Some Jolly Good Links 7-11-08

1. Look what we got!  His name is Charlie.

2. It's not necessary to contribute to every conversation (from PastorHacks):

"Christians, especially ministers, so often think that they must always contribute something when they are in the company of others, that this is the one service they have to render. They forget that listening can be a greater service than speaking.

Many people are looking for an ear that will listen. They do not find it among Christians, because Christians are talking where they should be listening. But [the one] who can no longer listen to his brother [or sister] will soon be no longer listening to God either... This is the beginning of the death of the spiritual life, and in the end there is nothing left but spiritual chatter and clerical condescension arrayed in pious words."

-Deitrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together

3. Tony Morgan has 9 Do's and Dont's for Ministry. Here's a few of my favorites.

You don’t need a logo. A new logo isn’t the key to successful ministry. Life change is the key to successful ministry. Only Jesus can change lives. Yes, there are times when you’ll need to update your branding; however, it’s not going to make or break your ministry.

Your fancy flyers won’t help. 80% of the people who show up to a weekend service come with a friend who invites them. That same principle applies to your ministry as well. If people aren’t inviting their friends, that’s likely a ministry problem and not a promotions problem.

Remember: print is dead. (this coming from someone who writes books). It’s highly likely that whatever you’re printing for your audience will just end up in a trash can. Any business in America relying on print media is dying a slow death. You should always think Web first with an emphasis on interactivity and building relationships.

You probably need to cut programs and events. Less is more. If you have fewer events and less programs, more people will connect with your ministry. Stop confusing them and help them focus on the next appropriate step. (Check this out.)

4. A Geeky Way to End a Relationship - funny.

5. A Typical Facebook Romance - hilarious.

6.  Tim Keller is getting some flack for the title of his next book - Tullian Tchividjian gave him the opportunity to esplainify himself.  Aside from the apologetic value of this for Tim's book, which I am expecting to be as significant as, or even more, The Reason for God, I appreciate his emphasis on the extravagance of God.

The word ‘prodigal’ does not appear in the Greek text. It is an English word that has become attached to the parable of the two lost sons in Luke 15. But it is a good, suggestive word that helps us understand the parable’s teaching.

The word ‘prodigal’ is an English word that means recklessly extravagant, spending to the point of poverty, of ‘being in want’ (Luke 15:14.) The dictionaries tell us that the word can be understood in a more negative or a more positive sense. The more positive meaning is to be lavishly and sacrificially abundant in giving. The more negative sense, is to be wasteful and irresponsible in one’s spending. The negative sense obviously applies to the actions of the younger brother in the Luke 15 parable of the two sons. But is there any sense in which God can be called ‘Prodigal’?

First, the elder brother is offended by the father’s extravagant and (to him) irresponsible welcome of his younger brother. The father, of course, represents God, and legalists are always offended by the gospel of free grace. They see it as wasteful and unfair. After all, they worked for their acceptance. These are the people to whom Jesus was telling the parable in the first place—the Pharisees who objected to Jesus’ lavish grace to tax collectors and sinners. They certainly thought Jesus was being far too free and irresponsible with the love and favor he was promising them from God. Jesus depicts them in the parable as the elder brother upset with his father’s prodigality.

Second, the positive meaning of the term ‘prodigal’ is definitely true of God. He spent himself to the uttermost on the Cross. He did so ‘recklessly’ in the sense that he did not reckon the cost to himself. Jesus was someone who spent himself into helpless poverty (2 Cor 8:9) and was ‘in want’ in the most extreme way.

So, in summary, the title ‘Prodigal God’ calls attention not only to the mistaken way that legalists regard God’s gospel of grace, but also to how Jesus, though he was rich, spent everything without thought for himself, that we might be saved.

7. Here's this week's low carb link(s) of the week.  Ever heard about the China Study - people in China are supposedly healthier because they don't eat meat and fat, but stick to rice and veggies.  Well, it's not what it seems.  Turns out there is a major obesity epidemic in China these days and it's directly related to their excess consumption of vegetables.  However, the researchers who did the study offered conclusions that went against their own data.  You'll need to read this from Dr. Michael Eades and this from The Spark of Reason to see my point.

8. Compassion is not a virtue in and of itself.  At the first GodBlogCon I shared a ride with Denyise O'Leary to and from the airport and found her to be a very interesting person and found my intellect to hers to be as a molehill to the Matterhorn.  She blogs at Post-Darwinist, and in a post that seems to pick on social workers, she addresses the issue of compassion.  I am not so concerned about social workers, and I don't think Denyse is either, she is laying out a principle, and an important one at that.  It is amazing what one can get away with in the name of "compassion."

You see, the essential difficulty is that "caring" a lot can lead to good or bad actions.

In Canada today, "caring" people want to make themselves the judges of both a clergyman's sermons and a comedian's jokes - and stop both if they feel that someone, somewhere has been (or might be) hurt by them.

In other words, caring (traditionally, compassion) requires discipline like any other emotion. It is not, in principle, a virtue. It becomes part of the pursuit of virtue when guided by the cardinal virtues (prudence, justice, temperance, and fortitude).

So far, the human rights commissions have failed abysmally in the first three of these four virtues. That is, I am afraid, what happens when a society is unloosed from its Christian moorings without adopting any other classical tradition that enables people to check their bearings.

9.  Mike Horton on the absence of the physical Christ.  I have greatly appreciated the writings of Mike Horton throughout the years and he is one of the two most influential writers in persuading me to adopt the reformed theological tradtion, but as with everyone, there are some things I would quibble or disagree with him on.  Culture is one of them - if you drew a line with "withdraw from the culture" on the left side and "immerse in the culture" on the right side, both of us would be somewhere in the middle, I think, but I would probably be a bit more to the right than he is. 

Having said that I have to say I think there is a good deal of wisdom in what he says as he is quoted in this post by Chad Bresson of The Vossed World.  I think it is possible to have too high a view of the church (although admittedly, that's not a problem among rank and file evangelicals) and I have heard folks make the grandiose claims for the church that he refers to in the post, even to the point of some saying that the church is the hope of the world.  Such a claim goes too far, the church is Christ's agent on the earth but the church is not Christ.  And though we have the great blessing of Christ's continual presence with us here on earth through the indwelling Holy Spirit, I think Horton raises an important issue in noting the significance of Christ's physical absence. 

I have written here sharing some thoughts on incarnational ministry.  It is something I deeply affirm and value, and I appreciate all those who have brought the concept to our attention.  But it is a concept that cannot and should not stand on it's own - incarnational ministry must be balanced with eschatological ministry, not only patterning ministry after who Christ was in His humilitation, but after who He is now in His ascension and who He will be at the eschaton when all things are made new.

But having said that, we can go a step further and say that the greatest issue today is not patterning our ministry after Jesus, be it in the incarnation or eschaton, but basing it on His finished work.  This is where I think Horton is most helpful in the post.  In it's ministry the church adds nothing to the work of Christ.  In it's ministry the church does not duplicate the ministry of Christ - redemption is something He accomplished for us, not something He merely modeled for us.  In other words, the ministry of the church is not so much extending His work (although there is a sense in which you can say that in light of John 14:12) as heralding His completed work.  After all, if we describe the work of Christ as a "completed" work, what can we add to something that is completed?

With that horribly long introduction in mind, let me give you a few of Horton's words and encourage you to read the rest.

"...In fact, "incarnational" is becoming a dominant adjective in evangelical circles, often depriving Christ’s person and work of its specificity and uniqueness. Christ’s person and work easily becomes a "model" or "vision" for ecclesial action (imitatio Christi), rather than a completed event to which the church offers its witness. We increasingly hear about "incarnational ministry," as if Christ's unique personal history could be repeated or imitated. The church, whether conceived in "high church" or "low church" terms, rushes in to fill the void, as the substitute for its ascended Lord. In its train, the sacramental cosmos returns. As Christ and his work is assimilated to the church and its work, similar conflations emerge between the gospel and culture; between the word of God and the experience of our particular group; and between the church’s commission and the transformation of the kingdoms of this age into the kingdom of Christ.

"It is this recurring temptation to look away from Christ’s absence—toward a false presence, often substituting itself as an extension of Christ’s incarnation and reconciling work—that distracts it from directing the world’s attention to Christ’s parousia in the future. Yet a church that does not acknowledge Christ’s absence is no longer focused on Christ; instead, it’s tempted to idolatrous substitutions in the attempt to seize Canaan prematurely." -- Michael Horton, Transforming Culture with a Messiah Complex - 9Marks

Comments

[Tara Barthel]

Welcome, Charlie!!

Has the Jolly family had Goldens before? WE LOVE GOLDENS!!

Our second, Lilikoi, just had a puppy playdate yesterday with our friends' two Goldens; my favorite movie of our first Golden (Choza) is over 50,000 hits on YouTube, and I have a nice little group of "Golden Mommas" whose pictures I occasionally place on my blog. You can check 'em all out here if you'd like.

Oh--and you DO know about the AMAZING FURMINATOR, right? A must-have for all Jolly Golden Families.

Congratulations again!
Goldens are the best.

Yours,
Tara B.

[Tony Stiff]

David ok now i'm very jealous. That is a great looking puppy, personality is written all over its little face.