The Gospel Coalition

The cross is the climax of the great themes of reversal found all throughout the Old and New Testaments.

In Mary’s song, often called the “Magnificat,” she speaks of the mighty being brought down from their thrones and God’s exaltation of the humble. She sings about the rich being sent away empty and the hungry being filled with good things. In the kingdom of God, everything is being turned upside down.

God’s view of our world is radically different than our own.

History books about ancient Egypt list all the Pharaohs and their accomplishments. It is interesting to note that the Bible never tells us the name of Pharaoh during Moses’ day. However, in the book of Exodus, we are given the names of the two Hebrew midwives who protected the Israelite babies and defied Pharaoh’s orders. From God’s point of view, the faithfulness of Shiphrah and Puah are far more important than the pyramids of Rameses the Great.

And nowhere is the “Great Reversal” more evident than in the seeming weakness of the Lamb that is slain and yet sitting on the throne in Revelation. The slain lamb would appear to be a picture of ultimate weakness, and yet a glimpse of God’s throne room shows us that Jesus is the conquering king who has won the victory through his death and resurrection.

Power in the biblical sense affirms God’s glory, not our own. We should take the earthly power and authority that God has given us and exercise it in such a way that it shines a spotlight on God’s magnificent grace.

- from Holy Subversion: Allegiance to Christ in an Age of Rivals

1. John Ensor on the third wave of the pregnancy help movement.

2. Tim Keller on dealing with harsh criticism

3. Michael Kelley’s prayer on the last day of their son’s chemotheraphy

4. Kevin DeYoung asked Mark Dever and CJ Mahaney what books they benefited from this year.

5. Ben Witherington reminds us that “no one has an inalienable right to tell the majority of Americans ‘you must change your definition of marriage or else you are being unjust’.”

6. Jon Acuff has discovered the secret of having a good blog.

7. Why the Oral Roberts obituaries are wrong

All of these books could be yours! Today, it is my pleasure to announce the second annual Kingdom People Christmas Giveaway.

For the next ten days (Dec. 15-25), you have the opportunity to register to win all ten of my favorite books this year. Plus, an ESV Study Bible and a copy of my forthcoming book, Holy Subversion. That’s $240 worth of books! (Click here to read about last year’s winner.)

#1. SOUTHERN BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, 1859-2009 – Greg Wills
#2. UNFASHIONABLE – Tullian Tchividjian
#3. DEEP CHURCH – Jim Belcher
#4. THE CASE FOR LIFE – Scott Klusendorf
#5. THE GOD WHO SMOKES – Timothy Stoner
#6. ADOPTED FOR LIFE -Russell Moore
#7. MANHUNT – James Swanson
#8. COUNTERFEIT GODS – Tim Keller
#9. WHY WE LOVE THE CHURCH – Kevin DeYoung & Ted Kluck
#10. THE GOD I DON’T UNDERSTAND – Christopher Wright

How to Register for the Kingdom People Christmas Giveaway

1. You must be a subscriber to my blog via email or RSS. (See the sidebar, upper right-hand column to subscribe. I also have a Twitter account if you prefer to follow me that way.)

2. Send me an email, letting me know that you are a subscriber. Include your name and shipping address.

3. On December 25, I will randomly select one person who will win the ten books and ESV Study Bible.

* BLOGGER BONUS *
If you have a blog and would like to increase your chances of winning, add my blog to your sidebar and send me an email with a link to your blog. I will add your name to the list twice. If you also write a post about this Giveaway, I will add your name to the pot a third time.

Michael Wittmer points out some similarities and distinctions in the theology of Karl Barth with regard to the New Perspective on Paul.

Barth agrees with the NPP that Luther did distort Paul’s argument by reading Romans and Galatians through the grid of his battles with Rome. But Barth suggests that the Reformers’ medieval context actually enabled them to see aspects of Paul’s argument that others had not.

Here’s your chance to win all of Donald Whitney’s books, including his helpful guide to the spiritual disciplines.

Christianity Today examines how churches respond to pastors who suffer through health problems. Matt Chandler and John Piper are two pastors who are profiled here.

Who is left to comfort pastors when they get the dreaded diagnosis? Cancer doesn’t exempt pastors, either, no matter how sizable their influence.

A fascinating glimpse of the Southern Baptist Convention in 1960. Sad to see many of the views on segregation.

In Holy Subversion, there is a chapter on how the church should subvert the world’s understanding of power. This excerpt is particularly relevant for this time of year, as it contrasts the power of God’s kingdom with the power of Caesar’s rule:

Consider Jesus of Nazareth alongside Caesar Augustus.

At the time of Christ’s birth, Caesar had issued a call to the Roman world that everyone be counted and properly taxed. As he enjoyed luxurious accommodations in his Roman palace, he hoped to demonstrate his own greatness before a watching world by publicizing the great number of people under his domain. And yet in an unnoticed corner of Caesar’s kingdom, in a simple stable, sleeping in a feeding trough, the Son of God had come to show the glory of his Father.

The nature of infancy teaches us something about weakness, and it teaches us something about our God. Every Christmas we celebrate not Caesar’s triumphant census, but our Emmanuel: God with us.

The Apostle Paul tells us that Jesus made himself a servant. The infinite God enclosed himself in a woman’s womb for nine months. God the Son was wrapped in swaddling clothes and placed in a manger for a bed. God made himself vulnerable.

Picture Jesus, the firstborn above all creation, the one through whom God spoke the creation of the universe, sitting on his mother Mary’s lap, learning to read and write! Such mysteries can never be fully explained. But it is the story of God coming to earth – God’s being with us – that lies at the heart of the Christian worldview.

Imagine Caesar in his palace and Jesus in the manger. Which one looks more like a king?

What would you do if you were in Bethlehem at the time and you had to choose to pledge your allegiance to either a baby boy who excited a few rugged shepherds, or the ruler of the known world with an army of thousands at his command?

Who was more powerful? Caesar or Jesus? Things are not always as they appear.

Christians must have a radically different conception of power. After all, when Jesus was crucified, it appeared that he was dying as a weak man at the hands of the strong. Pilate appeared to have the authority and power. “We have no king but Caesar!” the people shouted.

Caesar ruled by conquering lands and subjugating people. Jesus conquered sin, death, and the grave by suffering and dying – by bearing the full weight of God’s wrath towards the evil of the world and then rising again to new life.

Evangelism is only bait-and-switch if not motivated by love:

Christians are to love the whole person, and therefore it makes perfect sense to love someone by giving them food and at the same time to love them in a different, higher way by giving them the gospel. There’s no bait-and-switch there; that’s simply holistic compassion—compassion for the whole person, not just part of him.

The Christian Century looks at the Calvinism comeback:

The New Calvinists, with their God-centered message and their focus on dogmatic theology, make a robust contribution to contemporary ecclesial theological conversation. But they tend to obscure the fact that the Reformed tradition has a deeply catholic heritage, a Christ-centered sacramental practice and a wide-lens, kingdom vision for the Christian’s vocation in the world. The New Calvinists pick the TULIP from the Reformed field, overlooking the other flowers. There is much besides the TULIP in this spacious field that has grown from the seed of God’s word.

A selection from N.T. Wright’s “Advent Oratorio.” I have the audio CD of the Wright/Spicer “Easter Oratorio”. This one looks even better.

Dr. Mohler’s commencement address: “Starting Something You Cannot Finish”

Start something you cannot finish and give yourself to it for the length of your days, with the strength of your life, to the glory of God. Dream dreams and see visions, and take up this calling as you plant and water in the fields of Christ. Build carefully upon the foundation laid for you. The hopes and prayers of God’s faithful people go with you.

Stir up your power, O Lord,
and with great might come among us;
and, because we are sorely hindered by our sins,
let your bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and deliver us;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit,
be honor and glory now and forever.
Amen.

- The Book of Common Prayer

Ed Stetzer is the president of LifeWay Research and a prolific author of too many books to list here. (OK, here are a few recent ones you should note: Lost and Found: The Younger Unchurched and the Churches that Reach Them, Compelled by Love: The Most Excellent Way to Missional Living, and Breaking the Missional Code: Your Church Can Become a Missionary in Your Community.)

Ed has also written the Foreword to Holy Subversion. I’ll be posting a few sections of that Foreword in the coming weeks. Before he wrote the Foreword, he wrote an endorsement for the book, included below.

I’m thankful for Ed Stetzer’s commitment to encourage us young guys. I’m also grateful for his contributions to the Southern Baptist Convention and the wider world of evangelicalism.

In the midst of much debate and uncertainly about the Kingdom of God in the world today, Wax makes it clear that Jesus’ kingdom challenges our allegiances. Wax looks at issues of idolatry and stronghold and, one by one, show us how the gospel of the Kingdom requires a new loyalty. Holy Subversion: Allegiance to Christ in an Age of Rivals is a helpful and challenging book.

- Ed Stetzer

1. Maggie Gallagher offers eight reasons why same-sex marriage is not inevitable. Here are 2: Demography could be destiny. And young people are not as unanimous as most people think.

2. More undercover video from Planned Parenthood. This worker tells a young lady, “Women die having babies.” Unbelievable!

3. Michael Hyatt believes that the SI Tablet signals the end of book publishing as we know it.

4. Ed Stetzer has some sobering statistics on pornography.

5. How December 25 became Christmas

6. Preacher in the hands of an angry church: How Jonathan Edwards was ejected from his congregation.

7. Mark D. Roberts on the “new, new atheism”.

Brief comments on three books that I have read recently:

God in the Whirlwind: Stories of Grace from the Tornado at Union University
Tim Ellsworth
Broadman & Holman, 2008
My Rating: ****

Super Tuesday, 2008. I was watching with great interest the election results when the political coverage was interrupted by the news of a devastating tornado at Union University. Looking at the pictures of destruction, I was shocked that no one was killed.

Tim Ellsworth compiles the stories of more than a dozen Union students and faculty, documenting the harrowing experience of living through the storm as well as the unshakable faith of the survivors. This is a gripping book that will cause you to thank God for his goodness.

David Dockery writes in the Foreword: “Hope is not escapism, but is an energizing motivation for faithful living in the her and now. In the midst of our many challenges, hope stabilizes our lives, serving as an anchor to link us to God’s faithful providence.”

Choosing to Cheat: Who Wins When Family and Work Collide?
Andy Stanley
Multnomah, 2003
My Rating: ***

My dad recently bought several copies of this book and gave them to me and my siblings. Choosing to Cheat is about establishing priorities in line with God’s will. Stanley’s book is filled with stories that illustrate the danger of cheating your family by pursuing success in other areas.

Stanley creatively mines the Old Testament story of Daniel for examples of establishing priorities. While I might not agree with the details of this exposition of Daniel, I found this book to be a refreshing call to live in a way that pleases God and protects the family.

The New Shape of World Christianity: How American Experience Reflects Global Faith
Mark Noll
IVP, 2009
My Rating: ****

World Christianity is looking more and more like American Christianity. But this development is not caused primarily by American missionaries or the direct impact of the American church. Instead, it has come about largely because of key changes in the world scene which have led to increasingly Americanized forms of society.

The statistics that open Noll’s book will make your jaw drop. The demographic shift of Christianity in the past one hundred years is mind-blowing.

This is one of the most important books of the year. Anyone interested in the future of world Christianity will benefit from Noll’s research and conclusions.