Resource on Homosexuality

Since homosexuality is in the news this week, I thought would be good to highlight this post from Justin Taylor, in which he links to some resources to help Christians address the topic. 

I especially appreciated the videos from Matt Chandler.  I remember watching these a couple of years ago, and I resonated with both the content and the spirit of the teaching.

In the first video below Chandler begins by tracing the biblical storyline. In the second video, he gives some basic responses to several street-level objections, like:

1. If you’re not hurting anyone else, what’s wrong with it?
2. Since you’re a sinner, too, who are you to call out others?
3. Jesus didn’t say anything about homosexuality.
4. Some animals have same-sex relations, so if it’s in nature it must natural.
5. The homosexuality condemned by Paul is a different type of homosexuality than we see today.
6. Revisionist arguments from modern scholarship.

He also talks about the way in which he seeks to engage in dialogue with homosexuals in a gospel-centered way.

In the third video he fields questions via text message—e.g., on how parents should handle their adult kids who are gay with partners coming to visit.

I didn't see a way to embed the videos into this post, so you'll have to click through to Justin's site and watch the videos there.

Not So Long Ago

A great post from Ray Ortlund; he posted this video, with the following statement:

So, what ideas that we value today will look this dumb in another fifty years?  The only escape from the prison of our cultural moment is the eternal truth of God.

Eric Clapton and Common Grace

I really enjoy Ray Ortlund's blog, Christ is Deeper Still. Yesterday he wrote:

Now and then a commenter asks why I post music videos that are not devoted to God. Most inquiries are courteous. A few are not. In any case, here is my answer.

Check out his answer here.

The Church In Culture

I have great respect for Mike Horton, Matt Chandler and Tim Keller, and enjoyed listening to these three guys kick around the question of how the church is to be involved in the shaping and transformation of culture:

Chandler, Horton, and Keller on the Church in Culture from The Gospel Coalition on Vimeo.

The Treadmill

It's funny: the book of Ecclesiastes is a few thousand years old yet captures the same exact point that this Best Buy commercial makes:



I'll be preaching on this "unutterable weariness" tomorrow morning.

The Nature of True Beauty

Something else to file in the category of "Something I want to listen to, but don't have time now":

Al Mohler talking at Capitol Hill Baptist Church on the nature of true beauty.

If you listen to it before me, let me know how it is!

The 3 Most Disturbing Words on TV

This weekend I'll be preaching on the well-known words of the Apostle Paul, "So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything do all to the glory of God."

In light of that wonderful exhortation, I found this post by Mike Cosper at the Gospel Coalition blog very insightful. Though I often fall short, I'm eager for myself and for those I love to magnify Jesus in everything that we do.

Cosper's post is wise instruction on watching television for the glory of God. Check it out and let me know what you think.

A Story of Perception

I thought this was a cool story:

In a Washington DC subway station, Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world, recently played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before, Joshua Bell sold-out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100 each to sit and listen to him play the same music. But in the subway station, practically nobody cared or even noticed him.

Check out the rest of the story here.

Tom & Jerry on Eternity

This is an interesting view of the afterlife. What teachable moments are there for your kids in this one?

Chandler on Homosexuality

I'm posting this here because I want to watch this at some point, though I don't have time to this week. I think Justin Taylor is right when he says:

It seems this is increasingly becoming a difficult subject to handle well. Some pastors harp on this issue in a disproportionate, condemnatory way. Others, swinging the pendulum in the other direction, don’t want to appear insensitive or right-wing and thus avoid it altogether.

He says Chandler deals with the subject head-on without being a jerk. If you have time, check it out and let me know whether you agree.

More on Delighting in God's Creation

For anyone interested in reading a bit more on the whole subject of delighting in non-Christian art which came up last week (and judging by the comments, that makes one of you), here's an interesting post from Doug Wilson on the subject. He begins with a basic premise that is hard to argue:

God made the world, we trashed it, and then Jesus was born into it in order to redeem the whole thing.

The ramifications of this, Wilson writes are exhaustive:

By the nature of the case, we cannot present an exhaustive list, but the ramifications would include beer, mowing the lawn, sex with your wife or husband, brown gravy, sitting on the front porch, listening to a good poem, making movies, getting out the guitar, going to church, and getting a foot rub.

There are two sacraments, true, but there is only one sacramental. The world is a sacramental, and everything in it. Grace is everywhere, and gets into everything. Faith can dig it out of anything. The grandeur of God can flame out from anything, like shining from shook foil.

Wilson is a pretty thought-provoking writer; check out the whole thing and let me know what you think.

Answering Rob, Part 2

As promised, here is an answer to Rob's question on the post concerning whether God delights in non-Christian art. He wrote:

Can we use the word "please?" There are things that are done in the world by non-Christians that "reflect" something about God Himself, but do they actually "please" Him? How do you explain it in light of Hebrews 11:6 "Without faith, it is impossible to please God..."?

Here's my attempt at an answer:

Basically, I think Rob's question could be stated another way: does Scripture teach that God can take pleasure in a "product" that is the result of human sin? I think the answer is yes, and the most vivid demonstration of this is the cross.

Isaiah 53:10 says that God was pleased to bruise His Son (not all translations use this language, but the NASB does). There was a sense in which God took pleasure in the crushing of His Son, as it was God's way of vindicating His righteousness, so that He might be just and the justifier of those who believe in Jesus. Because His glory was displayed at the cross, God delighted in it.

But the death of Jesus came about through human sin. It is not that God took pleasure in the cowardice of Pilate, the jealousy of the Jews, or the cynical mocking of the Jewish soldiers. These are evil acts which God hates and will be punished. But the end result of it was still something that brought pleasure to God, when viewed from the wider perspective of how God was glorifying Himself at the cross.

Of course, the cross is not exactly the same thing as a poem, novel or jazz riff created by a God-belittling atheist. But I think there may be a principle there: in His wisdom, God can use the evil acts of people who hate Him to produce something that He delights in.

Perhaps not all will agree with me on that, and that is fine. But still, every Christian ought to reckon with how/why they enjoy works of culture produced by non-Christians. Whether it's music, a movie, a home run, an exotic dish, or an iPod, it is a nearly universal experience for Christians to use and enjoy products created by people who hate Jesus. Is this a deep flaw in us that needs to be repented of, or is our delight a reflection of God's image that is stamped on our hearts? Or is there another way to explain it?

With regard to the Hebrews 11 passage that Rob quoted, I would say this: I don't believe that Reinke said that God is pleased by non-Christians; he only said that God can and does delight in things that they produce. If you concede that non-Christians reflect God's image, and you concede that God loves His glory supremely and takes great pleasure in the display of Himself wherever it is found, then it seems plausible that God does delight in the displays of Himself that He sees in non-Christians. It is not a delight in them, as sinners; it is a delight in His own glory shining through them. It's a delight in Himself. If God were not to delight in His own image reflected back to Himself, He would be unrighteous.

I think the context of Hebrews 11, and the entire letter as a whole, reveals that in writing 11:6, the writer has no intent of informing us about God's attitude toward art. He is warning a drifting church in danger of reverting to legalism that God's people have never pleased Him through their works, but always through faith. When he speaks of pleasing God here, I believe he's speaking of pleasing Him in a salvific (yes, that really is a word) way. So I don't know that this verse necessarily has any bearing on the issue. Perhaps I'm wrong about that though.

Thanks for stimulating my thought on these matters, Rob. This is obviously a matter way outside the innermost circle of core Christian beliefs, so it's an area where I think Christians can have differing views. I only posted Reinke's article and my own reflections because I desire that all of us who love Jesus work hard to think in a God-centered way about all of life. And that includes our love of art.

Since leisure and art is such a big part of everyone's life, I figure it's a good thing to think through. Whether you arrive at the same conclusions as me or not (and my thinking is certainly still in process), hopefully God will be honored by our diligent thinking.

If anyone has made it this far, I would certainly value your adding in your thoughts on this matter!

Answering Rob, Part 1

In response to yesterday's post on whether God delights in the art of non-Christians, Rob wrote:

I think I see where you (and Reinke) are coming from, but I still am on the fence here a bit. Can we use the word "please?" There are things that are done in the world by non-Christians that "reflect" something about God Himself, but do they actually "please" Him?

How do you explain it in light of Hebrews 11:6? "And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him."

It is a great question. I told Rob I'd answer his question today, but I'm going to have to delay that answer one more day. For now, let me muddy the issue even more with a similar situation from the sports world.

I have written before of my thoughts on basketball superstar LeBron James. Last night, in his team's biggest game of the year, James played a dud of a game. Here's a snippet from his post-game remarks:

"I spoil a lot of people with my play. When you have a bad game here or there, you've had three bad games in a seven-year career, then it's easy to point that out."

This appears to be the same lack of humility that I have observed in the past (see the two links above). While I want to make clear that I am painfully aware that I am a proud man who has a long way to go in the pursuit of humility, I can't imagine God is very pleased with comments like this from LeBron. I have a hard time rooting for LeBron because of this evident lack of humility. You know it's bad when you actually find yourself rooting for the Celtics!

Nevertheless, though I am not fond of LeBron, I still take a measure of delight in watching some of his extraordinary moves on the basketball court. I don't take pleasure in the man's character, but his skill on the court brings delight to the basketball fan in me.

As I think of my attitude toward LeBron James, or Dave Matthews for that matter, I can't help but come to the conclusion that though the sin of these men causes me grief, I still take pleasure in some of the things they produce.

If I can do that with an athlete or a musician, is it possible that God can (and does) do the same?

Just some more questions to consider. I'll try to answer Rob's question more directly tomorrow. Thanks for bearing with me, Rob!

Does God Delight in Non-Christian Art?

That is the title of this post from Tony Reinke. Given my frequent musings on Carter Beauford's drumming, Miles Davis' trumpet and DeSean Jackson's punt returns, you know I was intrigued.

I expected the answer to the question to be in the affirmative, and I was correct. Still, I appreciated the way Reinke handled the question. Here's a quote that I found particularly helpful:

"God is the most perfect lover of his image. The image resides within humanity in the substantial human soul. Accordingly, it coruscates [glitters] in culture in infinitely different ways. It is impossible that God should see such reflections of his glory and not find himself wrapped in cognitive delights. He thinks most highly of his own image. He delights in it most profoundly."

Those who wonder how their leisure can bring glory to God (and that should be all of us!) would, I think, be edified by this article.

Whatever Happened to Lauryn Hill?

At the time of Lauryn Hill's 2001 MTV Unplugged performance, she was one of the biggest musical stars in the world. Her first CD had earned five Grammy awards and sold over 18 million copies worldwide. The unplugged performance was her return to the music scene after a three-year hiatus.

Has anyone heard this CD? Its lyrics are so filled with biblical truth that it is practically a Christian CD (as the video below illustrates). I'm not saying she's the most adept theologian on the planet, but there is still a great deal of food for thought. As I listened to this message, I was amazed that this was promoted by and shown on MTV. But I don't recall anyone in the Christian music industry picking up on her apparent spiritual awakening. Since then she's pretty much dropped off the scene again.

From time to time I wonder, whatever happened to Lauryn Hill? Songs like this make me wonder whether I'll meet her in the resurrection some day (I've included the lyrics below):



Oh Jerusalem yeah, oh Jerusalem, oh Jerusalem, oh Jerusalem...

Realizing that there's no place else to go
And there's nobody I know who can help me
Text book solutions are so improbable
Cause everybody else is just as empty
Naked as the day that I was born, I tried to hide
...behind education and philosophy
Hopeless explanation to describe a situation
I can't see because the world's on top of me
Oh wretched man that I am, who will deliver me
From the body of this death
Freeing me from dust, and the superficial trust
Of an enemy that seeks to take my breath
Failing to connect, cause I'm morally defect
By reason of the God inside my head
Causing me to see, only what pertains to me
Believing I'm alive when I'm still dead
Limited to earth, unable to find out my worth
Cause I... can't see past my own vanity
If I'm not included, then I just have to remove it
From my mind because it has to be in sanity
Oh wretched man that I am, who will deliver me
From the body of this death
Can I even factor, that I've only been an actor
In this staged interpretation of this day
Focused on the shadow, with my back turned to the light
Too intelligent to see it's me in the way
What a paradox, having God trapped in a box
All this time professing to be spiritual
Naturally pretending, that I'm actually defending
God through my facade don't need material

Oh Jerusalem, wash thy heart from wickedness
That thou may be saved from thy deception
How long, shall thy face those lies within thee
Oh Jerusalem, keeping thee from perfection

Submit to truth, leave the deception of thy youth
So we could walk in the council of authority
Forget the proof, our generation so aloof
Only follow in the steps of the majority
Trust in the Lord, with all thy heart
And lay not to thine, oh an understanding in all thy ways
Acknowledge Him, and He shall correct our paths
Be not wise in thine own eyes and you can follow him
We judge and condemn, just as ignorant as them
Who religion tells us that we should ignore
Perpetrating we're in covenant with Him
Exposed by the very things that we adore
We grin and shake hands, then lay ambush for the man
Who has a different point of view then us
Infuriated cause he doesn't understand
Bringing up those things we don't want to discuss
Why still do evil, we don't know how to do good
Walking on in darkness running from the light, ey
Led to believe, because we live in neighborhoods
Telling us what's going on will be alright
Oh so repressed, so convinced that I was blessed
When I played with my game of Monopoly
Oh to suggest, that my life is still a mess
Who reveal the pride I'm hiding is what's stopping me

Oh Jerusalem, wash thy heart from wickedness
That thou may be saved from thy deception
How long, shall thy face those lies within thee
Oh Jerusalem keeping them from perfection

Abide in me and I in you, as the branch cannot bare
...fruit of itself except in the vine
I am the vine, ye are the branches, He's in live in me
And I in him, the same bring forth much fruit
Without me, you can do nothing
Oh Jerusalem, you're traditions have deceived you
I've chosen you, you haven't chosen me
Do whatsoever, you asking my name he may give to you
But in vain they call my name
teaching doctrines just the same
Justified among themselves
But God know with the heart, what man esteemed as smart
Is an abomination to Emmanuel
Just repent, turn from selfish motivation
So iniquity will not cause your demise
Make you a new heart and a new spirit
...for why would he die
Oh Jerusalem, please tell me why
I have no pleasure in the death of him to die
Says the Lord God where forth turn yourselves and live
It's not the talkers, but the walkers and his word
Are the only ones the Father will forgive

Oh Jerusalem, wash thy heart from wickedness
That thou may be saved from thy deception
How long, shall thy face those lies within thee
Oh Jerusalem, providing you no protection

Oh Jerusalem...

Should Christians be Involved in Shaping Culture?

Tim Keller takes a stab at that hot-button question in this short article. The article's main focus is to develop a Christian way of thinking about work. I found the first paragraph to be especially insightful and challenging:

I am often asked: “Should Christians be involved in shaping culture?” My answer is that we can’t NOT be involved in shaping culture. To illustrate this, I offer a very sad example. In the years leading up to the Civil War many southerners resented the interference of the abolitionists, who were calling on Christians to stamp out the sin of slavery. In response, some churches began to assert that it was not the church’s (nor Christians’) job to try to ‘change culture’ but only to preach the gospel and see souls saved. The tragic irony was that these churches were shaping culture. Their very insistence that Christians should not be changing culture meant that those churches were supporting the social status quo. They were defacto endorsing the cultural arrangements of the Old South.

Thoughts?

Memories, Anyone?

Reading this blog post about Mike Tyson reminded me of this:



Does this bring back memories for anyone else? Of course my memories don't include ever beating Tyson that fast...

"Without Hope, Without God in the World"

If Caedmon's Call released this song and said that it was a song about the pain and hopelessness of trying to live apart from our Creator's purpose, it would probably win a Dove Award. Listening to it makes me think of Ephesians 2:12, which I've quoted in the title.

Sadly, Dave Matthews probably had no Scripture in view when he penned these words (the lyrics are below):



I find this song so beautiful. The music works perfectly to capture the mood of the song created by the lyrics. It is somber and depressing; such is life without Christ. If God puts it on your heart, as He does often for me, pray for these guys to find the One in whom life is found:

Story of a man
Who decided not to breath
Turned red, purple, then blue
Colorful indeed
No matter how his friends begged
Well, he would not concede
And now he's dead
You see, 'cause everybody knows
You got to breathe

But, oh God,
Under the weight of life
Things seem brighter on the other side...
Lighter on the other side...

Another one:
See this monkey sitting in his tree
One day, decided to climb down
And run off to the city
Look at him now
Tired, and drunk
And living in the street
As good as dead
You see, a monkey should know
Stay up in your tree

But, oh God,
Under the weight of life
Things seem brighter on the other side
Oh God,
But under the weight of life
Things seem much lighter on the other side

No way...
No way...
No way...
Out...
Of here...

Another One:
A Big Eyed Fish
Yeah, swimming in the sea
Oh, how he dreamed
He wants to be a bird
Swooping, diving through the breeze
One day
He caught a big blue wave
Up onto the beach
And now he's dead
You see, a fish's dream
Should stay in the sea

But, oh God,
Under the weight of life
Things seem brighter on the other side
Oh God,
But under the weight of life
Things seem brighter on the other side

No way...
No way...
No way...
Out...
Of Here...

No way out of here...
No way out of life...

MLK's Dream was a Religiously Rooted Dream

There are many in our society who want to see religious rhetoric banned from the public square. This of course, is very self-contradictory, but I won't get into that now. Besides that, if we strip the public square of religious rhetoric, we lose this:



This is all incredibly relevant to the abortion issue, which I will address in church this Sunday. Please pray for me, that I would speak humbly and graciously and faithfully lift up the glorious hope that is found in Jesus Christ.

I didn't really care about seeing Avatar; now I do

A faithful reader emailed me this article from CNN's website about how the movie Avatar is making people depressed because of the picture of a utopia called Pandora that the movie depicts. One viewer said this:

"Ever since I went to see 'Avatar' I have been depressed. Watching the wonderful world of Pandora and all the Na'vi made me want to be one of them. I can't stop thinking about all the things that happened in the film and all of the tears and shivers I got from it," Mike posted. "I even contemplate suicide thinking that if I do it I will be rebirthed in a world similar to Pandora and the everything is the same as in 'Avatar.' "

This is tragic, but also insightful. It's not hard to imagine why people yearn in the depths of their souls for a perfect world. We yearn for that because we were made to celebrate our Maker and Redeemer on a New Earth, one in which the entire cosmos is healed from its present corruption and decay and transformed into the perfect theater of God's all-satisfying glory.

So now I want to see Avatar, knowing that no matter how beautiful Pandora is, it will not make me depressed. It will only make me eagerly await the New Heavens and New Earth that is our inheritance in Christ.

Has anyone else seen this movie yet? If so, what did you think?