I was recently privileged to participate in the 2008 Resolved Conference in Palm Springs, California. (The conference is named after Jonathan Edwards’s famous resolutions.) Some 3,400 college students and single adults attended the conference, led by my friend Rick Holland. Even the theme of the conference was very Edwards-like: Heaven and Hell. Obviously, it’s easier to preach on the love of God than the justice of God, easier to preach on the glories of heaven than the horrors of hell. We must preach on both topics. But from my perspective pastors are often reluctant to preach on hell, and that leaves an absence of biblically accurate—and humbly presented—examples of current sermons on this hard topic. At the Resolved conference, John Piper and John MacArthur each preached a very effective message on hell. One message is topical, the other more expositional. For preachers who have the responsibility and courage to humbly, compassionately preach on hell, Piper’s and MacArthur’s sermons model theological accuracy and a tone of compassion. Both messages will serve your soul and leave you more amazed by grace. Downloads here: John Piper—“The Echo and the Insufficiency of Hell” (Resolved session 8). Download this message from the Desiring God website [here]. John MacArthur—On Luke 16:19–31 (Resolved session 10). To listen, download the MP3 from the Resolved website [here].
Pic by Lukas.
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Preaching | Sermons | Hell
The audio recording from C.J.’s message Sunday at Covenant Life Church: Don’t Waste Your Humor C.J. Mahaney Proverbs 15:13-15; Ephesians 4:29, Psalm 126:1-3 Sunday, July 13, 2008 Covenant Life Church; Gaithersburg, MD 52:12 run time; 11.9MB MP3 Download here. Listen here:
Art by Zak Parsons.
Humor | Joy | Sermons
I’m not in the business of introducing every good book released from Christian publishers (there are others who do this well). But today I want to draw your attention to three noteworthy books all recently released and written by three of our African-American brothers and friends—Thabiti Anyabwile, Eric Redmond, and Anthony Carter. (I think it’s fitting to here inform readers that at the 2008 T4G conference, Thabiti publicly announced that ethnically I’m a “brother.” This was without a doubt one of the highlights of the conference for me and on the short list of greatest honors I’ve ever received.) I want to commend these three books to your attention because each is focused on strengthening the local church. But none of them requires a lengthy introduction, because I think the chapter titles speak clearly and compellingly to the content, scope, and value of each volume. What Is a Healthy Church Member? There is a desperate need for more books written by doctrinally discerning pastors addressing a passion for, and the priority of, the local church in the life and practice of every Christian. I highly recommend Thabiti Anyabwile’s book, What Is A Healthy Church Member? (Crossway, 2008), to all pastors and Christians alike. Chapter titles include:
My thanks to each of these men for serving Sovereign Grace churches with their writing, leadership, godly example, and friendship.
Book reviews | Discernment | Reading
In my experience over the past 30-plus years of pastoral ministry, I have encountered too many pastors who I think would be characterized as burdened, wearied, discouraged, and not joyful. These men are serving the Savior faithfully and for that they are to be commended, and they have my deepest respect. It is required of us to serve the Lord faithfully. But it is not sufficient for us simply or solely to serve the Lord faithfully in the context of pastoral ministry. In order to accurately represent God, in order to please and glorify God as pastors, we must serve him joyfully. We must serve the Lord with gladness (Psalm 100:2). That forms part of my burden in choosing that topic and addressing that topic and addressing pastors and seeking to equip them with an understanding of this as a priority for them personally as well as in pastoral ministry.
The full hourlong podcast, “The Pastor and His Joy,” can be downloaded here.
Joy | Pastoral ministry | Podcasts
Audio clips | C.J.+Carolyn | Parenting
Biblical manhood and womanhood is the life-transforming effect of the gospel on full display. When a church teaches, practices, and honors gender distinctions determined by our good and wise God, the gospel will advance. But this will only happen where there are humble and courageous pastors who lead every member and ministry of the church by personal example and with strategic pastoring.
Biblical manhood | Biblical womanhood | Marriage
Art cannot close the gap between the ideal and reality. Indeed, for a moment it lifts us above reality and induces us to live in the realm of ideals. But this happens only in the imagination. Reality itself does not change on account of it. Though art gives us distant glimpses of the realm of glory, it does not induct us into that realm and make us citizens of it. Art does not atone for our guilt, or wipe away our tears, or comfort us in life and death. …Granted, the two are connected. From the very beginning religion and art went hand in hand. [2]
Appreciating the arts and evaluating of the value of the arts is a balance the church must preserve in every generation. And this brings me to one of the many personal highlights from this most recent New Attitude conference in Louisville. One Sunday session was reserved for an open question-and-answer session with Dr. Al Mohler where he fielded questions covering a wide variety of issues on the topic of Scripture. Particularly helpful to me were his answers to the final question on art. How do we as twenty-first century Christians evaluate and critique the value of the arts? What relationship do the gospel and the arts share? What role and service do the arts play in the church? I recommend listening to the entire session (listen/download here) but what follows is a transcript of Dr. Mohler's comments on art and his challenge to a young generation of Christians to “learn to make art the servant of the gospel.” ------------- Question: My question is this: For the Christian, what role should the Word of God play in our artistic and creative endeavors? And for the Christian, what role should our artistic and creative endeavors have within the culture at large? Dr. Albert Mohler: Alright, let’s step back for a moment and talk about the arts. Where does art come from? God has made us as the only being in his image. We are the only being who fabricates with design and intention and with aesthetic sense. Beavers build dams. Ants build anthills. But they don’t hire architects and so far as we know there is no aesthetic appreciation for them whatsoever. You’ve never met a dog that is a painter. There is something about being made in the image of God that produces what we call “cultural product.” …
The arts are very important and it seems that in this generation the arts are newly important. Now, when that happens it is promise and opportunity. For instance, if you look back at the history of Western civilization the Renaissance, in particular the High Renaissance, was an opportunity in which cultural production became a huge issue. When I was a high school student there was a huge BBC presentation of humanity at its highest, Kenneth Clark’s Civilization. He went back particularly to the classical age and to the High Renaissance and said, “This is when human beings were at their very best because of this cultural production. Look at this: you have Bernini, and Rembrandt, and Rafael.” And you could just go through all of these and the cultural production in the art became the defining issue. The art reflected the Christian culture from which it had come, but the art became very quickly an issue of idolatry as well. And it was not true that where you found the highest art you always found the purest theology. To the contrary it was often very much otherwise. So what we should learn from that is that ideally Christians should be involved in the arts. Absolutely! But we’ve got to learn to make art the servant of the gospel. And that is a tough challenge in every generation. If the artists of the Renaissance had been concerned that their art would be in the service of the gospel, it would be a very different art than it is. It would have all the same ability. You’d still look at, for instance, Rembrandt—you’d look at the lace collars and he would still have that ability to make you feel like you could touch it. But it would be telling a different story then in many cases what gets told. And when you ask about the Scripture, well the Scripture is the food for our living on this earth. It is the light for our path as the Psalmist says. It is the authority by which we live. It is the sole sufficient guide for understanding all that we are and all that we hope for and all we trust in, in Christ. That had better be the substance of our art. That doesn’t mean that we only draw representations of Bible stories. It does mean that we test everything we do, not just by the cannons of art—which are truly culturally constructed and constantly negotiated and changed, an evidence of both human greatness in terms of ability and human depravity in terms of the morality and the rebellion against God that so quickly comes in and the idolatry that is our reflex. And we use Scripture to ask, “How do we judge the good, the beautiful and the true—always to be necessary and necessarily linked? That which is good is beautiful—that which is true is good—that which is good is true. They’re all the same thing. Modern art is in many ways a rebellion against the unity of the good, the beautiful, and the true. And one testimony you can give to the Word of God is saying that for the Christian the good, the beautiful, and the true are always one thing because in Scripture they are always one thing. And that is where you find our authority and our meaning. -------------- For more on this topic, please read Philip Graham Ryken’s excellent book, Art for God’s Sake: A Call to Recover the Arts (P&R, 2006). -------------- [1] From Calvin’s commentary, Harmony of the Law, vol. 3. [2] Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics (Baker Academic, 2003) 1:267.
Art | Cross of Christ | Discernment
The audio recording of C.J.’s second message at the 2008 Resolved Conference is now online. The Cry From the Cross C.J. Mahaney Mark 15 Monday, June 16, 2008 Palm Springs, CA 1:02:39 run time; 28.7MB MP3 Download here. Listen here:
Conferences | Cross of Christ | Sermons
The audio recording of C.J.’s first message at the 2008 Resolved Conference is online. God As Father C.J. Mahaney Galatians 4:1-7 Saturday, June 14, 2008 Palm Springs, CA 1:15:23 run time; 34.6MB MP3 Download here. Listen here:
Adoption | Conferences | God's love | Sermons
Joy | Pastoral ministry
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