Pastoral authority is fundamentally relational.

So says this piece by Matt Tebbe - worth a read.

Costly grace

is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son: 'ye were bought at a price', and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us. Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us. Costly grace is the Incarnation of God.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship, p.37

Can't sleep? Try cooling your brain...literally.

If you're a bit of an insomniac, even occasionally so, you might want to check this out.

HT: Lifehacker.

The Purpose of Romans

You can read Mike Bird's take on the purpose of Romans here. Almost as interesting is the word-cloud he illustrates his post with.

The Truth About Antidepressants

This is a very interesting presentation.

(HT: David Murray)

What is the church's greatest need?

In a recent piece on ministerial calls, Carl Trueman begins thus:

If the great need of this hour, as of every other, is preachers of the gospel, then it is surely worth while to reflect on a regular basis on the nature of, and qualifications for, a call to the ministry.

I don't want to engage here his thoughts on the subject of calls but to question the original premise: are preachers of the gospel the great need of the hour? I ask simply on the back of preaching through 1st Peter and the decided lack of emphasis on that topic. And Peter doesn't seem to be alone in that regard: yes, Paul wants ministers of the gospel to be all they should be and John is concerned that people recognise true teaching from false, but their letters don't seem overly heavy on saying that preachers are the great need of the hour.

What they do emphasise, it seems to me, is the need for churches and Christians to be what they are and what they are called to be. And Peter, along with his Lord, sees that as properly evangelistic (1 Peter 2:11,12; cf. Matthew 5:16).

Now, of course, faithful preachers are essential in that task; after all, they are given by the Lord to equip the saints for works of ministry. But that isn't the same as saying preachers of the gospel are "the great need of the hour" - or is it?

Maybe this is related to where the church finds itself. During Christendom's long years, there was a shared body of truth that was accepted, albeit only nominally by most. Perhaps the great need then was for those gifted in opening up the tacitly agreed metanarrative (ie. gospel preachers). But in a pluralistic age, not too unlike the context into which Peter's letter was sent, where there is not even a nominal agreement on truth, perhaps the greater need is for the kind of thing Peter calls for in the main body of his letter: deeply authentic Christian living.

So: a great need for gospel preachers? Yes. An even greater need for gospel living? I think so.

How long should a sermon be?

Length is the enemy of strength. The delivery of a discourse is like the boiling of an egg; it is remarkably easy to overdo it, and so to spoil it. You may physic a man till you make him ill, and preach to him till you make him wicked. From satisfaction to satiety there is but a single step; a wise preacher never wishes his hearer to pass it. Enough is as good as a feast, and better than too much....

The speaker's time should be measured out by wisdom. If he is destitute of discretion, and forgets the circumstances of his auditors, he will annoy them more than a little. In one house the pudding is burning, in another the child is needing its mother, in a third a servant is due in the family; the extra quarter of an hour's prosiness puts all out of order.

C H Spurgeon

(HT: David Murray)

Trusting and Trying

Kevin DeYoung has a great piece on what it means to engage in growing in grace. He ends it with these words:

When it comes to growth in godliness, trusting does not put an end to trying.

(There are follow-up articles here and here. Sounds like DeYoung's book will be one to look out for.)

HT: Justin Taylor

Paper or Digital?

For me, that's one of those questions on which I to-and-fro. If you're like me, you might find this article of interest.

Right, where's my phone? I need to set a reminder to buy myself a new moleskine notebook....

OTR: The Laugh of Recognition

The Sermon On The Mount

(The Best Books - no.8)

The published sermons on Dr D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones are so plentiful, it seems fairly random to select this from amongst the many volumes. But I'm choosing to highlight it partly for nostalgic reasons: it was bought for me for my 21st birthday by a local church housegroup I was attending at the time. I had read very little Christian material, had only been a Christian for just over a year, which might make a tome like this seem unwieldy and unwise as a gift. But, ah, those dear people, they knew that if I began to read it, I'd be drawn in. And I was.

Is it the best book on Jesus' most famous sermon? Probably not. Is it the best model for today's preachers to seek to emulate? Not in detail, no. But it's just so seriously God-centred; earthed and exalted at the same time, it won't sell you short in any way.

Please don't ask!

Anna and a clothes-prop, in the vicinity of the bathroom window, late on a Saturday evening. There's really no rational explanation.....

Themelios Archive

Looks like the Gospel Coalition has now made available the whole archive of Themelios issues, dating back to 1975.

Which is when I were a lad and ABBA were riding high in the charts.

Alan & Harold, swapping their trombones

Lucinda Williams: Blessed

Like your singers to sound world-weary but still sluggin' it out? Open-hearted and honest? And, in unexpected ways, uplifting and affirming? Then Lucinda Williams' album, Blessed, might be of interest to you.

Spotify or Grooveshark will oblige.

the history of the world: without a Father

The history of the world is a story of war, deeply marked with the hoofprints of the apocalyptic horsemen. It is the story of humanity without a Father - so it seems.

Helmut Thielicke, The Prayer That Spans The World, p.21

HT: Christopher Ash

don't wilt

Commenting on Joshua 9 and the failure of Israel's leaders to ask YHWH about the Gibeonites, contrasted with seeking guidance for very mundane things, Ralph Davis notes that,

"The Scriptures do not require wilting in the everlasting arms, only leaning on them. But we must beware of that subtle unbelief that assumes 'I have this under control'...We need not only the power of God to overwhelm our obvious enemies but also the wisdom of God to detect our subtle enemies.".

Dale Ralph Davis, No Falling Words, p.78

Over The Rhine: The Long Surrender

Well, what d'ya know, a new long-playing record from Linford and Karin?

Go here and click the record player to give it a listen.

Crying In The Wilderness

(The Best Books - no.7)

Subtitled Evangelism and Mission in Today's Culture, David Smith's collection of essays is short in length but long on profound and disturbing insight. It could be the most insightful 80 pages you'll ever read. Written at the end of the 20th century, it has lost none of its significance.

Getting creative things done...like sermons

I'm indebted to the guys at 99% again for some stimulating thinking on getting creative things done. In particular I found the advice about focussing on one or two creative projects per week helpful, thinking in my mind 'Aha, Sunday's sermons!'. Blocking-out dedicated, uninterrupted time for such work seems eminently sensible. And focussing on process, not goals sounds helpful, too.

You might want to think of combining this advice with other reflections (previously mentioned here), such as "After focusing intently on a project or problem, the brain needs to fully disengage and relax in order for a “Eureka!” moment to arise."