Mar 10
Andrew J. NicewanderQuote of the Week Church, Culture Wars, Glen Beck, Obama, Preaching, Reformation, Religion
Our religion ought to inform our politics as it ought to inform our whole life. There are some political issues we should not be silent on (abortion comes to mind). However, the “culture wars” in America have duped Christians into enlisting in causes that have nothing to do with their religion. Worse still, it makes our religion into simply one aspect of a larger subsuming culture complete with its own schools, dress, music, television shows and diets. It doesn’t take a large jump before those things all become of similar importance, and Christ takes his place in the pantheon between Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck (or Obama and Al Franken, as the case may be). It’s the devil’s old bait-and-switch. Christ didn’t have a problem with the Pharisee’s actual righteousness, he had a problem with assuming that adherence to arbitrary cultural conventions was righteousness. Christianity is not a culture, it is trans-cultural. When we engage in evangelism, it should not be to make people more like us, but rather more like Christ.
- Justin Longacre, “Five Things“
Feb 25
Andrew J. NicewanderQuote of the Week Christianity, Liberalism, Walter Russell Mead
To mistake an ideology or a social model for the transcendent and always surprising (and irritating!) Kingdom of God is, technically speaking, the sin of idolatry. It is to worship the work of our own hands. What makes it worse is that to some degree in the mainline churches we have replaced faith in the scripturally based and historically rooted doctrines and values of the Christian heritage with faith in progressive social thought.
Instead of proclaiming a gospel of salvation that still brings lost sinners streaming through the doors (ask the Pentecostals and evangelicals who have continued to grow even as we shrink) we issue statements urging the federal government to fulfill its contributions to the Millennium Development Goals and to raise the minimum wage. They preach and plant churches; we have professional development workshops for diocesan employees.
- Walter Russell Mead, from “Petty Prophets of the Blue Beast“
Feb 18
Andrew J. NicewanderQuote of the Week Apologetics, Cancer, Dying, Internet Monk, Michael Spencer
The are a lot of different kinds of Good News, but there is little good news in “My argument scored more points than you argument.” But the news that “Christ is risen!” really is Good News for one kind of person: The person who is dying.
If Christianity is not a dying word to dying men, it is not the message of the Bible that gives hope now.
- Michael Spencer , On Real Apologetics
If you can, pray for Michael. He’s having a rough go at it with some pretty nasty cancer.
Also, as he’s now without a job and could use the financial help, you can donate to him at the link below:
Feb 11
Andrew J. NicewanderQuote of the Week Boars Head Tavern, Business Models, Church
“Church should not be a place for people who can’t make an honest living to pretend they’re bigwig business executives.”
- “Fearsome Tycoon”, From The Boar’s Head Tavern
Feb 04
Andrew J. NicewanderQuote of the Week Cancer, Gospel, Mark Driscoll, Matt Chandler, Suffering
The human experience commonly shared is suffering … If he [Matt Chandler] suffers well, that might be the most important sermon he’s ever preached.
– Mark Driscoll, on Matt Chandler’s Brain Cancer
Feb 04
Andrew J. NicewanderQuote of the Week Al Mohler, Bible, Christianity, Hell, Liberalism, Theology
The lesson of theological liberalism is clear—embarrassment is the gateway drug for theological accommodation and denial.
Be sure of this: it will not stop with the air conditioning of hell.
- Al Mohler, “Air Conditioning Hell: How Liberalism Happens“,
Jan 28
Andrew J. NicewanderQuote of the Week Christianity, Preaching, The Gospel, Truth
We urge decisions (especially during invitations), but base them on emotional pressure rather than the unpacking of the Person and Work of Christ, starting our sermons in the Ephesians 4-6 portions of Scripture without rooting them in the Ephesians 1-3 portions of Scripture. By doing so, we’re setting people up for failure and despair by preaching law without preaching Christ.
Frankly, this is what concerns me most. Sure, I grieve when we don’t preach the text with sobriety—but even when we do, we often highlight what we must do for Christ more than what He has done for us [emphasis added]. Sure we must remember the former, but we need to base it on the latter—without fail. The truth is, we don’t exult in Christ. Seriously, listen to what gets the most “Amens” in your next fundamentalist conference. A message that focuses on compromising evangelicals or rebellious teens or worldly music is apt to be met with a chorus of people saying “Amen!” and “That’s right!” Meanwhile, a message focused on Christ’s atoning work and it’s affect on every day living can be met with silence or a “tell me something new” inattentiveness. It grieves me. I urge those choosing special speakers to choose those who make much of Christ. What else do we have to offer sinners, after all? …
Preacher, get serious about preaching. Get a conscience about it. And for mercy’s sake, if you’re going to criticize John Piper or Sovereign Grace, you’d better bring it. You’d better drive your message deep into the text. You’d better have the approach of a prosecuting attorney who knows that every single thing he says has to be verifiable by hard facts, not clever jokes or circumstantial evidence. Because if you criticize men who are passionate about preaching the text even as you give it a back seat to your own wisdom, you’ll be deservedly ignored. And it’s happening a lot. A lot.”
- Chris Anderson (from his post “It’s Past Time to Put a ‘Zero Tolerance’ Policy on Preaching“)
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