Eutychus

2009 being the 500th anniversary of the birth of John Calvin, there is a wealth of resources pertaining to Calvin and his writings appearing in print and on the internet.  This website has inspired me to finally read the entirety of the Institutes of the Christian Religion (1,734 pages, including indices): Blogging the Institutes.  You can get a reading schedule from them that will take you through the Institutes in one year, with readings running Monday to Friday.  They also have a fine ensemble of bloggers, so I don’t plan to blog about my readings, although you never know.  Today is the first day, and it starts out with Calvin’s opening remarks to the reader, which are only 3 pages.

John Botkin is the pastor of Bangor Baptist Church in Michigan, and a friend from seminary days.  He’s posted an article titled Becoming a House of Prayer and talks about a chapter on prayer he has written for an upcoming book on pastoral ministry.  You can download a copy of the draft of his chapter here.  I’ve downloaded and read the chapter, and I think it’s very well done.  I was challenged to be faithful in my own work of prayer as a pastor, and to lead our church to be a house of prayer.  John’s article also contains some helpful suggestions for doing both of these things.  Recommended, and not just for pastors.

I’m not always in agreement with Internet Monk, but often he says things that are not only true, but need to be said.  In a post titled Evangelism Won’t Cure It, Michael Spencer identifies a perennial source of self-deception among Southern Baptists, namely, that the problem of decline in the SBC would be reversed if only we would become more evangelistic, and therefore, what the SBC needs is an evangelistic campaign that everyone needs to get on board with.

Read the whole thing, but here is how Spencer wraps it up:

I love what the SBC does right.  I really do. My denomination can be awesome at some things, especially in the area of cooperative missions.

I’m not dogging evangelists.  I spend a significant amount of my time in evangelistic ministry. It’s one reason I will remain an evangelical.

Our denomination has some wonderful churches and some great people.

But let’s just say it:  We’re Johnny One Notes on evangelism because we don’t want to admit how flawed, hurting, confused and increasingly dysfunctional we are.

We need evangelism in its place, and that won’t happen till we stop and look at the whole, not just the parts we want to blame.

And 100,000 more baptisms won’t solve those problems.

Michael Spencer at Internet Monk, gave me food for thought with his post The “Real” Prosperity Gospel.  It is one thing to denounce the “name it and claim it” theology that promises that we can have health and wealth if only we have enough faith to believe God for it.  But Spencer responds to a commenter on his blog who suggests that those of us who reject the prosperity gospel often hold to a subtler form of it:

The real prosperity gospel isn’t the overt appeal to wealth. It is the more subtle appeal to God guaranteeing that we are going to be happy, and the accompanying pressure to be happy in ways that are acceptable and recognizable to the community of Christians we belong to.

The real prosperity gospel is the belief that God will- must?- keep things at a level where it’s still possible for us to follow Jesus without overt appeal to rewards in this life. The real prosperity gospel is revealed not in the promises of a yacht or a large home, but in the unspoken approval of a level of prosperity that allows us to live the Christian life on our own terms. It is the ratification of our private, sometimes entirely secret, arrangements with God of what his “goodness” means.

It’s the notion that, even if we are going through tough times, we can still be happy if we have Jesus Christ.  That if we ever lose our joy, we are somehow poor Christians.  We have to be careful not to teach, or give the impression, that if we are ever discouraged, sad or struggling, something is wrong with us or our faith.  God calls us to cast our cares and anxieties upon Him, He doesn’t promise that cares and anxieties with be absent from the lives of faithful believers.

Ben Witherington, Professor of New Testament Interpretation at Asbury Theological Seminary, has posted part one of a review of Reimagining Church by Frank Viola.  In part one, Witherington deals with Viola’s assertion that the relationship of the members of the triune Godhead is essentially egalitarian, and therefore relationships within the church are to reflect the Trinity.  Witherington concludes:

So here is where I stress that ontological equality, and functional subordination have always been and always will be compatible, and the blueprint Godhead provides us with a reason to expect that in the church there will be a hierarchial pattern of ordering things. I would hasten to add that it does NOT lead us to expect that this pattern will involve a gender hierarchy. No, it will involve a leader and follower, shepherd and sheep, pastor and congregation, apostle and co-workers hierarchy— something Frank wants to avoid at all costs, seeing it as either inorganic or simply fallen human structures.

Alas, however, it is the divine design, mirroring the functional subordination that indeed has and does exist in the Trinity. When the Bible says ‘honor thy father (and mother)”, it never conceives of a day when somehow the son ever ceases to be a son, ceases to owe respect to the father, ceases to be ordered under the father in these ways. There will always be an ordering in that relation and so a hierarchy. Likewise, there never comes a day when the only begotten Son becomes the Father, or somehow the Father changes roles and becomes the only begotten Son. Equality and indeed mutual love and respect do not in any way necessarily rule out an ordering of relationships, or even functional subordination in such relationships either in the Godhead, or in Christian community. I am afraid that what has affected and infected this discussion is secular notions of equality that assume that equal must mean ‘the same’ in all respects, or ‘the same’ in all functions. But this is not what the Bible either says or suggests.

But, by all means, read the entire review the review for yourself.

“Your danger and mine is not that we become criminals, but rather that we become respectable, decent, commonplace, mediocre Christians. No rewards at the end, no glory. The twenty-first-century temptations that really sap our spiritual power are the television, banana cream pie, the easy chair and the credit card. Christian, you will win or lose in those seemingly innocent little moments of decision. Lord, make my life a miracle!”

Ray Ortlund Sr., Lord, Make My Life A Miracle, pages 130-131.

Amen!

Alan Knox at his blog The Assembling of the Church, discusses Stephen Catto’s Reconstructing the First-Century Synagogue: A Critical Analysis of Current Research.  In his post, Sacred Meals in the Synagogue,  Knox summarizes Catto’s findings:

Catto describes four “worship practices” that he says were common to first century synagogues. He says that those synagogues practiced 1) sanctity (cleansing or purity), 2) Scripture reading and teaching, 3) Prayer (including hymns), and 4) Sacred meals.

Yes, you read that correctly. Catto suggests that first century synagogue meetings included meals as a form of “worship”. In fact, he points out that many synagogue buildings included dining rooms for the meal.

Books like Pagan Christianity by Frank Viola and George Barna have argued that the early church represented a radical break from the worship practices of 1st century Judaism.  They assert that the early church did not imitate the synagogues’ use of purpose-built buildings, and had a form of worship that was more a spontaneous, free-flowing time of fellowship, in which table fellowship was prominent.  Catto’s book suggests that the fellowship was not distinctive to the NT church.

Knox concludes:

If Catto is correct, and I have much more studying to do before I form an opinion, then eating and drinking together were considered a form of worship to some Jews around the time of the New Testament. Thus, the concept “breaking bread” together would not be a foreign concept to the new church. Certainly, there would be difference between the communal meals of the synagogue and the communal meals of the church. Primarily, for the church, Jesus Christ is both the host and the benefactor of the meal, and the meal provides an outward demonstration of the fellowship that the church possesses because of the indwelling Holy Spirit.

I welcome examining contemporary church pratices in light of the New Testament. But I believe that much of the arguments presented by such writers as Viola and Barna rely on shoddy historical work, and, more importantly, portray a distorted view of the NT church.  Catto’s book, then, is potentially an important corrective.

Shane Becker of Lifted Veil has kindly asked me to join the team at New Covenant Theology.  The purpose of the site is not to produce new content, but to be a reference where people can find out what’s on other sites dealing with new covenant theology.  Shane explains:

What this site is not:  The aim of this site isn’t to be a repository of NCT material.  It is to contain no articles, blog postings, audio, video, contact lists, etc.  It is to be substanceless.   

 

What this site is:   My aim is to create a portal to point people to NCT articles, blogs, audio, video, contact lists, etc.  I’d like people to know that if they are looking for a particular NCT site or materials they will be able to find it at NewCovenantTheology.org. 

Although NCT has been a topic of discussion and debate since the 1970s, it is still a relatively little-known approach to biblical theology.  Although NCT is a work in progress, I believe it is essentially correct in its understanding that the New Covenant fulfills and supercedes the Old Covenant.  As a result, the Mosaic Law only applies to the Christian only insofar as it is fulfilled and taken up in the law of Christ.

Keeping up with the discussion and developments in NCT is no easy task, so I am glad Shane has taken on this project, and I hope to play a small part in its success.

One of the challenges faced by many bivocational pastors is that of finding work that will support their families and, hopefully, leave sufficient time for their pastoral duties.  This can be particularly difficult for younger pastors who, after college, immediately go into church work, or go to seminary and then into church work.  They may not have skills that are in great command in the job market.

When I left California to attend Southern Seminary, I had no intention of returning to the field of hospital finance and work in decision support systems.  After finishing seminary, however, the Lord called Helen and I to a small church in Beaver, Pennsylvania.  Our congregation gives generously, but it hasn’t been enough to support us.  Last year I made the decision to become bivocational.  I count it a blessing that I found work as a decision support analyst at Magee Womens Hospital in Pittsburgh.  Between the job and the time it takes to commute, it does put pressure on the time I can devote to ministry.  But the folks at Beaver Baptist Church are understanding and now personal finances won’t determine whether or not we can stay at BBC.  We intend to stay for the long haul.

One thing that strikes me about my work is how nice a workplace it is.  Everyone I work with is pleasant, curteous, and professional.  I was reminded of this by an article in the New York Times: “Desk Rage Spoils Workplace for Many Americans.”  It looks like it’s pretty rough out there

Nearly half of U.S. workers in America report yelling and verbal abuse on the job, with roughly a quarter saying it has driven them to tears, research has shown.

Other research showed one-sixth of workers reported anger at work has led to property damage, while a tenth reported physical violence and fear their workplace might not be safe.

It is a blessing that I can leave my work at the end of the day and not be stressed-out by my work situation.

I first encountered the theological journal Themelios some 26 years ago.  Over the years, when I have had access to a theological library, I enjoyed browsing it for interesting, well-written articles, and for its book reviews.  I often wanted to subscribe, but always found something more pressing to spend my money on.  A couple of years ago, I think, Themelios went dormant, but it has been revived by The Gospel Coalition, and is edited by D. A. Carson and Carl Trueman.  This in and of itself is good news, but it gets better: the journal is now available online (no more print version) in both PDF and HTML formats.  And it gets better yet: you can read it online or download it for free.  You can check it out at: Themelios.  Although it has high scholarly standards, its intended audience is “both theological/religious studies students and pastors.”  As a pastor I can attest to its value, e.g., a helpful and relevant discussion of the church’s mission by Keith Ferdinando, and 38 (!) pages of book reviews.  Shawn Wright, a friend of mine now teaching at Southern Seminary, is the book review editor for the History and Historical Theology category.  Highly recommended.