The Inner Ring

Do you understand the unwritten rules of the group of people you want to join? --Not a formal joining where you send in your membership fee and get some sort of card or sticker identifying you to a group, but the unwritten rules of what it means to be in or to be out? From groups of playground friends in elementary school to the “in” group at the office or club, people intuitively know the power of the “Inner Ring.”

C.S. Lewis gave an address to young people explaining to them the way of the world:

“And of course everyone knows what a middle-aged moralist of my type warns his juniors against. He warns them against the World, the Flesh, and the Devil. But one of this trio will be enough to deal with today. The Devil I shall leave strictly alone...As for the Flesh, you must be very abnormal young people if you do not know quite as much about it as I do. But on the World I think I have something to say.” C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory (San Francisco, Harper Collins Publishers, revised 1980), 143.

Lewis then discusses the phenomenon of “the Inner Ring” and how every person’s desire to be a part of this phenomenon is one of the “mainsprings of human action."

He defines what the Inner Ring is and how it works--and how it relates to the idea of Friendship in general.

The rest of the address attempts to warn young people how this mainspring of motivation in life can actually destroy one’s soul. He solemnly warns, “The quest of the Inner Ring will break your hearts unless you break it. (Weight of Glory, p.156)”

This short address, only 17 pages, is both interesting and insightful. I only wish that Lewis could have described how to break the lust for the Inner Ring more fully.

I want to encourage leaders of young people such as teachers, youth pastors, pastors, and especially parents to read this address. Lewis discusses an aspect of life of which we are all aware; however, he brings this aspect out into the light and puts words to the issue that help us understand more fully.

If you have ever questioned why you feel hurt or elated at a way a group of folks has treated you, read “The Inner Ring.”

If your young people wrestle with interpersonal relationships (or even if they don’t), read this address.

If you want an understanding of what a major part of worldliness really is, read this short piece of work.


It is extremely insightful.


Find the Weight of Glory in which "The Inner Ring" is printed here.

Can Man Live Without God?

Book Review: Can Man Live without God?

(Blogger won't upload images for me; otherwise, I'd show you the book!)


Summary

Ravi Zacharias addresses atheism, or antitheism, by putting some of his lectures into book form entitled Can Man Live Without God? (Dallas, Word Publishing, 1994).
He says:

“In this book I have included the material from two lectures that were delivered at Harvard University at the invitation of several groups, and along with them, one lecture delivered at Ohio State University....

...I hope I have shown the many logical and social breaking points of antitheistic thinking, which is just too incoherent to be true and as a system of thought is incapable of dealing with the intellectual and existential rigor that life places before us.” (p. xvii.)

The book divides into three parts:

Part 1: Antitheism is Alive--and Deadly.
Part 2: What Gives Life Meaning?
Part 3: Who is Jesus (and Why Does it Matter?)

In Part 1, Zacharias shows the weaknesses of atheism especially as it applies to real life. He concludes this section stating:

“When one attempts to live without God, the answers to morality, hope, and meaning send one back to his or her own world to fashion an individualized answer. Living without God means lifting oneself up by his or her own metaphysical bootstraps, whichever way is chosen....

Bertrand Russell and others, in their own maverick ways, bragged about what they would say to God should they happen to be surprised and meet Him after death. But those grandstanding words impress us more than I believe they will God, and they sound better before the final crossover than they willmafter.” (pp. 60-61)

Part 2 asks the question, “What Gives Life Meaning?”

The author borrows a line from Shakespeare’s play As You Like It to address the various stages of life and how meaning is to be found in them: Infancy, Schoolboy, Lover, Soldier, Middle Age, Decline, and Old Age. He simplifies these seven stages into four in order to tackle the question. The four simplified stages are: childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, and maturity.

The final section of the book, Part 3, asks, “Who Is Jesus (and Why Does it Matter?) Now Ravi Zacharias focuses on the exclusive and unique claims of Christ and Christianity. He shows the reader that Christianity is unique and true by answering five critical questions of life:

1. The Nature of Truth
2, The Dilemma of Human Nature
3. The Quest for Unity in Diversity
4. The Nature of History
5. The Issue of Suffering


The two appendices at the end of the book excellent.

Appendix A gives the text of the question and answer session from the Veritas lectures at Harvard University.

Appendix B gives short biographical and philosophical sketches of Rene Descartes, David Hume, Immanuel Kant, Soren Kierkegaard, Friedrich Nietzshe, Bertrand Russell, and Jean-Paul Sartre.

Weaknesses:

This book is not a technical book of point and counterpoint issues in the philosophy of theism and atheism. It is a personal book filled with stories and conversations of individuals. It does not have diagrams and charts. It fits “the middle shelf” concept we have discussed elsewhere. Some may see this as a weakness. Taken as a unit, this book does not comprehensively deal with questions of atheism. However, it is one book that will round out a section one’s library that does.

Strengths:

It not a technical discussion. As stated above, it has stories and conversations of individuals--thus making it personal and easy to read. Do not mistake these comments as describing a lightweight book.

The section on the Law of Non-contradiction is excellent. The author describes his conversation with an animated opponent. At the end of the dialogue, he shows why “[t]he more you try to hammer the law of noncontradiction, the more it hammers you.” (p.129)

Ravi Zacharias does not give stereotypical views of Eastern philosophy a pass. As a native of India, he shows the fallacies of the Eastern thought that many today consider to be so enlightened.

Appendix B is a helpful historical sketch of important philosophers. It serves as a great introduction to beginners.

Recommendation:

This is a quality book that pastors and others of influence need to read. Ravi Zacharias also has a radio program called “Let My People Think.” It is time that those in ministry do just that. This book will help.

God's Grace Against False Teaching

1 Timothy 1:6-20

Sermon Notes by John Rush Preached at Liberty Church May 1, 2005

Last week, we saw the basis of a solid ministry. Now Paul warns us about a false and hurtful ministry. The true ministry leads to love out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned. Now Paul warns of false teachers who have swerved away from the faith and have been caught in the web of vain jangling: useless talk. May I submit to you this morning that too much of what goes on in the name of Christ is empty talk? A hurtful ministry? As one author entitled his book, a Toxic Faith? Because of these false teachers the way of truth is evil spoken of. Because of these deceptive shepherds, lives are misled. Souls are ensnared. Churches and homes are wrecked, and eternity's are lost. Barnes, in his commentary, says that these false teachers and false ministries have “the kind of discourse which is not founded in good sense.”

I. The Allure of False Teaching: Verses 6-7

A. It Misses the Mark: SWERVED. Swerved = Taking no pains to aim at the right path. Turned Aside = To turn or twist aside, to turn away. The word was used as a medical technical term, “to be dislocated” Baur/Arndt/Gingrich & Moulton/Milligan

B. It Becomes Irrelevant: VAIN JANGLING. Empty talk that does nothing to bring the souls of men closer to God.

C. It Abuses the Law: They DESIRE to be teachers of the Law: They wish to have fancy and nuanced understandings of speculative matters as some of the in which rabbinical teaching of Judaism bogged down. Now they wish to become learned and influential in the church.

“Desiring to be teachers of the law; understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm.” These are Judaizers. religious zealots.

Ignorant and Insistent.

Dumb and Dogmatic.

Thoroughly dogmatic.

THERE IS A SPIRITUAL APPEAL AND TEMPTATION IN USING THE LAW INCORRECTLY.

"What they say" = Customary Present: Describing an on-going action

Whereof the AFFIRM = The verb means to make assertion, or to give one’s opinion in a firm, dogmatic tone (BAGD; Fairbairn). Preposition in compound means “thoroughly” (MH, 302)

Who were these people? Judaizers who wished to mix the Law of Moses and the Grace of God--co-mingling the two. I hear good men today that still want to run back to the law like a horse wants to run back into a burning barn. They just can’t let it go. When they do such things they are:

1. Ignorant: Of how God really works.

2. Dogmatic: “AFFIRM” Since they have no Scriptural backing they just yell louder and pound harder.

IGNORANCE AND DOGMA ARE A DANGEROUS COMBINATION FOR ANY CHRISTIAN, FOR ANY CHURCH.

We must stand firm in the faith, yes. But we must be sure we are adhering to the truths of Scripture! How are they understood? With a spirit of humility. Be careful! Humility today means uncertainty rooted in skepticism. Biblical humility means knowing that our understanding comes from the grace of God. We are undeserving yet confident in the truth.


II. The Correction the Gospel: 8 "But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully..."

We must be careful how we handle the word of God. We can use the very things of God outside the rules.

Satan's subtleties can lead Christians--not to deny the Scriptures, but to abuse them:

Taking something God-given and making it hell-bent.

A. The Law is Good: (but must be used properly.)

1. It is God-given.
2. It reveals God’s holy demands.
3. It is God’s Covenant with His Chosen People: the Jews.

B. The Law Targets Evil:

Verse 9-10: Knowing this that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine...

Lawless and Disobedient: Lawless = recognize no law.

Disobedient = those who will not come into subjection. The lawless recognize no obligation. The unruly refuse all obligation. (Wuest) THESE ARE REBELS.

Ungodly and Sinners: Ungodly = destitute of reverential awe towards God. Sinners = Opposing God (Guthrie)

Unholy and Profane: Unholy = Wicked (Guthrie) Profane = Available to all evil. Not set apart for anything pure. “He is common, unhallowed territory.” (Wuest)

Murderers of Fathers/Mothers and Manslayers: Expanded to those who smite their parents let alone kill them. Punishable by death in the OT. Manslayers = Murderers.

Whoremongers and Defilers of themselves with Mankind
Whoremongers = pornois: All sexual immorality. Anything pornographic.

Defilers: Perverts, Sodomites, “arsenokoitais” = males in the marriage bed. (compound word) - John MacArthur points out.

Kidnappers: = Lit. To catch a man by the foot. “It refers to a slave-dealer, a kidnapper, a man-stealer, as well as to one who unjustly reduces free men to slavery....The word includes all who exploit men and women for their own selfish ends.” - Wuest.

Illustration: Recent years, young girls being taken from their homes.

Liars and Perjurers: Liars and those who go against an oath. (perjury).

Everything else that goes against wholesome teaching! and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine...

Important point: Verse 11 - “According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust.” Calling these things "evil" is in accordance with the Gospel.

The Gospel still requires us to call sin sin.

WHAT THEN IS THE RIGHT USE OF THE LAW?

1. We need the law to show these things as evil.
2. We need the law to put some restraint on these evils.
3. We need the law to convict the sinner of his sin.
4. We need the law to point us to God’s grace.

BUT IF WE USE THE LAW AS A WAY TO LIFE... WE ABUSE THE LAW.

III. The Hope in God’s Grace: vv. 12-17

A. Paul’s EXPERIENCE of Grace:

1. Paul was thankful to be “in the service.” How did he get there? Where did he start from? Everyone has a past, don’t they? What is your past like?

Paul was a Pharisee, highly moral. Yet extremely sinful: Can these two go hand in hand? Yes, they often do.

Blasphemer: One who slanders God. In Jewish teaching they were condemned to hell.

Persecutor: One who pursues as a hunter

Injurious: the word indicates one who in pride and insolence deliberately and contemptuously mistreats, wrongs, and hurts another person just to hurt and deliberately humiliate the person. It speaks of treatment which is calculated publicly to insult and openly to humiliate the person who suffers it. (R/R)

Acts 26:9-11, 14 I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Which thing I also did in Jerusalem: and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them. And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities.....And the GRACE of our Lord was exceeding abundant with FAITH and LOVE which is in Christ Jesus.

THE RESULT IS THAT AFTER MAKING A LIST OF HIDEOUS SINS, PAUL PUTS HIMSELF IN THE FIRST RANK OF SINNERS.

2. Christianity's truth for sinners:

15 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. (Present Tense.)

B. Paul’s EXAMPLE of Grace 16 Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.

Paul received eternal life through the mercy and longsuffering of God. It is a pattern, and example of how God works! This is how we too come to eternal life! No wonder Paul breaks out into praise and gratitude to God!!

SHEW FORTH = endeiknumi: To point out, to demonstrate. Prep. in compound suggest a more complete demonstration than the simple verb. IT IS THE LAYING OF THE INDEX FINGER, AS IT WERE, ON THE OBJECT. (R/R)

C. Paul’s GRATITUDE for Grace: 17 Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Only the Grace of God is powerful enough to overcome sin. Illust. Augustine of Hippo:

· b. Nov. 13, 354.

· Educated in rhetoric.

· Disappointed in his father:

· He was given to lust:

· He was ensnared by false doctrine: Manichaeism, Platonism

· He had broken relationships:

· But God was drawing Augustine to Himself:

· He was converted:

· He was set free:

“This is Augustine’s understanding of grace. Grace is God’s giving us sovereign joy in God that triumphs over joy in sin. In other words, God works deep in the human heart to transform the springs of joy so that we love God more than sex or anything else...” -John Piper 1

REMEMBER:

a. Religion or law cannot save you.
b. Find hope against sin: if Christ can save Paul, He can save you.
c. Let not your past overwhelm you. God can overflow and overwhelm your past with His mercy and grace.
d. Expect God’s grace to work today.
e. Let your praises ring in eternity.
f. Ask God for a useful ministry based on the converting power of grace.

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1. John Piper, The Legacy of Sovereign Joy: God’s Triumphant Grace in the Lives of Augustine, Luther, and Calvin (Wheaton, Illinois; Crossway Books, 2000), 57.

I removed from this post most of the quotes from Piper’s book. I recommend The Legacy of Sovereign Joy and may post a book review about it later.

Not a Chance

Two Posts for the Price of One:
See below: Church a Place of Affection and Accountability.
Here: Not a Chance.

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In Not a Chance: The Myth of Chance in Modern Science and Cosmology (Baker Books; Grand Rapids, Michigan, copyright 1994), R.C. Sproul thoroughly addresses the logical and philosophical problems of believing in chance as the origin of the universe.

Sproul introduces his work by saying “If chance is, God is not. If God is, chance is not. The two cannot coexist by reason of the impossibility of the contrary (p.3).” The author proceeds to define his terms. He is not dealing with a mathematical study in probability. Chance, in this context, means a causal agency by which all things exist.

The basis for his thesis is:

“1. Chance is not an entity.
2. Nonentities have no power because they have no being.
3. To say that something happens or is caused by chance is to suggest attributing instrumental
power to nothing.
4. Something caused by nothing is in effect self-created.
5. The concept of self-creation is irrational and violates the law of noncontradiction.
6. To persist in theories of self-creation one must reject logic and rationality.” (pp.12-13)

The rest of the book pursues the proof of his thesis.

Strengths of the Book:

Sproul is exact in his definitions and allows no equivocation. When the reader follows the line of argument, he knows exactly what the author is trying to say. This can tend towards being pedantic; however, Sproul throws in just enough humor to keep the discussion light. If the reader is confused at one point, Sproul will bring clarification just in time.

Not a Chance is a great introduction to the history of cosmology and the thinkers that originated ideas or modified them. Sproul refers to the contributions of men like Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, Rene Descartes, John Locke, David Hume, Immanuel Kant, and others without overwhelming the beginner (like this blogger).

The controversy surrounding quantum physics, the theory of relativity, and other thoughts of Werner Heisenberg, Niels Bohr, and Albert Einstein is extremely informative and interesting.

Sproul effectively challenges, not evolution as a science, but chance as a philosophy. He convincingly shows how the philosophy of chance undermines all hope for logic and the scientific method.

The author’s arguments concerning Cause and Effect as they are applied to Bertrand Russell (famous for his essay “Why I Am Not a Christian”) easily expose Russell’s dismissal of a First Cause as weak indeed.

Weaknesses of the Book:

The new student of cosmology may get lost in the sixth chapter, “Framing the Question.” The issues of “essence/substance” and “penomena/accidens” can be a stretch, but Sproul’s illustrations and examples show the reader the way out.

The book seems to end abruptly leaving the reader wondering “So what? What do I do now?” This may be outside the purpose of the book, but some added thoughts for the beginner in expressing his faith and engaging the opponents of logic would have been helpful.

Recommendation:

I recommend this book highly to parents, youth workers, and pastors who inevitably will be in a position to help young people form a clear view of the world. The current age that easily accepts irrational worldviews can distract young Christians. Fortunately, we have smart people that can cut through the fog and help us. The book, Not a Chance, is written by one of them.

Engaging the Issues at Hand

What do young people do when churches, schools, and other ministries on which they rely completely miss major points of development in an immature soul? I suppose these young people do one of the following:

· Throw off the religious system that never connected with them--and embrace the spirit of the age.
· Maintain some level of devotion while honestly struggling, failing, and trying again. Quietly hurting while trying to perform.
· Become hypocrites--maintaining the image of their religious system while living “on the dark side”--hoping nobody in their circle of friends finds out.
· Look for answers.

The battle over young people is intense, and it seems that the world system has all the advantages. However, young people are still drawn to honest souls who will listen and answer questions. These honest souls may even have to provide the questions, because many youths cannot articulate their struggles. Francis Schaefffer's comments still apply:

“I find that everywhere I go...children of Christians are being lost to historic Christianity....They are being lost because parents are unable to understandtheir children, and therefore cannot really help them in their time of need. This lack of understanding is not only on the part of individual parents but often also of churches, Christian colleges and Christian missions. Some Christian colleges (and I am not talking of ‘liberal’ colleges) lose many of their best students before they graduate. We have left the next generation naked in the face of the twentieth-century thought by which they are surrounded.” 1

Looking at the time that Schaeffer wrote and the issues he addressed, I realized that I was one of those turned out into the cold of twentieth-century thought. Schaeffer had me pegged.

I became a Christian as a young boy. The churches and ministries of my youth provided an enormous amount of spiritual wealth for me. However, as I grew, one underlying struggle developed: “How can I know that Christianity is true?” The struggle was in the realm of epistemology--although I didn’t know the name of the category at the time. I remember thinking as an early teen, “I’m going to prove Christianity to be true. I’m going to learn everything I can.” I believed Christianity was true. In my gut, I knew it was. But that wasn’t enough to settle my mind as I lived in the climate of an emerging postmodernism.

God has since provided the answers I needed--and I am grateful. But I had to look and look hard. The ministries at hand did not offer the answers I needed.

I hope that more Christian schools, colleges, camps, and churches are willing to enter the arena of epistemology and apologetics. Sometimes, ministries often find it easier to resort to instilling rigorous moralism in students or circling wagons to preserve a nostalgic sense of some by-gone Christian culture. I see these kinds of responses across the country.

But we are going to have to seriously consider how to reach the next generation. The issues of the current generation are already somewhat different from the ones I faced.

My point is this: finding the true battlefield of a soul is difficult, yet we must attempt it.

What are these twentieth century thought forms Schaeffer described? They are “nuanced” in various ways, but they arrive at the same conclusion:

Truth is relative. You cannot really know.

How people can reach this conclusion fills books. I think that, like a dispersing gas cloud, this conclusion still fills the mental atmosphere of the new millenium. Couching the issue in terms of philosophical pluralism, D.A. Carson wrote:

“The impact of philosophical pluralism on Western culture is incalculable. It touches virtually every discipline--history, art, literature, anthropology, education, philosophy, psychology, the social sciences, even, increasingly, the ‘hard’ sciences....It achieves its greatest victory in redefining religious pluralism so as to render heretical the idea that heresy is possible. Tolerance is radically defined, and masks a sometimes brutal intolerance....For the Christian, it has certainly altered some of the priorities that must be adopted in evangelism.” 2 [Emphasis added]

Some say that we will not operate for long on the basis of epistemological futility. Some new model for knowing may arise. But I believe the despair concerning knowledge is still rampant, and we need to adjust our methods of pre-evangelism, evangelism, and post-evangelism--to meet the despair head-on.

Decades ago, Schaeffer wrote:

“I walked out of a restaurant one morning a few weeks ago, and there was a girl sitting with a cup of coffee reading Skinner’s book Beyond Freedom and Dignity. She represents millions. We have millions and millions facing these questions, and in fact I think today the majority of the community have such questions. And they do not have to be university graduates. I have worked with shipyard workers, mill workers, all kinds of people (as well as, when I was younger, personally working on farms, a huckster wagon, in factories, and so on), and I am convinced that these people often have the same questions as the intellectual...” 3

This denial of knowledge is still popular, and it has worked itself into the practical forms of everyday living and thinking. Now religious truth is not considered to be something you can “know.” It is simply a set of personal values people choose among many. Obviously, we now face serious challenges in evangelism. Nancy Pearcey recently wrote:

“[T]oday if you talk about Christianity being true or historically verifiable, many people would be puzzled. Religion is assumed to be a product of human subjectivity, so that the test of a ‘good’ religious belief is not whether it is objectively true, but only whether it has beneficial effects in the lives of those who believe it.” 4

So,we retain the Two Questions that still resonate in our culture:

1. Is anything true?
2. If so, what is it?

Our culture’s unconscious answer to Question 1 is “No.” People rarely ask Question 2. Even Christians need help to maintain an answer to Question 1--in order to combat the spirit of the age. I know I did.

How do we penetrate the fog? How do we reach unbelievers and build strong believers?

1. Acknowledge the existence of the Two Questions.

Let’s be honest about these life and death questions. If we are distracted by maintaining a Christian subculture rather than engaging these issues, we will miss the battle at hand. This means we must become Christian thinkers. We need to use Scripture as the basis for all we do, but simply throwing Scripture verses at unbelievers is not the best way to win them. We must have a Christian philosophy of knowledge, engage in conversation, share Scripture as answers, and love people: a comprehensive approach.
Concerning philosophy, C.S. Lewis said, “Good philosophy must exist, if for no other reason, because bad philosophy needs to be answered.” 5 If we refuse to recognize the philosophical questions with which people unconsciously struggle, how can we even begin to develop good Christian philosophy to answer the bad stuff?

2. Study the answers to these Two Questions.

We will have to listen to the "smart people" God has given us. We may have to humble ourselves into a student attitude in order to listen. God has given us people that can help us. (See my post “I Heard It on Good Authority.”)

I am not promoting some “priesthood of the intellectual.” I am merely saying that God has given us many gifts. Some of them are smart people. Let’s take the time to reach a little higher, strive for the top shelf in thinking, and then bring the goods down to where we live.
In other words: Lets work a little bit.

3. Prepare to engage the man on the street concerning the Two Questions.

I am praying more and more about how to engage people in conversation about the issues with which they struggle--whether they be the Two Questions or not. This is the model of Christ with the woman at the well. Offering authoritative answers of hope is one way to define “loving the lost.”

4. Pray for Holy Spirit enabling to communicate answers to the Two Questions.

Of course, for anyone to be redeemed from despair and sin, God will have to illuminate minds. It is a spiritual work.


I hope to engage these principles in my own ministry. I am no scholar, but I don’t have to be. I’ll use Scripture, read smart people, pray, and work. May God help me fight the issues at hand and reach others for Christ.

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Footnotes are Linked to booksellers:

1. Francis Schaeffer, The God Who is There (Downers Grove, Illinois; Intervarsity Press, 1998) 172.

2. D.A. Carson, The Gagging of God: Christianity Confronts Pluralism (Grand Rapids, Michigan; Zondervan Publishing House, 1996), 52.

3. Schaeffer, The God Who is There, page 198.

4. Nancy Pearcey, Total Truth: Liberating Christianity from Its Cultural Captivity (Wheaton, Illinois; Crossway Books, 2004), 117.

5. C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory, “Learning in War Time" (1939), para. 10. p. 28.

FOR STARTERS, SEE ALSO:

Books by Os Guinness One I have appreciated recently is Time for Truth.

Miracles by C.S. Lewis as well as The Abolition of Man.

The Universe Next Door by James W. Sire. This is one I borrowed from my sister and read years ago (I plan to return it someday).

I am not commissioned to sell these books. These are just some that have helped me. There are more in the pile.

Christian War

I remember the time when some of the mainline denominations were taking “Onward Christian Soldiers” out of their hymnals. They found the imagery too offensive for contemporary sensibilities. Christians are to be peace loving, are they not? How can we be Christian soldiers?

Clearly they did not understand the nature of the battle. 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 describes the battle we fight behind enemy lines:

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war afterthe
flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mightythrough God to
the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, andevery high
thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringinginto
captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ...”

This whole passage trumpets that Christians are supposed to be different.

The Warfare is Different

It is too easy to get confused about the war! If the heat of battle is in the valley, don’t take your regiments to the mountain! Paul seems to acknowledge that we can easily forget where the battle lies. He says, “Yes, we walk in the flesh. We walk in a world of countries, governments, politics, and lands. But our war is not after these fleshly, external things. Our campaign, our expedition is in the realm of the spirit.”

Our Lord never forgot the nature of the warfare. In the last hours of his humiliation, Christ made a good confession before Pontius Pilate. Pilate asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” This Roman thought that Jesus was accused of trying to stir up a political movement, of trying to establish another earthly kingdom.But our Lord answered, “My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews, but now my kingdom is not from hence.” The Lord Jesus Christ knew that battling an earthly fight was not the need of the hour. The need of the hour was to have spiritual truth break into this fortress of deceit called the World: “To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.”

The battle campaign is for spiritual truth for those willing to hear God’s voice. This means that swords, guns, bullets, and other means of earthly force are futile in this fight. Notice, if the warfare were earthly, we would be called to fight. But this is not our battlefield.

The Weapons are Different

How are we to fight this battle? 2 Corinthians 10:4 says we fight with spiritual weapons. And notice how these weapons are contrasted: Not Fleshly vs. Spiritual, but Fleshly vs. Powerful. Unless we use spiritual weapons, we are using WEAK weapons. Any method of external force will not advance the kingdom of God in the world.I am not a pacifist and know there are times in this world to fight for family and country. Such fighting is for protection. However, even this does little to promote the our cause of spiritual battle. The use of violence in our lives is few and far between. We are not to live by the sword. We are not to do Gods work by the sword--or other fleshly means. Why? Because these weapons are not strong enough!Neither is any sort of railing. Romans 1 lists some of the works of the flesh with which well-meaning people can be tempted (including me.) We must avoid weak, selfish weapons identified by Scripture as Maliciousness, Debate, Despiteful, Proud, Boasters, Without Understanding, Without Natural Affection, Unmerciful.

Marvin Olasky very recently wrote:

“The Christian way is to practice what New Jersey pastor Matt Ristuccia calls'earnest grace, the re-association of sensibilities that we moderns have judged to be beyond association: specifically passionate conviction and profound compassion....[The apostle Paul was] so wonderstruck by the way God brought justice and judgment for human sin together with forgiveness and hopein the death of this Jesus, that Paul’s earnestness could not help but be
seasonedwith grace.'”1

William MacDonald continues with a thought on our weaponry:

“Faith in the living God, prayer, and obedience to the word of God are
the effective weapons of every true soldier of Christ. It is by these that
strongholds are razed.” 2

I would also add that since Paul describes the Word of God as the Sword of the Spirit, our greatest weapon is Scripture applied to thought and action. We must be able to give a Scriptural apology to counter the worldly philosophies, conclusions, and speculations. This leads us to the Mission.

The Mission is Different

The battlefield can be described as philosophy, worldview, theology, the arena of ideas, or the marketplace of ideas. Hence, the battlefield is the MIND. Our text says the mission is to cast down “imaginations.” Imaginations is the word logismos. It means "reasonings," "conclusions," or "speculations:" In other words, IDEAS.

This fact helps us determine our mission. We are to assault the false ideas and philosophies of man, tear them down with Scriptural revelation and reason, and then call souls of men to come to God. The hearts of men hang in the balance. The soul of man is our mission. We are to remove the despair-causing lies that encircle their minds, hoping that men can be set free from their prisons. This is a rescue mission. Because we too have been rescued, we feel a passion that others be rescued as well. We are not to hate those we rescue! We are to love and pursue them for the glory of God.

Such a mission is distinct from any other mission in the world.

How do we apply our weapon to the mission? We do it by living the Word of God ourselves, by speaking it to others in personal conversation, by preaching, by writing books and brochures, by bringing a Christian worldview to all fields of life and culture. In other words: by COMMUNICATION. Christians should be the best communicators. We should articulate to the educated and uneducated, to the rich and poor, to those of all races and ages in all places.

Ours is a mission of engagement.We are soldiers in communication. We are communicator-soldiers. And we need more of these Christian soldiers in the field, because--contrary to today's sophisticated ideas of despair--it does matter what one believes.

So let us sing:

Onward Christian soldiers
Marching as to war,
With the Cross of Jesus,
Going on before…

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1. Marvin Olasky, "South Park vs. Ann Coulter," World Magazine, August 13, 2005, page 48.
2. William MacDonald, Believer’s Bible Commentary (Nashville, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1995), 1856.

Total Truth

Somehow I want to say something like:

"Book of the Decade!"
"Smash-hit!"
"Must Read!" or
"If You Don't Read This Book, You're a Sissy!"

Regardless of my phraseology, I think you can see my high regard for Nancy Pearcey's book entitled Total Truth: Liberating Christianity from Its Cultural Captivity. (Crossway books here). I know many of you have already read Total Truth. I apologize for being late to the party.

Here's part of the front flap:

"Does God belong in the public arena of politics, business, law, andeducation?
Or is religion a private matter only--personally comforting butpublicly
irrelevant....In today's cultural etiquette, it is not consideredpolite to mix
public and private, or sacred and secular. This division isthe single most
potent force keeping Christianity contained in the privatesphere--stripping it
of its power to challenge and redeem the whole culture."

If you have ever struggled to get a handle on the problem described above, read this book.Pearcey goes beyond a mere description of the postmodern threat Christianity faces. She traces the historical and philosophical roots of our present day situation. She also shows how evangelicalism has contributed to the problem--and then makes important suggestions about solving this issue in our culture.

My favorite part of the book is where she throws Darwinism up against the ropes and gives it a solid boot the head.

Although this is an extremely well researched work, this book is on the middle shelf. The goods are easily accessible with just a little reach. You will learn something.

If you are a:
pastor
teacher
school administrator
youth worker
parent
homeschool parent
lawyer
doctorartist
student
Christian
non-Christian

you should read this book.

If you have an interest in:

philosophy
theology
or history

you should read this book.

You will be encouraged to put aside the private/public split in the American mind and view Christianity as Total Truth. You will be emboldened not to quietly resist Darwinism in our culture, but to attack it.

This book is important because it gets behind the issues of the day and unfolds the reasonings for why we are in this cultural mess.

To borrow from the Bard: We must delve one yard deeper than Darwinism--and blow it at the moon.

Ain't it Preaching?

Posting from Florida.

We made an all night drive to Hurricane Land last night for some vacation time. I found an obliging library to make this post--they didn't even make me get a library card!

On the way down, I remembered some "constructive criticism" I received a few years ago about my preaching. A gentlemen told me that he had to go home after one of my sermons and look up in the dictionary a word I had used. He informed me that I needed "to keep the cookies on the lowest shelf" so everyone could get them. He then said, "Maybe you should say 'ain't' a few times in your sermon." (We do live in East Tennessee.) He thought that if I said 'ain't', I'll could connect to the people more easily.

What do you think? Should we "ain't" our sermons?I know that putting the cookies on the very top shelf makes a wasted sermon. If I go over everybody's head, I haven't communicated.However, something inside me asks, "Can't we at least put everything on the middle shelf?" This way, people can get the goods, but they have to reach for it--just a little. I ask preachers and those who listen to preachers, "Is not the middle shelf a good thing?"If people have to reach just a little:

1. They feel respected. The sub-text of the sermon says, "I don't believe you are stupid."
2. They feel that they have learned something. People want to learn at church, don't they?
3. They are forced to think. If they are excited about what they have learned, and they think on it during the week--is this not the beginning of Scriptural meditation?

Boring people from the pulpit is a crime, but there is a reverse boredom that arises in a listener from not being challenged.The underlying philosophy of this rambling, hurried, be-finished-quickly-with-the-library computer-because-others-are-waiting post is this:IT IS TIME FOR CHRISTIANS TO BE THINKING PEOPLE. Let's help them do that.

So I ask you again: Should we "ain't" our sermons?

Let me know.

Lashed to the Mast

Ulysses was trying to get home. The journey was long and dangerous. In Homer's great epic (do I really need to give the title?), Circe warns Ulysses that he has to sail past the island of the Sirens whose song is so enchanting--so charming--that innumerable sailors had changed course to land and listen. Their fate was to rot in a field of flowers.

Preparing for this danger, Ulysses plugged the ears of his men with wax--but he wanted to hear the sweet Siren song. He commanded that he be lashed to the mast of the ship while his men rowed by the perilous island. If he were to beg for freedom, they were to bind him to the cross piece even more tightly.

They made their preparations. The crisis came. As his ship passed the island, the Sirens drove him mad with their musical promises of honor and wisdom. He frowned to his men, but they bound him fast. Soon, the fit was over, and the men untied him--only to prepare for their next danger.

This classic tale of beautiful peril, compelling danger, and deceitful enlightenment reminds me of the dangers Christians face:

1 Timothy 4:1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in thelatter times some
shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of
devils...

Religion is popular again in America. We've seen an interest and respect for Jesus Christ in recent years. Much of this is positive, yet many "Sirens" have arisen to lure the undiscerning. False teachers sing many songs written by seductive spirits. Doctrines of demons provide the lyrics. Lying hypocrites cast the melodic net.Jude has names for these false teachers:

Filthy Dreamers
Brute Beasts
Spots in our Feasts
Clouds withoutWater
Trees of Rotten
FruitWandering Stars

People do not see what Jude saw. They see teachers who smile, who care, who sound sweet, who appear enlightened, who seem charming and beautiful, and who should never be criticized. Unfortunately, this loyalty is spent on deceivers. The faith of millions is shipwrecked.The unsuspecting find death in the flowers.

How can a Christian stay lashed to the mast when so many plunge overboard? Jude 20-25 supplies us with several ropes we can use to secure ourselves.

Rope 1: (verse 20) We must build ourselves up in The Most Holy Faith. The pursuit of godliness requires effort. Not self-effort, but the exercise of God's given grace. The already-redeemed must work out their salvation--build themselves up.Many wish to have spirituality without religion. They jettison the form and power of godliness. But God-empowered forms are lifesavers: Baptism, Communion, Meditation on Scripture and Doctrine, Worship with Fellow Believers, and Accountability to the Assembly. These can save us from many perils.

Rope 2: (Verse 20) We must pray in the Holy Ghost. Prayer brings us to the mind of God. It can strengthen the inner man. It reassures our hearts. It is commanded by God.

Rope 3: (Verse 21) We must keep ourselves in God's love. We cannot define away the loving heart of God into abstract theory. God passionately loves His people. His love is holy and true, yet personal and warm. It sees the individual. God's love has a binding effect. It compels and heals us.

Rope 4: (Verse 21) We must remember the gospel of grace. God's mercy and grace have redeemed us--not our works, nor the forms of religion. The New Testament book of Galatians should be between the believer and any teacher. It is a plumb line.

Rope 5: (Verse 22-23) We must actively pursue others to come to Christ. It is not enough to maintain a defensive posture. It is time to storm the gates of hell. Some we save with compassion. Others we win with fear--snatching them from the flames.

Rope 6: (Verse 24) We must remember God's disposition toward us. He wants his children to be spiritually successful, and will do what He must to make it happen. This verse gives me great hope. I cannot keep me from falling, but He can. I will rely on Him.

These truths redound to the glory of God! He will see us through the dangers and present us before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. The brightness of His glory will not be the grounds for our condemnation and separation. It will not be the grounds for our terror or shame. His glory will be the ground for our rejoicing.No wonder all glory, majesty, dominion, and power belong to Him! He has defeated every Siren and gives hope to His children.Stay lashed to the mast.

God will bring us home.

posted by John Rush 1:40 PM

I Heard it on Good Authority

Just as many others, I too was “thrown a rope to land” by the influence of Clive Staples Lewis. It seems like another lifetime ago when I was preparing for the ministry--yet struggling with doubts and questions about Christianity. Providence put a small book in my hands one night, and it dealt a mortal blow to my doubts. The book was Mere Christianity. I didn’t read it that night. I drank it in.

It is hard not to be a cynic. We live in a skeptical age, when students are trained to doubt everything held out as true. I know that a healthy skepticism is the root of all discernment. But discernment is used to finally ferret out a truth on which to stand. No, ours is an age that viciously deconstructs every truth claim. People refuse to believe anything based on authority.I admit it’s a mess.

The cable shows wrangle together some “authorities” from both sides of an issue to debate everything from Michael Jackson’s guilt (or innocence) to the value of the Patriot Act. Hoping to push the poll numbers their way, both talking heads work hard to sound plausible. Neither the host, the guests, nor the audience seem to be asking, “What’s the truth about this situation?”

When highly animated debaters (let’s say Hannity and Colmes) go head-to-head on the split screen, remember the following options:

1. Hannity is right and Colmes is wrong. OR
2. Colmes is right and Hannity is wrong. OR
3. They are both wrong.

They both can’t be right, unless they agree on a truth--and then the ratings go down.In this crazy world, some can actually believe that two different things are the same. Thus, we have an organized, institutionalized madness.Others just throw their hands up and conclude that nothing matters.The madness and the cynicism are killing us.

The better way is to discern the best authorities that will move us on to truth.Lewis wrote:


“Do not be scared by the word authority. Believing things on authority only means believing them because you have been told by someone you think trustworthy. Ninety-nine percent of the things you believe are believed on authority. I believe there is such a place as New York. I have not seen it myself. I could not prove by abstract reasoning that there must be such a place. I believe it because reliable people have told me so. The ordinary man believes in the Solar System, atoms, evolution, and the circulation of the blood on authority--because the scientists say so. Every historical statement in the world is believed on authority. None of us has seen the Norman Conquest or the defeat of the Armada. None of us could prove them by pure logic as you prove a thing in mathematics. We believe them simply because people who did see them have left writings that tell us about them: in fact, on authority. A man who jibbed at authority in other things as some people do in religion would have to be content to knownothing all his life.” 1


Let me encourage the reader. Don’t give up on truth--especially spiritual truth. We have been blessed with authorities to help us find it.Choose them wisely.

---------

1. C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (New York: Collier, 1952), 63-64.

If Golfing Were the Pursuit of Moral Perfection

**Update** The following post made it as an illustration into this message.

My side of the family is having a reunion this week. It is not an obligatory, roll-the-eyes reunion. We look forward to it every year. What I don’t look forward to is the traditional game of golf. In many things, I attain the great ranking of “average.” This is not so with golf. Golf is a test of emotional control, a strain on my sanctification, and a total waste of money. Shooting deer is one thing, shooting golf is another.If golf were the pursuit of moral perfection, my integrity would be in serious danger. Contrary to self-esteem philosophy: I AM NO GOOD. In golf, I am totally depraved. I don’t drive well. I’m lousy with the irons. My putting game is not even a game. I don’t know what to call it.Driving. Fairway. Green--three strikes, and I’m out (Is that a mixed analogy?). At least the average man can learn to drive well.

My depravity in golf doesn’t mean that every last shot goes across the road or into the water. Every once in a while I do hit the ball straight down the fairway. I’ve even been known to par a hole now and then. I’m not as bad as I can be every day, yet that fact doesn’t mean I’m a good golfer--let alone worthy of the PGA.Sometimes comparing myself to others is comforting. Sometimes. While preparing to tee off into the water, I could say, “Hey! At least I’m in the game! Some people aren’t even trying! Look at ol’ Joe lounging around over there. I’m better than he is! He just watches golf on cable.” However, just because I’m better than ol' Joe doesn’t mean you’ll see me in the Masters any time soon.

The game of golf has a religious ceremony where sins of the past are simply disregarded and another opportunity is awarded. This ceremony was instituted by Saint Mulligan. In fact it is called “The Mulligan.” I love this ceremony: My past is forgotten, and I get another chance. My only problem is that the past repeats itself with uncanny precision. I am still depraved, because religion is not enough.

Let’s go to the next level and think of morals and professional golfers. Professional golfers would not at all appear to be depraved. They make a living at what they do. Their skills are nothing short of amazing. But trouble still looms for them in this golf/morals analogy. The requirement for “goodness” is perfection.What is the perfect game of golf? Parring every hole? Birdie-ing every hole? Just what is it?Would not a perfect game of golf be getting a hole-in-one from every tee? That’s what moral perfection would require. Moral perfection would demand a hole-in-one from every tee--with no mulligans. Not just for one game, but for every game, every day, for all of life. Neither an eagle, a birdie, nor par is good enough.

Perfection is the standard--a standard that even Tiger Woods cannot attain.So when it comes to golf, I guess we are all depraved.What about our souls?


posted by John Rush 9:20 AM
Tuesday, July 26, 2005

A Blogger's Introduction

I do not intend my web log to be an outlet for telling people the funny statements of my three-year-old son or for sharing the latest word in my one-year-old daughter’s budding vocabulary. However, when people meet, or old friends catch up, some introduction is in order. I live in east Tennessee with my lovely wife Ruth and my two children: Ethan and Abigail. As good east Tennesseans, we have a wood pile out back, a gravel driveway, and a view of the mountain out front. Using his trusty orange tipped rifle from Wal-mart, my son has killed many a deer (and bear) who happen to wander through our living room . (Someday he’ll get a chance at real game, and I look forward to showing him how.) Abigail enjoys reading her picture books and trying to keep up with Ethan. Ruth is a full-time mom and a part-time R.N. And she is stuck with me, a lucky guy. I pastor a small church in the moutains. There’s a creek that we use for baptism on the other side of the road.

This, of course, is not the sum total of our lives, but it is a good snapshot--for those who are interested.

I called my original blog Two Polished Pennies because I know that my thoughts are going to be the ramblings of just an average man--an average man who desperately wants to know our extraordinary God revealed through His Son Jesus Christ. The thoughts found there are just like here: my two cents worth polished as brightly as I can make them shine--but two cents nonetheless. It will be left to the scholars and power-brokers to change the world. But I wanted to focus more on "anvil and fire" type issues. So I enter the blogosphere. Let’s ride.