God is the Gospel

Piper's messages this week in chapel were classic Piper. You can download or listen to them here. Tuesday he preached on 2 Cor. 1.24-2.4, and Thursday's text was 2 Cor. 3.18-4.7. The latter was very similar to his book 'God is the Gospel', which is a must-read. You know its good with a subtitle like "Meditations on God's love as the gift of Himself." Here, Piper shows that all the glorious truths we associate with the gospel (e.g. forgiveness of sins, justification by faith, reconciliation, propitiation, being counted righteous, having eternal life, etc) are but means to an end. That end is the good news: fellowship with the all-satisfying God through Christ.

Also this week, Southern Seminary received a visit from Soulforce. A group of people came on Monday morning to protest. They were seeking personal and public apologies from Dr. Mohler concerning his recent comments about homosexuality. Watch it here.

John Piper v.s. Bruce Ware

Here is a link to download the latest 9Marks Audio. It is a long conversation between Piper, Ware, and Mark Dever recorded during the latest annual ETS meetings. The audio covers a variety of topics but the first 1/3 is a semi-debate between Piper and Ware on Limited Atonement. Other issues discussed include the New Perspective on Paul, Abortion, and being 'missional.' Piper will be at Southern this week, preaching in chapel on Tuesday and Thursday. My guess is his topics will revolve around God's glory, and joy, which I never get tired of hearing about. You should be able to access his messages on the Southern website in a week or two.

March Madness & Common Grace

Yesterday, I finished a book called 'He Shines in All That's Fair: Culture and Common Grace' by Richard J. Mouw. It is an interesting little book dealing with the doctrine of common grace, particularly as it has been developed in the Dutch Reformed tradition. In it he says,

I think God takes delight in Benjamin Franklin's wit and in Tiger Woods's putts and in some well-crafted narrative paragraphs in a Salman Rushdie novel, even if these accomplishments are in fact achieved by non-Christian people....I think God enjoys these things for their own sakes."

If Mouw's thesis is correct, then I think God was particularly delighted by today's NCAA tournament games. It was a fantastic day of college hoops and interspersed studying for midterms. I am hoping to see 35-plus from Durant tomorrow afternoon.

Tribute to Don Carson

Here is a section of a post by Mark Dever concerning D.A. Carson. Carson is a man that is worthy of all of our attention. Dever posted it to say that Carson has a book coming out later this year called 'Christ and Culture Revisted.' Carson is particularly qualified to write such a book. According to the Trinity website, his areas of expertise include biblical theology, the historical Jesus, postmodernism, pluralism, Greek grammar, Johannine theology, Pauline theology, and questions of suffering and evil. Anyone who has read 'The Gagging of God' would have to agree. Anyway, here's Dever's comment:

Don Carson has for years put his God-given gift of brilliance and hard academic labor to use for the church. I from time to time have had the privilege to share a platform with him at ministers conferences and other events. I have seen him far away from the Ivy-covered halls of academia, laboring long and hard not simply over language theories or a fine hermenuetical point (good things to do) but with a pastor (whether from South Africa or England or Illinois) helping him think through a Biblical or pastoral issue.
Don has shown this in his career as a teacher and a writer as well. He has a passion for God, and a passion for God's truth, and a passion for God's church. First-class Biblical scholars who are not hostile to systematic theology, are themselves orthodox and pious, and have a love for the church which shows itself in doing helpful pastor- and popular-level writing for decades have marked too few people in the history of the church. John Calvin. B. B. Warfield. (OK, even Don Carson will stop reading at this point!)
Anyway, from How Long O Lord to Showing the Spirit to The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God to Worship by the Book to The Cross and Christian Ministry--I could go on and on--Don has been a blessing to me and to countless other pastors, rather than putting all his time into forwarding his academic career (though he's done just fine in that area) Don has put his time into helping us.
Stop and thank God for the gift that Don is.

Grace to You, unless you're Amill

John MacArthur opened up the Shepherd's Conference with a talk called, 'Why Every Self-Respecting Calvinist is a Pre-Millennialist.' Challies reports him as saying, ""It's too late for Calvin," he said," but it's not too late for the rest of you. If Calvin were here he would join our movement." This is just crazy. I have yet to hear the audio, but it seems that MacArthur has done a nice job shredding straw men (my concern with regard to the emerging church as well). It is a conundrum for many as to how MacArthur can be dead on in so many areas, and yet hold to dispensationalism. To separate Israel and the church is to make a disaster of the Pauline epistles. Of course it is his conference so he has the right to preach on whatever he wants. I can't help but wonder what the other speakers were thinking, since to my knowledge, none of them are dispensational pre-millenialists. In fact, I think the only Reformed dispensationalists I know of is MacArthur, and those that follow him. Anyway, I will leave you with a quote from Michael Spencer:

The decision to make this the keynote of one of the largest reformed pastors conferences in the world says volumes about where the head and heart of Macarthur are at this point in his ministry. When I get up at a key moment in my ministry to tell you you aren’t legit unless you have my eschatology, something’s out of balance.-The equation of amill with a tendency to take up theistic evolution really stands out to me as a revealing comment. A lot is said in that connection.-The particular view that the reformers knew less than characters like Darby, Scofield and the inventor of the rapture, Margaret Macdonald, is a testimony to the hubris of this stream of American evangelicalism. And they have courses on this at seminary. Luther and Calvin wrong. Darby and Scofield right. That folks, is sectarianism at its most brash.

Read more here, here, here, here, and especially here. Let us choose our battles wisely, and when we must battle, let's be fair, and gracious.

Amazing Grace

Last weekend, Alicia and I, and Dustin and Jamie went to see Amazing Grace. We all thought it was great, even if though going to the movies costs a month's paycheck these days. William Wilberforce was a missional Christian long before the word became trendy. His faith had legs, as should everyone's. Here is the trailor.