Between Two Worlds

National Review has a symposium of thinkers offering the most important books to read.

From Peter Gentry's excellent article, ""Kingdom Through Covenant: Humanity as the Divine Image" SBJT (Spring 2008): 26 [not yet online]:

If we consider the plan of the Tabernacle or the plan of Solomon’s Temple, there is nothing unusual or unique. Its overall plan was just like any other temple in the ancient Near East. They all had an outer courtyard, an altar of sacrifice, and a central building divided into a “Holy Place” and a “Holy of Holies.” What made the faith of Israel different from the faith of the pagan religions surrounding her? If one were to enter a pagan temple, passing through the courtyard, and the Holy Place into the Holy of Holies, what would one find there? An image representing one of the forces of nature. But that is not what one finds at the center of Israel’s worship. What was in the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle? First of all, there was no image or statue there because God is spirit and cannot be properly represented by man-made images. All there is in the Holy of Holies is just a little box. And what is in that box? The Ten Commandments. Thus, what God is saying to the Israelites is that he cannot be manipulated by magic. If they want the good life, they must conform their lifestyle to his revealed standards of right and wrong. Ethics guarantees the good life, not manipulation of the powers that be by magic. The meaning is clear when one both compares and contrasts the biblical text with the ancient Near Eastern cultural setting. At the outset, the differences appear to be small and insignificant. Yet in the end, the differences are so radical that only divine revelation can explain the origin of the text.

Timmy Brister has the details on the Band of Bloggers gathering at the Gospel Coalition this year. Hope to see you there!

If you're in a small group or a discipleship relationship and are looking for a good Bible study to work through, you might want to think about getting a copy of Justin Buzzard's little guide to the book of Hebrews, entitled Consider Jesus:

Jesus Christ - it's a name that still has unique pulling power, even in today's secular society. Jesus is used as a comforting idea in times of trouble, an inspiration for those seeking spirituality, and even as a figurehead for counter-cultural enthusiasts. But the real Jesus is so much greater than this.

Jesus Christ is at the centre of the Bible's message and God's plan for the universe - and at the centre of human history. But is He at the centre of our existence - our hopes, priorities and day-to-day lives? We need to move on from simply knowing the details of His birth, life and death to a deeper understanding of their meaning.

The letter to the Hebrews helps us leave behind out limited views of Jesus by explaining to us the supreme greatness of Christ Himself.

Consider Jesus is a Bible-study guide to help ordinary Christians get to grips with Hebrews. Here is an invitation to fix our eyes on God's Son - our perfect Brother, faithful and merciful High Priest, atoning Sacrifice and great Shepherd. Use these studies to discover the whole picture of Jesus Christ, and equip yourself to know, trust and follow Him, come what may.

More info here.

If any readers happen to be at Moody's Founder's Week, I'll be doing a breakout session on Friday on the Temple in the ESV Study Bible. It's from 4-5 PM in Sweeting 328. I plan on giving away a couple of ESVSBs during the session.

Dan Gilgoff reports on President Obama's postponement on the most controversial issue related to the launch of the Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnership: "whether to allow religious groups to hire on the basis of religion for federally funded positions, as Bush did." The President had promised to overturn this as a candidate, and it would be a dealbreaker for organizations like World Vision.

Amanda Shaw collects the numbers on the price tag for the new "stimulus" plan:

Adjusted for inflation, here are some other massive expenditures:

• * The Marshall Plan ($115.3 billion)
• * The space race ($237 billion)
• * The Korean War ($454 billion)
• * The New Deal ($500 billion)
• * The invasion of Iraq ($597 billion)
• * The Vietnam War ($698 billion)

So the proposed "stimulus" package costs more than the Marshall Plan, the Korean War, and the New Deal combined.

Here are some thought experiments:

• If you took collected a $1 million per day, ever day from the birth of Christ, in 2009 you'd only be about 3/4 of the way to a trillion.
• If you got $1 every second, it would take almost 32,000 years to get to a trillion.
• If you stacked a trillion dollar bills on top of each other, it would go 68,000 miles into space--1/3 of the way to the moon.
• If you took 100-dollar bills and put them side to side, it would circle the equator 38.9 times
  

To make things worse, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office is saying that the stimulus plan will actually make things worse long-term.

HT: James Grant via Dustin Shramek

Update: Comparison with previous expenditures fixed. Sorry about that.

Carl Trueman--who confesses that he still does all of his typing with just two fingers, and also that he found out that his son has a girlfriend because his mom in England saw it on Facebook!--argues in his latest article that "one of the key problems with internet friendships, with texting, with blogs etc. is the lack of the body in the means of communication and relationship." How should the church react and respond?

We must teach people by precept and example that real life is lived primarily in real time in real places by real bodies. Pale and pimply bloggers who spend most of their spare time onanistically opining about themselves and their issues and in befriending pals made up of pixels are not living life to the full; nor are those whose lives revolve around videogames; rather they are human amoebas, subsisting in a bizarre non-world which involves no risk to themselves, no giving of themselves to others, no true vulnerability, no commitment, no self-sacrifice, no real meaning or value.

Of course, anybody who has used text messaging, Facebook, blogging, etc. in a sanctified and sanctifying way will argue that Trueman paints with too broad a brush. And they'd be right. But they'd also be missing a timely word in season.

"Christ was all anguish that I might be all joy,
cast off that I might be brought in,
trodden down as an enemy that I might be welcomed as a friend,
surrendered to hell’s worst that I might attain heaven’s best,
stripped that I might be clothed,
wounded that I might be healed,
athirst that I might drink,
tormented that I might be comforted,
made a shame that I might inherit glory,
entered darkness that I might have eternal light.

My Savior wept that all tears might be wiped from my eyes,
groaned that I might have endless song,
endured all pain that I might have unfading health,
bore a thorned crown that I might have a glory-diadem,
bowed his head that I might uplift mine,
experienced reproach that I might receive welcome,
closed his eyes in death that I might gaze on unclouded brightness,
expired that I might for ever live."

A Puritan Prayer~Valley of Vision

Marvin Olasky profiles Eric Metaxas and his work with Socrates in the City. It's worth reading.

For those who want to read more of Metaxas's work...

Biographies

• Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery
• Bonhoeffer (forthcoming in June)

Apologetics

• Everything You Always Wanted to Know About God (But Were Afraid to Ask)
• Everything Else You Always Wanted to Know About God (But Were Afraid to Ask)
• Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Jesus: Who Was He, What Did He Do, and Why You Should Care (forthcoming in October)

Children's Books

• Squanto And The Miracle Of Thanksgiving
• It's Time to Sleep, My Love

150 years ago Charles Darwin published his landmark book, On the Origin of Species.

Marvin Olasky offers a nice little primer on how we should think about this and respond.

C.J. Mahaney interviews Mark Dever.

David Powlison discusses Elisabeth Kubler-Ross's five stages of grief on the latest CCEF podcast.

Update: Link fixed. Sorry 'bout that.

Part 1: Three Reasons to Share the Gospel

• Audio
• Video
• Notes
  

Part 2: Five Things That Aren't Evangelism

• Audio
• Video
• Notes
  

Part 3: The Church and Evangelism

• Audio
• Video
• Notes
  

Collin Hansen is the guest today in the USA Today Forum on Faith and Reason, discussing Reformed theology.

Hugh Hewitt talks to Al Mohler about younger evangelicals, their challenges and concerns.

Collin Hansen reflects on what he might do differently if he were writing the article and book today.

Remember the Cutest Tax Deduction Contest that Tim Ellsworth's son was in? Looks like he won!

You can now read, or listen to, John Piper's biographical address on George Whitefield--one of the greatest preachers in Church history, but also (as Piper shows) a contradictory figure.

The title is: "'I Will Not Be a Velvet-Mouthed Preacher!' The Life and Ministry of George Whitefield: Living and Preaching as Though God Were Real (Because He Is)."

Jonathan Leeman, introducing the latest 9Marks eJournal (available in PDF):

Seminaries don't make pastors, churches do.

You'll hear someone at 9Marks say that if you hang around us long enough. In this issue of the eJournal, we try to put some flesh on this basic idea.

Mark Dever considers why the local church is uniquely equipped and commissioned to the work of raising up future pastors. Then he offers some practical advice for every pastor and church for doing this work, whether or not they have the resources for an internship program. Both seminary presidents and pastors offer their sentiments in a couple of 9Marks forums. And one of John MacArthur's associate pastors, Nathan Busenitz, tells the story of how Grace Community Church decided to plant a seminary within the church.

Next, we asked three different churches how they formally mentor future pastors. We hope this might give our pastor readers a few ideas they can adopt, as God provides the opportunity. And our goal is the same for the last section, where we feature a number of church-affiliated programs. Maybe a church will start its own program; maybe it will sponsor a student through one of the programs listed here.

This issue does not contain the longer, more theological articles that we often include (we will in the future!), but here's the very simple point we hope you catch: God primarily calls and equips men for the pastorate as pastors faithfully shepherd and disciple their own congregations. If you don't read anything else, catch this point in the first three paragraphs of Dever's second interview below.

Here are the articles in this issue:

Raising Up the Next Generation of Pastors

Raising Up Pastors Is the Church's Work (Jonathan Leeman interviews Mark Dever, part 1)

How Do Pastors Raise Up Pastors? (Jonathan Leeman interviews Mark Dever, part 2)

A Seminary President's Forum (Why is your seminary needed? What's an exciting example you have seen being done in a local church that would encourage pastors to think of raising up the next generation?)

• Daniel L. Akin (Southeastern)
• Bryan Chapell (Covenant)
• Dennis P. Hollinger (Gordon Conwell)
• Paige Patterson (Southwestern)

A Pastor's Forum (Do local churches have the responsibility to help raise up the next generation of pastors, and if so, why?)

• Rickey Armstrong (Glendale Baptist Church, Miami, FL)
• Stephen E. Farish (Crossroads Church, Grayslake, IL)
• David Helm (Holy Trinity Church, Chicago, IL)
• Juan Sanchez (High Pointe Baptist Church, Austin, TX)
• Sandy Willson (Second Presbyterian Church, Memphis, TN)

The Church as Classroom: The History of Master's Seminary (Nathan Busenitz)

How Three Churches Mentor Pastors

"I Learned the Hard Way" (Phil Newton)

"Why Are We Joyfully Committed?" (Tom Steller)

"Look, It's the Church's Job" (Al Jackson)

Church-Affiliated Training Programs

• Bethlehem College and Seminary (formerly TBI)
• Capitol Hill Baptist Church
• Charles Simeon Trust
• Cornhill Training Course
• ENTRUST
• Lakeview Baptist Church
• Ministry Training Strategy (different format)
• Sovereign Grace Pastors' College

Matt Perman addresses a problem that GTD doesn't solve--and even might make worse.

Update: Someone asked what "GTD" is. Sorry. It refers to a system of productivity principles called "Getting Things Done." The book is by David Allen, entitled, Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity.

Numbers should be separated by en-dashes--not em-dashes or hyphens.

So what do you do if you're editing a document that has this wrong? Phil Gons has the answer.

Rick Holland interviews John MacArthur about his 40 years of ministry at Grace.

You'll probably learn stuff about MacArthur you didn't know: his brush with the law during the Civil Rights Movement, his conversion story, his tryout with the Redskins, his candidacy at Grace, his historical heroes, the MacArthur Study Bible, his regrets, how long before he has finished preaching book-by-book through the whole NT, etc.

There's both a transcript and an MP3.

The Good Book Company is a resource ministry that grew out of the resurgence of Bible-based reformed evangelicalism in the UK. Their resources focus on things like daily Bible reading, outreach, Bible study, and youth work.

Starting today, they are launching a website for North America.

Here's one of the first entries on their blog:

Welcome to The Good Book Company's new website in North America!

After 20 years developing quality, practical materials for gospel work, resources that have been a help to UK Christians and churches as they grow and reach out to others, we thought it was about time we shared some of what we have learned with our brethren across the pond.

We specialize in selling and promoting solid daily reading material for all ages. Whether you are 8 or 80, The Good Book Company has material to help you grow and mature in your faith. We are also committed to helping you dig deeply into God’s Word. Thus, we have developed a robust line of Bible study guides we have titled the Good Book Guide series.

Our resources do not compromise on the essentials of the historic Biblical faith and at the same time are accessible and practical for the times in which we are living. Change is upon us, isn’t it time you change the way you study and interact with the Word of God? Let The Good Book Company be a resource for you on the journey...

I encourage you to check them out.

Congratulations to John MacArthur. Today Grace Community Church celebrates his 40 years of ministry there. You can watch or listen to the evening service live.

In the book, Stand: A Call for the Endurance of the Saints, a snippet of a conversation I had with him stands out to me:

Early in my first year or so at Grace Community Church, I had this little kind of motto that I used: “If you concentrate on the depth of your ministry, God will take care of the breadth of it.” My ministry hasn’t changed since that first year in that small, little church. For me, it’s all about getting into the depth of Scripture and my own personal walk with the Lord. Breadth is something that God does. . . .

I thank God for granting Dr. MacArthur both depth and breadth--for God's own glory and for the good of his church. It is good to honor all people, especially those who teach and preach God's Word. So may God himself be honored today as his church appropriately honors this man for his faithful work.