Us vs. Them

"But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. " (1 Corinthians 12:18 )

This Sunday I will be preaching on 1 Corinthians 12:12-31. The picture of the church as "the body" is a familiar one, almost too familiar I'm afraid. I feel that my challenge is to be able to not only preach what this text says, but even more to help us actually live it out. Clearly the Corinthian church was suffering from an "us vs. them" mentality. How do we escape the same attitude and just become "us"? What does it mean to you to be a part of "the body"?

Is GREEN the new (RED)?

Someone help me out here. Is it just me or is "green" the

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new "red"? Do you remember a year or two ago when the big thing was the (RED) campaign to eliminate AIDS in Africa? It was a huge deal at the time. People were buying all kinds of RED products including the special RED ipod. Great idea, but how come I never hear about it any more? Is it because RED is out and green is in?

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There's no doubt that the buzz today is all about environmentalism. But is it just buzz. Is it the new trend to get behind? If I "go green" it will be for the right reasons. I buy corkscrew bulbs to keep my electric bill down, and that's about it. I don't feel compelled to jump on the bandwagon just yet, not even on the sanitized Christian version labeled "Creation Care" so we do get lumped in with the others.

Tell me, am I missing something? I want to be more concerned but I'm not quite there yet. What color should I be?

Ask Pastor John

Whether or not you are a John Piper fan (an I am) you should check out his "Ask Pastor John" videos on YouTube. They are very short but there is a lot of truth packed into just a couple minutes. The topics are various as they are answers to questions submitted to Piper to answer.

How much is $100 million?

I've seen a few others link to this. If you haven't seen it yet go ahead an watch it; it's less than 2 minutes.

Back from Chicago

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I feel like I just got back from the All-Star Game. Even though I did sneak in a visit to Wrigley Field the real event was taking place at the Rosemont Convention Center. I'm talking about this year's Gospel Coalition Conference. If you missed it, then take the time to listen to the messages posted online. When do you ever get to hear an entire book of the Bible preached through by some of the best evangelical preachers of our time?

What stood out to me was that although no two messages or preachers were the same, each one tied in so well with the others. Can I pick a favorite? I'm not sure, but a front runner would have to be K. Edward Copeland. Talk about preaching with fire!

Another highlight apart from the messages has to be the freebies. I walked away with a free ESV Study Bible, a smattering of book courtesy of the various publishers represented there, and bag full of books thanks to the Band of Bloggers Not too shabby.

On to Chicago

I'm heading out tomorrow to the Gospel Coalition conference in Chicago. It should be a pretty good event and it will be nice to be back in Chicago for a few days. I even get to sneak in a Cubs game while I'm there. The downside is I've got to leave the wife and kids back home. Three days should be enough and then I will be eager to get back home.

Does a statement on marriage belong in a doctrinal statement?

Does a statement on marriage belong in a doctrinal statement?

I just came across a post on Christianity Today's website titled Iowa Churches: We Need to Be Clear on Same-Sex Marriage. Being a pastor in Iowa the article caught my attention. In the piece Richard Van Heukelum, senior pastor of Walnut Ridge Baptist Church in Waterloo is quoted as saying, "Years ago we put in our doctrinal statement a strong statement of biblically defined marriage."

By definition doctrine is simply a statement, set of statements or system of teaching that defines what one believes to be true about a certain subject. Christian doctrine then would simply be a statement of what one believes to be true and teaches regarding the "fundamentals" of the Christian faith.

So again I ask the question, does a statement on marriage belong in a doctrinal statement? What is the purpose of having a doctrinal statement or statement of faith? Christians hold all kinds of positions on a variety of subjects. How do we determine what does and what does not belong in such a statement?

Your thoughts?

Highlights from this year's Barnyard Moosical

Enjoy these six selections from Evelyn's Kindergarten performance of A Barnyard Moosical.

Abandonment of Reason

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Matthew J. Franck in his article Law, Feelings, and Religion at the Bar in Iowa says that "The Supreme Court of Iowa’s decision to redefine marriage abandons reason and replaces it with feelings as the standard of public consensus."

You can read the whole article here but here's a quote that stood out to me:

"Nothing in what passes for reasoning in Justice Cady’s opinion can stand against the next claimant—perhaps the polygamist—who presents himself as needing affirmation for his relationships. This is not a slippery slope we have before us. It is the sight of a levee breaking in a spring flood."

HT: Justin Taylor