Andy Naselli

Thoughts on Theology

Practical Theology

Two Piper Illustrations

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Two illustrations from John Piper‘s four-part series on Ruth (September 2008) are noteworthy:

1. Don’t plan your life.

In part 2, Piper gives a six-minute autobiographical sketch (10:20–16:45 in the MP3). It includes how he met his wife, went to seminary, and became a professor and then a pastor. The author of Don’t Waste Your Life here underscores another theme: Don’t plan your life because God already has! One could add qualifications to this (e.g., don’t inflexibly plan your life), but I think the main point is sound. (Indeed, Piper qualifies this in part 3.)

2. Learn to see the hidden hand of God when it looks like he is dealing you bitterness day after day.

In part 3, Piper recounts in 4.5-minutes (2:20-6:50) a dark cloud in the pilgrimage of Bethlehem Baptist Church. In 1993, Piper heard a romantic recorded message from one of the BBC staff members to another on staff. After a “hellish” six weeks, the male staff member finally confessed to seven years of adultery. The upshot was that 230 people left the church, which merely survived and didn’t grow for three years. “It was horrible, and the Lord’s hand was on us for good.”

Abortion

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I just listened to Justin Taylor’s Sunday morning sermon on abortion that he preached at his church on January 18, 2009. Three words come to mind:

  1. Sobering
  2. Convicting
  3. Motivating

After listening to Justin’s sermon, I have the kind of feeling that I might have felt if I could have watched Schindler’s List while living near Nazi concentration camps while WWII was still in progress. How can this unspeakably horrific evil legally be happening all around me? What am I doing about it?

Cf. these posts on abortion by Justin Taylor and John Piper this month:

Justin Taylor’s Recent Posts on Abortion

  1. Number of Abortions Since 1973
  2. How Support for Abortion Became Kennedy Dogma
  3. Conversation on the Gospel, Abortion, and Politics
  4. World Magazine on Abortion
  5. On Abortion and Gay Rights, Evangelicals and Liberals Join to Advise Obama
  6. Why I Hate Sanctity of Human Life Sunday
  7. An Open Letter to Barack Obama
  8. Life
  9. A Sermon on Abortion
  10. Roe No More
  11. One Simple, Practical Way You Can Make a Difference for Women and the Unborn
  12. The Case for Life, Around the Web
  13. Four Reasons You Might Be Aborted
  14. Abortion and the Early Church
  15. Moral Accountability
  16. Abortion and Obama’s First Few Days
  17. Amusing or Sad?
  18. Piper Responds to Obama on Abortion
  19. Being Pro-Life in a Culture of Death

John Piper’s Recent Posts on Abortion

  1. Being Pro-Life Christians Under a Pro-Choice President
  2. Lincoln’s Logic on Slavery Applied to Abortion
  3. Holding A Miracle
  4. Fifteen Pro-Life Truths to Speak
  5. The Baby in My Womb Leaped for Joy

See also John Piper’s resources on abortion.

Tim Keller: Preaching to the Heart

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On October 19, 2008, Tim Keller presented two lectures at Oak Hill College on “Preaching to the Heart”:

Here’s how Oak Hill College describes them:

Jonathan Edwards believed that the ultimate purpose of preaching is not only to make the truth clear, but also to make it real—affecting and life-changing. This is usually covered under the topic of “application”, though framing the subject in that way often results in a “tack-on” of practical advice after a dry, academic exposition.

How can we preach the text from first to last in a way that exalts Christ, changes heart motivations, produces wisdom and wonder, persuades the sceptical and results in real life change? In his two lectures, Tim Keller explores these challenges to the preacher.

Challenges for 21st-Century Preaching

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I just noticed that the following article is available online:

D. A. Carson. “Challenges for 21st-Century Preaching.” Preaching 23:6 (May–June 2008): 20–24.

Introduction

I have visited many parts of the world in which the challenges to the 21st-century pulpit look rather different. So part of the purpose of the rest of this essay is modest: to stimulate thinking that will help others flesh out this list and modify it for different cultural locations.

Six challenges that DAC fleshes out

  1. Multiculturalism
  2. Rising Biblical Illiteracy
  3. Shifting Epistemology
  4. Integration
  5. Pace of Change
  6. Modeling and Mentoring

Concluding Reflections

Preachers cannot responsibly ignore these things, for they stand between the speaking God and the listening people—people who are not empty ciphers but culturally located men and women who must be addressed where they are, even if our hope and prayer is that they will not remain where they are, but begin by God’s grace the march down the King’s highway, the narrow road that leads to life.

Our motivation to understand and address people in the 21st century is not to domesticate the gospel by constant appeal to cultural analysis, but to prove effective ambassadors of the Sovereign whose Word we announce. For one day the kingdom of this world will become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign for ever and ever (Rev. 11:15). It is precisely because we are anchored in eternity that we are so utterly resolved, like Paul, to address lost men and women who must one day meet their God.

Read the whole thing.

Theology for Kids

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The latest issue of Themelios includes the following review article that my wife and I coauthored:

Andrew David Naselli and Jennifer J. Naselli. “Theology for Kids: Recommending Some Recent Books for Younger Children.” [Also available in HTML.] Themelios 33:3 (2008): 120–25.

Excerpt:

Without pretending to be experts on theological children’s literature, we have sorted through recent theology books for younger children and compiled a short list of outstanding books. Other books are undoubtedly worthy of mention, but these are our favorites. What follows organizes them in three categories and ranks the books in order, beginning with our top recommendations.

Bible Story Books

Other Story Books

Systematic Theology Books

Church Works Media

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My friend Chris Anderson introduces a new website: Church Works Media (RSS feed). The site includes some contributions from Joe Tyrpak, a gifted, godly young pastor and one of my close friends (e.g., he’s one of my accountability parters).

Bob Kauflin testifies,

Even though I’m usually associated with a more contemporary style of music than what is found on this site, I deeply resonate with the values of ChurchWorksMedia.com. In my interactions with Chris Anderson over the years, his desire to faithfully communicate in song the truth and wonder of God’s Word has been unmistakable. I’m glad to see the hymns he and others have been writing gain a wider audience through this website.