Aaron Armstrong

bloggingtheologically.com

Bible

Links I like (4/26)

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Signs of Hope for the Next Generation

Trevin Wax:

4 Ways Your Whole Bible Points to Jesus

Bryan Chapell:

We should be willing to learn principles of redemptive interpretation that the New Testament writers employed and exemplified. From these principles we learn that the more common approach to understanding the redemptive nature of all biblical texts is to identify how God’s Word predicts, prepares for, reflects, or resultsfrom the person and/or work of Christ.

A Different Kind of Exclusivity

J. D. Greear:

The book of Romans was written right after Jews returned to the church in Rome after being banished for five years by Emperor Claudius (Acts 18). Prior to their banishment, Jews had basically been in charge of the church because they had been the first Christians, and Gentiles had been added later. But after they left, Gentiles took charge.

Young People and the Hundred Pushup Challenge of Life

Tim Challies:

I spend a fair bit of my time interacting with teens and young adults, some of whom are my children, some of whom are friends, and some of whom are fellow church members or people I’m mentoring. As I express interest in them, talk with them, attempt to speak wisdom to them, and inquire how I can pray for them, I often hear them lament the difficulties of their lives. They are overwhelmed by the responsibilities of high school and a part-time job. They are worried about breaking down in the face of the three or four final exams that are coming up. They have been asked to complete a project on what they consider a tight deadline and can’t see how they’ll ever get it done. They feel like they’ve been pushed to the breaking point and are near collapse.

Philemon, Forgiveness, and the Gospel

I loved being a part of this conversation on The Hero of the Story. Give this one a listen (and please do leave a rating and review while you’re at it).

Links I like (3/29)

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Links I like (2018 edition)

Today I’m on my way for a quick trip to Dallas to do a video shoot for The Gospel Project (we have a cool event coming up that you’ll want to check out). But I still have links to share!

A Tip For Reading an Old Testament Quotation

Mike Leake:

“What’s your favorite Old Testament Bible verse?”

Do you realize that’s a question the biblical authors would have never been able to answer? They didn’t have Bible verses. That was something invented only about 500 years ago. They had various methods for drawing attention to which section of the Bible they were discussing. As an example, they would frequently quote part of a Psalm in order to point to the entire thing. This is likely, in part, what Jesus was doing when he quoted Psalm 22 from the Cross.

Four People Exposed by Jesus’ Trial

JD Greear:

As you might expect, Tansie’s case was thrown out. But what was humorously ironic in Tansie’s situation is tragically evident in the actual trial of Jesus. Humanity puts Jesus on trial, but in the end, it is humanity that is truly convicted.

The Apostle Matthew plays up this connection perhaps better than any of the other Gospel writers. Through his narrative, we see several characters involved in Jesus’ trial that represent us.

The Good Part — Preparing for Old Age and Death

Diane Bucknell:

My boomer generation has a serious problem with denial when it comes to aging and death. It’s driven, in part, by our culture’s worship of youth and beauty—60 is the new 40 and all that nonsense. I think advancements in modern medicine that prolong the inevitable has also contributed. Additionally, death has become so sanitized in western society that many people may never even see a dead person in their lifetime. More than ever before, we have been anesthetized to the reality that life is but a vapor and what we do in our short stay here will have eternal consequences.

Pastor Fear

Dayton Hartman:

Pastor, the things we all fear most (chaos, works of the enemy, even death itself), all fear Jesus. Recently, I told our congregation that it may sound cheesy but it is, in fact, true: If you personified all the things you lay awake at night afraid of, know that they all lay awake afraid of Jesus.

How the Resurrection Reshapes Success and Regret

Jonathan Dodson:

If you had definitive proof of an afterlife, how would you respond? If you knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, you’d enter another life after you die, what would you do? Would you pull the trigger?

Sacred Domain: How to Keep the .Bible Holy

Kate Shellnut:

Ongoing net neutrality debates reveal the tensions between the Internet’s open-source, free access ideals and the commercial or private forces behind the web. The debate extended into the internet’s officially biblical realm—the .bible domain—in a recent dispute over its faith-based standards.

Some Bible scholars accused the American Bible Society (ABS) of unfairly restricting use of the top-level domain, which it secured a contract to run as an administrator back in 2013.

Joy is always mixed with sorrow

A favorite from the archives:

I say tempting because that’s what it is. Tempting. But I find that, as easy as it might be, I can’t lose heart. I don’t want to give in to this temptation.

Instead, I find that I have to reconcile the fact that in this world, joy will always be mixed with sorrow. On Sunday, we celebrated the resurrection with our church family. I played with the kids. We had pancakes for dinner.  I read three chapters of The Last Battle with my middle daughter. It was, by all accounts, a good day.

But at the same time as I was enjoying my day, and giving thanks for the blessings I’ve enjoyed, I found myself grieving with those who had lost their loved ones. Their mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters.

Links I like (3/20)

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Links I like (2018 edition)

Podcast: On The Hero of the Story, Brian and I are answering the question, “What do we mean by ‘gospel culture’?” This was a fun one for us to do. I hope you’ll give it a listen (and if you’d be so kind as to give us a review on iTunes, that’d be fantastic).

Don’t Title People “Pastor” If They Aren’t An Elder

This is an interesting point from Jeff Medders:

For example, if the Pastor for Counseling isn’t also an elder, then he shouldn’t be titled as a pastor. If the Worship Pastor doesn’t have the same responsibility, authority, and function as a part of the plurality of elders, then it’s a misuse of the word pastor.

There’s the ditch on the other side too. If elders don’t pastor, then they aren’t really elders. Elders pastor because they are pastors. And pastors are elders because they oversee and shepherd the flock of God.

8 Blogs You May Not Be Following But Should

I love posts like this (and not because this blog is on the list). If you’re looking for some new blogs to add to or replace in your feed, try some of these.

How Not to Read the Parables

Jared Wilson:

The parables Jesus tells in the four Gospels are peculiar kinds of stories that too many readers read very wrongly. It’s important, then, to clear up some common misconceptions about these important stories. I want to share with you what the parables are, but first, it is helpful to establish what they are not.

3 Spiritual Reasons Why You Should Take Control of Your Calendar

Michael Kelley:

For most of us, using a calendar is a necessity because of the amount of things we have going on at a given moment. If you’re a parent, compound that a few times because you’re not only keeping track of your stuff, but you’re keeping track of their stuff, too. Once upon a time parents looked forward to the day when a kid would turn 16 so they wouldn’t have to drive them to all their stuff any more; I suspect that we are getting close to the point when that sense of parental freedom comes when a child gets their own personal calendar rather than a driver’s license. That way they can keep up with all their stuff on their own.

How a Humble Evangelist Changed Christianity As We Know It

Michael S. Hamilton:

Dwight Moody’s appeal is harder to figure. Of grandfatherly mien, he was portly and genial. He preached less about sin and more about love. All the old drawings of him in the pulpit give the impression he must have been stolid and ponderous. Yet it was Moody—more than Whitefield, Finney, and Sunday put together—who was Billy Graham’s true predecessor. It was Moody whom Graham admired; Moody who, in fact, made it possible for Graham to do what he did. For “Crazy” Moody was the architect who drew up the plans and laid the foundation for 20th-century evangelicalism. Then Billy Graham took over the project and built it to dimensions beyond any of Moody’s craziest dreams. By the start of the 21st century, the Moody-Graham project had reshaped the skyline of American Christianity and had launched a new kind of ecumenical movement that reached into every corner of the globe.

Racial Reconciliation and Cultural Diversity in the SBC

JD Greear:

For those of us in the majority culture, this process has begun with  a posture of listening, not talking. The definition of a blind spot, after all, is a weakness that we don’t know that we have. Historically, the most insidious blind spots result from positions of privilege and power. If we are serious about discovering these blind spots, it means committing ourselves to uncomfortable conversations where we seek more to understand that we do to be understood.

We can work and we can wait, for Christ will reveal all in the end

A favorite from the archives:

Maybe you’ve been there. Maybe you’ve read an evangelism book and agreed with what’s said, but by the time you were done, you felt less motivated than you did when you started. You felt less effective than ever. And so, you continued to feel like a failure when it comes to sharing the gospel.

So often, there’s an expectation in these books—whether spoken or unspoken—that you’re going to see immediate results. That you should be able to draw a line from someone who comes to faith in Christ to yourself. And I’m not always so sure that’s true. I agree that we should be able to point to clear fruit in our lives of our growth as disciples, which includes playing our part in making others disciples.

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