As always, Dr. John Piper is not afraid to mince words. May we all strive to live up to this high calling.
Is Your View of Money Satanic?
Being the one to challenge prevailing worldviews is not easy.
In raising support, that’s precisely what we sometimes do. When I go on an appointment and challenge somebody to join my team at $100 per month, I am challenging their worldview. God is using me (in some cases) to rub them the wrong way, because there is nothing more fundamentally American than the dollar. I don’t make it my goal to offend, but I do make it my goal to challenge people to something bigger than the certainly-not-almighty green paper.
Like the video I shared yesterday points out, so many Americans are treasuring the wrong things. Goals like bigger houses, more cars, and fatter 401(k)s are choking the spiritual life out of us. Do I think those things are bad? Not necessarily. But if you got defensive at their passing mention, it might be a sign you are inordinately treasuring them.
Saving for the future is biblical. Investing is thoroughly biblical. Hoarding and investing so that you can find your security, happiness, and purpose in a fat bank account is satanic.
I’ve even said this myself, (using the excuse that we don’t have a huge income) but I am tired of the line “I don’t give much now, but I want to invest so that when I retire I can support X number of missionaries.” Here’s a reality check: if we aren’t giving sacrificially now, adding some zeros to our paycheck won’t make us give sacrificially then. The giving habits we form now will be the giving habits we have when we retire. Jacqueline and I have had to wrestle with that, given our financial position now. We’ve got money, but we have not always been the best about giving. We’ve rationalized it, and had spurts where we gave sacrificially, but on the whole we have not been as generous as God calls us to be.
This is not a ploy for you to give to us. Give to Jesus. Do you believe the gospel? Give like it. Here’s some places I feel confident your money would go toward the furthering of the gospel:
- Blood Water Mission
- Grace Community Church
- Global Aid Network (Haiti)
- International Expansion with Campus Crusade for Christ
As always, I’ll start. We’re going to be giving to one of the above ministries (over and above what we already have), once Jacqueline and I pray about it.
After all, there’s no better way to spit in the face of a satanic worldview than to put God’s money where His heart is.
** Update** I added the clarification “sometimes” to the first sentence of the second paragraph and the parenthetical “in some cases” later in the same paragraph, because my wife said it might otherwise come off like we think everyone we meet has a poor worldview. And she’s right. I don’t want it to seem like I am looking down on anyone. My apologies for having misspoken.
Jacob the Pervert is Changed By God’s Grace.
Genesis 49:31 Rocked my world today. Mouse over the verse to read it. It’s not all that spectacular. It’s a description of a graveyard, and who is buried there.
What rocked my world is what it didn’t say. The guy speaking is Israel (formerly known as Jacob). Stick with me, and I’ll give you the back story in 3 bullet points (with a hat-tip to Tim Keller’s insight from his latest book).
- Jacob was a total perve who had the hots for Rachel, Leah’s younger sister.
- Laban, the girls’ dad, was a con-man who tricked Jacob into working for him for 14 years in order to get Rachel as a wife. 7 years in he got tricked into marrying Leah, who according to the story is ugly (commentators believe she had a lazy eye or was cross-eyed). Lines from the 14 year period include “OK, time for me to have sex with that hot daughter of yours.” (did I mention Jacob was a perve?)
- Leah spends the rest of her life in the shadow of her younger, hotter sister–trying to make Jacob love her. She names her first three kids “Look! A son,” “God heard my prayer,” and “Now I’ll be connected to him,” (Genesis 29:31-35) all in an effort to win the love of Jacob, or at least in an expression of that effort. Finally, we see her surrender to God’s grace, and name her last son “Praise the Lord.”
But what we never hear from the story is whether or not God’s grace ever changes Jacob. Until Genesis 49:31. When giving instructions as to where he wanted to be buried. He in effect says “Bury me where Grandpa Abraham, Grandma Sarah, Dad, Mom, and Leah are buried. The significance of that is huge. God had so changed Jacob (now Israel)’s heart that his last wish was to be buried not with Rachel, who had her own tomb (Genesis 35:19-20), but with Leah.
God changes hearts. Leah’s last son’s name, Judah, might sound familiar. The “Lion of Judah,” Jesus himself, is a descendant of Leah. Praise God for grace that changes us.
McLaren The Wolf-Shepherd.
NPR ran a story on Brian McLaren last week, so I thought I’d weigh in, as one of the “young” evangelicals the story talks about. Here’s a line taken from the article. (read it in it’s entirety here)
Campbell adds that young believers are more flexible about Christian doctrine in general.
“We also know that — particularly within the evangelical community — the younger you are, the less likely you are to take the Bible literally, to believe that the Bible is the inerrant ‘word of God,’ as compared to a book of moral precepts,” he says.
And let me be the first to say that the article may be true. Young people like me may be more likely to believe lies. But, at least in my case, my mother is far closer to McLaren than I am. It’s not a generational issue. Mom’s not real big on commenting on blogs (she’ll likely email me). But the blanket statement that older = more theologically conservative is patently false and a lazy generalization.
Here’s what astounds me: the article says that the main reason older folks hold to more conservative views of scripture is because the older generation is less traveled, has met fewer folks who are of other faiths, and are therefore far more comfortable condemning them to hell. What a shocking statement about how dumb/bigoted older folks are. It’s pure academic and chronological snobbery to say that we young folks know more than our parents because we’ve experienced a more “global” classroom and life. And it’s a direct affront to the older generation to say that they are “comfortable” condemning anyone to hell. Many of the theologically conservative folks I’ve met are also the ones most passionate about getting the good news out to the most people. No matter their age.
I’ve been to about 9 countries, not counting my own. I’ve met folks that were raised Muslim, raised in various eastern faiths, and raised Atheist/Humanist. Folks as different from my upbringing as night is from day. Yet I am still a conservative evangelical. I still believe that the Bible is God’s Word, and not just a book of moral precepts (in fact, take a brief look at the “moral” example set by many of the “heroes” of the faith–David, Moses, Paul, Peter, etc–before you call the Bible such a ridiculous name). If I have changed any since my youth, it is indeed a shift from strict dogmatism to reasoned faith. But the dogmatism of my youth was based not in any sort of reason, but rather insecurity. I didn’t know why I believed the Bible, just that it was the linchpin holding my faith together. So I spent a great amount of time and energy defending my linchpin.
These days, thanks in large part to some great teachers, pastors, friends, and a lot of study of history, I know many more reasons why I can trust the Bible. But unlike McLaren might think, I have more concern for folks from other nations, cultures, and languages than I have ever had in my life. In my pursuit of truth and a reasoned faith, I haven’t had to toss out belief in the authority of the Bible, I’ve had to cling to it. Without a literal Savior saving me from a literal hell of self-centered “spirituality,” I would have no reason to pursue social causes like justice for the oppressed, food for the hungry, and assistance to the poor and underprivileged. Also, I wouldn’t care that people were going to hell, if it were imaginary.
The tired caricature of a bible-thumping hellfire preacher more concerned with money and “soul winning” than with loving people is one we’ve earned as conservative evangelicals. But McLaren’s response seems like lazy ignorance of the fact it is a caricature that almost totally misrepresents those of us who hold to an authoritative Bible. In the excerpt at the end of the above-referenced article, McLaren quotes a critic of his as saying that Jesus only came to save people from hell, not with any social agenda. I don’t know a single one of my friends, no matter how conservative, who would agree with that statement. Not one.
What an ignorant caricature of our entire team, Rev. McLaren! How about refute Tim Keller, DA Carson, JI Packer, Mark Driscoll, John Piper, or some other reputable representative of our team? Because they can simultaneously hold to a authoritative Bible and love/help the poor? Yeah, you’re right. A lot harder to take aim at folks who really work toward advancing both the gospel and social implications of a gospel-centered worldview.
As others have said, I think with this book, Brian McLaren has finally taken off his shepherd costume to reveal the wolf underneath. Please, folks, don’t follow the wolf. He’s aiming to blow your house down.
Jesus Is Not On Your Team.
I have bad news. Jesus is not on your team.
There are two teams, see. The bad guys, and Jesus. The crooked, depraved, self-serving, religious folks; and Jesus.
He’s not on your team. He didn’t come for your agenda. You can’t recruit him to your cause. You can’t get him on board with your timeline and market projections.
In Joshua 5:13-14, we get an astonishing view of the pre-incarnate Christ. He shows up, and Joshua worships Him (and given that the man in the story doesn’t tell him to stop worshipping, I assume that man is Jesus, whom it is OK to worship). But the astonishing part is that when Joshua asks Jesus, “are you on our team or theirs?” (referring to the inhabitants of Jericho) Jesus doesn’t say at all what I would expect.
This is the Old Testament. God’s chosen nation, Israel, is going to fight against a pagan city, Jericho. I’d expect Jesus to say, “I’m on your team. Let’s go kick some pagan butt.” And then he’d go all Jack Bauer on the other team and call in a tactical support team of angels to extract Rahab from her place like Dana Walsh (the Rahab-Dana Walsh comparison could be taken WAY deeper if Dana had repented, by the way). He’d scream “DROP YOUR WEAPON” to the guards outside of Rahab’s place, and use the phrase “I don’t want to kill you, but I will if I have to” multiple times in an episode.
But read what he says! (mouse over the verse above to read it) He treats the question like a multiple choice, and adds an option (c). He’s not on either team!
Joshua saw an impressive dude with a sword, and got all strategic. He needed a little help with the folks from Jericho. But Jesus gently reminds him that if he wins the battle, it’s because God wins the battle. He didn’t recruit God onto his team. Israel didn’t earn God’s favor, and they were no better than the people of Jericho. It’s by grace that they were saved, through faith. Not as a result of works, so that Joshua couldn’t boast.
That sounds familiar.