What's the World Coming To?

In a copy of The Alabama Baptist I noticed an article about an individual who is suing two Bible publishers, because their Bible translations equate homosexuality as a sin.

This is dangerous ground for anyone to be treading. It is my prayer that the courts will deem themselves unqualified to step into matters of Biblical translation.

Learning the Value of Discipline

Proverbs 25:28 A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls.


Procrastination has always been a thorn in my flesh. Yet God is beginning to deal with me about some areas of my life where this is not acceptable. Ultimately, procrastination is a symptom of selfishness and self-idolatry. This particular verse of scripture has challenged my heart repeatedly this last few months, and echoes in my head almost daily. It is my prayer that it will challenge your heart as well.

Time, German, and Karl Rahner

It was my intention to write often on this blog. To allow myself to leave the pages of my books and the confines of theological academia and contemplate the praxis of theology within our churches. However, that goal has been thwarted. I realize time is one of the most important commodities we have. And time management is one of the greatest tasks anyone, and especially ministers, must (and I mean really must) accomplish. With that comes a set of priorities, otherwise one is tossed to and fro by the wind. for me my priorities in my family grew by 25% with the newest addition of Tyler Augustine Grace on March 26th. Needless to say that I have had my focus elsewhere.

However, I have not neglected my studies either. I am into the last stretch of languages required from me for my academic career. I am taking advanced theological German this summer and will be done with it in August. It has been another consuming factor in my time management. 

But that is no excuse to not write. So allow me to present an axiom from Karl Rahner and commentate on it briefly.

In Karl Rahner's short work on the Trinity entitled The Trinity, one finds his ground principle, his thesis, as this: The Economic Trinity is the Immanent Trinity and the Immanent Trinity is the Economic Trinity. These two terms, Economic and immanent, are descriptors in theology of two different aspects of the Trinity. Some have labeled them differently (ontological or functional for example) but they basically are two ways at looking at the Trinity. The Immanent Trinity is the view of the Trinity as God in his being, his ontic reality. The Economic Trinity is the view of God as he is functioning with creation. The latter would deal with the interpersonal relations of the divine three-in-oneness and its perichoresis whereas the former looks at the interaction of God in creation, where one pays attention to the specific functions of the missions of Son and Spirit from Father. 

What Rahner is arguing is that for one to understand the Immanent Trinity he need look no further than what God does and vice versa. What I find most problematic with this approach, and perhaps Rahner will allay my fears as I read more, is that if the Immanent is caught up in the Economic and vice versa there is no room for more mystery of the ontic Godhead. That is to say that the God who answered Job by telling him he is not God is stripped of most mystery. I am much more comfortable seeing God's immanence being more transcendent than what he presents.

Why do I right this? What does this have to do with the practical Christian life? Besides everything, it has to do with the view of God, which in turn shades the mode of worship, colors the extent of prayer, and embodies the out reaching purpose of our lives. One's view of the Trinity is paramount to their faith. It is how we see how God works as Father, as sacrificial Lamb and as everlasting comforter. 

I do not have all the answers, but I look to the one who does.

May your faith be spurred on to contemplate the richness of the mystery of the Trinity.

Revival Day 2

One of my pet peeves is forcing an analytic outline upon a narrative text whenever it will not fit. This happens to much and when it occurs the text is unnecessarily butchered. My text last night would not take an analytic outline, so I will divide it into scenes for you. It was Luke 19:1-10. The Sermon was called "Close Encounters of the Jesus Kind."

scene 1: Exposition (setting the scene) Verses 1-2
Scene 2: Verses 3-4
Scene 3: Verses 5-7
Scene 4: Verses 8-10

Sorry I am not more help for you sermon Searchers, but this particular passage I did not take an analytic outline (by that I mean, the power of prayer, the person of prayer, the people of prayer, the position of prayer), but I promised I would post something so this is all you get for this one.

My apologies

My apologies for the lack of posting. I cannot speak for Madi, but I am almost positive that he is wide open with school, family (particularly the new addition), and work. As for me I am recovering from three Easter services(four services total) last week and this week I am preaching a revival. However in the spirit of devotional encouragement, I will post here the texts for the revival each night for you Bible reading pleasture.

Monday's text: Matthew 6:25-34. I know that may seem like a strange verse for a revival, but I remain convinced that one of the reasons (in addition to sin and prayerlessness) that we fail to see revival is that we don't trust God as we should. I'll even give you a skeletal outline for you preaching buffs.

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? [1] 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

I. Christians should not worry because of their great value to God (25-30)
II. Christians should not worry because it is what unbelievers do. (31-33)
III. Christians should not worry because there is a day to live today (34).

You'll have to do the exegetical legwork for the exposition, illustration, and application. Enjoy!

Tag

I have been tagged...and normally I wouldn't partake in these types of activities, but the most amazing woman in the world wanted me to do it so I thought I would play along.

Where was I ten years ago? I was a senior in high school and I was 70lbs lighter and still relatively athletic. I was still resisting God's call to preach.

Things on my to-do-list today: Finish my Sunday Sermon. Pick out the three sermons for this week's revival. Go running. Take a nap. Organize paper work to get taxes done.

What would I do if I suddenly became a billionaire? I would give to our church to help with improvements and evangelism events. I would buy my wife a new car, a home and take her on a real vacation. I would start my Doctor of Ministry Degree next year. Visit Israel

3 of my bad habits:

1. procrastination
2. I would think of something for #2, but I think I'll do it later
3. I am poorly organized


5 jobs I've had:

1. plant nursery worker
2. Subway Sandwich artist
3. Christian book store
4. youth pastor
5. Pastor

5 things you don't know about me:

1. I am a book addict--I love to read
2. I desire to be a great preacher (Not a known one necessarily, just someone who is anchored to the Biblical text and who leaves a congregation more biblically literate than when I arrive)
3. I don't sleep well whenever my wife and little girl are away
4. My favorite barbecue is Brisket.
5. I have a wide variety of musical tastes, from classic country, to outlaw country, to classical, as well as musical theater tunes.

If I must tag some folks, I guess I would tag Madi, Matt, and Ched. Guys if you don't want to participate no hard feelings

Congrats to Daddy Madi

Congrats on the new addition at Madi's household.

Revelation

As promised, I would like to start a conversation on the topic of revelation. If we are going to call this blog “Just One Book” and refer to that book as the Bible it is appropriate that we should state our stance on revelation. For one’s view on what revelation is and does completely shapes how one reads the Bible. For instance, if we took a more liberal stance that there is no revelation in the Bible at all we could affirm that these words, passages, and phrases are just the writings of men and are questioned as to validity authenticity and most of all truthfulness.

Perhaps I am getting ahead of myself. To begin I would like to work with a definition of revelation. From there we can decide how one views revelation and how we are to have it be appropriated to our use of the Bible.

The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary defines revelation as:

“The disclosure or communication of knowledge by a divine or supernatural agency; an instance of this; a thing disclosed or made known by divine or supernatural means.”

With this broad definition of revelation we can begin our work to narrow down what we especially mean by revelation. The definition above basically points out that it is something that is disclosed by the divine. Since most people would claim that God (in a very broad sense) is “unknowable”, “incomprehensible”, or “intangible”, for one to know him there must be some knowledge that is communicated. This knowledge can be found in two major categories: general revelation and special revelation.

General revelation is knowledge that is communicated through general means, or nature. Psalm 19:1 says,

“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.”

This is the same idea we get from Romans 1:18-20:

“18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessnessand wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since whatmay be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternalpower and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.”

However, this revelation is not enough to reveal what we need to know about God. Something more specific needs to come to people and it is found in special revelation. There are a few differing opinions on what special revelation truly is. For instance one question to be asked is, “what is the content of revelation?” “Is it words about God, or God himself?” To these questions we now turn.

In the 20th century there were two men who, in their own camps, were seen as champions of dealing with what to do with special revelation, or to put it more bluntly, the Word of God. One of these men is Karl Barth, German theologian and writer of the famous Church Dogmatics. In Barth’s first Volume Part One, titled, “The Doctrine of the Word of God” he attempts to line out how he is going to move forward in his dogmatics and he is starting with the Word of God. But one quickly realizes that by Word of God Barth is not intending to mean the Bible, but something greater than the Bible.

You see for Barth and his followers, a great question was what is revelation. In discussing his use of the Bible Barth in I.I.4.3 states:

“The Bible is the concrete means by which the Church recollects God’s past revelation, is called to expectation of His future revelation, and is thus summoned and guided to proclamation and empowered for it. The Bible, then, is not in itself and as such God’s past revelation, just as Church proclamation is not in itself and as such the expected future revelation. The Bible, speaking to us and heard by us as God’s Word, bears witness to past revelation. Proclamation, speaking to us and heard by us as God’s Word, promises future revelation. The Bible is God’s Word as it really promises revelation. The promise in proclamation, however, rests on the attestation in the Bible.”

What Barth is claiming is that The Bible is not revelation until the Word of God is with it. In fact he claims that there are past, present and future revelations, wherever the Word of God (not the Bible) is present with the Bible or proclamation.

This short couple of paragraphs does not do justice to the thought of Barth, but I wanted to show a deference in what he viewed revelation as and what someone like Carl F.H. Henry saw it as. Henry was one of the great thinkers of the 20th century, especially for evangelicals. He was not only the founder of groups like the Evangelical Theological Society, the editor of Christianity Today but also an author of several books. One of which is his 6 volume work God Revelation and Authority. In vol. one of this work he defines revelation as:

“the source of all truth, the truth of Christianity included; reason is the instrument for recognizing it; Scripture is its verifying principle; logical consistency is a negative test for truth and coherence a subordinate test. The task of Christian theology is to exhibit the content of biblical revelation as an orderly whole.”

What is the difference here? Henry sees revelation in something that is concrete. Words, sentences, propositions, all have truth claims and meaning in them and are used as revelation. Revelation does not merely happen when one reads the Bible, but one reads revelation. With Barth revelation is dependent on an ever acting divine intervention. With Henry that intervention is forever recorded in the words of the Bible.

So what is revelation? It is the communication of God to us especially seen in his words to us the Bible. Every time we read it we are engaging in revelation and we do not have to guess if we are receiving revelation. In fact even unregenerate people can read the Bible as revelation, something that Barth would deny.

This is only a beginning, but an important beginning in understanding what the Bible is and how it should be used.

My Heart's Cry

In times of extreme spiritual dryness and stagnation...this passage echoes my heart's cry. Hopefully it will minister to you during a similar time.


Psalm 63:1 O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.


Come Lord Jesus, Come!

Iron or Wood

We have all heard the saying from Proverbs 27:17 that iron sharpens iron as one man sharpens another. It is saying that one new to the Christian faith will not have to wait long to hear. It is a passage that speaks truth in many ways and a truth that engenders the spirit of this blog. It is the idea behind the attitude of lifting your brother up, pushing him onward and traversing beside him along the journey of life until that glorious day when our faith will (and that is a definite) be made sight.

However, stop and think for a minute if you truly are iron. Have you been iron to your brothers in your church, in your family, at your workplace? Or have you been wood.

Inevitably we come in contact with other people. This is something we all face unless you are a hermit who lives up in the woods and in that case you would not be reading this blog. When we come in contact with people we metaphorically rub against them. It might be a simple glance or a look, maybe a few words or a long conversation, but any interchange with a person is a rub of some kind.

To over simplify this matter allow me to create two categories, those of positive rubbing, Iron, and those of negative, wood. You see when Iron rubs against Iron it makes the Iron sharper, better, more useful. However when wood rubs against wood you end up with friction. Sure you might start a fire and it might be useful in some sense, but most of the time you merely get friction and heat, two things that only exacerbate situations.

We have two ways of reacting to those in which we come in contact. We can be iron or wood. One who is iron will heed the biblical concept of loving their neighbor, of ceasing from course jesting, of being perfect as their heavenly Father is perfect. In a word they live by the spirit. Those who are wood live by the flesh, which leads to death.

So let me ask you today, are you Wood or Iron?

Movie Gold

A Quote from one of my all time favorite movies: Secondhand Lions

Little boy: "So the men from great grandfather's stories really lived."

Walter: "Yeah, they really lived."

A Mark of a Good Preacher

One of the most difficult aspects of expository preaching is to take an ancient text or biblical truth and apply it to a contemporary culture that is many years removed from the original source.

Don't misunderstand me. I am in no way implying that the Bible is not relevant to today's society. I and Madison would both adamantly argue that the Bible is relevant to men and women today just as it was in the day it was written. However it is an important task of the expositor to ensure that the passage's meaning is illuminated as well as its application.

Having said all of that, I am currently reading a book entitled 131 Christians Everyone Should Know published by Broadman and Holman in 2000. Oddly enough, as the title indicates it offers brief snapshots of the lives of men and women who had vital, and some who had detrimental, influences on Christian History.

In the chapter of John Chrysostom there is a quote from a sermon of his about the dangers of the theater, which I feel that despite the fact it was preached some time after 398 A.D., it would well resonate with modern hearers. He is preaching a sermon that seems to focus, at least in part upon the dangers of lust.

I offer to you a great quote from the text.

"Long after the theater is closed and everyone is gone away, those images [of 'shameful women' actresses] still float before your soul, their words, their conduct, their glances, their walk, their positions, their excitation, their unchaste limbs...And there within you she kindles the Babylonian furnace in which the peace of your home, the purity of your heart and the happiness of your marriage will be burnt up!"

All I can say is, "wow!" With just a few word changes, that quote might speak volumes to the rife plague,that is devastating the modern family, which we know as pornography. My, how things don't seem to change much!

1 Corinthians 6:18-20 18 Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

Just One Book

As I sit here writing, I am surrounded on all sides by books. Much to my surprise my wife allows me to fill our living room with bookshelves for my theological library. I have books on Church history, commentaries on the Bible, Books on doctrine, Dictionaries of various languages, Pastoral ministry books and a few books of fiction as well. At any moment I can walk over to a shelf and begin to read a sermon by Spurgeon, a treatise on the kenotic theory, a pondering thought by Lewis or discover what truly lurks in the chamber of secrets. With so many books to choose from why would I look for just one book? Why would we call this site just one book?

The answer to that question is apparent to anyone who knows me or Clint or knows something of Christianity (at least of the conservative evangelical sort). That one book is the Bible. 66 books two canons in one that make up God's Holy Word. In fact most of the books that surround me are focused on some aspect of the content of that book, and every book around me implicitly has something to do with the meaning of that book. How can that be? You say. Are you truly that arrogant that you think this Bible is supreme?

You bet your cookies I do. (I have no idea what that means). The Bible is not God's holy word because I said so. It is not God's holy word because my church, my denomination or the Pope says so. It is not God's holy word because at a few councils and some guys letters a canon was chosen. The holiness of the book comes from its divine authorship. Its "inspiration" is unlike any book ever written. Its content is quite different, even though less quality copies have been reprinted throughout the ages. It is different because of what we call revelation.

This concept of revelation is a topic which must be dealt with at another time. Perhaps a future conversation between Clint and I. Know that just one Book is a blog that seeks to keep two students of the bible ever yearning to know it better and serve the world for the sake of God made known to us through Jesus Christ who empowers us by his Spirit.

There's Just One Book

Welcome! We are so glad that you decided to join us on this adventure. This blog is the brainchild of a late night conversation, where two friends decided to sharpen and encourage one another. Recognizing both our love for scripture and for scolarship, this seemed like a natural endeavor. We hope you will check in with us from time to time. Madison is going to give a great post coming up on the reasoning behind the name of our blog, but I wanted to show you guys where I got the idea for the name. It actually comes from this anonymous poem, that has really help to shape and focus how I think about my ministry. Hope you enjoy it.

There’s just one Book,” cried the dying sage,

Read me the old, old story.”

And the winged words that can never age

Wafted him home to Glory.

There’s just one Book.

There’s just one Book for the tender years,

One Book alone for guiding

The little feet through the joys and fears,

The unknown days are hiding.

There’s just one Book.

There’s just one Book for the bridal hour,

One Book of love’s own coining;

Its truths alone lend beauty and power,

To vows that lives are joining.

There’s just one Book.

There’s just one Book for life’s gladness,

One Book for the toilsome days,

One Book that can cure life’s madness,

One Book that can voice life’s praise.

There’s just one Book.

There’s just one Book for the dying,

One Book for the starting tears,

And one for the soul that is going home,For the measureless years.

There’s just one Book.

--Anonymous