Attempts at Honesty

Reflections on the interplay of the Bible and Culture

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Luther on trouble in the Church

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Martin LutherMinisters of the Word, therefore, if they would be counted faithful and prudent on the Day of Christ, out to be very sure that St. Paul did not speak empty words or prophesy of a thing of nought, when he said: “There must be heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.” Let the minister of Christ know, I say, that as long as he preaches Christ purely, there will be no lack of perverse persons, even among our own people, who will make it their business to cause trouble in the Church. And he may comfort himself with the thought that there is no peace between Christ and Belial, or between the Seed of the woman and the seed of the Serpent. Indeed, he may rejoice in the trouble he is caused by sects and the constant succession of seditious spirits. For this is our glory, the testimony of our conscience that we are found standing and fighting on the side of the Seed of the woman against the seed of the Serpent. Let him bite our heel and never cease biting; we for our part will not cease to crush his head through Christ, the first to crush it, who is blessed for ever. Amen.

Martin Luther in his introduction to his Commentary on Galatians

Tim Keller on the Gospel

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Tim Keller Center ChurchIt is quite easy to assume that if we understand the gospel accurately and preach it faithfully, our ministry will necessarily be shaped by it. – but this is not true. Many churches subscribe to gospel doctrines but do not have a ministry that is shaped by, centered on, and empowered through the gospel. Its implications have not yet worked their way into the fabric of how the church actually does ministry. These churches’ theological vision has likely arisen from something other than sustained reflection on the gospel.

Gospel centered ministry is more theologically driven than program driven. To pursue it, we must spend time reflecting on the essence, the truths, and the very patterns of the gospel itself. It is an unfortunate development within the history of thought in general and the history of the church in particular that has insisted on driving a wedge between theory and practice. The two belong together in dialogical relationship. Theology here is understood to be fides quaerens intellectum, the ministry of Christian understanding – an understanding that aims for the church’s fitting participation within the drama of God’s redemption.

Tim Keller in Center Church

Ladd on the cares of this age

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George Eldon Ladd on This Age“The care of the age is not alone worry and the trouble and anxiety of making a living. It is the entire spirit which characterizes This Age: worry and anxiety about one’s physical life to be sure, but also the pressure, the drive of ambition for wealth, success, prosperity, and power. All of this is involved in the care, the burden, of This Age.

The point is this: it is the character of This Age to choke the working of the Word of God. The spirit of the Age is hostile to the Gospel. When the Gospel is preached, it often seems to lodge in the hearts of men and women. They hear it, they seem to receive it, they make a response to it. And yet it is often only a superficial response. There is no fruit. As the care, the concern of the Age presses in upon them, they are not willing to pay the price of following Christ. The Word of God is choked and is unfruitful. This Age is hostile to the Gospel, and men often yield to conformity to This Age rather than surrender to the claims of the Gospel. There is a conflict between the Age and the Gospel of the Kingdom.”

George Eldon Ladd in The Gospel of the Kingdom

Even the best of us has to admit that this is a constant battle. We love God and seek to do his will, but the daily grind can pull us away from that love. We forget that we have been promised “every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places’ (Ephesians 1:3 ESV).

Tozer on simplicity

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A. W. Tozer
A. W. Tozer

Every age has its own characteristics. Right now we are in an age of religious complexity. The simplicity which is in Christ is rarely found among us. In its stead are programs, methods, organizations and a world of nervous activities which occupy time and attention but can never satisfy the longing of the heart. The shallowness of our inner experience, the hollowness of our worship, and that servile imitation of the world which marks our promotional methods all testify that we, in this day, know God only imperfectly, and the peace of God scarcely at all.

If we would find God amid all the religious externals we must first determine to find Him, and then proceed in the way of simplicity. Now as always God discovers Himself to “babes” and hides Himself in thick darkness from the wise and the prudent. We must simplify our approach to Him. We must strip down to essentials (and they will be found to be blessedly few). We must put away all effort to impress, and come with the guileless candor of childhood. If we do this, without doubt God will quickly respond.

– A. W. Tozer

What more can I say . . .

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