A God-intoxicated church

A good word from Martin Luther King Jr. on the early church in Letter from a Birmingham Jail:

The Christians pressed on, in the conviction that they were “a colony of heaven,” called to obey God rather than man. Small in number, they were big in commitment. They were too God-intoxicated to be “astronomically intimidated.”

Read the rest here.

The exemplary humility of Jesus

The kingdom of God assuredly had no beginning, and it will have no end: but because he was hid under a humble clothing of flesh, and took upon himself the form of a servant, and humbled himself (Phil. ii. 8), and laying aside the insignia of majesty, became obedient to the Father; and after undergoing this subjection was at length crowned with glory and honour (Heb. ii. 7), and exalted to supreme authority, that at his name every knee should bow (Phil. ii. 10); so at the end he will subject to the father both the name and the crown of glory, and whatever he received of the Father, that God may be all in all (I Cor. xv. 28).

John Calvin (Institutes, 2.14.3)

You just might be a Calvinist if…

I don’t usually pay attention to articles or blog posts that start out with, “You might be a _____ if you _____,” but I looked this one over and found myself in several of the “you might be’s.” Here are a few of my favorites:

You might be a Calvinist if:

If a free Bible has ever arrived in the mail to you from John MacArthur

If you have ever purchased 100 or more copies of the same John Piper book to hand out to random people you meet

If you have adjusted the default passage setting at www.biblegateway.org from “NIV” to “ESV”

If you have ever purposefully sung a different word in a hymn to conform to scripture

Without me giving last names, you still know who I’m referring to (I got most of these right):

John
John
John
John
John
Jonathan
John
John
John

You know what a Remonstrant is.

Wisdom: how do I get it?

Psalm 107:43:

Whoever is wise, let him attend to these things;
let them consider the steadfast love of the Lord.

I make this my daily goal. It will keep me out of trouble. It will make me look to Jesus. It will make me embrace the cross. It will make me run to the glorious gospel.

Ten blogs I look forward to the most

1. 22 Words

2. Ten Digit Lumber

3. Never Hoot Alone

4. Purgatorio

5. Fighter Verses

6. Desiring God

7. The Pipers

8. The Big Picture

9. Jumble Thrift Shop

10. Between Two Worlds

These are not necessarily in order, but these are the blogs that I look forward to reading. What are some of your favorites?

*update: My apologies to JTS for screwing up and calling them Jumbo Thrift Shop. I’m not sure what I was thinking. I bet you don’t even believe me that I enjoy the blog because I can’t even get their name right!

He is risen!

Mike Tong:

This was a post I wrote for Desiring God on March 3, 2009)

Each spring, we remember an event more ground-shaking than any other event in human history. We remember the incredible fulfillment of one man’s claim:

I lay down my life…. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. (John 10:17-18)

On Easter morning, Jesus did just that. Having laid down his life for his sheep, he took it back up. No ambulance, no doctors, no medicine.

Who is like our great Christ? Who has dared to claim what he claimed? Who could dare to do what he has already done—and for our great good!

I Hate That Music!

Bob Kauflin:

I’ve been musing recently about how we express our musical opinions. Why do we feel so strongly about songs, bands, and styles? And why do we draw conclusions so quickly? Someone plays a new song or band for us and we have an immediate response:

Nope. Don’t like it.

That stinks.

I can’t stand that kind of music.

You like that stuff?

Is there anything wrong with raving about the music/artists we love and being swift to trash those we despise?

If we’re Christians, yes. Let me suggest ten reasons why musical forbearance might be good for our souls.

Read the rest here.

(HT: Z)