[book review: death by love]

Death by Love, Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears. Wheaton: Crossway, 2008.

Brutal. That’s the best word I can think of to describe this book. Pastor Mark Driscoll, of Mars Hill Church Seattle fame, is unsparing in his treatment of the death of Jesus, the wickedness of sin, and the power of the Gospel in Death by Love. The work is composed of several letters written to people Mark has met, counseled, and pastored, applying the truth of Christ’s multi-faceted work on the cross to life. Each chapter is capped off by an “Answers to Common Questions” section by Driscoll’s mentor and writing partner Gerry Breshears. The book does a good job of defining and giving Old Testament and New Testament background for Biblical and theological terms like “Christus Victor,” “propitiation,” “expiation,” “redemption,” and “Christus Exemplar.” It is refreshing in the way it combines theological depth and rigor with practical application: Theological concepts don’t float around in the air in this book. I was refreshed and challenged by the Pastor Mark’s intent on communicating the life-changing truth of the cross. Don’t expect to agree with everything in here. Driscoll’s positions are nuanced and likely to raise questions all around in matters like spiritual warfare, the extent of the atonement, and the relationship between Charismatic and Calvinist theology. Also, be forewarned that there is some rough content in here. Sin is dealt with in all its ugliness.

I learned a lot as I read the book throughout last semester. But mostly Death by Love dogged and hounded me, constantly whispering, “Look to the cross and live!” as I battled through sin and struggle. For that I am grateful.

Recommended.

[i got a mirror for christmas]

Ok, not really. That would be weird. But I did get The Complete Works of Francis Schaeffer, a nice French press and travel coffee mug, and a navy turtleneck sweater. Francis Schaeffer, coffee, and sweaters. That’s me.

[the power of words and the wonder of God]

Video from the Desiring God national conference this weekend is up here:

Conference Video :: Desiring God

I watched Sinclair Ferguson’s message on James this afternoon, and it was good stuff.

[hummingbird]

To my Dad.

“The greatest unkindness you can do to [God] is not to believe that he loves you.”
John Owen

Bright buzz-winged bird,
To and fro flitting
Tongue of fire, tarry at
My window a moment more.
Fierce flutterer, impossible
Flyer, fly before
My face and SPEAK LOVE
Divine, beyond the bounds
Of all that I could ask,
Think, imagine: Depths,
Heights of Death’s death,
Life conquering, bonds
Broken, free indeed.
SPEAK this, little bird,
To me: the God who guides
Your flight LOVES me.

[uk update 3 // london, oxford, cambridge]

Whew! It’s been a while since my last update; I have a lot of ground to cover. Let’s see…

Two weekends ago, I went on a day trip to London and spent the afternoon at the British Museum. It is breathtakingly massive. I saw the Rosetta stone and Cleopatra’s mummy. My favorite part was the ancient Assyrian art, showing the old kings of Nineveh hunting lions and having battles and other such things. One panel even showed an Israelite king paying tribute to the Assyrians! That night, I went to see King Lear at the rebuilt Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. The performance was great and just being in that theatre was unforgettable.

Two Wednesdays ago, I went to a tea-tasting and found out a few things:

-White tea tastes like clouds. (How do I know what clouds taste like?)

-Suchongs taste like leather. (How do I know what leather tastes like?)

-Most teas sweeten as they cool.

So that was fun. The next night, I went to a lecture given by Oleg Gordievsky, an ex-KGB agent who turned into a British operative during the Cold War. After he was caught, he was put under house arrest in Moscow. He gave us an account of his crazy escape to Finland that deserves to be turned into a book/movie and talked about the current state of Russia.

Last Saturday I took a daytrip to Oxford, that other British university. It was amazing; the colleges were very similar to Cambridge, but Oxford felt like more of a “city”, whereas Cambridge has a laid-back college town vibe. The highlights were visiting the old divinity school, shopping at a used book store across from Christ Church College, and having an early dinner at the Eagle and Child pub where C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and the rest of Inklings used to meet back in the day.

This past week I finished up my first module of classes. That means my Art, Emotion, and Morality class is over. My final paper was entitled “Fiction and Moral Education: Making Men With Chests”. The title comes from the first chapter of C.S. Lewis’ The Abolition of Man, “Men Without Chests”, which inspired my thesis.

My parents came to Cambridge this weekend! This August marks their 25th wedding anniversary, so they decided to vacation in the UK…which just so happened to allow them to spend some time with me! It was really special to be able to share the experience of Cambridge with them in person, so that they could catch would I could never express in words and pictures. Friday afternoon I gave them a tour of some of the colleges, and we caught half of As You Like It as part of the Cambridge Shakespeare Festival. Saturday morning we went “punting” on the River Cam. (See pic…it’s not us, but it gives you the idea.) Dad dropped their camera in the river and had to jump in the freezing water to retrieve it, which after briefly mourning the camera, made for some good laughs. Punting is really quite difficult…it took me about 45 minutes to get the hang of it! Saturday afternoon we took tea at the The Orchard Tea Room in Grantchester, which I visited once before as documented in update 2. On the way, we ran into my friend Justin, and we all hung out together having tea and scones and enjoying the idyllic location and the spectacularly warm weather. After church and brunch at the Pembroke College dining hall, the parents headed off to Edinburgh.

Backing up a bit, we had Bible study on Tuesday, hosted by my friend Drew. Drew, Justin, and I constituted the crew, and I taught on Isaiah 6 and the holiness of God. It was a good reminder to me that our Holy God reigns, seated on His throne… things are never out of His control. He is not taking counsel from anyone; He works all things according the counsel of His own will. Getting a full dose of 20th-21st century philosophy and being immersed in a community of students that is largely non-Christian can be a little discouraging until you remember exactly Who our God is. The study helped bring the three of us together in closer community, too. We hung out and talked for about an hour after Bible study was over. The Lord has really blessed me with the friendship of these two brothers.

Church at Eden Baptist the past few Sundays has been an incredible blessing. Thick, meaty, hour-long T-bone steak sermons on the patriarchs out of Genesis that consistently point forward to Christ and the cross from Assistant Pastor Marvin Wong have been rocking me. I’ve met some awesome, friendly people in the congregation as well.

I spent this afternoon in the Fellows’ Garden at King’s College, a lovely expanse of the most well-manicured grass you’ve ever seen, punctuated with two flower-and-tree islands in the center. I was doing some preliminary reading for my Political Philosophy class when Justin showed up, book in hand. We were chilling out on the grass reading when our friend James showed up…actually I didn’t meet James until this afternoon, but we are definitely friends now! James is a newly-wed and a Mormon, and he was writing a letter to his wife at home. The three of us got started talking, and we covered everything from faith and academics to marriage to William Tyndale to what we do for fun to the differences between Mormonism and Evangelical Christianity. It was a well-spent afternoon talking about the things that matter most. Please pray for more opportunities like this, and specifically for the opportunity to set the Gospel that we “are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith” (Romans 3:24-25) clearly against LDS doctrine.

One of the biggest blessings of the past couple of weeks has been getting to talk to Jessica on Skype! The East Asia teams have been back safe and sound for a while now. If you get to hang out with any of them, ask them about what Father taught them this summer. I can promise you you’ll be blessed!

This weekend I’m planning on going to Paris with some guys…it should be a blast! I’m really excited.

Here’s some specifics for prayer:

-Pray for our Bible study this week. Drew is gonna be teaching, so lift him up for that. A couple of people e-mailed me for information about the Bible study that weren’t able to make it last week or got confused on the location… pray that we can get good info out and people will come.

-Pray for Eden Baptist Church, that their faithful ministry in this city would continue to be blessed by the Lord.

-Pray for James and our other Mormon friends on the program, and that the other Christians on the program and I will take opportunities to proclaim the Gospel.

-Praise the Lord for the community I’ve been able to find here at Eden and with Drew and Justin. Pray that we would build each other up and for our growth in grace.

-Pray for me, that my eyes would be turned from myself and totally on to Christ.

Thank you so much for your prayers and for reading and keeping up with me over here across the pond. Love you all in Christ.

Grace and peace,

Jonathan

[every man a soldier, every life an epic]

I don’t normally watch a movie more than once in theaters. But today I saw Prince Caspian for the second time. I think it’s a fantastic flick, and what really gets me is the size of it. It’s a BIG movie: the armies, the battles, the minotaurs, the stakes… everything about it is huge. Musing on the film over the past few days, I found myself wishing I was part of some epic struggle, to be an honorable soldier in a noble cause. Then I realized how foolish this was… because every day, if seen rightly, we go to war:

1. Against indwelling sin that abides in our flesh.

For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. Romans 8:13

John Owen writes,

The saints, whose souls breathe after deliverance from its [i.e., sin's] perplexing rebellion, know there is no safety against it but in a constant warfare.

2. Against philosophies, ideologies, worldviews, and heresies that are contrary to true knowledge of God.

For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:3-5

This is the task of apologetics, and it begins in our own hearts, taking every thought captive.

3. Against spiritual forces of evil.

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Ephesians 6:10-12

Paul identifies two great ends of the struggle which the forces of evil endeavor unceasingly to short-circuit: the believer’s endurance (6:13), and the bold proclamation of the Gospel (6:18-20).

4. Against complacency, to remain faithful to Christ in daily life.

Paul uses warfare language extensively in his two letters of encouragement and exhortation to the young preacher Timothy.

But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 1 Timothy 6:11-12

C.S. Lewis has written that the Chronicles of Narnia are not intended as allegory in the same way as, say, Pilgrim’s Progress. But for the Christian reader, or viewer, the resonance of the stories’ characters and themes for the life of faith is undeniable. What I love about the Chronicles is not that they provide escape to a fantastic world so much as they remind us what is important in the actual world.

We live life every second coram Deo, ‘before the face of God’. Our every action, word, thought is endued with eternal consequences. Our lives matter; they are significant! When you read your Bible, or pray, or share the Gospel with a friend; when you write a poem, or critically analyze the worldview presented in a movie; when you relate differently to a parent or friend or boyfriend/girlfriend because of the principles of Scripture- you go to war, noble, broken Christian, with the power of the Holy Spirit, in the greatest cause of all: the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus said,

From the days of John the Baptist, the kingdom of heaven has been coming violently, and the violent take it by force. Matthew 11:12

Who are these, the “violent”? John Gill comments,

[Those] being powerfully wrought upon under the ministry of the Gospel; who were under violent apprehensions of wrath and vengeance, of their lost and undone state and condition by nature; were violently in love with Christ, and eagerly desirous of salvation by him, and communion with him; and had their affections set upon the things of another world: these having the Gospel preached to them, which is a declaration of God’s love to sinners, a proclamation of peace and pardon, and a publication of righteousness and life by Christ, they greedily catched at it, and embraced it.

O that we would be violently in love with Christ, and wage the good warfare because of it!

[broken abide]

John 15

A broken branch I am and dry,
Soon ready for to face the fire,
All straining, sapless, to produce
Some fruit but lacking vital juice.
A loving Husband-hand does touch
My roughish wood and lift, with much
Skill grafting me into His Vine
Again, commanding me, “Abide.”

[love and knowledge]

In my Logos small group Bible study, we are going through the Sermon on the Mount. One of the more puzzling passages in there for me has always been Matthew 6:19-23:

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!”

The relationship between the “storing up treasures in heaven” and the “eye is the lamp of the body” parts has always been a little mysterious to me. The connection seems to be this: the question of knowledge is fundamentally an ethical question. Perceiving God, ourselves, and our world truly and rightly is contingent upon valuing all of those things rightly.

For example, if our values are skewed, we will tend to make the cross of Jesus Christ an expression of our own worth, a sort of nuclear-option self-esteem booster. “Look here, now. Don’t get down on yourself! God thinks you’re worth so much, He sent His Son to die for you!”

That’s a very subtle corruption of the truth. If we are ethically in line, we will see that God is infinitely valuable. The cross, then, can’t be an expression of our worth. If God valued us more highly than Himself, He would be an idolator! The cross must instead be “to the praise of His glorious grace,” an expression of His glorious, merciful character. It’s not about us.

In his book The Defense of the Faith, Cornelius Van Til extends that truth in this way: “Christ’s work as priest cannot be separated from his work as prophet. Christ could not give us true knowledge of God and the universe unless he died for us as priest. The question of knowledge is an ethical question at the root. It is indeed possible to have theoretically correct knowledge about God without loving God. The devil illustrates this point. Yet what is meant by knowing God in Scripture is knowing and loving God: this is true knowledge of God: the other is false.”

The view of the cross that makes it a testament to our own worth is correct on some theoretical points. It realizes our sin and the need for atonement that we cannot provide. But this view doesn’t love God; it doesn’t display Him as supremely valuable. It loves us. Therefore it is false knowledge, because it misses the fundamental truth of God’s value.

This is a good reminder for a guy like me who loves to think and read and coldly consumes theoretical knowledge without being moved to love God. It’s not that I have good knowledge that just needs to “get moved from my head to heart.” I have bad knowledge if I don’t have love!

Love and knowledge

Go together like a horse and carriage…

or something like that!

[(comm)unity pt. 4]

‘Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another.’ Ephesians 4.25

So what does (comm)unity look like? Sharing levity and gravity, purpose and pleasure, laughter and tears: in a word, life! ‘This does not mean that we are to be perpetually solemn. We must play. But our merriment must be of that kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously–no flippancy, no superiority, no presumption.’ C.S. Lewis, “The Weight of Glory”

To recap, then:

1.) (comm)unity is rooted in the character of God.
2.) (comm)unity is commanded of the Church.
3.) (comm)unity comes from genuine love for one another.
4.) Genuine love for one another comes from valuing Christ supremely.
5.) (comm)unity is a means for reaching the lost.
6.) (comm)unity is, ultimately, a means to joy in God.
7.) Therefore, (comm)unity begins and ends with God’s glory.

All of this rests on the finished work of Christ and the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit. Though (comm)unity doesn’t just ‘happen’ and we must work at it, it depends not on us, whose righteousness is filth and efforts are ineffectual, but on God ‘who cannot fail or fall.’ [George Herbert, "The Holdfast"]

Sources:

C.S. Lewis. The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses.
D.A. Carson. “The Supremacy of Christ and Love.” 2006 Desiring God National Conference.
Francis Schaeffer. The God Who Is There.
George Herbert. The Temple.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version.
John Piper. “The Supremacy of Christ and Joy.” 2006 Desiring God National Conference.
Jonathan Matthews. Sermons on John 17.1-5 and 17.20-26
Marc Sandhu. Sermon on John 17.6-19.

[(comm)unity pt. 3.B]

3.) (comm)unity is a means, not an end in itself.

B.) It is, ultimately, a means to joy in God.
‘…these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.’ John 17.13
‘Complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.’ Philippians 2.2
‘So receive [Epaphroditus] in the Lord with all joy…’ Philippians 2.29a

Jesus says He is telling His disciples these things for their joy in the middle of praying for their (comm)unity and the (comm)unity of all who would believe through their word. Paul said his joy in Philippians would be complete if they would come to complete (comm)unity. And Epaphroditus, whom the Philippians sent to minister Paul for his joy, Paul sends back for their joy. Epaphroditus, like Timothy, is an expression of the mutually-loving, Trinity-displaying (comm)unity between Paul and the Philippians, and the result of his return is joy in the Lord. When we enjoy authentic Biblical (comm)unity, we are enjoying God, glorifying Him in our joy and our obedience. When the Gospel is preached by believers in (comm)unity, God is glorified in His saving purpose, and unbelievers are converted and drawn in to enjoy the (comm)unity of the Church. (comm)unity, then, ends just as it began– with the glory of Christ! ‘For from him and to him and through him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.’ Romans 11.36

[(comm)unity pt. 3.A]

3.) (comm)unity is a means, not an end in itself.
A.) It is a means to reaching the lost.
‘I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me…and loved them even as you loved me.’ John 17.20-21, 23

Our love for each other is an apologetic to the world of Christ’s authenticity as Messiah and God’s love for the Church. In the practice of (comm)unity, we share ‘not only the gospel of God but also our own selves,’ which is the Biblical and effectual method. [1 Thessalonians 2.8]

[(comm)unity pt. 2]

2.) (comm)unity is rooted in the character of God.
‘Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one even as we are one.’ John 17.11b
God has existed as three mutually loving, mutually glorifying, happy Persons united in one Godhead from all eternity. This is what gives our concepts of love and joy and (comm)unity meaning. As the Body of Christ, the representation of God to the world, we are called to embody this love and joy among ourselves. ‘Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.’ Ephesians 5.1 And it is impossible to display the loving unity of the Trinity as a single individual; it can only be done together.

[(comm)unity pt. 1]

1.) (comm)unity begins with the glory of Jesus Christ.
‘For I have no one like [Timothy], who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare. They all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.’ Philippians 2.20-21

Timothy, as the Apostle Paul’s loving emissary to the church at Philippi, is a model of authentic Biblical (comm)unity. Timothy does not seek his own interests. The text tells us this plainly. And he does not even have the Philippians’ interests at heart primarily. Timothy’s central concern is the interest of his Lord, Jesus Christ. And He is very interested in His Bride. ‘Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.’ Ephesians 5.25-27 In other words, a focus on (comm)unity will never produce true (comm)unity; neither will a focus on loving one another. The final and only stable foundation for love among the members of the Body resulting in (comm)unity is the glory of Christ and His own love for the Church. So working backwards from the principle of (comm)unity, we see that…

(comm)unity
|^|
genuine love and concern for one another
|^|
a dominating concern for the glory of Christ

This order makes the best sense of the book of Philippians, with Paul’s frequent affirmations of the ultimate value of Christ [1.21, 1.23, 3.7-10, 4.13, 4.20] and his evident joyful love for the Philippians [1.3-11, 1.24, 1.27, 2.12-13, 2.19-29, 4].