The Gospel Coalition

“The World Council of Churches has a motto that says, ‘The world sets the agenda for the church.’ I respectfully submit that this is a grave error. The church and its gospel throw into question the agenda of the world—all the agendas of the world—and open the world to possibilities of which it has never dared to dream. When the church dares to be different, it models for the world what God calls the world to become.”

Richard John Neuhaus

I don’t how I missed this, but back in August, Catherine Claire (a girl I went to RTS/Orlando with) interviewed her boss, Chuck Colson. You can read it here.

My granddad turned 89 today. Born on November 7, 1918 on a dairy farm outside of Charlotte, North Carolina, Daddy Bill has lived his life on the world stage and has remained faithful. I thank God for him. I was recently asked by an interviewer what it was about him that has had the greatest impact on me personally. This is what I wrote:

1. His Humility: Daddy Bill has always been keenly aware that God is God and he is not. He has always been conscious of his smallness and God’s bigness, his imperfection and God’s perfection. I was telling someone the other day that it wasn’t until I got older that I began to realize that my grandfather was a pretty important person. This is mainly due to the fact that he never, ever, projected himself to be any more or less important than anyone else. I have never seen him think more highly of himself than he ought.
2. His love for the Gospel: Daddy Bill has always had a deep sense of his own sin which has led him to a deep love for his Savior. He has always exemplified the sweet reality that you can never know Christ as a Great Savior until you first know yourself to be a great sinner. God’s amazing grace still amazes him—and that amazes me!
3. His Faithfulness: Although he has had the opportunity to do many things, he has never wavered concerning God’s call on his life to be an Evangelist. He knows he’s not a scholar or a theologian and he’s never tried to be. He has always remained true to God’s calling on his life. And he has fulfilled that calling without ever being guilty of any sexual, financial, or other moral scandal. He has kept the main thing the main thing.
4. He has never showed favoritism: I have been with Daddy Bill in numerous places at numerous times with numerous people and I have never, ever seen him show favoritism. He treats all people the same, whether they are rich or poor, weak or powerful, socially significant or socially insignificant. Because of his belief that all people are made in God’s image, he has rightfully concluded that there are no little people.
5. His humanness: Daddy Bill is normal! He gets mad; he gets sad; he’s fun to be around. His favorite restaurant is Morrison’s Cafeteria. His favorite movie is Crocodile Dundee. His favorite drink is orange juice and he loves catfish. He’s just another man with all of the limitations and idiosyncrasies that the rest of us have—and I love him for it!

In the acknowledgements section of my book this is what I wrote:

To Daddy Bill for writing the foreword. I can’t believe the heritage God has given me. Because of your faithfulness to Jesus for more than sixty years, my children and my children’s children will be blessed. You have been one of my closest friends and most reliable counselors all my life. I want to be just like you when I grow up.

I love you Daddy Bill. Happy Birthday!

Josh Harris has a nice post on the importance of joining a local church. You can read it here.

In recent years many books and articles have appeared concerning the appropriate role of the church in our present cultural setting. This, of course, has included an analysis of contemporary cultural trends and how we as the church, God’s “alternative society”, are supposed to respond to the challenges and opportunities these trends present. The proposed solutions to these challenges and opportunities vary widely, but as yet no consensus has emerged. And while I do not claim to have the final answer, I would like to offer some direction regarding what I would consider some must-read books that can help us think through these issues biblically. No one will agree with all of the content in these books. In fact, some of these books represent opposing perspectives on how Christians should relate to the culture around them. But all of these books will help you develop your own conclusions.

1. No Place for Truth by David Wells
2. God in the Wasteland by David Wells
3. Losing our Virtue by David Wells
4. Above all Earthly Powers by David Wells
5. Engaging God’s World by Cornelius Plantinga
6. Not the Way it’s Supposed to be by Cornelius Plantinga 
7. Heaven is a Place on Earth by Michael Wittmer
8. Lectures on Calvinism by Abraham Kuyper
9. The Gospel in a Pluralist Society by Lesslie Newbigin
10. Resident Aliens by Stanley Hauerwas and William Willimon
11. Where Resident Aliens Live by Stanley Hauerwas and William Willimon
12. American Evangelicalism by James Davison Hunter
13. The Transforming Vision by Brian Walsh and Richard Middleton
14. He Shines in all That’s Fair by Richard Mouw
15. The Gravedigger File by Os Guinness
16. Total Truth by Nancy Pearcey
17. Rumor of Angels by Peter Berger
18. A Peculiar People by Rodney Clapp
19. Being the Body by Charles Colson
20. Chameleon Christianity by Dick Keyes

This article by my former colleague, T.M. Moore, is an excellent primer on creational theology. Read it. You’ll be glad.

I have loved the Dallas Cowboys since I was a wee little boy. Last night they demolished the Philadelphia Eagles. You have to see this video of Jason Witten (my favorite player on the team). What an animal!

After reading numerous articles recently and seeing various book titles claiming that commitments to Jesus seem to be on the rise while commitments to the church are decreasing (and most of the writers are claiming that this is a good thing), I wanted to share this small portion of my book Do I Know God? This section appears in a chapter entitled “The Practical Pursuit of Assurance.”

When God saves us, he saves us as individuals, but he saves us into a community—the church, the living community of faith. This means there’s no such thing as individualistic Christianity. God never intended us to live our lives pursuing him on our own. After creating the world and pronouncing it all “very good” (Genesis 1:31), God said that one thing was not good. Speaking of Adam—and in a sense of each of us—he said, “It is not good that the man should be alone” (Genesis 2:18). While it’s true that God is all we need, he wants us to enjoy his goodness and love through others.

The fact is, I can’t follow God on my own, and neither can you. We need each other; we need the church. The church is God’s family, and as we experience love and grace in God’s family, we also experience God’s love and grace through them. When the church helps us and encourages us, it’s God helping us and encouraging us through our brothers and sisters.

But experiencing God through his church takes work and discipline. It takes time. We experience God’s devotion to us only as we devote ourselves to the church and invest in the people of God. Just as with any other spiritual discipline, however, the more we invest ourselves, the more deeply we’ll experience God’s assurance of his eternal love for us. The church is the communal arena of grace where God grows us, matures us, and changes us through one another. That’s why it’s simply not possible to know that you know God apart from the church.

My friend Joshua Harris wrote an impassioned book called Stop Dating the Church, which is a clear call to fall in love with the family of God. In that book he points out that one of the most practical ways to experience assurance of your salvation is to join a local church, because “the local church is the place where our new life in Christ is lived out and proven.”

Sadly, not any local church will do. Some churches will help you in your spiritual journey; some won’t. I often tell people that selecting a good church is one of the most important choices you will ever make. Check out chapter 5 of Josh’s book for a helpful list of how to choose a good church.

Of course, since churches are made up of people in various stages of maturity, there’s no such thing as a perfect church. If you hold out for a church that fits every criterion on your long list of preferences, you’ll never engage. And that reminds me of a favorite story.

A few years ago I was in Starbucks with our music director, Brandon. As we waited in line to get our afternoon caffeine kick, the young barista behind the counter overheard us talking about our church, which at that point was only a year old, and we started chatting. Brandon soon invited her to visit our church one Sunday. She responded in typical postmodern fashion, saying, “I’m into spirituality, but I’m not really into organized religion.” Brandon, who has a wonderfully quick wit, replied, “Don’t worry, we’re really not that organized.”

The barista’s statement illustrates what many people believe today, namely that they can have a meaningful relationship with God without being connected to a local church. But it’s just not possible to have Christ the head without Christ the body—his church (Ephesians 1:22–23; Colossians 1:18). The two are inseparable. To neglect the body of Christ is to neglect Christ. Just as no one can survive without air, so Christians can’t survive without the church.

The bottom line is this: a real relationship with God will show itself in a real relationship with his people. And as we live our lives in the family of God, and as we listen to God through his Word and pray to him, God assures us of our salvation.

In Five Views on Apologetics, John Frame (in five sentences) reveals the unanswerable, inherent contradiction of atheism. This is what he says:

Certainly it is not obvious that the biblical God doesn’t exist. How could anybody establish the non-existence of God? Absolute negatives are notoriously hard to prove. You would need omniscience to know that there is no God anywhere in the universe. And, of course, if you were omniscient, then you would be God, and the contrary would be proven. 

I often tell the people that, when taking a road trip, if we don’t have a clear understanding of where we are going (our destination), we will have a difficult and frustrating journey. Throughout the Bible, God’s people are given glimpses of their final destination. They are given a road map that tells them where they are going–not only how they are to behave along the way. And (this might surprise you) the final destination for those who know God is not heaven!

If you are struggling in the valley and in need of some perspective, a mountaintop view of your destination, please read this article by Vern Poythress, professor at Westminster Theological Seminary.