Monthly Archive for December, 2009

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When America’s Greatest Theologian Got Fired

Published on December 19, 2009 in Church and Leadership. 1 Comment

It is nearly undisputed that Jonathan Edwards was North America’s greatest theologian.  And, yet after serving his local church for 20 years, he was dismissed as their pastor.  Chris Armstrong reflects on the 1750 dismissal of Jonathan Edwards.

Minister. Thinker. Revivalist. America’s greatest theologian. “Homeboy” to today’s Young Reformed. Hero. Icon.

Failed pastor.

Why exactly was Jonathan Edwards, godfather of American evangelicalism, ejected from his own congregation–the church he had served faithfully for over twenty years? And what happened next? How did he respond? I explored these questions in an article for Leadership Journal:

[For a few reflections on what Edwards could still mean to the church today, see this post. For his claim to the title "father of evangelicalism," see this one. On Edwards as the original "ancient-future" evangelical, see here.]

Preacher in the Hands of an Angry Church

by Chris Armstrong

As messy dismissals of ministers go, the 1750 ejection of Jonathan Edwards by his Northampton congregation was among the messiest. The fact that it involved the greatest theologian in American history—the central figure of the Great Awakening—is almost beside the point. The fact that it took place in a New England fast moving from theocratic “city on a hill” to democratic home of liberty is more relevant.

Read the rest here.

“Divine power to demolish strongholds” / “Let them truckers roll, 10:4”

Published on December 18, 2009 in Sanctification and Scripture Memory. 9 Comments

Here is a verse to memorize and a pathetic way I remember the reference.  Notice that I am offering extra credit for this assignment.

If there is some area that has a grip on your life (an addiction, pornography, eating, temper problems), then a verse to consider memorizing is 2 Corinthians 10:4:

For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds (2 Corinthians 10:4).

Meditate on the truth of this verse.  If you continue to allow some area to rule your life, then you are like a city with broken down walls (Proverbs 25:28).  Grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ (2 Peter 3:18).

Memory Tips

  • Put it on a 3*5 card – - reference on one side, reference and text on the other side.  No more than one verse per card.  Write down the date you begin. 
  • Repeat to remember.  The idea is systematic repetition with a goal of wearing a rut in your mind. Chris Verse Tally  If you say it enough times, you will remember it.  And, if you are struggling with sin in some area, you should be motivated.
  • Associate the reference with something familiar. I started memorizing this verse in June of 1992.  If you are from my generation (the C.B. era), and you remember the horrendously awful song “Convoy,” I had the 45, then the reference will be easy to remember: 10:4.

See also, aloud, and twenty verses from my short term file.

Extra Credit

As I did one year in my room with a record player, listen to the entire song Convoy 100 times so that you too will never forget the phrase, “So, we crashed the gate doing 98, I said let them truckers roll 10:4.”  Your IQ will permanently drop, but you will remember the reference of 2 Corinthians 10:4.

Another book give-a-way

Published on December 17, 2009 in Blogging. 0 Comments

Allen Mickle is giving away some sweet books throughout 2010 over on his blog.

Click here.

Tell John the Baptist, “The down and out have turned into the up and coming . . .”

Published on December 17, 2009 in Quotes. 1 Comment

Matthew 11:2-6:

Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” And Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”

And, a paraphrase of this passage in The Jesus I Never Knew:

You go tell John what you’ve seen around here.  Tell him there are people who have sold their seeing-eye dogs and taken up bird-watching.  Tell him there are people who’ve traded in aluminum walkers for hiking boots.  Tell him the down-and-out have turned into the up-and-coming and a lot of dead-beats are living it up for the first time in their lives (Yancey, The Jesus I Never Knew, 93)."

An update on Matt Chandler’s brain tumor

Published on December 16, 2009 in suffering. 0 Comments

I recently posted a link to a video of Pastor Matt Chandler’s thoughts before surgery for a brain tumor.  Justin Taylor has posted an update on the prognosis.

An update from the Village Church on the pathology report that Matt and Lauren Chandler received yesterday:

Dear church,
In the first chapter of Philippians, the Apostle Paul writes that whatever imprisonments, beatings and trials he may have suffered, they all “serve to advance the gospel” of Jesus Christ. We implore you to keep the gospel of Christ as the main focus as we walk with Matt and Lauren through this trial.

On Tuesday, Dr. Barnett informed Matt and Lauren that the findings of the pathology report revealed a malignant brain tumor that was not encapsulated. The surgery to remove the tumor, the doctor said, was an extremely positive first step; however, because of the nature of the tumor, he was not able to remove all of it.

Matt, who is being released from the hospital today, is meeting with a neuro-oncologist this week to outline the next steps of the recovery process. There is a range of treatment possibilities but the exact course of action has not yet been determined. He will continue outpatient rehab.

Click here to read the rest.

The Lord has called the Chandler’s and their church to walk through a dark valley.  I pray his grace will be present to them in ways that we cannot ask or imagine.

Trevin Wax is giving away a bookstore

Published on December 16, 2009 in Blogroll. 1 Comment

I recommend reading Trevin’s blog in any case.  But, if you stop by now, you can register to win a veritable plethora of books on Christmas.

image

If you win and you don’t feel like reading the books, then you could start a small retail outlet.

Click here.

For Introverts in the Church

Published on December 16, 2009 in Recommended Reading. 6 Comments

I am reading Adam McHugh’s book, Introverts in the Church: Finding Our Place in an Extroverted Culture: an interesting book:

In our day, I am convinced that introverts are an important ingredient in the antidote to what ails evangelicalism.  Our slower pace of life, our thoughtfulness, our spiritual and intellectual depth, and our listening abilities are prophetic qualities for the evangelical community, calling us to a renewed understanding of God and a fresh reading on the abundant life Jesus came to give us.  Yet because of the extroverted bias in many of our churches, introverts are leading double lives.  We are masquerading as extroverts in order to find acceptance, yet we feel displaced and confused.  We are weary of fighting our introversion, and we long to live faithfully as the people we were created to be.  Page 31.

And,

This is the chapter I didn’t want to write.  In my years of discipleship as an introvert, I have progressed in embracing my identity as a child of God and have cultivated a rich spirituality.  I have developed leadership skills that are congruent with my introverted nature, and I have even taken strides in sharing the gospel as myself.  But when the conversation turns to Christian community and relationships, I feel as an outsider looking in.

A study on the effects of pornography

Published on December 16, 2009 in Pornography and Recommended Links. 1 Comment

Be sure and read the comments at the end of Ed Stetzer’s post on pornography.

A new study done by Patrick F. Fagan examines the effects of pornography on individuals, marriage, family and community. Fagan is Senior Fellow and Director of the Center for Research on Marriage and Religion at the Family Research Council. He specializes in examining the relationships among family, marriage, religion, community, and America’s social problems. This study is important for everyone to read as it demonstrates that it has damaging effects on individuals and families. In the summary Fagan explains,

Pornography is a visual representation of sexuality which distorts an individual’s concept of the nature of conjugal relations. This, in turn, alters both sexual attitudes and behavior. It is a major threat to marriage, to family, to children and to individual happiness. In undermining marriage it is one of the factors in undermining social stability.

Social scientists, clinical psychologists, and biologists have begun to clarify some of the social and psychological effects, and neurologists are beginning to delineate the biological mechanisms through which pornography produces its powerful negative effects.

Some of the findings inside the study include:

    • Pornography is addictive, and neuroscientists are beginning to map the biological substrate of this addiction.
    • Users tend to become desensitized to the type of pornography they use, become bored with it, and then seek more perverse forms of pornography.

Read the rest here.

The Abortion Distortion

Published on December 15, 2009 in abortion. 0 Comments

I am thinking and praying about a sermon I will preach on January 24 for Sanctity of Life Sunday.  I recently filed this post from Al Mohler regarding an important article in New York magazine.

Al Mohler:

Week by week, New York magazine offers insight into the culture and consciousness of the nation’s trendy population in Manhattan. This magazine, combined with The New York Times, The New York Review of Books, and The New Yorker, provides constant insight into the thinking of the New York elites.

The magazine recently featured a major article on abortion, and it just might be the most important article on this issue in recent history.

In "The Abortion Distortion — Just How Pro-choice is America, Really?," writer Jennifer Senior offers an incredibly insightful and important essay on the moral status of abortion in the American mind. Senior is clearly writing to a New York readership — expected to be overwhelmingly pro-choice and settled in a posture of abortion advocacy. Given the passage of the so-called "Stupak amendment" to the health-care reform bill adopted by the House of Representatives, many in the pro-choice movement responded with amazement that a pro-life minority have been able to muster such support. Jennifer Senior posed the most awkward question for her readers: Is America really pro-choice?

Read the rest here.

Podcast of my interview with Cisco Cotto about Unpacking Forgiveness is now available

Published on December 14, 2009 in Forgiveness. 2 Comments

The podcast of Cisco Cotto interviewing me about Unpacking Forgiveness is available here.