Archives for May 2009

If there has ever been a lime when Christians need to be prepared to deal with bioethical issues, the lime is now. There are so many complex conflict” and controversies in this area that Christians need to be equipped to know how to think biblically, clearly, and rationally about; and the time to do that is not when issues arise. I am referring to things like abortion, euthanasia, stem cell research, assisted reproduction, and assisted suicide. At a time when the entire medical science realm has created many different choices about many different things, the average Christian is not equipped or prepared to think through their ramifications.

A couple of examples will illustrate my point and they are dealt with in this important little book on bioethics. Bioethics is written by Ruth Groenhout, a professor who teaches philosophy, philosophical anthropology, health care ethics, and other philosophy courses at Calvin College. She has also written numerous articles on health care ethics in a number of publications. One example is how do we define life and death? That seems to be a straight forward question; however, with medical science’s ability to “prolong” what we might call life and with other options now at their disposal, we have to ask what is morally acceptable from a Christian perspective and what is there that tends to make medical science idolatrous. There are disagreements over the answer to such a question. When does life end and who makes that decision? When does DPA, durable power of attorney, and DNR, do not resuscitate, come into play? The DPA for example takes precedent over any other. And who has the right to say, do not resuscitate? How do you decide between two people who gets the organ that each needs to live? Or what about a husband and father of three facing a tough decision of whether to donate his matching kidney to his son who is on dialysis?

Groenhout does not dodge the hard questions. Is hospice care the same as murder? When is it right or wrong to plug in a life support system? However, she encourages Christians first of all to have a clearly biblical view of God and man. What does it mean that man is the image of God and what are some of the implications that concept offers for bioethical issues? One of the things I appreciated about Groenhout’s honesty in raising these issues is that we need to know how to think about these things before we are under the pressure of the crisis of the moment. I like her concept of a principled based reasoning, especially from a biblically clear position. I was also intrigued by the idea that while the DPA does take precedent over any other, and while often without it the immediate family has the responsibility for making those decisions, when a person is a part of the Christian community, what role does the extended body play in that process? Is it necessary for people to face those situations in isolation and loneliness?

The book reminds us that when we speak of man being in the image of God, it not only applies to his healthy state but his sick one as well. Christians should read and study this book. The church should be challenged to think about its role as it is called to embody the love and grace of God to its members.

I think the real challenge Bioethics brings to us is how to keep medical science in a servant’s role and not in an idolatrous role. There are times when it is absolutely wrong to mechanically keep a person alive, and we need to know how to do principle based reasoning at such a moment. A question posed by the author and well worth our discussion and consideration is, what is good death? What is different about that from death that is not good?

We must not run from those issues but neither should we be too consumed with them. A Christian perspective based on biblical reasoning and thinking will prove to be a tremendous asset when one is called to face some of these issues and their concomitant decisions.

I must confess that I did not want to read another book on leadership when I received this book. Since training leaders has been a big part of my ministry, I have read dozens and dozens of books on leadership, and even did my dissertation on the topic. There are some really good books and some not so good books on the topic; some written from a distinctly Christian position and some not necessarily from that point.

However. because of my appreciation for Harry Reeder, I read The Leadership Dynamic and immediately concluded that this book needs to be the basic book for Leadership 101, 102, and 103. Reeder is right on the mark when he contends that healthy churches must have healthy leaders. Reeder’s desire is for leaders who know their mission, who are unalterably committed to achieving it by God’s grace, who take care of their people, and who intentionally produce leaders. I react positively to those things and also to the way the book connects training leaders with discipleship. I have the same reaction when I read that leaders must be grace-driven with a disciplined lifestyle.

Reeder’s 3-D Leadership paradigm of define, develop and deploy gives a good context for all the specifics in the book. Because one of the main points in the book is to train and disciple leaders and potential leaders, this book will be a valuable tool for a pastor to have and use in discipling church leaders. My recommendation is to read it and use it in the process.

As I was reading the book, I also gleaned another entitled When Leadership and Discipleship Collide, by Bill Hybels. Hybels is right; there are times when various approaches to leadership collide. Do we use the American business model, or a strictly biblical model, or what? Reeder gives an excellent balance that incorporates the biblical principles of leadership with good, common sense application. Again my reaction and appreciation for this book centers around its concept that leadership is connected to making kingdom disciples, for that is what “world-shaking leaders look like,” where they come from, and what they would do.

PCA teaching elder Dr. Ron Gleason has written an outstanding book on a very difficult topic: capital punishment I was initially asked to read and comment on the manuscript. Here’s what I said, “Regardless of one’s own position on the controversial issue of capital punishment, Dr. Gleason clearly and effectively gives readers the resources to work through this topic and equips them to discuss it with others. This powerful book will make a significant contribution to this topic. I recommend it for careful reading, study, and discussion.”

The book starts out the introduction with a challenge. It asks if you could give coherent reasons for your position on the issue of capital punishment. The author then explains that his aim is to challenge the reader “to develop your mind and your understanding about this important and controversial issue so that you are equipped to explain capital punishment from a moral historical and biblical perspective.” I would say the book accomplishes its aim.

Though you will know exactly where the book stands on the issue, you will find it to be a fair and balanced presentation that actually does help you think through and understand the issue more clearly. Gleason further says that his intention is to explain how Christians can be pro-life and pro-death penalty at the same time. I believe he also fairly accomplishes that aim.

The book addresses this topic from a historical and biblical perspective, and I appreciated Gleason’s use of both the Old Testament and the New Testament in the treatment. You will certainly appreciate and benefit from the entire book, but especially chapter seven, “Objections from Christians Who Oppose the Death Penalty.” This is another one of those topics, though full of emotion, where it would serve us well to have conclusions based on sound biblical theology.

There is no doubt that the Bible teaches capital punishment. While we cannot separate our emotions from any part of us, because the Bible is God’s revealed will, seeing and understanding His will enables us to better see capital punishment. You will also want to read the notes, endnotes, and bibliography of the book, though you will find The Death Penalty on Trial a good source in itself. As you read, however, do not look for simplistic answers to this serious topic. Studying this book in a group could be a worthwhile exercise.

While we mentioned the biography of Calvin by Herman Selderhuis in the lead article, here we have a much abbreviated but nonetheless effective smaller summary of the life of John Calvin. This small book would be a good introduction or review of the person and work of the most influential Reformer of the sixteenth century. In his popular style of writing, Piper focuses on what he sees as the central theme in the life and ministry of Calvin, the supremacy and majesty of God. He frequently refers to Calvin’s passion for this theme.

I was struck with several comments in the foreword written by Gerald Bray, a professor at Beeson Divinity school in Birmingham, Alabama. “In this world, Calvin’s voice needs to be heard again. God will not be mocked, and in the end we shall discover that He is our sovereign Lord. what will He say to you on the day of judgment?” Bray referred to Calvin as the greatest, but among the most controversial, of Christian leaders. As was pointed out in the opening article in this edition of Equip to Disciple, more people know about Calvin than know him. They have not read his writings, sermons, or letters. He has been a caricature in modern times.

While I might differ with Bray’s assessment that Calvin was not the original thinker as was Luther or Erasmus, I agree that he was the most influential. Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion is one of the best systematic writings on biblically Reformed theology in print. untainted by the later Enlightenment thinking, like so many after him, reading the Institutes is simply like reading the Bible in systematic fashion.

Piper is right when he says that Calvin would prefer us begin with God rather than him because nothing was more important to Calvin than God’s supremacy over all things. Piper also underscores Calvin’s passion for the word. Though he faced many trials, sicknesses, and other tribulations in the loss of family members, his life and his ministry were characterized simply by expository teaching and preaching of the word. As an example, Calvin began a series on the book of Acts on August 25, 1549 and ended it in March 1554. He preached through book after book of the Bible; and Piper agrees with B.B. Warfifield, “no man ever had a profounder sense of God than he.”

Calvin is often thought of as a stern, hard, emotionless man, which could not be farther from the truth. He wrote to a friend at the time of his wife Idelette’s death, “I have been bereaved of the best companion of my life, of one who, had it been so ordained, would have willingly shared not only my poverty but even of my death… she was a faithful helper in my ministry.”

Pastors, teachers, and Christians in general would enjoy and benefit from reading this little abbreviated biography and hopefully desire to read a more extensive version, such as the others mentioned in this edition.

I’ve come to a conclusion: I’ll never plumb the depths of the parable Jesus told about a prodigal son. Reading through Mark McMinn’s Why Sin Matters first piqued my curiosity to take another look at the familiar parable that appears in Luke’s gospel. McMinn related how Rembrandt’s painting of The Prodigal haunted him, enticing him to meditate on the parable more. so last fall, I began reading Luke 15 over and over. I was hooked. I had to really understand the parable for myself. Then I read Henri Nouwen’s The Return of the Prodigal Son and marveled again, this time at the parable’s many facets highlighted by Nouwen. Last spring, I preached through the parable phrase by phrase and word by word for three months and thought I had really covered the parable. Then I read The Prodigal God by Timothy Keller and found yet greater depth to this marvelous parable.

Keller adds to our understanding of this parable in his analysis of the elder son, who represents the self-righteous Pharisees to whom Jesus told this parable. Keller exposes how the elder son desired the same thing as the younger son, his father’s possessions but not his father. Both brothers resented their father. Both were equally lost.

Keller challenges his readers to examine whether they have “an elder-brother” spirit also. Do they believe they deserve better than what God gives them? Do they possess a bitter spirit? Do they feel superior because of their good works? Do they live joyless, slavish lives of fear and uncertainty? Are their prayer lives anemic? Keller contends that the church is full of elder-brother types.

Perhaps Keller’s greatest contribution comes when he suggests that Jesus’ listeners would have been aware of a glaring omission in His parable. The cultural context (as well as the biblical context) of the story anticipates a true elder brother who would have left his father and the comforts of home to search for his lost younger brother. He would have pursued him until he found him, and then he would have brought him home to their father with much rejoicing. Keller insightfully states, “By putting a flawed elder brother in the story, Jesus is inviting us to imagine and yearn for a true one.” And who else could be our wonderful, true elder brother except Jesus?

If these pearls of wisdom are not sufficient to warrant picking up The Prodigal God, Keller explores the meaning of coming home and our longing for home, the very place the Prodigal yearned for after he came to his senses. If the parable of the Prodigal continues to haunt and beckon you, as it has me, then you must read Keller’s short but insight-packed book. You will come away convicted, but you will also come away understanding more about the depth of gospel love and grace. You will come away loving Jesus even more as your true elder brother who was committed to finding you and bringing you back home to the Father.