Feb
03
2010
Worth a Look 2.3.10
Russell Moore on “Retaking Mars Hill”:
Often at the root of so much Christian “engagement” with pop culture lies an embarrassment about the oddity of the gospel. Even Christians feel that other people won’t resonate with this strange biblical world of talking snakes, parting seas, floating axe-heads, virgin conceptions, and emptied graves. It is easier to meet them “where they’re at,” by putting in a Gospel According to Andy Griffith DVD (for the less hip among us) or by growing a soul-patch and quoting Coldplay at the fair-trade coffeehouse (for the more hip among us).
Knowing Andy Griffith episodes or Coldplay lyrics might be important avenues for talking about kingdom matters, but let’s not kid ourselves. We connect with sinners in the same way Christians always have: by telling an awfully freakish-sounding story about a man who was dead, and isn’t anymore, but whom we’ll all meet face-to-face in judgment.
Tullian on how to identify a reliable preacher:
Thankfully both the Bible and church history give us some direction here. So I want to provide you with a brief list of five questions that can help you discern the reliability of a particular teacher or preacher.
J.D. Greear on Inclusive Exclusivism:
The Gospel doesn’t exclude anyone based on anything about them as other religions do. It is not the morally perfect, the intelligent or the successful that the Gospel accepts. The Gospel says that a person is accepted not because of anything they have or haven’t done, but because of what Christ has done for us, if we receive it! Thus, Christianity is (to use the phrase of Tim Keller) the most inclusive, exclusivism that there is!
Some humor for your Wednesday. Sermon Writers’ Guild Goes on Strike: Churchgoers Face Sermon Repeats