Okay, here is a weird mix of thoughts for this installment of the Strangeland blog.  Last night I was pretty stoked to baptize my son Isaac, mentioning in the process how proud his mother and I were of him. And it struck me almost as soon as I said it that I would need to explain what that meant later on, in case he or anyone else listening got the wrong implication from those words. It just comes down to the sloppy way we sometimes use language... but when it comes to the gospel and our life in Christ, words are vitally important.

It would take too long a blog post, for me to write and you to read to explain what I was proud of, but a slightly shorter post can be written to take care of the more troubling matter of what I shouldn't, in deed couldn't, be proud of about my son's baptism - and perhaps how that reveals the distinct nature of our Christian faith and the gospel.

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During my recent time away I had the opportunity to hear some fantastic preaching at the Together for the Gospel (T4G) conference in Louisville, Kentucky.  Since my attention to this blog has been a little light during my time away I am going to share a summary of one very important session by Albert Mohler. There will be a link to the audio/video at the end of this post. 

Rev. Mohler presented the 7,000 present at the conference with a brilliant summary of eight ways that the church needs to guard against the gospel being adjusted, or modified. The changes to the gospel he described as "trajectories"; meaning that as culture shifts in certain directions it can push the central message of the gospel off its course, and start it on a new trajectory, that carried it farther and farther away from its central truth, until at some point it is no longer the gospel at all, but has become a false gospel, that must be rejected, corrected, and contended against with the real gospel.

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It may seem paradoxical but there is a tremendous value in focusing on our differences in order to  build our unity.  Often when people are looking to build unity they rush quickly to points of agreement, overlooking or minimizing differences, and never really exploring the significance of divergent values.  If we really want to build a unity that is strong, can literally withstand the test of time and the test of difficulties, we need to build a unity that is fully cognizant of the diversity and divergent within it. Without that awareness there will exist a hundred cracks and potential points of failure that we have never examined, fully explored, or understood.  The Apostle Paul recognized the strength of unity in diversity when he described the church in 1 Corinthians 12 as a body of many parts.

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Last Sunday I alluded to but did not go into detail of the Apostle Paul's use of general revelation and common grace in Athens. For those interested the passage I was referring to is Acts 17:22-28 where Paul succinctly makes use of both of these doctrines.  He draws their attention to the natural inclination of mankind to percieve God in v22-23.  He demonstrates the common grace of God (v.24-26) in not needing anything from man but providing life and everything to everyone.

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Close to the heart of every pastor and passionate lay theologian you will find, rightly, a love for the Word of God, and a corresponding opinion, dearly held, about what English translation of the Scripture is "best".  In fact, when I get together with other pastors and passionate theology types it is a recurring bit of fun to take good-natured shots at whatever translation one of the group might dare to defend if it doesn't carry the respected and credible pedigree of the King James, RSV, NKJV, NASB, ESV lineage.  "Translations" such as the NIV, CEV, NLT are generally disparaged and  paraphrases like the Message simply evoke slow, sad shakes of the head.  While it is all good fun among friends, the subject itself is clearly quite serious when applied to the church, new believers, discipleship, and authority of scripture.

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We will be covering verses 1-11 of chapter 2 in Philippians this Sunday, but for the sneak peek we only need to consider the first four.

¹ So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, ² complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. ³ Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. ⁴ Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.  

 Ready it again slowly, think about what Paul is asking of his beloved friends in Phillipi. He has just written several paragraphs encouraging them in their Christian walk, affirming the sanctification, the cleansing, the transformation that he is witnessing in their lives. And so he asks:

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By request, here is the big list of verses I went through on Sunday to demonstrate the gospel truths that Paul held with certainty, allowing him to speak with such confidence about his death in Philippians 1.

Philippians 1:19-26 (ESV)
Yes, and I will rejoice ¹⁹ for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, ²⁰ as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. ²¹ For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. ²² If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. ²³ I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. ²⁴ But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account.

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In our fourth look into Philippians chapter one we see that the Apostle Paul is able to make some amazing statements about his approaching death.

Philippians 1:21-24 (ESV)
21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. 23 I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. 24 But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account.

Paul was facing charges that carried the death penalty. He, among other things,  declared that Jesus Christ was Lord at a time when every Roman and Roman subject must declare Caesar Nero as Lord.  For this he was under house arrest, chained to a guard, 24/7 for two years waiting for a verdict in his case. He was fully aware that it may end with his death, and the possibility thrilled him!

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How deep is our bench? Sports teams that will win the championships are made up of more than just the starting lineup, the first line, the starting 5, or the offensive team. Every team that makes it to the end has bench depth, special teams, and role players. With a league leading $208,000,000 payroll and a 102 win season to go with it… the New York Yankees have about $90,000,000 worth of players sitting on the bench during any given game. 

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