Andy Naselli

Thoughts on Theology

Practical Theology

John MacArthur on How to Serve Christians Who Are Needlessly Restrictive

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At the 2007 Shepherds’ Conference, John MacArthur answered this question in a Q&A session:

How would you approach a congregation trapped in years of legalistic tradition?

The Shepherds’ Fellowship granted me permission to upload an MP3 of MacArthur’s 5-minute-and-20-second answer.

Here’s a summary. (It’s not a transcript, but it’s close. The headings are mine.)

1. Love them by not needlessly offending them.

  • Advice. “I would not attack legalism. I would not preach on Christian liberty. I would not assault their consciences either by flaunting liberty on a personal level.”
  • Scriptural principle. “I think there is a very important principle that comes at the end of 1 Corinthians 10 . . . . Do you offend the non-believer, or do you offend your weaker brother? The answer in that text is you offend the non-believer, and the message that the non-believer gets is that you love one another. . . . You defer always to the weaker brother.”
  • Definition of legalism. “In many cases when you’re talking about legalism, you’re not talking really about works-salvation. You’re talking, I assume, about an approach to the Christian life that is needlessly restrictive and narrow and artificially constructed around certain behaviors that aren’t even biblical issues.” [Read more…] about John MacArthur on How to Serve Christians Who Are Needlessly Restrictive

The Music of Dan Forrest

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Dan Forrest is a young award-winning pianist and composer of church and concert music, both choral and instrumental. He earned a Doctor of Musical Arts in Composition from the University of Kansas, and his music is fresh, contemplative, and edifying.

Check out his recordings:

1. Arise, Shine! The Choral Music of Dan Forrest (2009)

Arise_shine

You can sample excerpts from this CD on Dan’s site (on the right side of the screen). Cf. Scott Aniol’s review.

2. In Remembrance: Hymns for Communion (2009)

In_remembrance

Piano solos played and arranged by Dan Forrest [Read more…] about The Music of Dan Forrest

See It Again for the First Time

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This paragraph from my favorite Piper book is much more meaningful now that I see my little daughter’s eyes light up every time she sees something new:

What a wonderful experience it is when God grants us a moment in which we don’t take anything for granted, but see the world as though it was invented yesterday. How we would marvel at the wisdom of God. We should pray for the eyes of children again, when they saw everything for the first time. William Quayle reminded me of this recently in his lively book, The Pastor-Preacher. He said, “A cow has pretty eyes, as quiet as a pool of quiet water, but uneventful eyes. There is no touch of wonder in their dreamless depths. The eyes are therefore soulless. A child’s eyes are fairly lightning. They are to see things: they are the windows of the brain, and bewilder like a play of swords of fire.” These are the eyes we need to see the unending wisdom of God running through all the world. There will be no exhausting the understanding of God. We will be making new discoveries for all eternity.

—John Piper, The Pleasures of God: Meditations on God’s Delight in Being God (2d ed.; Sisters, OR: Multnomah, 2000), 92 (emphasis added).

Related:

  1. Sermons by Piper on the Pleasures of God
  2. My thoughts on Piper’s Desiring God
  3. Planet Earth: A Theological Documentary
  4. Piper on “Planet Earth”

Scenes from the Life of Christ

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I just enjoyed listening to “Scenes from the Life of Christ,” a creative, soothing, meditative CD composed and produced by Tom Howard and Ligonier Ministries.

Nine of the ten tracks begin with a Scripture reading from the ESV by a well-known Bible expositor and end with music reflecting the passage.

  1. The Annunciation | Scripture Reading by Alistair Begg (Luke 1:26–38)
  2. Feeding of the 5,000 | Scripture reading by D. A. Carson (John 6:1–15)
  3. Cleansing of the Temple | Scripture reading by John MacArthur (Mark 11:15–19)
  4. The Transfiguration | Scripture reading by Sinclair Ferguson (Luke 9:28–36)
  5. Temptation in the Wilderness | Scripture reading by R. C. Sproul (Matthew 4:1–11)
  6. Jesus, the Healer [no Scripture reading]
  7. The Raising of Lazarus | Scripture reading by John Piper (John 11:1–6, 17, 32–33, 38–44)
  8. Parable of the Shrewd Manager | Scripture reading by Albert Mohler (Luke 16:1–13)
  9. The Last Supper | Scripture reading by Ligon Duncan (Luke 22:14–23)
  10. Gethsemane | Scripture reading by Derek Thomas (Matthew 26:36–46)

You can listen to samples and view the CD-liner as a PDF. The inside part of the liner directly opposite the CD says this:

scenes

The Annunciation
Scripture Reading by Alistair Begg
Luke 1:26–38

“Rearing children is like holding a wet bar of soap”

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If you are a parent and regularly drop soap in the shower, this might not be encouraging.

Some fathers exasperate their children by being overly strict and controlling. They need to remember that rearing children is like holding a wet bar of soap—too firm a grasp and it shoots from your hand, too loose a grip and it slides away. A gentle but firm hold keeps you in control.

We cannot begin to estimate the ravages of overstrictness on the evangelical Christian community over the years. I have had occasion in my ministry to bury people who lived virtually all of their seventy years in reaction to the harsh legalism of their upbringing—lost bars no one could manage to pick up. Others were not so tragic. They came to renounce legalism Biblically and theologically, but still wrestled with it emotionally for the rest of their lives.

Why are some fathers overly strict? [1] Many because they are trying to protect their children from an increasingly Philistine culture—and smothering rules seem the best way to accomplish that. [2] Others are simply controlling personalities who use rules, money, friendship, or clout to rule their children’s lives. The Bible, read through their controlling grid, becomes a license to dominate. [3] Still others wrongly understand their faith in terms of Law rather than grace. [4] Some men are overly strict because they are concerned about what others will think. “What will they think if my child goes to this place . . . or wears this clothing . . . or is heard listening to that music?” Not a few preacher’s kids have been catapulted into rebellion because their fathers squeezed their lives to fit their parishioners’ expectations. What a massive sin against one’s children!

–R. Kent Hughes, Disciplines of a Godly Man (Wheaton: Crossway, 1991), 48–49. (You can read the context of this quotation by searching on “soap” in Amazon’s “Look Inside!” feature.)

Do We Have a Free Will?

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This summer my church, CrossWay Community Church in Kenosha, Wisconsin, hosted a “Difficult Issues Series” on Wednesday nights. I addressed this topic: “Do We Have a Free Will?”

  1. MP3 (1 hour and 45 minutes including Q&A)
  2. Handout (7-page PDF)
  3. Condensed Essay (4-page PDF, which Reformation 21 reprinted today)

Here’s the basic outline (the handout is more detailed):

Introduction

Question 1. Why should we study “free will”?

Question 2. What are some challenges with studying “free will”?

1. What is “free will”?

1.1. Will

1.2. Constraining and Non-Constraining Causes

1.3. Incompatibilism vs. Compatibilism

1.4. Indeterminism vs. Determinism

1.5. Libertarian Free Will vs. Free Agency

1.6. God’s General Sovereignty vs. God’s Specific Sovereignty [Read more…] about Do We Have a Free Will?