The Gospel Coalition

I would have dressed up, only it was too much trouble.
I would have gone out, only it cost too much.
I would have driven, only travel’s dangerous.
I would have eaten, only I weigh too much.
I would have danced, only I didn’t have a partner.
I would have returned, only it brought back bad memories.

I would have gone, only I didn’t have time.
I would have visited, only I wasn’t wanted.
I would have tried, only it was a waste of energy.
I would have helped, only they didn’t need me.
I would have cared, only I didn’t feel like it.
I would have cried, only I wasn’t sorry.

I would have volunteered, only I had better things to do.
I would have voted, only it wouldn’t have changed things.
I would have donated, only they’d made their quota.
I would have spoken up, only I was afraid to.
I would have acted, only others got there first.
I would have felt sorry, only I didn’t feel guilty.

I would have prepared, only it was too much work.
I would have studied, only I wouldn’t have passed.
I would have corrected it, only it was too late.
I would have told the truth, only it would have offended.
I would have graduated, only life intervened.
I would have gotten the job, only they didn’t like me.

I would have prayed, only God only knows.
I would have worshipped, only I hate to sing.
I would have fellowshipped, only I didn’t know them.
I would have served, only I didn’t have the calling.
I would have loved, only it hurt too much.
I would have lived,
If only.

- Ben Witherington III, from Is There a Doctor in the House?: An Insider’s Story and Advice on Becoming a Bible Scholar, p. 38.

Fascinating video that shows how we went from 0.3 billion people to 7 billion in 1000 years.

Seven links for your weekend reading:

1. Greg Gilbert and Kevin DeYoung respond to the “nagging questions” I had after reading their book on the mission of the church. I still have some reservations, but this is a helpful response that furthers an important conversation. More to come.

2. Together for Adoption responds to Matt Anderson’s critique of the recent conference: Unpacking the Theology of Adoption for the Good of Orphans

3. Thom Rainer offers practical suggestions in the wake of the Penn State scandal: “Protect Our Children”

4. Dinesh D’Souza interview in Slate – “Why We’d Be Miserable in a World Without Religion”

5. Chaplain Mike with a poetic look at the month of November – “The Cruelest Month” (Come on, Mike! November isn’t that bad, is it?)

6. Shai Linne – “The Challenge of Christian Music Videos”

7. Compassion in a World of Seven Billion

Last week, I sat down with Keith and Kristyn Getty to talk about their new Christmas album, Joy: An Irish Christmas. I’ve long appreciated the Gettys for the way they serve the Church through their hymn writing. Reading this transcript, one can sense Keith and Kristyn’s heart for evangelism, for the Church, and for praising the Lord who took on flesh to save us.

Trevin Wax: How do you go about choosing songs for a Christmas album? You probably have so many favorites.

Kristyn Getty: It’s a long, long process. Was it two years ago when we first started thinking about a Christmas album?

Keith Getty: Yes. Judson Baptist in Nashville asked us to do a Christmas show. And we didn’t have one.

Kristyn: That’s right. So we had to put some songs together for it, and that was the beginning of the sorting process. Then we developed the Irish theme with an Irish friend of ours who is fantastic at arranging music with an Irish side to it. Then, for the album, we brought out a few songs we wrote many years ago for a project that we did at home in the UK called Incarnation.

Keith: So it was basically a mixture of those three things: the older carols we’d written, the new carols we’d written, and carols that we loved that other people had written.

Kristyn: It was quite refreshing, actually, because for all our other albums, we have tried to write everything. It worked out well that in the year we were having our first child for us to take on a project where we didn’t have to write as much.

Trevin: Do either of you have a personal favorite Christmas song on the album?

Keith: My favorite Christmas song isn’t on the album because it didn’t fit the style of where we were going – “Once in Royal David’s City.” I love the melody, but it really doesn’t fit an Irish approach.

Kristyn: I enjoy singing “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.” Our arrangement with the band has a lot of energy.

Trevin: How has having a baby changed Christmas for you?

Keith: Well, we have a song called “How Suddenly a Baby Cries,” and it’s true that things are forever changed.

Trevin: Your song “Jesus, Joy of the Highest Heaven” has some lines about the glory of the incarnation. When I first heard that song, it reminded me of when we had our first child. He was six months old at Christmas, and I remember thinking about how helpless a baby is. And the glorious mystery of the incarnation hit me like never before…

Kristyn: You taste it in a new way. You know, you understand it before, but life experience helps you understand it differently. You view childbirth differently too. In one of our songs, we had a line that described Mary as “frail.” And after I’d given birth, I thought, Frailty has nothing to do with the process! So we changed the word to “young.” The song “Magnificat” has been meaningful to us because we’ve sung that song through the journey of the struggle to conceive, waiting for her to come and then now that she’s arrived.

Trevin: Whenever I hear “Magnificat,” I think of SBTS professor Chip Stam. There’s a YouTube video of you all at the hospital singing the song for him.

Keith: Chip was a good friend of ours who died this year of cancer. Track 9 on the album, “O Savior of Our Fallen Race,” is dedicated to him. That hymn melody is actually called “Stam.”

Trevin: Thinking about Chip and other men like him, are there some particular authors or worship leaders you turn to when you are looking for inspiration in the hymn-writing process?

Keith: The Bible is the primary inspiration. We read the whole Bible every year systematically. Likewise, our church focuses on expositional Bible teaching. In the last two years, I’ve been inspired by the whole history of Christian verse, especially poetry in English language. So I enjoy that. Authors? Tim Keller and Don Carson are two of the people who we’re closest to in terms of understanding theology. They’ve got a broad vision of understanding the gospel but in a sense that’s culturally relevant and artistically fulfilling.

Kristyn: Also, my uncle, Dr. John Lennox.

Keith: Yes, Professor Lennox introduced us. I had sort of a skeptic phase, and he helped me.

Kristyn: He’s one of those people whose strong faith makes you stronger. Whenever I’m with him, within a few minutes, either in conversation with myself or other people, he’s talking about the Lord and trying to find a way of communicating the gospel. He’s a phenomenal evangelist and a great Bible teacher.

Another person who has inspired me is Joni Eareckson Tada because of the contagious joy that she has, her unbelievable cheerfulness, and her deep faith that has been tested and shines brightly. Regarding some of the gentler songs that we’ve done – perhaps not an individual line – but the thought of her sometimes informs my singing.

Trevin: Does the fact that churches immediately grab on to certain hymns surprise you? Do you ever expect a hymn to take root quickly and then find it didn’t become as popular as expected?

Kristyn: Well, everybody’s different. And different denominations, different groups, link on to different things.

Keith: But I think different songs have different value. The last song we wrote is always the one we’re most excited about. Take two songs on the Christmas album: “O Savior of Our Fallen Race” and “Jesus, Joy of the Highest Heaven.” The second one, a children’s hymn, is useful and timeless, but has a sense of immediacy. The first one, “O Savior of Our Fallen Race,” is probably one of our best melodies ever, but it will be a gradual build, as it’s not in the style for the popular evangelical church. So different songs find different homes.

Trevin: One of my favorites is “Jesus Is Lord,” but it’s not on any of your American albums.

Keith: It was the closing hymn at Chip’s funeral, actually. He wanted his funeral to finish up with the theme of Jesus as Lord.

Kristyn: I like that one too, but it’s not one we do with the band very often.

Trevin: Looking beyond to other singers, bands, and artists… are there any particular songwriters or people you look up to or respect?

Kristyn: There’s Stuart Townend and then everybody else! After him, I loved Vikki Cook’s melody to “Before the Throne of God Above.”

Keith: Graham Kendrick pioneered the way. “The Servant King” is pretty unsurpassed.

Kristyn: Our worship music diet growing up was Graham Kendrick…

Keith: And deserved to be because it was head and shoulders above everything else.

Trevin: What’s your impression of the other side of the modern hymn movement – the practice of taking old, obscure, forgotten hymns and giving them new music with a band and things like that? Sojourn, Red Mountain Church, etc.

Kristyn: I think it can be very, very good. The only thing I would say is that if the original melody was greatly loved, I’m usually disappointed unless the new melody is incredible. But the way these groups are taking more obscure texts that people don’t sing anymore and composing a beautiful melody for them is fantastic.

Trevin: How do you recommend people approach this Christmas album?

Kristyn: Carols are a further opportunity to help tell the gospel story. It’s incredible that you can be in supermarkets and malls and street corners and hear songs like “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.” We pray that the songs that are old will be heard in fresh ways and that the new songs will be an avenue for the gospel to reach into people’s lives.

Keith: Christmas in our culture is our biggest chance. Once a year, the culture determines that it’s okay to bring your friends to church, to have the gospel presented in songs and sermons and on television. This opportunity probably won’t be around forever, not to the degree that it is now. So it’s a huge opportunity. You’ve got captive audiences every time. We’ve got to be strategic about these things.

Kristyn: If a little bit of Irishness might draw some more people in, that’s exciting. Christmastime is also an incredibly difficult time for people. Our culture creates a sentiment, and the expectation is that we all have to tap into it somehow. Yet many people feel outside of that sentiment because that’s not where they are. That’s an opportunity for us to present the gospel story that gives people answers to their deepest longings.

Trevin: Thank you both. That is good counsel for church leaders and church members who want to reach out during Christmastime. And thank you for your service to the Church through your hymn writing.

The Forgotten Insight in the Reformation’s Revival:

One of the things that is so striking about the current revival of interest in Reformation theology, broadly conceived, is the absence of perhaps the most glorious contribution of Martin Luther to theological discourse: the notion of the theologian of the cross.

A strangely fascinating article (or conspiracy theory, depending on your point of view) about why McDonald’s “McRib” only shows up at certain times:

The theory that the McRib’s elusiveness is a direct result of the vagaries of the cash price for hog meat in the States is simple: in this thinking, the product is only introduced when pork prices are low enough to ensure McDonald’s can turn a profit on the product. The theory is especially convincing given the McRib’s status as the only non-breakfast fast food pork item: why wouldn’t there be a pork sandwich in every chain, if it were profitable?

The PC(USA) is breaking up (again):

Everything is in place to create a new Presbyterian denomination comprised of conservative congregations and led by First Presbyterian of Orlando. The only thing missing is churches.

“It’s kind of like an empty warehouse,” said First Presbyterian Pastor David Swanson. That empty warehouse denomination called the Fellowship of Presbyterians will start filling up in January when a convention of Presbyterian churches meets in Orlando, Fla. The churches are dissatisfied with the Presbyterian Church (USA), which voted last year to allow the ordination of gay ministers, deacons and elders.

Pro-life divisions may have contributed to the cause of the defeat of Mississippi’s Personhood Initiative:

Voters in Mississippi on Tuesday rejected a state constitutional amendment defining the unborn as persons, but pro-life observers expect the similar amendments to show up on many state ballots next November. Not all pro-life advocates supported the effort, reigniting the debate over the best ways to pursue pro-life legislation at the state level.

Brief notes on three books I’ve read recently:

Moral Apologetics for Contemporary Christians:
Pushing Back Against Cultural and Religious Critics
Mark Coppenger (B&H Academic)
My Rating: ****

Mark Coppenger believes Christians should not shy away from our ethical heritage when defending Christian truth claims. Instead, we should consider the ways in which a Christian ethic intersects with Christian apologetics. If true ideas bring life to society, one should expect life and culture to flourish where Christianity is embraced. Coppenger’s writing is feisty and persuasive as he argues for Christianity’s moral superiority. Here’s how Coppenger opens the book:

Foes of the faith often declare Christianity morally deficient… This book is designed to push back against such criticism, arguing that Christianity is morally superior as well as true. I will note uncomfortable realities, including the misbehavior of many Christians (and false professors) but will seek to demonstrate that the moral and cultural center of genuine Christianity is clearly superior to that of its competitors.

Beautiful Outlaw:
Experiencing the Playful, Disruptive, Extravagant Personality of Jesus
John Eldredge (FaithWords)
My Rating: **

The newest book from John Eldredge seeks to surprise readers with the powerful personality of Jesus. Eldredge is at his best when describing the awe-inspiring nature of Christ’s incarnation and humility. Unfortunately, he tends to pit Christ’s immanence against God’s transcendence, as well as Jesus against the church. The end result is largely a “me and Jesus” Christianity that focuses on personal experience more than God’s Word.

Good to Great:
Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t
Jim Collins (Harper Business), 2001
My Rating: *****

This book was an eye-opener for me. It explains the success of Walgreens, Kroger, and other organizations that left their competition behind as they delivered unprecedented, sustained results.

What makes this book more helpful than other business books is that Collins didn’t just research the companies that succeeded; he and his team also researched the similar companies that declined during the same period. By comparing and contrasting the companies, the team was able to discern key findings related to leadership, discipline, technology, and perseverance.

It’s worth noting that some of the findings are counterintuitive (e.g., technological innovation is an accelerator, not a creator of growth, and effective leaders tend to be humble and more focused on the good of the company than their own renown). The book is an easy read thanks to Collins’ ability to distill his research into easy-to-remember concepts and illustrations (the Hedgehog, rinsing one’s cottage cheese, and the flywheel are three that immediately come to mind and will stick with me for a long time).

(Two of these reviews were first published in Christianity Today, October 2011.)

Joe Thorn on “gospel-centered” (HT – Z):

At our church, we talk a lot about being gospel-centered as a church, and we encourage gospel-centered living among our people. From time to time we get asked by our newcomers, “What exactly does that mean? What does it look like?” Here is a brief explanation.

Lisa Miller seems surprised that so many pro-lifers are women:

Recent news stories about the new vitality of the antiabortion movement and its legislative achievements — more than a dozen states enacting record numbers of abortion restrictions this year — have glossed over one crucial fact. The most visible, entrepreneurial and passionate advocates for the rights of the unborn (as they would put it) are women. More to the point: They are youngish Christian working mothers with children at home.

The Myth of the Self-Made Man (or Woman):

Why do some succeed and some don’t? Usually it is because of cultural background or social structures. We love the romantic myth that anyone can be anything if you just try hard. But the reality is that most people who succeed have had the playing field tipped in their favor through no doing of their own.

5 Signs of Spiritual Maturity:

Puerility is only annoying in an adult. When a four year old dons a cape and wears his underwear over his pants, claiming x-ray vision, it’s cute. When his dad does that, it’s concerning (or certifiable). When you’ve been a believer for many years though, lack of these indicators should be concerning. Mature believers possess these 5 indicators…

I’m thankful for pastors like Kevin DeYoung and Greg Gilbert and count them both as friends. I appreciate them for their rigorous thinking imbued with pastoral sensitivity and a desire to be biblically faithful.

Recently, I read their new book, What Is the Mission of the Church?: Making Sense of Social Justice, Shalom, and the Great Commission, an ambitious work that seeks to place the church’s mission within the framework of the Bible’s story line and the New Testament gospel. DeYoung and Gilbert focus on the Great Commission texts in order to formulate this definition of the church’s mission:

The mission of the church is to go into the world and make disciples by declaring the gospel of Jesus Christ in the power of the Spirit and gathering these disciples into churches, that they might worship and obey Jesus Christ now and in eternity to the glory of God the Father. (241)

I am largely in agreement with this definition, but I’m puzzled by the way the book unpacks it. I agree that the mission of the church is to make disciples, but I think I pack more into the definition of “disciple-making” than DeYoung and Gilbert do.

So instead of doing a full review, I thought it might be helpful to put forth five nagging questions about I have about their proposal, in hopes that these questions continue the conversation that DeYoung and Gilbert’s book has begun:

1. Can we reduce “making disciples” and “teaching Christ’s commands” to the delivery of information?

It seems to me that DeYoung and Gilbert tend to reduce “disciple-making” to teaching and then reduce “teaching” to the transferring of information. I agree that teaching is a central part of discipleship (which is one reason I am dedicating the next few years to the development of solid biblical curriculum). At the same time, we need to recognize that teaching also takes place in mentoring, in modeling, and in collaboration with others. So wouldn’t good deeds of love and justice fit within the overall definition of “teaching”? Isn’t part of disciple-making expressed in older Christians coming alongside new believers and together doing the good deeds Christ has called us to? If so, then doesn’t the making of disciples inherently include, at least in some measure, our work in the world? At the end of the day, I don’t think we can separate “making disciples” from “loving neighbor” in the way that it seems DeYoung and Gilbert do.

2. If we agree that there is a zoom-lens and wide-lens view of the gospel, can we also agree that there is a zoom-lens and wide-lens view of the mission?

I liked DeYoung and Gilbert’s chapter on the gospel, particularly the way they distinguish between two ways of conceiving the one gospel. In DeYoung and Gilbert’s conception, the gospel of the kingdom is integrally connected to the gospel of the cross. Or put another way, the cross is the fountainhead of the blessings of the kingdom. My question is: Why not use this approach in considering the mission? Can we not conceive of the church’s mission in wide lens and zoom lens as well? Evangelism is central (zoom lens), and yet evangelism is corroborated by any number of activities (wide lens) that demonstrate the reality of our gospel proclamation.

3. Isn’t there a sense in which worship is expressed through our life in the world, not just our corporate worship services?

At the corporate level, it’s clear that worship takes place within the church’s gathering. Yet the biblical story line begins with Adam and Eve worshiping God by obeying His commands in the garden. It was their cultivation of the garden that reflected their love and praise for their Maker. So when DeYoung and Gilbert claim that worship is integral to the mission of the church and yet want to separate worship from our deeds of justice, I worry that we are failing to remember that our good work in the world is part of our obedient worship to God.

4. Even if we recognize that the verbs related to the kingdom are passive (receiving, bearing witness to, etc.), does this necessarily preclude us from speaking of “work for the kingdom”?

When people use terminology like “work for the kingdom” or “build for the kingdom,” they usually mean that their good deeds are done at the bidding of King Jesus. They are doing these things on behalf of the kingdom. DeYoung and Gilbert are hesitant to allow any of our good deeds to be seen as contributing in some way to God’s work in establishing His kingdom. I understand their concern. Yet I think that propping up an unbendable category here might suppress kingdom work rather than inspire it. I think many people in our churches are unaware of how their “labor for the Lord is not in vain.” Connecting our good deeds to the kingdom that only God will establish can be a pastorally helpful and biblically faithful way of showing the relationship between kingdom work and the church’s mission. “Working for the kingdom” does not necessarily lead to burn-out and utopianism. For most of us, it infuses our current work with passion and excitement, knowing that God will take our work and use it for His purposes.

5. Is our representation of Christ not part of the mission?

DeYoung and Gilbert believe we must represent Christ, but it seems like they connect this representation so tightly to verbal proclamation of the gospel that little room is left for representing Christ through love and good deeds. I wonder if, in addition to the Great Commission passages, we also need to consider the New Testament metaphors for the church as we seek to discern our mission. Images like Christ’s bride, Christ’s body, and the holy temple and royal priesthood help us understand that being like Jesus is part of what it means to “teach all that He has commanded.” Christ-likeness is a part of the mission, and we cannot and should not separate proclamation of Christ from the representation of Christ we offer through our acts of service.

Update: Kevin and Greg have offered some clarifying answers to these five questions here. I encourage you to read their response. This is a conversation worth having.

So much more than victory over sin:

It’s a major victory when God helps us stop sinning.  But what glory it brings him when his mighty power forms the character of Christ in us.  So be encouraged today.  If you’re a believer, God is at work in you not only to give you victory over sin but to live his life through you and form his Son in you.

Last week, I linked to an article about how manners in the South are disappearing. Terry Mattingly points out the religious aspects that were neglected by the journalist who wrote that story:

So the New South may be less polite, teaming with people who have no manners. That is a secular story and that is also a religious story. In this case, guess which one got written, to the exclusion of the other?

Experiencing the Trinity (with Wesley):

John Wesley only preached one sermon with the word “Trinity” in the title, but don’t let that fool you: he is a great guide to living out the mystery of evangelical trinitarianism. His approach to the Christian life is saturated with the insight that in everything we do, we are surrounded by the work and the presence of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Sacrificial Leadership:

Great leaders are sacrificial leaders.

Even if the sacrifice we are compelled to make is ourselves.

Every week or so, I hear from church leaders who have chosen to use Counterfeit Gospels in their sermon preparation, youth groups, or small group Bible studies. I’m always encouraged to hear from people who have benefited from the book and who are now helping to spread the word.

The visual representation below was put together by Paul Campbell, a youth Sunday School teacher in Texas. He wanted to help his students get their minds around how the big story of the Bible relates to the gospel announcement and the community that embodies that announcement. This isn’t exactly how I would put it together, but overall, I thought this graphic was concise and clear. So with Paul’s permission, I’m passing it on with the hopes that others may benefit from it. Thanks, Paul!