About a week ago, I finished Dallas Willard's "Knowing Christ Today." Willard is never an easy read for me but maybe that's just me. Yet I find his thinking strengthens my brain muscles which can get flabby from internet speed reading and magazines.
Willard helps us see that faith and reason are not contradictory. Although I don't think of Willard as an apologist, at least in the category of William Lane Craig and others, his arguments concerning Christ are lucid and convincing.
But don't conclude that this book is all about apologetics. It's more and as always I recommend Willard's books to be on your shelf.
I'm also reading, Paul: A Man of Grace and Grit, by Charles Swindoll. It was one of my wife's books that she had read and I confiscated it! Who can't be inspired by Swindoll's imagery! Here's an example where Swindoll tells about Paul's visit to Athens: "Between the furrowed lines on the faces of the brilliant and thoughtful intellectuals...Paul could read messages of confusion and despair. As the churning subsided, a sermon began to brew within him." Wow. I can see it! There is a very helpful chapter for preachers in this book, "Preaching as Paul Preached."
As we're studying Romans right now on Wednesdays, I've found myself reading two helpful commentaries. One by Cranfield called simply, Romans and another by Leon Morris mostly accessed via Google Books, The Epistle to the Romans.
Happy reading!
Thursday, March 25, 2010
What Is Power?
Pictures of power: CEO behind a desk, North Korean army "goose-stepping", Hurricane Katrina, Volcano, the Gospel.
I know it was popular a few years ago to talk about "dunamis" being the word behind the word "power" in the New Testament--"dunamis" being related to the word dynamite. The preachers would say, "God has dynamite power." Many times, this power was spoken of as being separate or distinctive, like it was one attribute of a sovereign God sort of like "the force" for Star Wars fans.
I've been mulling over the text from a week ago Wednesday which also was our memory verse this week: "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power..." (Rom. 1.16). This power isn't isolated from who God is and more than that it is inherent within the Gospel. The Gospel is not simply, "Jesus loves you and has a plan for your life." It is the power of God, revealed and released. If God says this is power, perhaps we need to redefine our ideas and our pictures of what power is.
Leon Morris in his excellent commentary on the book of Romans: “The gospel is not advice to people, suggesting that they lift themselves. It is power. It lifts them up. Paul does not say that the gospel brings power, but that it is power, and God’s power at that.”
I know it was popular a few years ago to talk about "dunamis" being the word behind the word "power" in the New Testament--"dunamis" being related to the word dynamite. The preachers would say, "God has dynamite power." Many times, this power was spoken of as being separate or distinctive, like it was one attribute of a sovereign God sort of like "the force" for Star Wars fans.
I've been mulling over the text from a week ago Wednesday which also was our memory verse this week: "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power..." (Rom. 1.16). This power isn't isolated from who God is and more than that it is inherent within the Gospel. The Gospel is not simply, "Jesus loves you and has a plan for your life." It is the power of God, revealed and released. If God says this is power, perhaps we need to redefine our ideas and our pictures of what power is.
Leon Morris in his excellent commentary on the book of Romans: “The gospel is not advice to people, suggesting that they lift themselves. It is power. It lifts them up. Paul does not say that the gospel brings power, but that it is power, and God’s power at that.”
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Terrifying Responsibility
Those who open God's Word to speak to others have a weighty responsibility. It shouldn't be taken lightly. And I'm guilty of not always thinking of the gravity of this.
In John 17:8, Jesus prays, acknowledging that He only gave the Word that His Father gave Him. What is true of Him should be true of us. Dr. Martyn Lloyd Jones says it well,
"There is something terrifying about this. If that is true of the preaching of the only begotten Son of God, how much more should it be true of our preaching. The business of a man standing in a pulpit is not to speak his own words but to be biblical. He must expound this word because it is God's word..." (The Assurance of our Salvation, 203).
God help me.
In John 17:8, Jesus prays, acknowledging that He only gave the Word that His Father gave Him. What is true of Him should be true of us. Dr. Martyn Lloyd Jones says it well,
"There is something terrifying about this. If that is true of the preaching of the only begotten Son of God, how much more should it be true of our preaching. The business of a man standing in a pulpit is not to speak his own words but to be biblical. He must expound this word because it is God's word..." (The Assurance of our Salvation, 203).
God help me.
Thursday, March 04, 2010
the gift of elders
Met with the Servant's Council tonight. Impromptu time of prayer and chat. What a gift! I always leave those meetings charged up with their faith and prayers. I remarked to my wife, "Those folks live up to their name: servants." I know some churches have nightmarish council meetings. My heart goes out to them. I'm glad that isn't the case here. SCCC is blessed with some wonderful servants.
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