Word Within the Word

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Last month I mentioned that Dr. Don Carson will be our plenary speaker at the Ryan Center conference this coming April. The conference web page is now up and online registration is open.

The conference theme is “Word Within the Word: The New Testament Use of the Old Testament.” Dr. Carson will develop this theme in his three plenary addresses.

Breakout sessions will further develop the main theme as well as addressing other issues in studying the Bible. David and Sally Michael, from Children Desiring God and Bethlehem Baptist Church, will join us to lead a breakout session on engaging children in Bible study. Ray Clendenen and Terry Wilder, both of B&H Academic, will lead sessions on Malachi and the book of Romans respectively. Other Union faculty will lead breakout sessions.

The conference will begin Friday evening, April 24 and conclude sat afternoon, April 25. The cost is $50 per person until March 23, when the price becomes $60. That covers the entire conference (3 addresses from Dr Carson, 3 breakout sessions, 2 meals and a continental breakfast).

You can also keep up with details about the conference at the Center’s Facebook page and the Conference Faecbook page.

Martin Luther: A Man Who Changed the World

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Martin Luther: A Man Who Changed The World, Paul L. Maier
Illustrated by Greg Copeland
(Concordia, 2004), hb., 32 pp.
Ages 4+

I have seen this book and heard good things about it, so this year I decided to buy it for Reformation Day. I am glad I did!

This is an excellent brief overview of the work of Martin Luther. Maier, as a historian, knows his facts, but the key thing about the book is that it gets the key issue of the Reformation- the gospel. This is not a collection of facts about Martin Luther but the story of how God used Martin Luther to recover the gospel, which is “the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes” (Rom 1:16). Maier captures the heart of the reformation in a way that is understandable for young readers. It is also very nicely illustrated by Copeland.

The book opens not with Luther, but with God as one who rescues his people and sends servants to keep His church pure. Luther is introduced as one of these people. Then Maier explains the corruption of the medieval Catholic church, writing:

In those days, the Christian church no longer based its beliefs on the Bible alone. It had actually invented new doctrines and practices that Jesus and His apostles had never taught. Sadly, too, the church leaders of that time, far from setting a good example for their people, sinned worse than the people did!

Maier then surveys the key events and accomplishments in Luther’s life in an engaging way. The book closes then summarizing the many contributions Luther gave to the world, ending with this:

But his greatest gift of all was to find in God’s Word the answer to the question that had tormented him as a monk: ‘What must I do to win God’s forgiveness for my sins?’ The Bible showed him that God had already done it all for him by sending Christ whose suffering and death paid the penalty for sin and whose resurrection would be shared by all those who had faith in Him. That great good news is the Gospel- the central message of the church that is as great today as it was 500 at Luther’s time, or in Jesus’ own day.

Amen! This is what I want my kids to understand from Luther and the Reformation. Great truths, important history, well told and beautifully illustrated- this is a great book and I recommend it for every family.

Reformation Roundtable

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I was privileged to participate in a roundtable discussion of the 5 sola’s of the Reformation and their contemporary relevance at Union on Monday of this week. The participants and topics were as follows:

Kevin Chairot (pastor, Covenant Presbyterian Church)- Sola Scriptura
Daryl Charles (Union University)- Sola Gratia
Brad Green (Union University)- Sola Fide
Sean Lucas (Covenant Seminary)- Solus Christus
Ray Van Neste (Union University)- Soli Deo Gloria

It was a particular blessing to meet Sean Lucas for the first time
The presentations were recorded and as soon as they are posted I will link to them here.

"Education with Force"

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In one of our Wednesday night classes we are reading and discussing Thabiti Anyabwile’s What is a Healthy Church Member? (which I have commented on here previously). Last night we came to this quote which Anyabwile cited from Jay Adams:

“When we are baptized into the church, we thereby matriculate into Christ’s school. Then, for the rest of our earthly life, we are to be taught (not facts alone, but also) to obey the commands of Christ. This is education with force, education backed up by the discipline of good order that is necessary for learning to take place.”

That is a great quote getting at the heart of what it looks like to mature in the Christian life and the role of the church in that maturation. Many today talk about the lack of discipleship, but often people fail to realize the missing link is “education with force.” The church has mirrored many of our schools- the removal of discipline has made it impossible for real learning and formation to take place.

Luther as Father

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In the Van Neste household here today is celebrated as Reformation Day and the kids love it. We do well to remember our roots in the Reformation and the blessings in many areas which have come to us as a result of this historic renewal of the church.

There are many important things which grew out of the reformation, but one that is often missed is the raising of the value of the family. This can be seen in many ways, but one way (as with much in the Reformation) is simply to look at the life of Martin Luther. One standard book on the Reformation makes this comment about Luther:

“The Luther that survived in the memory of Germany was not Luther the friar but Luther the father of a family.”*

From the Reformation doctrines emerges the idea of the father shepherding the flock of his family, teaching the scriptures to his children and leading them in prayer and singing. The church today desperately needs renewal once again and reclaiming this role of fathers, mothers and families will be one key aspect in such a renewal.

* Owen Chadwick, The Reformation (Hist of the Church) (Penguin Books, 1972), p. 74.

Reformation Day 2008

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Happy Reformation Day! Others may engage in Halloween or worry about Election Day, but let the church rejoice in the reminder of the recovery of the Gospel and in the reminder of the value of laboring for the purity of the church!

At Union we have had two wonderful chapel messages this week dealing with the Reformation. On Wednesday Kevin De Young, co-author of Why We’re Not Emergent: By Two Guys Who Should Be, gave a great exposition of the gospel of justification by faith and you can find the audio here. Today Jim Patterson, Professor of Church History here, gave a moving overview of Luther’s work and its implications for the church today.

In a day where there is much concern about what will happen with our government (understandably), let us be reminded that the church is central. The church is the pillar and buttress of the truth (1 Tim 3:15) and the church is where we are to see the glory of God displayed (Eph 3:21). We need a recovery of the gospel in our day along with a renewal of teasing out the implications of this gospel in every area of life.

Previous Reformation Day Posts:
2007- Reformation, Mission & Suffering
2006- For All The Saints
2005- Parallels Between the 16th Century and Today

(In the photo I am holding a Luther-o-lantern carved by talented students!)

CT Article on the Psalms

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Christianity Today has just published an excellent article on praying the Psalms by Ben Patterson. Patterson recounts his own experience of learning more about prayer by praying the Psalms. This is an excellent article which makes me interested to check out the book from which this article is drawn- God’s Prayer Book: The Power and Pleasure of Praying the Psalms.

Here are a few quotes from the article:

“My problem with the Psalms was my problem with prayer: There was too much ‘me and Jesus’ in my praying, and there needed to be a lot more ‘we and Jesus.'”

“Enter the Psalms: I may not personally be in the dark pit the man who prayed Psalm 88 was in, but there are many who were and are this very moment, my sisters and brothers in the persecuted church worldwide. We are part of the same body; we are family in a family closer and more enduring than any earthly family. The psalm enables me to enter into real fellowship with them, whether or not I ever meet them on earth, whether or not I ever experience personally what they experience. Their experiences are ours.”

“I started reading and praying the Psalms like a child learning how to read, learning a new ‘vocabulary, a grammar, and a plot line’ – discovering a family tree I didn’t know I had.”

Stetzer on Living the Gospel

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Ed Stetzer was our speaker in chapel here at Union today. He did a great job preaching on living the gospel from 2 Cor 5:16-21. You can access the audio here.

He quoted Mark Twain saying that the church is good people standing in front of good people telling them how to be good people. This is indeed how the church is viewed too often- both inside and outside of the church. We so desperately need to become gospel-centered people- people who know our own deep need of the gospel, who have seen and experienced the beauty and power of the gospel , whose lives are increasingly shaped by the gospel, and who therefore seek to share this gospel with others.

The Use of the Psalms

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Over the years I have become increasingly interested in the role that the Psalms have played historically in the worship and life of Christians. Rarely in my circles does one ever hear of how central the Psalms have been in the congregational singing of the church historically or how common has been the practice of praying the Psalms. Yet, when you discover eras where these practices have been common, you typically find particularly hardy saints (e.g. the Huguenots & Covenanters). What is it in the soil of the Psalms that we are missing? Why have we paid so little attention to divinely inspired songs and prayers which can give us words for singing and praying? These are ongoing concerns of mine which will be reflected in a series of chapels at Union this Spring.

In thinking about this I was delighted this last week to purchase Solid Ground Christian Books’ recent Trilogy on the Psalms. Included are these books:
Rowland Prothero, The Psalms in Human Life (orig published 1903)
William Binnie, A Pathway into the Psalter: The Psalms: Their History, Teaching, and Use (orig. published 1870)
John Ker, The Psalms in History and Biography (orig. published 1886)

These are fascinating books. Ker’s volume goes through each Psalm in canonical order commenting on people or situations where that Psalm was used to encourage, challenge and bless. Prothero then goes chronologically through history commenting on how the Psalms were used by Christians in each period. Binnie, the longest book, deals with a number of technical issues in the Psalms, surveys their theology and then closes by examining who the church has used the Psalms over the years. These summaries of how the church has made use of the Psalms makes me yearn to make more of this great treasure.

Persecution and Slavery in Asia

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My friend Phil Eyster, of Eagle Projects International, has just returned from a mission trip to Asia and has reported on it in his mission ‘plogs’ (follow the link and click on ‘plogs’). The photo shown here is of some girls they have helped rescue from the child slavery market. Phil wrote:

I wanted to relate one story from our last night in Nepal. We had the privilege of meeting with 4 of the 24 young girls that we have rescued from the child slavery market. The statistic is that each year over 15,000 young girls are taken, from Nepal and sold on the worldwide market. In the last few months we were able to rescue 4 more. Their stories are too graphic and terrible to share here. It will take them many years to heal, but they are on their way. When they first came to us, they would not smile at all.

In the previous ‘plog’ Phil commented on their work in a very sensitive area, where they were monitored closely even having police watching them as they “shared” with 300 people gathered in the area. They were able to meet one of the first believers in this tribe and to hear his story of persecution and perseverance. Phil commented:

There are some extremely dedicated people here who are working under very difficult conditions. They are front line messengers who are plowing virgin territory for Christ. They are the real heroes of the faith.

These posts can help us in praying specifically for brothers and sisters who suffer for the faith in other parts of the world. You can also learn about, support and participate in the worthwhile work of EPI.