Seeing what is there

The true purpose of the historical study of the New Testament…is not to reveal what isn’t there in the text, but rather to focus our eyes properly to see what is there.

John Dickson, Hearing Her Voice

Lack of Regret is Not Repentance

Lack of Regret is Not Repentance

“[A major] theme in emerging adult culture [18-23 year olds] is that they very much want to profess to have no regrets about their lives.”

Why is there winter in Narnia?

Why is there winter in Narnia?

Engaging essay by Nick Nowalk.

Shared space: useful in church life?

Shared space: useful in church life?

The ideas of ‘shared space’ and ‘loose reins’ have ramifications for church life, too.

Healthy or Sound - 1 Tim 1:10

Healthy” or “Sound” - 1 Tim 1:10

Bill Mounce on the helpfulness of ‘healthy’ as a translation and the use of medical metaphors in the Pastorals.

What Good Shepherds Don't Do | Leadership Journal

What Good Shepherds Don't Do | Leadership Journal

Skye Jethani making the point that “Christ’s sheep need a shepherd. They already have a Lord.” No doubt it needs nuancing but lots to think about here.

all used up

All Used Up

A very pastorally-astute and compassionate article by Ed Welch.

Consider Not Setting Goals in 2013

Consider Not Setting Goals in 2013

This is a thought-provoking article - not church-oriented but still applicable. Also of interest to school governors.

looking into the mirror

What does James have in mind when he speaks about looking in the mirror (James 1:23)? Is he wanting us to see our sins and come away from the mirror humbled and deflated?

The person who doesn’t do what the word says is equated to the person who forgets what he saw in the mirror (v.24). What that person saw in the mirror is not repeated and worked-out in obedience to the word.

It seems to follow, then, that looking into the perfect law of liberty (v.25) is seeing something other than their own sinfulness. I suggest they’re seeing Jesus and they’re seeing who and what they are in union with him.

No doubt they also, therefore, see their imperfections but they see them atoned for, they see them as antithetical to who they now are in Christ. And, so, in that liberty, they’re to go into the world not forgetting who they are and, thus, be equipped for keeping the word.

eyes to see

Man is never sufficiently touched and affected by the awareness of his lowly state until he has compared himself with God’s majesty.

John Calvin, Institutes 1.1.3

Why the church?

The Holy Spirit formed it to be a colony of heaven in the country of death…Church is the core element in the strategy of the Holy Spirit for providing human witness and physical presence to the Jesus-inaugurated kingdom of God in this world. It is not that kingdom complete, but it is a witness to that kingdom.

Eugene H. Peterson, Practise Resurrection, p.11f

The decline of fascination and the rise in ennui

The decline of fascination and the rise in ennui

I often find Seth Godin stimulates thought about ministry, albeit unintentionally. His conclusion in this piece - to eschew the rush for the new and to build longer arcs and to focus on what really produces long-term change - is surely appropriate and resonates well with the kingdom parables of Jesus.

Leaders Tell the Truth

Leaders Tell the Truth

Al Mohler on leadership and why he’s written a book on it.

thanksgiving and gratitude

thanksgiving and gratitude

Matthew Lee Anderson writes really well and thoughtfully. His latest piece on Thanksgiving is no different.

Wasted kindling (Seth Godin)

Wasted Kindling (Seth Godin)

You could apply this to thinking about pastoral ministry.

The Joy of Sects (Carl Trueman)

The Joy of Sects (Carl Trueman)

Carl Trueman ruminates on reactions to the CofE vote on women bishops.

mind the gap

There is a gap between our love for the gospel and our love for godliness. This must change. It's not pietism, legalism, or fundamentalism to take holiness seriously. It's the way of all those who have been called to a holy calling by a holy God.

Kevin DeYoung, The Hole in our Holiness, p.21

the sermon of a man who stayed up all night praying

Preparing to speak on Jesus' 'sermon on the plain' in Luke 6. It's hardly a model to follow by today's standards of what makes for an effective sermon - no neat illustrations, no clever introduction and no technology to help the wandering mind. But it had this (and this is what challenges me most): "It is a sermon of a man who has stayed up all night praying." (Michael Card)

Did Paul have a mission strategy?

The point of this post–and Schnabel’s point–is not to overstate Paul’s strategy. For the most part he didn’t have one. He went where people were, where people needed to hear the gospel, and where he had opportunity to share the gospel. That led him to cities, but also smaller towns and villages too.

Kevin De Young (citing the work of Eckhard Schnabel)

How will you help those who follow?

There is always a sense in which every minister must finish his life's work in the same position as Moses: on top of Mount Pisgah, overlooking the promised land but not having entered it. I don't mean to suggest that ministers conclude their lives outside God's Kingdom (that would be somewhat discouraging) but rather that our ministries will mostly conclude before Jesus' return in glory and, hence, before the fullness of God's kingdom is known. We will end our ministries with more work still to be done.

Given that is so, what help and encouragement do those that remain need from those whose work is done? Moses reminds Joshua, "You have seen with your own eyes all that the Lord your God has done to these two kings. The Lord will do the same to all the kingdoms over there where you are going. Do not be afraid of them; the Lord your God himself will fight for you" (Deut 3:21f). And the LORD's instructions to Moses are to "commission Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him" (Deut. 3:28).

Joshua is to draw strength and hope from the Lord's previous dealings with his people and is to proceed with courage, trusting in the Lord. It is all so very general, so imprecise, so indistinct. But maybe precisely and distinctly so. Joshua does not need a detailed strategy; he needs a vision of hope. He doesn't need tactical insight but strength and resolve. There will be time enough for the Lord to direct him in detailed terms for the work he calls Joshua to do; for now, he needs what the LORD and Moses offer him.