Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Short Review of Genesis 1-4 by C. John Collins

Genesis 1-4: A Linguistic, Literary, And Theological CommentaryGenesis 1-4: A Linguistic, Literary, And Theological Commentary by C. John Collins

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Helpful, and I'm sure I'll go back to it as I preach through the early chapters of Genesis. But it's not at all an easy read, especially in the portions where Collins labors to explain how the text should be divided up into pericopes.

Perhaps the most controversial aspect to the book is his view of creation days. Collins takes the "analogical days" perspective, which I was familiar with from the PCA's position paper (this is considered an orthodox view, according to our denomination's General Assembly). But up until reading Collins, I always thought this was the weakest of the 4 orthodox views. He does a good job defending it, however, and while I was not convinced, I am much more open to that reading of Genesis 1-2, and seeing the structure of the creation account as God's Work Week (i.e. communicating the truth of God's creative activity within the analogy of the human work week).

Read this if you're studying Genesis (esp for pastors preaching on the early chapters). I don't think it's a book you'll want to read cover to cover.

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Saturday, April 16, 2011

The Gospel in Genesis by Martyn Lloyd-Jones

The Gospel in Genesis: From Fig Leaves to FaithThe Gospel in Genesis: From Fig Leaves to Faith by Martyn Lloyd-Jones

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I'm frustrated because I just wrote a lengthy review that got deleted. So I'm going to be much more brief. Martyn Lloyd-Jones ("the Doctor") was the minister at Westminster Chapel in London for 30 years. His influence in the Reformed evangelical world is hard to overestimate. He's know for his Biblical preaching and his ability to push the text to affect the minds and hearts of his hearers.

Crossway has done the church a great service in publishing previously unavailable sermons from Lloyd-Jones. The Gospel in Genesis is a collection of 9 sermons on Genesis 3-12. Lloyd-Jones argues that these chapters are important, first, because the whole story of the Bible can be seen in the first few chapters of Genesis (at least in seed form). He also argues that the story of the world makes sense when we view it through the lens of Genesis. And lastly, Genesis makes sense of your life personally: who you are, who you want to be, your pain, struggles, and obstacles.

Chapter 4 "Where Art Thou" is the most powerful sermon. Lloyd-Jones challenges the reader to consider how God is pursuing you, like he did Adam and Eve in the Garden. And also to consider how you may be trying to evade him.

Read this book if you're a pastor planning to teach from the early chapters of Genesis, or a lay person looking for a devotional based on the exposition of Biblical texts.

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Friday, April 8, 2011

Friday Roundup: 04/08/11

I've been sick most of the week and haven't posted all that much. My week's also been more meeting and phone conversation heavy than normal. I hope I haven't said anything really weird, because in most of those conversations I've been in a medicated haze.

:: What's a Congregation Worth: Univ. of Penn professor Ram Cnaan (who describes himself as non-religious) in a 2009 study found that the average urban church adds $477,000 of value to their community every year. One church added $6 million (10x its annual budget). HT: Ray Cannata.

:: Why We Need Jane Austen: Fun article. An excerpt: "Right from the start I must admit that I was not trained in an English department so I am hampered to the extent that I’m rather inept at reading great works of literature for their sublimated eroticism, their homo-erotic subtexts, and covert commentaries on sexual, racial, and economic oppression." HT: Tim Challies.

:: Getting Ready for Sunday: A preview of our worship gathering at New City this week. You should come.

:: The Next Story: I'm excited for this new book by Tim Challies.

Monday, April 4, 2011

Book Review: Religious Nuts, Political Fanatics: U2 in Theological Perspective

Religious Nuts, Political Fanatics: U2 in Theological PerspectiveReligious Nuts, Political Fanatics: U2 in Theological Perspective by Robert Vagacs

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I have the same feelings about this book that I have for the movie "Million Dollar Hotel" that Bono wrote and Wim Wenders directed. Great idea. Great setup. Not so hot with the execution.

Robert Vagacs is a theological student at the University of Toronto, and a huge U2 fan. This is true of his mentor, Brian Walsh as well. In the foreword, Walsh narrates his own experience of encountering God at a U2 concert. Walsh almost didn't go to the show, as the daughter of close friends lay in a hospital bed on the brink of death. But at the suggestion of one of his students, Walsh and friends decided to go to the concert anyway, feeling a little guilty at the prospect of enjoying such a spectacle of entertainment while their friends suffered just down the road at the hospital. What Walsh found at the concert, however, was not mere entertainment, but a worship experience. As U2 sang about life and love and death and pain, Walsh was intermittently transported to a place of lament and then prayer and ultimately to a place of joy and hope. This was no mere concert. It was a worship experience.

Unfortunately, Vagacs' writing cannot match that of Walsh, and thus the book goes down hill from there. Vagacs does an admirable job, however, of applying Walter Brueggeman's hermenuetical framework to the U2 catalog. Brueggeman (in Psalms and the Life of Faith) argues that one can see the Psalms through the lens of "orientation - disorientation - reorientation." "Psalms of orientation would include wisdom psalms where everything in creation is in order. God is sovereign, the righteous are blessed, and the wicked are dealt with according to their crimes (e.g., Psalms 104, 127, 128, 131, 133, 145)." Psalms of disorientation include psalms of lament (Psalms 88, 42, 44 among others). These psalms cry out in pain for the present circumstances and long for another time and place. And lastly there are psalms of reorientation. These picture not just a return to the "good old days," but picture a new, hopeful, and imaginative reality. What once was impossible is now possible: "Grace makes beauty out of ugly things."

This idea is not just a way to classify the psalms, but also a way to understand spiritual journey. For example, one can read the great Pilgrim's Progress through the lens of orientation - disorientation - reorientation. And, so argues Vagacs, you can understand U2's poetry through this lens as well.

Vagacs makes mention of U2's early work, but he really begins with The Joshua Tree. This is an album of orientation. This is protest poetry, giving the listener a clear picture of the world as U2 sees it -- the good, the bad, and the ugly. Songs like "Bullet the Blue Sky," "In God's Country," and "Mothers of the Disappeared" are both descriptive and offer critiques of Western culture (and particularly the United States). But there is also a longing for something more in the record, an eschatological quality. Bono sings about a longing for the kingdom of God to come in its fullness. This is something they have yet to see ("I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For") but expect to come ("Where the Streets Have No Name").

The 1990's were U2's period of disorientation. The trilogy of albums Achtung Baby, Zooropa, and Pop are much darker than U2's earlier work. The songs are filled with doom, gloom, irony and satire. Vagacs argues that in these albums U2 is describing the "Babylonian state of Zooropa." "Zooropa is the anti-matter of 'Where the Streets Have No Name'... [It] offers no fulfillment, no certainty, no hope, no compass, no map, no religion. Zooropa is hell on earth." "Love is Blindness" is a funeral procession, depicting the hopelessness of a loveless world. "The Wanderer" might serve as the archetypal song for all three albums. Bono sings of "a city without a soul, under an atomic sky, where the ground won't turn, and the rain it burns...Love is clockworks and cold steel." Vagacs explains, "This city robs its citizens of any semblance of community. Identity is comprised of slogans. This city is the opposite of 'Where the Streets Have No Name.' Instead of hope, there is consumerism. Instead of shalom, there is conformity. Instead of life, there is only numbness. Welcome to the new and improved Babylon...Welcome to the wasteland called Zooropa."

Zooropa leaves The Wanderer feeling less than human, as in "Numb" and "Lemon." And since there is little purpose or destination to his travels, self-indulgence seems to be the way to go in "Playboy Mansion" and "Mofo." But this ultimately leads to dissatisfaction and despair, questioning if God exists or, if He does, whether He cares in "Wake Up Dead Man."

Vagacs misses a great chance here to elaborate on this period of disorientation by analyzing the Zoo TV and Discoteque tours. He mentions them briefly, but a chapter talking about the gluttony of Zoo TV and the long hangover of Discoteque would have been appropriate. After all, the irony and humor of Bono singing "Desire" to himself in a mirror while wearing a gold suit, and dressing as MacPhisto and throwing copies of The Screwtape Letters into the crowd, and playing the part of Judas while singing "Until the End of the World" would really have bolstered Vagacs' argument.

Lastly, Vagacs places U2's next two albums, All That You Can't Leave Behind and How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb in the category of reorientation. (The book came out before U2's most recent release, No Line on the Horizon). Vagacs cites Salmon Rushdie "recalling a meal in Bono's home in Killiney, south Dublin, when German film director Wim Wenders 'announced that artists must no longer use irony. Plain speaking, he argued, was necesary now. Communication should be direct, and anything that might create confusion should be eschewed.'" This is exactly what U2 did with their next two albums.

Bono himself has said that the theme of All That You Can't Leave Behind is "joy." And on the Elevation tour he shouts "It's all about soul!" What a contrast to move from "Wake Up Dead Man" to "Beautiful Day." The lyrics also intimate a move from "the wanderer" to "the sojourner." Now there is a destination. The cover art suggests this as the band stands at an airport in front of gate J33-3, a reference to Jeremiah 33:3 -- "Call to Me, and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know." Bono has referred to this verse as "God's telephone number."

"Walk On" speaks of the journey to a better place and "In a Little While" seems to answer the timing questions to songs like "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" and "40". "Vertigo" consciously juxtaposes the trials of Christ in the wilderness with the disorientation of life in this time, but both records ultimately are hopeful in God's providence and the coming of His kingdom ("All Because of You" and "Yahweh" are most obvious in making this point).

It's hard for me to admit that I didn't really like this book. Especially because I agree with Vagacs' premise, and I LOVE U2. But the book didn't do much for me. I found the book wanting because, after the first chapter, Vagacs mainly strings together U2 lyrics that seem to support his point. I was hoping for more than that. More reflection, more biographical sketches and anecdotes about the band, more engagement with their performances as well as their lyrics.

In some ways, this book suffers from the same deficiency as Mark Pinsky's The Gospel According to the Simpsons. The premise is good, but it is workman-like from thereon out. A book about The Simpsons ought to be more than descriptive. It ought to be funny. And Pinsky's book wasn't. And a book about U2's poetry ought to be more than insightful. It ought to be beautiful. And this book wasn't.

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Saturday, April 2, 2011

The secret of contentment

I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. (Philippians 4:11-12)

What does it mean to be content?

Perhaps the most striking feature of the Biblical notion of contentment, is that exists independent of circumstances. Think of Paul's statement in Philippians 4. According to Paul, covetous people need a change of heart, not a change in circumstances. The reason for this, is that your deepest needs are not for better things, bigger things, more excitement. Changes in external circumstances will not bring lasting contentment, because lasting contentment only comes through satisfaction in God.

This is a very counter-cultural argument Paul is making. It’s very counter-human even, at least in our sinful state. This is one of the paradoxes of Christianity. Jesus promises us the abundant life, and yet also promises persecution and hardship, calling us to take up our crosses. The abundant life is something that exists apart from external circumstances.

I haven’t had a lot of those experiences, like Paul describes in Philippians 4 – that kind of contentment. But there is one moment in my life that really sticks out to me. I spent some time in Albania in the summer of 2000, showing the Jesus Film (evangelistic movie based on the Gospel of Luke) in remote mountain villages. In particular, I remember riding in the back seat of a Russian made automobile. It was over 100 degrees, the windows were sealed shut. I was packed in with the film equipment we needed in order to show the movie in the next village. I was a vegetarian at that time in my life, but had just eaten a plate of sheep's kidney (because it was rude to refuse what was given in an Albanian home).

At this moment, all the external circumstances were poor (to say the least). My stomach was unsettled, I was overheating. The road was unbelievably bumpy (or at lest the vehicle was not up to the task of a smooth ride). I was fearful of how we would be received in the next village.

And yet, this was one of the happiest moments of my life. I remember feeling unbelievably content, despite the circumstances. Some of this was the novelty of the situation, I'm sure. But there was also a sense that this is what I should have been doing with that summer of my life. I felt as if I was truly experiencing the abundant life (even as I was about to yack).

Coveting is desiring something so much that you lose (or are distracted from) your contentment in God. Contentment is letting God have his rightful place in your life – the ultimate source of your security, your joy, your happiness. And so we might say, that at its root, covetousness is a worship deficiency.

This is why Paul calls coveting a form of idolatry in Colossians 3:5. When we covet something, we lose ultimate trust and satisfaction in God. We make a god of something else – money, relationships, power, career, whatever. When we covet something, it becomes the controlling factor in our life.

So what’s the solution to the disease of coveting? What’s the secret to contentment? It’s loving the Lord our God with all our soul, strength, and mind. Contentment consists in recognizing that God is God, and that there is nothing else more satisfying in all the universe than a relationship with him. The secret to contentment is to want God so much that we can’t be bothered with inordinate wants for anything else.

You might say then, that we need to learn how to desire God above all other things. We need the Holy Spirit to reprogram our affections. Some have said that we need “rightly ordered desires.”

God does not call us to stop having desires. But rather we are to desire the right things. And put them in the right order.

C. S. Lewis puts it brilliantly:
Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.
Contentment doesn’t consist in trying to curb your desires. It will come in learning to desire the right things, for the right reasons. Namely, contentment comes when we desire God more than anything else in the universe. More than money, more than sex, more the perfect romance, more than power, more than a trouble-free life.

True, there are things that we need. There are even worldly things that are good. It’s not wrong to have possessions. You should love your spouse, and your kids. It’s good that you enjoy your home, and your car. But we must always have before us the command to “Seek first the kingdom of heaven.” Seeing God face to face is our goal. The pleasures in life, when we recognize that they come from him, become means to the end of desiring God. But when we make them an end in themselves, we become coveters, and we are in sin.