Why does the Bible present God focusing so much attention on Himself?

J.I. Packer: The four theological issues I (PG) should study in order to be prepared for the next fifty years...

Mark Driscoll shares this from his sit-down with J.I. Packer:

In the lengthy time that Dr. J. I. Packer afforded me to speak with him while we were recently together in Orlando, I asked him which theological issues he would commend young Christian leaders to study in order to be prepared for the next fifty years. His list was quite insightful:

1. Regeneration — He said that the doctrine of regeneration has not been fully appreciated by many who do not understand that to be born again with a new heart and new nature means that we have at our deepest level a new identity and new passionate desires for God’s Word and ways. He commended to all young Christian leaders a thorough study on the doctrine of regeneration.

2. God-Centered Theology — He said that theology today is rife with man-centered thinking so that the glory of God in all things is not the essence of what is taught to be faithfully Christian. The result, he explained, is that even Christians often live their lives for the supreme purpose of their perceived happiness, feelings, and satisfaction. Yet, biblical Christianity differs from the other religions of the world in that the desires and purposes of God override ours; we are not the number one priority, but rather God is.

3. Godliness Begins at Home — This point was both surprising and refreshing. I was expecting only weighty and complicated theological admonition from such a theological giant. However, his wise counsel on this point is well needed. Packer said that most Christians do not take seriously the biblical teaching that true Christian living begins first at home with one’s spouse, children, and grandchildren. Therefore, he implored young Christian leaders to begin their quest for maturity and holiness at home in relationship with their family.

4. Trinity — Packer stated that the fullness of the doctrine of the Trinity is not completely appreciated as it should be. The result, he said, is that some Christians have only a deep understanding of Jesus or the Holy Spirit so that they are guilty of what he called “Jesus-olatry” or “Holy Spirit-olatry” rather than a full love and worshipful appreciation of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit.

TRULY Reformed...

I stumbled across this blogpost by Ray Ortlund, courtesy of Justin Taylor (this is the entirety of the post by Ortlund)...[all emphases mine]:

I believe in the sovereignty of God, the Five Points of Calvinism, the Solas of the Reformation, I believe that grace precedes faith in regeneration. Theologically, I am Reformed. Sociologically, I am simply a Christian – or at least I want to be. The tricky thing about our hearts is that they can turn even a good thing into an engine of oppression. It happens when our theological distinctives make us aloof from other Christians. That’s when, functionally, we relocate ourselves outside the gospel and inside Galatianism.

The Judaizers in Galatia did not see their distinctive – the rite of circumcision – as problematic. They could claim biblical authority for it in Genesis 17 and the Abrahamic covenant. But their distinctive functioned as an addition to the all-sufficiency of Jesus himself. Today the flash point is not circumcision. It can be Reformed theology. But no matter how well argued our position is biblically, if it functions in our hearts as an addition to Jesus, it ends up as a form of legalistic divisiveness.

Paul answered the theological aspects of the Galatian error with solid theology. But the “whiff test” that something was wrong in those Galatian churches was more subtle than theology alone. The problem was also sociological. “They make much of you, but for no good purpose. They want to shut you out, that you may make much of them” (Galatians 4:17). In other words, “The legalists want to ‘disciple’ you. But really, they’re manipulating you. By emphasizing their distinctive, they want you to feel excluded so that you will conform to them.” It’s like chapter two of Tom Sawyer. Remember how Tom got the other boys to whitewash the fence for him? Mark Twain explained: “In order to make a man or boy covet a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to attain.” Paul saw it happening in Galatia. But the gospel makes full inclusion in the church easy to attain. It re-sets everyone’s status in terms of God’s grace alone. God’s grace in Christ crucified, and nothing more. He alone makes us kosher. He himself.

The Judaizers would probably have answered at this point, “We love Jesus too. But how can you be a first-rate believer, really set apart to God, without circumcision, so plainly commanded right here in the Bible? This isn’t an add-on. It’s the full-meal deal. God says so.”

Their misuse of the Bible showed up in social dysfunction. “It is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh who would force you to be circumcised. . . . They desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh” (Galatians 6:12-13). In other words, “When Christians, whatever the label or badge or shibboleth, start pressuring you to come into line with their distinctive, you know something’s wrong. They want to enhance their own significance by your conformity to them: ‘See? We’re better. We’re superior. People are moving our way. They are becoming like us. We’re the buzz.’” What is this, but deep emotional emptiness medicating itself by relational manipulation? This is not about Christ. This is about Self. Even Peter fell into this hypocrisy (Galatians 2:11-14). But no matter who is involved, this is not the ministry of the gospel. Even if a biblical argument can be made for a certain position, and we all want to be biblical, the proof of what’s really happening is not in the theological argumentation but in the sociological integration.

Paul had thought it through. He made a decision that the bedrock of his emotional okayness would forever lie here: “Far be it from me to boast [establish my personal significance] except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. . . . For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation” (Galatians 6:14-15). In other words, “Here is all I need for my deepest sense of myself: Jesus Christ crucified. His cross has deconstructed me and remade me, and I am happy. Everything else is at best secondary, possibly irrelevant, even counterproductive. Let Jesus alone stand forth in my theology, in my emotional well-being and in my relationships with other Christians!” This settledness in Paul’s heart made him a life-giving man for other people. He was a free man, setting others free (Galatians 5:1). This is the acid test of a truly Reformed ministry – that other believers need not be Reformed in order to be respected and included in our hearts.

Whatever divides us emotionally from other Bible-believing, Christ-honoring Christians is a “plus” we’re adding to the gospel. It is the Galatian impulse of self-exaltation. It can even become a club with which we bash other Christians, at least in our thoughts, to punish, to exclude and to force into line with us.

What unifies the church is the gospel. What defines the gospel is the Bible. What interprets the Bible correctly is a hermeneutic centered on Jesus Christ crucified, the all-sufficient Savior of sinners, who gives himself away on terms of radical grace to all alike. What proves that that gospel hermeneutic has captured our hearts is that we are not looking down on other believers but lifting them up, not seeing ourselves as better but grateful for their contribution to the cause, not standing aloof but embracing them freely, not wishing they would become like us but serving them in love (Galatians 5:13).

My Reformed friend, can you move among other Christian groups and really enjoy them? Do you admire them? Even if you disagree with them in some ways, do you learn from them? What is the emotional tilt of your heart – toward them or away from them? If your Reformed theology has morphed functionally into Galatian sociology, the remedy is not to abandon your Reformed theology. The remedy is to take your Reformed theology to a deeper level. Let it reduce you to Jesus only. Let it humble you. Let this gracious doctrine make you a fun person to be around. The proof that we are Reformed will be all the wonderful Christians we discover around us who are not Reformed. Amazing people. Heroic people. Blood-bought people. People with whom we are eternally one – in Christ alone.

God NOT The Author of Sin

At last night's group study at church, after watching the first session of John Piper's newly recorded TULIP series, our discussion turned to the problem of evil, and the question of whether or not God authored sin. I believe the question arose mainly from Piper's reading of Revelation 13:8 - in the context of explaining some of the mindboggling truths in Scripture - as well as his reference to his sermon series, "Spectacular Sins and Their Global Purpose in the Glory of Christ."

Other texts which beg the question: Acts 4:27-28; Genesis 50:20; Job 42:10-11

Quoting John Piper, from the above sermon series (quotes courtesy of David Mathis):

• August 12: “God created [Satan and his demons] knowing what they would become and how, in that very evil role, they would glorify Christ. Knowing everything they would become, God created them for the glory of Christ.”
• August 19: “God is sovereign over Satan, and therefore Satan’s will does not move without God’s permission. And therefore every move of Satan is part of God’s overall purpose and plan.”
• August 26: “[E]verything that exists—including evil—is ordained by an infinitely holy and all-wise God to make the glory of Christ shine more brightly. . . . Adam’s sin and the fall of the human race with him into sin and misery did not take God off guard and is part of his overarching plan to display the fullness of the glory of Jesus Christ.”
  

For the record, I believe it would be a mistake, and in error, to suggest or outright teach that God is the author of sin. As provocative as the above statements are, I don't hear Piper suggesting there that God is the author of evil/sin. I have never heard or read John Piper suggest that God is the author of sin.

Here is John Frame wrestling with the two truths that (1) God is totally and ultimately sovereign over all things, and (2) evil/sin exists...and yet, God is not the author of sin (courtesy of David Mathis, from his (Frame's) book The Doctrine of God):

The term authors is almost universally condemned in the theological literature. It is rarely defined, but it seems to mean both that God is the efficient cause of evil and that by causing evil he actually does something wrong.¹ So the [Westminster Confession] says that God “neither is nor can be the author or approver of sin” (5:4). Despite this denial in a major Reformed confession, Arminians regularly charge that Reformed theology makes God the author of sin. They assume that if God brings about evil in any sense, he must therefore approve it and deserve the blame. In their view, nothing less than libertarian freedom will serve to absolve God from the charge of authoring sin.

But as we saw [in chapter 8] libertarian freedom is incoherent and unbiblical. And as we saw [in chapter 4] God does bring about sinful human actions. To deny this, or to charge God with wickedness on account of it, is not open to a Bible-believing Christian. Somehow, we must confess both that God has a role in bringing evil about, and that in doing so he is holy and blameless. . . . God does bring sins about, but always for his own good purposes. So in bringing sin to pass he does not himself commit sin. If that argument is sound, then a Reformed doctrine of the sovereignty of God does not imply that God is the author of sin.

Suggested Reading:

Theopedia's Resource Page on "The Problem of Evil"
John Piper's sermon series, "Spectacular Sins and Their Global Purpose in the Glory of Christ"
Does God Author Sin? (David Mathis, DesiringGod)
Does God Cause Sin? (David Mathis, DesiringGod)
Does God Permit Sin? (David Mathis, DesiringGod)
The Author-Story Model (David Mathis, DesiringGod)
Piper sermon: Is God Less Glorious Because He Ordain That Evil Be? Jonathan Edwards on the Decrees of God
Piper sermon: The Suffering of Christ and the Sovereignty of God (from the 2005 DG National Conference)
John MacArthur sermon: The Problem of Evil
John Frame: The Bible On The Problem of Evil: Insights from Romans 3, 5, and 8

Treasuring Christ

This is so powerful...

I think "Treasuring Christ" would be a good name for a church... Treasuring Christ Church...

Ministry to High School and College Students: Equipping with the Essentials

Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology is an excellent resource for Christians (personal study and reference) and churches (pastors, church libraries, group studies). I recommend it to everyone - layperson, seminary student, high school student - anyone who is seeking to go deeper in the knowledge of God...

The problem is that it's basically a million pages long - not incredibly accessible for group study - and I want to do some serious theology with our High School and college students. But Grudem's Systematic Theology is awfully big, and it costs around $35.

That's where another of Grudem's resources comes in - Christian Beliefs: 20 Basics Every Christian Should Know. This approximately 150-page book is designed for group study... One blogger offered this review:

It's a great resource for new believers, for anyone who wants to strengthen their doctrinal foundation, and I especially think it would be terrific for a study group.

The book is divided into 20 chapters on major topics like the Bible, God, the Trinity, creation, prayer, the atonement, the Resurrection, etc. Each chapter is about 5 pages long and hits the high points of the doctrine with ample Scripture references, and also shows the importance and relevance of the doctrine to the Christian life. There are also review and application questions at the end of each chapter. These are sometimes a little trite, but many could be good discussion starters.

So, beginning this September, I'll be taking our Wednesday student group through this study - while also recommending and utilizing the bigger and more robust Systematic Theology. I'm certain that this will prove very helpful to both the High School students and the college students who come.

1 Corinthians 1:9-10 [NKJV]:

"For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God..."