Monthly Archives: February 2016

DeYoung on Catechisms

Posted on by under Theology

Catechisms have been around for a long time. Maybe so long you’ve forgotten they are around.

Depending on your background you may have grown up in a church that regularly used a catechism, such as the Heidelberg, the Westminster, or even Martin Luther’s. Maybe its time to revive the use of catechisms.

Kevin DeYoung wrote a book on using the Heidelberg Catechism today, called ‘The Good News We Almost Forgot“.

In an interview at First Things, he gave four good reasons for why you should use a catechism:

  1. It’s an intuitive way to learn about the faith. There’s almost a conversational element to reading through a catechism.
  2. When we use old confessions and catechisms were [sic] help teach our people that their faith is an old faith, shared by millions over many centuries. We also help them realize that other Christians have asked the same questions.
  3. Catechisms are ready made documents for Sunday school, new members classes, or even the occasional sermon.
  4. Catechisms guard us against faddishness and chronological snobbery.

The Gospel Coalition has sponsored a hybrid of the great, classic Reformed catechisms that they have put into an app and more. My family has been using it at home, and it is formatted in such a way that the kids can learn a shorter colour-coded version of each Q&A, but in the same thought flow as the longer version for adults.

College students in my church are using it too.

Its called New City Catechism. Get it. Use it. Grow.

Anti-Christian Jabs Are Perfectly PC

Posted on by under World

Everyone might be walking on eggshells, but treading on Christians is still okay.

 

You can’t discuss the relationship of Islam to jihadists without being condemned as an Islamophobe. You can’t protest the dismantling of gender into meaninglessness without being called a homophobe.

 

But you can take shots at Christians pretty freely without any backlash.

 

Just like Denis Coderre did a while ago when he lumped Wild Rose leader Brian Jean in with “the same people who think the Flintstones is a documentary”.  That is an example of an anti-Christian jab taken for easy rhetorical gain.

 

Why is it anti-Christian you ask? Coderre didn’t mention Christianity at all.

 

What Coderre was referring to is the historic Christian church’s view that God created the universe making human beings oversee the earth with its plants and animals, even dinosaurs.

 

Now there is disagreement among Christians about how the book of Genesis relates to the various scientific theories about the origins of the universe. But historically, there has been large swaths of the church that interpreted the origins of the universe as a powerfully cosmic and supernatural event that produced the natural order of our world in the span of six days. Incidentally, the sixth day of Creation, according to the Bible, was when human beings were created in the image of God— male gender and female gender to be exact.

 

So Coderre’s ‘Flintstones’ comment is not about Albertans watching too much Cartoon Network. It’s about them being Christians, and therefore nutjobs. But when the Genesis order of things is being tossed as the NDP experiments with washrooms and the IOC with genderless sports, maybe Christians aren’t the only crazy ones.

 

Coderre is not alone. His anti-Christian comment has a pretty good pedigree in Canadian politics. Another mayor, Calgary’s Naheed Nenshi used it to shame former Alberta Premier Jim Prentice on legislation for Gay-Straight Alliances. Nenshi said that if a student would potentially have to go to a judge to get approval for his club, as the Conservative motion claimed, then it would be “the Scopes Monkey Trial of Alberta.”  

 

Now many people wouldn’t catch the reference. Who is Scopes and why was his monkey on trial?

 

What Nenshi was referring to was the watershed trial about the teaching of evolutionary theory in public schools. Nenshi’s fear of Albertans being viewed as ‘hillbillies’ could have come straight from H.L. Mencken who covered the Scopes trial with eloquent mockery of the Christian townsfolk in Dayton, Tennessee.

 

Albertans will remember the power of that pushback from Mayor Nenshi, as Premier Prentice backed away from the proposal from the Conservatives. More eggshell-walking for some and not others.

 

But remembering further back, an even more powerful jab was landed by the inimitable Warren Kinsella who famously produced a purple Barney dinosaur on Canada AM in order to mock Canadian Alliance leader, Stockwell Day’s Christian beliefs about Creation.

 

Now as a Christian, I understand all this and expect it. Mocking Christians has been a cherished pastime going back to the Romans and the famous Alexamenos Graffito — a Charlie Hebdo-like cartoon showing Jesus with a donkey head, captioned, “Alexamenos worships his God”. Yet like Jesus said, “Blessed are you when others revile you…on my account”

 

So Mayor Coderre’s comments simply illustrate that crazy Christians can be the easiest punching bags.

 

But in a world of out of control hypersensitivity maybe Jesus and his crazy followers will start to make sense.

 

Why You Should Attend the Calvary Grace Conference

Posted on by under Preaching, Theology
One of the things that happens when you do something for a while is that you start to de-prioritize it. When life is busy, the things that used to be special become commonplace. As the old saying goes, ‘familiarity breeds contempt’.
 

Same Old, Same Old

 
That can happen at church very easily. The same preaching. The same singing. The same arrangement of people in the pews. What was special and precious becomes common and even forgettable. Same old, same old.
 

Your First Love

Now we know that the church is not a social club, so our enjoyment and prioritizing of the church is rooted in something much more important—our love for Jesus. If we lose our ‘first love’ (Rev 2.4), then we will certainly lose our love for the church. But as we grow in our love for Jesus, we will love what he loves— the congregation of smelly, stubborn sheep( cf. John 10.11).
 

Conferences as Intense Spiritual Opportunities

 
The same is even true for specific things like conferences. A conference is an opportunity to have intensive focus on God’s word and his ways in fellowship with other people. A conference can provide a special season of growing in the Lord. This is the reason that I have wanted Calvary Grace to host a conference. It adds an annual time of intense spiritual opportunity for spiritual growth.
 

Conferences as Services to the Church

 
But there is also another reason. Conferences give a host church the opportunity to minister to other Christians (and even non-Christians) who might not enjoy very many spiritual growth opportunities. It is a chance to meet other brothers and sisters in Christ. And it is a way to stoke each others’ spiritual fires through mutual listening, sharing and serving.
 

The Powerful Relevance of Holiness

 
Maybe you’re thinking that, ‘I’ve heard all of these speakers before. There’s nobody new’. Well that’s true. But the topic of Holiness is so critical for our generation, that the content of the messages will certainly be powerfully relevant to your Christian life. Don’t let familiarity lead to contempt. Rather let prayer lead to expectancy.
 

Please pray for this weekend’s conference.

 

Pray for the speakers: Amanda, Christel, Jeff, Paul, Terry, Gavin and myself.
 
Pray for the volunteers in childcare, greeting, sound, setup, book table and more.
 
Pray for the people who will attend; who may not get to hear good teaching on a regular basis, who are starving, looking to be fed.
 
Pray for our Holy God to be glorified in his Triune majesty.
 
Finally, support the Calvary Grace Conference with your presence.
 
Who knows how God will use you this weekend
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