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Get Frame's Systematic Theology for Kindle for $1.99

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This is an absolutely incredible deal. WTSBooks is running a sale on 100 of P&R’s ebooks — they are only $1.99 each for the next 72 hours. (And you are able to easily get them into your Kindle.)

Here are the top three I would recommend:

  1. John Frame’s excellent Systematic Theology.
  2. Tim Keller’s Ministries of Mercy. This is perhaps Keller’s least known book — but, in my view, it is the most important one. What Keller lays out in this book is often overlooked but absolutely foundational to the entire Christian life. Do not neglect getting this book!
  3. Mark Jones’ Antinomianism. This is a helpful treatment of the place and necessity of obedience in the Christian life that helps correct several unfortunate errors.

How to Work as a Christian in the Secular Arena

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This is a message I gave at a Fortune 100 company recently on how to be a Christian in a secular workplace. I talk about avoiding the twin errors of spiritual weirdness (such as thinking you need to insert the gospel into every conversation, or call attention to God through strange trinkets like the “Faithbook” t-shirt I came across at a truck stop once) on the one hand and, on the other hand, thinking that our faith bears no relation to our work at all.

Then I talk about the chief way that God intends our faith to inform our work: namely, love. Love is to be the guiding principle for Christians in their work, and I show what that looks like and how even many leading secular thinkers are echoing this truth in very significant ways. At the end I talk about the results of going about our work in this way.

Update: Here’s a timeline of the message that Joshua Van Der Merwe wrote up (thank you, Joshua!):

  • (3:53) Error #1 regarding faith and work: Our faith doesn’t relate to our work at all
  • (4:26) Error #2 regarding faith and work: Spiritual weirdness, i.e., Work is only a platform for evangelism
  • (5:32) Being boring on the Biblical doctrine of work
  • (9:03) A Christian work ethic goes way beyond, “Work hard and be honest.” 
  • (9:57) The solution: Work matters in itself, and is a place where the gospel can spread. Your secular work matters in itself, and it can be a place where the gospel is proclaimed. 
  • (11:01) Love as the guiding principle and motive in the workplace
  • (22:01) Seeing our work as service to others brings great meaning to our work, and serving others is the way to be most effective in our work. 
  • (26:30) Principle 1: Do your work as service to God, as an avenue of worship
  • (28:04) Principle 2: Make the good of others the aim of what you do. 
  • (28:45) Principle 3: Be on the look out for good you can do. Isaiah 32:8. Make plans for the welfare of others. 
  • (31:29) Principle 4: Make your work easy for others to use. Care about usability.
  • (33:06) Principle 5: Know how to do your work really well. 
  • (34:06) The effect of all this: God can use your work to change the world — this is redemptive. God is at work in our work. 
  • (38:15) Q&A time. 

The Importance of Stating the Obvious

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There are many passages of Scripture where we fail to take the main point to heart, either because it seems so basic or because we immediately go to the more complex questions we have.

For example, Hebrews 13:5 says: “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” That is an amazing truth! But we often fail to grasp it, because we immediately go to the difficult questions about this text, like: “What if a person stops believing? Will God forsake them then?” That’s an important question to ask, but before we go there, we need to stop and be amazed at what is crystal clear.

And in this text, what is crystal clear is this: God never forsakes his people. Sometimes one person will betray another or abandon another. This happened to Jesus. Judas betrayed him, and the rest of his disciples left him on his way to the cross. The point of this text is: God never does that. He is not like a human being in this way. He always, always sticks with you.

That is amazing! God is not like us, who sometimes fail one another. He never leaves us. That is an incredible promise to trust in.

In addition to missing the sheer force of this simple reality by immediately turning to the more detailed theological issues like perseverance of the saints, we can also miss the force of this reality by thinking to ourselves “well, of course God would never forsake his people. Duh. What kind of God would do that?” And we move on.

We never stop to ask, though, why it is obvious that God would never forsake his people. And it’s precisely because of texts like this, so clearly stating that truth over and over, everywhere. It has become obvious because God has said it so clearly.

It would be possible to conceive of a god who is not faithful. Such a being would not be worthy of the name “God,” but it is conceivable. God has made it clear that he is not such a being. He is faithful, and he is so faithful that he stated this truth so clearly, forcefully, and often that it has become “obvious” for us — a given — so that we never have to wonder about it. But in having it as a given for us, it’s easy to take it for granted. So, let’s not do that. When we see amazing truths that we almost take for granted stated in the Scriptures, let’s not take them for granted. Let’s marvel at them once again and be grateful, not missing the obvious truth in our quest to ask the deeper questions (as important as those are). 

The Bible affirms the importance of stating the obvious. For if the obvious was never stated, it would never have become obvious.

Crossway's Greek-English New Testament

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A few weeks ago I posted on Crossway’s new Hebrew-English Old Testament.

It turns out that they now also have a Greek-English New Testament, which is perhaps even more useful, since Greek is a much easier language.

So, as I said regarding the Hebrew-English Old Testament, I say regarding the Greek-English New Testament even more:

If you went to seminary, made your way through your Greek classes and then forgot most of it, this is for you. You can start to recover a lot of the Greek you’ve forgotten by simply seeking to read the Greek naturally, in conjunction with the English to help assist your memory.

This, in turn, can perhaps build your habits and capacity to the point where you will want to dig even deeper to recover the Greek skills you’ve lost. But even if it doesn’t, simply reading more in the Greek, even with the assistance of the English, will in itself be of great help and use.

Here’s the summary from the Crossway site:

Combining Greek with the English Standard Version text, the Greek-English New Testament is an essential resource for students, pastors, and scholars who work with the Greek New Testament. On each spread, one page displays the Nestle-Aland Greek text, 28th edition, while the adjacent page contains the corresponding ESV text. Simply formatted and easy to use, the Greek-English New Testament will be an invaluable resource for anyone studying and working from the New Testament in its original language.

So, what are you waiting for? Go get it!

The Gospel Transformation Study Bible

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The Gospel Transformation Study Bible releases today from Crossway. I have found it to be a fantastic resource so far. Here’s the gist:

The apostle Paul summed up his whole ministry as existing “to testify to the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24). That single-minded goal is the heartbeat of the ESV Gospel Transformation Bible. Produced out of the conviction that the Bible is a unified message of God’s grace culminating in Jesus, it is a significant new tool to help readers see Christ in all the Bible, and grace for all of life.

And here’s my blurb for it:

Filled with amazing insight and yet highly accessible, this is an outstanding resource for understanding what it really means for the gospel to be at the center of our entire lives—and why this matters.

Learn more at the Gospel Transformation Bible site.

 

Crossway's UBS Greek New Testament

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UBS Greek NT

 

Following up on my post about getting a Hebrew-English OT: It goes without saying that, if it’s valuable to have a Hebrew Old Testament, it’s even more important to have a Greek New Testament, if only for this reason: Greek is a much easier language than Hebrew.

Hence, if you’ve been to seminary and taken Greek, even if you’ve forgotten some of it, you probably still remember much of it. If you make it a habit to read in the original languages every day, even just a small amount, you can maintain your Greek and begin to recover what you’ve forgotten.

The reason I like this particular edition is that the more challenging verbs are parsed, and any word occurring less than 30 times in the NT is translated in the footnotes. I have unfortunately not developed the discipline of reading in the Greek on a regular basis, but it is a standard practice of mine to go back to the original languages whenever there is something that is unclear, I want to go deeper on, or that is ambiguous. This Greek NT is the best I’ve encountered for doing this, because of the fact that the more complex verbs are parsed and the less common words are defined right there on the page in the notes at the bottom. That is awesome.

Note that the one in the image above has a black cover. That’s what I recommend. Why would you ever get burgundy? You wouldn’t. Get the black one.

Sorry if this sounds like a day of advertisements today. I’ve had these stacked up on my “to blog” shelf for quite a while, and they were there for one reason: because they are super helpful, I genuinely recommend them, and I think that anyone who has taken some of the original languages should have a Bible in the original languages. For the NT, this is the one I recommend.

Here’s the description from Crossway’s site:

This reader’s edition of the UBS Greek New Testament is an essential resource for pastors, professors, and others who regularly work with the New Testament in its original language, as well as students and others learning Greek. Containing the complete UBS4 Greek New Testament text from the United Bible Society, this edition features a clean layout with the Greek text above notes on every page. These notes include parsings of difficult verb forms as well as translations of Greek words occurring 30 times or less in the New Testament. In addition, a dictionary in the back defines words occurring 30 times or more, serving as a helpful reference for all learning to read Greek. Published in two different leather covers, the UBS Greek New Testament will serve as a lasting resource for all seeking to study the New Testament in its original language.

Crossway's Hebrew-English Old Testament

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Hebrew-English OT

 

For any pastors or others who have gone to seminary, taken Hebrew, but forgotten most of it: this is for you.

I’m in the category of those who took Hebrew and have forgotten almost everything they learned. Learning Hebrew was truly a miserable experience (though not nearly as bad as writing the book!). Most days we would have “board time,” which meant going to various rooms in the building to do Hebrew drills on the white board. One day, I started walking to the room where my white board was…and just kept right on walking back to my apartment because the drills seemed so futile!

BUT, I do think it is very important to be familiar with the original languages (and, I like Greek much better than Hebrew). For those who, like me, want to do what they can to stay connected with the original language of most of the OT, the ESV Hebrew-English Old Testament is a great way to do it. You have the English on one page, which you can actually understand; and then the Hebrew on the other page, where you can make out what you can with the help of the English and, as you do this, recover some of the things you had learned and slowly grow just a bit.

More significantly, of course, for those who do still remember their Hebrew and can read it straight, a Hebrew-English Bible is the best resource of all, and this is the one I would recommend.

Here’s the summary from Crossway’s website:

Using the standard Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (BHS) text, the Hebrew-English Old Testamentdisplays the ESV Old Testament alongside the original Hebrew. On each spread, one page shows the English rendering of a passage while the other shows the Hebrew, enabling readers to work through either language undistracted and uninterrupted. A durable hardcover and Smyth-sewn binding ensure this volume will last for many years. Anyone learning or proficient in Hebrew will find this a resource for everyday reading and study, as well as a comparison tool to see how the ESV translates Old Testament passages.

What Are Christian Values?

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I just read a quote from someone who said that Christian values should become a vital element in the overall moral and cultural discourse of the nation. I think that’s probably true, but what are Christian values?

Most of the time when we think of “Christian” values, frankly, our thinking is pretty lame. We limit ourselves to the avoidance ethic — what we don’t want to see people doing. Christian values have become reduced simply to safety, security, movies that don’t swear too much, and “good family time.”

I’m all about good family time. But the Christian ethic is not simply about avoiding evil, but proactively doing good. And being radical and energetic in it. The question is not what can I spare to serve others and reach the world, but what will it take? 

How about if we model for the world a more complete picture of Christian values, which would include things like this:

  • Radical generosity. Just like Jesus, who did not merely tithe but gave everything he had (2 Corinthians 8:9).
  • Love. Ditching the self-protective mindset and putting others before ourselves, making their good our aim in all things.
  • Risk. Making the good of others a higher priority than our own safety, security, and comfort, and taking risks to bring benefit to them.
  • Creativity. Christians are to be creative! And to be a boring Christian is a sin (that’s an implication of the term “salt” in Colossians 4:6).
  • Excellence. Slack work is a form of vandalism (Proverbs 18:9). Christians are not to be clock-watchers in their work, but to do things well and with competence.
  • Initiative. Taking ownership for making things better, rather than sitting around watching and complaining.
  • Leadership. Instead of criticizing, leading and setting a good example.
  • Humble authenticity.
  • Global and multi-ethnic vision.
  • Ambition. Not for our own comfort, but for the good of others.

These are all Christian values. But would the world know to name even one of these as Christian? We have a lot of work to do.

If God Can Protect Those Who Go To Hard Places as Missionaries, He Can Protect Those Who Go in to Culture-Shaping Vocations As Well

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This is a great point I just came across in some of my notes, from I think the book Fearless Faith:

I’ve always wondered why we could be so quick to sacrifice our children to become missionaries but stand in the way of their becoming broadcast journalists, film and television actors, photographers, and painters. It’s almost as if we believe God is strong enough to take care of his own only as long as they stay within the safety of the Christian ghetto.

I’m all about missions and taking the gospel to unreached people groups. I think that, in addition to this, we also need to realize that the gospel also spreads through the vocations of all Christians, wherever they are (as long as we understand the proper relationship between faith and work — which most don’t!) — and that more Christians are needed in culture-shaping vocations.

In other words, the recovery of a robust doctrine of vocation is just as essential to the completion of the Great Commission as embracing the challenge of going to hard places to bring the gospel to those who have never heard.

(And, beyond that, as people come to faith through the vocations of every Christian, there will be more who in turn go to the unreached.)