SEEING BEAUTY AND SAYING BEAUTIFULLY by John Piper (FAN AND FLAME Book Reviews)
A FAN AND FLAME book review of John Piper’s latest book, SEEING BEAUTY AND SAYING BEAUTIFULLY.
John Piper. Seeing Beauty and Saying Beautifully: The Power of Poetic Effort in the Work of George Herbert, George Whitefield, and C. S. Lewis; from the series The Swans Are Not Silent (Crossway, May 31, 2014, 160 pages)
Two years ago, I exchanged a few emails with a popular author (Peter Roy Clark). It stressed me out. Why? Because the author has published several books on grammar and effective writing. I must have reread my emails 10 times before hitting send. And maybe it’s just me, but more stressful than writing a short note to a grammar guru would be writing (and preaching) about three men that were brilliant at those very things—writing and preaching.
And this would be only truer when one doesn’t merely try to communicate the content plainly, but to simultaneously do it with beauty. Now that would be stressful. But is precisely what John Piper did in Seeing Beauty and Saying Beautifully: The Power of Poetic Effort in the Work of George Herbert, George Whitefield, and C. S. Lewis.
There is no way for me to know if Piper felt stressed as he wrote about Herbert, Whitefield, and Lewis. If he did, he didn’t say so. But I do know that if the central thesis of his book is correct—and I have found it to be true in my life—then if there was stress involved, we can be sure that there wasn’t only stress. For, as Piper argues, in the effort to say it beautifully, more beauty becomes visible.
And it’s this very point that is the central thesis of the book and the unifying theme across the lives of these giants of poetry, preaching, and prose:
“The effort to say freshly is a way of seeing freshly… The effort to say beautifully is a way of seeing beauty” (74).
Seeing Beauty and Saying Beautifully is the sixth installment in the series TheSwans are Not Silent. Most of the biographies in the series are adapted from hour-long messages at Desiring God’s yearly conference for pastors (links below). And for my part, this is where Piper is at his best—preaching to pastors.
In addition to the biographical sketches, there is a thoughtful essay on the proper, and improper, use of eloquence. The essay attempts to answer the question of when eloquence is helpful and honorable, and when eloquence is gratuitous, or just showing off.
But I should point out, that this book, like the conference messages it is derived from, is not just for those in the biz, not just for practitioners of words. Seeing Beauty and Saying Beautifully is for anyone that cares about their Christian witness, anyone that knows the power of language, and anyone willing to get in the trenches with words. For them, the work comes with a promise; namely, the effort to say it beautifully, there will be more seeing.
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A Few Key Quotes
On George Herbert:
“The central theme of [Herbert’s] poetry was the redeeming love of Christ, and he labored with all of his literary might to see it clearly, feel it deeply, and show it strikingly.” (Piper, Seeing Beauty and Saying Beautifully, 56)
On George Whitefield:
“[Whitefield’s dramatic preaching] was not the mighty microscope using all its powers to make the small look impressively big. [His preaching] was the desperately inadequate telescope turning every power to give some small sense of the majesty of what too many preaches saw as tiresome and unreal.” (Piper, Seeing Beauty and Saying Beautifully, 95)
On C.S. Lewis:
“Part of what makes Lewis so illuminating on almost everything he touches is his unremitting rational clarity and his pervasive use of likening. Metaphor, analogy, illustration, simile, poetry, story, myth—all of these are ways of likening aspects of reality to what it is not, for the sake of showing more deeply what it is.” (Piper, Seeing Beauty and Saying Beautifully, 135, emphasis original)
On “poetic effort”:
“The point is to waken us to go beyond the common awareness that using worthy words helps others feel the worth of what we have seen. Everybody knows that. It is a crucial and wise insight. And love surely leads us to it. But I am going beyond that. Or under that. Or before it. The point of this book has been that finding worthy words for worthy discoveries not only helps others feel their worth but also helps us feel the worth of our own discoveries. Groping for awakening words in the darkness of our own dullness can suddenly flip a switch and shed light all around what it is that we are trying to describe—and feel. Taking hold of a fresh word for old truth can become a fresh grasp of the truth itself. Telling beauty in new words becomes a way of tasting more of the beauty itself.” (Piper, Seeing Beauty and Saying Beautifully, 144).
[In my first blog post, Fresh Words, Fresh Language, Fresh Blood, I say something just like this (“Taking hold of a fresh word for old truth can become a fresh grasp of the truth itself.”) It was affirming to hear Piper sing in harmony.]
Links to Conference Messages: Herbert, Whitefield, and Lewis.
[Image from CS Lewis' study at his home, The Kilns; photo by Mike Blyth]
Roadie Rage
We all experience rage. It’s natural. But does that make it (always) right? And more importantly, how we respond to our own emotions says a lot about us and our character.
A few years ago I submitted an article to a local periodical called the Tucson Pedaler. (Aside, I used to live in Tucson.) I’m not sure they are still publishing, but in the summer of 2011, they ran a short story about a cyclist who had an altercation with a car driver and they asked readers to send in their reflections about the story. So I did. I called it “Roadie Rage,” and they published it in the August/September 2011 Issue. For this week’s post, I have included it below. By way of background, a “roadie” is a cyclist that rides (primarily) on the road; for those that know nothing about cycling, think Lance Armstrong type bikes.
Because I ride my bike a few times a week, often near traffic, I am frequently reminded of my words in this article. In fact this morning, in snowy weather, let’s just say it is a remote possibility that I raised my voice to one particular car driver – a driver who was quickly too far away to hear what I said and who, naturally on a very cold day, had the car windows rolled up and would not have heard what I said anyway. And maybe that was for the best. Regardless, this morning I was reminded that I am a man still in need of God’s grace and that I long for the maturity of character to respond rightly to my own reactions.
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Roadie Rage: Natural, but Wrong Nonetheless
I have a three-year-old son who loves to wrestle his dad. However, the other day when we were wrestling, he kicked me in the crotch.
I think it was an accident, but I yelled anyway. I reacted. Protective instincts took over. I pushed him away. There was a twinge of rage in my heart.
It all happened very quickly, but in a moment, I was reminded that I am fragile. I am vulnerable. I can be hurt. So I lashed out. But it was only natural, right?
Last week I read a police report about a cyclist who reacted; a cyclist who lashed out. Apparently the cyclist was cut-off by an absentminded motorist. At a stop-light, he caught up to the car and pounded on the passenger side door with enough force to leave dents. He broke the side mirror and promised in colorful words to do the same to the woman driver. “I will run you off the road and you will know how it feels,” he roared. From her cell, the women called 911, but before the police arrived, the perpetrator pedaled away.
What is uncommon about this event is not the close call between motorist and cyclist. Anyone who has ever spent time as a road cyclist knows such an experience – a car runs a red light; a large pickup truck brushes you back; a city bus zips by only to slam on its breaks while 30 tons jerk over into the bike lane to make a pickup.
Instantly, your blood boils. You see red. Obscenities spring forth as from a geyser. “Don’t you know that is how people get killed!”
Yes, we cyclists can ‘bob and weave’ in traffic with nimbleness, and can cover great distances at great speeds, but we often forget that we are wearing spandex and sitting on a piece of machinery weighing twenty pounds with only a helmet for protection. We are vulnerable. We can be hurt. So we lash out. It is only natural, right?
I suspect that most who read this harrowing account of the assaulted motorist, feel a measure of compassion for her, culpable though she is. Yet, I suspect a few, but still too many, read of the cyclist’s actions with vicarious pride. “Finally, someone stood up for us. Somebody did what I have never had the chance or courage to do myself,” they think.
As the cyclist put away his bike that day, safe at home, I wonder if he felt ashamed of his actions, as I did after I pushed my son away when he accidentally kicked me. Or perhaps, on the other hand, as he recounted the ordeal to his buddies, a grand satisfaction welled up regarding how ‘he showed her’. It is impossible to know.
In the end, while the cyclist’s actions (and ours) may be in many respects “natural” reactions – just as when a doctor taps you on the knee with a rubber, triangle hammer to check your reflexes, and you kick – we must conclude that what comes natural is not always right. Maturity and character are not always best assessed by what comes natural, but in how we react to our own reactions.
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[Image from a picture I took on Thanksgiving Day 2014 riding Peter's Mountain in Harrisburg, PA]
Reading List 2014
I’m not sure if readers love them, but I read enough blogs to know that bloggers love to create them: End-of-the-Year Lists. This is my contribution—the list of books I read in 2014 and a few comments about them.
Below is the list of books that I read in 2014. My goal for the last two years was to read 52 books during the year, or about one book a week. As you can see, I didn’t quite make it. I only hit 50 books. (For the nerds out there, the numbers come in at 13,075 total pages, or about 261 pages per week.) But I’m not too bummed; by God’s grace, I got closer than last year (34). Maybe in 2015 it will happen.
Some Disclaimers
As you glance at the list, you might notice a few things (some of them a little goofy), so I might as well point them out. First, I removed the “dates of completion,” but the books are listed in the order that I completed them.
Second, I didn’t count partial books, except for one. I only made it through one-third of The Moral Vision of the New Testament by Richard B. Hays. The book is huge. I took it on vacation in August, and, well, you know how it goes. Maybe someday I’ll come back to it.
Third, you’ll see books from several different categories (some about writing, blogging and publishing; others on preaching, theology, and Christian living; and one biography, and a few novels). I do this for a number of reasons, but one of them is cross training; it’s a healthy thing. Another reason is for continuing education. Oh – and don’t forget – for enjoyment. That’s important too.
A few of my favorites were as follows: In the writing cluster, I enjoyed How to Write Short by Peter Roy Clark (everything he writes is helpful), and Spunk and Bite by Arthur Plotnik (the title is a rift on the famous book by Strunk and White).
As for preaching, I re-read Christ-Centered Preaching by Bryan Chappell and The Supremacy of God in Preaching by John Piper (for like the fourth time). Both are excellent in different ways (Christ-Centered Preaching deals with the theology of preaching but also the mechanics of preaching and the anatomy of a sermon, whereas The Supremacy of God in Preaching focuses on the goals and traits of good preaching with a case study on Jonathan Edwards).
As for theology and Christian living, everything Robert Gagnon has written on homosexuality is helpful, but beware: his treatments tend to be exhaustive, which means they also tend to be quite long. Additionally, the essays in Themelios (written by several authors) were full of riveting scholarship.
In the category of biography and novels, I really enjoyed The Grapes of Wrath and The Pearl, both by John Steinbeck, and Justified Conduct by Linda Vargo (she is working on the sequel; I know because she is letting me help edit it). I also greatly enjoyed Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand (you can see my book review here).
Fourth, #42 on the list is The Bible. Yep, I count that one too. Actually, I hope it makes this list every year. This leads to the next comment.
Fifth, where page counts are not obvious, I took my best guess based on an average “words per page” of the typical book. I did this for books like The Bible and Robert Gagnon’s 60,000+ words of email correspondence about the topic of “homosexuality and the Bible,” which I printed and read with great interest. Fascinating stuff – firm at times, but always very pastoral. And these types of “books” lead to the last disclaimer.
Sixth, I’m aware that calling everything on the list a “book” is a stretch. For example, Gagnon’s “published” emails; Themelios is a theological journal published three times a year; and Ramona and Her Father is a children’s book that I thoroughly enjoyed reading out loud with my oldest daughter (we alternated reading pages). But if a man is trying to hit 52 books in one year, he tends to want to count it all.
I Hope to Encourage
More could be said, but I’ll end with this. I’m not sure if this list will encourage or discourage – or maybe some of both.
My strong hope is that it will encourage you to read and learn and grow. And if it does happen to discourage, keep two things in mind: First, I used to hate to read and rarely did it. Second, for two years in a row, I have not hit my target, but I try not to worry about that. The reality is this: whether I read the “right” number of books or not, I made progress. And that was always the goal behind the goal. Maybe your goal in 2015 is only to read one book a month. I say go for it; even if you come up a little short, you’ll make some progress, and learn, and grow, and hopefully enjoy it too.
Reading List 2014
- Sticky Teams: Keeping Your Leadership Team and Staff on the Same Page by Larry Osborne (225 pages)
- The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable by Patrick Lencioni (240 pages)
- How Can I Change?: Victory in the Struggle Against Sin by C.J. Mahaney and Robin Boisvert (96 pages)
- Glorious Ruin: How Suffering Sets You Free by Tullian Tchividjian (208 pages)
- Words for Readers and Writers: Spirit Pooled Dialogues by Larry Woiwode (240 pages)
- Preaching with Purpose: The Urgent Task of Homiletics by Jay Adams (162 pages)
- Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages (revised) by Haddon W. Robinson (256 pages)
- Speaking To Teenagers: How to Think About, Create, and Deliver Effective Messagesby Doug Fields and Duffy Robbins (256 pages)
- Justified Conduct by Linda Vargo (394 pages)
- Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck (120 pages)
- I Am a Church Member: Discovering the Attitude that Makes the Difference by Thom S. Rainer (96 pages)
- The Pearl by John Steinbeck (90 pages)
- Christ-Centered Preaching: Redeeming the Expository Sermon (2nd Edition) by Bryan Chapell (400 pages)
- The Supremacy of God in Preaching by John Piper (128 pages)
- Hearing to Tell: Listening for Gospel Inroads in the Stories of Non-Christians (Doctor of Ministry Dissertation) by Jason Abbott (174 pages)
- Self-Publishing 101 by Debbie Elicksen (180 pages)
- How to Write Short: Word Craft for Fast Times by Peter Roy Clark (272 pages)
- The Indie Author Guide: Self-Publishing Strategies Anyone Can Use by April L. Hamilton (304 pages)
- Spunk & Bite: A Writer’s Guide to Bold, Contemporary Style by Arthur Plotnik (272 pages)
- Buzz: Blue-collar Blogging and Publishing for Profit (eBook) by Frank Viola (and others) (99 pages)
- The Publishing Game: Find an Agent in 30 Days by Fern Reiss (224 pages)
- The Elephants of Style: A Trunkload of Tips on the Big Issues and Gray Areas of Contemporary American English by Bill Walsh (238 pages)
- The Man Who Planted Trees by Jean Giono (72 pages) [Click here to read my review]
- Encounters with Jesus: Unexpected Answers to Life’s Biggest Questions by Timothy Keller (240 pages) [Click here to read my review]
- How and When to Tell Your Kids About Sex: A Lifelong Approach to Shaping Your Child’s Sexual Character by Stan & Barbra Jones (280 pages)
- The Grapes of Wrath (50th Anniversary Edition) by John Steinbeck (640 pages)
- Dude’s Guide to Manhood: Finding True Manliness in a World of Counterfeits by Darrin Patrick (208 pages) [Click here to read my review]
- The Bible and Homosexual Practice: Text and Hermeneutics by Robert A. J. Gagnon (522 pages)
- The Bible and Homosexuality: Two Views by Robert A. J. Gagnon & Dan O. Via (128 pages)
- The Bible and Homosexuality: Two Views_Extra_Material (http://www.robgagnon.net/) by Robert A. J. Gagnon (~160 pages)
- Robert Gagnon Email Correspondence (http://www.robgagnon.net/) by Robert A. J. Gagnon (~191 pages)
- Gagnon & Walter Wink interaction (Christian Century, http://www.robgagnon.net/, & Horizons in Biblical Theology) by Robert A. J. Gagnon & Walter Wink (135 pages)
- What is the Meaning of Sex? by Denny Burk (272 pages) [Click here to read my review]
- The Author’s DIY Modern Marketing Workbook: Your Step-By-Step Plan to Marketing Social Media, Blogging & Newsletters by Mixtus Media (20 pages)
- Your Noisetrade Books Strategy: How to Gain Loyal Fans Using Modern Marketing Tools by Jenn & Marcus DePaula (40 pages)
- The Pastor’s Kid: Finding Your Own Faith and Identity by Barnabas Piper (160 pages) [Click here to read my review]
- Seeing Beauty and Saying Beautifully: The Power of Poetic Effort in the Work of George Herbert, George Whitefield, and C. S. Lewis (The Swans Are Not Silent) by John Piper (160 pages) [Click here to read my review]
- Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand (528 pages) [Click here to read my review]
- Leviticus (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries) by Jay Sklar (336 pages) [Click here to read my review]
- Eats, Shoots & Leaves: A Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss (240 pages)
- Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott (272 pages)
- The Bible by God (2,084 pages)
- Ramona and Her Father by Beverly Cleary (170 pages)
- The Moral Vision of the New Testament: Community, Cross, New Creation, A Contemporary Introduction to New Testament Ethics (stopped at page 187) by Richard B. Hays (187 pages)
- Grave Robber: How Jesus Can Make Your Impossible Possible by Mark Batterson (200 pages) [Click here to read my review]
- Future Men: Raising Boys to Fight Giants by Douglas Wilson (199 pages) [Click here to read my review]
- Lit!: A Christian Guide to Reading Books by Tony Reinke (208 pages)
- Don’t Waste Your Life by John Piper (192 pages) [Click here to read my review]
- Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope that Matters by Timothy Keller (248 pages)
- Themelios: An International Journal for Students and Religious Studies (Vol. 39, issue 3; November 2014) by D.A. Carson et al. (221 pages)
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LEVITICUS by Jay Sklar (FAN AND FLAME Book Reviews)
For sermon preparation and other teaching responsibilities, I typically spend a few hours a week reading Bible commentaries. But rarely do I read them cover to cover. However, I’m glad I did this for LEVITICUS by Dr. Jay Sklar. He is a reliable tour guide through, what is for many, a foreign land.
Leviticus by Jay Sklar in the Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries series (IVP Academic, 2014, 336 pages)
It is common to hear jokes about how boring and unreadable the Bible is, especially of books like Leviticus. I’m sure Jay Sklar knows this better than anyone. In the preface to his recent commentary Leviticus in the Tyndale series, he writes:
When I tell people that I’ve spent years studying Leviticus, many respond with the type of smile that says, ‘Oh well, at least he’s not hurting anyone. (Sklar, Leviticus, 9)
That’s funny, at least it is to me. But I’m sure there were moments during, say, fifteen years of in-depth study of the book, when the jokes got old. However, rightly understood, Leviticus is a cave full of treasure for God’s people. And I’m thankful for this commentary because it helped me find the gold.
Also in the preface, Sklar stated his goal for the commentary:
To make clear what is it that the Lord said to the ancient Israelites and, in doing so, to make clear what the Lord is saying to us today. (9-10)
How did Sklar accomplished this mission? Below are five of the ways.
1. Helpful Flow
The commentary opens with an extended summary of Leviticus and issues related to its study. After the introductory material, Sklar proceeds in a helpful pattern of commentary: First, “Context,” then “Comment,” and then “Meaning” for each section passage.
2. The Forest AND the Trees
The strength of all good commentaries is that they provide “hi-res” pictures of the text. But this can also be a weakness, that is, if the commentary never zooms out from the specifics to see the larger principles at work and what aspects of God’s character are on display. Sklar, however, at key junctures, was able to zoom out remarkably well. And in those moments, I think many will be surprised – although this isn’t the best way to say this – at how “New Testament” Leviticus sounds (especially with respect to God’s character and his gracious dealings with his people).
3. Not Overreaching
Another reason that I appreciated the commentary, is that it was consistently responsible and not overreaching in its conclusions. Let me illustrate this point by starting with a little Leviticus trivia.
Imagine that you are an Israelite woman in the ancient Near East that has recently given birth to a male child. Do you know how many days that you are ceremonially “unclean” after giving birth to a male? The answer is 40 days. You can find it in Leviticus 12. But what if, instead, you had a female child. Then how many days are you unclean? The answer is 80, not 40 (also in Lev. 12). But why?
Sklar, after exploring several possible reasons, writes this:
We simply do not know why the length of impurity differs between boys and girls. (179)
See what I mean by “responsible and not overreaching.” He explains only as far as the text and responsible scholarship allows. That sounds like an easy thing to do, but it’s not. The gravitational pull towards speculation is strong.
4. Asks and Answers the Hard Questions
But the whole commentary is certainly not 336 pages of agnosticism (“Well, we really can’t know…” or “It’s not fully clear…” or “Scholars disagree…”). Rather, the hard questions are asked and answers are given.
For example, which laws in Leviticus apply today? See page 57. And did the sacrifices “really atone for sin” when the New Testament states that this was “impossible”? See page 72.
5. A View Towards Accessibility
As is consistent with Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (TOTC), Leviticus is user-friendly, even to those without formal theological education. The TOTC series often has – and I would say Leviticus is a particularly good example of this – explanations of key terms, many analogies to the modern world, and helpful charts. A personal favorite chart in Leviticus was the decision tree for priests in the evaluation of skin diseases based on Leviticus 13-14. I smiled at the thought of an ancient priest making a ‘cheat sheet’ with a similar diagram.
In summary, if you are looking to engage with God and his Word on a deeper level, and you are up for doing this in a book often neglected, then Leviticus (with Sklar as your tour guide), is a great place to start.
A Favorite Quote
“When the Israelites obeyed the Lord’s covenant commands, they would experience the covenant blessings that humanity was created to enjoy: walking in rich fellowship with their divine King who cared for them and provide for all their needs. This was like a return to the garden of Eden in Genesis 2, where God’s people lived securely in a fruitful land, with all of their needs met, walking in obedient fellowship with their gracious Lord. Israel was privileged with showing the nations this vision of Eden and inviting them to experience it.” (Sklar, Leviticus, 324)
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The Woman I Love, Denver Christmas Conference, and a Letter from the Apostle Paul
You know how smells can bring back memories, well, for me, so does the Bible. Specific passages recall specific memories, and every time I read 2 Corinthians 1:12, I always think about this one time when…
In my morning devotions yesterday, I finished 1 Corinthians. So this morning, naturally, I started 2 Corinthians. As I read verse 12, an unexpected avalanche of memories swept me away. All of a sudden, I was in Denver, Colorado wearing a blue shirt in the upstairs of a restaurant talking to a beautiful woman. That was a dozen years ago, but it might as well have been this morning.
It was January and unusually warm for Denver. I was there for a conference with Campus Crusade for Christ called Denver Christmas Conference (DCC as we called it). Over the semester break, a bunch of us had made the 14-hour road trip from mid-Missouri.
I was wearing a light blue shirt that had a picture of a buzzard on it—weird, right? It was my college flag football team jersey. We were The Scavengers, a name in “honor” of our team leader. And my shirt had the following written on it: “2002 All-Campus Champions.” I wore the shirt with pride. (It’s funny, I competed for 5 years in Division 1 college sports, yet the highlight of my athletic career occurred playing competitive intermural flag.)
And I was in the upstairs of a restaurant. Downstairs was the noise; upstairs was the quiet—the place to talk, to listen.
And a beautiful young woman was with me. Her name was Brooke. She held my hand and I held hers.
We were about to begin dating, or courting, or something. I’m not sure what we were calling it. But it wasn’t an ordinary relationship we were going to start, at least I prayed it wasn’t going to be ordinary.
I remember telling Brooke that I had never been in a godly dating relationship before, but that I was committed to figuring it out. Not much of a sales pitch, I know.
Then I read 2 Corinthians 1:12 to her.
Now this is our boast: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in our relations with you, in the holiness and sincerity that are from God. We have done so not according to worldly wisdom but according to God’s grace. (2 Corinthians 1:12, NIV)
Paul said that his relationship with this church was characterized by holiness and sincerity, and not “worldly wisdom,” and all this by “God’s grace.”
I told Brooke that I wanted this for us: Holiness. And sincerity. And love. And by the grace of God.
I didn’t know what a relationship like that was like, not firsthand anyway, but I wanted to strive for it. And I wanted for Brooke to do that with me.
And she said yes.
I don’t know if she knew all that she was saying yes to, but she said it. We said it. And I am so glad. My bride and my sweetie and my friend, said yes.
That night in Denver, in January, in the upstairs of a restaurant, wearing a shirt with a buzzard on it, we prayed together. Then we went downstairs, and then back to the conference center where we went to a concert; Bebo Norman played his acoustic guitar and wore a red t-shirt and a stocking cap. Brooke sat on my left.
That was almost a dozen years ago.
This is what I mean when I say an avalanche of emotions and memories swept over me this morning as I read 2 Corinthians.
God has been exceedingly good to me in giving me Brooke—my wife and my best friend.
Thank you for saying yes, Sweetie.
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Moldy Bread, Sandy Water, Graphic Sin, and the Meal that Satisfies
In seminary, I remember having classes on the Lord’s Supper. And in those classes, I remember learning that many wonderful things take place when Christians participate in the Lord’s Supper. But as in salvation, during the Lord’s Supper, before grace becomes rich and satisfying, sin must be seen as graphic and unpleasant.
The Invitation
After the people of God had been through a great many trials, even trials that were brought upon them because of their own sins, God began to speak – or perhaps better, continued to speak – to his people through a man named Isaiah.
In Chapter 55, we hear a glorious invitation from God:
Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.
In other words, if you are hungry, come eat rich food. If you are thirsty, come drink fine wine. Don’t worry about having the money for it; God knows that you don’t.
Graphic Sin
There are many ways the Bible describes sin. Some of them are fairly unpleasant and others are quite graphic. And rightfully so. Sin is unpleasant and, at times, graphic.
This is how sin is described in Isaiah 55, but not in the usual way we understand the terms “unpleasant” and “graphic.”
Here, Isaiah describes sin as spending money – hard-earned money – on moldy bread. It is described as labor and toil and effort – getting up early, staying up late – only to drink water filled with sand. Sin is guzzling – I mean, liquid-spilling-down-the-sides-of-your-face-and-neck-and-shirt-and-getting-you-all-sticky guzzling – “that which does not satisfy.” Isaiah is talking about faces in the feeding trough of sin.
Rather unpleasant and graphic, right?
The Meal that Satisfies
The solution offered by Isaiah – offered by God – is to feast on real food, rich food. And not just that, but to do so using another person’s expense account.
And that’s what the Lord’s Supper is about.
The Lord’s Supper is the multimedia presentation of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. It proclaims the way that sinful, undeserving people can have relationship with God. It is an invitation made to people without the ‘moral capital’ to purchase the love of God, but are nonetheless invited to “buy” grace and love and satisfaction through repentance and faith. It is an invitation to feast on a meal purchased with another’s money, a meal that does satisfy.
People often wonder who should participate in this supper, and different churches have different understandings about this, but at the core, we all can say that the meal is not for people who deserve it. That is for sure.
The Lord’s Supper, like salvation, is for those who know the dissatisfaction of their own labors; it’s for people that are tired of moldy bread and sandy water; it’s for people that worship God for his free grace to them through the Son.
Pastors have all sorts of ways to describe the Communion invitation to the congregation, but the best one I know is to say with the prophet Isaiah:
“Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat!”
In other words, guzzle down grace ‘til it spills down your face and gets you sticky.
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UNBROKEN by Laura Hillenbrand (FAN AND FLAME Book Reviews)
A book review of UNBROKEN -- the unbelievable story of Louis Zamperini.
A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand (Random House, original 2010, paperback reprint July 29, 2014, 528 pages)
Have you ever wanted to know how to run a four-minute mile? Or what it would be like to cross the Atlantic on a cruise ship full of Olympic athletes? Or how to drop bombs from an aircraft? Or how to fend off ravenous sharks?
Or perhaps you want to know how to survive on a teeny yellow raft, drifting over 2,000 miles on the Pacific Ocean? Or maybe you want to know how deep underwater you must swim to avoid the lethal impact of bullets from an airplane? Or how to survive as a Japanese Prisoner of War when all you know is 500 calories a day from moldy seaweed broth, cold nights, beatings, more beatings, and hard labor?
But maybe you don’t want to know any of these things.
Perhaps you want to know how someone steeped in addiction, on the edge of divorce, and controlled by murderous rage—or in short, someone whose life is in a nosedive with double engine failure—could survive, and then go on to forgive his enemies.
If that’s you, then know this: Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand will not teach you any of these things.
Well, that’s not exactly true; it might teach you a few of them. (When fending off sharks: open eyes wide, bear your teeth, and pound them in the nose.)
But Unbroken does tell the story of a man who experienced all of these things and more. Did I mention that Adolf Hitler wanted to shake Louie’s hand after his 5,000m race in the 1936 Berlin Olympics, but because of where Hitler was sitting, he and Louie could not fully reach each other and only touched fingers?
Yes, Unbroken is – in that overused word – unbelievable.
If you have never heard of Louis Zamperini or the story of Unbroken, I suspect that will change this winter when the movie version, directed by Angelina Jolie, is released on Christmas Day (see trailer below).
Laura Hillenbrand (author of Seabiscuit) spent seven years researching the Zamperini story, and it shows. Starting with the rebellious young Louie, the book runs us through his life with remarkable precision. Her writing style is sparse and understated, and yet at the same time profound, getting extraordinary mileage through the occasional key word with double and deeper meanings. As well, Hillenbrand is a master of juxtaposition.
But it’s not only Louie’s life that is on display. As Hillenbrand tells Louie’s story, she invites readers into the story of every WWII airman and every Pacific POW – not unlike the way Tom Joad (The Grapes of Wrath) tells the story of every suffering, migrating Okie. And like the Joads, some WWII warriors fared better than Louie, and others, though it’s hard to fathom, fared worse.
In my copy of the book, there a transcript of an interview with the author. When asked what it was that specifically captivated her about Louie’s story, she writes this:
So many elements of Louie’s saga were enthralling, but one in particular hooked me… How can you tell of being victimized by such monstrous men, yet not express rage? His response was simple: Because I forgave them.
It was this, more than anything, that hooked me. How could this man forgive the unforgiveable? In setting out to write Louie’s story biography, I set out to find the answer.” (487-8, emphasis original)
In other words, Unbroken is the story of how the forgiveness of one’s enemies becomes believable.
Yet it is at this very point, the very epicenter of the story that shook her, that I am unsure whether Hillenbrand ever found her answer.
Louie Zamperini, however, found the answer. He found it at a Billy Graham Crusade in 1949. He was tricked into going by his wife; but after that night, everything about everything changed.
If Hillenbrand saw this – that is, if she found that the answer to ‘how radical forgiveness can happen’ is only found in the supernatural power of Christian conversion – then she doesn’t tip her hand; she lets readers connect the dots for themselves.
A few weeks ago, a friend remarked to me that she heard that the upcoming movie version “takes God out of the story.” I don’t know whether that’s true or not; we will all have to wait and see. But, based on the book, I’m not sure how much God really is in Hillenbrand’s story. And if God is in there, then he is there the way he is “there” in the book of Esther – the unnamed, mysterious hand of Providence: guiding, protecting, and saving his people. Louis Zamperini knew this ‘hand of Providence,’ and after reading his story, I know it better.
From the Preface
“All he could see, in every direction, was water.
“It was late June 1943. Somewhere on the endless expanse of the Pacific Ocean, Army Air Forces bombardier and Olympic runner Louie Zamperini lay across a small raft, drifting westward. Slumped alongside him was a sergeant, one of his plane’s gunners. On a separate raft, tethered to the first, lay another crewman, a gash zigzagging across his forehead. Their bodies, burned by the sun and stained yellow from the raft dye, had winnowed down to skeletons. Sharks glided in lazy loops around them, dragging their backs along the rafts, waiting.
“The men had been adrift for twenty-seven days. Borne by an equatorial current, they had floated at least one thousand miles, deep into Japanese-controlled waters. The rafts were beginning to deteriorate into jelly, and gave off a sour, burning odor. The men’s bodies were pocked with salt sores, and their lips were so swollen that they pressed into their nostrils and chins. They spent their days with their eyes fixed on the sky, singing “White Christmas,” muttering about food. No one was even looking for them anymore. They were alone on sixty-four million square miles of ocean.” (Hillenbrand, Unbroken, xvii-xviii)
Unbroken, The Book and The Movie
UNBROKEN is the story of Louis Zamperini. When his WWII plane went down over the Pacific, he drifted on the open ocean in a tiny yellow raft for forty-seven days while sharks tried to eat him. Finally, he reached land. And then it got worse.
Unbroken is the story of Louis Zamperini. The subtitle of the book is A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption, and it is a story of at least all of those things: Survival – Resilience – Redemption. It’s also the story of brokenness, brokenness in so many ways.
On the cover of my copy of the book, it states that the book was on the New York Times bestseller list for three years. As of today, it’s still number one in the paperback non-fiction category.
The author is Laura Hillenbrand. She has only written two books. You might have heard of the other one: Seabiscuit (also a bestseller and movie).
On Christmas Day, the movie version of Unbroken will be released. It was directed by Angelina Jolie.
Apparently, Zamperini and Jolie are neighbors in Hollywood (not metaphorically or anything, but literally from Louie’s backyard you could see her and Brad’s house).
Louie died this summer. He was 97 years old – a hero and a committed Christian.
On Tuesday, I’m going to release my review of the book. In the meantime, I thought you might enjoy watching the trailer to the movie. And if you hurry, you still have time to get the book and read it before the movie comes out.
Movie Trailer
She Begged Me to Stop Stretching Her Thin and Stuffing Her Full
A poem to remind us of what's important in life.
That line haunts me. To a fault, it’s part of the story of my life. It comes from a poem, or spoken word, by Propaganda called “Be Present” on his album Excellent.
Most of my readers are not familiar with his music (Christian rap, for lack of a better category).
But you should be.
He delivers the goods, even if the packaging is not your cup of tea. I have been consistently challenged – you might even say haunted – by his powerful poetry on Excellent and his latest album Crimson Cord.
Last week, I posted a review of an essay called The Tyranny of the Urgent that reminded me of this piece by Propaganda about ‘Lady Time.’
“[Lady Time begs us] to stop stretching her thin and stuffing her full,” Propaganda says.
So true.
Enjoy this excerpt from the poem, and by “enjoy,” I mean let it haunt you. It’s a good haunting, though – the type of haunting we need in a world that thinks we can always do more if we just multi-task more.
She only gives you one shot.
Blow it and she’s gone...
You can’t rush her or slow her down.
You better keep her on your side.
She will slip through your fingers like sand.
Her name is Time.
And she told me a secret: she said multitasking is a myth.
You ain’t doing anything good, just everything awful.
And she begged me to stop stretching her thin and stuffing her full.
And stop being so concerned with the old her and future her, but love her now. Her presence is God’s present.
And you should be that: Present.
- Propaganda, “Be Present” from Excellent
* You can watch the whole thing below.
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THE TYRANNY OF THE URGENT by Charles E. Hummel (FAN AND FLAME Book Reviews)
Right now, stop what you are doing and read this blog post. Seriously. I am urgent. I am a helpful review that can't wait. You can do whatever you are doing now, later.
The Tyranny of the Urgent by Charles E. Hummel (IVP Books, ‘Revised & enlarged edition’ April 19, 1994; 31 pages)
A friend gave me this little booklet about 3 months ago. I was going to read it right away, but … well … I think you know where this is going.
The central thesis is this: most people have lives devoured by “the urgent” but not necessarily important, and this is so to such an extent that we neglect the truly important.
My copy of the booklet states that it was originally published in 1967 and “updated and expanded” in ’94. This makes the author’s comments about the “invasion of the telephone” all the more true of our smartphones.
I do not agree with every statement, (e.g., “The worst sin is prayerlessness”), but I did very much appreciate the counsel on time-management, perhaps analogous to Dave Ramsey’s financial budgeting, for those familiar.
But what I found most helpful, convicting, and encouraging were the reflections upon Jesus’ life and the Bible verses about how Jesus “completed his Father’s will.”
Did “completing” mean that Jesus healed every sick person, or cast out every demon, or preached in every village? No, it didn’t. But he did his Father’s will for him, and that was enough. And it should be our aim as well—a freeing, not crushing, ambition.
So what’s the main takeaway? It’s this: what is important in life rarely dances on the coffee table and tells you she is so. And if she does, it’s probably too late. Better listen while she whispers.
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Uh oh! Michael R. just stole your KOM!
That’s the subject line of an email I got just over two months ago. It still makes me mad.
That’s the subject line of an email I got just over two months ago. You can see a picture of the email above.
It still makes me mad. I didn’t lose my KOM, someone stole it. Someone named Michael. A plague on his house, I say.
But before you call the police, you should know that while KOMs are valuable to me, they are actually meant to be stolen; before Michael stole it from me, I stole it from a guy named Brian.
At this point, I know most of my readers are lost, so let me help: KOM stands for “King of (the) Mountain.” It’s a cycling term – sometimes a formal designation in professional cycling, and sometimes an informal one.
I didn’t earn my KOM in professional cycling of course, but while using the app called Strava (www.strava.com).
Strava is a combo of Facebook and a personal fitness tracker, but with the ability to compete on designated “segments.” There are thousands of “segments” across the world. And when you ride through one with a GPS, you get timed, and then your time is ranked against all of the other riders that have ridden that segment.
You can see in the email that my KOM was on the “Overton Climb”— stress on the word “was”; Michael beat my time by 8 seconds.
As mad as I was at whoever this Michael guy is, I was thankful for the reminder that treasures on earth do not last. Here on earth, people can steal them. But I am also thankful for the reminder that Jesus gives: there is a place to keep treasures that is more secure than Fort Knox.
Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:19-21, ESV)
Where is your treasure – on earth or in Heaven?
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THE PASTOR’S KID by Barnabas Piper (FAN AND FLAME Book Reviews)
Barnabas writes of some pastors that need “a bucket of ice water in their sleeping face." Perhaps I have been more asleep than I knew.
The Pastor’s Kid: Finding Your Own Faith and Identity by Barnabas Piper (David C. Cook, July 1, 2014, 160 pages)
[Disclaimer: Typically, I keep book reviews short. That’s not the way this one goes for reasons that will hopefully be apparent. It’s more of a “cup of coffee” review than a “scroll through the iPhone” review.]
In the spring, Dr. John Piper gave a guest lecture at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia titled, The New Calvinism and the New Community. A man at our church is taking some classes at WTS, and he invited me to attend the lecture with him. I didn’t have to think about whether I would make time to attend or not; I mean, I have an entire row of books on a book shelf written by Piper.
In the lecture, Dr. John Piper commented on his “fatherly” influence on many. Here’s what he said,
I am part of the New Calvinism and feel a sense of fatherly responsibility to continually speak into it dimensions of biblical truth that I think it needs to hear.
During the Q&A that followed, student after student expressed their appreciation to Dr. Piper for his ministry. But I didn’t need others to tell me that Dr. Piper has had a fatherly influence. I already knew that it was certainly true for me.
However, John Piper never went to my Little League games. And he never gave me a piggyback ride or tucked me in at night or tromped through the Georgia woods with me looking for Civil War-era ruins.
Those things, John Piper did with his own children. Those things he did with his own son, Barnabas Piper.
The Foreword to the Pastor’s Kid
In his foreword to The Pastor’s Kid by his son Barnabas, John Piper writes,
You will ask, “Was it painful for me to read this book?” The answer is yes. For at least three reasons. First, it exposes sins and weaknesses and imperfections in me. Second, it is not always clear which of its criticisms attach to me and the church I love. Third, this is my son, and he is writing out of his own sorrows.
And this book was difficult for me to read as well, but for different reasons.
First, a part of me, a sinful part of me, wanted the book to give me the inside scoop on my hero—the backstage pass to all the gossip, you know, reporting TMZ style. And that’s not what this book is. Occasionally, a few table scraps fall from the actual Piper kitchen table, but that’s about all. And I'm actually thankful; the book and I are better for it.
Second, I am a pastor now, but I am not as aware as I should be of the unique challenges to being in a pastor’s family. And I said “the unique challenges of being in a pastor’s family” and not just a “pastor’s kid,” because when my wife read the book, she thought it could be titled “The Pastor’s Wife” for all of the overlap. Regardless, in the introduction, Barnabas writes of some pastors that need “a bucket of ice water in [their] sleeping face” (17). Perhaps I have been more asleep than I knew, or at least more drowsy.
But even though it wasn’t easy to read (when is ice water in the face easy?), and even though I might have (sinfully) hoped for a different book, let me share three ways Barnabas’ book helped me.
First, Barnabas, Thank You for Helping Me Be a Better Parent
Barnabas stuffs The Pastor’s Kid with great parenting advice for PKs. It commends things like “showing, not just telling, Jesus” and explaining the “why” behind the rules, that is, the values that give rise to the “dos and don’ts.”
But those were general ‘helps’ to me and my parenting. Here’s a specific one. The book raised my awareness of the potential collateral damage when family members make cameo appearances in sermon illustrations. I was already cautious of this, but Barnabas gave a few examples from his own life—a few difficult examples—that crystalized my awareness.
In fact, just last week, as I prepared my sermon, I thought of bringing my family into it. And I did, but first I ran it through a triple-reverse-osmosis filter so as to make it a generic illustration (“I heard one time of a…” or “Perhaps you could envision a time when…” sort of thing). Yes, this time the illustration lost some of its personal feel, but the result was fine; and more than that, my daughter kept her witness protection status intact.
The unique challenges PKs face tend to stack upon each other, creating a cumulative effect. And so the book focuses on them, but parenting PKs is not sui generius (that is, not fully in a ‘class of its own’). Every parent can benefit from the sturdy counsel. Thank you, Barnabas.
Second, Barnabas, Thank You for Freeing Me From Being An Expert on Everything
I couldn’t be a pastor if I had to be everything - toeveryone - all of the time. Pastoring under these expectations is a crucible, and as Barnabas writes, “downright stupid”:
In the Western church the role of a pastor has taken on responsibilities and definitions it ought not. The pastor is seen as the spiritual burden bearer of the entire congregation. He is the prophetic voice of authority… He is the answer man for questions on topics ranging from sex to stewardship to sanctification… He must be an expert accountant, theologian, psychologist, marketer, strategist, and orator. In short, he must exhibit every spiritual gift from God…
The cultural expectations on pastors are mostly unbiblical, entirely impractical, and generally downright stupid. We each expect the pastor to meet our particular need with expedience and wisdom. It is an untenable situation, a burden no man can bear. (98)
I do not think these expectations have haunted me in the settings that I have pastored. And to some degree, I hope hyperbole is involved in the description. But I can say this: even when the external pressures were not there (at least to such an extensive degree), the internal pressure that I apply to myself is often there.
So, too often, I do feel this pressure. And under it, I wilt, because we pastors were never meant to be everything to everyone all of the time.
Yes, Paul wrote that he was “all things to all men” (1 Corinthians 9:19-27), but I think he means this in terms of his passion to reach people for Jesus (over and against lazy indifference); and he means this in terms of lowering himself to relate to people for the sake of Christ (“to the weak, I became weak”).
I do not think Paul intended for us (pastors and all believers) to strive for omni-competence, and embody every spiritual gift at once. That’s the job of the whole body working together in total reliance on the omni-competent God (cf., Ephesians 4:16, “when each part is working properly [in reliance on Christ, it] makes the body grow…”).
So thank you, Barnabas, for freeing me.
And Third, Barnabas, Thank You for Sharing Your Wounded-ness
Was I aware that PKs are often wounded—wounded by their fathers’ and wounded by their churches’?
I would have said ‘yes’ to this, but The Pastor’s Kid showed me the gravity of it all. I’ll give you a few places where the wounded-ness seeps through Barnabas’ words.
When describing the (very wrong) way that some people try to discern a pastor’s opinion through the pastor’s family, Barnabas writes
What are PKs to do? How do we respond [to those that should really be asking our father, not us]? The reality is, and I speak for numerous PKs, I do not care what my father thinks about many things. (58, emphasis added)
This sounds like a young man who is still healing.
But I get it. His father is a Christian celebrity, a pastor who is often asked to autograph Bibles. Yes, I’ve heard Pastor John talk about this, and it’s strange. I’m sure Barnabas is thinking, “Hey, there is a podcast specifically called “Ask Pastor John,” so send in your questions there, not to his son.”
Another place that the wounded-ness appears (at least to me), is when he talks about how pastors are often far too “serious”:
Pastors can be a serious bunch, inclined to be thinkers and systematic organizers of ideas. That’s good for sermons but often useless for relating to children. Actually, let me amend that. That kind of seriousness is good for relating to a scant few people in any age. (109)
For anyone familiar with John Piper’s ministry, especially his preaching, it’s hard to read this without seeing its pointedness towards his father, even if there is wider application to pastors generally.
A hallmark of John Piper’s preaching is seriousness (cf., comments on “gravity and gladness” in books like The Supremacy of God in Preaching). And I, for one, have actually appreciated the seriousness. But maybe I wrongly assumed there was a ‘switch’ that flips, and John Piper is, shall we say, ‘more normal’ when he is not preaching. I don’t know. But Barnabas does.
Just one other place to mention: consider the appendix that offers “Seven Rules for When You Meet a PK.” Number 6 on this list reads
6. Do not assume that we agree with all the utterances of our fathers. (146, emphasis added)
There are other words than “utterances” that could have been used.
Maybe I shouldn’t be surprised by the potential for wounded-ness. Even without the PK dynamic in place, there is behind this dynamic for all children the supercharged father/child dynamic—for Barnabas and John, and for all of us. And this relationship will always either nurture or wound, or probably more likely, always some of both. I can relate when Barnabas said: “To this day, I still yearn to have a shared hobby with my father, something as simple as golf or hiking” (111). Barnabas, I know what you mean; me too.
Anyway, that’s probably enough on this.
But I don’t dwell on the potential for wounded-ness without purpose. For me, as with other aspects in the book, the wounded-ness raised my awareness; it adjusted the DEFCON level, and that’s good: preparedness should correspond to potential danger.
In the end, The Pastor’s Kid reminded me that as parents, we play for keeps. The wounds, and joys, and pains, and pleasures of parenting are written on our children with a Sharpie.
So, yes, The Pastor’s Kid explores the challenges of being a pastor and a PK, and thus it is a book for pastors and their children. But the book is for more than this demographic. The book offers countermeasures to all parents, children, and congregations—in other words, to all Christians.
Thank you, Barnabas, for sharing your story.
A Few Favorite Quotes
Our stories [the stories of PK’s] are different. Our parents are different. Our churches are different. But the pressures are largely the same. Our struggles are the same. And so we set off to know those struggles, to seek ways to avoid them, and to find what God would have us learn from them. (Barnabas Piper, The Pastor’s Kid, 29)
Many PKs simply don’t care that much about the finer points of theology, and in that way we are very much like most Christians. But we are not allowed to be normal Christians. The expectation is for us to be exceptional Christians. (Barnabas Piper, The Pastor’s Kid, 54)
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John Piper’s Foreword to THE PASTOR’S KID by Barnabas Piper
THE PASTOR'S KID by Barnabas Piper touched a nerve. Here's a preview to my full review.
Next Tuesday, I will post my review of The Pastor’s Kid by Barnabas Piper (the son of famous pastor and bestselling author, John Piper). Normally, my book reviews are short – less than one word for every page. But because this book touched a nerve – or better, because this book grabbed a nerve with tweezers and yanked – it’s quite a bit longer than one word per page, more like ten words per page.
The ministry of John Piper to me (and many others) has been father-like, so a book about what it was like to grow up as his son, had me at hello.
However, that’s not mainly what the book is about: growing up in the Piper home.
It’s about challenges of all Pastor’s Kids (PKs), and really, all pastors and all churches. And in the process of exploring these challenges, the book has sturdy advice about finding your identity in Christ that every Christian will benefit from – not just pastors and PKs.
Below, I copied the first paragraph from John Piper’s foreword to the book (i.e., the father of the author).
Until next Tuesday, enjoy.
You will ask, “Was it painful for me to read this book?” The answer is yes. For at least three reasons. First, it exposes sins and weaknesses and imperfections in me. Second, it is not always clear which of its criticisms attach to me and the church I love. Third, this is my son, and he is writing out of his own sorrows. (John Piper in the foreword to The Pastor’s Kids, 11)
* If you’d like to read the foreword in its entirety, before the book was released, Justin Taylor (a blogger at The Gospel Coalition), received permission to post it. You can find it here. If you’d like to read straight from Barnabas about why he wrote the book, you can read it here.
** Full review.
10 Years Ago Today, I Preached My First Sermon
It has happened to me only a few times, but when God uses a particular passage of his Word to sculpt your future and score grooves in your soul for his grace to flow, that passage never seems quite the same.
I had worked for about a month on the message. The church was Grace Evangelical Free Church in Jefferson City, MO. And at 10am, on Sunday, October 24, 2004, I preached my first sermon. The morning, however, was not without a few rookie mistakes.
For example, early in the morning I set my stopwatch on the pulpit; I wanted to make sure I didn’t run long. That’s natural, right? However, I forgot to turn off the stopwatch alarm. During the scripture reading, which was read by someone else, (much to their confusion) the watch alarm started beeping. And continued to beep for 60 seconds. That hasn’t happened again; trust me.
Anyway, the passage was Acts 9:20-31, and each year on my trek from Genesis to Revelation, when I pass though this section, I smile.
It has happened to me only a few times, but when God uses a particular passage of his Word to sculpt your future and score grooves in your soul for his grace to flow, that passage never seems quite the same.
I thought you might enjoy a few lines from the introduction.
In this text, we see some of the early frustrations of Paul’s conversion and also some of the early fruit of his conversion. We see people following the Lord because of Paul, and we see people trying to kill Paul.
It is in these early events after the conversion of Saul, the persecutor of Christ, that we see God’s faithfulness and sovereignty displayed.
From the rest of scripture we know that Paul became the most prominent figure in the New Testament, except of course for Christ. Paul became the great letter writer (the next thirteen books of the New Testament are his letters). And he became the great theologian (cf., Romans). And in the book of Acts, and through his letters, he becomes the great missionary to the Gentiles, pioneering the gospel through all of the Roman Empire.
However, all of this didn’t happen overnight. The quickness and suddenness of his conversion on the Damascus Road would not become the precedent for growth in Paul’s life.
The weighty task of leadership was not imparted by God in a matter of moments, but rather through years of sovereign preparations and through trials and difficulties of such severity that, at one point, he told the Church in Corinth that there was a time when he even despaired of life itself (2 Corinthians 1:8-10).
What I see in this passage is the principle that in “God’s Economy,” nothing is wasted. God does everything for a purpose. What I see in this text is that God is using all of our past to prepare us for ministry in the present; and he is using all of our past and our present, to prepare us for ministry in the future. And I see this here in Acts 9:20-31.”
I preached those words ten years ago today, and now, I see the truth of the message with more clarity, not less. In God’s economy, nothing is wasted. He uses it all, shaping us to be what he wants us to be, and simultaneously fulfilling his mission in the world.
Sometimes this change comes with the “quickness and suddenness” of the Damascus Road, but most of the time, it comes with the speed of a glacier... but also the power.
I saw this in Acts 9:20-31, and I see it still.
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Yeah, That Thing I Said, I Didn’t Mean It Like That
Of the blogs that I read consistently, Kevin DeYoung’s is one of my favorites. I thought you’d enjoy this recent satirical rift on the Sermon on the Mount.
When Jesus said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets: I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them,” do you think he really meant, “But on the other hand, do not think that I have come to completely affirm everything in the Law or Prophets either”?
Or when Jesus said, “For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished,” do you think he really meant, “By ‘jots and tittles’ I don’t mean every bit of chronology, cosmology, or history”?
Or when Jesus said, “Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven” do you think he really meant:
I’m not actually against relaxing some of the more outdated commandments. After all, who doesn’t like relaxing! I don’t want my disciples getting hung up on minutia. As long as you are concerned about love–whatever you understand that to be–I wouldn’t worry about the particulars.”
I don’t.
And neither does Kevin DeYoung.
Of the blogs that I read consistently, DeYoung’s is one of my favorites. I thought you’d enjoy a taste of his writing in the above quotes.
The full post can be found here. In it, the sarcasm might be a little too thick, but then again… maybe it is not thick enough. You decide.
You Might Expect Things Like This or Maybe This
Okay, okay. What's this thing all about anyway.
I’m into www.fanandflame.com a few months now, and it’s probably time to surface something I have had under the surface, namely, the types of posts you might hope to expect on this blog. The list will evolve, but for now…
Reflections on the Bible, culture, and pastoral ministry. This is my expressed trifold theme. It will bleed into all the other categories.
Book reviews. Lately, I’ve been reading a bunch of books. And for a few of them, I’ll give short reviews—reviews in fewer words than the book has pages.
Writing. Look for musings on the process and joy of writing, and for insights and reflections about the craft. Words are gifts; let’s use them well.
Sermon snippets. Frequently, the best sermon thoughts come on Sunday afternoon—the afternoon AFTER the sermon! Bummer. Occasionally, I’ll post one of the main points or an interesting paragraph, re-purposed with face lift.
Ooohhh, I like this quote. Here’s a quote I stumbled upon, and why I like it. Perhaps now we can appreciate it together. Put it on your fridge or bathroom mirror; memorize it or tattoo it on your shoulder. You’re welcome.
The re-post. Yes, it is someone else’s thoughts (excerpted only; with links for the full article), but if I do this, it’s because I found the post helpful and think you might too. Also, I’ll try to add a few comments of my own to move the ball down the field.
And finally…
Poetry. I don’t think Shakespeare is worried that I’m coming for his title, but I will do my best.
Did I miss anything? Are there other posts you want to see?
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A Lament for Jennifer
I remember the day I heard the news. I was in seminary. I went to sit on a park bench along a walking path. Students were passing by, but I was staring at the grass. I was thinking and praying. I was sad, and I was confused.
I remember the day I heard the news. I was in seminary. I went to sit on a park bench along a walking path. Students were passing by, but I was staring at the grass. I was thinking and praying. I was sad, and I was confused. Jennifer Knapp, after seven years away, had just come back to the music scene, but no longer was she making Christian music. She was gay and living with another woman.
When I was a kid, Jennifer Knapp came to my home church to play a concert. We were a small church. There were maybe 50 people at the concert—obviously, this was before Knapp toured with bands like Third Day.
I remember something that Tim said that night. Tim was the person at our church who “booked” the concert. “She’ll never be back,” Tim commented to me as we stood in the sound booth.
“Why?” I asked.
“She’s going places,” Tim said.
“Oh,” I said.
And she did.
That night, after her concert, my mom asked Jennifer if I could play her guitar. Don’t laugh at me—I was a kid learning to play, and, at the time, it seemed like a normal thing to do. Jennifer said yes. I strummed G, C, D on a professional musician’s guitar, a professional “going places.”
And so, 15 years later, when I heard the news, I was sad.
My sadness returned last night as I read a post by Trevin Wax about Knapp (here). The post was something of an update on Jennifer’s story and something of a review of her recently released memoir, but his post was more than mere update and review. It was a beautifully full-orbed lament about Knapp, evangelicalism, divorce, and the times we inhabit.
Thank you, Trevin, for putting into words what I felt on a park bench a few years ago.
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The Last Reps of the Last Set of Bench-Press, and a Reason I Blog
There are lots of reasons to blog. Here is one of them.
I used to be good at bench-press; I did it often enough. Now, those days are mostly gone. But one thing I learned from weightlifting was that there is a huge difference between doing just 2 sets of 10 repetitions, and doing 3 sets of 10 reps—even if on the last set you can only get just 6, 7, 8, or 9 reps.
A lot of work happens in just 3 reps when those reps are your last 3. Something painful and wonderful and productive happens near, or at, our limit.
Doing 1 set everyday—1 easy-effort set, without pain and grunting and the shredding of muscle fibers—doesn’t lead to strength. But doing several sets, and digging deep on the last one, even if only done once a week, does lead to strength.
In other words, those last 3 reps are valuable in a way that the first 10 reps are not, because the last 10% of effort produces more results than the previous 90%. This is true to such an extent that during the attempt to complete the last set, in a way, the last set is really completing you.
This is a reason I blog—not the reason but a reason.
For several years, I’ve been collecting random thoughts in random Microsoft Word documents—fly paper placed randomly throughout the house. If you get an idea in the middle of the night, well then, write it down; scratch a few notes on the notepad beside the bed. If you think of something juicy while riding your bike, pull over and use the smartphone.
These are helpful practices. I know this. If I don’t start here, it can never move beyond there. But really, these are the first reps in the first set. They come relatively easy.
Writing blog posts, however, pushes me—like the last 3 reps, in the last set of bench-press, pushed me. Blogging forces me to exert effort and trim the fat. It forces me to think about my audience and to eschew lazy sentences. No lollygagging, no passive fly paper. My ‘spotters’ yell, “Come on, Vrbicek; push it! Finish the set!”
When I blog, I’m forced to commit to an idea in a greater way than I would have otherwise. Writing for “publication,” albeit publication with a lowercase ‘p,’ gives me knowledge of my limits; my writing muscles get fatigued, and sometimes, the weights thud on my chest, and fatigue gives way to failure.
But it’s okay. Something painful and wonderful and productive happens near, or at, the precipice of (current) ability. After a protein shake and 2 days of recovery, I’ll be the stronger for it.
In other words, the hearty effort to complete 1 blog post at a time, is completing me.
But you might be thinking, “So, Benjamin, what if I don’t blog and I don’t bench?”
To you I’d say, probably there is something in your life where the last 10% matters more than the first 10%, or maybe even the entire previous 90%. Perhaps it’s a hobby or something in your vocation, or an aspect of building a relationship with someone. What is that “something” for you?
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What’s Your Focus in Transitions: Re-inventing or Re-identifying?
Whether you want them our not, you will have them--lots of them. But how will you use them?
Recently, the young adult ministry at our church asked me to lead the devotional at one of their meetings. So I did. And having gone through a transition recently, and assuming that those in their 20s will go through many transitions in the next decade, I thought a devotional related to transitions would be relevant.
In the process, I reflected on my last decade. It was a decade of transitions.
From single to married.
From relying (heavily) on my parents, to being a parent.
From college student to full-time employee with a bona fide cubical and a commute.
From just a little money, to lots of money, and then to something less than ‘lots.’
And from Division 1 college athlete to, shall we say, old(ish) man.
Yikes. Or consider it by the numbers:
8 different houses.
5 churches in 4 denominations.
4 job changes.
4 cities.
3 changes of vocation (student to engineer to pastor).
3 (very) different areas of the country (Midwest, Southwest, East).
And from 0, to 1, to 2, to 3, to 4, and to 5 kids, with the 4th being a miscarriage.
I look at that list, and it explains my whiplash.
Transitions in the Bible
The Bible is full of transitions. We see this on the corporate level—from just 2 people in a garden to thriving cities; from one man (Abram) to a nation; from local, tribal rulers to powerful kings; from prosperity to desolation… and around that Ferris Wheel a dozen more times; and from the random altars used by the patriarchs, to the portable tabernacle, to the fixed temple, and then to the curtain torn in two.
We also see transitions on the individual level—Abraham leaves his family; David goes from shepherd to king; the disciples from fishermen to church leaders; and untold numbers of sinners to saints. Consider the upheaval in Moses’ life and his 3 major transitions: from being raised the son of a foreign king, to life as an obscure shepherd, and finally to leading the Hebrew people. Yikes.
What’s Your Focus in Transitions?
If you are normal, your life will be one of transitions, perhaps not of the magnitude of Moses’ or with the frequency of my last decade, but you will have them. And during your transitions, many good questions will arise: What am I passionate about? Who am I now? Who do I want to be later? What do I want to be known for? And so on.
Depending on how we answer these questions, you will move in either 1 of 2 very different directions.
On the one hand, we can ‘re-invent ourselves.’ The way this is most often carried out in our culture, re-inventing is a fairly godless endeavor. By ‘godless,’ I don’t mean that it is the sum of all evil. It is not. Not every re-invention is of the sort that Hannah Montana made.
By ‘godless,’ I simply mean that re-inventing one’s self is typically done without any consideration to God. God is not in the picture. People look inward: Who am I? And they look outward: I want to be like these people and not like those people. The assumption is that life’s outcomes are infinitely malleable, and if I try hard enough, then I can be whatever I want. But again, rarely is God in the picture.
For the Christian, there is another option—the better option. Christians should use transitions as an opportunity to re-identify who we are in Christ.
Transitions are a time to re-affirm that the defining reality of my life is not marital status, nor where I live, nor in children, nor income, nor vocation, nor looks, nor education, nor popularity; but rather, my identity is in this: Jesus Christ loves me and gave himself for me. This was the focus of the Apostle Paul. In Galatians 2:20 he wrote,
It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Paul is saying that in the life he “now” lives—that is, just before, or during, or just after all of life’s transitions—he is resolved to live in the knowledge that God loves him. This is where he identifies, and re-identifies, over and over again.
I’m not very good at this, but I want to be better.
During my recent job transition, several aspects of my job changed as well. And it wasn’t until the transition occurred that I realized how much identity I derived from one particular aspect of my job: if I was doing it well, then I was good; and if it was going poorly, then I was bad.
This is wrong.
Because of the Gospel, Christians have an immovable source of identity: the love of God for them. Because of the Gospel, God feels towards me the same way he feels towards his own Son—delight.
It is significant to me that when Jesus transitioned from carpenter to full-time, itinerate ministry, God the Father publicly shouts his delight over his son. “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17).
As my current time of transition ends, and I await the next one—which I’m praying is not anytime soon—I don’t want to re-invent myself; I want to re-identify deeper with the Gospel and God’s delight for me in Christ.
In your next transition, what will be your focus?
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THE MAN WHO PLANTED TREES by Jean Giono (FAN AND FLAME Book Reviews)
A review of the classic short story about planting trees and the cumulative effect of long obedience in the same direction.
The Man Who Planted Trees by Jean Giono(Chelsea Green Publishing, 2007 [originally published 1953], 72 pages)
“The Man Who Planted Trees” tells the story of Elzéard Bouffier, who—living alone (widowed) and in a desolate country—single-handedly reforests the land: 100 acorns a day. For decades.
The narrative, and the corresponding woodcut illustrations, engenders love, sympathy, and admiration for the man. Stuffed with biblical imagery (e.g., “Lazarus,” “Canaan,” “God’s athletes,” and Eden-like descriptions), Giono compels readers to ponder the tension between ‘what is’ and what ‘ought to be’; and then what to do about it, namely, personally committed activism over the long haul (i.e., 100 acorns a day for decades.)
I received the book from a dear friend who thought I was ‘one who planted trees.’ Having now read it, I receive the compliment gladly.
Two Favorite Quotes
"It was his opinion that this land was dying for want of trees." (Giono, The Man Who Planted Trees, 14)
"Human beings cannot thrive in a place where the natural environment has been degraded." (Maathai Wangari from the Foreward, viii).
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