David Mathis works for both Desiring God and Bethlehem Baptist Church as the Executive Pastoral Assistant for John Piper.

Billy Graham once was asked, “If you were a pastor of a large church in a principal city, what would be your plan of action?”

In the modern-day classic The Master Plan of Evangelism (which has gone through over 100 printings since it was first published in 1963), Robert Coleman reproduces Graham’s response, perhaps a surprising answer to many:

I think one of the first things I would do would be to a get a small group of eight or ten or twelve people around me that would meet a few hours a week and pay the price!

It would cost them something in time and effort. I would share with them everything I have, over a period of years. Then I would actually have twelve ministers among the laypeople who in turn could take eight or ten or twelve more and teach them.

I know one or two churches that are doing that, and it is revolutionizing the church.

Christ, I think, set the pattern. He spent most of his time with twelve men. He didn’t spend it with a great crowd. In fact, every time he had a great crowd it seems to me that there weren’t too many results. The great results, it seems to me, came in this personal interview and in the time he spent with his twelve. (page 103, paragraphing added)

For more on this kind of ministry strategy, see Coleman's book.

Twice Jesus was offered wine while on the cross. He refused the first, but took the second. Why so?

The first time came in verse 23, “they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it.” William Lane explains,

According to an old tradition, respected women of Jerusalem provided a narcotic drink to those condemned to death in order to decrease their sensitivity to the excruciating pain . . . . When Jesus arrived at Golgotha he was offered . . . wine mixed with myrrh, but he refused it, choosing to endure with full consciousness the sufferings appointed for him (The Gospel of Mark, p. 564)

This first wine represented an offer to ease the pain, to opt for a small shortcut—albeit, not a major one in view of the terrible pain of the cross, but a little one nonetheless. But this offer Jesus refused, and in doing so, chose “to endure with full consciousness the sufferings appointed for him.”

The second time came in verse 35. After some bystanders thought he was calling for Elijah, “someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, ‘Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.’” Lane comments,

A sour wine vinegar is mentioned in the OT as a refreshing drink (Numbers 6:13; Ruth 2:14), and in Greek and Roman literature as well it is a common beverage appreciated by laborers and soldiers because it relieved thirst more effectively than water and was inexpensive . . . . There are no examples of its use as a hostile gesture. The thought, then, is not of a corrosive vinegar offered as a cruel jest, but of a sour wine of the people. While the words “let us see if Elijah will come” express a doubtful expectation, the offer of the sip of wine was intended to keep Jesus conscious for as long as possible” (Ibid., 573-574).

So the first wine (mixed with myrrh) was designed to dull Jesus’ pain, to keep him from having to endure the cross with full consciousness. This wine he refused.

And the second (sour) wine was given to keep him “conscious for as long as possible,” and thus have the effect of prolonging his pain. This is the wine Jesus drank.

Other condemned criminals would have taken the first (to ease their torment) and passed on the second (so as not to prolong their horrific pain). But Jesus would take no shortcuts on the way to our redemption.

At the cross, he drank the wine of his Father’s wrath down to its very dregs, and he did so for us—that we might enjoy the wine of his Father’s love, join him at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, and live redeemed forever in the glorious presence of the one who took no shortcuts in saving us.

Why were Jesus' disciples so wigged out when he stilled the sea? Already afraid of the great storm, you'd think they might have been calmed by Jesus' calming of the waves. But it seemed to have the opposite effect. Mark 4:41: "And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, 'Who then is this, that even wind and sea obey him?'"

The disciples now seem to be perplexed about their master's identity. "Who then is this . . . ?" Stilling the sea is such a show-stopping demonstration of power that flooding their souls isn't the happy realization that their buddy Jesus has more power than they had estimated, but the unnerving new awareness that they may have misunderstood his very identity.

Knowing the Psalms, they must have known who it is that stills the seas.

• Psalm 65:7 identifies God as the one "who stills the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves."
• In Psalm 89:9, the psalmist ascribes this praise to Yahweh: "You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, you still them."
• Psalm 93:4 asserts, "Mightier than the thunders of many waters, mightier than the waves of the sea, the LORD on high is mighty!"
• And Psalm 107:29 claims of Yahweh, "He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed."

The disciples are dreadfully disoriented because they are aware that the one who stills the seas is Yahweh himself. Stilling the seas doesn't reveal Jesus to be a mere miracle-worker with extraordinary powers, but Yahweh himself come in the flesh. God is in the dinghy with them.

"Who then is this, that even wind and sea obey him?" The undeniable response is too unspeakably great, too wonderfully strange, too pleasantly confusing to utter. Being filled with fear is a fitting response, as is marveling (Matthew 8:27). Their Jesus is Yahweh himself, the one who still the seas.

The God-man is their fellow seafarer, and their who-question is yet too terrifically terrifying to answer.

This week’s sermon: “Consider Your Calling”

God’s love for his people is so rich and full that they need Holy-Spirit help to really feel it. This is why Paul prays in Ephesians 3:18-19 that his readers “may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge.” The love of Christ surpasses what we are able to comprehend with our mere human minds and hearts.

And this amazing love of God means that he not only makes much of us, but that he kindly reminds us again and again that his making much of us is to his glory. We are indeed precious to God, and he loves too much to let that preciousness become our god.

In 1 Corinthians 1:26-31, we see how God loves us, and why he does so in this way. He loves us by

1. choosing us for himself
2. calling us to himself
3. uniting us to Christ and
4. making Christ become everything we need.

And the double purpose of God’s loving us like this is “so that no human being might boast in the presence of God” (verse 29), and “so that, as it is written, ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord’” (verse 31). God has loved us in all these ways—God has made so much of us—so that we will enjoy making much of him forever.

In the book Spectacular Sins, John Piper writes about how God uses even (and especially) his people’s most tragic sins to work his global purposes for the glory of his Son, and for his people’s good. Judges 14 picks up on the tune.

There Samson bids his parents secure him a wife, a particular Philistine woman who has caught his eye. And, as you probably know, in ancient Israel, the Philistines are usually the bad guys. This marriage would be worse than Montagues and Capulets.

His parents, good Israelites, push back—but not as strongly as we might expect. Their response is surprising restrained: “Is there not a woman among the daughters of your relatives, or among all our people, that you must go and take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?”

But Samson has made up his sinful mind. “Get her for me, for she is right in my eyes.” (Judges 14:13).

Yikes. “Right in my eyes” is not a phrase to let pass your lips, especially when someone might record it for Scripture. Exhibit A is Eve, who listened to the serpent, and then saw that the off-limits tree “was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desired to make one wise” (Genesis 3:6). Absalom shows a similar kind of decisional rebellion and self-reliance, over against God-reliance, in 2 Samuel 17:4. In strategizing against his father David, he hears Ahithophel’s advice, and the text says, “the advice seemed right in the eyes of Absalom and all the elders of Israel.”

And, back to Samson, his brash self-reliance sets off a refrain in the latter part of the book of Judges. After 14:3, Samson’s phrase is echoed in 17:6, and then the last line of the book sums up the whole mess: “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25).

It is a serious mistake for Samson to take a wife from among the unbelieving Philistines, but God hasn't lost control. The very next verse (14:4) gives us God’s shocking sovereignty over sin:

[Samson’s] father and mother did not know that it was from the LORD, for he was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines. At that time the Philistines ruled over Israel.

And so that we don’t miss it, verse 7 tells us again that “she was right in Samson’s eyes.” Samson is a rebellious sinner, his parents are poor guides, and all the while God is on his throne, bringing to pass his great purposes for the salvation of his chosen people, even (and especially) in their spectacular sins. Even in his downward spiral of sin, it would be “the Spirit of the LORD” who would rush upon Samson to bring about God’s victory for his people over the Philistines (14:6, 19; 15:14).

This week's sermon: "How Much Does God Love This Church?"

The Bible is packed with stunning displays of God's love for his people. But strangely to many hearts, God reminds his dearly loved people again and again that he loves them for his own sake.

Why this continual reminder? Does this, in the end, spoil his seemingly great love for us?

Not in the least. In fact, such a reminder is a manifestation of how exceedingly great is God’s love for his people. He loves them too much to let them be content with having self as the bottom, or deepest foundation, of their soul’s delight. God does make much of us, but he loves us more than to merely make much of us for our own sakes. It is greater love to make much of us for his sake, for his glory.

Make no mistake about it, we are precious to God—so precious that he will not have us make that preciousness into our god, but he continually reminds us to have our Savior, not ourselves, as our deepest joy. Even our glorified finite selves will not eternally satisfy, but forever will our infinitely glorious Savior make us supremely happy.

This week's sermon: "The Immeasurable Greatness of His Power Toward Us"

The apostle Paul ventures a remarkable prayer in Ephesians 1:19—that Christians would consciously and experientially know "the immeasurable greatness of [God's] power toward us who believe." And by that power, he means God's great might "that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead" (verse 20).

Resurrection power now—that's what Christians can experience.

Paul is not praying that we get the power. He is saying: You already have the power of God toward you, and you don’t know it as you could. So Paul is praying that we would be spiritually experientially conscious of God’s power toward us as believers now.

The apostle then gives verses 20-23 to describing five aspects of what became of Jesus after the resurrection—and says that all of this shows the greatness of the power at work toward us now.

• The power of God toward us now is like the great might “that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead” (verse 20).
• The power of God toward us now is like the great might that God worked when God “seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places” (verse 20).
• The power of God toward us now is like the great might that God worked when he exalted Christ “far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come” (verse 21).
• The power of God toward us now is like the great might that God worked when he “put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church” (verse 22).
• The power of God toward us now is like the great might that God worked when he made the church “his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all” (verse 23).

Satan and his hordes are real, but God's resurrection power is invincible. As surely as we are his, we will win the war.

Here is Moses’ amazing monotheistic appeal to the people of Israel at the edge of the Promised Land, after 40 years of wilderness wandering.

Ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the other, whether such a great thing as this has ever happened or was ever heard of.

Did any people ever hear the voice of a god speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and still live?

Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, and by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great deeds of terror, all of which the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?

To you it was shown, that you might know that the LORD is God; there is no other besides him.

Out of heaven he let you hear his voice, that he might discipline you. And on earth he let you see his great fire, and you heard his words out of the midst of the fire.

And because he loved your fathers and chose their offspring after them and brought you out of Egypt with his own presence, by his great power, driving out before you nations greater and mightier than yourselves, to bring you in, to give you their land for an inheritance, as it is this day, know therefore today, and lay it to your heart, that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other.

(Deuteronomy 4:32-39, paragraphing added)

This week's sermon: "The Son of Man Must Suffer Many Things"

The disciples shouldn't have missed it. At least three times Jesus told them ahead of time about his death. He was going to die, and it would be intentional, but not suicidal. He would be murdered. But also he would rise again.

But why this impending death and resurrection? That he makes clear in Mark 10:45: "to give his life as a ransom for many."

Are you among the many? Mark 8:34-38 teaches that the ransomed follow Jesus, even though it means self-denial and cross-bearing. Those who have been ransomed trust and treasure Jesus enough to follow him even when it is costly. We will have our lives forever if we treasure Jesus enough to lose
them for his sake.

Read about John Piper's upcoming leave.

Who do you identify with in the Passion narratives?

Of course, as good Christians, we say Jesus. He’s the good guy, our protagonist. As we relive the story, we pull for him, and against his enemies. And a long list of enemies it is: Judas who betrays him, Peter who denies him, the chief priests who hate him, Herod who mocks him, the crowd that calls for his crucifixion, Pilate who washes his hands and condemns him, and Barrabas who is guilty but gets to go free.

Wait a minute.

Barrabas—the guilty one who gets to go free?

In his 23rd chapter, Luke leads us sinners, in his careful wording of the narrative, to identify in this significant way with Barrabas. As Jesus’ condemnation leads to the release of a multitude of spiritual captives from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation, so also his death sentence leads to the release of the physical captive Barrabas.

In verse 15, Luke quotes Pilate to establish Jesus’ manifest innocence: “Look, nothing deserving death has been done by him.”  Then he confirms Barrabas’ guilt in verse 19, as “a man who had been thrown into prison for an insurrection started in the city and for murder.”

In verse 22, after the mob has called for Jesus’ crucifixion for a third time, Luke emphasizes Jesus’ innocence again in the words of Pilate: “Why, what evil has he done? I have found in him no guilt deserving death.” But unconvinced, the crowd continues to demand the death of Jesus and, wonder of all wonders, the release in his place of the manifestly guilty Barrabas.

So Pilate “released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, for whom they asked, but he delivered Jesus over to their will” (verse 25). Here’s the first substitution of the cross. The innocent Jesus is condemned as a criminal, while the criminal Barrabas is released as if innocent.

And still today, because of the willing substitution of the innocent Jesus, Barrabases like us go free.

This week’s sermon: “Parenting with Hope in the Worst of Times”

There are no easy times for parenting. It was hard nearly 3,000 years ago in the day of the prophet Micah. It was hard in Jesus’ own day two millennia ago. And it’s hard as nails today.

Micah’s seventh and final chapter shows us that parenting in the worst of times calls for brokenhearted boldness.

We are broken, not just because we have been sinned against (every parent has), but because we know ourselves to be sinners (every parent is). The main cause of our brokenheartedness is our own sin, our own failures, our own missteps and indiscretions.

And we are bold, not because we are cavalier about our sin or flippant about the lives of our children, but because we know God, the amazing pardoning God, who delights in forgiving and restoring sinners like us.

He is a God so rich in mercy toward sinners that he sent his own Son to bear the just penalty for our sin, so that we could go deep with his life-changing pardon, and then be strengthened by his grace to be better imperfect parents—for his Son’s sake.

Who else would call Noah’s ark “a floating zoo of creepy-crawlies”? Sam Crabtree is a skilled turner of curious phrases and has the rare gift of never being boring. His most recent article wrestles with how to be both green and missional. Here’s a sample:

We can strive to save both mortal mammals and immortal souls, while realizing that saved whales will not save souls, while saved souls might so earnestly desire for everything that has breath to praise God that they set out to save whales. So wise Christians put their God-given energy where it might make the greatest difference in the long haul. Once again God presents us with a situation that is both/and, and first/then. Save them both, but put priority on one over the other.

More important than preserving wonderful national park settings for people to see is to preserve souls in order that they may see the new earth, which will be superior to the wonderful old earth. It would be a tragedy to preserve the planet for people who would dwell in hell and never see the new earth, when they could have been born from above and lived forever in the glorious new earth. Saving souls is more important than saving whales—though saving one need not preclude saving the other.

. . . [T]he new heavens and the new earth will be nearly indescribable upgrades of the present earth with her picturesque parks teeming with a fantastic array of flora and fauna.

Some social engineers want to provide people with external incentives (penalties under law) to protect the environment. But externally coerced sin nature left untransformed does not go to the root of a whale-shortage problem or any other planet-saving issue. Short-sighted selfishness will always tend toward corruption and find ways around human regulation. The best means to saving whales is heart change, the kind of heart change that occurs in a saved soul.

I’m arguing that the best way to save the whales is to save souls that then become eager, willing stewards of the work of God’s fingers. It becomes their joyful desire to see him glorified in and by everything that has breath. Whose earth is it? The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it. A transformed heart takes a new attitude toward all that belongs to God.

Read the full article.

Don’t limit your understanding of God’s absolute sovereignty to five points in a mnemonic device (TULIP). Do start there, or at least cover that terrain in due course, but know that there is so much more to the full biblical worldview sometimes called Calvinism.

In the introductory essay that I referred to yesterday, J. I. Packer says, “it would not be correct to simply equate Calvinism with the ‘five points.’” He continues, (paragraphing added)

Calvinism is something much broader than the “five points” indicate.

Calvinism is a whole world-view, stemming from a clear vision of God as the whole world’s Maker and King.

Calvinism is the consistent endeavour to acknowledge the Creator as the Lord, working all things after the counsel of His will.

Calvinism is a theocentric way of thinking about all life under the direction and control of God’s own Word.

Calvinism, in other words, is the theology of the Bible viewed from the perspective of the Bible—the God-centred outlook which sees the Creator as the source, and means, and end, of everything that is, both in nature and in grace.

Calvinism is thus theism (belief in God as the ground of all things), religion (dependence on God as the giver of all things), and evangelicalism (trust in God through Christ for all things), all in their purest and most highly developed form.

And Calvinism is a unified philosophy of history which sees the whole diversity of processes and events that take place in God’s world as no more, and no less, than the outworking of His great preordained plan for His creatures and His church.

The five points assert no more than that God is sovereign in saving the individual, but Calvinism, as such, is concerned with the much broader assertion that He is sovereign everywhere.

Read Packer's full essay.

In his introductory essay to John Owen’s The Death of Death in the Death of Christ, J. I. Packer writes that Calvinism and Arminianism are “two coherent interpretations of the biblical gospel, which stand in evident opposition to each other. The difference between them is not primarily one of emphasis, but of content.”

Packer continues, (paragraphing added)

One proclaims a God who saves; the other speaks of a God who enables man to save himself.

One view presents the three great acts of the Holy Trinity for the recovering of lost mankind—election by the Father, redemption by the Son, calling by the Spirit—as directed towards the same persons, and as securing their salvation infallibly.

The other view gives each act a different reference (the objects of redemption being all mankind, of calling, those who hear the gospel, and of election, those hearers who respond), and denies that any man’s salvation is secured by any of them.

The two theologies thus conceive the plan of salvation in quite different terms.

One makes salvation depend on the work of God, the other on a work of man; one regards faith as part of God’s gift of salvation, the other as man’s own contribution to salvation; one gives all the glory of saving believers to God, the other divides the praise between God, who, so to speak, built the machinery of salvation, and man, who by believing operated it.

Plainly these differences are important, and the permanent value of the “five points,” as a summary of Calvinism, is that they make clear the points at which, and the extent to which, these two conceptions are at variance.

Is Colossians 1:15-20 the most important paragraph in the Bible for a Christian worldview?

[Jesus] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

Watch John Piper talk about how God responds to atheists like Richard Dawkins:

(This excerpt comes from the 2008 Don't Waste Your Life Regional Conference, which is also a part of the Don't Waste Your Life DVD set.)

Do you dare to pray for big things—really big things? Have you been set free enough by God’s enormous gospel to be greedy in a godly way?

Andrée Seu of World Magazine writes,

As faith grows—as we see how big is God’s heart, how lavish His inheritance, how powerful His arm, and how willing He is to be involved with us in the moments of our days—we join a long line of believers who suddenly realized the same thing. They turn on a dime from being fearful and self-deprecating to being avaricious in a godly way: “Send me!” said Isaiah, who had just a moment before wanted to die.

Read the whole brief post on “How Your Devotions Get Leggy.”

Watch John Piper (on C.S. Lewis, on William Tyndale) explain how the biblical gospel destroys morality, external conformity, and list-keeping religion:

Dear friends in the Seattle area and at Westmont College,

Come worship Jesus with us at a special Friday night gathering, February 26, at Mars Hill Church’s Ballard Campus.

God willing, Pastor Piper will also be preaching at Mars Hill on Sunday, February 28, before heading to Santa Barbara to speak in chapel at Westmont College on Monday, March 1.

This week's sermon: "I Will Build My Church"

Why plant new churches in America? You may be surprised by the statistics.

1. There are about 200 million non-churched people in America, making America one of the four largest “unchurched” nations in the world.
2. Each year about 3,500 churches close their doors permanently.
3. Today, of the approximately 350,000 churches in America, four out of five are either plateaued or declining.
4. One American denomination recently found that 80% of its converts came to Christ in churches less than two years old.

Each church has her weaknesses—and strengths. In planting new churches, we pray not for replications of already existing churches with all their weaknesses, but more and more of incarnations of biblical vision and gospel theology without the same limitations and imperfections. What the world needs is not the multiplication of our imperfections and limitations but new sets of imperfections and limitations. Multiplying churches with different strengths and weaknesses means coming closer to meeting the crying needs of the world.

Mark this well: Jesus does not promise that he will build his school, or that he will build his co-op, or build his medical clinic, or build his university, or build his social service agency—as good as those are. He promises with absolute authority: "I will build my church."

The 2010 Desiring God Conference for Pastors begins this evening, which means some spectacular book deals for those of you who will be here in Minneapolis (and this list of recommendations for those of you ordering from home).

For those shopping in person, the DG Bookstore is

• located in Room 101 at the Minneapolis Convention Center (behind FedEx/Kinkos, just outside the auditorium where the main sessions are)
• stocked with 1,275 different titles and nearly 20,000 individual items
• open 3:00pm-10pm today
           7:30am-10pm Tuesday
           7:30am-1pm Wednesday

Snow Storms

This week in Minnesota, the main Storms to keep an eye on (along with snowstorms) is our keynote speaker. For those wanting to get to know Sam’s life and theology, a greatly loved book of his is Convergence: Spiritual Journeys of a Charismatic Calvinist.

And you may want to check out Sam’s new 2-volume devotional on 2 Corinthians called A Sincere and Pure Devotion to Christ which provides 100 daily meditations (50 in each volume). We also have several other good devotional books by Sam.

All Storms titles are at least 25% off during the conference.

Clive Staples Who?

Our conference bookstore is the place to be for C.S. Lewis fans. We have plenty Lewis titles and biographies on hand, including classics like Mere Christianity, The Weight of Glory, and Surprised by Joy. We have a feeling those in attendance will hear a lot of C.S. Lewis quotations this week.

It’s a Tripp

We’re privileged to have Paul David Tripp providing this year’s pre-conference seminar, and the DG Bookstore has several Tripp titles ready. Among those are Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands, War of Words, and his most recent Broken-Down House.

Paul will be available at a “Meet the Author” session from 8:45-10:00 p.m. on Tuesday night in the Bookstore.

Also accessible during the author-meet is Adrian Warnock. Just off the press is his first book Raised with Christ: How the Resurrection Changes Everything (I’m very eager to read it, but it’s so new I haven’t had the chance yet). Adrian is a dear British brother who runs one of the top evangelical blogs in the UK.

New Titles

The Trellis & the Vine: The Ministry Mind-shift That Changes Everything by Col Marshall and Tony Payne is perhaps the most important book I’ve read in a long time. We highly recommend this recent publication from Matthias Media. (Put it together with Chester’s and Timmis’ Total Church and Dever’s and Alexander’s The Deliberate Church for an outstanding trilogy on Christian ministry.)

For the history buff (and Bible-lovers!) look for Ancient Word, Changing Worlds: The Doctrine of Scripture in a Modern Age by Stephen. J. Nichols and Eric T. Brandt.

Thank God for Vern Poythress. His most recent In the Beginning Was the Word: Language—A God-Centered Approach is outstanding, and similar in its remarkableness is Redeeming Science: A God-Centered Approach.

Read whatever Frame and Poythress you can get your hands on. (Speaking the Truth in Love: The Theology of John M. Frame is worth its weight in gold, and at 1,100-plus pages, that’s saying a lot!)

New Piper Titles

Last but not least are the new Piper titles. Out just this month are A Sweet & Bitter Providence: Sex, Race, and the Sovereignty of God and its companion poetry volume Ruth: Under the Wings of God. Still fresh are the fifth Swans book Filling Up the Afflictions of Christ and The Power of Words and the Wonder of God (co-edited with Justin Taylor).

Worship

One older title to recommend (not really old at all) that I picked up recently and continue to get help from: Worship by the Book, edited by D.A. Carson. Carson’s introductory chapter is terrific, as is Tim Keller’s (extended) final chapter. On that note, Keller’s most recent Counterfeit Gods might be his best yet (and his two previous books are very good).

*     *     *     *     *

Previous DG Conference Recommended Lists

• National Conference 2007
• Pastors Conference 2008
• National Conference 2008
• Pastors Conference 2009
• Pastors Conference 2010 Recommended Resources

Each January John Piper prepares a brief annual report for Bethlehem summarizing the highlights from the previous year. His 2009 annual report is now online.

Now all of his annual reports since 1990 are available on the DG website.

I recommend Doug Wilson’s Five Cities that Ruled the World (Thomas Nelson, 2009). The cities he highlights are Jerusalem, Athens, Rome, London, and New York, each leaving the world a legacy.

Jerusalem has bequeathed to us a legacy of the spirit; Athens, reason and the mind; Rome, law; London, literature; and New York, industry and commerce. (xx)

In developing the literary legacy of London, Wilson unearths this nugget from C. S. Lewis about William Tyndale and the Reformation:

Tyndale was willing to endure great trials because of what he believed about the gospel. C. S. Lewis explained that the “whole purpose of the ‘gospel,’ for Tyndale, is to deliver us from morality. Thus, paradoxically, the ‘puritan’ of modern imagination—the cold, gloomy heart, doing as duty what happier and richer souls do without thinking of it—is precisely the enemy which historical Protestantism arose and smote.” (128-129, quoting Lewis from his English Literature in the Sixteenth Century [Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1954], 187)

This week's sermon: "Born Blind for the Glory God: Eugenics by Abortion Is an Abomination to God"

Haiti happens every day in the world's abortion clinics, where 130,000 human lives are destroyed. In the United States 3,000 die daily, crushed in the earthquake of abortion (more than the 2,976 who died in the 9/11 attacks).

With the advent of widespread prenatal testing availability, a kind of "eugenics by abortion" is growing, as parents kill their disabled offspring at a horrific rate. As Wesley Smith writes, "Americans may heartily cheer participants in the Special Olympics, but we abort some 90 percent of all gestating infants diagnosed with genetic disabilities such as Down Syndrome, dwarfism, and spina bifida."

The Christian Bible has a message to speak: There is both forgiveness for those guilty of abortion and a whole new way of thinking about disability. God is the one who knits together humanity in the womb, and God has his good and perfect designs in every disability.

Jesus shows us that the man born blind in John 9 was disabled for the glory of God, for his own good, and for the good of countless others. Not only did Jesus physically heal him, but then he pursued him, to perform the ultimate healing: opening his spiritual eyes to see the glory of the Son of God.

In every disability and death, Jesus is at work, for his Father's glory and for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28).

Jesus keeps us off balance. We think we know that perfection is a fastball of justice, and he throws us the curveball of grace.

When I read Matthew 5:48 abstracted from it’s context, I’m thinking mainly in terms of justice.

You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

“Perfect,” ah yes, surely that’s mainly about being just. But Jesus’ context gives this charge some wicked spin.

Despite what I would guess in extrapolating from verse 48, with my innate definition of perfection, Matthew 5:38-47 is all about moving beyond mere justice to God-like grace. “Perfection” in God is not merely “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” (verse 38) but turning the other cheek, giving more than is asked, walking the extra mile (verses 39-42).

The just thing would be to love those who love you and hate those who hate you (verse 43), but Jesus disorients us with this strange conception of perfection: “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (verse 44).

Who is this guy—and what kind of serious rethinking (call it “new birth”) do we need to get in line with his Father in heaven?

I would think that “perfection” means giving the unrighteous what they deserve: no sunshine, no rain. But Jesus says about his Father, “He makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust” (verse 45).

The kind of perfection that Jesus says comes from his Father—and the kind he calls his disciples to pursue—does not find its sense of completion in delivering retribution for wrongs done. Rather, it is the perfection of a heart that finds so much fulfillment and satisfaction in the God of grace that it is able to extend grace to those who don’t deserve it.