i’m still thinkin

This is the text of the article I linked to in the previous post.  If you don’t want to read it in the context of the rest of the Nickel Belt News, then here you go:

In case you were unaware, we live in one of the most beautiful places in the world–the wildlife, the countless rivers and lakes, the beautiful sunsets that pour out every colour imaginable across the sky and seem to go on for hours, and, especially, the vastness of it all.  I grew up in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in South Carolina until I went to live in my wife’s hometown in the heart of the mountains in North Carolina.  Not much can beat the bright greens that overwhelm the springtime and the deep orange, yellow, and red that fill the autumn with colour down there.  I always thought that there was no place nearly as beautiful as home.  Then I moved here.

Last week my wife and I went to Banff, Alberta.  We had never seen the Rocky Mountains before.  The majesty and sheer size of the mountains is quite a sight to behold.  When I came back home and saw the sunset over Thompson, I was reminded that God’s creation here is just as majestic and beautiful.  This is truly a beautiful place we live in.  But I’m sure many of you are thinking of places that you’ve been that are just as beautiful as here.  This is truly a beautiful world we live in.

When we look at this world and the complexity and beauty therein, from the smallest single-cell organism to the tallest mountain, how can we not understand that this world was created by a force vastly more powerful than anything we can see?  And if that force were able to create intelligent, emotional, creative beings, then wouldn’t he be intelligent, emotional and creative himself?  More than that, why would this creator leave his creatures alone in the dark, simply guessing why we are here?  Maybe this creator has revealed himself to us.

The Apostle Paul pointed out that he has, “For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.”  So when we look at the world, we are to see God’s power.  But is that all we are to know about God, that he is powerful?  The author of Hebrews thinks not, “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son.”  God has revealed his power and might through his creation, but he has revealed his love and mercy and grace by his Son, Jesus Christ.

Jesus was more than simply a good teacher, he was the incarnation of the living God. In simpler terms, Jesus was God with skin on.  In Jesus we see the eternal, all-powerful God.  In Jesus we know God’s love for us.  In Jesus we have access to God’s grace.  Do you want to be spiritual?  Do you want to know God?  Know Jesus.

Brandon Milan is the Associate Pastor of Youth at Thompson First Baptist Church.

I wrote this for a “Spiritual Thoughts” column in the Northern Manitoba newspaper… you should follow the link and click on the picture to get to the PDF file of the paper… its on page 6…

So, when I grow up, I want to be this guy, Jim Thompson.   But even more than that, (no offense, Jim), I want to be this guy, Andrew Lewis.  And they both have one of these Jewish Study Bibles.  It is the Jewish Bible with commentary from a Jewish perspective…

It is interesting to see the difference in understanding of various passages… thus far, if the commentator is to be believed, the jewish persepective on genesis 1 is based around a literary framework view and not a chronological framework.  In other words, the seven days are a literary device to describe the majesty and awesomeness of creation, not a historical device to describe a chronological sequence of events.  I am excited about this thing…

So life has been really busy lately… so blogging and writing funny songs has been put on the back burner for a little while…

But all of you need to go to my wife’s blog and read her latest post… its really great.

So a few weeks ago Leah and I were excited over the fact that more than 500 people had viewed our video on Youtube… now more than 13 thousand people have viewed it.  I’m pretty sure that I could show up to nearly any seminary and be immediately recognized as the guy with the Calvinist wife.  Maybe I’m a bit overconfident, but it seems to be getting that way.

So my wife and I definitely lean towards reformed theology in our limited understanding thereof.  However, when writing the song, we meant it completely lightheartedly.  It wasn’t meant to be taken seriously… I’ve been to many of the blogs and read many of the commenters who seem to understand this:

“TOTALLY” awesome! Obviously your wife is “UNCONDITIONAL” in her love! Though “LIMITED” in its audience appeal, the video is “IRRESISTIBLE” to those for whom it is intended. Keep on “PERSEVERING” in your song writing!

HA – that’s wet your pants funny! …could add a line “I Think My Wifes a Reformed Baptist, about to get Booted from the SBC”

thanks for posting this
This is priceless! I almost spewed a full mouthful of coffee onto my comp at the line “she likes Spurgeon more than me”! LOL
Well done!

i love it.
can you really get a John Piper tattoo??? please? mostly just for my entertainment, of course

A Methodist youth group came in my store as soon as this video was over. I spoke in tongues to them, and they all got saved.

The previous commenters seem to understand.  Some of them are Calvinists.  Some of them are not.  But they all thought it was funny.  But, there are always those who think they need to point out everything that was wrong with the song:

Hahaha… that’s SOoooo funny. I laughed and laughed and laughed. The only Greek to that sentence though would be “ego” and it’s redundant

Ok, I prefer the ESV but I also like NLT. Found that in Beth Moore Bible Studies it just isn’t deep enough theologically while others talk about how deep it is. I prefer Erickson’s systematic theology not Grudems. That doesn’t make me a Calvinist.

I’m actually a Calvinist and I cringed at the John Piper reference. He’s great but he’s becoming nearly a pope for 5-pointers so its sad but true.

so funny because its so true!!!! well, except for the tattoo, maybe a fake one??

In Islam, we take predestination to the next logical step: strict fatalism. Perhaps good Calvinists can learn from The Prophet Mohammed, PBUH (peace be upon him).

Its a joke, peeps… accept that and laugh at it or leave it alone… I do appreciate the internet fame that I have gained because of this song…

But, I have a few thoughts about our next hit single… I’m heading back to northern Manitoba at the end of this week and then I have a pastor’s conference at the beginning of next week, so at the end of next week, start looking for our next hit single, “The Best Life… NOW.”

So its my birthday.  And my wife bought me some sleep pants that feature the various DC comics superheroes in various superheroish poses.  They are probably the best thing since sliced bread.  And I think I may have a gravy biscuit with a candle on top.

I got “The Blue Parakeet” by Scot McKnight for Christmas.  So far its a great book.  I don’t really have anything else to say.  I’m sure I’ll think of something…

I wrote this to be submitted for this week’s Spiritual Thoughts Column for the Nickel Belt News, a weekly newspaper that is distributed across northern Manitoba. Whether or not it will actually be published will be seen on Friday.  Tell me what you think…

Like many in my generation, I grew watching too much television. And every December I would watch hours after hours of Christmas movies. Old habits die hard. Over the past few weeks, my wife and I have spent many of our evenings watching Christmas movies and specials. Most of them are about Santa. You know the plot. Santa messes up big time. Christmas will have to be cancelled until someone else, such as Ernest, steps in and “saves Christmas.” You would think that as many close calls as Santa has had, someone would look into hiring a new Santa who knows what he is doing. In spite of the cheesiness, most of these movies are entertaining, but at some point they all reinforce the same value: Christmas is not about getting presents, its about family, peace, and giving.

Those things are all good, but none of them encompass the meaning of Christmas. We should cherish our family all year round. We should seek peace 365 days a year. We should give to the less fortunate every chance we get. In simple terms, the meaning of Christmas rests in the birth of Christ. In slightly more complex terms, Christmas is about the incarnation of the Son of God. Incarnation means “in the flesh.” Christians believe that Jesus is fully God and fully human and that, in the birth of Jesus, God became flesh. The “how” to this concept is something that a thousand theologians could not fully explain, but the “why” is simple. God became man in order to provide us, sinful human beings, access to a holy God. Jesus Christ came to be an example of how to live, the mediator between God and man, and ultimately to take upon himself the penalty for human sin. As the early church father Athanasius put it, “The Son of God became the Son of Man that the sons of men might become sons of God.”

In Colossians, the Apostle Paul says that Jesus Christ came to live and die in order “to reconcile to himself all things.” Christmas is the day that we celebrate that “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” so that we would have the chance to see his glory and to respond in service and in love. Why? Because we have been reconciled to our Creator. That is why we sing and celebrate at Christmas. In the midst of giving and receiving presents and spending time with family, remember that those things are temporal. Take time this Christmas to celebrate the eternal: the coming of God in the flesh to reconcile us to Him, our creator and our saviour.

“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”   -Revelation 1:8

That is God the Father speaking.  He calls himself the Alpha and the Omega.

In the Old Testament:

Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel
and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts:
“I am the first and I am the last;
besides me there is no god.”
-Isaiah 44:6

God calls himself the first and the last.  He is declaring his eternal nature.

He says elsewhere, “Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me.” (Isaiah 43:10)

Yahweh is the beginning and the end.  There is no other god, there never has been any other god, just the one.  “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.”

There is tons of evidence that Jesus Christ is God in the flesh–he’s already called himself “I AM” and he’s been called “God” and “Lord” many times.

Yet at the very end of the Bible he declared something that can be said of no one but God.  Jesus said, as God the Father already declared to John the Revelator earlier:

“Behold, I am coming soon… I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”

If it were not clear already, Jesus is declaring his oneness with the Father.  There is no god other than God, so if another is also eternal, then they MUST be ONE.

As John Piper puts it in Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ:

Jesus Christ is the Creator of the universe… the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last.  Jesus Christ the Person, never had a beginning.  He is absolute Reality.  He has the unparalleled honor and unique glory of being there first and always.  He never came into being. He was eternally begotten.  The Father has eternally enjoyed “the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature” in the Person of his Son.

I just finished reading Why We’re not Emergent: By Two Guys that Should Be by Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck.  It really made me think about some of the things I have been reading lately.  In the midst of them refuting many of the questionable beliefs that the emergent guys have, I wish they would have at least taken a chapter to point out the good things that the emergent guys are talking about.  Also they should have been a little more clear that not all the emergent guys are heretics.  Because they aren’t.

At the end of the book, they point out that many reformed, traditional, non-emerging churches tend to be like Ephesus from Revelation 2.  The refuse to allow false-doctrine and heresy to come into their fellowship, yet they’ve lost their first love.  At the same time, many of the Emergent churches are more similar to Pergamum–they hold fast to Jesus, but have compromised with idolaters and the sexually immoral–or they’re like Thyatira–they are quick to love and to serve, but they tolerate what Jesus hates.

In other words, many traditional churches hate what Jesus hates but don’t love what Jesus loves.  At the same time, many Emergent churches love what Jesus loves but don’t hate what Jesus hates.

So I would recommend you give this book a read.

…………………………………………………….

In other news, I preached today and will preach again next week.

Leah and I have been listening to the staff training sessions on the Snowbird Wilderness Outfitters Podcast.  I decided that the two part session on the humanity and the deity of Christ was something that my church needs to hear.  So I ganked it.  Yeah, I’m a sermon stealer.  I think we all do it, though.  If someone else has already said something in a great way, why try to say it differently?  Anyway, listen to it, and tell me what you think.  What can I do better?  What did I do well on?  I’m still learning at this stuff.  We had really long music and a really long prayer, so I didn’t start preaching until 12.  Anyway, give it a whirl.

The Humanity of Christ

The thing about fleeing from a lion and then meeting a bear makes me think of the common and pretty ridiculous seen in so many movies and tv shows in which someone barely escapes death by one means only to be killed by something completely different.  Its a little bit of a ridiculous concept, but I can’t help but wonder if a lot of these people who so “excitedly” await Jesus’ return aren’t actually in a similar position as the people that God is speaking of here.  They talk excited about the return of Christ, but in reality, their worship isn’t acceptable to him.

I hope I’m not one of those people.