The Church History Conference is almost upon us! A few notes:
Walk-ins are welcome, so if you haven’t registered yet, you can still pay $30 at the door on Saturday morning and attend.
The Friday night session is open to the public, so feel free to invite friends and family.
On Friday Dr. Hannah will be our guest at the Omaha Church Planters’ Quarterly, a lunch gathering for pastors and church planters in the Omaha area. We are expecting about 30 leaders representing over a dozen churches. If you know of a church planter in the city, please let us know so we can be sure to extend an invitation.
This will be the 20th and final post in our series titled Hannahisms. We have shared quotes that have stuck with us since our time studying under Dr. John Hannah. These words of wisdom have hopefully served to heighten our sense of anticipation for the Church History Conference, which is now upon us. Some quotes have been humorously tongue-in-cheek, others have been grave, but all have been insightful and entertaining. If you would like to go back and read all posts in this series, you can go here. Enjoy this last bunch, and we look forward to hearing many more this weekend…
You can get away with sin, but not forever. You can also blindfold yourself and walk across the interstate safely a time or two.
Sin is in the seminary, it is just more learned.
People overstudy and under meditate.
No system of prevention will prevent.
There is only three questions in the world: What? Why? So What?
A mature person is one who “by constant use has trained himself to distinguish good from evil” (Hebrews 5:14).
God is not impressed with what we do. He is very much impressed with the qualities of His character that are displayed in my life … He loves to behold Himself.
I was taught that the function of the Holy Spirit was to apply the benefits that Christ procured on the cross. Now, I don’t think so. The Holy Spirit is the benefit.
We have been preaching what people should do as the church dwindles into insignificance.
[On why Luther’s influence lasted 5 centuries but has died.] It’s over. Great movements are not sustained because people adhere to it. Great movements change the culture. You and I are spitting in the wind. You are called to be a mortician to a generation that needs to die with the hope that out of the trash a new generation will rise to preach Christ.
Some thoughtful people have asked some thoughtful questions about my sermons in the past few weeks. I am going to try and answer them here, because I’m sure they are shared by others.
Question 1: Good vs. Glorifying
This question was submitted over email by a friend.
Scenario: I do something kind for someone. They say, “Thank you for doing something kind for me. You’re such a good person.” To glorify God I say:
A. Actually, I’m a wretched sinner and the only way I can ever do anything good at all is because the Holy Spirit lives in me.
B. Aww shucks. You’re welcome.
C. The Bible says no one is good, no, not one.
D. None of the above.
Most often I default to B. But that’s living a “good life” (not a glorifying one) as I understand your description. For all anyone knows I’m doing the good because I believe in karma and don’t want bad things to happen to me. I don’t think I’ve ever answered A or C. Do you have any helpful ideas for better responses in these situations?
Answer: It depends on all kinds of situational factors – the depth of the relationship, the particular conversation in question, etc. Answers A and C could be really canned and forced in certain contexts, and highly appropriate in others. The real issue is not whether I make sure I say something that explicitly points to God. The real issue is whether God’s glory is the goal and orientation of my life, and whether I am becoming more like him. John Hannah, in his booklet “How Do We Glorify God,” offers some good practical advice: When I rise in the morning and bow my heart and mind before God, I generally begin to form my thoughts around one question. I ask God, “Will you grant me the privilege of glorifying you today?” I do not begin by discussing the tasks and duties that may fill a particular day, because the purpose for living is not duties. Duties, conversations, and deadlines are vehicles by which I am able to display the character of God. However… God ultimately desires that he would see himself in me each day. Then, at the end of the day… [I] ask another question: “Have you, O God, seen yourself in what I thought and did today? Did I care for others the way you would have?”
It’s also important to remember that people do not have to affirm or appreciate our good deeds in order to glorify God. The Bible is clear that part of God’s glory is the justness of his reprobation on unrepentant sinners. This is what 1 Peter 2:12 indicates when it says, “Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they slander you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.” God will be glorified when he returns and judges those who saw the good deeds of his people and yet slandered them by “calling evil good and good evil” (Isaiah 5:20).
Question 2: Happiness vs. Joy
This morning I said, “You don’t have to be happy all the time to be a Christian.” A thoughtful friend countered: “CS Lewis said that joy was one of the marks of a Christian; he said you can’t be a Christian if you’re not joyful.”
I think I would agree with Lewis, which is why it’s important to draw a distinction between joy and happiness. Joy is a disposition; it is a fruit of the Spirit, and therefore will always be present in faithful Christians. But the disposition of joy does not always issue forth in the emotion of happiness. It is possible to be joyfully grieved, joyfully mournful, joyfully discouraged. The Christians in Thessalonica experienced joy in the midst of tribulation (1 Thess. 1:6). Paul acknowledged the possibility of concurring joyfully with God’s law in his heart though he was discouraged by the war against sin which was present in his body (Romans 7:22-23). The book of Hebrews says that it was for “the joy set before him” that Jesus was able to endure the trials of the cross (Hebrews 12:2). And James encourages us to “count it all joy when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance” (James 1:2-3). So yes, Christians will always be joyful. But no, Christians will not always be happy.
I might also point out that CS Lewis made these remarks about joy in the account of his journey to faith, which is titled Surprised by Joy. But later in his life, he wrote The Problem of Pain and A Grief Observed, the latter of which laments the untimely the death of his wife. I have not read these two works, but my bet is that Lewis nuanced his observances about joy much as I have above. He was a man who was committed to joy, yet familiar with grief and pain. (Anyone who has read these works is welcome to comment).
These are my best attempts at answering these insightful questions… we can hash them out in more detail in the comment thread if they raise additional thoughts or questions.
This week we introduce the book of Lamentations, which we will study together as we journey through the Lenten season. If we wish to read Lamentations appropriately, we must beware of importing our cultural biases into the text. For instance: the American obsession with therapy. Americans have professionalized and outsourced the business of grief and of healing – which is part of the reason why the biblical laments seem culturally distant to us.
So below are three ways that biblical lament is different from therapy (with apologies to therapists and counselors at whose expense I am drawing these distinctions). I am indebted to Terry Smith of Harding University for some of these observations and for the research quotes, which are used with his permission.
Biblical lament is communal, not individual. Flesher (2004) observes that “We are a culture which encourages individual therapy as a substitute for communal ritualistic expressions of grief.” By contrast, grief in the Bible was a communal event. Family and friends were expected to show support by participating in the rituals of lamentation with those who were mourning. To fail to show solidarity in such a situation was to declare oneself an enemy rather than a covenantal partner (Lam. 1:2, 21).
Biblical lament is formative, not just cathartic. McLeod (2004) says that lament was not merely an opportunity to have a good cry and to “let it all hang out”, rather lament was to be associated with prayer, fasting, and deep, inner soul-searching reflection. He concludes, “Lament when properly undertaken produces a more contemplative person.”
Biblical lament expresses confident hope, not vague optimism. Much of modern therapy is built on self-help: just think positive thoughts. Have a good self-image. Get outside and get some exercise. Biblical lament, by contrast, is grounded in the confident hope that God is able and willing to change things. The biblical writers beseech God to remember his covenant, and they ground their hope in his hesed (covenant faithfulness).
To get a feel for this genre, I suggest reading some of the Lament Psalms as a “warm-up” to the book of Lamentations. Psalm 13, Psalm 22, Psalm 88, or Psalm 137 are good places to start.
Where the social liberals were in the 1980s, confusing entertainment and social issues with th gospel, evangelicals are today. People are not going to be saved, just morally improved.
I tried to convince Dr. Bright to quit telling students that we are going “to win the world for Christ” but to tell them to gut it out for 5 or 6 years to gather sheep and then go into business (which is what they were really doing). I couldn’t convince him, but he has died and knows better.
Don’t listen for how much people say but how often they change the subject. If they change the subject often enough, they don’t have much to say.
Reasons come after conclusions, not before. Reasons are developed to support our conclusions.
The Church History Conference is coming up soon. It is a great honor for us to host our mentor and friend John Hannah and to offer this opportunity for theological formation to our church, our city, and our friends in the Acts 29 Network.
Perhaps you’re still wondering: is this event worth 30 bucks and a day of your free time? The following questions might help you decide:
Do you have a hard time explaining to your Catholic family members how the gospel you believe differs from Roman Catholicism?
Do you often wonder why there are so many different churches and denominations?
Do you have a vague sense that the Reformation was a significant period in world history – but you’re not sure why?
Do you feel like Protestants and Catholics ought to “just get along,” because the differences in their belief systems aren’t all that significant?
Do you find yourself lost in conversations with skeptical friends who challenge you about the Crusades or the Inquisition or a dozen other dark events in the history of the church?
Would you like to be more conversant in how Christendom has shaped western culture – for good and for evil?
If the answer to any of the above questions is “Yes,” you’ll want to be present next weekend. This is not one of those conferences that’s for intellectuals or academics or people with theology degrees. Those who are more academically inclined will certainly find Dr. Hannah a capable mentor. But this conference is mainly for the average Christian who’s trying to understand culture and have thoughtful conversations with family and be more rooted in the history of “the faith once for all handed down to the saints” (Jude 1:3).
Don’t let this opportunity pass you by. Register here.
The Church History Conference is coming up soon. It is a great honor for us to host our mentor and friend John Hannah and to offer this opportunity for theological formation to our church, our city, and our friends in the Acts 29 Network.