To Understand Injustice, Read this Book

On Sunday I mention the fact that our African American brothers and sisters have endured more injustice than most of us can possibly imagine. It is remarkable to me that it was only 60-70 years ago that certain sections of our county had systemic racial injustice in the form of segregated schools, different drinking fountains, separate sections on buses, and restrictive voter registration laws.

Taylor Branch's book, Parting the Waters - American in the King Years 1954-63, is a very helpful and balanced history of the cultural, political, religious, and racial issues that our country faced in the 50's and 60's.

It is a book that gives the reader a sense of the outrageous and frustrating fight against an entire system that was riddled with racism. I often had to put the book down because I couldn't read any more without being very upset. Parting the Waters will give the reader a better grasp of a dark moment in our history, and it helps one to understand the sensitivity that so many African Americans have regarding racial issues.

Here's the book's summary:

Hailed as the most masterful story ever told of the American civil rights movement, Parting the Waters, is destined to endure for generations. Moving from the fiery political baptism of Martin Luther King, Jr., to the corridors of Camelot where the Kennedy brothers weighed demands for justice against the deceptions of J. Edgar Hoover, here is a vivid tapestry of America, torn and finally transformed by a revolutionary struggle unequaled since the Civil War.

Taylor Branch provides an unsurpassed portrait of King's rise to greatness and illuminates the stunning courage and private conflict, the deals, the maneuvers, betrayals, and rivalries that determined history behind closed doors, at boycotts and sit-ins, on bloody freedom rides, and through siege and murder.

Epic in scope and impact, Branch's chronicle definitively captures on of the nation's most crucial passages

I commend this book to you and to your children to help us remember and learn from the past.

What Martin Bashir Thought of His Interview with Rob Bell

Martin Bashir, who interviewed Rob Bell on MSNBC, was recently featured on a radio program. In the interview he shared the background and his evaluation of the interview with Rob Bell, and what motivated him to ask his probing and relentless questions.

To listen click here

The audio is about 35 minutes long, but it is an education on the importance of truth, the role of biblical scholarship, and what is so deeply disturbing about Bell's book.

From Bashir:

"Even from a purely historiographical and the treatment of history, it {Love Wins} is evasive and frankly disingenuous. When you get to the point of Biblical criticism, it gets even worse."

He then cites two examples:

1. The misrepresentation of Luther's question about the contents of hell.

2. The misinterpretation of John 3:17 in light of the context

If you only have a few minutes, listen to the following:

• On the historical inaccuracy of the citation of Martin Luther: - (34:56 remaining)
• On the out of context citation of John 3:17 - (34:20 remaining)
• On Bashir's motivation to be a good journalist and get to the truth (32:30 remaining)
• On Bahir's research on the historical context of what Bell is teaching - (29:50 remaining)
• On the fracture of theology that Love Wins represents - (27:19 remaining)
• On his own religious belief, including if he attends Redeemer Church - (7:56 remaining)

What motivated his interview:

"It had everything to do with fact that when I read the book, and I saw what I believe is an egregious disregard for history and a treatment of biblical texts in the most selective and perfunctory manner. That is what drove my interview with Rob Bell. It has nothing to do with what church I attend."

Three Big Questions for a Frantic Family

Last year I read a great book by Patrick Lencioni called The 3 Big Questions for a Frantic Family. It is a secular book written as a leadership fable about "how to restore sanity to the most important organization in your life."

The hook of the book is: "if you ran your business like you ran your family, you'd be out of business in 3 months."

I used a few concepts from his book in my talk at the Men's Breakfast last Saturday - "Red Line or Red Zone."

Here are the three Big Questions:

1. What makes your family unique?

If you don't know what differentiates your family from others, you won't have a basis for making decisions, and you'll try to be all things to all people.

2. What is your family's top priority - rallying cry - right now?

You need to know what the single most important objective is for your family over the next two to six months. Without a top priority, everything becomes important and you end up reacting to whatever issues seem urgent that day.

3. How do you talk about and use the answers to these questions?

If you answer the first two questions but don't use those answers in daily, weekly, and monthly decision making, it will yield no benefits.

The takeaway for our men on Saturday was to develop with their spouse a single goal - Rallying Cry - for their family which would be the family's primary leadership focus for the next three months. Secondly, they were charged with identifying 3-5 specific action steps in accomplishing that goal. Third, they were to post the Rallying Cry in a prominent place.

The Vroegops have found this to be extremely helpful in providing focus to a very frantic life.

March 20 Sermon - Betrayed by a Friend and the Justice System

Click here for audio and full manuscript.

Jesus experiences unfairness in a way that is both striking and deeply disturbing. He is betrayed by one of his own disciples, and he is betrayed by the justice system. He experiences injustice that is both personal and formal; he experiences pain from a follower and from the “system.” Both are painful but in different ways.

Today we’re going to unpack this dark moment in Jesus’s life, and see what lessons we can learn about Jesus, our experience with injustice, and how all of this relates to something the Bible calls “Good News.”

We find two kinds of injustices:

1. Personal Injustice - friends betray us and processes often stink

2. Formal Injustice - when the entire system is totally corrupt

How do we connect the cross to the problem of injustice?

Theologically:

1. There was never a greater injustice than the cross

2. The Devil and sinful men were pawns in the hands of sovereign God

3. The beauty of forgiveness was born in the putrid soil of injustice

Personally:

1. Injustice in the is lifetime, while inevitable, is not comparable to the joy of the next for those who know Christ.

2. Unfair doesn't mean useless or ultimate

Unfair is not fun; but it is not useless or ultimate. There is a point, and they won’t get away with it! The Bible and the cross declare these truths boldly. It was Job who said, “25 For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth (Job 19:25). So when injustice happens to you, come back to the cross. Remember Jesus.

Inundated with Information: How a digital age breeds being overfed but undernourished

The 2009 Gospel Coalition conference featured a series of expositions on 2 Timothy. The theme was "Entrusted with the Gospel," and Crossway published a wonderful compilation of those sermons in a book form.

One sermon was given by Edward Copeland from 2 Timothy 3:1-9, entitled "Shadowlands: Pitfalls and Parodies of Gospel-centered ministry. Copeland stresses the urgency of the moment as we attempt to declare the gospel in a hostile environment. However, the resistance to the gospel is demonstrated in an unusual way.

Copeland explain hows a digital age - loaded with information - directly affects how the gospel is heard:

In these last days we live in a society that is oversaturated with information. We have information that we cannot assimilate or apply. On a daily basis most of us hear and see reports and images of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Yet most of us would be hard-pressed to explain the difference between Al Qaeda and the Taliban. We do not understand and cannot express what is happening with the Shiites and the Sunnis. We hear the talking heads on television report incessantly on the ups and downs of the economy. Yet we cannot accurately define a derivative or a junk bond. We hear it every day but we don't know what it actually means.

In the last days the Bible says that we will be overfed but undernourished as it relates to spiritual matters. We have spiritual color commentators preaching recreationally and primarily appealing to those who are burdened down with sins and driven to be inoculated against the Truth. They will hear just enough "gospel" to hinder them from receiving the true gospel of Jesus Christ. they will be immunized against the gospel by a false impression of religion given as a placebo for their frail consciences.

How "Love Wins" Makes Justice Lose: What Happens When You Asks Different Questions About Justice

Michael Wittmer recently posted a piece of theological satire that is both comical and thought provoking. Jeremy Grinnell takes Rob Bell's question-asking video on Love Wins and asks a series of provocative questions on the role of justice.

It illustrates, rather profoundly, the other side - the really important side - of the issue of love and justice. It shows us that equally troubling questions can be asked such that "love wins" seems to make "justice lose."

You can listen to the audio version here.

And here is the actual text:

Several years ago I was touring a holocaust museum, and I was deeply moved the images of suffering and inhuman brutality that I saw there. And near the end of the tour on the wall was a picture of Hitler standing in front of the Eifel Tower in Paris. I and many who were with me were struck by the idea of Hitler enjoying the beauties of Paris while at the same moment one of the greatest genocides the world has ever known was being carried out on his orders.

But apparently not everyone saw it exactly the same way

Sometime in the previous few hours, somebody had attached a hand written note to the picture, and on the note they had written, “It’s okay because God forgave Hitler too.”

God forgave Hitler?

He did?

And someone knows this for sure?

And felt the need for the rest of us to know?

Do the most evil and unrepentant people in history, remaining what they are, still make it to heaven?

And what of those who aren’t quite so evil as that—Child molesters, racists, drug lords.

And what of the rest of us who only yell at our children, cut people off on the highway, and cheat on our taxes?

And what makes our evil less and Hitler’s more?

Is it the number of people you hurt? Or how badly? Or whether anyone else knows? Or whether you meant to?

And what if you’re the one who was molested or your loved ones murdered because of their ethnicity?

And then there’s the question behind the question?

The real question… What is God like?

Because millions and millions were taught that the primary message of the gospel of Jesus Christ is that God is willing to forgive everybody no matter who they are or what evils they’ve committed against the rest of us.

So what gets subtly sort of caught and taught is that God is willing to forgive the perpetrators of evil, regardless of whether or not their victims ever see justice. That God is willing to let slide things that we mustn’t.

But what kind of God is that?

Can a God so uninterested in justice be good?

How can that God ever be trusted?

How could that ever be…good…news?

This is why lots of people want nothing to do with the Christian faith.

They see it as an endless list of absurdities and inconsistencies, and say, “why would I ever want to be a part of that?”

See what we believe about heaven and hell is incredibly important because it exposes what we believe about who God is and what God is like.

What you discover in the bible is so surprising, and unexpected, and beautiful, that whatever we’ve been told or taught, the good news is even better than that, better than we can ever imagine.

It means pure and perfect justice, no wrong accusations, no punishments that don’t fit the crime, no hidden motives, no unaccounted pains or sorrows. But overflowing compensation for anyone who’s ever been hurt or betrayed.

The good news is that “justice wins.”

Martin Bashir Questions Rob Bell

Martin Bashir hosts a show on MSNBC, and he gives Bell a grilling: Watch here

Searching for Clarity: Two Helpful Links on the "Love Wins" Controversy

I keep thinking back to a dark moment in Presidential history when Bill Clinton said in a video deposition: "It depends on what the meaning of the word "is" is."

Words have meaning; they are important. And there are few things that are more frustrating that circuitous and evasive answers.

That is why I'm thankful for Kevin DeYoung's lengthy review of Love Wins. He brings clarity to the core and significant doctrinal issues in what Bell has written.

And that is also why I found another very interesting and disturbing blog that chronicled the question and answer session from last night's interview.

In His Own Words: What Gandhi Said He Believed and Didn’t Believe About Jesus

Tonight at 7:00pm, Rob Bell will launch his new book Love Wins - A Book about Heaven, Hell and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived at a gathering in New York City. In his introductory video, Bell cites a moment several years ago at his church when someone posted a hand-written note on a piece of art that featured quote from Gandhi. The note said, “Reality Check: He is in Hell.” To that comment Bell provocatively asks, “Gandhi’s in Hell? He really is? And someone knows this for sure? And felt the need to let the rest of us know?”

Today I was reading John Stott’s book The Cross of Christ, and he cites Gandhi as example of “those who repudiate the gospel of the cross.” Stott quotes from Gandhi’s autobiography:

“I could accept Jesus as a martyr, an embodiment of sacrifice, and a divine teacher, but not as the most perfect man ever born. His death on the cross was a great example to the world, but that there was anything like a mysterious or miraculous virtue in it, my heart could not accept.” (Gandhi: An Autobiography, p. 113 as cited by John Stott in The Cross of Christ, p. 42).

Compare Gandhi’s statement with Romans 10:9:

“…if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Today's Sermon

Watch Him and Pray - Matthew 26:36-46

I know that you know that Jesus is a suffering Messiah. However, Matthew wants you to feel it. He wants to you understand that Jesus entered your world, but – even more – he wants you to enter his world so that you can understand. He wants you to really “get it” that Jesus was a man; he was deeply troubled; he was alone; he wrestled with God’s will; and it was all very, very dark. But there is a purpose beyond a morbid observance of his pain. Matthew wants you to watch him so that you’ll love him so that you’ll follow him.

There are five pictures of Jesus here:

A Savior Who Grieves

A Man Who Wrestles

A Teacher Who Cautions

A Messiah Who Endures

A Son Who Obeys

He faced the loneliest moment in the universe so that you’d always know that you are never really alone.

Jesus’s suffering was personal so that your redemption and your comfort could be personal too.

Our New Worship Space

Pictures are supposed to be worth a thousand words. However, none of the pictures of the new facility fully capture the feel of the space.

Joe Dudeck came pretty close with this picture of the sanctuary.

In it you can see the stadium seating taking shape on the left and the right. Eventually the entire concrete floor will have a similar look. The remaining dirt area will be dug out to form a sloped floor seating area. There will be 900 seats in the dug out area and 900 in the stadium area. It will be remarkably intimate and yet seat a large crowd.

On March 20 there will be a tour available to anyone who is interested.

Two Gardens, Worlds Apart

D.A. Carson on the difference between the Garden of Eden and the Garden of Gethsemane:

“In the first garden “Not your will but mine” change Paradise to desert and brought man from Eden to Gethsemane. Now “Not my will but yours” brings anguish to the man who prays it but transforms the desert into the kingdom and brings man from Gethsemane to the gates of glory.”

D.A. Carson, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary – Matthew, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing, 1984)

A Rob Bell Controversy Timeline: Eight Links To Get an Overview

Over the last two weeks there has been a firestorm in the blog world about Rob Bell's upcoming new book - "Love Wins - A Book About Heaven, Hell and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived."

A Google Search on "Rob Bell and Love Wins" will give you an unbelievable number of posts, views, and hits.

All of this began after Harper-Collins posted a book highlight on their website along with a video by Rob Bell introducing the subject matter anticipating the release of the book in few weeks. The controversy prompted HC to push the release of "Love Wins" up two weeks.

What's the issue? Essentially, Rob questions whether it is really true that Hell is eternally filled with people who don't receive Jesus, seeming to espouse a universalist position.

I've put together a few links that will give you a overview of the controversy:

Rob Bell's Video

- The "teaser" video that introduces the book

Harper-Collins Book Highlight

- The publisher's summary

February 26, 2011 - Justin Taylor - "Rob Bell: Universalist?"

- the blog that raised the issue for Evangelical Christians

February 26, 2011 - Kevin DeYoung - "To Hell with Hell"

- a thoughtful critique of the importance of this issue

March 1, 2011 - Al Mohler - "Universalism as a Lure? The Emerging Case of Rob Bell"

- analysis of Bell's method of risky question-asking which Mohler calls "theological striptease"

March 4, 2011 - New York Times - "Rob Bell Stirs Wrath with New Views on Old Questions"

- an summary article of the controversy

March 8, 2011 - CNN Blog - "Firestorm Grows Over Christian Heresy Book"

- a fascinating blog with quotes from Mars Hill Staff and the background of Zondervan's refusal to publish "Love Wins"

March 9, 2011 - Tim Challis - "Love Wins - A Review of Rob Bell's New Book"

- a thoughtful review of an early copy (pre-publishing) of "Love Wins"

There will certainly be much more written about this, especially when the book is available in its final form.

Textual Criticism For Dummies - The Science of Biblical Manuscripts Simply Explained

Where did the Bible come from? Why are there differences in translations? Why are there some missing verses or verses in the footnotes?

These are all questions that relate to the complex discipline called Textual Criticism - the study of the texts and manuscripts upon which our translations are based.

I would commend the first half of John Piper's message on John 7:53-8:11 in which he addresses this complex subject very well.

Here are a few notes:

• The New Testament was originally written in Greek
• The first Greek New Testament wasn't published until 1516 by Erasmus
• For 1500 years, manuscripts were handwritten copies
• None of the original manuscripts exist but multiple copies are available.
• There were four kinds of copies: uncials (large caps), minuscules (small caps), papyri, and lectionaries (sections read in worship)
• There are 322 uncial texts, 2907 minuscule texts, 2445 lectionary portions and 127 papyri for a total of 5,801 manuscripts - all handwritten copies
• No ancient book comes close to this level of manuscript evidence (for instance, Julius Caesar's Gallic Wars, written between 58-50 BC only has 10 copies)
• The copies do not all agree but no major doctrine is threatened by the differences
• The number of manuscripts increases the possibilities of differences but it also increases the means of correcting errors
• The margin of doubt, according to FF Bruce, in recovering the exact original wording is very, very small

For another great summary on this complex subject, check the article entitled, "The Reliability of Bible Manuscripts" in the ESV Study Bible.

Piper's Sermon on a Passage He Doesn't Believe is Inspired

I listened to a fascinating sermon from John Piper entitled "Neither Do I Condemn You" - John 7:53-8:11. It is the story of the woman caught in adultery - "Let him who has no sin cast the first stone..."

It is a remarkable sermon because Piper (for good reason) doesn't believe the story to be part of the inspired record of John's gospel. However, he does believe that the story is true. In other words, the story is probably historically accurate, but it shouldn't be included in the book of John.

In the first part of the sermon, he explains the discipline of textual criticism. In the second part he draws out the lessons from a story that is not actually inspired.

Remarkably, the sermon is both informative and inspiring even though the text isn't inspired!

Here are a few important quotes:

Now the question is: What should I, the preacher, do with this story? Both Don Carson and Bruce Metzger think the story probably happened. In other words, they think this is a real event from Jesus's life, and the story circulated and later was put in the Gospel of John. Metzger says, "The account has all the earmarks of historical veracity" (Textual Commentary, p. 220). And Carson says, "There is little reason for doubting that the event here described occurred" (The Gospel According to John, p. 333).

The most remarkable point of this story is that Jesus exalts himself above the Law of Moses, changes its appointed punishment, and reestablishes righteousness on the foundation of grace. I don't doubt that this is why the story was preserved. It is an amazing story

The story may not belong to John's Gospel. In fact, the story may never have happened. But this point of the story is unshakably true. This is the pervasive message of the New Testament. Jesus exalted himself above the Law. He wrote it! Jesus altered some of its sanctions. He pointed to its main goal of Christ-exalting love. And he reestablished righteousness on the basis of an experience of grace.

A Hopeful New Movement: The 6:4 Fellowship

There is a great new connection point and ministry resource for pastors and ministry leaders committed to an Acts 6:4 model - "we will give ourselves to prayer and the ministry of the Word."

It is called "The 6:4 Fellowship." The aim of the fellowship is:

"to equip, encourage, and connect pastors toward the priorities of prayer and the ministry of the Word. The 6:4 Fellowship connects pastors, and provides them with practical equipping and regular encouragement in maintaining the heart of Scriptural and supernatural ministry."

Join me in prayer that God would use this ministry to help pastors reclaim their passion for the basics of gospel ministry.

Liam Neeson's Accurate Reflection on Grief

A brief article appeared in The Week in which Liam Neeson reflected on his experience with grief after the death of his wife, Natasha Richardson, who fell while skiing and died of a brain hemorrhage two years ago:

"...that’s the weird thing about grief. You can’t prepare for it. It hits you in the middle of the night. I’m out walking. I’m feeling quite intent. And it’s like suddenly, boom. It’s like you’ve done that in your chest.”

I have often said that grief is not tame. Here is yet another example of someone who has experienced it's frequent, irreverent, and surprising rage.

What Happens When a Tribe in Indonesia Gets Their First Bibles?

Imagine what it would be like to witness the first delivery of the New Testament to a people who have never had their own full translation in the mother tongue!

Watch this to find out!

The Kimyal Tribe, Papua Indonesia

Favorite D.A. Carson Quotes from THINK|11

This weekend College Park Church hosted THINK|11, our annual excursion into the depths of God's glory as expressed in theology. Our aim is to help our people think deeply so that we can live correctly.

D.A. Carson took up the subject of the atonement, and here are a few of my favorite quotations:

• "The way you lose the gospel is not by denying it, but by assuming it."
  
• "The wilderness was not just about testing; it was also a season of God's courtship and preparation for his people."
• "Students will remember little of what we teach them and nearly everything that we are passionate about."
• "In the N.T., faith is validated in part by faith's object."
• "Don't confuse the gospel with the entailments of the gospel."
• "God is both wrathful and loving at the same time."
• "Sin is not just the violation of God's law; it is a violation of God himself"

The entire conference is available online or you can interact at our THINK blog.

12 Traits of a Pharisee

This Sunday I preached on Matthew 23, a blistering passage that is Jesus's most significant and thorough treatment of the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. The 39 verses include the famous "Seven Woes" of Jesus as he blasts them for their religious shell-game.

I invited our church to a time of self-evaluation in considering the following characteristics.

12 Traits of a Pharisee:

1. They do not practice what they preach (v 3)

2. The give themselves exceptions (v 4)

3. They are focused on appearances (v 5)

4. They love to be respected (vv 6-7)

5. They hind people spiritually (v 13)

6. They are dangerously persuasive (v 15)

7. They are spiritually unbalanced (vv 16-22)

8. They are busy in the wrong things (vv 23-24)

9. They are not focused on the heart (vv 25-28)

10. They are over-confident (vv 29-32)

11. They are under judgment (vv 33-36)

12. They grieve the heart of Jesus (vv 37-38)

Here's the concluding paragraph: "Be watchful - be very, very, watchful - of your heart because the murder of the Son of God came at the hands of religious people who had convinced themselves that they were doing God's will."