On one hand I am ridiculously excited about what God is doing with my generation.  We are seeing God raise up numerous Christ-centered, gospel drenched, men and women.  It is exciting to see people more concerned with planting a biblical church than with following the status quo.  It is encouraging to see men both engage culture and confront it at the same time.  These are exciting times.

On the other hand I am deeply disappointed with how my generation is embracing rebellion for the sake of rebellion.  I really want to give a few examples of this but I know how the conversation spirals into something unhelpful.  I know that if we give an example of alcohol or cursing or mention the name Mark Driscoll then the entire point that I am making will be lost.  So, what I propose to do is present a paradigm for us to think about certain issues then apply them to a few issues. 

My aim is to appeal to my generation to stop being rebels for the sake of rebellion.  I am really tired of reading blog posts, hearing discussions, and witnessing arguments in which people are talking around each other instead of believing the gospel and taking Jesus to the nations.  There are some that believe you cannot drink a beer and be a disciple of Jesus.  (If that is you then you are not my audience in this particular plea).  There are others that believe that in order to be a disciple of Jesus you have to drink beer.  (If that is you then you are my audience in this particular plea). 

Allow me to set the stage for the next few posts.  There are, in my opinion, three different ways of engaging the culture: the stick-shaker, the rule-breaker, and the difference maker.  The stick-shaker looks at the problems of the world shakes a stick at them, rebukes them, rallies the troops to pick up their sticks, and hopes that by enough stick-shaking the problems will go away. 

The rule breaker gets ticked off with the stick-shaker (and rightly so).  Rather than shaking a stick at the problems he decides that the best way to reach the culture is to engage the culture on its turf.  If there are “rules” preventing the relationship then its okay to break them (so long as its not one of those big ones like denying Jesus). 

The difference maker does just that; he makes a difference.  He engages the culture rather than shaking a stick at it.  But rather than engaging in sin on their behalf he calls the culture to repentance.  Here is a picture (I’m not a good artist):

To be continued…

I follow Paul Tripp on Twitter.  I wish I could follow him in real life; like follow him around with a notebook type of stuff.  This guy has so much wisdom it is ridiculous.  Recently Abraham Piper had the opportunity to interview him.  This is I believe the final question but it is phenomenal.  What is the greatest hindrance to cultivating community in the American church?  Read Tripp’s answer here. 

Abraham also asked Tripp about non-sinful conflict.  Read his answer here.

Steve Camp gives 7 habits of the contemporary church, the traditional church, and the biblical church.  Great points.

I have not had the chance to check this out but assume it is just as solid as Children’s Desiring God.  Check out Praise Factory by Connie Dever (that is Mark’s wife). 

Dr. Mohler has a phenomenal response (Duh!, of course it’s phenomenal) to President Obama’s “speech” at Notre Dame.  Basically, Dr. Mohler says that Obama is only talking about talking about abortion; read it here. 

10 Questions for Pastor’s Wives.  (HT: Colin)

Tim Chester quotes some DA Carson to point out a danger in blogging.

The more I read Kevin DeYoung the more respect I have for this brother.  Another great article: False Apology Syndrome. 

James McDonald suggest 5 illustrations that need retired, first two this week. 

Material from Bryan Chapell’s preaching class are available.  Thanks Colin!

I wasn’t aware this was a continuing problem…maybe I’ve just started reading different stuff.  C.Michael Patton says, “Calvinists Calm Down!”

If you are an American Idol fan then this will make you laugh hard; especially if you thought Kara’s song was a tad silly.  Brant Hansen writes his song inspired by Kara:

I needed to hear this today.  It’s sad that the “hate” that Chan is talking about often comes from the church culture:

George Mueller once said, “if you desire anything for God’s glory pray until you get it”. 

So, what do you think about that?

Did this really happen to a professional?

I am glad this has never happened when we have taken teenagers out bowling (minus of course the “Nathan incident”:

A boy bathing in a river was in danger of being drowned. He called out to a passing traveler for help, but instead of holding out a helping hand, the man stood by unconcernedly, and scolded the boy for his imprudence. "Oh, sir!" cried the youth, "pray help me now and scold me afterwards." Counsel without help is useless.  From Aesop’s Fables.

Paul Tripp refers to this as “lobbing grenades of truth”.  I wonder how often and in how many areas we, as the church, do this to struggling believers and unbelievers.  Are there homosexuals dying of AIDS and without Christ that we refuse to reach out to?  Are there poor people that spend their money unwisely that we ignore?  Are there teenagers that we refuse to counsel because of their unwise choices?   

I fear that we often look more like the passing traveler than Jesus.  We are pretty good about exercising church discipline.  But sadly the church discipline that we often exercise is on unbelievers.  We let many that claim to be believers go untouched (so long as they are within our friendly confines, tithe, or at least on our membership rolls) with discipline and we “discipline” those are not even within the church. 

You see Aesop really does well at pointing out the ministry of Jesus here.  Jesus most frequently helped and then counseled.  The only time you really see the opposite is with the religious elite that “don’t need help”.  If we only lob truth at people and scold them in their sin then our counsel is useless.  If we only help people but never counsel them then our help is shallow at best. 

Perhaps, rather than boycotting Pepsi and picketing gay parades we should try to build a relationship.  Perhaps, rather than saying to a poor person we will only give 25% to your electric bill we should give until it hurts us, come alongside the person making poor decisions, and counsel them in biblical finances.

But of course lobbing grenades is far easier.  It is more destructive but at least it takes less out of us than hand-to-hand combat.  I could probably lob 15 grenades to every instance of hand-to-hand combat, but it remains impersonal.   So, which type of ministry do you want with people?  Easy yet destructive or tough yet personal?

Lauryn Hill is one of my favorite artists. I love her voice and her lyrics. She also professes Christ. These lyrics are some of my favorite:

Oh Jerusalem yeah, oh Jerusalem, oh Jerusalem, oh Jerusalem...
Realizing that there's no place else to go
And there's nobody I know who can help me
Text book solutions are so improbable
Cause everybody else is just as empty
Naked as the day that I was born, I tried to hide
...behind education and philosophy
Hopeless explanation to describe a situation
I can't see because the world's on top of me
Oh wretched man that I am, who will deliver me
From the body of this death
Freeing me from dust, and the superficial trust
Of an enemy that seeks to take my breath
Failing to connect, cause I'm morally defect
By reason of the God inside my head
Causing me to see, only what pertains to me
Believing I'm alive when I'm still dead
Limited to earth, unable to find out my worth
Cause I... can't see past my own vanity
If I'm not included, then I just have to remove it
From my mind because it has to be in sanity
Oh wretched man that I am, who will deliver me
From the body of this death
Can I even factor, that I've only been an actor
In this staged interpretation of this day
Focused on the shadow, with my back turned to the light
Too intelligent to see it's me in the way
What a paradox, having God trapped in a box
All this time professing to be spiritual
Naturally pretending, that I'm actually defending
God through my facade don't need material
Oh Jerusalem, wash thy heart from wickedness
That thou may be saved from thy deception
How long, shall thy face those lies within thee
Oh Jerusalem, keeping thee from perfection
Submit to truth, leave the deception of thy youth
So we could walk in the council of authority
Forget the proof, our generation so aloof
Only follow in the steps of the majority
Trust in the Lord, with all thy heart
And lay not to thine, oh an understanding in all thy ways
Acknowledge Him, and He shall correct our paths
Be not wise in thine own eyes and you can follow him
We judge and condemn, just as ignorant as them
Who religion tells us that we should ignore
Perpetrating we're in covenant with Him
Exposed by the very things that we adore
We grin and shake hands, then lay ambush for the man
Who has a different point of view then us
Infuriated cause he doesn't understand
Bringing up those things we don't want to discuss
Why still do evil, we don't know how to do good
Walking on in darkness running from the light, ey
Led to believe, because we live in neighborhoods
Telling us what's going on will be alright
Oh so repressed, so convinced that I was blessed
When I played with my game of Monopoly
Oh to suggest, that my life is still a mess
Who reveal the pride I'm hiding is what's stopping me
Oh Jerusalem, wash thy heart from wickedness
That thou may be saved from thy deception
How long, shall thy face those lies within thee
Oh Jerusalem keeping them from perfection
Abide in me and I in you, as the branch cannot bare
...fruit of itself except in the vine
I am the vine, ye are the branches, He's in live in me
And I in him, the same bring forth much fruit
Without me, you can do nothing
Oh Jerusalem, you're traditions have deceived you
I've chosen you, you haven't chosen me
Do whatsoever, you asking my name he may give to you
But in vain they call my name
teaching doctrines just the same
Justified among themselves
But God know with the heart, what man esteemed as smart
Is an abomination to Emmanuel
Just repent, turn from selfish motivation
So iniquity will not cause your demise
Make you a new heart and a new spirit
...for why would he die
Oh Jerusalem, please tell me why
I have no pleasure in the death of him to die
Says the Lord God where forth turn yourselves and live
It's not the talkers, but the walkers and his word
Are the only ones the Father will forgive
Oh Jerusalem, wash thy heart from wickedness
That thou may be saved from thy deception
How long, shall thy face those lies within thee
Oh Jerusalem, providing you no protection
Oh Jerusalem...

If you prefer to watch/listen to it:

Author: Francis Chan

Publisher: David C. Cook

Pages: 192 pages

Price: $8.15

Genre: Christian Living

Quick Summary:

“When you are wildly in love with someone, it changes everything”, reads the back cover. It is Chan’s hope that those reading this book might rediscover the amazing love of God and that we might live in such a way to reflect that. Chan’s hope is that we might be crazy in love with Jesus. As he says in the preface this book is for, “those who want more of Jesus. It is for those who are bored with what American Christianity offers. It is for those who don’t want to plateau, those who would rather die before their convictions do.”

How does Chan hope to give us more of Jesus? In the first three chapters he gives us a primer on the amazing love of God and the greatness of the God that is love. Then he moves to our response. He gives us a profile of the lukewarm and rebukes us for giving leftovers to God. Then he begins painting a picture of what a life that is obsessed with Jesus looks like. He closes by giving us real-life examples and encouraging us to respond today.

What I Liked:

This is the first book that I have read that encouraged you to put down the book and check out a video on the internet. The book is definitely “hip” and the website only helps to strengthen the book; I would love to see more of this in the future.

The test of any good book is not your opinion after you close the last page but how it has shaped your life. I must say that after reading this book my eyes have been more open and it has been used by God to stir more of a heart for Him and for those around me. Because I am in the group that “this book is for” it did in fact reach me. I am convicted by the message of this book. However…

What I Disliked:

Something sits wrong with me as far as recommending this book. I want to charge legalism—but that’s not true. I want to say he needed to focus on grace more—but I don’t think that was his point. The thing that bothers me is that Chan says that those that are “lukewarm” are not Christians; I agree with that statement. But what I wish he would have done after this chapter is shared the freeness of the gospel. People are lukewarm because they do not understand the freeness and beauty of Jesus (see Revelation 3). I fear that a churched unbeliever would be convicted (and rightly so) by the chapter on lukewarm Christianity and then read the rest of the book and think that the cure is to do things.

In my opinion Chan is writing more to the church at Ephesus than he is the church of Laodicea. If we are guilty of losing our first love then the answer is to do the works you did at first. But if we are the church at Laodicea then the answer is come to Jesus not so much feed the hungry.

Should You Buy It?

I wrestled with how to review this book. For me personally it has rocked my world. It has convicted me deeply and it has caused me to rethink certain things in my life. So, if you are in the position that Chan described then I would wholeheartedly suggest this book. But I really fear suggesting this book for an unbeliever or even a stagnant believer/potential unbeliever. At the end of the day I would say buy it, but read it alongside Jerry Bridges’ Transforming Grace.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars