A Brief Review of Webster's, "Holiness"

In “Holiness,” John Webster brilliantly unpacks the full riches of holiness in reference to God, the Church, and the individual believer. He begins by observing that the theological task requires a holiness of its own, namely, human reason set apart by God from its bondage to intellectual autonomy. The theologian must always acknowledge his depend upon God as it seeks to understand His majesty. Webster argues that a properly Christian theology of holiness must take a thoroughly Trinitarian shape: the Father is holy as the one who elects His people for holiness, the Son is holy as the one who secures His people’s reconciliation to God from unholiness, the Spirit is holy as the one who sanctifies His people in holiness. The Church is holy as it confesses God’s incomparable majesty, and the Christian is holy as he is vivified by the Spirit and his unrighteousness mortified. The Christian’s pursuit of holiness is grounded in the gracious reconciliation that God has already actualized on his behalf. Living a holy life is a matter of answering to the grace that God has manifestly demonstrated in salvation history. So much more could be said about this great little book, and I’m sure I’ll come back to it many more times for fresh insight.

A Brief Review of Dolezal's, "All That is In God"

In this informative and bracing little book, James E. Dolezal makes a strong case for classical theism and against theistic mutualism, a doctrine of God which in a variety of more or less egregious forms maintains that God and the world exist in a "give-and-take" relationship. Theistic mutualism holds that the doctrine of God articulated by classical Christian theism is biblically and metaphysically untenable. Divine simplicity, immutability, and impassibility are some of theistic mutualism's big targets. Theistic mutualists believe that God is capable of being “moved” or “acted upon” by His creation, especially human beings. Furthermore, they think that denying this “passibility” in God renders all speech about His relationship with humanity incoherent. Dolezal persuasively rebuts this misapprehension, pointing out that if God is “movable,” there would have to be unrealized potencies in His very being, and therefore, His being (what He is as He is) would be changeable - perish the thought! Theistic mutualists try to soften this blow in one of two ways, either by arguing that God determines to subject His being to variability (like that’s some comfort) or that God has two sets of attributes: those that inhere in His being (all of which are eternally actualized) and those that arise or develop as a result of His interactions with the world. Against theistic mutualism, Dolezal compellingly presents the Biblical and philosophical bases for the classical doctrine of God. He points out that without divine simplicity — the idea that God is not composed of parts — God’s independence or aseity are necessarily put in serious jeopardy. If God is made up of bits and parts (Dolezal is keen to point out that “parts” are not always material but can be conceptual as well), if His being or is-ness only becomes what it is through their consolidation, then God depends upon things other than God (disassembled parts) to be what He is (those parts brought into a unity). Theistic mutualists think that what divine simplicity entails for the other divine attributes, namely, their identity, is foolishness. Dolezal effectively counters by arguing that any other conception of the attributes "de-Gods" God, because any other formulation renders Him dependent upon His parts (which on theistic mutualism's account are not God) to be who He is. We are justified in differentiating the divine attributes in our God-talk because of our limits and our inability to comprehend a purely simple being - there is nothing and no one like God. Read this book if you're hungry for a robust defense of what Christians have uniformly believed about God over the centuries.

The True and False: A Short Sermon (Delivered to Seminarians) on Micah 3:5-8

Introduction:

Deceit does a lot of damage. It can sow relational doubt, rend families apart, provoke war and much else besides. Most tragically though, deceit can work spiritual death. The words of our text for this morning, Micah 3:5-8, castigate a group of deceivers stirring up trouble in Ancient Israel — a cadre of false prophets. Micah’s targets and their historical distance from us may lead us to be skeptical of their contemporary significance. But however historically remote these words may be, they are God’s, and I pray that by considering them together this morning, He will grant us a fresh appreciation for their enduring import. False religious teachers — “false prophets” — continue to labor in our own day, and that still to spiritually calamitous effect and so, this old text serves as a warning for us even today, cautioning and exhorting us to beware falsehood and embrace truth.

I. False Prophets Are Dangers to Our Souls (v. 5)

In Micah 3, starting in verse 5, we read, “The word of the Lord concerning the prophets, who lead my people astray.” The false prophets, “lead astray.” A whole lot is packed into that simple phrase, which really sums up a tragic history of religious deception. The phrase, “lead astray,” crops up frequently in the Old Testament. Sometimes it describes prophets who were believed to have issued their pronouncements via demonic influence; at other points it describes prophets who’d failed to give the people of Israel the whole truth about their sin and their urgent need for repentance. As an example of the latter, in Lamentations 2:14 we read, “your prophets have seen for you false and deceptive visions, they have not exposed your iniquity [emphasis mine] to restore your fortunes.” Such prophets told the people what they wanted to hear, rather than what they needed to hear. The false prophets of Micah’s day were evidently guilty of related sins.

A vivid cinematic portrayal of what being “lead astray” looks like comes to us in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. The creature Gollum knows his way around Middle Earth better than Frodo and Sam, and Frodo — given the bond that the Ring has preternaturally established between himself and Gollum — naively trusts this depraved wretch to guide him safely to Mount Doom. Having gained his trust, with cunning and deception Gollum slowly leads Frodo into the trap of Shelob’s Lair. People often trust religious leaders in ways they would never trust others. Crediting them with spiritual wisdom and a measure of holiness, they think to themselves, “they really know their way around the religious landscape; they can guide me and maybe even give me a word straight from God.” The people of Israel went to the prophets to hear a word from God, but they were often fed destructive lies instead. But the prophets of Micah’s day weren’t leading people astray just for the fun of it — Micah spotlights the economic interest that was at play in the prophets’ deception. The prophets were tailoring their prophecies according to their own greeds.

We have an image of the prophets biting their teeth and saying, “peace” to some, but declaring war against those who don’t put anything into their mouths. In other words, Israelites who could pay the fee got sweet words in return — “God is on your side” — while those who couldn’t or wouldn’t got portents. Imagine that: spinning God’s word for a profit. Unfortunately, we know all too well that many people are in religion for money. I’m sure you can think of some popular preachers whom you suspect are not primarily occupied with edifying the body of Christ, but with building their own mini-empires. These preachers all play a similar tune, enticing their listeners with feel-good messages and promises of success so that they can rake in the cash. One recent example is that of Terry Millender, a pastor who extorted his congregants out of 1.7 million dollars in an investment scheme. One of the women victimized by the scheme described him as, “a very bad pastor, a very good conman.” False prophets are incredibly dangerous to our souls. By God’s grace, we need to steer clear.

We’ve briefly looked at the destructive activities of the false prophets described by our text — they lead people astray from God, often for their own personal enrichment and our harm. But how does God feel about false prophets? How does He view them and intend to respond? Well, as you might expect, God is not pleased; God promises to judge false prophets.

II. False Prophets Will Be Judged (vv. 6-7)

With poetic verve, Micah envisions God’s coming judgment against these false prophets. Starting in verse 6-7, we read: 

“Therefore night will come over you, without visions, and darkness, without divination. The sun will set for the prophets, and the day will go dark for them. The seers will be ashamed and the diviners disgraced. They will all cover their faces because there is no answer from God.”

Micah declares that the false prophets, who pride themselves on their spiritual insight, will have it stripped away by God. This word-picture powerfully conveys God’s righteous anger against those who claim to speak his word, but who are only giving utterance to their own vain and self-serving ideas.

The book of Revelation gives a comprehensive picture of the final judgment. Among the judged and condemned are the devil, the antichrist, and the false prophet, a character who leads those bearing the mark of the beast astray, leveraging all manner of religious deception so that people believe lies rather than God’s truth. From Old Testament to New God’s attitude towards spiritual falsehood is uniform: He never wavers in His hatred of it.

If this is to be the fate for all that’s false, if there is to be a day of judgment, how should we respond? Well, most basically we need to steer clear of spiritual falsehood, we need to be on guard against it. But it’s not enough just to avoid falsehood, we need truth in its place.

III. Embrace Truth (v. 8)

In verse 8 — the climax of the passage — Micah contrasts his own prophetic ministry with that of the false prophets. He writes, “But I am filled with the Spirit of God.” True prophets, true teachers, are emboldened and empowered by God, because truth comes from God, who cannot lie (Titus 1:2). What is the truth Micah was empowered to speak? The truth of, “sin and transgression.” One of the marks of true prophets is that they convict us of our sin. They don’t hesitate to point out our backsliding or rebellion against God; they give us the hard truth and call us back to God.

The slogan for Buckley’s Cough Syrup is that, “it tastes awful and it works.” God’s truth can often upset us, especially when it touches upon our secret sins and brings them into the light. It can taste awful sometimes, but we need it. Deeply embedding ourselves in Christian community is one of the most powerful ways that we can expose our hearts to God’s truth. The truthful witness of a brother or sister to the sin in our lives can spur us on to repentance and to renewed and reinvigorated fellowship with the Lord and one another. Sitting under the Word of God faithfully preached can prick our hearts, as the Spirit convicts us of sin and encourages our hearts with the knowledge of Christ’s forgiveness. We need gospel truth in a world rife with deception.

IV. Believe in Jesus, The Truth Perfectly Embodied

In his gospel, the Apostle John tells us that Jesus was, “full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). He never watered down the truth for the sake of grace, nor vice-versa. He always told the truth in love, that people might turn from their sins and put their faith in Him. He cried out, “repent! Turn from your sin and believe the good news!” 

Jesus said, “I have come to bear witness to the truth.” (John 18:37). Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. He is the very embodiment of truth and the incarnate antithesis of falsehood. In looking at Jesus we see truth. Let us encourage one another always to look to Jesus.

Conclusion:

We’ve seen the danger that false prophets pose to our souls. We need to be on guard against falsehood. Moreover, we’ve seen that God hates spiritual falsehood, words that mislead His people and keep them from a knowledge of the truth. We need the truth, we need to heed it, we need to be reminded of it — even when it’s hard. Jesus came to bear witness to the truth, and through faith in Him, and staying close to Him with the Spirit’s aid, we can effectively guard ourselves against the enemy’s lies. May God empower us to discern true from false.

In Jesus’ name,

AMEN.

When Trouble Comes: A Sermon on Psalm 77*

Introduction:

What do you do with trouble? I don’t mean trivial trouble, like burning a DiGiorno pepperoni pizza or struggling to find the perfect parking spot for service on a busy Sunday morning – trouble that doesn’t really matter that much in the end. I don’t mean that kind of trouble. I mean hard trouble, sleep-depriving trouble. What do you do when trouble like that comes into your life? The Bible tells us that, “man is born to trouble as surely as the sparks fly upward” (Job 5:7) and so the question is not if trouble comes, but when it comes, how do we deal with it? As Christians, how can we handle trouble well before the Lord? Psalm 77 – our text for this morning – provides great insight as to how we can handle our trouble well before God. It also paints a vivid picture of the power of trouble – what it’s like and what it can do to us. First then, following the structure of our Psalm, we’ll sit with trouble so as to better understand it. Second, taking the Psalmist’s lead, we’ll see how we can handle trouble well. The first thing for us to understand about trouble is that it can make us spiritually restless.

1. Trouble makes us spiritually restless.

Starting in verse 1 of Psalm 77, we read: “I cry aloud to God, aloud to God, and He will hear me. In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord. In the night my hand is stretched out. My soul refuses to be comforted. When I remember God, I groan. When I meditate, my spirit faints. You hold my eyes open, my eyelids open. I am so troubled that I cannot sleep.” We don’t know what trouble stimulated these poignant words. We don't know what might have been going on in Asaph’s life – the author of this Psalm – to produce such restlessness. What we have here is a simple yet poetic portrayal of day and night restlessness, dusk till’ dawn restlessness, round’ the clock restlessness, caused by his trouble. This restlessness registers at the center of his being – that part of us that the Bible teaches is so critical to our humanity: the soul.

The internet is full of great advice, and so I figured I’d share some with you today. It’s a really tremendous piece of advice, so be sure to listen closely. Here it is: “Give your trouble to God, and go to sleep.” Just give your trouble to God and go to sleep. I’m curious as to how Asaph might have received counsel like this in his day of trouble. “Asaph, what’s your problem, man? You’re losing all this sleep. Your eyes are bloodshot. You look a mess. You’re just not yourself… You know what, I have an idea. I know how to fix this: you should just give your trouble to God, and go to sleep. Why don’t you try that? Just go to sleep, man.” Maybe you’ve lost a friend; maybe you’ve learned of a parent’s accelerating illness; maybe you yourself have received a bleak medical diagnosis. And maybe someone, out of a genuine desire to comfort you, has said something like that. “God’s got this, just give your trouble to God.” We know that life's not always that simple and trouble isn’t always solvable. Sometimes trouble keeps us up at night, despite our best efforts. Sometimes trouble renders us spiritually restless. And there’s not always a quick fix to hard trouble and spiritual unrest. Sometimes all we can be for a person going through that kind of trouble is present. 

Soul restlessness often provokes restlessness of thought. When trouble strikes, it’s natural that start asking hard questions, which is exactly the progression reflected in Psalm 77. The second thing for us to understand about trouble, is that it can make us doubt God and His goodness.

2. Trouble can make us doubt God and His goodness.

At the end of verse 6 we read: 

“My spirit then made a diligent search. Will the Lord spurn forever and never again be favorable. Has his steadfast love forever ceased? Are his promises at an end for all time? Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has He in anger shut up his compassion?” 

These are some of the heaviest questions a believer in God can ask about God. These are questions that go directly to His character. These are questions born out of spiritual exhaustion and desperation – the Psalmist is asking, “where is God? Where is God in my troubles? Where has He gone off too?” 

The philosopher and logician Bertrand Russell became well-known for his atheism. For a variety of reasons, he didn’t think Christianity was true, one of which was the presence of trouble in our world, often referred to as the problem of evil or suffering. In his essay, “Has Religion Made Useful Contributions To Civilization?,” he issues a sort of challenge to Christians, saying, “Christian, I urge you to come with me to the children’s ward at my local hospital. Take a walk with me. Just come with me to the children’s ward. See the agony on their faces, hear the suffering, and after all that – I dare you to maintain that God is good.” You see, for Bertrand Russell, he witnessed trouble, he felt its weight, and he concluded, “If God exists (which he didn’t believe he did) He must be a cruel god, and certainly not the omni-benevolent God that Christians say He is.” This objection to the existence of an all-good and all-powerful God wasn’t first made by Bertrand Russell, but has been around forever. Its initial philosophical formulation may be traced back to Epicurus, who more than 2,000 years ago put it like this: “Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is He able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence comes evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?” These are Asaph’s questions put philosophically and abstractly – apart from a context of personal fellowship with God. It would be natural for us to look at the questions being raised in Psalm 77 and think, “Asaph’s on the same path of inquiry as a Bertrand Russell or Epicurus. He feels the burden of trouble, and he is trying to make sense of it — especially in light of his genuine faith in God. Maybe Asaph is gonna go the way of Bertrand Russell and deny God outright. Or maybe he’ll go the way friends in my life have gone, who’ve told me, “I’ve just gone through too much to believe there’s a God who loves me, who cares about me.”” A non-believer might read this passage and say, “Asaph’s starting to think clearly and rationally – he just has one more step to go.” But that is not where Asaph goes. Asaph’s doubts about God don’t cause him to deny God. But why not? Well, it’s because Asaph handled his trouble well, and here we come to the central insight of our passage – how it is that Asaph handles his trouble. This is not how he gets a quick fix to his trouble, restlessness, and doubts, but how he deals with it well before the Lord. 

3. When trouble comes, Asaph gets specific about who God is and what He has done. Which is exactly what we are to do. When trouble comes, get specific about who God is and what He has done. 

There’s a turning point in our text at verse 10, where Asaph says: 

“Then I said I will appeal to this, the years of the right hand of the most high. I will remember the deeds of the Lord. I will remember your wonders of old. I will ponder all your work, meditate on your mighty deeds. Your way O God is holy. What God is great like our God? You are the God who works wonders. You have made known your might among the peoples. You with your arm redeemed your people, the children of Jacob and Joseph.”

Asaph commits himself to a deliberate consideration of what he already knows about God – what he knows God has done in space and time; the particular dealings God has had with His people in ages past; the myriad ways in which God has demonstrated his holiness and greatness. He’s getting specific. The Biblical faith is historically rooted. It makes claims about things God has actually done and more than that, it sees the things God has done as reflections or displays of who He is. This is a very important difference between the Christian worldview and many other philosophical and religious systems – which will often discuss and consider God in purely philosophical or metaphysical terms. Deism, for instance – that popular 18th century philosophy claiming many of America’s Founding Fathers – while believing in a grand designer of the universe, shuddered at the thought that such a mind would ever need to act in the world. Would not such action and intrusion into time and space demonstrate that the initial conditions he set for the universe were imperfect? That is, would divine action not suggest an imperfect deity? The Christian faith has a long tradition of rigorous philosophical and theological discourse, but insofar as it has been properly Christian, its impetus has always been faith in God’s revelation – Christian theology considers God as He has revealed himself through His many acts. By all this I am not suggesting that Asaph deals with his trouble with a bit of philosophy, or that Asaph solves the problem of suffering for us. I am simply saying that Asaph drew his attention to the God he knew and the works he knew God had done already in his people’s history. Asaph gets specific about one of God’s great wonders: the Exodus. Verses 15-20 of Psalm 77 are all about the Exodus. But why the Exodus? The Israelites’ “day of trouble” as slaves in Egypt lasted centuries — centuries of spiritual restlessness and doubts. They probably asked questions and had their doubts: “where is God? Will he confirm His promise to be our God? Has He forgotten that promise? Has His love ceased? Is He still our God?” God answered these questions decisively for the Israelites. In Exodus 14, starting in verse 30, we read:

“Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. 31 Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.”

The Exodus is God’s great act of redemption in the Old Testament – revealing undeniably His commitment to setting His people free and to always being their God. Asaph may not understand his trouble, but he knew something of His God – he knew the main thing, really: God is a God who works redemption. The Exodus prefigured an even greater act of redemption, one that as Christians we need to be especially mindful of when trouble strikes: the Cross and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. 2,000 years ago Jesus entered into the great day of trouble for all those in spiritual bondage — all of us, the day of wrath against sin, bearing our shame and guilt, and the penalty merited by our sin. While he was dying on the cross the son of God cried: “my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” A question born out of unimaginable trouble and suffering. God defeated Israel’s adversaries and brought them safely through the Red Sea, and in Jesus’ death and resurrection God defeated the final enemy, death our ultimate trouble, to set sinners free. A vast span of time passed between the Exodus and the Cross, but it’s the same God; a lot of trouble transpired between the Exodus and the Cross, but it’s the same God; much time has elapsed between the Cross and whatever trouble you may be facing or may soon have to face, but you have the same God. When trouble comes, trust the God who redeems. May we remind each other of these truths, and may the Spirit empower us to believe them.

In Jesus’ name,

AMEN.

*This sermon was preached on September 18th at GCC.

A Simple List of My Favorite Drummers

Below is a list of my favorite drummers. There is no ranking involved (though some are more favorite than others), nor were any “scientific” metrics applied in forming this list. These are simply the drummers that have been most formative in my own development as a drummer; they are continual sources of inspiration in my drumming life. I highly recommend checking these guys out, if you haven’t already!

Neil Peart (Rush)

Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater)

Ronald Bruner Jr. (Stanley Clarke, Cameron Graves, etc.)

Thomas Pridgen (The Mars Volta)

Buddy Rich (the most masterful to ever pick up a pair of sticks)

Vinnie Colaiuta (Session Drummer Extraordinaire)

Brian Blade (Various Acts, Brian Blade Fellowship Band)

Gavin Harrison (Porcupine Tree)

Danny Carey (Tool)

Bill Stewart (Various Acts)

Mark Guiliana (Various Acts, Avishai Cohen Trio)

Elvin Jones (John Coltrane, Various Acts)

Tony Royster Jr. (Various Acts)

Phil Collins (Genesis)

Dennis Chambers (Various Acts)

Dynamic Independence

Many drummers overlook the development of dynamics in their playing. Like the melodic instruments, the drum set has a wide dynamic range. However, the drum set outstrips oboe, mandolin, harp, guitar, flute, piano, and the rest in its dynamic potential, a potential that many drummers fail to explore.

The drummer has the unique opportunity of playing at four different dynamic levels at the same time, each corresponding to one of his four limbs. Getting to the point where each limb possesses dynamic sensitivity and control is a daunting task, and this kind of “independence” is foreign to the way drummers typically think of and are taught the concept. 

Usually, if a drummer is described as having a great deal of “independence,” reference is being made to his ability to play various rhythms simultaneously. Dynamic independence is often overlooked and overshadowed by rhythmic independence. But music is just as much about rhythm as it is about dynamics (and much else besides), and to the extent that he cares about mastering the drum set, the drummer should cultivate his dynamic capabilities.

I have one very basic (but certainly not simple) exercise that I hope will inspire you to begin delving into this expansive world of dynamic independence. The exercise involves playing quarter notes with all four limbs at the same time. The right foot plays the bass drum pedal, the left foot plays the hi-hat, the right hand plays the bell of the ride cymbal, and the left hand plays the snare drum. Begin by playing one measure in which all four limbs are playing the same dynamic level, say forte. Follow this measure with a measure in which you bring down the volume of your right hand to piano (not gradually, but as abruptly as you can) whilst maintaining forte with your other three limbs. Follow this measure with a measure in which you now bring your left hand down to piano whilst your other three limbs play at forte. This step requires bringing the volume of your right hand back up to forte. Continue this exercise with the right foot and the left foot. As you play this exercise you’ll feel an immediate tension the moment you drop the dynamic level of one of your limbs. It will take everything within you not to adjust one or multiple of your other limbs in response.

Resist and persist.

More than anything else, this exercise is meant to reveal just how far exploration into dynamic independence can go. Additionally, practicing dynamic independence in this way will make your practice sessions less clinical and tedious and more musical. So often drummers practice patterns, licks, and grooves without a care for how they are playing them. Coming up with dynamic independence exercises of your own, in the same vein as the one I’ve laid out, will force you to learn with sensitivity and enable you to hone your licks and grooves, the stuff us drummers typically practice, with a similar mind as to their dynamic potential.