New Law

I finally bought the new(ish) Derek Webb CD last week. It's been out for months, but I am still enjoying "She Must and Shall Go Free" so much that I didn't feel a pressing need to buy "Mockingbird."

I put it in the CD player today (no, I don't have an iPod) and was struck again by the penetrating lyrics of the song "A New Law" (best enjoyed when paired with meditation on the book of Galatians).

don’t teach me about politics and government
just tell me who to vote for
don’t teach me about truth and beauty
just label my music
don’t teach me how to live like a free man
just give me a new law

i don’t wanna know if the answers aren’t easy
so just bring it down from the mountain to me

i want a new law

don’t teach me about moderation and liberty
i prefer a shot of grape juice
don’t teach me about loving my enemies...
don’t teach me how to listen to the Spirit
just give me a new law

Of course, DWebb will get critiqued by some for being too harsh - "after all, we're not trying to impose a new law, we're just trying to live wisely in a sinful culture." What's your read? Do you see in Christianity a tendency to find comfort in rules when the questions are complex? Or by and large, would you say we're really living in the (dangerous) freedom and grace of the gospel?

Two Good Resources

Some of us in the Coram Deo community have been enjoying listening to some sermons lately from Mark Driscoll, pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle and founder of the Acts 29 church planting network. One of the best sermons we've heard lately is on the topic of "Missional Ministry." It asks the question: What does it mean to contextualize the gospel? And is it biblical to do so? Driscoll is a great preacher, and some of the stories he tells will make you laugh out loud. This guy definitely knows the world of church planting!

You can listen to the streaming audio of this sermon by clicking this link.

Also, I continue to have the privilege of contributing to the kingdom through writing. Recently Campus Crusade asked me to write a chapter on the theology of work for a book they're putting together for graduating college seniors. If you're trying to glorify God at your job (and perhaps wondering exactly what that looks like), I want to invite you to read this chapter. I think it will re-ignite your vision for living all of life to the glory of God. You can find it on the Resource page, under Books/Videos/Articles.

Derek Webb Is Coming

Mark your calendars!

DEREK WEBB

Live in concert, to celebrate Coram Deo's one-year birthday

Sunday night, October 29, 2006

Visit Derek's website here

Read his extended interview with Relevant magazine here

Feelings: Neutral?

In a series of recent messages on spiritual formation, I developed the thesis that our feelings must be transformed. Feelings are not neutral; they can be sinful or godly, bad or good, and they can lead us toward sin or righteousness. If we are serious about spiritual formation, we must seek the ongoing transformation of our feelings.

An astute listener, however, has countered my thesis. He writes: "Emotions, in and of themselves, are neither good nor bad. They are amoral... emotions are not sinful. The manner in which we deal with them and express them is what might or might not be sinful." His proof texts are Ephesians 4:26 (Be angry, yet do not sin) and Jesus' cleansing of the temple, where Jesus was obviously angry.

I appreciate when a wise brother is willing to disagree with me and to say so. And it seems that this matter is worth some debate and dialogue. That's what the blog is for, after all!

My take on things: I agree with my friend that anger is not always sinful. But I don't agree (yet) that emotions are amoral. My thinking on this matter depends heavily upon Jonathan Edwards (The Religious Affections) and John Piper (The Dangerous Duty of Delight). Edwards wrote, "Without holy affection there is no true religion; and no light in the understanding is good, which does not produce holy affection in the heart." And Piper says, "We must think biblical thoughts about God, and must feel biblical emotions for God." Proof texts for this point of view include Philippians 4:4 (Rejoice in the Lord always) and Psalm 100:1-2 (Shout joyfully to the LORD, all the earth. Serve the LORD with gladness). If God command us to feel certain things (such as joy and gladness), then not feeling those things is sinful, because it is a violation of God's commands. I submit that part of the reason our emotional lives are so un-transformed is because we do not take seriously the fact that God commands us to feel rightly.

What are your thoughts on the matter? Are feelings amoral? I'm interested to see where we end up. This is what communal learning is all about.

Cannonball Therapy

Gavin and Todd's theory of the day:

CANNONBALL THERAPY

"No matter how depressed you are, you cannot possibly remain depressed while doing a cannonball into a swimming pool."

Granted, a cannonball provides only temporary therapy... but the theory as stated does seem medically defensible, at least based on an office poll of personal experience.

A Puritan Prayer

Lord Jesus,
I sin.
Grant that I may never cease grieving because of it,
never be content with myself,
never think I can reach a point of perfection.
Kill my envy, command my tongue, trample down self.
Give me grace to be holy, kind, gentle, pure, peaceable,
to live for thee and not for self,
to copy thy words, acts, spirit,
to be transformed into thy likeness,
to be consecrated wholly to thee,
to live entirely to thy glory.
Deliver me from attachment to things unclean,
from wrong associations,
from the predominance of evil passions,
from the sugar of sin as well as its gall,
that with self-loathing, deep contrition, earnest heart searching
I may come to thee, cast myself on thee, trust in thee, cry to thee, be delivered by thee.
O God, the Eternal All, help me to know that
all things are shadows, but thou art substance,
all things are quicksands, but thou art mountain,
all things are shifting, but thou art anchor,
all things are ignorance, but thou art wisdom.
If my life is to be a crucible among burning heat, so be it,
but do thou sit at the furnace mouth to watch the ore that nothing be lost.

Elementary Principles

"[C]ongregations and their leaders today are perilously close to losing the elementary principles of faith that motivate qualitative and quantitative church growth. I am thinking of [1] regular and thorough meditation on the promises of God, [2] ongoing repentance based on the intense study of Scripture, [3] continual personal and corporate prayer, [4] daring gospel communication and discipling, [5] mobilizing every member's gifts for Christ's mission to the world, and [6] each congregation working to plant daughter churches."

- C. John Miller, Outgrowing the Ingrown Church, p. 19

I am recommitting myself this week to starting with the first two. I urge the rest of you to consider what God might be saying to you through Miller's words.

Answers Without Questions

Recently I have been reading a fascinating book by Richard Lovelace called Dynamics of Spiritual Life: An Evangelical Theology of Renewal. It is a book about how God brings renewal and revival in His church. Here is a sentence from Lovelace that has stuck in my head this week:

Modern man is not immune to the impact of traditional Christian terminology; he is simply inert in the presence of answers to questions he has not yet been induced to ask.

This is a profound insight. When we talk about 'engaging the culture' at Coram Deo, we do not mean shying away from the terminology of the gospel (terminology like holiness and sin and hell and atonement and salvation). We mean inducing people to ask the right questions first. The terms (the answers) are not useful unless people are asking the questions!

Sunday Recap: The Gospel Changes What You Love

What should you do with sinful feelings?

Option 1: Relativism (Do what feels right)
Option 2: Moralism (Do what's right no matter how you feel)
Option 3: Gospel Transformation (Feel the right things)

Most people think option 2 is a valid option. They think the godly choice is to "just do the right thing" even when you don't feel like it. While acknowledging that this is sometimes a good first step, we observed that a pattern of dutifully "doing the right thing" without a change of feelings is simply Pharisaical. Remember what Jesus said: This people honors me with their lips (i.e. their external obedience), but their heart is far from me (Mark 7:6).

The gospel confronts both relativism and moralism. It confronts both those who would indulge sinful desires and those who would repress them. It seeks nothing less than the total transformation of feelings. While moralism is content to keep anger suppressed, the gospel demands that anger be converted to love. While moralism demands only that pride be directed toward different ends (like taking pride in good theology or missional living), the gospel demands that pride be converted into humility.

But for the gospel to take root, you must first be convinced of the utter fallenness of your feelings. And so this morning we considered Ephesians 2:1-3, where God tells us that in our natural state, we "indulge the desires of the flesh and of the mind." Or, as Martin Luther put it:

A man without the Spirit of God does not do evil against his will, under pressure, as though he were taken by the scruff of the neck and dragged into it… he does it spontaneously and voluntarily.

The gospel changes what you love. To choose to follow God, we must first love God. But the Fall has so affected our emotions that we cannot love God. And so we contrasted Pelagius' incorrect definition of free will with Augustine's correct one. Free will, observed Augustine, is simply "doing what you want to do." And the problem, according to Ephesians 2 and Romans 3, is that before the gospel changes us, God is the one thing we don't want. Until God implants in us a desire for Himself, we will continue to freely choose to sin. Like I said on Sunday, it's a lot like peeing your pants. But you'll have to listen to the sermon (on the Resource page) to make that connection.

For more, reflect on Ephesians 2:1-5; Romans 3:9-20; Genesis 6:5.

Any thoughts?