What I Mean by Preaching :: Desiring God

~ fundyreformed ~ 2 Comments

Preaching is Expository Exultation. This clip is a good illustration of the importance of preaching. It was from Saturday night’s message. We saw Piper live at the north campus Sunday morning, and the video from that would have been even more passionate! I trust you’ll all enjoy this clip and rejoice in a pastor’s heart for preaching. Read a transcript of this part of the message here.

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“Don’t Stop Believing: Why Living Like Jesus Isn’t Enough” by Michael E. Wittmer

~ Bob Hayton ~ 11 Comments

DontStopBelievingAuthors: Michael E. Wittmer
Format: Soft cover
Page Count: 230
Publisher: Zondervan
Publication Date: 2008
ISBN: 9780310281160
Rating: 5 of 5 stars

I’m guessing that many who will read this review will be younger evangelicals who are aware of the Emerging Church movement. Many are intrigued with the idea of doing church differently. We’ve awakened to inadequacies in the church our parents raised us in. For people like us, the generational appeal of the Emergent movement is strong. Polarizing doctrines along with the conservative-liberal divide turn us off. A welcoming community of large-hearted lovers of Jesus sounds both authentic and attractive.

This desire for authentic Christian fellowship is not wrong by itself. Doing church in new and tantalizingly different ways isn’t either. Luther, Wesley and Moody attest to that. Yet the newness of the Emergent movement is often all that is needed for it to earn sharp and stinging conservative rebukes. Such smug dismissals only prove the point of these “postmodern innovators” , as Michael Wittmer dubs them. Conservative Christians today are infected with a rampant modernism that assumes it has arrived. With everything figured out, conservative Christianity has no room for postmodern Emergent craziness.

Put me down as one conservative who doesn’t think we’re above criticism. I tend to see the Emergent movement as reacting against some very real deficiencies in some versions of conservative Christianity. Before reading Don’t Stop Believing: Why Living Like Jesus Is Not Enough, I wouldn’t have been able to articulate all of this exactly. I couldn’t put my finger on exactly what it was that seemed right about the Emergent phenomenon. With Michael Wittmer’s book, however, I’m much more equipped to think through the all the ramifications of the postmodern innovations so popular today.

Wittmer isn’t afraid to listen to the postmodern innovators. Listen and learn. From what I can gather from reading the book, Wittmer hails from a staunchly conservative background. I wouldn’t be surprised if he is intimately familiar with independent Baptist fundamentalism like I am. From such a background it is easy to see how many of the Emergent criticisms would hit home.

Post-moderns claim we conservatives often love the sinner’s soul more than his body. We aim for conversions more than lasting social change. We care more about deathbed conversions than good works and justice. Our churches are not welcoming and inviting to the unchurched, and our world-view comes off too cocky and self-confident. We have everything figured out and don’t struggle with doubt or pain. We care more about scientific and logical proofs for inerrancy than we do for the Bible’s overarching themes and meta narrative. We’re too quick to distance ourselves from the world than be friends to publicans and sinners.

There’s more. Must you believe something to be saved? Are people good or bad? Is Homosexuality acceptable biblically? Doesn’t penal substitution turn the cross into divine child abuse? Does Hell really last forever, and would a loving God really send anyone there? Is it really possible to know anything for certain? These questions and more are raised, and carefully dealt with in Wittmer’s book.

As one can see, with the Emergent movement, valid criticisms and sincere questions often get muddled together with a more radical revision of the fundamentals of the faith. In light of how many postmodern innovators are quick to embrace full fledged inclusivism (the idea that people will likely be saved apart from faith in Jesus Christ), and their lack of owning up to virtually any non-negotiable beliefs, it is easy to see why many dismiss the movement as a whole, out of hand.

The strength of Wittmer’s approach lies in his patient hearing out of both sides. He sketches the conservative view and the postmodern reaction. Then he paves a middle ground that holds to a high (conservative) view of Scripture while appreciating insights from the postmodern position. He argues for a both/and approach which often does more justice to the Bible than either extreme. While he ends up defending conservative doctrines, he is not afraid to challenge conservative methods and motifs.

Such a discussion could easily become tedious and overly philosophical or theological. Wittmer’s writing style is so clear and lucid that with the help of illustrations and personal anecdotes, he makes the discussion fun to read. His many charts help convey his point even more clearly. The diagrams capture the discussions well, summarizing the perspectives of each side along with his middle ground approach.

Postmodern innovators and Emergent church leaders are not likely to change course as a result of this book. What I hope happens, is many a young evangelical is equipped and encouraged to opt for a conservative Christian approach that aims to both believe and live life here on earth well. As Wittmer puts it: “Genuine Christians never stop serving because they never stop loving, and they never stop loving because they never stop believing.”

If you are looking for a helpful introduction to the postmodern/Emergent church discussion, look no further than Don’t Stop Believing. And if you are concerned for a friend, or even for yourself, about the doctrine-is-optional appeal of postmodernism, pick up this book. You will be challenged, and encouraged in the faith.

Disclaimer: this book was provided by the publisher for review. The reviewer was under no obligation to provide a positive review.

This book is available for purchase at the following sites: Amazon.com or direct from Zondervan.

On My Shelf: Books I’m Reading Now-2

~ Bob Hayton ~ 2 Comments

The books are stacking up around here. I thought I’d give a brief update on what I’m reading, and what I’m looking forward to reading in the near future.

I’m nearly finished with The Witness of Jesus, Paul and John: An Exploration in Biblical Theology by Larry Helyer (IVP Academic). I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the book. It’s designed as a textbook, and so I could probably have had my review up already. It’s such a good book, however, that I want to read the book in its entirety, not just skim through it and give a good recommendation.

I’m also about half way through Joel Beeke’s Living for God’s Glory: An Introduction to Calvinism (Reformation Trust). Since my copy is a .pdf file (until I post my review), I’m finding it hard to stick with the book. I forget about it, and I really don’t enjoy reading e-Books on my PC. I don’t have a Kindle or something like that, so I’ll keep plugging away at this one.

I’m about done with 101 Portraits of Jesus in the Hebrew Scriptures by Bob Beasley (Living Stone Books), and I just need to find time to crank out my review of Philip Comfort’s New Testament Text and Translation Commentary (Tyndale House). On a similar note, I was thrilled to get my review copy of The King James Only Controversy, revised edition by James White (Bethany House) today. It will be hard to keep that book on the bottom of my review pile. I read the first edition about 10 years ago, and much has changed in my position with respect to that issue since then. I look forward to reading it again from a new perspective.

I’m now working my way through Don’t Stop Believing: Why Living Like Jesus Is Not Enough by Michael Wittmer (Zondervan). I’ll post about this book in conjunction with Zondervan’s book blog tour on May 12th. It’s an interesting book, especially as Wittmer hails from fundamentalist circles. I’ve found it thus far (1/3 through it) to be a good critique of the Emerging phenomenon, from a careful and charitable perspective.

Recently I was given two more books to add to my growing review pile. I’m thrilled that P & R Publishing has given me the chance to review Keith Mathison’s new book: From Age to Age: The Unfolding of Biblical Eschatology. This book is massive–750 pages! Despite its length, it seems to be a very approachable work, surveying the entire Bible in a readable way. I’ll post more on this as I start working through it. The other book is my first copy of P & R’s new commentary series: the Reformed Expository Commentary. The commentary on James by Daniel Doriani now sits on my shelf. It looks very good.

I shouldn’t jump too quickly to my new books, however. Beside the one’s I’m working on now, I still have quite a few more on my review list. My review of Ron Rhodes’ Commonly Misunderstood Bible Verses: Clear Explanations for the Difficult Passages (Harvest House) will be ready soon. And we’ll see where we go from there.

If my blogging slows down from time to time, know I probably have my nose in some good books!

The Bible on Hair Care

~ fundyreformed ~ 5 Comments

No, I haven’t yet found a Biblical defense for using Pert’s Plus. I’m talking about what the Bible says about hair length.

This may be a surprise to you, but listen to what Paul says in 1 Cor. 11:14-15.

Does not nature itself teach you that if a man wears long hair it is a disgrace for him, but if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For her hair is given to her for a covering.

What do we do with this teaching? In my fundamentalist upbringing, we had hair rules, and for us guys: hair check. If our hair was getting anywhere near our shirt collar or ear lobes, we would be in trouble. Demerits and/or detention would come in a hurry!

It’s easy to discount such standards as tomfoolery. Along with the head covering that 1 Cor. 11 refers to, we can easily contextualize this command as appropriate for Corinthians only. But are we doing justice to Paul’s appeal to “nature” here?

This is the question that a bunch of reforming fundamentalists and I have been addressing in one of our forum topics over at our new group site: Transformed by Grace. The discussion has avoided hard and fast extra Biblical rules, and has been quite profitable. Let me share one small quote, out of several I gave in the discussion. This is from Tom Schreiner in the book Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (Crossway):

Paul’s point, then, is that how men and women wear their hair is a significant indication of whether they are abiding by the created order. Of course, what constitutes long hair is often debated–what is appropriately masculine or feminine in hairstyle may vary widely from culture to culture.

I agree. On this point, I concluded with the following:

I do think women’s hair should be generally long, and men’s generally short. There is some room for varying styles and cultural fashions, but I do think today many of the short, short hairstyles worn by women are both non-attractive, and not glorifying to God.

What do you think? Does the Bible deal with our hair care? What about hairstyles today, is everything neutral or a-moral? Should a Christian look to the Bible before they run to a hairdresser? Please join the discussion in the comments here, or visit the Transformed by Grace forum on the question.

One last point: the Biblical view of a distinction between the genders being reinforced by our dress is also taught in Deut. 22:5. I dealt with that passage (often misused to condemn all women who wear pants) in an earlier post.

Tweeting the Gospel

~ fundyreformed ~ 1 Comment

Twitter is becoming more and more popular these days. One of the things it does is force us to be succinct, which is good. Nine Marks Ministries‘ blog, Church Matters, is challenging all Christian twitterers to share the gospel in 1 tweet. It’s a novel idea, and causes us to focus on the true heart of the gospel. Crafting such a tweet is a good exercise, but it also challenges us to use Twitter for good ends, by challenging those with whom we interact on Twitter, with the gospel.

I enjoyed crafting my tweet, but I would have loved more than 140 characters! Here’s my tweet, and then a better one.

G=S+J<M / Gospel=Sin [spurning God & His law] + Judgment [eternal punishment] < Mercy [Jesus died in our place offering peace with God] #9M

The #9M enters me in the contest, and can be searched easily via Twitter. Take some time to read through the results of that search, and you’ll encounter many other ways to simply declare the heart of the gospel.

My tweet stopped short of calling people to believe this message. But I think the Gospel, when understood, carries the weight of a response within the message itself. When one understands G=S+J<M, he may then value the truth in this message and cherish it. In short, he will come to believe it.

A much better attempt at distilling the beauty of the gospel in a few words was accomplished by songwriter Drew Jones:

Holy God, in love, became / Perfect Man to bear my blame / On the cross He took my sin / By His death I live again

These words form the entire length of The Gospel Song (music by Bob Kauflin). It is one of my favorite songs; learn more about it here.

So what’s your gospel tweet? Post it on twitter, or add it to the comments at the Church Matters’ blog (contest runs through Wednesday night). But please share your gospel tweet in the comments here. 140 comments or less. Let’s rejoice in the clarity of the gospel together.