The Power of the Glory

Posted on June 7, 2019 by RC

You want to know what your problem is? You don’t love Jesus enough. I know this not because I know you, but because I know me. I’ve got the same problem. Wherever there is a sin problem, underneath it all, is this problem. Husbands don’t love their wives as Jesus loves the church, because husbands don’t love Jesus enough. Children disobey their parents, because they don’t love Jesus enough. Pastors soft pedal the Bible because they don’t love Jesus enough. And people hop from one church to another because they don’t love Jesus enough. Politicians grow power hungry because they don’t love Jesus enough. Rich people suffer from greed, because they don’t love Jesus enough. Middle class people suffer from greed, because they don’t love Jesus enough. Poor people suffer from greed, because they don’t love Jesus enough. Find a sin and you will find there a heart that doesn’t love Jesus enough. Find Jesus and you will find the solution to our problem. Which is just what Jesus has promised will happen.

It is a good thing that evangelical Christians have wakened from their pietistic slumbers. It is good and proper that we should be about the business of making manifest the reign of Christ over all things. That He is Lord has effects that stray rather far from our hearts. We fight the culture wars because they are simply a manifestation of the war between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. But the serpent is more crafty than any of the beasts of the field. He took the biblical wisdom that argued that we ought to tend to our souls, and turned it into world-denying piety. And now he takes the biblical wisdom that argues that we must push for the crown rights of King Jesus, and turned it into worldliness, and a denial of the call to piety. Jesus on the other hand calls us to seek first two things, the kingdom of God, and His righteousness.

How can we seek two different things first? We do so when we realize that the weapons of our warfare, that the very engine of changing the world, is changing ourselves. The reign of Christ will be manifest in the political, social, artistic, cultural realms only insofar and only through the manifestation of the reign of Christ within His people. We will only make known the great gospel truth that this is our Father’s world, as we live as pilgrims, recognizing that this world isn’t our home, that we are just passing through.

It is because we are worldly that we embrace the culture’s engines of change. We think that we will change ourselves and the world only as we write more books, make more movies, elect more politicians, produce more widgets, and add more programs to our churches. We think sanctification is a doctrine to be studied, rather than a calling to be pursued. In truth it is neither. We do not pursue a calling, but a person. Sanctification isn’t merely the means by which we become more holy, but is the means by which we become more like Jesus. Just as He, the Son of God, is the express image of the glory of the Father, so we, the Bride of Christ, are the image of our eternal Husband. We glorify Him by becoming more like Him.

This is the promise of God, the end of our sanctification, our glorification, “Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is” (I John 3:2). Do you see the connection? We don’t know what we shall be, but we do know we will be like Him. How will we be like Him? What means brings this to pass? We shall see Him as He is. This is the glory of our King, not that He labors faithfully to change us, not that He changes us by the Word of His power, but that He changes us by the power of His glory. Seeing Him makes us like Him.

Which brings us back to our troubles. Our sanctification is long and laborious simply because we do not seek His face. We do not long for His presence. We do not seek to behold His glory, because we are insufficiently impressed. It is the pomp and the power, the dazzle and the sizzle, the bright lights and the baubles of the world around us that have captured our hearts. We don’t find His glory glorious enough, and so we are not yet like Him. We do indeed see through a glass darkly, a glass darkened by our love affair with the world. If we loved Him we would seek Him. If we sought Him we would find Him. If we found Him we would see Him. And if we saw Him we would be like Him. And this, John tells us, believing this, will purify us, “And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure” (v. 3). So may it be said of us.

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Talking Growing Up (with) RC with my friends at Social Church

Posted on June 6, 2019 by RC

My dear friends at Social Church spoke with my about my latest book, about growing up with my beloved father.

 

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Gravitake

Posted on June 5, 2019 by RC

The generalist and the specialist both have their challenges. The specialist can learn more and more about less and less until eventually he knows everything about nothing. The generalist, on the other hand, in learning less and less about more and more can end up knowing nothing about everything. Only on the world wide web, however, can we all be specialists in everything.

Some would argue that the internet didn’t really hit its stride until broadband became virtually ubiquitous. It wasn’t, however, the ability to bring more information in that proved to be the tipping point. I’d argue it was the ease of platform building through social media that fueled the explosion. It wasn’t the size of the hose from which we sought to drink but each of us having our own hose with which to spray. With Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and whatever the newest thing is, we all get to have a take. Which quickly devolves into something even worse, that we all have to have a take.

The issue of the day is the prayer heard ‘round the world, David Platt praying for and over the President when the latter dropped in on Sunday’s service. If that’s not compelling enough conversation for you, we can talk about Pastor Platt’s message to his congregation, some of whom apparently were hurt by what happened. Should the prayer have happened? Should it have happened differently? Should the message to the congregation have been given? Should it have been given differently? My take is not to have a take, except to wonder how in the world it is that we’re all talking about this?

The President is, without question, a deeply sinful man. Now before you MAGA hat wearers get your knickers in a twist, let’s remember that you, and I, and all of us are deeply sinful. Before you SJW’s cheer me on for pointing out the obvious about the President’s character, remember that you too are deeply, and obviously sinful. Pastor Platt, though I don’t know him, and though I have strong feelings in opposite directions about his book Radical, is by all accounts a decent pastor who, by the way, is also a deeply sinful man. The former asked the latter to pray for him, and the latter obliged. Not only is this bit of news not in the least controversial, it’s not even a bit of news. It is nothing that should concern any of us. That it is is what concerns me.

We have become outrage junkies, on every side of every aisle. The left is outraged at evil, orange man making political hay in a church. The right is outraged at the left for being outraged. Both have shot up, taken their daily fix that will keep them calmly agitated until tomorrow. And we will all then head back into the fetid waters of the world wide swamp looking for our connection to get another hit.

“Godliness with contentment is great gain” is not just about money. “Living in peace with all men” does not dissipate when we enter cyberspace. Pastor Platt, no doubt you have sins far worse than whatever your critics, ironically from both sides, are throwing at you. But I suspect, based on what I heard in your prayer, that you know Jesus is the solution. Remember He loves you. Remember that’s all that matters. God bless you sir.

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Bible Study Facebook Live June 4th, 2019

Posted on June 3, 2019 by RC

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What Bible translations do you most recommend?

Posted on June 3, 2019 by RC

It is a good thing that so many Christians love the Bible. It may not be such a good thing that Christians love their Bibles. That is, debating the relative merits of this translation over that can get rather emotional, and swiftly. Please take what follows in the spirit it is intended. I am simply making some broad suggestions, not saying your conversion was false because it all started when you read Good News for Modern Man or some such thing. I’m simply trying to give guidelines, not arguing that we measure one another’s piety by which Bible we use.

There are at least five distinct issues related to Bible translations. The one that receives the most press is the source manuscripts. There are two competing sets of manuscript families, an older set, and a larger set. As you might guess, those who prefer the older set argue that it must be more true to the original because it is older, whereas the other group argues that the larger set must be more faithful because it is larger. In my estimation this argument is grossly overblown, as are the distinctions between the two text families. It takes a brain much larger than mine to figure out which is better.

The biggest issue for me is the translation philosophy. There is a continuum among philosophies with a literal, word by word translation on one end, and a Bible paraphrase on the other end. I am rather strongly on the side of the former and opposed to the latter. I understand the motives that bring us The Message, or the Ebonics Bible. But it’s a bad idea. The further you move away from word for word translation, the more room you leave for interpretation, rather than translation.

The third issue is beauty. Which translation in its form best befits its content? This too is one of the weaknesses of most paraphrases. Ironically, in trying to make the Bible more readable they make it instead more pedestrian. This is likewise a weakness the more we push toward word for word equivalency. The most “faithful” translation often will clank, artistically speaking.

The fourth issue is one of authority. The hard reality is that in our day, Bible translations are important to the long-term financial health of publishing companies. Some companies, it seems, in defense of their bottom lines, have added to the already crowded alphabet soup of Bible translations. Should the Bible be in the hands of publically traded companies? How about parachurch organizations? Some have argued that the church alone has the authority to translate the Bible.

The fifth issue is history. That is, which Bible translation fits best into the life of the church over the centuries? Is it not jarring to read, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want?” I believe there is great value in having a translation that has inspired our hymnody. I believe there is a profound blessing for me to memorize the same words that my grandparents memorized when they were small.

Different translations might score higher than others in one category above, but lower than others in another. No one Bible gets five stars in every category. That said, it is possible, if not wise, to use different translations for different contexts. For example, the New American Standard alone earns five stars on word for word translation. But it earns no stars for beauty. If I find myself in a situation where I need a level of precision that is high, but too low to go to an inter-linear Bible, I pick up my NASB. Otherwise, it stays on my shelf.

In like manner, the King James Bible scores points on the issue of history, and on beauty. But the anachronisms in the language are a real barrier to me. It tops the list on authority, but even there it is sketchy. An angry, and likely light in his loafers king, it seems to me, shouldn’t have the ability to supplant a perfectly good Bible like the Geneva Bible.

In the end, and on balance, my favorite for most circumstances is the New King James Bible. It scores high on history, without getting me confused. It scores high on beauty, without losing fidelity to the original text. It scores high, though not the highest, on word for word translation, while still communicating the gravity of its subject. Even on the issue of competing text families it does well as it usually includes parenthetically alternate readings in the older texts. The English Standard Version runs a close second for me. Then the Geneva Bible. This is how I approach the question, but it does not, to borrow a phrase, determine the boundaries of my fellowship.

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Why does God allow bad things to happen?

Posted on June 1, 2019 by RC

My friends at Social Church invited me on their podcast to address the question of suffering. Have a listen, and check out all their good work.

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Pickle Puss

Posted on May 31, 2019 by RC

 

I have a friend who was once a performer. He is a passionate man, but also, from time to time, profoundly honest. I went to see him perform and he made this confession. He said, “My wife told me that all I ever talk about are the things I’m against. ‘Why don’t you,’ she asked me, ‘ever tell your audience what you are for?’” Though he may have forgotten that line, I never will.

When we are just reaching adulthood, many of us find it rather easy to be mad. None perhaps more so than we who, ironically, embrace the doctrines of grace. “Young, restless and Reformed” as a descriptor was soft-pedaling the reality. “Young, angry and Reformed” is more like it. There are, of course, plenty of things for us to be angry about. The dogs of sin have paved paradise and put up a barking lot. Jesus is about the business of bringing all things under submission. Until He has finished there will always be death, disease, and destruction. What there should not be from us, the redeemed, is despair.

Which means, in turn, that we ought to be the most cheerful of people, the most upbeat. That’s hard for me, as my spirit animal is a marshwiggle. But the objective reality is that I have much to be thankful for, which means in turn I have a lot to be for.

My book, Growing Up (with) RC recounts various conversations I had along the way with my father. In one chapter I tell the story of when my father, noting my budding folly of skepticism, warned me, “Son, the cheapest way to develop a reputation as an intellectual is to adopt the pose of the cynic.” The temptation is still there. To be always on the attack, to spend our time and energy on the things we are against is to look to sophisticated to be taken in, to protect oneself from the vulnerability that comes from being moved.  It keeps me behind the judge’s bench, clutching what I think is a gavel, but which is just a baby rattle.

It is true enough that we live in a world, and in a church, that is reluctant to call sin sin, that won’t give the context of the bad news by which the good news becomes sweet. That said, our message is good news.  It is good news for us, the redeemed children of God. It is likewise good news for those yet outside the kingdom, the not yet redeemed of God. No, it’s not good news for the reprobate. We don’t however, know who they are. Shouldn’t we, once not a people, but now a people, once strangers to the promises but now joint heirs, be giddy heralds of the message of Jesus Christ? Yes, let us warn those outside to consider the cost. But how shall they believe that if they taste they will see that He is good, if our own faces are perpetually sour?

If we believed the good news we would dance like no one’s watching. And because they are watching, they just might join us.

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The Silence of This Lamb

Posted on May 30, 2019 by RC

 

It’s been said that the rise of every empire in human history was preceded by some great technological leap forward. I’d suggest the same truth applies to ideological empires. For all his brilliance, and his even greater courage, Martin Luther would be long forgotten, and the Reformation with him, were it not for Mr. Guttenberg’s contraption.

The study Bible and the Bible college were instrumental in the spread of dispensationalism, and radio and television birthed an explosion of prosperity preachers. What, though, hath Al Gore wrought? The internet has taken what the historian Nathan Hatch called the democratization of American Christianity and given it steroids. The gatekeepers are all at home licking their wounds while everyone and their brother has a blog, a podcast, a FB page from which they wage ideological war.

A little over two and a half years ago I had all those things. I had then, a few months prior, given up my ordination and ceased to serve as an elder in the church. Then came my very public arrest for drunk driving, with my two youngest sons in the car. With that sin and crime I lost my job, my podcast, my website, my audience. What I gained, however, was a deeper appreciation for the grace of God, of my need for that grace, and my lack of a need to defend my reputation. What’s the use?

After a year or so I dipped my toes back into twitter, began working on a book and after another half year, with the blessing of my local church, began to host a Bible study. Just weeks ago the book I was working on was released and with that came opportunities to promote it on multiple podcasts and broadcasts. As expected, when peeking out of my foxhole I felt my share of bullets flying by. “How dare he?” “He’s trying to set himself up again.” And in a stunning display of a lack of self-awareness, even had some anonymous attack bloggers chasten me for not being accountable.

And now, my website. I’ll be writing blog pieces. I’ll be posting Bible studies.  I’ll be accepting speaking invitations.  God willing, I’ll get my podcast back up and running. What doesn’t this mean? It doesn’t mean I’m unrepentant over my sins. It doesn’t mean I’m unaccountable. It doesn’t even mean I’m trying to “get back in ministry.” I am trying to proclaim the gospel. I am trying to praise His name. I’m trying to tell my story. I am trying to encourage the saints- all things every believer not only can, but should do. Ordination may be in my future. I hope it is. I don’t know, but then, I don’t need to, because I don’t decide.

I’m not a shepherd. I’m just a sheep. My time for silence has ended. If you see yourself as an enemy, let me ask you to love me. If you see me as a friend, and see my “enemies” disparaging me online, love them and follow that ancient wisdom of Elsa and “Let it go.” As I tweeted recently, Nehemiah didn’t get the wall built worrying about Sanballat. And if Jesus sees you as His friend, then let us together heed our Master’s voice, and follow Him.

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Podcast Conversation on Growing Up (with) RC

Posted on May 30, 2019 by RC

Regular Reformed guys talking with a regular Reformed guy about RC Sproul, a regular Reformed guy.

CLICK HERE

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Bible Study Facebook Live May 20, 2019

Posted on May 20, 2019 by RC

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