Archive for the ‘theology’ Category

Ok OK OK….of course I’m just fooling around with the title of this post. I couldn’t resist.

But nonetheless…my ESV study Bible just arrived from Crossway about an hour ago and so far it’s living up to the hype.

While the ESV has been my primary translation for the last couple of years, I also regularly use a printed NASB study Bible, NASB Hebrew/Greek Key Word study Bible, and a NASB Thompson’s Chain Reference Bible (for the Message, NIV, NLT, NET, and NKJV I use software). Anyway, the point is that like a lot of folks, I’m familiar with study Bible offerings. It’s not difficult…because most have essentially the same content.

Here’s a couple things I really love about the print ESVSB:

1. History of Salvation: Every book includes a synopsis of that books events/content in relation to the history of salvation, with a full 66 book compilation in the back. Verrrry nice.
2. Color inset maps in the books, not just the back. There are several contexts which are really vital to understanding the Bible and avoiding inadvertently starting your own cult. Literary context, cultural context, historical context, theological context etc. Geographical context is tragically often overlooked. Land and what happens on it is really really important stuff in understand the events of the Bible. Just do a study on Mt. Moriah and you’ll get the idea. I’m always hunting for better maps to use in teaching the Bible so kudos to whoever fought for color.
3. Single column text. This was a little weird for the first 15 minutes. My Bibles almost all use two columns so you get used to seeing Scripture that way. When I recall passages I usually see the text of that passage like a picture in my mind, and that picture usually has two columns. But as a I read more it was much easier on the eyes.

Now…that’s the printed ESV. But here’s the kicker…they also have the ESVSB online.

• Fully searchable. AJAX study notes (AJAX is web-speak for that cool web content you see where different parts of a web page move/expand/contract etc WITHOUT reloading the page. Fast, fun, and easy to use).
• Articles and Maps and Charts. Oh yeah. I’m a big-time visual leaner. I want to see things as much as as possible. The maps and charts are well done and because it’s web content I can load it and use it in a presentation anywhere with internet connectivity.

For Mac users, the online version is particularly nice because Logos (the best digital Bible reference/study software available imo) is not yet available for Mac. They’re close to releasing it (logos.com/mac), but until they do I’ve got a great digital resource in its place.

So…if you’re one who enjoys the ESV or are considering it, I highly recommend the ESV Study Bible. Solo Scriptura!

Yesterday my sweet wife and I had long and really insightful meeting with a new friend and mentor of ours who works for World Venture. We got to know him through a mutual friend whose family is ministering in Ghana.

I could say quite a bit about the incredibly healthy and life giving philosophical and practical methods that got us excited about World Venture, but that’s not what hit me most in our meeting yesterday. There were other things our friend said that are still swimming in my head.

We asked him about the life of a wife and mother in international service. Our friend’s words blew me away. He talked about his family’s nearly 20 years of service in the Philippines. He told me that for all of the work he would do out in the city, at the schools, and in the church…it was when people were in his home that God worked most noticeably. He said,

The home is the validation for your ministry. People see all the other stuff you do, but when they meet your wife and kids and see how your family really is, then the truth of who you represent and what you’re doing sinks in.

There’s a big sinfully proud part of me that would say, “Oh yeah, of course. I know that.” But to look a man in the eyes who has been there and done it tell you this, it’s powerful, sobering. He was laughing at himself as he thought back on all the things he would pour himself into, good things, eternal things, but it just seemed that all the progress happened because of the testimony of his family by how they lived.

He said that the wife sets the tone of the home. He wasn’t espousing egalitarianism. What he was saying is that often in international work the husband is out and about more than the wife, at least for first while. Because of this, the wife is setting the tone in the house in his absence. He said,

If she goes out just enough to survive, just to the store and back, to the school and back…the kids pick up on that and adopt a belief that the culture around them is something they don’t want to touch.

When the conversation turned to how children adjust to frequent relocation and such, his comment was

How mom and dad relate is everything. If they see that dad loves mom, and mom loves dad, the kids will follow their lead through anything. If mom and dad aren’t ok, the children will never be ok, they’ll always be unsettled.

Again, on one hand what he said was not earth-shattering. But as I sit with it, it’s bringing more insight all the time. I posted awhile back about the tensions of family/ministry. His comments are helping me to see that caring for Christina and the girls is more than caring for Christina and the girls, as vitally important as that is. It’s not “my first ministry is my family”. To think like that is to divide up, compartmentalize life. No, caring for my wife and daughters is as much a part of my ministry to the church and world as preaching, teaching, leading or whatever else the Lord brings.

I’m fumbling a bit to get clear thoughts out, but suffice to say the Lord helped me immensly through that meeting.

Like many, I have found John Piper’s writings and preaching deeply helpful on several occasions. What I didn’t know until about six months ago was that he is prolific at writing poetry as well.

The Desiring God site has a huge amount of Piper’s poetry available in written and audio format, both for viewing and download.

My buddy Jason gave me a CD awhile back which contained a four part series of poems Piper wrote on the life of Job. It was an audio CD, with Piper narrating the poems personally.

I highly encourage you to listen to them for two reasons. First, poetry in general is wonderful art. I have grown increasingly captivated by it over the last two years, and in my amateur opinion Piper’s work is outstanding. Second, the account of Job’s life, as recorded in Scripture, deals with many issues which are as troublesome for people today as they were when it was originally composed.

Why do good people suffer? Don’t the good prosper and the evil perish? What is God’s purpose in my pain? The list could go on and on.

The whole four part series is about 45 minutes (rough guess…I was too enthralled in listening to be distracted by a petty thing like the length of the poems).

Remove the noise around you, get some tissue and soulfully enjoy.

Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four

I’m fond of saying that “worship is always the right response”. Though it’s certainly not unique, I don’t recall having read it anywhere. So apologies if I do not give credit to some known source of the quip.

I’ve used that phrase in wonderful times and in tragic ones. It has been a comforting reminder. Sometimes it has been an unwelcomed friend knocking at the door of my pride.

As things continue to fall in place after Ike, I realize that the saying is wrong. At least in part.

What I should say is “worship is always a right response”. The distinction is that in times of difficulty, as with hurricanes, worship is a right response but not the only right response.

When tragedy comes, it is right to mourn. It is right to weep. It is right to lament. And it is most certainly right to worship Yahweh.

Surely, mourning and sorrow can be done in a way that is faithless, sinful. Emotions are not neutral. But there is a way to express them which is genuine, healing, and open to God. When expressed this way, even grief and sorrow become a form of worship. In this sense, worship is always a right response.

In my last post I alluded to an upcoming post on the theological and moral ramifications of the various schooling options currently available to the average American. I’ve decided not to launch into that rats nest. If you’re really curious on my take, email me for a lunch. Suffice to say this, it seems to me that the whole issue is far more emotionally than theologically difficult. There’s so much good thought (and bad) written on the subject. But read the Bible people. Wrestle with Jesus. Read the Bible again. Get counsel from godly parents from all camps. Read the Bible. Did I mention to read the Bible? Yes, read Deuteronomy 6, but do so in light of the teaching of Jesus, about whom the entire Bible is written (Lk. 24:27). While Israel was instructed to be separate from their neighbors, they were also called to be a blessing to all people. There’s a balance between distinction and blessing. Christian parents need to strive for that balance in training their children.

Now on to this post…

I’ve seen a lot of Christian education stuff for kids over the last seven years. My wife has been involved in that area with the local church for a long time and we’ve seen more prepackaged children’s curriculum than I can remember. Some of it was really good, most was more marketing than anything else. Just like Christian music, it’s typically made to make money, not glorify God. It’s usually very watered down Bible stories (often inaccurate) packaged to look like Saturday morning TV or the latest Pixar movie. Don’t get me wrong here, Pixar makes some freaking cool movies, but I’m not going to use it point kids to Jesus.  He’s glorious enough without digital rendering.

So here’s the thought - can you give children too much Yahweh? Can you tell them too much about the Father, the Son, or the Holy Spirit? You might think at first, “No, of course not.” But is that how you’re teaching your kids?

What have they been taught about holiness, wickedness, widsom, foolishness, judgment, forgiveness, condemnation, redemption, the hope of the return of the King?

I’m not being some Bible geek here (if there is such a thing). The point is that we usually dumb down what the Lord of creation has said about himself in order to make it palatable for children. But I’m not so sure we need to be doing that. I’m not talking about vocabulary either. It is possible to explain justification by faith alone through grace alone in Jesus Christ alone to a 4 year old. In fact, I believe one the best ways to find out if you really understand what you believe is to try and teach it to a child. If you can’t put it in simple terms that a kid can understand then you probably haven’t really understood it yourself. It’s easier to parrot something than it is to live and be transformed by it.

I’m talking about putting the meat out there. Telling your kids that Christians are getting killed and cut in half today, even as they were centuries ago (Heb. 11:37). Looking your children in the eyes and explaining how we (even mommy and daddy) must be perfect to be with the perfect God. Letting them understand that it’s impossible. They get it. They understand the tension. They also are able to understand the gospel and how only Jesus, the “Word” who made the world in Genesis, left his heavenly place and became one of us. His sinlessness and holiness made him the only possible sacrifice for sin (all our decisions to turn away from God). He’s given everyone a way back to God, the only way that could have been given. His love wins again and always. I’m talking about taking your kids with you to share the gospel with the Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons in your neighborhood. Take them with you to teach the Bible at the local coffee shop. Take them with you to visit the infirmed and elderly. And in every situation, “systematically and spontaneously” as a mentor of mine put it, explaining to them why, why, why - in light of Yahweh.

We need to kill the watered down, white-man-flowing-hair, just-be-good, learn-all-the-rules jesus that has infiltrated Sunday schools and Christian homes for too long. Open the “grown up” Bible alongside the children’s version and give those beautiful little blessing from God your personal translation, the daddy and mommy version.

Lastly, I had some concern for awhile about harming the kiddos somehow by telling them too much. Perhaps talk of hell, persecution, and judgment are too much for little ones. But I’m seeing that it’s not. Sure, if that’s ALL you told them you’re going to thrash them, just like churches who only teach judgment thrash adults (though the greater problem today is churches who never teach it). But I’ve seen that the full truth of Scripture is not harmful, quite the opposite. That which is too deep or difficult (either by design like the Trinity, or by my inabilty to teach it clearly) simply goes over their heads. Then I get another chance a couple days later.

If we don’t understand everything in the Bible…why in the world do we think we make children understand it all?

So study well, live what you read, and share it with your kids.

Quite a couple weeks in my house. Super Joy (a.k.a. Amelia, a.k.a. “Jamelia” by the commune) turned one year old a couple days ago. Christina always says that the girls’ first year seems to fly by. I didn’t agree with the first two, but with JoyJoy it really seems true. I spent a lot of daddy-daughter time that first year with all three, but I think perhaps the most with Joy. Maybe that’s what has made it seem fast, the old adage that time well spent goes quickly.

The other big item on the family front is G starting kindergarten. We’ve been having the home-private-public school discussion for years now. I’ll save my take on that snakepit of a subject for another post, but suffice to say we came to two decisions:

1. As a family we will take it year-by-year, reassessing things annually to determine what is the best avenue for the girls individually and our family as a whole for that particular year.
2. Big girl is going to public school this year.

It’s so odd. In some ways it’s a very small transition. We’ve been teaching her to read, some math, science, and arts for awhile now. Additionally she’s been through one excellent mother’s-day-out (The Bridge Fellowship…I know nothing of the church as a whole, but their MDO is excellent and modestly priced), and a decent pre-k private school (Faith Lutheran…not as impressive as the Bridge, and expensive, but a good experience overall).

But in other ways it’s a major hurdle. I love instructing my children. Academics is fun, but more than anything I love teaching them the Bible and challenging G’s worldview (the 2 and 1 year old aren’t ready for discussions on our imperfections and the grace of Yahweh…probably next year). That’s what kills me most about sending her to school, that I won’t be the one getting to have all those talks with her (again I’m not hitting on moral and theological issues in schooling yet…stay tuned for the next post). Yes, I’ll get a lot of time and talks with G, but I don’t want a lot of them…I want all of them. I’m a jealous father who wants to provide his daughters with all they need. I know I can’t do it. But sometimes knowledge doesn’t make it any easier. Christ knew he would be resurrected by the Father, but it didn’t make his road to the cross any easier. No, I’m not comparing my situation to the Lord’s atonement for sin. But the cross does illustrate that knowledge alone doesn’t always suffice. There is something more in difficult times, a knowledgeable faith. An informed faith, but faith.

So with informed and experienced faith I’m excited about my little big girl getting more exposure to this godless society. Honestly though, it’s not like Ft. Bend county schools are bad. I grew up in So Cal and went to a few schools that were more like an extension of the juvenile detention facility than a place of education. But even so, I know she’s going to take some knocks. I know her still forming worldview and faith are going to be shaken by students and teachers alike. It’s saddening in one way, and exhilarating in another. The accusations of being a bad parent cross my mental landscape. But the light of the cross and joy of teaching the truth of Jesus in trials shines brightest.

I heard this dude tell a story once about his elementary age son. His boy was riding his bike in the downtown city streets where they live. A few bullies from the neighborhood rode by, knocked him off his bike, punched him, and then left. This father came to his son, stood him up, brushed him off, and with loving faith belted out, “Praise God son! It’s like training for the mission field!” To some that is sadistic. To some the cross is “divine child abuse”. But to those who have glimpsed the depth of our separation from Yahweh’s perfection in light of the grace of Jesus, it’s glorious. Time is short, and her training must continue!

I’ve been thinking about all the time I spend managing life. A nine year old marriage, three daughters, closing out graduate school, a new position at CBS, new ministry efforts, and all the other wonderfully challenging aspects of life amount to a huge task list waiting to be administered, to be managed.

I can easily spend several hours a day pouring over various pockets of need. How is this thing going? Am I missing anything? What’s going well? What do I need to look out for in the future? What needs to start now so that when the future is the present we’ll be prepared? Those kinds of questions, while rooted in wisdom, can be tyrannical.

What ever happened to living life?

By “living life” I’m not talking about the American myth of care-free living. What I mean is this: whatever happened to being spiritually engaged in life’s challenges instead of trying to merely make it “manageable”?

Faithfulness to God and people has been replaced by faithfulness to future goals.

I think there are many difficulties that we just try to avoid, to get through. But when I look at Jesus in the gospels and the example of the Apostles in the book of Acts what I see is struggle after struggle, difficult situation upon difficult situation…and in the midst of those challenges the Lord works to bring redemption and healing through his gospel.

How much God-given ministry have we missed because we’re so busy managing the situation?

In Jesus we have redemption from judgment, freedom from darkness, Spirit empowerment to do the Father’s will, victory over sin, and good works prepared for us. How petty I am to miss these things in the name of effeciency and smooth-sailing.

Some will say, “Well, you can’t just run around that way and not take care of details.” Which I think is true and false. True, we must handle the details. I am a husband and father. I am commanded by Yahweh to love my wife and teach my children the truth of God in all things, all the time. That requires some administrative effort. But it’s false to think we can’t live through our situations. It’s a matter of spiritual perspective.

You can be both diligent in the details and diligent in spirit. Actually, I think that’s closer to who we’re called to be.