Schaeffer on The Fall

"With the Fall all became abnormal. It is not just that the individual is separated from God by his true moral guilt, but each of us is not what God made us to be. Beyond each of us as individuals, human relationships are not what God meant them to be. And beyond that, nature is abnormal -- the whole cause-and-effect significant history is now abnormal. To say it another way: there is much in history now which should not be."
(Francis A. Schaeffer, True Spirituality, Ch. 1)

How Do We Talk About The Lost?

Trevin Wax has a great post with much food for thought on the subject of how our christian culture has switched out talk about who we reach.

There was a time when we spoke of unsaved people as “lost and dying and on their way to hell” – a phrase that painted a vivid picture of the stakes of being outside of Christ. We spoke of unsaved people in this way for so long that such terminology became something of a cliché.

Today, it seems that many pastors and church members tend to shy away from terms like “lost,” “unsaved,” and “unbeliever.” Instead, we speak of the people we are trying to reach as “unchurched.”

Trevin lists off a couple of reasons for why this change may not be for the best:

1. First, it indicates that our people believe the goal of the church is to grow the church.

2. Secondly, our shift in vocabulary indicates a lessening of the eternal stakes of salvation.

Click here to read the whole thing, it is worth thinking through for sure!

East Coast vs West Coast Got Nothing On This...

This trailer is not for an upcoming UFC fight, but for a debate. Theological nerds don't play...



Here is Greg's response to what he thought of this debate

Props: JT for Vid

Mark Driscoll: All Christians are Missionaries

Race Relations: Live It

Thabiti Anyabwile posts this over at Boundless.org:

"Where is this new spiritual reality in Christ to be housed or displayed?" Where can it be observed? Where is this dynamic available for us to witness, see and touch? Not in coffee houses. The local Rotary club does not display it. Neither do neighborhood or community groups, political parties, governmental jurisdictions, or even pastor fraternals and networks as valuable as they are.

The local church penultimately displays the unity and solidarity we have in Christ, the "race"-abolishing oneness we share with Him and with each other.

The local church is not a perfect display. Some people fear that talk of ethnic unity in the church borrows too much from the perfection that lies ahead in heaven.

It seems to me that our problem leans in the other direction. We need to live more fully in the already. We live beneath our inheritance in Christ. If Esau sold his inheritance for a bowl of porridge, we've sold an even greater inheritance for his leftovers. If the prodigal squandered his inheritance, we're the older brother refusing to rejoice and receive our once-dead sibling.

Read the rest here

Prayer of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux

“O Lord, come quickly and reign on Thy throne, for now often something rises up within me and tries to
take possession of Thy throne; pride, covetousness, uncleanness, and sloth want to be my kings; and
then evil speaking, anger, hatred, and the whole train of vices join with me in warring against myself
and try to reign over me. I resist them, I cry out against them, and say, ‘I have no other king than
Christ.’ O King of Peace, come and reign in me, for I will have no king but Thee! Amen.”

What an amazing prayer from this 10th century monk! We need to remember our brothers and sister in Christ on whose shoulders we stand on. Understanding the history of the church is so important for many reasons such as: 1. To see God's work and grace in the protection and growth of his people. 2. To seek forgiveness for mistakes and work to avoid repeating them. 3. To know that our time is not a time of "innovation" or "new trends" but rather a time of trust in the steadfast of God. 4. To get to know the family history we are apart of and connected to by the blood of Jesus.

I have been currently going through the book "The Story of Christianity vol.1" by Justo Gonzalez in a class I am taking from Covenant Seminary. I will be studying vol. 2 in the spring. I have really been enjoying this book and recommend it as a great starting place to understand church history.

Young People in the Church

From Z:
"Of course, it is only natural for young people to default to spending time with other young people, but the church is not a “natural” agency. The church is a phenomenon that can only be explained by the operative grace of the Holy Spirit at work through the gospel of Christ. Part of the discipleship of young people is encouraging and equipping them to be willing participants in a diverse congregation.

A further benefit of this integrated approach to reaching and discipling young people is the way they then contribute to the actual shape and color of the community. Leaders take the presence of young people actively into account as they plan the life of the church. Young people matter, not because they are the “church of tomorrow,” but because they are an integral part of the church today. They too need to understand the word of God as it is taught. They need to hear the truth as it is in Christ applied to their hearts, their idols, their struggles, their joys.

Listen to what Martin Luther had to say on the subject of teaching God’s word to the gathered congregation:

When I preach I don’t look to the doctors and magistrates of whom there are about forty in this church. I have an eye to the many young people, children and servants of whom there are
more than two thousand. I preach to these, addressing myself to their needs. If other people don’t want to listen to this approach then they can always walk out! An upright, godly and true preacher should direct his preaching to the poor, simple sort of people . . . when preachers talk to me they can show off their learning—they will be well put to their trumps! But to sprinkle Hebrew, Greek and Latin in their public sermons, suggests they are merely showing off."

- Tim Chester and Steve Timmis, Total Church, p. 186, 187