority over him, absolutely not! It means that Jesus Christ dwells in my heart and can use me to speak truth into the life of my brothers in Christ, and I don't think Christ dwells any less richly in female believers than in myself.
Second is the common misinterpretation of the curse in Genesis. Genesis 3 says she will long for her husband, and he will rule over her. I see absolutely no connection of this passage to a woman automatically yearning to wrest power from men. I think we all want to wrest power from each other because we're human, not because we're women... cause I'm not... a woman that is... but I still want to take power that doesn't belong to me because I am human and sinful.
To wrap up, I think a large part of this debate is centered over the fact that the church today has a rather distorted view of the Pastor's position in the church. People keep bringing up words in reference to the Pastor such as authority, leadership, power, etc. I haven't heard anyone reference service, submission, servanthood, loving, caring, etc.
Do I know for sure what the answer is on this issue? No, I don't. This post is mainly to express that fact, and maybe to convince someone that the acceptance of female pastors is not a sign of the apocalypse or the abandonment of God's Word.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
First Post... Time for some videos
Dancing in the Minefields by Andrew Peterson... Excellent song, will certainly be played at my wedding.
Next up, a device I certainly wish I had...
And finally, something to uplift you today and remind you that this world is not our home...
Next up, a device I certainly wish I had...
And finally, something to uplift you today and remind you that this world is not our home...
I hope you enjoyed all of them. May the Lord bless you and keep you today.
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