tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-140950332024-03-06T23:29:24.461-05:00The Tiffinian"He was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God."The Tiffinianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04177249344827299583noreply@blogger.comBlogger269125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14095033.post-79412755927967646712011-06-20T11:24:00.000-04:002011-06-20T11:24:57.013-04:00Morning Coffee - June 20, 2011Some stimulating links to start the day:<br />
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Andy Naselli: <a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/%7Er/nasellitheology/%7E3/Wl-MzI3zWO4/grudem-theistic-evolution">Theistic Evolution is Incompatible with the Bible</a><br />
Evolution is secular culture’s grand explanation, the overriding ‘meta-narrative’ that sinners accept with joy because it allows them to explain life without reference to God, with no accountability to any Creator, no moral standards to restrain their sin, ‘no fear of God before their eyes’ (Rom. 3:18)—and now theistic evolutionists tell us that Christians can just surrender to this massive attack on the Christian faith and safely, inoffensively, tack on God, not as the omnipotent God who in his infinite wisdom directly created all living things, but as the invisible deity who makes absolutely no detectable difference in the nature of living beings as they exist today. It will not take long for unbelievers to dismiss the idea of such a God who makes no difference at all.<br />
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Brian Croft: <a href="http://practicalshepherding.com/2011/06/20/what-can-pastors-easily-forget-when-preparing-sunday-services/">What can pastors easily forget when preparing for Sunday services? </a><br />
There is, however, a role the local church plays in the lives of our people that full-time pastors can easily forget. It is a role that those of us who spend much of our days immersed in God’s Word and caring for God’s people do not experience like most all our folks. Here is a role of the weekly public gathering we as full time pastors can forget:<br />
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<i>The public, weekly gathering of the church provides a place of refuge, strength, and encouragement to our people who spend 5 days a week immersed in the world, surrounded by those who hate God, and constantly challenge the truths of the gospel they believe. </i><br />
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Forbes: <a href="http://blogs.forbes.com/ericjackson/2011/06/20/facebook-vs-apple/">Facebook vs. Apple</a><br />
In the future, any Facebook user will have to go through Apple’s iOS or Google’s Android system to get to a Facebook app. Facebook fears this could lead to disintermediation — where both of their competitors chip away dollars and market share away from the social networking leader over time.<br />
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According to the TechCrunch article, Facebook is attempting to shore up its competitive positioning with a big push to developing its own apps on HTML5 and moving quickly to an online currency to hook users (Facebook Credits).<br />
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Is Facebook right to fear Apple and Google? They’d be crazy not to be afraid. Google’s leadership position in the tech world seemed unassailable 3 years ago. Now they seem to be a laggard coming back from weakness.<br />
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NYT: <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/19/magazine/my-ex-gay-friend.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss&pagewanted=all">My Ex-Gay Friend </a><br />
Though Michael had agreed to let me visit and write about him, he was skeptical about my motivations. “Why are you here?” he asked minutes after we sat down in the cafe, which was decorated with Christmas lights and staffed by a young waiter attending the Bible school.<br />
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It was a good question. Had part of me come to “save” my old friend from the clutches of the Christian right? Though I don’t doubt that sexual attraction can evolve, I was skeptical of Michael’s claim of heterosexuality — and I rejected his argument that “homosexuality prevents us from finding our true self within.” Besides, I had a hard time believing that Michael’s “true self” was a fundamentalist Christian who writes derogatorily about being gay. But whatever aspirations I had about persuading Michael to join the ranks of ex-ex-gays, they were no match for his eagerness to save me. <br />
(HT: <a href="http://www.dennyburk.com/">Denny Burk</a>)<br />
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PCMag: <a href="http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2387263,00.asp">Google to Partner with the British Library to Bring 250,000 Books Online</a><br />
<span id="intellitxt" name="intellitxt"> With a catalog of about 14 million books, the British Library's collection is one of the biggest in the world, second only to the U.S. Library of Congress. Many of these titles will soon be available to anyone, anywhere; a new partnership between Google <span class="itxtrst itxtrstspan itxthookspan" id="itxthook0w0" style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: darkgreen; font-size: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"></span>and the British Library will put about 250,000 of those texts online. <br />
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Google is footing the bill to digitize content that is no longer under copyright. People can view, copy, and search this content dating from 1700-1870 for free via either the British Library site or the Google Books site. Content will be available in a variety of languages, and a focus will be placed on items that have never been available online <span class="itxtrst itxtrstspan itxthookspan" id="itxthook1w0" style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: darkgreen; font-size: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"></span>before.<br />
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WSJ: <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303823104576391452872513430.html">Daughters and Dad's Approval</a><br />
We know that fathers play a key role in the development and choices of their daughters. But even for women whose fathers had been neglectful or abusive, I found a hunger for approval. They wanted a warm relationship with men who did not deserve any relationship at all.<br />
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=14095033" name="U5024744457905MG"></a>Part of this need takes form early in life—when a father is a girl's portal to the world of men. I call fathers a girl's GPS—gender positioning system. It's how women begin to orient themselves in a confusing and (especially of late) fluid landscape of gender expectations.The Tiffinianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04177249344827299583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14095033.post-19372796752492074112011-06-10T11:38:00.001-04:002011-06-10T11:53:10.649-04:00Morning Coffee - June 10, 2011Some stimulating links to start the day:<br />
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Baptist Press Sports: <a href="http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=35506">Tim Tebow Memoir Released </a><br />
<blockquote>"It’s about my life, from before I was born, all the way up to my first year in the NFL and everything in between," Tebow said in a Florida Times-Union story. "It’s a lot of cool stuff. Some of it is stories that have been told, but also what isn’t told. There’s a lot of stuff in there that ESPN doesn’t report, just thoughts of mine before big games and different stories that people wouldn’t know unless they were right there with me."</blockquote><br />
Jhumpa Lahiri: <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/06/13/110613fa_fact_lahiri">Trading Stories: Notes from an Apprenticeship</a><br />
<blockquote>For much of my life, I wanted to be other people; here was the central dilemma, the reason, I believe, for my creative stasis. I was always falling short of people’s expectations: my immigrant parents’, my Indian relatives’, my American peers’, above all my own. The writer in me wanted to edit myself. If only there was a little more this, a little less that, depending on the circumstances: then the asterisk that accompanied me would be removed. My upbringing, an amalgam of two hemispheres, was heterodox and complicated; I wanted it to be conventional and contained. I wanted to be anonymous and ordinary, to look like other people, to behave as others did. To anticipate an alternate future, having sprung from a different past. This had been the lure of acting—the comfort of erasing my identity and adopting another. How could I want to be a writer, to articulate what was within me, when I did not wish to be myself?</blockquote><br />
Jonathan Leeman: <a href="http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2011/06/10/how-not-to-grow-a-healthy-church/">How Not to Grow a Healthy Church</a><br />
<blockquote>Just about every church leader and Christian I know would affirm the doctrine of the sufficiency of God’s Word. But this is an easy box to check in the morning and forget in the afternoon, particularly when you’re sitting in Tuesday’s church staff meeting making decisions about next Sunday. One of the legacies of Mark Dever in my life is the lesson that growing as both a Christian and as a pastor means growing continually in my understanding of the Bible’s sufficiency and power. Believing in this is a faith proposition that needs feeding and nurturing, just like a belief in God and the gospel.<br />
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This is especially important for church leaders, who are going to build their congregations on one thing or another. Your beliefs about the Bible are not a box to check. The faithful pastors whom many of us admire are the men who, over the years, <i>grow</i><b> </b>and <i>grow </i>and <i>grow </i>in knowing the Bible’s power.</blockquote><br />
NYT Book Review: <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/05/books/review/book-review-books-about-bob-dylan-by-greil-marcus-david-yaffe-and-daniel-mark-epstein.html?_r=1&ref=books">Books About Bob Dylan</a><br />
<blockquote>[Greil Marcus'] recent scrapbook compilation, “Bob Dylan by Greil Marcus: Writings 1968-2010,” shows him in a decades-long game of chess against the man who is his favorite subject, bugaboo, muse, hobbyhorse and intellectual crush object. Dylan will try to pull a fast one, and Marcus will usually catch him in the act and call him on it. Amusingly enough, he cannot stand one of Dylan’s most beloved songs. “Line by line,” Marcus writes, “ ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’ is pious, or falsely innocent — isn’t it obvious whoever wrote ‘Yes, ’n’ how many seas must a white dove sail / Before she sleeps in the sand?’ already knows the answer, assuming he or anyone can actually bring him or herself to care about such a precious question?” Neither does he care for “The Times They Are A-Changin.’ ” Or Dylan’s religious period. Or most of his 1980s output. Same with a lot of his 1970s material. He takes special glee in pointing out the horridness of a little-heard Dylan composition, from 1963, called “You’ve Been Hiding Too Long.” After quoting a few of its stilted lines, Marcus reports that it “is so awful it’s been erased from Dylan’s published song collections.” He piles on, calling it “self-congratulatory spew” and “the deformed spawn of the impulses behind ‘Masters of War.’ ” </blockquote><br />
On My Shelf Interview: <a href="http://tgcreviews.com/on-my-shelf/mark-dever/">Mark Dever</a><br />
<blockquote><b>Any advice on how to read for comprehension? </b><br />
<blockquote>This is the order I read nonfiction books: 1) table of contents; 2) prefatory material; 3) intro and conclusion; 4) chapter titles to figure out what the author is trying to do throughout the book; 5) rest of the book.</blockquote><b>What book has been best adapted to the movie screen? Worst movie adaptation? </b><br />
<blockquote>Best = “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “Lord of the Rings”; Worst = Prince of Egypt (yes, the Disney animated film).</blockquote></blockquote><br />
Wired: <a href="http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/06/anatomy-of-backlash/">How Facebook Got an 'F' for Facial Recognition</a> <br />
<blockquote>It’s a pretty common-sense feature and examined coldly, really not very invasive and perhaps not even that useful. Similar features are baked into Apple’s iPhoto and Google’s Picasa client software. (For my money, the creepiest features of Google and Facebook are Google’s default-on Web History recording and Facebook’s behind-the-scenes ranking of the strength of your friendship with each of your friends.) <br />
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But the backlash is really about two things: 1) the fateful combination of the words “Facial Recognition” and “Facebook” and 2) Facebook’s tone-deaf handling of the feature.</blockquote>The Tiffinianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04177249344827299583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14095033.post-72524095228483783722011-06-09T11:47:00.001-04:002011-06-09T12:37:33.123-04:00"The commencement of godliness is the love of God."John Calvin <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=rz9yihtxBLsC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA48#v=onepage&q&f=false">on the greatest commandment</a> (Deut 6:5; Matt 22:37 and parallels):<br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;"><blockquote>[N]o man will actually obey God but he who loves Him. But as the wicked and sinful inclinations of the flesh draw us aside from what is right, Moses shows that our life will not be regulated aright till the love of God fill all our senses. Let us therefore learn, that the commencement of godliness is the love of God, because God disdains the forced services of men, and chooses to be worshiped freely and willingly; and let us also learn, that under the love of God is included the reverence due to him. </blockquote></div>The Tiffinianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04177249344827299583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14095033.post-70454655534815190342011-06-09T10:40:00.000-04:002011-06-09T10:40:40.921-04:00Morning Coffee - June 9, 2011Some links to start the day:<br />
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The Atlantic: <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2011/06/sorry-settlers-of-catan-is-not-the-new-monopoly/240104/">Sorry, Settlers of Catan Is Not The New Monopoly</a><br />
<blockquote>Full disclosure: I am a regular Settlers player. At least twice a month I get together with two to five of my friends to "Settle," as the lingo goes. I first learned how to play in 2007, which I guess makes me part of the enclave that popularized the obscure German game with a less-than-marketable name. Since then I've been hooked. My college friends played when we were too lazy to go out. And when I first moved to D.C. I used it as a way to make friends in a city where I knew few people. I get the appeal. I'm just not so quick to call it the next Monopoly or Risk.</blockquote><br />
Baptist Press: <a href="http://www.bpnews.net/BPFirstPerson.asp?ID=35483">How to Use Twitter to Communicate at #SBC2011 </a><br />
<blockquote>Include the official "#SBC2011" hashtag in your tweets so others can follow your conference updates. Share comments, quotes, photos and other bits of information. Just remember that you only have 140 characters to make it happen. And if you expect people to "retweet" your messages, aim at around 100-120 characters to be safe.<br />
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Baptist Press will be tweeting real-time coverage from the floor, sharing breaking news, news stories and photo highlights from an overall convention perspective. Be sure to follow @BaptistPress to track all the parliamentary action, such as motions, resolutions or votes.</blockquote><br />
Douglas E. Baker: <a href="http://www.patheos.com/Resources/Additional-Resources/Border-Crossings-The-SBC-of-the-21st-Century-Douglas-Baker-06-08-2011.html">Border Crossings: The SBC of the 21st Century </a><br />
<blockquote>Trinity Church's membership spans the gamut from young professionals to college students skeptical of Christianity. Many members are not lifelong Southern Baptists, even though the church was established in friendly cooperation with the Southern Baptist Convention. McCullough isn't shy about being a Southern Baptist, but he is quick to point out that most members in his congregation know next to nothing of the infrastructure that comprises one of the largest denominational ministries in the world.<br />
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The small-town Alabama native (still a rabid Auburn fan) graduated from Boyce College (the undergraduate arm of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) prior to coming to Vanderbilt and works to minimize the work of the denominational machinery when it comes to the church's outreach. His attitude is not one of annoyance or ingratitude. The SBC, he happily admits, "allows us to do more together than we can do alone."</blockquote><br />
Ross Douthat: <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/06/opinion/06douthat.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss">Dr. Kevorkian's Victims</a><br />
<blockquote>We are all dying, day by day: do the terminally ill really occupy a completely different moral category from the rest? A cancer patient’s suffering isn’t necessarily more unbearable than the more indefinite agony of someone living with multiple sclerosis or quadriplegia or manic depression. And not every unbearable agony is medical: if a man losing a battle with Parkinson’s disease can claim the relief of physician-assisted suicide, then why not a devastated widower, or a parent who has lost her only child?<br />
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This isn’t a hypothetical slippery slope. Jack Kevorkian spent his career putting this dark, expansive logic into practice. He didn’t just provide death to the dying; he helped anyone whose suffering seemed sufficient to warrant his deadly assistance. When The Detroit Free Press investigated his “practice” in 1997, it found that 60 percent of those he assisted weren’t actually terminally ill. In several cases, autopsies revealed “no anatomical evidence of disease.” </blockquote><br />
TechLand: <a href="http://techland.time.com/2011/06/08/who-are-these-people-sony-hack-reveals-seinfeld-as-most-popular-password/">Sony Hack Reveals 'Seinfeld' as Most Popular Password</a><br />
<blockquote><b style="font-weight: normal;">Randomness</b> is also key to password strength. That means using something like “qp}Edhg!13evTOI” rather than “JustinBieberRocks”. So it's interesting that over a third of the passwords analyzed could be found in a common password dictionary. The most frequent passwords use included: <i>seinfeld, password, 123456, purple, princess, maggie, peanut, shadow, ginger, michael, buster, sunshine, tigger, cookie, george, summer, taylor, bosco, abc123, ashley,</i> and <i>bailey</i>.</blockquote><br />
Timothy Keller: <a href="http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2011/06/06/sinned-in-a-literal-adam-raised-in-a-literal-christ/">Sinned in a Literal Adam, Saved in a Literal Christ </a><br />
<blockquote>Many orthodox Christians who believe God used evolutionary biological processes to bring about human life not only do not take Genesis 1 as history, but also deny that Genesis 2 is an account of real events. Adam and Eve, in their view, were not historical figures but an allegory or symbol of the human race. Genesis 2, then, is a symbolic story or myth that conveys the truth that human beings all have and do turn away from God and are sinners.<br />
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Before I share my concerns with this view, let me make a clarification. One of my favorite Christian writers (that’s putting it mildly), C. S.Lewis, did not believe in a literal Adam and Eve, and I do not think the lack of such belief means he cannot be saved. But my concern is for the church corporately and for its growth and vitality over time. Will the loss of a belief in the historical fall weaken some of our historical, doctrinal commitments at certain crucial points? Here are two points where that could happen.</blockquote>The Tiffinianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04177249344827299583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14095033.post-45090717890926574782011-06-08T16:32:00.000-04:002011-06-08T16:32:56.931-04:00Timothy Keller Blog Series on Preaching and Preachers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Over the last few months, Timothy Keller has been blogging his way through D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones' classic book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Preaching-Preachers-D-Martyn-Lloyd-Jones/dp/0310278708"><i>Preaching and Preachers</i></a> (which is set to be re-issued by Zondervan next year). He's written four posts so far, with more to come:<br />
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<a href="http://redeemercitytocity.com/blog/view.jsp?Blog_param=265">Lloyd-Jones on the Problem of Preaching</a><br />
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<a href="http://redeemercitytocity.com/blog/view.jsp?Blog_param=270">Lloyd-Jones on the Permanence of Preaching</a><br />
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<a href="http://redeemercitytocity.com/blog/view.jsp?Blog_param=353">Lloyd-Jones on the Primacy of Preaching</a><br />
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<a href="http://redeemercitytocity.com/blog/view.jsp?Blog_param=359">Lloyd-Jones on the Efficacy of Preaching Today</a><br />
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Keller says the book has greatly shaped his own preaching, and suggests one reason why ML-J's views have not gained wider acceptance:<br />
<blockquote>As I re-read his book I realized that [Lloyd-Jones'] views by no means have won the day. The objections to classic preaching have largely been accepted and people are scrambling to find alternatives. I think most young leaders who would pick his book up today will find it completely out of step with any of the last several books they may have read on preaching. And yet here I am, after twenty some years in the middle of New York City, a postmodern city by any definition, having been deeply shaped by the Doctor's definitions and prescriptions for preaching, and they have borne much fruit here. So if this advice has proved effective in the middle of NYC, why are so few people taking it? So why are so many people going in a different direction with preaching? Why aren't more people listening to it?<br />
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If you move beyond these posts and read the Doctor's book—as I hope you will—you will quickly see one possible reason why people have not followed him. Dr. Lloyd-Jones makes a host of dogmatic assertions about very specific practices. He believed strongly that the pulpit should be physically above the listeners, that the minister should wear a robe, that he should not make many personal references to himself nor use much humor. He believed that the preacher should not announce his texts and topics ahead of time. (He was that loathe to cater to people's interests and "felt needs.") He thought it was abominable to plan out exactly what your texts and topics would be months in advance. (That did not give enough space for the leading of the Spirit.) He was also opposed to having his sermons recorded (though he reluctantly agreed to it eventually.) He believed that large preaching services (Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Friday night) really would carry virtually all the "freight" of the church's ministry. He frowned on small group ministry and had few other ways for the church to gather as a community or do discipleship and instruction. As it turned out, in the end his church <em>was</em> too preaching-dependent and after his retirement the church experienced a crisis.</blockquote><blockquote>I've come to the conclusion that Lloyd-Jones's basic theses about the nature of preaching have not been followed in the U.K. nor here in the U.S. largely because of his own dogmatism on details and also because so many of his followers did not seem to know how to extract the Doctor's particular methods and personal tastes from the broad lines of the argument he laid down. That argument is, I believe, successful and crucial for us in our times. </blockquote>The Tiffinianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04177249344827299583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14095033.post-35165785145233716032011-06-08T11:01:00.000-04:002011-06-08T11:01:52.097-04:00Morning CoffeeSome links to start the day:<br />
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Carl Trueman: <a href="http://www.reformation21.org/blog/2011/06/geoff-bob-and-godlychurchly-am.php">Geoff, Bob and Godly/Churchly Ambition</a><br />
<blockquote> <i>Aberystwyth is a small town of 18,000 people, 9,000 of whom are students, a university town divided into town and gown, further divided into two languages, Welsh and English, what has been dubbed the cultural capital of Wales. There I have built two churches, our own, and the one everyone goes to. You understand that there were lines that I couldn't cross, ethical lines, theological lines, ecumenical lines, liturgical lines. Others were happy, indeed zealous to cross them, but for me there were issues through which a salvation all of grace in its conception, continuance and consummation would have been compromised if I had crossed those lines, as would have been a worship which must be characterized by reverence and godly fear, for our God . . . our God . . . is a consuming fire.</i></blockquote><br />
Church Matters: <a href="http://feeds.9marks.org/%7Er/9marks/blog/%7E3/XhsOxIbzjmc/baseball-phenoms-and-your-flaw-lines">Baseball Phenoms and Your Flaw Lines</a><br />
<blockquote> It's true in baseball and it's true in life. We all like to do things that we're good at. We all play to our strengths and away from our weaknesses. But it's the weaknesses that limit us and bring us down. If you can hit fastballs but not curveballs, you're going to be seeing a lot of Uncle Charlie.<br />
Tomorrow marks my sixth year as pastor of my church. And while I'm not a Bryce Harper-style phenom, I can say that life (Satan?) has attacked me at my flaw lines. In fact, I've learned that a lot of leadership consists of knowing your weaknesses and having the humility and strength to acknowledge them and get help with them.</blockquote><br />
Forbes' SportsMoney: <a href="http://blogs.forbes.com/sportsmoney/2011/05/30/ohio-state-is-tressel-ized-the-lessons-and-the-future/#more-15039">Ohio State is Tressel-ized: The Lessons and the Future</a><br />
<blockquote>But I say an insightful attribution of blame for a problem should start with root causes of the problem. The problem didn’t start with the players. It didn’t start with Tressel. Of course both made bad decisions but it starts with a failure of the NCAA in not giving adequate living expenses to players who work nearly full time, without real chances to make separate income. Would the players have been so tempted to barter property for pocket change, or for rent, to help pay a car note, if they were just given fuller living expenses? Realistically, they cannot even work for pay during the summer if they wanted to put in an honest day’s work and get paid like any other college student. The NCAA has known for years this was a problem.</blockquote><br />
NYT Book Review: <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/07/books/the-man-in-the-rockefeller-suit-by-mark-seal-review.html?_r=1&ref=books">The Man in the Rockefeller Suit</a><br />
<blockquote>In the real-life story recounted in the journalist Mark Seal’s fascinating but weirdly incomplete new book, “The Man in the Rockefeller Suit,” one Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter arrives in America from Germany at 17 and over the years assumes a succession of identities, eventually passing himself off as Clark Rockefeller, “reluctant scion of the family with the country’s most famous name.” He finagles jobs with a succession of Wall Street firms; marries a woman named Sandra Boss, who quickly ascends the corporate ladder at the management consulting firm McKinsey & Company; and insinuates himself into the privileged world of prep-school-and-Ivy-League-educated, upper-crust New York and Boston.</blockquote><br />
PCWorld: <a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/229742/why_facebooks_facial_recognition_is_creepy.html">Why Facebook's Facial Recognition is Creepy</a><br />
<blockquote>Obviously, we can't stop the world of technology from moving toward the development of accurate facial recognition software. But so far, no facial recognition software has really been a threat to our privacy, because nobody has that huge database of people and photos required. Oh wait, except Facebook totally does.<br />
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Yeah. So not only should you opt out of Facebook's facial recognition technology by going to Account > Account Settings > Privacy > Customize Settings > Things Others Share and disabling "Suggest photos of me to friends," you should also upload random pictures of trees and animals and stuffed toys and tag them as yourself.</blockquote><br />
Russell Moore: <a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/%7Er/MooreToThePoint/%7E3/w1Hi195Hfws/">Are You Smarter Than Anthony Weiner?</a><br />
<blockquote>As Christians, we believe that temptation isn’t merely biological. There’s something wild and wicked afoot in the universe. These beings have an ancient strategy, and part of that is to shield us from the future. Desire gives way to sin, James tells us, and “sin when it is fully grown brings forth death” (James 1:15). Temptation only works if the possible futures open to you are concealed. Consequences, including those of Judgment Day, must be hidden from view or outright denied. That’s why in humanity’s ancestral sin the serpent told our mother Eve, “You will not surely die” (Gen. 3:4).</blockquote><br />
Spurgeon: <a href="http://teampyro.blogspot.com/2011/06/on-folly-of-preaching-too-long.html">On the Folly of Preaching too Long</a><br />
<blockquote>The speaker's time should be measured out by wisdom. If he is destitute of discretion, and forgets the circumstances of his auditors, he will annoy them more than a little. In one house the pudding is burning, in another the child is needing its mother, in a third a servant is due in the family; the extra quarter of an hour's prosiness puts all out of order.</blockquote><br />
WSJ Book Review: <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303657404576357331041032992.html?mod=WSJ_Books_LS_Books_6">Those Guys Have All the Fun (oral history of ESPN)</a><br />
<blockquote>By contrast, relatively little attention is given to the conflicts inherent in a network being the largest promoter of sports, the most powerful partner of sports leagues and the largest journalistic shop covering them. A curious reader might want to hear why the quantity and quality of coverage of such sports as soccer and hockey seems to vary depending on how deeply their parent leagues are partnered with the network. But to wrestle with such questions would require introspection from ESPN's key players and a realistic appraisal of the integrity and quality of their product. You won't find much of that here. </blockquote>The Tiffinianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04177249344827299583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14095033.post-66414218047529210312011-06-03T16:56:00.000-04:002011-06-03T16:56:18.375-04:00What Is Marriage For?<a href="http://gret-reads-247.blogspot.com/">Gretchen</a>, <br />
<br />
Yesterday we celebrated a decade of marriage. In that time, we've moved from Wisconsin to Illinois to Kentucky, switched jobs a number of times, watched siblings progress from high school to college to married life, buried loved ones, welcomed babies, started and finished seminary, and experienced disappointments and successes. You do a lot of living in ten years.<br />
<br />
Such a milestone is cause for celebration and thanksgiving. I am deeply grateful to God for you. Ten years of life together has furnished me with ample evidence that God was especially kind in the wife he gave me. I couldn't have known, on that blustery and cold June day a decade ago, just how great a gift you would be! So one purpose of this post is to publicly give thanks to God for his goodness, and to celebrate his faithfulness to us. Proverbs 18:22 isn't true of everyone, but it's true of me: "He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the LORD."<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">Another purpose is to call to mind and affirm anew the overarching purpose of our marriage. What is marriage for? What are we trying to accomplish? Ephesians 5, <a href="http://gret-reads-247.blogspot.com/2008/06/mystery-of-christ-and-his-church.html">which has taken deep root in your heart</a>, tells us that our purpose is to display the gospel of Jesus Christ as we relate to one another in self-giving love, to be a sort of living picture of Christ and his church:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><blockquote>[22] Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. [23] For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. [24] Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.<br />
[25] Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, [26] that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, [27] so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. [28] In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. [29] For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, [30] because we are members of his body. [31] “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” [32] This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. [33] However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.</blockquote></div><br />
Lauren Winner, in <a href="http://www.laurenwinner.net/articles/searchofagoodmarriage.html">an article</a> she wrote a number of years ago, beautifully summarizes this scriptural teaching:<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><blockquote>Our surrounding society tells us that marriage is a private endeavor, that what happens between husband and wife behind closed doors is no one else’s concern. But in the Christian grammar, marriage is not only for the married couple. Insofar as marriage tells the Christian community a particular story, marriage is for the community. It reminds us of the communion and community that is possible between and among people who have been made new creatures in Christ. And it hints at the eschatological union between Christ and the Church. As Catholic ethicist Julie Hanlon Rubio has put it, “marriage consists not simply or even primarily of a personal relationship. Rather, it crystallizes the love of the larger church community. The couple is not just two-in-one, but two together within the whole, with specific responsibility for the whole. They must persevere in love, because the community needs to see God’s love actualized among God’s people.” </blockquote><blockquote>The inflections of community are important because they get at the very meanings of marriage. Marriage is a gift God gives the church. He does not simply give it to the married people of the church, but to the whole church, just as marriage is designed not only for the benefit of the married couple. It is designed to tell a story to the entire church, a story about God’s own love and fidelity to us. </blockquote><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">I praise God for these first ten years, and pray that he will give us many, many more devoted to displaying his love and kindness!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div></div>The Tiffinianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04177249344827299583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14095033.post-37737154126654371982011-06-03T09:59:00.000-04:002011-06-03T09:59:52.053-04:00Morning CoffeeTen links to start your day:<br />
<br />
Albert Mohler: <a href="http://www.albertmohler.com/2011/06/03/the-church-and-the-clobber-scriptures-the-bible-on-homosexuality/">The Church and the 'Clobber Scriptures' -- The Bible on Homosexuality</a><br />
<br />
The Blazing Center: <a href="http://www.theblazingcenter.com/2011/06/parenting-police-language.html">Parenting Police Language<span id="goog_867208668"></span><span id="goog_867208669"></span></a><br />
<br />
DeYoung, Restless, and Reformed: <a href="http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevindeyoung/2011/06/03/glory-of-god-conspicuous-christlikeness/">Glory of God: Conspicuous Christlikeness</a><br />
<br />
The Official Hobbit Blog: <a href="http://www.thehobbitblog.com/?p=2563">Titles and Release Dates Announced</a><br />
<br />
Moore to the Point: <a href="http://www.russellmoore.com/2011/06/02/childrens-curriculum-thats-not-afraid-of-blood/">Children's Curriculum That's Not Afraid of Blood</a><br />
<br />
Owen Strachan: <a href="http://owenstrachan.com/2011/06/01/the-tressel-fiasco-christians-and-their-sports-heroes/">The Tressel Fiasco: Christians and Their Sports Heroes</a><br />
<br />
Practical Shepherding: <a href="http://practicalshepherding.com/2011/06/03/book-recommendation-for-the-pastors-family-4/">Book Recommendation...for the pastor's family</a><br />
<br />
Sharper Iron: <a href="http://sharperiron.org/article/book-review-greener-grass-conspiracy">Book Review - The Greener Grass Conspiracy</a><br />
<br />
Tim Challies: <a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/%7Er/challies/XhEt/%7E3/SB7JEMz8Omg/free-stuff-fridays-105">Free Stuff Fridays</a><br />
<br />
Worship Matters: <a href="http://www.worshipmatters.com/2011/05/25/should-we-play-music-when-someone-is-speaking/">Should We Play Music Behind People Praying?</a>The Tiffinianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04177249344827299583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14095033.post-11720572915668800232011-06-02T12:27:00.000-04:002011-06-02T12:27:33.976-04:00"The Luckiest" -- Ben Folds<object width="300" height="240"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/S1qL2ynRpXU&start=20&end=293"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/S1qL2ynRpXU&start=20&end=293" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="380" height="304"></embed></object> <div style="text-align: right; margin-top: 3px; width: 425px; height: 344px;"><a href="http://splicd.com" style="color: rgb(85, 85, 85); font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif;">powered by <span style="color: rgb(200, 91, 0);">Splicd.com</span></a></div>The Tiffinianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04177249344827299583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14095033.post-82067541355221865242011-06-02T11:52:00.000-04:002011-06-02T11:52:46.366-04:00"The Wild Rose" -- by Wendell Berry</br><br />
Sometimes hidden from me<br />
in daily custom and in trust,<br />
so that I live by you unaware<br />
as by the beating of my heart,<br />
<br />
suddenly you flare in my sight,<br />
a wild rose blooming at the edge<br />
of thicket, grace and light<br />
where yesterday was only shade,<br />
<br />
and once more I am blessed, choosing<br />
again what I chose before.<br />
</br><br />
</br>The Tiffinianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04177249344827299583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14095033.post-85055569720932317422011-06-01T15:19:00.000-04:002011-06-01T15:19:02.474-04:00Noah's Ark Replica Planned for London Olympics</br><br />
<a href="http://wired.com/"></a><a href="http://www.wired.com/playbook/2011/06/noahs-ark-replica-olympics/">Wired.com</a>: <br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><blockquote>In a mere 422 days, billions of people will be focused on the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. If one eccentric Dutchman has his wish, they’ll be just as focused on what’s in the River Thames as the 100-meter gold medal race.<br />
<br />
Contractor Johan Huibers is finishing up work on construction of an ark that is — Biblically speaking — almost exactly the assumed size of Noah’s ark, some 450 feet long and 75 feet wide. Huibers built an initial ark several years ago, but that one was only half the size described in the Bible. With this second rev, Huibers has gone all out.<br />
<br />
Built on the shores of Dordrecht, about 60 miles south of Amsterdam, the ark will contain real, stuffed and animatronic animals — all in pairs, of course — with the idea of teaching visitors and inspiring schoolchildren about Christianity.</blockquote></div><a href="http://www.wired.com/playbook/2011/06/noahs-ark-replica-olympics/">Read the whole thing here. </a>The Tiffinianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04177249344827299583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14095033.post-4629640660441009392011-06-01T11:43:00.000-04:002011-06-01T11:43:19.071-04:00Twitter Today: Notable and Quotable</br><br />
Notable and quotable tweets from notable and quotable evangelicals:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/albertmohler">Albert Mohler</a>: "A thought for my day: 'Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.' -- Benjamin Franklin" <br />
<br />
<a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/plattdavid">David Platt</a>: "Mid East right now is filled w/unprecedented opportunity & unknown risk. Will we embrace both for the spread of the gospel?"<br />
<br />
<a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/DennyBurk">Denny Burk</a>: "In memoir, Tim Tebow details blessed life rooted in faith - USATODAY.com:<a class="twitter-timeline-link" data-display-url="usat.ly/ksAS3M" data-expanded-url="http://usat.ly/ksAS3M" href="http://t.co/hEyUokP" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="http://usat.ly/ksAS3M">http://t.co/hEyUokP</a>" <br />
<br />
<a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/rayortlund">Ray Ortland</a>: "The Lie: 'My life is basically over now because of my sins and the sins of others. The cross failed.'" <br />
<br />
<a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/SharperIron">ShaperIron</a>: "|SI Filings| I lost my inheritance to the doomsday prophet! <a class="twitter-timeline-link" href="http://bit.ly/l4Ydwb" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/l4Ydwb</a>"<br />
<br />
<a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/bkauflin">Bob Kauflin</a>: "Audio from <a class=" twitter-hashtag" href="http://twitter.com/#%21/search?q=%23thisisnext" rel="nofollow" title="#thisisnext"><span class="hash">#</span><span class="hash-text">thisisnext</span></a> is now available: <a class="twitter-timeline-link" href="http://bit.ly/lwvme8" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/lwvme8</a> Carson, Sproul, DeYoung, Purswell, & Oliphint on biblical worldview."<br />
<br />
<a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/MatthewJHall">Matt Hall</a>: "Today is National Running Day. To celebrate, Southern Baptists everywhere plan on running to the nearest Chick-fil-A. <a class=" twitter-hashtag" href="http://twitter.com/#%21/search?q=%23motivated" rel="nofollow" title="#motivated"><span class="hash">#</span><span class="hash-text">motivated</span></a>"The Tiffinianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04177249344827299583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14095033.post-89951295325478532772011-06-01T08:44:00.005-04:002011-06-01T08:45:31.095-04:00Morning Coffee</br><br />
Ten links to start the day: <br />
<br />
<br />
Andy Naselli: <a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/%7Er/nasellitheology/%7E3/5K8dhIYxAso/ipad-resources">iPad Resources</a><br />
<br />
Denny Burk: <a href="http://www.dennyburk.com/teaching-gender-in-public-schools/">Teaching Gender in Public Schools</a><br />
<br />
Kevin DeYoung: <a href="http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevindeyoung/2011/06/01/kings-of-judah-rehoboam%e2%80%99s-folly/">Rehoboam's Folly</a><br />
<br />
Justin Taylor: <a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/%7Er/between2worlds/%7E3/7_HpS-TN2po/">A Front-Row Seat for Frontier Missions</a><br />
<br />
Mark Driscoll: <a href="http://theresurgence.com/2011/06/01/how-to-honor-your-wife">How to Honor Your Wife</a><br />
<br />
Mary Kassian: <a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/%7Er/genderblog/%7E3/Vvm3tvEPYZw/What-Not-to-Wear">What Not to Wear</a><br />
<br />
Pyromaniacs: <a href="http://teampyro.blogspot.com/2011/06/another-open-letter-to-john-piper.html">[another] Open Letter to John Piper</a><br />
<br />
Thabiti Anyabwile: <a href="http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/thabitianyabwile/2011/06/01/desire-overcoming-dedication-leading-to-destruction/">Desire Overcoming Dedication Leading to Destruction</a><br />
<br />
Tom Ascol: <a href="http://blog.founders.org/2011/05/john-piper-interviews-rick-warren.html">John Piper Interviews Rick Warren</a><br />
<br />
Tim Challies: <a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/%7Er/challies/XhEt/%7E3/bio5v0kMHyg/free-desktop-wallpaper-calendars-june-2011">Free Desktop Wallpaper Calendars: June 2011</a>The Tiffinianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04177249344827299583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14095033.post-91962809174334003792011-06-01T08:43:00.002-04:002011-06-01T08:43:39.263-04:00Debating the Multi-site ModelDoes <i>ekklesia </i>mean "assembly"? <br />
<br />
<a href="http://theresurgence.com/2011/05/18/are-multi-site-churches-biblical">Gregg Allison responds</a> to Mark Dever's comments early in <a href="http://vimeo.com/13082622">this</a> video clip: <br />
<blockquote>An assembly is certainly in view when Paul addresses celebrating the Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 11:17-34) and regulates the exercise of speaking in tongues and prophecy (1 Corinthians 14:26-40) when the church is gathered together. But <i>ekklēsia</i> cannot mean “assembly” in Acts 8:1, for example, when Luke’s point is that the church was “scattered”—<b>not</b> assembled—because of persecution. In fact, the word <i>church</i> can refer to meetings of Christians in houses (Acts 12:12), the church in a city (1 Corinthians 1:1-2; 1 Thessalonians 1:1), all the believers in a region (Acts 9:31), the universal church (1 Corinthians 10:32), and even the saints already in heaven (Hebrews 12:23). Saying that the word <i>ekklēsia</i> means “assembly” commits a <b>lexical</b> error. (<a href="http://theresurgence.com/2011/05/18/are-multi-site-churches-biblical">READ ON</a>)</blockquote><br />
<a href="http://www.9marks.org/blog/non-assembled-assembly?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+9marks%2Fblog+%289Marks+Blog%3A+Building+Healthy+Churches+%29">Jonathan Leeman responds</a> to Allison:<br />
<blockquote> [Allison] says that "saying that the word <i>ekklesia </i>means 'assembly' commits a lexical error" since the word is used in the New Testament in places where no assembly is present, such as Acts 8:3: "But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged men and women..." Allison's surely right to observe that the word "church" in a text like this one refers to the church scattered, not gathered. But the multi-site argument actually requires something more. It requires one to say that a church can be a church even if the sites <i>never </i>gather (again, an assembly that never actually assembles). As I look at the text, I would say that the word "church" is used like the word "team." A basketball team (meaning the members of the team) can be gathered or they can be scattered. But the point is, they aren't a team <i>if they never actually gather</i>. The gathering is one aspect of what constitutes a team as a team and a church as a church. (<a href="http://www.9marks.org/blog/non-assembled-assembly?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+9marks%2Fblog+%289Marks+Blog%3A+Building+Healthy+Churches+%29">READ ON</a>)</blockquote>The Tiffinianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04177249344827299583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14095033.post-85858856548911297202011-05-31T14:16:00.001-04:002011-06-01T09:14:43.478-04:00What is a Successful Church?</br><br />
<a href="http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/thabitianyabwile/">Thabiti Anyabwile</a>:<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><blockquote>Very often churches and church leaders define their “success” in terms of numbers. Some defend measurement as an acceptable approach to gauging progress and effectiveness. They speak of the number of baptisms or converts, church attendance and budgets, and other numerical assessments as shorthand for “success.” Others reduce “success” to one factor: faithfulness. ”Whether the numbers change or not,” this group tells us, “is not the issue. The issue is whether a leader and church have been true to God’s design and intent.”</blockquote><blockquote>Here’s what both points of view can sometimes miss: <em>persons </em>and their stories. We can miss that behind every number are tons of <em>persons</em>. And a “faithful” man may in his own way miss persons by making persons into an abstract mass of “people.” I know that numbers tell us something about people, but only at aggregate levels, levels that become useless with individuals. And I know that a faithful pastor will love and care for people. But he can begin to think that people get in the way of being faithful. What we need are ways of defining and talking about the church and the work of the ministry that tells the stories of God’s work in, with and through persons. Isn’t the church and leadership about God’s design and will <em>for persons</em>? Isn’t the best measurement of “success” what happens in, to, and with persons in all of their beauty and ugly?</blockquote></div><br />
Read the whole thing <a href="http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/thabitianyabwile/">HERE</a>.The Tiffinianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04177249344827299583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14095033.post-90011112247862190422011-05-04T20:00:00.006-04:002011-05-04T20:00:01.185-04:00The Shepherd's Sling and Staff<div class="MsoNormal">If the charge of pastoral ministry is "shepherd the flock," how, precisely, does a pastor go about doing so? What tasks are involved? Again we look to the Bible for our answer. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">A good summary of the way in which pastors care for the flock is found in Acts 6:4, where the apostles who shepherded the Jerusalem church insisted on giving themselves above all “to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” These are the two essential duties of pastoral ministry. A faithful ministry will surely involve more but must never involve less. If the pastor is a shepherd then prayer and the ministry of the word are his sling and staff – the tools he uses to care for the flock. </div><ul><li>Prayer - The pastor shepherds the church by diligently praying for it, for “The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much” (James 5:16). He prays for the church as a whole to grow in knowledge, discernment, fruitfulness, purity, unity and love. We see prayers of this kind throughout the NT (e.g., John 17; Acts 20:36; Eph 1:15-19; Phil 1:3-11). The pastor also watches over individual members by interceding for each of them regularly, just as Jesus interceded for Peter (Luke 22:31-32) and Paul remembered Timothy “constantly in [his] prayers night and day” (2 Tim 1:3). </li>
</ul><ul><li>Ministry of the Word - The pastor proclaims God’s Word to God’s people: “Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching” (2 Tim 4:2). He declares to them “the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27), the center of which is “Christ and him crucified” (1 Cor 2:2). A robust Word ministry is utterly crucial, for, as pastor Mark Dever has said, “The consistent message of Scripture is that God creates his people and brings them to life through his Word.” Acts 20 highlights several important features of Word ministry: </li>
</ul><ul><ul><li>Public Word ministry - Paul taught “in public,” meaning he preached when the church was gathered together for worship. He later instructed Timothy to do the same: “Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching” (1 Tim 4:13). “The heart of Christian worship,” says R. Albert Mohler, “is the authentic preaching of the Word of God.” Word ministry in the church’s public gatherings is vital because the pastor is able to communicate God’s Word to the whole congregation at once week by week. He proclaims to them the greatness of God, the sinfulness of humanity and the hope of the gospel, and exhorts the hearers to respond in trust and obedience. Book-by-book expository preaching, which makes the point of the text the point of the sermon, should be the regular diet of the church. In addition to the church’s regular meetings, public Word ministry takes place when the pastor proclaims God’s Word at weddings, funerals and other such gatherings. </li>
</ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Private Word ministry - Paul also taught “from house to house,” meaning he engaged in one-on-one discipleship. He visited people in their homes in order to provide more personal instruction from God’s Word. The pastor must get to know church members personally and become familiar with their unique circumstances, problems and struggles so that he can encourage them in the gospel and teach them how it applies to their lives. In so doing, he shows the members how to disciple one another. Private Word ministry also includes activities such as counseling, personal evangelism, visiting homebound members and making hospital visits. </li>
</ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Setting an example - Paul reminded the Ephesian elders of his hard work and humble service in dependence upon the Lord and exhorted them to follow his example (cf. also 1 Cor 11:1; Phil 3:17). The responsibility to set an example of godliness for the flock is inseparable from the ministry of the Word, for the pastor’s personal walk with Christ gives weight and substance to both his public and private Word ministry. The pastor must invite the flock into his life so that they can imitate his walk. Example-setting also includes the pastor’s responsibility to identify and mentor future leaders “who will be able to teach others also” (2 Tim 2:2; cf. also Titus 1:5). </li>
</ul></ul>The Tiffinianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04177249344827299583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14095033.post-16369310076822477392011-05-04T11:09:00.003-04:002011-05-04T12:02:05.419-04:00Shepherding the FlockThe Bible’s favorite metaphor for pastoral ministry is shepherding. Like shepherds, pastors watch over the flock of God entrusted to them. In fact, the word translated <i>pastor</i> in our English Bibles (Eph 4:6) is the Greek word for <i>shepherd</i>. So the Apostle Paul charged the Ephesian elders, “Pay careful attention . . . to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God” (Acts 20:28). And Peter exhorted the elders of the churches of Asia Minor to “shepherd the flock of God that is among you” (1 Peter 5:2). Pastors lead, feed and guard the flock under the authority of Christ, the Chief Shepherd (1 Peter 5:4). <br />
<ul><li>The pastor <i>leads</i> the flock, not in a domineering way but by setting an example of godliness (1 Tim 4:12; 1 Peter 5:3) and by serving, just as Christ did (Luke 22:26-27). He says with Paul, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (1 Cor 11:1). While governing authority rests with the congregation as a whole, pastors have authority to lead because of their special responsibility to watch over the souls of the flock, for which they will answer to God: “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account” (Heb 13:17). </li>
</ul><ul><li> The pastor <i>feeds</i> the flock on the Word of God, for the gospel alone “is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Rom 1:16). The pastor is not free to feed the flock on his own opinions or on worldly wisdom, but must nourish them with the very words of God (1 Peter 4:11). </li>
</ul><ul><li>The pastor <i>guards</i> the flock from the enemies of their souls, just as Paul warned the Ephesian elders: “I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them” (Acts 20:29-30). Thus the pastor must keep alert and persist in plainly declaring the word of God’s grace, just as Charles Spurgeon urged the pastors of his day: </li>
</ul><blockquote><div style="text-align: justify;"><blockquote><blockquote>"Cleverness and eloquence – away with them forever! If it is not the truth of God, the more cleverly and eloquently it is preached the more damnable it is. We must have the truth and nothing but the truth, and I charge the fathers in Christ all over England and America to see to this. Get ye to your watchtower and guard the flock, lest the sheep be destroyed while they are asleep." </blockquote></blockquote></div></blockquote>How, exactly, does a pastor go about shepherding the flock? What tasks are involved? That will be the subject of my next post.The Tiffinianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04177249344827299583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14095033.post-51372625423213721952011-01-20T12:39:00.000-05:002011-01-20T12:39:38.009-05:00What is the goal of Christian preaching? Martin Luther in <i>Concerning Christian Liberty</i>: <br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><blockquote>Now preaching ought to have the object of promoting faith in [Christ], so that He may not only be Christ, but a Christ for you and for me, and that what is said of Him, and what He is called, may work in us. And this faith is produced and is maintained by preaching why Christ came, what He has brought us and given to us, and to what profit and advantage He is to be received.</blockquote></div>The Tiffinianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04177249344827299583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14095033.post-33188931522012530722010-12-16T13:51:00.003-05:002010-12-16T13:52:59.136-05:00Repost: Exmas and Christmas<span style="font-style: italic;">Here's a little essa</span><span style="font-style: italic;">y on Christmas by good old Jack.</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">A Lost Chapter from Herodotus<br />
By C.S. Lewis</span><br />
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And beyond this there lies in the ocean, turned towards the west and the north, the island of Niatirb which Hecataeus indeed declares to be the same size and shape as Sicily, but it is larger, and though in calling it triangular a man would not miss the mark. It is densely inhabited by men who wear clothes not very different from other barbarians who occupy the north- western parts of Europe though they do not agree with them in language. These islanders, surpassing all the men of whom we know in patience and endurance, use the following customs.<br />
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In the middle of winter when fogs and rains most abound they have a great festival which they call Exmas, and for fifty days they prepare for it in the fashion I shall describe. First of all, every citizen is obliged to send to each of his friends and relations a square piece of hard paper stamped with a picture, which in their speech is called an Exmas-card . But the pictures represent birds sitting on branches, or trees with a dark green prickly leaf, or else men in such garments as the Niatirbians believe that their ancestors wore two hundred years ago riding in coaches such as their ancestors used, or houses with snow on their roofs. And the Niatirbians are unwilling to say what these pictures have to do with the festival, guarding (as I suppose) some sacred mystery. And because all men must send these cards the market-place is filled with the crowd of those buying them, so that there is great labour and weariness.<br />
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But having bought as many as they suppose to be sufficient, they return to their houses and find there the like cards which others have sent to them. And when they find cards from any to whom they also have sent cards, they throw them away and give thanks to the gods that this labour at least is over for another year. But when they find cards from any to whom they have not sent, then they beat their breasts and wail and utter curses against the sender; and, having sufficiently lamented their misfortune, they put on their boots again and go out into the fog and rain and buy a card for him also. And let this account suffice about Exmas-cards.<br />
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They also send gifts to one another, suffering the same things about the gifts as about the cards, or even worse. For every citizen has to guess the value of the gift which every friend will send to him so that he may send one of equal value, whether he can afford it or not. And they buy as gifts for one another such things as no man ever bought for himself. For the sellers, understanding the custom, put forth all kinds of trumpery, and whatever, being useless and ridiculous, sell as an Exmas gift. And though the Niatirbians profess themselves to lack sufficient necessary things, such as metal, leather, wood and paper, yet an incredible quantity of these things is wasted every year, being made into the gifts.<br />
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But during these fifty days the oldest, poorest and the most miserable of citizens put on false beards and red robes and walk in the market-place; being disguised (in my opinion) as Cronos. And the sellers of gifts no less than the purchasers become pale and weary, because of the crowds and the fog, so that any man who came into a Niatirbian city at this season would think that some great calamity had fallen on Niatirb. This fifty days of preparation is called in their barbarian speech the Exmas Rush.<br />
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But when the day of the festival comes, then most of the citizens, being exhausted with the Rush, lie in bed till noon. But in the evening they eat five times as much supper as on other days and, crowning themselves with crowns of paper, they become intoxicated. And on the day after Exmas they are very grave, being internally disordered by the supper and the drinking and reckoning how much they have spent on gifts and on the wine. For wine is so dear among the Niatirbians that a man must swallow the worth of a talent before he is well intoxicated.<br />
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Such, then, are their customs about the Exmas. But the few among the Niatirbians have also a festival, separate and to themselves, called Crissmas , which is on the same day as Exmas. And those who keep Crissmas, doing the opposite to the majority of the Niatirbians, rise early on that day with shining faces and go before sunrise to certain temples where they partake of a sacred feast. And in most of the temples they set out images of a fair woman with a new-born Child on her knees and certain animals and shepherds adoring the Child. (The reason of these images is given in a certain sacred story which I know but do not repeat.)<br />
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But I myself conversed with a priest in one of these temples and asked him why they kept Crissmas on the same day as Exmas; for it appeared to me inconvenient. But the priest replied, It is not lawful, O Stranger, for us to change the date of Crissmas, but would that Zeus would put it into the minds of the Niatirbians to keep Exmas at some other time or not to keep it at all. For Exmas and the Rush distract the minds even of the few from sacred things. And we indeed are glad that men should make merry at Crissmas; but in Exmas there is no merriment left. And when I asked him why they endured the Rush, he replied, It is, O Stranger, a racket; using (as I suppose) the words of some oracle and speaking unintelligibly to me (for a racket is an instrument which the barbarians use in a game called tennis).<br />
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But what Hecataeus says, that Exmas and Crissmas are the same, is not credible. For the first, the pictures which are stamped on the Exmas-cards have nothing to do with the sacred story which the priests tell about Crissmas. And secondly, the most part of the Niatirbians, not believing the religion of the few, nevertheless send the gifts and cards and participate in the Rush and drink, wearing paper caps. But it is not likely that men, even being barbarians, should suffer so many and great things in honour of a god they do not believe in. And now, enough about Niatirb.The Tiffinianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04177249344827299583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14095033.post-49013732425775825822010-11-23T18:42:00.011-05:002010-11-23T19:38:50.890-05:00A Thanksgiving Prayer<sp> </sp><br />
Most gracious God, by whose knowledge the depths are broken up and the clouds drop down the dew:<br />
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We yield thee hearty thanks and praise for the return of seedtime and harvest, for the increase of the ground and the gathering in of its fruits, and for all the other blessings of thy merciful providence bestowed upon this nation and people.<br />
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And, we beseech thee, give us a just sense of these great mercies, such as may appear in our lives by a humble, holy, and obedient walking before thee all our days; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with thee and the Holy Ghost be all glory and honor, world without end.<br />
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Amen.<br />
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<span style="font-size: 78%;">(The Book of Common Prayer, p. 840)</span><span style="font-size: 85%;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size: 78%;"></span><br />
</span></span>The Tiffinianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04177249344827299583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14095033.post-84203071947640155792010-10-07T09:37:00.002-04:002010-10-07T09:58:10.407-04:00When Saints Become DevilsHave you ever sat through a church business meeting in which some otherwise godly members seemed intent on causing trouble and fostering disunity? Who wanted not only to disagree but to do so in a disagreeable manner? Why do otherwise godly people sometimes behave badly in church business meetings? D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones suggests that one reason is that Christian people fail to think spiritually about every facet of life:<br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><blockquote style="color: rgb(255, 204, 0);">Spurgeon once told his students that they would find that people who in prayer meetings prayed like real saints, and who in general behaved like true saints, in a church meeting could suddenly become devils. Alas, the history of the church proves that what he said is but too true. You see, in praying to God they think spiritually. Then they come to the business of the church and become devils. Why? Because they start off in an unspiritual manner, on the assumption that there is some essential difference between a church meeting and a prayer meeting. They have a party spirit within them and out it comes. It is simply because they forget that they need to think spiritually about everything. The first principle we lay down, therefore is, that we must learn to think spiritually always.</blockquote></div><blockquote></blockquote> (D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, <span style="font-style: italic;">Faith Tried and Triumphant</span>, p. 106.)The Tiffinianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04177249344827299583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14095033.post-30096608845230708932010-08-31T13:18:00.004-04:002010-08-31T13:41:30.364-04:00What's wrong with weddingsIncisive comments <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/andrewbrown/2010/aug/04/wedding-christianity-extravagance-selfishness">here</a> about how the modern wedding ceremony actually undermines marriage. An excerpt:<br /><blockquote style="color: rgb(255, 204, 0);">[T]he modern wedding, if it does anything, shortens marriages rather than cementing them. <p>Here's why. The modern wedding, with its stupendous cost (£20,000 on average) and duration, is really a celebration of the participants. They really are unique and precious snowflakes, just as they have suspected all along. In fact, they are each and both of them just the unique and precious people they would like to be. Everyone pretends that for the day the couple really are starring in their own film: following the conventions of modern films, that means nothing really bad can happen to them. </p><p>[...]<br /></p><p>The great point about completely impersonal ceremonies, whose form is the same for everyone, whether these are religious or entirely civil, is that they remind us that the problems and difficulties of marriage are universal. They come from being human. They can't be dodged just by being our wonderful selves, even all dusted with unicorn sparkle. </p><p>On your wedding day you feel thoroughly special, and your guests will go along with this; so that is the moment when the ceremony should remind you that you're not all that. What you're doing isn't a step into fairyland. And if it does turn out to be the gateway to a new life, that is one that will have to be built over time and unglamorously with the unpromising materials of the old one.</p></blockquote><p></p>The Tiffinianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04177249344827299583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14095033.post-15983978579599012392010-06-25T11:41:00.002-04:002010-06-25T12:28:09.562-04:00Found: 4th-Century images of Apostles John and AndrewArchaeologists have found <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/jun/22/apostles-images-john-andrew-italy">stunningly clear portraits of the apostles John and Andrew</a> in a catacomb under an Italian street. According to the article from the Guardian, the catacomb "is accessed through the unmarked basement door of a drab office building, beyond which dim corridors packed with burial spots wind off through damp tufa stone."<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/About/General/2010/6/22/1277228289050/icon-of-the-Apostle-John--006.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 460px; height: 276px;" src="http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/About/General/2010/6/22/1277228289050/icon-of-the-Apostle-John--006.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>The Tiffinianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04177249344827299583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14095033.post-12536626752742928142010-06-25T11:29:00.002-04:002010-06-25T11:40:57.242-04:00Manute Bol, "fool for Christ"<a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704853404575323043046894012.html">Here's a nice tribute</a> to the late Manute Bol, former NBA player, Christian, and humanitarian, by Jon Shields of the Wall Street Journal. Shields says of Bol:<br /><p></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><blockquote>Bol's life and death throws into sharp relief the trivialized manner in which sports journalists employ the concept of redemption. In the world of sports media players are redeemed when they overcome some prior "humiliation" by playing well. Redemption then is deeply connected to personal gain and celebrity. It leads to fatter contracts, shoe endorsements, and adoring women.<br /><br />Yet as Bol reminds us, the Christian understanding of redemption has always involved lowering and humbling oneself. It leads to suffering and even death.<br /><br />It is of little surprise, then, that the sort of radical Christianity exemplified by Bol is rarely understood by sports journalists. For all its interest in the intimate details of players' lives, the media has long been tone deaf to the way devout Christianity profoundly shapes some of them.</blockquote></div><p></p>The Tiffinianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04177249344827299583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14095033.post-26443791419263141672010-04-30T11:17:00.006-04:002010-04-30T12:10:56.338-04:00Encouragement for ParentsParents, do you ever lament some of the ways your life has changed since you had kids? That your social life isn't what it used to be, that you don't get out on the town as often as you once did, that you go to bed so early, that your days are so often spent in the realm of diapers and toys and nap times and runny noses and lowered volume on the TV so the baby doesn't wake up?<br /><br />In his book <span style="font-style: italic;">The Reason for God</span>, Tim Keller observes that these kinds of limitations are in fact noble, and a reflection of God's own self-giving in the person of his Son. Read and be encouraged:<br /><br /><blockquote>In the real world of relationships it is impossible to love people with a problem or a need without in some sense sharing or even changing places with them. All real life-changing love involves some form of this kind of exchange.<br /><br />[ . . . ]<br /><br />Consider parenting. Children come into the world in a condition of complete dependence. They cannot operate as self-sufficient, independent agents unless their parents give up much of their own independence and freedom for years. If you don't allow your children to hinder your freedom in work and play at all, and if you only get to your children when it doesn't inconvenience you, your children will grow up physically only. In all sorts of other ways they will remain emotionally needy, troubled, and over-dependent. The choice is clear. You can either sacrifice your freedom or theirs. It's them or you. To love your children well, you must decrease that they may increase. You must be willing to enter into the dependency they have so eventually they can experience the freedom and independence you have.<br /><br />All life-changing love toward people with serious needs is a substitutional sacrifice. If you become personally involved with them, in some way, their weaknesses flow toward you as your strengths flow toward them. In <span style="font-style: italic;">The Cross of Christ</span>, John Stott writes that substitution is at the heart of the Christian message:<span style="font-style: italic;"><br /><blockquote>The essence of sin is we human beings substituting ourselves for God, while the essence of salvation is God substituting himself for us. We . . . put ourselves where only God deserves to be; God . . . puts himself where we deserve to be [on the Cross].</blockquote></span></blockquote><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span>Your parenting is a wonderful picture of the gospel. It's cosmically significant. Keep at it!<span style="font-style: italic;"><br /><blockquote></blockquote></span><blockquote></blockquote>The Tiffinianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04177249344827299583noreply@blogger.com0