Recommended Reading for Holy Week

In our Wednesday Worship service at Tremont Baptist, I recommended the following books:

To gain an understanding of the narrative history of Christ's crucifixion, I recommend John MacArthur's The Murder of Jesus. MacArthur masterfully details the story of Christ's final hours without theological or doctrinal reflection. To simply get the story of Jesus death, this is a great resource.

Frederick Leahy's The Cross He Bore is a small, but rich devotional highlighting several themes from Jesus' passion. I've read this little book several times and find it moving, convicting and worship-inducing each time I pick it up.

Scandalous: The Cross and Resurrection of Jesus by D.A. Carson offers some theological reflection in sermonic form about the Gospel. The first chapter in the book, "The Ironies of the Cross" is powerful.

Andreas Kostenberger and Justin Taylor have done us all a wonderful service by writing The Final Days of Jesus. They harmonize the Scriptural account of Jesus' final week and offer brief, but helpful comments throughout. The introduction to the book provides a great explanation for the perceived differences and contradictions some see in the four Gospel accounts.

Finally, another John MacArthur book. One Perfect Life is a "composite harmony" of the Gospels. Using the text of the New King James Version, MacArthur carefully blends all four accounts into one unified story. He also includes several important doctrinal passages in addition to the Gospels. This book is an outstanding resource for personal devotion, worship, and study.

Happy reading!

Sermon Summary: The Unhindered Gospel from Acts 28

The unbelieving world and forces of darkness oppose the preaching of the Gospel and the Kingdom of God. Despite their best efforts, God's Kingdom cannot be overthrown and God's Gospel cannot be silenced.

Though Paul was under house arrest at the end of Acts, we find that the Gospel remained unhindered in it's power.

1) The Gospel is not hindered by confusion. (Acts 28:1-10)

Some may be confused about Christianity and the message we proclaim, but their confusion does not keep us from being faithful to herald the Good News about Jesus.

2) The Gospel is not hindered by rejection. (Acts 28:11-28)

Some will accept and receive the Gospel. Others will reject it. The rejection of the Gospel by some does not negate its truth or power. We should not be intimidated or ashamed when we are rejected because of our faithfulness to the Gospel.

3) The Gospel is not hindered by oppression. (Acts 28:30-31)

Some will try to stop Christians from being Christians and from proclaiming the love of Christ and the glory of God in the Gospel. The only way we can be stopped is if we stop living for Christ and telling others.

(This sermon was preached at Tremont Baptist Church on Sunday, March 16, 2014)

Review: The Church by Mark Dever

The Church: The Gospel Made Visible
by Mark Dever
published by B&H, 2012
softcover, 166 pages
reading level: easy
available at Amazon and WTS

This little book serves as a helpful introduction and manual on the nature, form, organization and function of the local church. Dever sets the stage for the importance of the doctrine of the church (and this book) in the preface when he writes, "The doctrine of the church is of the utmost importance. It is the most visible part of Christian theology, and it is vitally connected with every other part." (page ix) His primary goal is to see churches reflect the glory of God. He divides the book into three parts: What Does the Bible Say?, What Has the Church Believed?, and How Does it All Fit Together? Throughout his book, Dever makes the case for a Baptist church congregationally governed, led by elders, populated with regenerate members, that makes disciples for the glory of God.

I highly recommend this book.

How I Prepare to Preach Longer Passages of Scripture

Currently, I'm preaching through the Gospel of Luke chapter by chapter. It is hard work and I was surprised that preaching this way is slightly different than the way I learned to preach smaller sections of Scripture. Certainly the main principles remain, but I have to approach the text and prepare the sermon differently than if I were preaching only a paragraph or two.

In preaching preparation, it is easy to get bogged down in the details. Word studies, historical backgrounds, and theological rabbit trails can render a sermon covering 60 verses nearly unpreachable. I've had to learn to approach my preparation differently when I preach long chapters. Here is what I do:

1. I read the chapter at least 10 times. More is better. I don't pick up a pen and paper. I don't try to make notes. I don't underline or highlight verses. In this first step, I just try to immerse myself in the text and try to understand what is being said.

2. After I read the text, I start making preliminary notes. I try to summarize in one sentence what the theme of the chapter is. I try to get to the big idea the chapter holds.

3. Once I feel confident I know what the chapter is about, I start consulting outside resources to confirm my observations or help me see what I've missed. Most commentaries are too long and too involved for the kind of sermon I want to preach. I don't need to get bogged down in technical details. The best first stop resource are study Bibles. I read the ESV Study Bible notes, NIV Study Bible notes, Holman Christian Standard Study Bible notes, and the MacArthur Study Bible notes. These great resources solidify what I've already observed, fill in some holes, and point me toward areas that need further study.

4. Once I've got a good grasp on what the chapter is about and have taken note of any particular questions or issues I need to work through, I pull out the bigger commentaries. I try to read just one shorter commentary completely (like the Tyndale New Testament Commentary). Then I skim other commentaries to see what they say about particular questions that come up in my mind about key verses or themes.

5. I also do word studies on two or three key words.

6. Once I have done my study, I go back and make sure I understood the meaning of the passage, refine my one sentence summary and begin outlining the passage for preaching.

7. I flavor the sermon with appropriate illustrations and anecdotes. I continually bathe the whole process in prayer. On Sunday, I step up and preach.

And then, on Sunday night, I open my Bible once more and begin reading the next chapter and repeat the process.

My Bible Reading Plan for 2012

Daily Bible reading is an essential discipline in the Christian life. Reading the Bible is equivalent to eating food and drinking water. To help me read systematically, I use Bible reading plans.

Over the years, I've used a dozen or so different Bible reading plans. Sometimes I make it, sometimes I don't. Almost always, I fall into the trap of "I'm-reading-just-to-get-through-this" and it becomes nearly unprofitable (reading God's Word is never totally unprofitable, but it certainly doesn't take root in my life the way it should when I'm merely rushing through to make a reading goal).

This year, I'm using a different approach. My goal is to read through the Bible twice in 2012. That means reading 8 chapters a day. However, instead of being a slave to "8 chapters a day," I read as much as I can. I discipline myself to read at least 1 chapter. After that, I read as much as I can. Some days, I can read 12 chapters. Other days I get one chapter in. Most days, I'm somewhere in between (last night was 3 chapters). Whatever I do read, I refuse to feel guilty over what I don't read and rejoice in what I do read.

I am also using a new Bible, underling key or significant verses as I read. When I am done with my reading, I will journal my thoughts and reflections on the day's reading.

I started in Genesis and am currently in Exodus. But I don't feel like I must read through the Bible in canonical order. I will start at the beginning of a book and read it straight through. After being in the Old Testament for a while, I have no problem jumping to a New Testament book and reading it. Ultimately, I want to read every book of the Bible. The order I read them in is not all that important.

I hope you are reading your Bible daily and systematically. What plan are you using?

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Christianity and Liberalism: Chapter 1, Introduction

I'm following along with Tim Challies' Reading Classics Together. We are reading J. Gresham Machen's oft quoted book Christianity and Liberalism. I've been wanting to read this book for some time. Challies' read-a-long is just the excuse I needed.

Light may seem at times to be an impertinent intruder, but it is always beneficial in the end. The type of religion which rejoices in the pious sound of traditional phrases, regardless of their meanings, or shrinks from "controversial" matters, will never stand amid the shocks of life. In the sphere of religion, as in other spheres, the things about which men are agreed are apt to be the things that are least worth holding; the really important things are the things about which men will fight.
~ J. Gresham Machen, Christianity and Liberalism, pp. 1-2

While we as Christians shouldn't look to start fights, we must realize that our faith is worth fighting for. Not fighting in the take-up-our-swords-and-hack-our-enemies-to-pieces sense of fighting, but in the sense that the Christian faith (Biblical Christianity) is worth standing for, (literally) dying for, defending, and disputing over. Christians are to be marked by peace, but there can be no real peace if Christians role over and abandon the essential doctrines that make Christianity unique.

Machen's concern in his book is the compromise between Liberal Christianity and scientific naturalism. Liberal Christianity has abandoned Biblical truth in the name of peace with science. In very blunt terms, Machen says that Liberal Christianity isn't Biblical Christianity at all because it has jettisoned the essential core of Biblical Christianity in an effort to reconcile faith and science. Machen writes:

...the liberal attempt at reconciling Christianity with modern science has really relinquished everything distinctive of Christianity, so that what remains is in essentials only that some indefinite type of religious aspiration which was in the world before Christianity come upon the scene. In trying to remove from Christianity everything that could possibly be objected to in the name of science, in trying to bribe off the enemy by those concessions which the enemy most desires, the apologist has really abandoned what he started out to defend. Here as in many other departments of life it appears that the things that are sometimes thought to be hardest to defend are also the things most worth defending. ~p. 6

Biblical Christianity cannot be abandoned. We must remain faithful to the Truth of God's Word.

Review: Desiring God 25th Anniversary Edition

I'm a bit of a fan boy when it comes to John Piper. I genuinely appreciate just about everything he does. I listen to his sermons, I attend his conferences, I watch his videos, and I read his books. I'm not a blind fan boy. I know he is a sinner. At times he seems inconsistent. I don't always track with him on every minor point of theology. But in the main, I find much I agree with him about. He is a mentor from a distance and for that, I am thankful for him.

When Multnomah made the paperback copy of the 25th Anniversary Revised Edition of Desiring God available, I asked for it. On a purely superficial level, this edition has my favorite cover artwork. From a more substantive level, this book is a real treasure. Of all the books I have read outside the Bible, I think this is the most formative and instructive for me. Piper's vision of Christian Hedonism, the pursuit of true joy and pleasure in God himself, is truly life changing. Piper in provocative language tells us what we should already know as Christians-- our greatest joy and happiness in the world comes only from God. Furthermore, that pursuit of pleasure in God is not bad but ultimately good and even necessary. Desiring God is a must read for every Christian.

Piper's preface is new. It is interesting to read his perspective 25 years after the book originally was published. The new paperback edition leaves out several appendices and a poem written by Piper to his wife that earlier editions have. The paper is cheap and not as nice as other editions.

What this edition does have however makes it an excellent resource. A discussion guide is included at the end of the book. This makes it a great book for use in small group studies, book clubs, or Sunday School classes.

Desiring God is a must read. I'm glad to recommend this revised edition to you.

Burroughs: Sin in the Wicked, Sin in the Saint

In wicked and ungodly men, sin is with them as their nature, as poison is in a toad; but though the saints have sin in them, yet it is in them as their sickness, and they have a contrary nature besides their sinful nature. They have a sinful nature, but they are partakers of the divine nature, and that opposes the sinful nature as fire does water. The saints have that principle contrary to sin as fire is to water, and it is impossible but that principle within them must be consuming their sin and so purity them.

Jeremiah Burroughs in Hope, pg. 45

Burroughs: Gospel Hope

The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is the cause of true lively hope in the hearts of the saints. By the resurrection of Jesus Christ form the dead, God has declared that He is fully satisfied for the sins of man, and that the work of redemption is fully wrought out; otherwise Christ must have been held by the prison of the grave forever. But when Jesus Christ is let out of the prison of the grave, and the bonds of death are taken from Him, this declares to men and angels that the work of redemption is perfect; it holds this out to the soul upon which faith is grounded and hope is raised.

Jeremiah Burroughs in Hope, page 26