John Piper: “Boasting is the response of pride to success. Self-pity is the response of pride to failure.”

Update: Here’s a follow-up: ”BOASTING: ‘I deserve praise because I’ve achieved so much.’ SELF-PITY: ‘I deserve praise because I’ve endured so much.’”

Related: If you’re not on Twitter, you can follow John Piper on Twitter in your blog reader via his RSS feed.

Romans is consuming the majority of my time and thoughts these days since I’m writing a dissertation on the use of the OT in Romans 11:34–35. I recently read and s-l-o-w-l-y reread everything that Douglas J. Moo has written on (1) the theme and structure of Romans and (2) Romans 9–11, and I couldn’t give his outstanding work higher praise. His publications are first-class: the content is superb, and the style is clear. I thank God for this man!

Here’s a chronological list of most of Moo’s publications on Romans, which I’ve ranked as introductory, intermediate, and advanced. The most valuable are the NICNT and NIVAC volumes. Continue Reading »

Josh Harris makes a good case for that in this outstanding little book:

Sex Is Not the Problem (Lust Is): Sexual Purity in a Lust-Saturated World. Colorado Springs, CO: Multnomah, 2003. 187 pp. Amazon | WTSBooks.

In Chapter 5, entitled “Guys and Girls: How Are We Different, and How Can We Help Each Other?”, Josh writes this in answer to the question “How Are We Different?” (pp. 84–85):

Though we have a lot in common, God made men and women gloriously different. We were made to complement each other. We have different strengths. We are “wired” differently sexually. Continue Reading »

This week I enjoyed following the events at the SBC and SBTS from a distance and wish I would have been in Louisville to experience it. I’m encouraged by what I’ve heard. (Cf. summaries by Danny Akin, Tom Ascol, Timmy Brister, Denny Burk, Greg Gilbert, Owen Strachan, and the many articles by Southern Seminary’s news service.)

In the midst of many reasons for rejoicing in the positive advances made in the convention this year, one event stands out as confusing to Protestant fundamentalists: SBTS dedicated a building (cf. audio and video) to former president Duke McCall, a theological moderate who tolerated theological liberalism and opposed the Conservative Resurgence.

Doran’s Objection

Dave Doran (a graduate of TEDS, senior pastor of Inter-City Baptist Church, and president of Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary) reflects on this in these short articles:

1. “Honor to Whom Dishonor Is Due” (He concludes, “I just don’t get it.”)
2. “Is This an Application of Loving Your Enemies?“
3. “We Report, You Decide” (a response to Greg Gilbert’s post)
4. “Some (Final, I hope) Thoughts on the McCall Pavilion and Objections to My Questioning It” (a response to Mark Rogers’s post)
5. “Missions, Pavilions, and Wives” (paragraph two responds to Owen Strachan’s post)

Reponses to Doran

1. Greg Gilbert (a graduate of SBTS, former assistant to Al Mohler, and assistant pastor at Capitol Hill Baptist Church) respectfully responds to Doran’s first article: “Mohler, McCall, Truth, and History.”
2. Mark Rogers (a graduate of SBTS, son of a pastor in the SBC, current PhD student in historical theology at TEDS, and D. A. Carson’s administrative assistant) also respectfully responds to Doran’s first article: “Southern Seminary’s Anniversary and a Question of Honor.”
3. Owen Strachan (a graduate of SBTS, former research assistant to Al Mohler, current PhD student in historical theology at TEDS, and managing director of the Henry Center) also respectfully responds to Doran: “At SBTS, Fidelity Matters: A Friendly Response to Dave Doran.”

This two-minute clip from The Princess Bride is my favorite light-hearted illustration of the Arminian view of human depravity (an issue integrally related to prevenient grace):

This is the notable part of the exchange:

“Well it just so happens that your friend here is only mostly dead. There’s a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. . . . Now mostly dead is slightly alive. All dead—well, with all dead, there’s only usually one thing that you can do.”

“What’s that?”

“Go through his clothes and look for loose change.”

Recommended resources:

1. William W. Combs, “Does the Bible Teach Prevenient Grace?” Detroit Baptist Seminary Journal 10 (2005): 3–18.
2. John Piper, “Total Depravity,” in “TULIP” (a nine-part seminar available in audio and video), 2008.
3. Thomas R. Schreiner, “Does Scripture Teach Prevenient Grace in the Wesleyan Sense?” in Still Sovereign: Contemporary Perspectives on Election, Foreknowledge, and Grace (ed. Thomas R. Schreiner and Bruce A. Ware; Grand Rapids: Baker, 2000), 229–46.

a guest post by Jenni Naselli

1. John Piper and Bethlehem Baptist Church have Children Desiring God.

2. The Fundamental Baptist Fellowship International national conference this week has “When I grow up, I want to be a fundamentalist.”

Dan Burrell, a former pastor, offers what he calls “some things that I’m guessing your pastor wishes you knew about him” (part 1 | part 2).

He lists ten main points:

1. Bible college and seminary weren’t enough.
2. Good sermon preparation takes time.
3. His family is important too.
4. Be kind if you have a criticism.
5. Give your pastor time to grow.
6. Your pastor probably views you differently than you view him.
7. Pastors sometimes find it difficult to have friendships.
8. Your pastor may well be different out of the pulpit than when he’s in the pulpit and that doesn’t necessarily make him a hypocrite.
9. Your pastor has bills too.
10. Your pastor loves the work of the ministry.

Matt Perman’s “How to Get Your Email Inbox to Zero Every Day” is exceptionally helpful for redeeming the time. It’s a simple method (though it might not seem simple at first!) to help you manage your emails rather than let them mangage you. (My wife suggested that I add a disclaimer that everyone’s brain doesn’t organize in exactly the same way!)

I process my email in Gmail, so I’ve tweaked Perman’s superb article in at least two places:

1. Archiving

Problem: Perman recommends deleting everything but never emptying your deleted items, but this advice does not apply to Gmail since Gmail automatically and permanently deletes 30-day-old items in your Trash.

Solution: Archive items that you think you may want to search on or read at any time in the future. (Gmail offers 5+ GB of free storage for messages and attachments.) Delete everything else.

2. Labels

Problem: Perman recommends using only three folders or labels: ”Answer,” “Hold,” and “Read.”  But shrewdly using multiple “Labels” is more efficient. For example, I frequently search emails that are tagged with a particlar label rather than searching all my emails.

Solution: Use more than the three labels “Answer,” “Hold,” and “Read.”  (I currently use over thirty labels.)

• Create “Filters” that automatically tag emails (e.g., ones from certain people or from email addresses with certain domain names) with specific labels.
• Color-code your labels. This can be visually helpful for processing emails efficiently. (For example, every email I receive from my wife is labled “Jenni” and colored pink with black font.)
• Add numbers in front of the first three labels so that they appear on top:  ”1. Answer,” “2. Hold,” and “3. Read.”

Related:

1. The latest post on the Gmail blog gives yet another reason to process your email in Gmail: “Tip: Check and reply from multiple email addresses in Gmail.”
2. Gmail Tips

That’s what Beth Spraul argues (with appropriate nuance) in “You’ve Got Lies: Chick Flicks and the World’s Approach to Men and Marriage,” a six-page PDF hosted by Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington D.C.

She proceeds to discsuss “three powerful lies communicated to and believed by women through this genre of ‘chick-flicks’ as well as ‘chick-lit’ (literature)”:

• Lie #1: Men think of romance and relational intimacy exactly like women do!
• Lie #2: If I marry the right man, all will be right in my life.
• Lie #3: I will know that a man is right for me by feelings I get when I’m with him.

She closes by sharing her own courting experience.

Das ist gut, ja?

HT: Russell Moore and Carolyn McCulley

Guy Waters thoughtfully reviews N. T. Wright’s Justification: God’s Plan and Paul’s Vision.

His conclusion:

Justification: God’s Plan and Paul’s Vision is the most comprehensive and current statement of N. T. Wright on justification to date. Justification is largely a restatement of Wright’s views, with some amplification and rhetorical refinement. It is not a detailed textual and theological interaction with his Reformational readers’ concerns and objections. To the degree that Justification summarizes and synthesizes nearly three decades of Wright’s publications on justification, the book is useful to the student of Wright’s work. To the degree that Justification has failed to engage criticisms of Wright’s formulations on justification in such a way as to advance the discussion, the work is a missed opportunity. What is clear from Justification is that the fundamental concern of Wright’s Reformational readers remains unallayed and firmly in place: Wright’s views on justification have parted company with the teaching of the apostle Paul.

I recently prepared a master Scripture index for the New Studies in Biblical Theology series edited by D. A. Carson. I combined the Scripture indexes into a single spreadsheet and placed an asterisk by each page number where there is a discussion rather than merely a reference or brief comment. This is an especially valuable resource for those who are working on individual texts and would like to consult substantive discussions in the NSBT series.

See the NSBT page hosted by The Gospel Coalition for the following:

1. more information on how to use the master Scripture index (i.e., a massive Excel spreadsheet)
2. Carson’s two-paragraph introduction to the NSBT series
3. Carson’s introduction to each voulme in the NSBT series

Below are the volumes in the series thus far:

1. David Peterson, Possessed by God: A New Testament Theology of Sanctification and Holiness (1995).

[Amazon | WTSBooks]

Continue Reading »

“The difference between a solid church and a terrible church is pretty much up to you. The difference between a solid church and incredible success has almost nothing to do with you at all. It’s like you are out there paddling on your surfboard, and suddenly the wave comes and you ride in, standing up like you’re a Greek god. That has everything to do with the wave.”

-Tim Keller, quoted in Tim Stafford, “How Tim Keller Found Manhattan,” Christianity Today cover story

HT: Together for the Gospel’s Facebook page

What’s sad is that we can be just as proud and haughty in other arenas, can’t we?

(RSS subscribers may need to click on the title of the post to see the 55-second video.)

HT: Chris Anderson

I recently compiled a comprehensive bibliography of D. A. Carson’s publications so that it could be hosted on Carson’s page at The Gospel Coalition’s site.

How the Bibliography Is Organized

The publications are listed chronologically under five categories by the date they were first published:

1. Books (currently 50 listed)
2. Articles (currently 237 listed)
3. Reviews (currently 112 listed)
4. Lyrics
5. Edited Series

Some of the books and articles are linked to Amazon.com, and others are linked to PDFs available for free on TGC site. Further, most of the articles and reviews are also linked to PDFs.

Note: (1) The PDFs may not be uploaded to other sites without written permission from the copyright holders. (2) I plan to continue updating the bibliography, so please let me know if you spot any errors such as typos or omissions.

Benefits of the Carson PDFs hosted by TGC

1. Number: The bibliography of Carson’s publications currently links to about 350 PDFs hosted on TGC site. The vast majority of them have not been available online previously. Continue Reading »
   

I just uploaded a new MP3 to the D. A. Carson archive:

“The Rich Man and Lazarus” (Luke 16:19-31) | MP3 | preached on May 17, 2009 at College Church in Wheaton, IL

Chris Anderson’s thoughtful evaluation is worth more than two cents.

Particuarly convicting:

The struggle to make much of Christ rather than self is a struggle for every preacher; we’re all prone to say “Behold me telling you to behold the Lamb of God.”

Update: Cf. Dave Doran’s “A Few More Pennies on Mark Driscoll.”

My brother-in-law, Eric True, just started a church-planting blog as he prepares to plant Grace Bible Church of Rancho. If you know of anyone who lives in or near Rancho Cucamonga, California, please spread the word about this church plant scheduled for fall 2010.

Cf. my post in September 2007: “A Future Church Plant Worth Supporting.”

Jenni and I are enjoying listening to The Complete Conan Doyle Sherlock Holmes dramatized by BBC (64 CDs, 48 hours, and featuring a full cast), and we found the following statement particularly striking when we heard it last night:

It’s a wicked world, and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst of all.

-Sherlock Holmes in “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, an agnostic

Kevin DeYoung’s “Defining Discourse Down” in First Things is superb. I benefitted from it even more after re-reading it this evening.

This part hurts the most:

We are all proud. Because I’m proud I get hurt when people disagree with me strongly. Because I’m proud I feel the need to give thirteen qualifications before I make an argument, not usually because I’m a swell guy but because I love for people to love me and loathe for them to dislike or misunderstand me. Because I’m proud I hedge my criticisms so that I won’t have to publicly repent and recant when I go too far and get something wrong. Because we’re proud, protectors of self more than lovers of truth, we often don’t discuss things with candor or with verve.

Read the whole thing—esp. the last four paragraphs.