Christianity – Page 47

Jim Wallace from the Australian Christian Lobby gets it right in the Media (he talks about Jesus)

Ok, ok. I’ve bagged out the ACL in the last few months for being morally conservative rather than “Christian” in their dealings with the media, starting with the premise that a Christian presence in the media should involve mentioning how Jesus helps us to arrive at a particular position with response to social issues.

I’ve singled Jim Wallace out for criticism, perhaps fairly, perhaps not. But the ACL, and Jim Wallace, got it right on Sunrise this week. This is, in my mind, the best and most cohesive presentation the ACL has put forward on the gay marriage question. He starts with the premise that Jesus defined marriage as between a man and a woman, and that Jesus shapes the lives of believers, and moves to natural law arguments… if this is a sign of a new approach to the issue from the ACL then I’m a big fan.

September 1, 2011

Reflections on John Piper and Steve Jobs

So yesterday was a big day for two American guys I admire. They even kind of look the same, but they’ve got some antithetical stuff going on – Jobs is all hip with his black turtlenecks and sneakers, while Piper, well, he wore a black shirt last night – but it appeared his top button was done up. He’s a little daggy. But otherwise they’re more or less exactly the same.

Their binary opposition goes a little further. They essentially have the same outlook on life, but for Jobs this outlook meant making fun toys for people to play with, and computers that make people more efficient at making money. It also meant making a lot of money.

For Piper, his outlook on life is well summed up by my liveblog of his Don’t Waste Your Life session in Brisbane last night.

Anyway. With Jobs resigning the internet is full of buzz about his life and times. Lifehacker featured this quote that reminded me a lot of Piper last night:

“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure — these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”

Here’s the video of the speech that quote came from…

Lifehacker, in a post featuring that quote, summed up his message as:

“There are many diverse opinions about Steve Jobs, and that’s the kind of result that generally follows a person who goes after what he or she wants and finds success. Regardless of how you feel about what he’s created, he had a vision, set out to achieve it, and did. As he notes in this quote and many others, this is your one chance at life. Don’t waste it.”

Here’s a few snippets from Piper last night:

Our lives go fast. The older you get the faster it rushes by. Our lives don’t consist in the abundance of our possessions. No one gets comfort from their bank balance as they lie dying. It’s really not about what we own and what we strive to own.

The pursuit of possessions ends in frustration because of the impending reality of death. Laying up treasure for ourselves, without being rich towards God, is foolishness. You’re a fool if you treasure up the world and don’t count God as your riches, as your treasures. A life devoted to amassing stuff is a life wasted.

Bizarrely similar. I guess the question for me is do I want to spend my life excited by the products of Steve Job’s approach to the dilemma of death, or standing beside Piper and magnifying Jesus. Hopefully it’s the latter.

August 26, 2011

Liveblogging: John Piper in Brisbane – Night Time Session

Piper is on familiar territory tonight with the talk titled “Don’t Waste Your Life” – which, if you’ve come in late, is the title of one of his most popular books. There are 3,300 people in da house.

Colin Buchanan kicks off proceedings with a little bit of 10,9,8, the Isaiah 53:6 Sheep Rap, the song Be Strong and Courageous, and Real Hope. Which is a sensational song. He closes with a sing along to There is A Redeemer.

John opens in prayer. Pleads that none of us will waste our lives, which are rushing away. We only have one.

In seventeen days we mark the tenth anniversary of 9/11. 157 people died on the two planes that crashed into the towers. 2595 people died when the towers collapsed. The third plane killed almost two hundred people at the Pentagon.

2986 people died in a matter of hours. Two years later there was an earthquake in Iraq and ten times that number died in one night. And then there was a tsunami that killed ten times that ten times in one night. Two weeks ago a helicopter with 31 soldiers on it was shot down by a “lucky shot” in Afganistan. Yesterday 11 people burned to death in an incredibly painful and tragic house fire. We would be stunned speechless if we were made to watch the car accidents that kill 50,000 people every year in America. Lest we think these are unusual statistics, 50 million people die every year in the world. 100 every minute. What does Jesus want us to learn about our lives from that?

Particularly from yesterday’s fire. What is Brisbane supposed to hear from that?

Jesus answer to that question is found in Luke 13. If a news reporter was to ask Jesus as one asked John “where was God” as they did after a bridge collapse a couple of years ago, this is what Jesus would say…

” 1 Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. 2 Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? 3 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. 4 Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.””

The key is that last bit. We know that Jesus feels pain, and weeps, with compassion. You’re in trouble if your first answer is analytical. But after a few days sympathy won’t cut it anymore and we want answers. We need something concrete to stand on.

The astonishment we feel in the face of calamity is astonishment about the wrong thing. We should be astonished that we live while others die. The astonishing thing isn’t that people die from horrible stuff, that’s not the astonishing thing in a world of hell deserving sinners. The astonishing thing is that the roof in our building hasn’t collapsed.

Until we are amazed that we are alive. And breathing. Until that’s our paradigm, we won’t comprehend the gospel. We won’t understand what life is about.

God is setting the stage in these things to make sense out of life. All life hangs by a thread of grace. We have no control about whether our heart keeps beating. None. God does. He wants us to feel utterly and totally dependant on him and his grace. God owns us. We are not our own, we belong to him by virtue of him having brought us into being. We know we’re more than chemicals and matter and energy. There’s something more that chemicals. Love. Hate. Deep sacrifice. We know that these things are more than chemicals. It’s an awesome thing to be a human being. An unspeakably great thing. To be a human being. And God owns us and decides what the wasted and unwasted life is.

Job had ten children. It wasn’t a fire, but it might as well have been. It wasn’t 11. There were 10. And they were precious. And a wind came, and they were all dead.

John talks about a sudden wind at a sports event.

He plugs his son’s blog. Where he saw it. John tweeted “save your OMGs for the brink of eternity.” In a situation where an incredible burst of God’s power occurs it’s an appropriate response.

Job acknowledges that in God’s hand is life. The life of every living thing. The breath of all mankind.

We belong to God by right of creation. He made us. We hang by a thread of grace. Whether we live through hearing this message will depend entirely on God. James 4 – our lives are vapour, our plans are not our own – we should rather say “if the Lord wills” – it is arrogant to speak otherwise. It is arrogant to say “I’m going to Sydney tomorrow morning”… unless implicit in our thoughts/soul is “if the Lord wills it”.

If this ceiling collapsed and we all perished – God has done nobody wrong. He owns our lives totally. He can take our lives any time he pleases. If we take one another’s lives the injustice isn’t that we’ve taken life from each other, but that God has rights over our lives and we dare not touch it. God decides. Abortion is wrong. He just threw that in there.

If God sends his son into the world to die, to rise again – what’s it for – we don’t want to waste it. We don’t want to throw it away. Jesus is jealous that we not waste our one life. Our lives that are going very fast. The older you get the faster it rushes by. John says he “joins Jesus in not wanting to waste his life” – our lives don’t consist in the abundance of our possessions. It’s really not about what we own and what we strive to own.

The pursuit of possessions ends in frustration because of the impending reality of death. Laying up treasure for ourselves, without being rich towards God, is foolishness. John thinks this means you’re a fool if you treasure up the world and don’t count God as your riches, as your treasures.

Our foolishness, twin foolishness, is forsaking God (one) and his provision of life, for our own creation (two) that doesn’t compare or bring life.

“If anyone would come to me let him deny himself and take up his cross”

We might gain the whole world. But in the end, it’s over.

Have you ever known anybody that on their deathbed was heartened and made hopeful by the size of their bank account. It doesn’t work that way. It doesn’t work that way. It just seems to work that way when you’re healthy. A life devoted to amassing stuff is a life wasted.

“Only one life, twill soon be passed, only what’s done for Christ will last.”

Piper is old and scared of wasting his life. He’s old enough to be our father. He wants us saved, our generation, and he would die for it. Our culture is geared to retirement and play. Buying a comfortable retirement. Collect shells. It’s a waste. He pulls out the “look at my shell collection” line. People laugh.

Fool. Don’t waste your life. Some of us will die young. In this room. And the onus is on us not to waste whatever life we have remaining.

This is the key juncture of this message… what does the unwasted life look like?

What does it mean not to waste our lives?

Philippians 1: The unwasted life is the life devoted to displaying the worth of Jesus in everything we do and say. God created this world in order that we might be so satisfied in him that we display to the world his glory. And our part of the bargain is everlasting joy and satisfaction. Life is about his worth, not our worth. Our life consists of displaying his worth – our created job, as the image of God, is to be the image of the one we’re the image of. We are designed to live so as to be so completely satisfied in who he is that our lives reflect that value. That’s what the unwasted life does. It falls so in love with God, and all that he is in Jesus, that when it lives it magnifies his worth.

Philippians 1:20 – “I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. ”

This is a charter for life. John prefers “magnified” to “exalted”… you can magnify something in two ways. With a microscope and a telescope. The question is how we “magnify” Christ. A microscope takes something really small and makes it bigger than it is. To think of Christ that way is blasphemous. We’re doing what telescopes do – telescopes take things, stars or galaxies, things that look tiny to us, but they’re not tiny. A telescope makes these things look much more like they are. Or closer to how they are.

People in our cities give Jesus zero attention. Jesus is tiny in Brisbane. The point of living is to live so that Jesus doesn’t look tiny to people. That’s how we magnify him.

Whatever gain we have we count them as lost, in order that we might gain Christ.

You make Christ look valuable by living in a way that shows you prefer him to everything else. Everything else is rubbish compared to him. That’s how you make him magnificent. By valuing him above all other things.

We eat food in a way that shows Christ is more precious than food.
We use our house, our possessions, our computers, in a way that shows that Christ is more valuable than our stuff.

This is the core principle. We waste our lives if we use our stuff in a way that people would say we value it more than we value Jesus.

Paul says this magnification happens whether by life or by death. Christ can be seen as magnificent if in our dying we are counting it as gain. If we see being with Christ as being better than with our wife, our friends, our retirement. It’s infinitely better to be with Christ.

In death we lose everything in this world. And all we get is Jesus. And if at that moment there is a heart expression, as you’re in the hospital, “gain”… the nurses will know that to you, at least, Christ is magnificent.

That’s what the unwasted life looks like, magnifying the worth of Jesus.

Life and death are given to us.
For the purpose of displaying the supreme value of Christ in life and death.
The supreme value of life is displayed when we treasure Jesus above what life can offer and take. Either we aren’t scared of losing our possessions, or we’re using them for his gain. The challenge of the Christian life is to use our lives for his gain (the meaning of 1 Corinthians 7 might hang on this…). We should work hard at marriage, and at work, but there should be something in the way we hold these things that doesn’t look like the way the world clutches at them.

Treasuring him above all things is most seen when we are seen to be gladly willing to live or die for Jesus.

There’s a contrast in the way Paul approaches the thorn in his flesh and the way the typical secular Australian responds… “your power is shown to be great in my weakness, therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses so that the power of Christ might rest upon me.”

The point of life is not to be rid of thorns. There’s heaps of thorns in this life. There’ll be more tsunamis. More earthquakes. More death. We don’t live for that. We live for making much of Christ. Magnifying the surpassing power of Christ and his glory in our weakness.

What Australia needs. according to Piper, is 3,000 people whose worlds have seriously been turned upside down by Jesus Christ. So what we’re willing to lose, and striving to gain, has been turned upside down by the gospel.

Australia is a secular land. But a reached land. There are lots of cultures and places that are unreached. Almost all the places left to be reached don’t want us to come. They’re happy in their own religions. And that has zero to do with whether we should go. Paul wasn’t really welcomed anywhere. Paul went anyway. Even when he knew he was going to cop it.

John’s plea is that we see the example of Christ… who came, lived, died and was raised. In an unwasted life.

Jesus claim that he lays down his life, and takes it back up (John 10) is one of John Piper’s favourites, a magnificent thing.

Our aim is that before the judgment throne God doesn’t say “fool” but “well done, good and faithful servant.”

And we’re done.

August 25, 2011

Liveblogging: Piper in Brisbane – Daytime Event

John Piper, famous wearer of tweed jackets is in the house today, and by the house I mean the Brisbane Convention Centre. There are about 700 ministry types here for a day session, and there’s a sell out crowd of 3,300 coming tonight.

We’re celebrating 100 years of QTC today, and Piper says he is praying for the school at their church (Bible College) 140 years in advance, because that’s how long their church has been around. This shows remarkable faithfulness.

Today’s session is focused on preaching and it’s called “Proclaiming Christ”…

Piper opens by praying for:

“A passion for God’s supremacy as a cause of joy for all peoples. That Christ be magnified in our bodies, by life or by death. And that God would embed a desire to preach Christ in us”

And that’s about as fitting a summary of the content I think we’re going to hear today.

Then he says let there be light, and the house lights came on.

Proclaiming Christ without the Holy Spirit is in vain… our preaching is worthless if it’s not in the power of the Holy Spirit. He’s “setting the stage” for his five steps of proclaiming Christ with that foundation.

You can grow a church without the Holy Spirit. You can achieve lots. But who wants to do that. If we want ministries that reflect the fruits of the Holy Spirit they need to be based on the work of the Holy Spirit.

Proclaiming Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit is what he’d retitle the talk as… if he wanted to be less catchy.

We’re looking at Galatians 3.

“Publically proclaimed as crucified” – doesn’t mean flannelgraph or video, it’s a recreation of the crucifixion before the heart’s eyes of the audience.

“Let me ask you this, did you receive the Spirit by works of the law (no) or by hearing that message with faith (yes).”

The Holy Spirit was received, and it came on the spear of the word – and that spear sank and they received the spirit.

“Are you so foolish, having begun…”

“Miracles”

Piper says these are things that only God could have done. That’s the definition we’re working with.

The Spirit is the starting point.

The Spirit has transformative and empowering abilities in all of life, work, sex, relationships, ministry… this happens through the proclamation of the word, but this proclamation only happens through the Spirit’s power.

The Spirit is unleashed to crucify sin and to magnify Christ.

That’s the role, two texts that take us there.

John 16:14 – When the Spirit comes he will glorify me.

JI Packer’s book Keep in Step with the Spirit is the best book on the Spirit, though John Owen is possibly better, but less accessible.

The Spirit and the Word come together like stunt jets. Flying in formation, out of the mouth of the preacher. Wherever the word is flying faithfully the Holy Spirit is doing that work, preparing a slipstream. If the plane of proclaiming power lands the Spirit packs it in. If you get up and make a lot of Christ biblically you’ve got this jet with you. If you get up and magnify yourself you’re a plane crash waiting to happen (that’s an editorial summary of the analogy).

Wherever you magnify Christ, and look for ways to make much of Jesus, the Holy Spirit is right there.

Romans 8:13 – “by the Spirit we put to death the deeds of the body, you will live”

By the spirit, we, and the people we preach to, kill sin.

We want people walking out of church equipped to kill sin in their lives on Monday and replace those with the fruits of the Spirit.

What does this mean though? How does it work? How does the Spirit kill sin? Is it a weapon/sword. Is it an accident that the sword in the armour of God is the word of God?

By the Spirit you put to death sin with the word of God. You don’t helmet people to death, or shield people to death, you use the sword to kill. But not to kill people – to kill sins.

Hear the word, believe it, be transformed by the spirit, and stick your sin with it… that’s the process we’re aiming for in preaching. To be equipping people to pause before they sin and stab it… the work of the Spirit is not like a gas producing amorphous feelings – it’s an active “stabbing” a cutting out, deliberately.

The Five Points

The aim

The aim of our charge is love. And faith. There are more ultimate aims – like glorifying God.

Conscious to our minds should be the aim to have people walking out of the pews deeper and stronger in faith in God’s word, and particularly the promise of the gospel.

We want people to walk out like Gideon – confident, valiant, knowing that they are insignificant and God is magnificent.

Why is faith the aim and not a slightly higher bar?
Piper wants to leave some deposits of the things he cares about in Australia. He wants people to think deeply about the nature of saving faith. Until you go deeply there you don’t see the transformative power of faith. The thing we miss often is that faith isn’t mainly a decision or affirmation of truth – such an affirmation is an aspect of faith, but it’s not the main aspect – because the Devil believes Jesus died and rose. That can’t be a main, saving, article of faith. It’s crucial that we get “main” right… receiving Jesus seems important, and traditionally we say “as saviour and Lord” and that is right… but this is a bit of a pat answer and isn’t a full understanding of the picture. It misses something essential.

We must receive Jesus as our treasure. That’s what Piper thinks is missing (I think it may potentially be implied in saviour and Lord but we may have lost some of that…). People aren’t driven by Lords and Saviours in our time – they’re driven by what they treasure. Passions. Status. Wealth. Joy. If we don’t fight that fire with a superior fire we’ll lose it. Saviour and Lord don’t resonate with people, the treasure lies in those concepts – but we need to address the competition.

“I count everything as lost because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord”

That’s the attitude of faith, that everything is garbage compared to God… (I suspect that’s a fairly interesting doctrine of creation, but you see his point).

The same aim from different texts – a Spirit given treasuring of Christ as supremely precious.

The lynchpin point in that sentence is “supremely” – the supreme really means supreme.

The aim of proclaiming Christ is that he be treasured as supreme – this is what we should really be thinking when we use the language “believe” not just rationally assent to something…

The content

If that’s the aim in your preaching of Christ then you should, in your preaching, point out as many things about Jesus that are supremely valuable as you can. To me it was given to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.

If you asked Paul about his content strategy, that’s what he’d say.

Wherever you are in the Bible – go there. Somehow. To the unsearchable riches of Christ.

A word study of “riches of” links the concept to God’s grace, kindness, glory… this gives us a bit of a picture of what the riches of Christ should look like.

2 Corinthians 3:18-4-6 – one of the most ministry shaping passages in the Bible for Piper.

“We all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another, for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit”

Paul is pushing the idea that because he’s presented Christ constantly he has done his job, he’s washing his hands of their fate if they haven’t listened to his message. He’s left it all out on the floor.

Piper doesn’t have any ideas, in terms of transforming lives, past pointing people to Jesus.

We want to continually find ways to unfold the riches of Christ’s glory. That’s the way it works.

That glory is seen most clearly (2 Cor 4:4) – “The God of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God.”

Where is the glory of Christ seen at its apex? In the gospel. So our ministries should centre on the glory of Christ – which is the gospel.

What is the gospel?

6 Statements that Piper thinks somes up this gospel message.
Mostly from 1 Corinthians 15.

1. The gospel is planned. Christ died according to Scriptures. There was a plan. If there’s no plan there’s no gospel.
2. It’s an event. Christ died. In history. If he didn’t there’s no gospel.
3. He accomplished something at that moment. When he died. Before we were on the scene. Sin was punished. Righteousness was completed. Wrath was satisfied. These things happened before we were born.
4. They are freely offered to faith. Carson says the free offer is an essential component of the gospel itself, Piper agrees. If Christ accomplishes something, and you come and tell them about the accomplishment, and tell people to “work hard” – that’s not gospel. It’s free. Received by faith.
5. It is applied (via the Spirit) (John Murray, Redemption Accomplished and Applied – a good book). The accomplishments are now yours. The wrath taken away. The righteousness given. The punishment taken.

Most people stop there. With those five elements. Historically there’s nothing controversial about those elements. In many cases the sermon ends there. There’s a “who cares” element to all of these five. There are wrong answers to the question “why would I want to be forgiven”… you don’t apologise to your wife to get rid of a guilty conscience. You apologise for her sake.

But here’s point 6. Those points are going somewhere. Towards God.

6. He suffered once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God. God is the gospel. The end point is that restoration of relationship with God. It’s not about our forgiveness. It’s about God – do you want him.

That’s where we see the riches of the glory of Christ most fully displayed. A ministry that meets our aim will lift up Christ in a thousand ways, but be centred on the gospel…

The manner
Paul makes it clear through his choice of words (kerusso in the Greek) that preaching is not evangelism, teaching, speaking…

Paul piles up preparatory statement before his imperative to Timothy to “preach the word” (2 Tim 4).

1 In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: 2 Preach the word;

Kerusso is a herald. The “hear ye” yeller of Roman times.

Preaching, not just teaching, is a distinction the Bible makes. John is worried that it’s not an operational distinction in Australia. If church is just teaching we lose something about the experience of the church to come. Small emotions for Jesus is blasphemy – it’s out of step with who he is and what he values. Preaching is designed to be the kind of communication that pulls together right thinking and right emotions. Expository Exultation is what Piper calls his methodology (he spells it out so we don’t think it’s exaltation). We worship when we preach. We worship when we experience God’s word made plain in a way that resonates emotionally.

A spirit filled preacher should see Christ clearly, not check out his mind with sloppy exegesis and hormones… he sees clearly and savours Christ deeply and exults over the word. The manner is expository. And a treasuring of Christ emotionally. There has to be lots of thinking but also experiencing.

The preparation
Lucid exposition and authentic exultation comes from Spirit given thinking and Spirit filled praying.

Think over the passage. Think over what it says. Use your tools (cheap plug for Accordance), then think. Think. Think. Think.

Most of the time in sermon preparation is spent thinking, and scribbling pictures with a pen. Pastors have to outthink everybody in the church. They have to think about all the objections, or at least the key ones. People love to have their pastors successfully outthink them. Best compliment he’s ever had is when somebody told him he anticipated and answered their problems in his preaching.

The Lord giving understanding, via the Spirit, comes after thinking. It’s not unfaithful to do the hard work of thinking. God uses it to show us truth. God didn’t have to give us the Bible, he could have done a direct communication thing via the mouth of the pastor… You have to learn to read to preach, or at least somebody has to do your reading for you and tell you what to preach.

Prayer. “Lets get really practical” – you pray before, middle, after, during, every 30 seconds. Help me. Help me. Guard me from pride. From fear. From rabbit trails. Help me. Every few minutes as you’re doing your preparation you should be praying for guidance.

Piper prays an acronym – IOUS.

I – incline my heart to your testimonies. (Psalm 119:36)
O – Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your word. (Psalm 119:18) What do you do when you look at the Bible and just see black marks on a white page? Pray that.
U – Unite my heart to fear your name (Psalm 86:11) – Sometimes we feel like our heart is fragmented by the worries of our minds. There’s crazy thoughts everywhere. So this is a good principle to get it together around…Don’t you just hate it when you start, mid preaching, watching yourself and wondering how it’s going. There’s a lack of integrity there, as soon as that process starts – either way you’re either starting to feel pride or insecurity. “Give us the miracle of self-forgetfulness.” We don’t just mean avoid fragmentation, but let there be just one of us – the one doing it.
S- Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love. We want to love what we’re doing, and what we’re saying. Even in times of his deepest depression, he has always recovered on Sundays. And he’s had low points (shares anecdote about forgetting his childrens’ names when writing a book dedication).

The Act
How do we speak/serve in the power that God supplies?

We serve in the strength that God supplies. But what does it feel like. It feels like we’re doing it. When we preach. I’m doing it. I’m moving my hands, and my mouth. So what does it feel like to serve in the power of God.

Another acronym. APTAT.

This has been Piper’s method, sitting on the pew, every time he’s spoken for 25 years.

A – Admit that we can do nothing (John 15:5). Say “Lord you know, I’ve prepared and I’ve thought, but I can’t achieve any plans for this church without you.” We can’t do anything without God.
P – Pray for help (Luke 11:13) – what we’re promised in Luke is the Holy Spirit, that’s what we’re asking for. Grant us the fullness of the Holy Spirit.
T – Trust a specific promise. This is the nub of the matter. You’re going into the pulpit to preach in the power of another. Piper picks specific promises from his devotions (say, Psalm 32 – God’s steadfast love surrounds us). Believe it as you speak.
A – Act. You just get up in the pulpit and act. Use your will. Your minds. Your mouth. You just do it. You don’t check out and become a vacant vessel. Get up and use your gifts. Preach, trusting that God is at work.
Thank him – Thank God that it is him at work.

August 25, 2011

Pacifism, Christianity, and the Machine Gun Preacher

A friend of mine, who seems to be convinced that Christianity necessitates pacifism, doesn’t think very highly of the movie Machine Gun Preacher (featured here yesterday). Because I like this particular guy a lot, and hold his abilities and mind in high regard, I’m going to take his position as representative of pacifist Christianity broadly, and in the main, this should be read as a response to the movement rather than the individual.

The movie tells the true story of a former bikie turned Christian, turned missionary orphanage builder, turned child rescuer (with an AK-47 – hence the movie title).

It sounds like a great mainstream movie that will get people watching (it’s by the director of the Kite Runner). I’ve been fairly vocally critical of Christian movies and Christian art in the past. But this ticks a lot of cinematic boxes, and will portray a Christian doing something positive in a good light. It will raise awareness about the activities of a pseudo-Christian terrorist movement and demonstrate that their deeds aren’t particularly Christian. It will raise awareness about human rights issues in a country that all too often fails to register in Christian circles, let alone in the mainstream media (Sudan). And it will do all of this in, based on the preview, a pretty compelling way.

But it involves violence. And so. Pacifist Christians are dismissive of it. Which to me demonstrates the incredible inconsistency of pacifist doctrine in a fallen world. Sure, the ideal world doesn’t involve violence. Violence didn’t exist before the fall, nor will it exist in the new creation. But violence is not necessarily evil, nor a necessary evil. Violence is a means, not an ends, and it can be a means to a good end – ie the liberation of people from oppressors who are drunk with power. It will produce negative results at times, and may not be the only means to an outcome. But to frame the issue in a not too unrealistic hypothetical – how many hostages have to die while the hostage takers are talked out of their actions before that course of action is a failure?

Now, I don’t think the email I got from my pacifist friend was meant for publication. I don’t think it is up for me to put this guy’s position or words (which essentially committed the Christian equivalent of Godwin’s Law by bringing up Anders Breivik) in the spotlight for criticism. But the jibes made me angry so not putting them out there is a matter of self-control and my personal blogging ethics alone. Opponents of pacifism, within a Christian framework, aren’t necessarily endorsing violence as the only option. That should almost not need to be said. The difference seems to be that normal Christians see violence as a last resort, pacifists don’t see it as a resort at all. It’s almost impossible to argue that Sam Childers, the machine gun preacher, would be doing the right thing if it were within his power to stop child abduction, slavery and prostitution (which clearly it is) and he chose not to, because the only solution involves violence, or a peaceful solution involves being shot as he approaches the gate of the Lord’s Resistance Army Compound.

Pacifism is beautiful, but the world is fallen. It takes a special sort of over-realised eschatology to suggest that rescuing children from the clutches of evil men is not something that should be celebrated. Which is why I think this movie is a triumph, even if it glories in scenes involving exploding cars.

If he wants to repeat his comments in the comments on this post for all to discuss I’m sure the debate would be richer for it (though also more heated), and would serve my purposes in making the pacifist position a matter for something that looks a little bit like ridicule. Because, frankly, it’s Biblically ridiculous to suggest that there is no place for violence in redressing injustice.

The bigger question, and possibly the only grounds where I agree with this criticism of the machine gun preacher, is what place there is in the world view of the Christian for vigilante justice. I’m not sure how state-sanctioned the machine gun preacher’s actions are, they certainly don’t appear to be being conducted as secret, except that he doesn’t tell the terrorist group he’s coming. But if the state is failing there are precedents where Christians have stepped in to conduct what, in retrospect, look like justifiable vigilante actions. Bonhoeffer’s involvement in a plot to assassinate Hitler would be such an example.

So, over to you – is this movie designed for Christian teenagers to get excited about explosions in a sanctified way? Is taking an AK-47 to liberate abducted children the moral equivalent of becoming a call girl to tell your customers about Jesus? Does the Machine Gun Preacher’s one man crusade reflect badly on Christianity, or demonstrate an incredible capacity to act for the powerless?

August 22, 2011

Peter Costello on how Christians should approach the media

I miss Peter Costello, and it seems being out of politics has freed him up a little bit in terms of speaking about his faith and dishing out advice to church leaders. This talk he gave to Anglican Ministers in Melbourne last week looks like a cracker.

He’s still funny.

“If I had been to church 40 weeks a year, I have probably listened to 1000 sermons and tonight could be payback time.”

Here’s the substance from a story with the Melbourne Anglican…

“You only get a good media coverage if you agree with the media’s views.”

“The media has its own view of the world… and if you fall in with that, you will get a good press but if you want to promote the Christian Gospel, you will not.”

“The first thing I would say to the Church is, don’t measure your relevance by the amount of media coverage you get.”

“I actually think that media and celebrity is one of the great false idols of the modern age.”

“If the Church is going to speak on the issues of the day, it should be a distinctive contribution,” he said.
“The historic message of the Church, the Gospel, is a timeless message. It’s for every age. It does not have its relevance defined by what preoccupies us for the moment.”

“My message to you is that you have a wonderful calling and a timeless message and we look to you to keep us in faith.

“Don’t ever overlook the fact that no matter how high you are in Australia, you still need nourishment for your soul.”

August 18, 2011

Drumming for Jesus: Quantity over quality

They call him Dr. Mark. Good morning how are you. He’s Dr Mark. He’s interested in things…*

Don’t see this post as knocking drummers. Drums are great. But the key to drumming is knowing what, and when, not to play… seems like that might be a problem for this American preacher/drummer.

Here are some details about the kit, and Dr Mark Temperato. The man behind who bashes things with sticks.

I have designed and play The Largest DrumSET in the World with an arsenal of unusual sounds to Worship God and Wage War against the enemy
since 1978. God’s presence & power upon these sounds bring LIFE, healing,
deliverance and miracles. We get to kick the devil out of his place of
power…in our lives and in our world!

Here he is behind the skins…

Via Jesus Needs New PR

* Can I also say that this guy gets some points for reminding me of that They Might Be Giants classic.

August 18, 2011

Stop Bible Bashing, use a Witness Stick

This Trademarked Stick will help you convince your friends that Jesus is Lord. Just like Moses used a staff to convince Pharaoh that God is God.

It’s a real thing, but it doesn’t have an official website. Just the trademark registration page which includes this description:

“The WITNESS STICK trademark is filed in the category of Furniture Products . The description provided to the USPTO for WITNESS STICK is Non-metal poles that have been carved and painted and used for educational purposes.”

Via Scotteriology.

August 16, 2011

Want to see somebody talk about the gospel in the media? Check this out

So. I’ve banged on about how Christians have a responsibility to use a mass media platform, if provided, to talk about Jesus in a winsome and engaging way. I’ve said that there are certain representatives in the political field who don’t do this well, and certain people who do.

And now, I have an example. This is how you go into an essentially hostile environment. Kochie lobs this set-up shot in front of the artist of a controversial piece of art work depicting Jesus as indigenous (which he was, to Palestine), transvestite (which he wasn’t), and as a drag queen. It’s clearly a piece of art designed to shock. He gives the artist free range to slag off Christianity’s record when it comes to these groups. And then he turns to Guy Mason, who’s an Anglican minister from Melbourne. And Guy smashes it out of the park. He talks about how Jesus died for sinners (a bit of substitutionary atonement). And invites people to use this as an opportunity to consider the way Jesus loved sinners and died for all of us. He leaves the shrill artist speechless, and debunks any sense of hostility.

I especially love the little dig about it being a “cliched” piece of art.

But you can also be “on message” for the gospel by not being deliberately on message. Kate Bracks. MasterChef. Is a Christian, this wasn’t a big deal in the series – except when she refused to call the Dalai Lama holy. She’s a Christian. And on Sunday night she won a competition that was watched by bucket loads of people. Perhaps because she didn’t want God being a product placement alongside Handy Ultra Paper Towel, or perhaps because she’s just classy, she didn’t choose to thank God when she won. Publicly, anyway. She thanked her husband and she acted with grace, poise and charm. And then. Today. She got to talk about why she didn’t thank God.

Kate says she thought about it, but then:

“But then I thought, everyone then goes ‘Oh great, it just sounds like the Logies’. It sounds corny and that is not the type of Christian I am,”

But what sort of Christian is she? This seems like a good opportunity to make a statement about her faith, right… well, she does (with a bit of humour when she was asked if she prayed for the win):

“I’m always talking to God but I don’t actually pray that he’ll help me win because I don’t really think he cares too much about that to be honest,” she said.

“I would say that I believe what the Bible says and I try to live that way so that it’s about trying to have a relationship with God and not about the things you do or don’t do.”

That’s how you do it. Classy. Winsome. Gospel centred. I know some churches that are lining up to get Kate along. Lets hope she doesn’t get worn out too quickly by this attention.

August 9, 2011

On the 2190000th day God created Nascar…

And we’ve been thankful ever since… Tim sent me this on Facebook. I love that he thank God for his smokin’ hot wife. They probably share a Facebook profile.

July 26, 2011

An open letter to the Australian Christian Lobby: Please don’t use tragedy for political gain

Dear Jim Wallace,

I know. I’ve said some stuff in the past. Less than flattering stuff. About your place in the Australian political scene, and your place in the Australian Christian scene. I don’t doubt that your motives are wonderful, we’d both like to see more people know Jesus, and less sin means a better society for all of us. And we agree that Christianity should be fairly represented and protected in our society. Just like all minorities, it’s important that we Christians have a voice speaking to our nation’s decision makers… I would like you to talk more about Jesus. I’ve covered that. And I would like you to do more than just represent the conservative Australian voice. But I’m not opposed to your very existence. I don’t want you to disappear.

Jim, I notice that the media releases on your website currently deal with really important issues. Like gay marriage and video game classification. These are obviously issues that are important to the people who fund you. There isn’t a lot of funding in speaking out for refugees, or the homeless, or against more complex “sins” like greed. The climate change deniers who are already firmly in the ACL camp are watching their dollars because they are busy funding scare campaigns. I appreciate that you have to pick and choose. That’s the nature of lobbying. You’ve only got one voice, and you’ve got limited opportunities to speak to the politicians on your rounds. And you have a hard enough time getting media coverage (unless you’re saying dumb stuff about gays and Anzac Day, or making bizarrely offensive claims about child abuse).

I apologise for the sarcastic tone of this missive. I really do. But you’ve pushed me a bridge too far. Jim. You’ve made me grumpy. I know you’re a busy man. You may not even be aware of what people have posted on your website in your name. That was the story when a former Family First Candidate (now ACL staffer) tweeted a regrettable message during an election campaign. It’s possible you’re unaware of what you’ve putatively said. But let me draw your attention to this, because it’s bad. And if it’s a mistake you’ll want to sack somebody, or something. Because whoever posted this is doing a bad job for your cause.

I may need to give you a little bit of background. On Saturday, tragically, a gunman identifying himself as a “cultural Christian,” a right wing fundamentalist, caused havoc in Norway. Now some people might want to make comparisons between his ideology and yours, Jim. But not me. What he did was horrific and not consistent with the ideology of any normal person. He’s a sociopath. That’s clear. So linking his conduct to the actions of normal people isn’t really logical. But people will. They’ll start to draw links. Make connections. He killed a lot of people, Jim, singlehandedly. Callously. And since then there’s been a bit of a PR problem for Christianity because it turned out this terrorist claimed to be one of us. I think we’d agree that what he did couldn’t have been motivated by his Christianity. The guy is crazy. It would be wrong to make such a connection between something harmless and his actions. Be it his Christian beliefs, or the fact that he played Modern Warfare, a war game enjoyed by millions around the world. Because he’s not normal.

But he claimed to be a Christian. He wasn’t a Muslim. So you’d think that Christians wanting to articulate a position on this would be, you know, talking about how what he did was in no way representative of the teachings of Jesus. Wouldn’t you? If you were going to say anything at all. That would be the key message to be getting out, if you were going to speak on the issue. We certainly wouldn’t want to see any vulture hijacking this event to further their own policy agenda would we? It always looks so cynical when people do that. When they take a horrible tragedy. Still fresh. And rebrand it, even if it’s a possibly legitimate link, in order to score political points. Usually it’s nice to wait until the furore has died down, till the grieving families have identified their loved ones and laid them to rest. That’s the classy way to capitalise on tragedy. If you must. But not the ACL, Jim. Not the Australian Christian Lobby. In the Australian Christian Lobby’s infinite wisdom, and with a bit of media savvy that belies days of experience, the Australian Christian Lobby has published a media release with the following headline:

Norwegian Tragedy Highlights Impact of Violent Video Games… why no partner release highlighting how drugs killed Amy Winehouse. At least the link there is directly plausible. Why not an acknowledgment that twisted and evil people do twisted and evil things because we live in a world tainted by sin, where we, as humans, are fallen and inclined to do wrong? That would be a Christian response to tragedy. Why not offer a clear condemnation of this man who claimed to be acting as a Christian?

“If there are even a few deranged minds that can be taken over the edge by an obsession with violent games it is in every Australians interest that we ban them.

“The studied indifference of this killer to the suffering he was inflicting, his obvious dehumanising of his victims and the evil methodical nature of the killings have all the marks of games scenarios.”

Do you see how the sophisticated arguments you’ve employed in this statement could be used against the man’s religious affiliation? Do you not see the inconsistency in your position? The guy was a deranged, evil, lunatic. He committed abhorrent acts. In the name of abhorrent beliefs. That could not possibly be born from Christian theology. And you’re trying to capitalise on it for political gain. That’s disgusting. It’s cheap point scoring. It’s tacky. People see right through it. You’re not convincing anybody of anything except the idea that Christians are out-of-touch and only interested in protecting ourselves.

UPDATE: This excellent piece from Tim Challies is a much better response to the tragedy from a Christian point of view, as is this piece from Mitchelton Presbyterian Church

UPDATE 2: See this interview with the editor of Kotaku (who also linked to this post), and Jim Wallace, on Sunrise…

July 25, 2011

John Lennox on science and faith

Like the rest of evangelical Australia I’m a bit of a John Lennox fan at the moment. His turn on Q&A last week was a masterful attempt at presenting the gospel graciously in a relatively combative adversarial format. Those critical of his content (and I’ve seen a couple of Christians suggesting he could have answered a couple of questions better) should pay heed to the format, and the way both Eva Cox and the ABC’s moderator Virginia Trioli were keen to jump in on him before he could finish answering their questions. He articulated the need for forgiveness and the intellectual legitimacy of a God who intervenes in creation in a personal and relational way. I thought he did a stellar job. I thought Virginia Trioli’s banging on about circular reasoning was a little bit annoying because truth will essentially be self authenticating and circular, circular reasoning is a fallacy, but it’s not a defeater.

Anyway. Here’s John Lennox on a topic I wrote an essay about this semester.

July 24, 2011

Some cute/kitsch Christian music for your Friday night edification

There’s something irresistible about this video, maybe it’s the matching colours. Maybe it’s the bright house. Maybe it’s the incongruous dog. I don’t know. It’s certainly not the worst or weirdest Christian music on YouTube.

Nor is this, which apart from the ghostly severed heads is pretty cute.

July 22, 2011

Friday Tunes: New Third Eagle Song possibly related to Independence Day

I think the music just keeps getting better and better from this guy…

July 8, 2011

“By the book” evangelism: no longer means what you think it means

The World Council of Churches has taken upon its good self to release a guideline for converting the dirty heathen. Here is the document – Christian Witness in a Multi-religious world. But for now. This seems:

a) Dumb.
b) Possibly well motivated.
c) Unlikely to be effective.
d) All of the above.

Here’s a Reuters story that will no doubt filter through the interwebs and the media this week.

“It reaffirms their right to seek converts but also urges them to abandon “inappropriate methods of exercising mission by resorting to deception and coercive means”, saying that such behaviour “betrays the Gospel and may cause suffering to others”.

That seems ok. Right? Coercion is bad. But what could they possibly mean by that? Bait and switch “we’ll give you food if you convert” doesn’t really appeal to anybody but the most hardened numbers driven pragmatists.

Here’s what the story suggests…

“Christian missionaries have long been accused of offering money, food, or other goods to win converts in poor countries, either from other faiths or from rival churches.”

The problem, I’m noticing, is that this seems to suggest some sort of dichotomy where we are to seek converts using words and logical arguments, rather than actions. Deeds follow doctrine. Love is an important part of Christian testimony. It should be precisely that we offer the above, without strings attached, that serves as evangelism in multi-religious impoverished countries.

The WCC document actually recognises this tension (and having had a read through it, doesn’t do a bad job)…

Acts of service, such as providing education, health care, relief services and acts of justice and advocacy are an integral part of witnessing to the gospel. The
exploitation of situations of poverty and need has no place in Christian outreach. Christians should denounce and refrain from offering all forms of allurements, including financial incentives and rewards, in their acts of service.

Here’s the media release from the World Council of Churches spruiking its document.

I set out really wanting to dislike this document. Who is a post-modern ecumenical council to try to tell us how to do a job the Bible already spells out pretty clearly? And I’ve decided it’s actually not bad. And it’s sad that there’s a perceived need for a document like this. Have a read and tell me what you think.

July 4, 2011