Dever Sabbatical Week #5

by mdever

Every week that goes by, I seem to be convinced that I can get less done than I thought I could!  But I am thankful for the time, and what I am able to do. So, here's a review of this past week.  Thanks for your prayers in all this.

Mon., Dec. 29—good QT & Elliptical time.  Good catch up with Daniel Schreiner. Meetings with Paul Passaro and Mike Law, Jr.  Good to hear about God's work across the ocean and across the river.  Good chat with Andy Johnson about a couple of things, before he heads overseas for a couple of months.  Reading Jonathan Leeman's last chapter to his manuscript.  Conspiring with Bobby  Jamieson about getting some new (old) hymns in our line-up. Nathan and Connie are both feeling better.  Dinner with Connie, Nathan and Philip.  We watched the last of the "Monarchy" BBC series we've been watching.  Nathan & Philip went to the mall and then came back with Danny Shieh for a game of Settlers.  Wife-less Greg stopped by & worked while we played.  They left. Nathan stayed around and asked lots of philosophical questions and began to read Screwtape Letters and then we were tired and went to bed.  Still trying to find a time to watch Frost Nixon.

Tues., Dec. 30—good QT.  Finished watching Why We Fight?  More email, clean-up, filing.  Lunch with Mike Cole.  Typed in quotes from Preacher & the Presidents. Went to Campus Outreach for the evening.  Was there til almost 11:30.  They had a wonderful presentation for us.  God has done great things in that ministry.

Wed., Dec. 31—last day of the year a quiet one.  I wasn't feeling that well.  Began with QT & elliptical.  Met with Carson, friend of Mo, & Inter-Varsity staff at Harvard,  student at Gordon-Conwell.  Good to meet him and know of his work.  Then Sebastian came over for lunch.  Always good to catch up with him.  I wasn't  feeling too well, so (sadly) cancelled my next meeting and simply laid down.  Read Michael Gleason's When God walked on campus (2002).  History of college revivals in the US.  Good stuff.  Very good sermons by Timothy Dwight, C. H. Spurgeon, Martyn Lloyd-Jones & J. Edwin Orr included.  Quiet evening tonight.  Nathan's at a friend's party.  Jamieson's & Schreiner's for dinner.  Watched  Saboteur.  Then a game of Settlers of Catan.

Thurs., Jan. 1—slept late.  Elliptical and quiet time.  Downstairs for brunch/lunch with family.  Afternoon, changed my music from Christmas to ancient (1st several centuries AD).  The next few months will be classical music in roughly  chronological order.  Afternoon working on the 3 evangelism messages for the Desiring God pastors conference in February.  Philip went with me up to the archives to look over the evangelism section.  A lot of interesting stuff!  Then we went over to Congress Market and to the used bookstore, and talked to a non- Christian friend about his impressions of evangelism.  Summary:  He doesn't have a good impression of it.  Have had a great time praying and thinking about these messages.  Evening, went with family over to Bullmoose for a generous and well-attended "year's first cook-out".  Then came back and Connie & I watched "Christmas in Connecticut" with the Jamieson's.  Then I worked some more on the DGM talks, and got more clarity on the divisions I had in mind between the talks.  Another Settlers game, and Danny won again!

Fri., Jan. 2—Watched highlights from the actual Frost/Nixon interviews as I was on the elliptical.  I'm preparing to watch the movie version that Nathan wants to see.  Good QT.  Worked some more on the messages on evangelism. 11-3:30 taken up with seeing out of town friends who were in town—Brian Zopf, Ryan Townsend and Mike Gilbart-Smith.  Encouraging to see how the Lord is working in each of them.  Afternoon, back to work on the evangelism messages.  GREAT stuff to think about.  Dinner tonight out with Nathan and 2 friends of his choosing, and then we went out to see the Frost/Nixon movie.

Sat., Jan. 3—Elliptical (watched a new DVD series Annie & Dave gave me for Christmas).  QT.  Worked some more on Evangelism messages.  Jason & Bev Berrus' wedding.  Mike Gilbart-Smith had come from England to do it, and did a wonderful job.  Fun to watch Josh Coover herd people like sheep.  Lunch with  Philip to go over his core seminar.  Worked on new computer again with Paul & welcomed Garrett Connor to DC.  He's moving in as a new intern.  Many people helped him move in, including HANZ who held up one side of the desk while three others got the other side!  Saturday night, various friends from out of town stopped by.

Sun., Jan. 4 was a quiet day.  Good QT.  Good talk with Connie.  God is good and my wife is kind!  My voice was about gone through this cold I've had, so I very silently went to church, heard a great evangelism lesson from Philip & Sebastian. Church was full again, with people coming back from the holidays.  Hymns & singing were great.  Greg led us in a prayer of praise that moved me especially with the greatness of our salvation.  Michael preached a fine sermon on Phil 3:1- 11, and warned us about the "con men"—those we would be tempted to wrongly trust—forms of self-righteousness.  We concluded the service with a celebration of the Lord's Supper.  Wonderful morning.  Meeting with the Lord's people is like drinking water for me.  And the frustration of not being able to sing God's praises led me to reflect on how marvelous it will be to more adequately sing God's praises in heaven!  My sister came over for lunch, and then I laid down for the rest of the afternoon.  The evening service was again encouraging, welcoming  back the Townsends & the Gilbart-Smith's, and hearing a very good message from Ben Wright on initiative (God's in Christ, and ours as a witness to God's)  from Proverbs 6:6.  Then Connie & I had dinner, we had a good time of sharing with the Gilbart-Smith's and Connie & I watched the old 1937 version of the Christmas Carol on what may be the last night we have our tree up.  Then to bed.

Posted on January 5, 2009 | Link to this Post | Comments (2)

New Year's Goals

by Michael Mckinley

So, what are your resolutions for the New Year?  I don't know if any of mine rise to the level of resolutions in the Jonathan Edwards sense.  I guess they're more like goals.

Posted on January 2, 2009 | Link to this Post | Comments (8)

Vis-a-vis culture qua culture

by Michael Mckinley

Posted on December 30, 2008 | Link to this Post | Comments (3)

Cultural Mandate?

by Thabiti Anyabwile

G-Money (can I call you that?  It's better than "G-G," don't you think?),

If your's are just the beginning of thoughts, then I'm painfully embarrassed to contribute this low-level groan of an "articulation."  I wish I could begin to think this way.  So, here is a gutteral response.  Help me out here.

How would you respond to what I think I see as two motions in Scripture?

1.  The Scripture pushes the church and Christians away from adopting human culture and tradition.

I think I very much share with you the Bible's pessimism and steady decline where human culture is concerned.  In addition to the passages you mentioned, it seems to me inside the church a cultural skepticism is evident in Col. 2:16-17, 20-23 and Gal.4:8-11 (where Paul even classes the Law as "weak and miserable principles" of the old life).  In Col. 2 he instructs the church to leave the elementary or basic principles of this world and seems to class both Jewish and pagan religio-cultic ritual together as undesirable.  Earlier in Col. 2:8 he waxes poetic against philosophy that depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world.  As far as high culture (philosophy) and religious culture, the Scripture pushes us away from those things to something different.

2.  The Scripture "backgrounds" human culture inside the church in favor of greater unity in Christ. 

We can see that in a number of places, perhaps most clearly in Romans 14:1-15:13.  Jew and Gentile differ in their cultural preferences in disputable matters like preference for meat/vegetables (14:2-3) and sacred/regular days (14:5-6).  All these are lifted as examples and pushed to the background in favor of unity in Christ and an end to judging one another in such matters.  It seems that the passages consistently contrast all that we think of as human culture (by which I mean the patterns of thought, belief, and behavior, not primarily the implements of culture--instruments, etc.) with Christ himself and what it means to be in Christ.

Which leads me to ask: Is not Christ in some sense creating a distinctive culture within the church?  What is the alternative to being pushed away from fallen cultural ways of being and backgrounding cultural heritages inside the church?

Maybe I'm asking a different question than your post raises.  I'm talking out loud here.  Your post raises the question of the Christian's or church's response/responsibility to transform culture or fulfill a cultural mandate.  Can we satisfactorily answer that question before we first answer what the church herself is to be culturally?  What are we transforming things to?  And how does that goal look like/dislike the church herself?  In fact, help me with how the passages in Genesis translate into a "cultural mandate"?

Categories: Food and Drink

Posted on December 29, 2008 | Link to this Post | Comments (0)

Some Unfinished Thoughts on the Cultural Mandate

by Greg Gilbert

A few friends and I were engaged in an email conversation over the last couple of weeks about the Cultural Mandate in Genesis, specifically questions like:  What was its original character, and what happened to it after the Fall?  To whom was the cultural mandate originally given, and whose is it now?  How does the cultural mandate affect the church’s mission?

Our little conversation was just one part of a much larger one going on right now.  There’s a good number of people strongly advocating the idea that at least part of—if not central to—the church’s mission is the task of culture-building, or perhaps culture-renewing.  Many of these folks call themselves “transformationalists,” and as I understand it, their argument is essentially that a) the cultural mandate of Genesis 1 (and 9) stands mostly unchanged in character after the Fall (it gets harder to carry out, but it remains essentially the same in character and thrust); and b) that the cultural mandate is given to the people of God as such, whether we understand that as the Adamic-Sethite-Noahic line, the people of Israel, or, now, the church.

The push for evangelical cultural engagement is very strong right now, and honestly, I find much in that line of thinking very compelling.  But I still have some significant theological and textual hang-ups with the transformationalist approach.  Here are some thoughts about why that is, from my email conversation.  These are unfinished thoughts, but thoughts nonetheless:

1) I think the biblical text is pretty clear that the cultural mandate does not carry on in exactly its original shape and character after the Fall.  It's not just that it gets harder to carry it out, either.  I think there are some pretty fundamental changes in it.  For one thing, the building of culture is no longer the mandate of the people of God, as such.  It's the mandate of all human beings, and in fact the Bible records (exceedingly oddly) that the first great cultural accomplishments were achieved by the serpent's seed.  Even when God rearticulates the CM to Noah, it's to him as the representative of all mankind, not as the representative of the people of God as such.  That wasn't the case in Eden.  In Eden, the CM was given to God's people and was going to be carried out by God's people.  Another way to put it is that in Eden, God's people and all mankind were one and the same.  The fact that that's no longer the case because of sin is a radical change.

2)  I think the telos, the end, of human culture changes after the Fall.  Before the Fall, human culture was intended to grow and expand until it resulted in a worldwide city perfectly under the perfect rule of God.  No longer.  Now, it seems to me that the Bible's picture is of human culture being pretty consistently on a judgment-ward trajectory.  From Cain (or his son) building the first city, to Lamech, to Babel, to Sodom and Gomorrah, to the whore of Babylon, human culture considered in toto seems to be consigned to judgment, not progress in godliness.  That point is only underlined, as I mentioned, by the Bible's attribution of all the first great cultural accomplishments to the line of the serpent.

3)  Because of #1, I don't think I would say that the cultural mandate (even as it exists now) is the mandate of the church.  I do think it's the mandate of individual Christians, however, and therefore I think it's part of the church's mandate a la Matthew 28 to "teach" Christians how to carry that out under the Lordship of Christ.  But I don't think we can say that culture-building, or even cultural-renewal, is part of the mandate of the church as church.  What we see from Mt 16, 18, and 28 as the church-qua-church's mandate is something much narrower, it seems to me.

4) Because of #2, I think language to the effect that we are "joining God in his work of renewing the world" or "redeeming the culture" is probably not the best language.  I believe that the best reading of Scripture is that at the end of the age, God will transform and glorify---not destroy and remake---this world.  So I believe there is continuity between those two worlds.  But I also think Scripture's general picture is of even more discontinuity when it comes to human culture.  I'm led to that conclusion in great part by Revelation's picture of the judgment of Babylon, the city of man.  The picture there is pretty comprehensive:  everything, including arts, government, clothing, recreation, trade, commerce, architecture, everything falls in judgment.  And then, of course, Jerusalem the eternal city descends, part of the message of which is that it was not made by human effort.  So again, I think there is continuity between human culture now and what will be across the line in eternity, but I think the language of "joining God in his work," et al., can too easily obscure the fact that human culture in toto seems to be headed for judgment, not progressing toward holiness.
    I also, by the way, don't think it's merely the use of culture that falls during the judgment in Revelation, as if the structures (the wine, the gold, the fine clothes) somehow carry over into the descending Jerusalem.  Other texts, I believe, give us some (much?) indication of some kind of continuity regarding human culture, but this particular one is pretty uncompromising in its emphasis on discontinuity.  The structures, it seems, are caught up with the uses.  The city of man is swept away; the city of God descends.

5)  I also think the language of "transformationalism" may be too optimistic, given all this.   Of course it's true that Christians can do much good in society.  But the good that's been done:  Is it really fair to call that "transformation?"  That's entirely subjective, I know.  And maybe it would be appropriate to call some things in history (the work of Wilberforce comes to mind) "transformative."  But I think the story of the church's engagement with culture on the whole has been and is going to be less transformational than a fighting of what Tolkien called the Long Defeat.  Human culture has always on the whole progressed in sinfulness, filled up its iniquity, and wound up being judged.  That's what happened in the Flood, it's what happened at Babel, it’s what happened in Canaan, and it's what happens on a large scale to the whore on the dragon.

6) Despite all this, I think Christians should engage their culture.  But I think the motivation is not so much the hope of transformation or the working toward renewal as a few other things:  a) compassion for people; b) fulfillment of the cultural mandate as it still stands for all human beings; c) as a witness of the goodness and character of God; d) as a sign of the coming perfect Kingdom; e) others.  All those deserve fleshing out at length, but I won't take the time here.

Always eager to hear your thoughts on this stuff, brothers.

Posted on December 29, 2008 | Link to this Post | Comments (7)

Dever Sabbatical Week #4

by mdever

Dear Friends,

   The sabbatical is half done, and I am quickly revising downwards my estimates for what all I could get done in this period.  The big good news for me is rest.  Here's a day by day count of week#4.

Monday, Dec. 22--I got various tasks done in the morning.  Hunter Powell called from England.  Great to hear from him.  I dropped off a Christmas gift to my pastor-friend Mike.  I had a final evaluation lunch with Bobby Jamieson, and read chapter 6 of Jonathan Leeman's manuscript--this chapter was on the practicalities of taking in and seeing out members--and then a pastoral meeting with another friend.  Dinner that night was at Fuddruckers with Connie, Annie, Dave & Nathan.  We are thankful for  the time we get together.  I went next door to talk to Matt simply because we hadn't had a chance to check in for a week or so, so we talked for about half an hour.  (It's convenient living next door!)  Then Connie, Nathan, Josh Coover & I played Rummy-cube, and we watched another installment of the BBC documentary "Monarchy".  Amazing the pace Elizabeth II keeps at 81!

Tuesday, Dec. 23--slept terribly & little last night because of coughing from cold drainage.  Quiet Time & various little tasks this morning.  Made reservations to go out to dinner with the Lawrence's tonight.  I checked out the new pulpit platform's height and angle.  Worked on a special idea for the elders teaching on Sunday evenings at CHBC in 2009.  Had a final evaluation lunch with Gustav Pritchard.  Worked on worship services for Feb-Apr. 2009.  The Lawrence's took us out to a nice dinner with just the four of us.  Wonderful time.  We get to do that with them maybe once a year!

Wednesday, Dec. 24--Worked on spring services--good time picking appropriate Scripture readings with the PA's helping, then had final year-end lunch with the Pastoral Assistants (and some final Christmas shopping).  Spent all afternoon trying to work on switching over to a new computer (with Paul Parisi).  Wonderful Christmas Eve service.  Michael preached a great message on angels, and Connie had a special gift to me of an instrumental trio performing "Jesus Christ the Apple Tree" (one of my favorites).  Some of our staff neighbors came over afterwards for some informal time with amazing Christmas food (prepared by my wife).  Also celebrated Scott Croft's birthday.  Back to working on the computer later that night with Paul.  Still couldn't fix it.  Then early to bed for us.  We were tired.

Thursday, Dec. 25--Early up.  Elliptical (and watched a good artchitectural special on the Pompidou center in Paris).  Longish quiet time.  Good meditation on Philippians 2 & Luke 12.  Did some various tasks from my computer black out time yesterday.  And then, some wonderful hours with the family around the Christmas tree--gifts, talking with kids & my sister.  Cleaned up.  Planned for Spring services.  Had family & friends over for dinner about 4:30.  Good few hours again of fellowship and eatin.  read from Luke 12 before the meal and considered God's promsies and to whom they are made,

Friday, Dec. 26--QT.  Napped a lot.  Did evening services for the spring.  Chatted with Daniel Sheh.  Had some more of Connie's excellent corn chowder.  Finished working on the services.  Made family plans for this evening.  Napped again.  Put up books Charles Siler had kindly given me a few months ago.  Worked on my new computer again with Paul Parisi.  Concluded I simply need to mail the new computer back to him.  Reviewed Philip van Steenburgh's Core Seminar class on the history of evangelism.

Saturday, Dec. 27--Connie didn't feel well today, so we were at home for the day.  I napped some more, read some more, cleaned up.  I got a lot of email done (reaching back to Sept & Oct!).  Bobby and Kristen Jamieson moved in for a week or so.  I looked over the atonement servmons and gave some more thought to the book.  Prepared a sermon for Guilford Baptist in January.  We have our interns write a review of their own life in light of 2 books:  CJ's book on humility and Ed Welch's book, When People are Big & God is Small.  I read those papers for our next class of interns (coming in a couple of weeks).  In the study tonight, Bobby was working on his service leading for the morning and Philip on his Core Seminar.  And then Justin Leighty came by--always good to catch up with him.

Sunday, Dec. 28--Connie had the flu yesterday, and Nathan today.  I went to Philip's Core Seminar on the history of evangelism.  He did a good job.  Then the morning service.  Many of our folks out of town for the holidays.  Still, good singing, message, prayers, etc.  Lunch was finishing out some Christmas leftovers.  Greg Gilbert, Justin Leighty came and joined Connie & I to watch the 1999 Atomic Bomb Movie.  Amazing footage!  Nap time. Evening service.  Wonderful hymns.  Great fellowship.  Dinner.  Meet the Press netcast.  Bedtime.

So, here are the truths about my days.  Thank God for the rest.  Pray that I would be disciplined in getting done useful things.  There's half the Sabbatical.  I thank God for the rest I have been afforded during this time.

I should also make it clear how much I am enjoying this time.  Taking time to walk around the Hill Saturday morning, running errands to the bank & the dry cleaner's, thanking God for the beauty I see, for neighbors I care about.  I've appreciated being able to so easily take time to read Dave Powlison for my own soul's sake.  I've loved the flexibility in the schedule with my family.  I even enjoy the surprise of cleaning up my study and finding this little task and that.  So tomorrow, I look forward to having time to read a chapter of Jonathan's book (his last chapter) the same day he hands it to me.  To seeing Paul Passaro and Mike Law and having dinner with my sister at whatever time would be convenient for her.  There is a wonderful comibination of unhurriedness, flexibility and productivity that is truly refreshing for my soul.

Posted on December 29, 2008 | Link to this Post | Comments (2)

The Most Fruitful Year Ever

by Michael Mckinley

I haven't been able to get one sentence from Mark's last sabbatical update out of my mind: I think we've seen more conversions at CHBC this year than any year I've been here.  That statement is coming now after 14 years of ministry at CHBC! 

Categories: Evangelism

Posted on December 26, 2008 | Link to this Post | Comments (0)

Church Membership and the 6 Month Goodbye

by Michael Mckinley

Hey Jonathan,

OK, I'll bite on your question.

There are several balls to keep in the air here:

1. It can be difficult to find a good church when you move.
2. Some churches don't take in new members very frequently.    
3. Christians should be under the care and discipline of a church. 
4. The church needs to keep its witness clear and its membership meaningful.  

It seems like most churches that are trying to have meaningful membership either have some mechanism for automatically removing members after a certain period of time (which serves #4 well but isn't so helpful for #3) or deals with it on a case-by-case basis (which serves #3 well but is time consuming and can be unhelpful for #4 if it's not followed up rigorously).

I began my pastorate thinking that case-by-case was the best way to handle these situations.  But as the church gets bigger and more people move away, I am seeing the virtue of the "we love you, but six months and you're off the rolls" approach to folks who haven't joined another church.  It's simply too much to keep in contact with everyone and follow up on them in a way that would constitute meaningful long-distance shepherding.  Basically, their membership becomes meaningless after a short while of living out of the area anyway.

Just my two cents.

Categories: Membership

Posted on December 23, 2008 | Link to this Post | Comments (7)

Dever Sabbatical Week #3

by mdever

Monday, December 15 - Thursday, Dec. 18 Connie & I spent together down in Williamsburg, VA.  It was a great time away, just the two of us, refreshing, relaxing, fun.  I love my wife and am so thankful for her.  We did all the normal Williamsburg things.  Some friends gave us money to use for a nice dinner at the King's Arms Tavern, which we did, and it was great!

Friday, December 19.  I had a great time catching up with Mark Collins in the morning, and then with Philip van Steenburgh for his final intern evaluation over lunch.  It is so encouraging to see God's work in and through these brothers!  That afternoon, Ben Wright and Geoff Chang helped me come up with sermon titles for the spring series through Revelation.  What a wonderful couple of hours meditating on God's good and certain plans!  I had the privilege (which was especially touching to me) of receiving in the mail from IVP a couple of copies of J. I. Packer's classic Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God with a new foreword by . . . me!  I felt immensely honored to be asked by the IVP editors to do this, and surprised and unworthy.  And to sit there with a copy of the book in my hands--this book that I have used for 30 years in discipling others--with something in it by me just felt strange (and wrong) and . . . a privilege.  I can't imagine my foreword will add any readers, but I do pray that God will continue to use this great little volume, that's been out for nearly half a century now.  If you've never read it, you've got a treat in front of you.  And, later that evening, I got a lot of Christmas gift wrapping done!

Saturday, December 20, I finally finished G. J. A. O'Toole's 1991 book, Honorable Treachery:  A History of Intelligence, Espionage, and Covert Action from the American Revolution to the CIA.  A friend had suggested I get it and read it, and it has been very informative, and an aspect of our nation's history that I had not thought of much.  About 10am Nathan Santamaria, his father, and other friends & family came over to my study to pray.  His wedding to Brooke took place at 11am.  I had the privilege of leading in prayer.  As weeping seems to continue to grow as my unbidden response to God's grace, I wept through singing It is Well and in watching their vows.  I love them both, and it has been a pastoral and personal joy to watch what God has done in Nathan's life over the last few years.  He is dear to me.  And God is so kind to us.  Speaking of which, I then had another meeting in which God's kindness to another dear brother through his brave obedience was evidently bearing much fruit.  I finished Christmas wrapping, Connie & I had a wonderful evening with friends, especially catching up with Justin Leighty.

Sunday, December 21, I attended church for my 3rd Sunday on Sabbatical.  Michael preached a solid message on Philippians 2:1-18.  The attendance was good, the singing unusually good, and the four brothers who were baptized gave phenomenal testimonies.  Again, having known some of these before they were Christians, it was moving to watch their testimonies of God's grace.  I think we've seen more conversions at CHBC this year than any year I've been here.  God again is so kind.  Connie & I had lunch, good conversation with my sister, then I watched Meet the Press, and took a nap.  I meant to take a brief nap, but Connie had begun to play on her viola a piece by Vaughn Williams, and I think God used that to translate me to a particularly deep & long nap.  I got up in time for church.  Good evening service.  Wonderful to sing with God's people & pray & hear his Word.  Scott & Kasey came over for dinner together afterwards.  Wonderful time with them.

So many people asked me yesterday how my sabbatical is going.  Well, here I'm giving a daily chronicle.  On the one hand, after 3 weeks, it doesn't look like I'll get that much done, but I am having a wonderful and restful time not setting my alarm, not going to meetings, not preparing public teaching, being so well fed by Michael Lawrence, and having more flexibility.  And, it's not like I'm doing nothing!  Keep praying that God use this time.  Thanks.

Posted on December 22, 2008 | Link to this Post | Comments (0)

Dever an apostle continued...

by Mike Gilbart-Smith

So, if Dever is an apostle that would bring up all kinds of interesting possibilities.
It would mean that it is possible to be something that one believes no longer exists.

Could I truly be Santa Claus?
Or could this be evidence of another of Dever's true identities?

Posted on December 21, 2008 | Link to this Post | Comments (3)

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