Book Review: Everyday Talk

I just recently read Everyday Talk by John A. Younts, published by Shepherd Press. John (Jay) Younts is the author of What About War?, In Touch with Paul Stewardship Series. An elder in the Associate Reformed Presbyterian (ARP) Church, John has taught on and studied issues related to biblical child rearing for over thirty years. John is a frequent speaker for parenting conferences, church seminars for parents, and youth meetings. He has been interviewed on radio stations around the country. He and his wife Ruth have five grown children and reside in South Carolina (I got this information from his website)

Everyday Talk: Talking Freely and Naturally About God with Your Children is basically a guidebook to speaking to and in front of your children in a way that glorifies God and blesses children. The purpose of the book is to encourage parents to talk about God in our everyday talk in accordance with Deuteronomy 6. He defines everyday talk as follows: “talk that happens in the unplanned moments. It happens in casual, unguarded moments. It happens when you are distracted or irritated and would rather not be talking at all.” (11) This kind of talk happens no matter what. But God wants your everyday talk to be about Him! “God wants you to talk about His world. God wants you to talk about what He does and how people respond to Him. He wants you to do this when you’re at home, when you are out and about, when you relax. He wants you to talk about Him with love and awe every day. He wants you to talk freely and naturally to your children about His commands…” (12) Sounds a lot like Deuteronomy 6!

This book was very helpful for me as a father of four. Younts doesn’t just leave it at the theoretical level. He goes in to detail about how to talk about some very important topics, such as the gospel, obedience, preparing for the teen years, the world, sex, and music. He explains how to use the “mundane” topics like the weather to bring out truths about God and His world.

He gives principles for parents to follow and not just dos and don’ts. One specific area where I was challenged was the way in which the truth should be presented. He used Proverbs 1:8-9 to show that we should present the truth as we would a precious piece of jewelry to a child. He explained that if we bought precious jewelry for a child we would not ball it up and throw it at them. We would put it in a special box, wrap it and present it as something special. We should do the same with the truth. Our words should be pleasant. The word of God is precious and therefore we should present it to them as such. Our words are to be spoken in love. Younts was very strong in this area and his words were used by the Lord to help me think about the way I talk to my children about the truth.

There were also several good examples found in the book (both Biblical and otherwise) to help bring these truths into focus.

This book is certainly consistent with some other very good parenting books. Books like Shepherding a Child’s Heart (Tedd Tripp), Age of Opportunity (Paul Tripp), Heart of Anger (Lou Priolo), and Teach Them Diligently (Lou Priolo). I think the contribution lies in the broad range of the topics that he addresses. He doesn’t deal extensively with disciplining and other parenting issues because that was not his goal. His goal was to give parents a theology of God-centered speaking with practical application. If anyone were to ask me what two parenting books I would recommend if they were only going to read two, I would recommend Shepherding a Child’s Heart (first) and Everyday Talk (second) in that order. Shepherding a Child’s Heart lays the foundation and gives the big picture for goals and procedures at each phase of a child’s development. Everyday Talk delves in to some of the more specific areas and challenges.

Far from giving the impression that parents are to just talk, Younts also explains that we must be very intent and serious listeners before we will have anything that is helpful to say. In addition, our lives are own lives as parents are to reflect that we have been changed by the wonderful truths that we are seeking to impart to our children. This is nonnegotiable. I highly recommend this book to anyone with children, grandchildren, nephews, nieces, or anyone who knows children that need the truth. I think that covers just about everyone.

The Focus Conference 2008

Check out the website for this excellent youth conference coming up in February 2008. It is going to be a God-centered, cross-focused time of encouragement accompanied with excellent preaching and worship. The Focus Conference 2008 is being put on by my church.

The Encyclopedia of Theology

I love this! This is an outline adapted from Abraham Kuyper's Encyclopedia of Theology. It is basically the understanding of a well-rounded theological education. In which elements are we, in today's evangelical environment, weak? Strong? Thoughts about this outling?

I.EXEGETICAL
THEOLOGY
A.Books of the Bible-Isagogics
B.Text of the Bible
1.Biblical Philology
2.Textual Criticism
3.Hermeneutics
4.Exegesis
C.Contents of the Bible
1.Bib. Archaeology
2.Bib. History
3.Bib. Theology
--------------
Object: the Bible as such
Aim: biblical interpretation

II.HISTORICAL
THEOLOGY
A.Ecclesiastical or Church History
1.Chronological
2.Territorial
3.Denominational
B.Doctrinal History--History of Doctrines
--------------
Object: the church in historical manifestation
Aim: historical perspective

III.SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY
A.Apologetics
B.Dogmatics
1.Prolegomena
2.Revelation
3.God
4.Man
5.Christ
6.Holy Spirit
7.Salvation
8.Church
9.Last Things
C.Ethics
D.Polemics
--------------
Object: Christian
doctrine and dogma
Aim: systematic
construction

IV.PRACTICAL THEOLOGY
A.Homiletics
B.Liturgics
C.Poimenics
D.Catechetics
E.Church Order
F.Missions
--------------
Object: the Church as the agency for
propagating the Word
Aim: effective communication

The Lightlings: A Book Review

Publisher's Description: "In The Lightlings, Dr. R.C. Sproul weaves an allegorical tale that captures the essence of the biblical story of redemption. A race of tiny beings known as lightlings represent humanity as they pass through all the stages of the biblical drama—creation, fall, and redemption. In the end, children will understand why some people fear light more than darkness, but why they need never fear darkness again. Richly detailed illustrations by Justin Gerard will hold children’s interest, and discussion questions and Scripture references in the back will help parents guide children into the deeper meaning of the story."

RC Sproul has done it again. As he has done in other children's books like The King Without a Shadow and The Priest with Dirty Clothes, Dr. Sproul uses allegory to bring the beautiful truths of the gospel both down to the level of a child's understanding and up to a new level of profundity for all. Using the Biblical theme of darkness and light, this little children's book explains creation, the fall and its effects as well as the gospel and its reversing effects. I read this book to my three older children (7,4, and 3) and they all got it! They all understood that the Great King of Light was God, that the lightlings were Adam and Eve (and us by extension), and that the Son of the King of Light was Jesus. The questions at the end of the book are very helpful in making all of this clear to the children. The illustrations by Justin Gerard are excellent! One thing that is needed today is an understanding that the gospel is beautiful and that Christ is beautiful. Many people claim to be saved by the gospel but do not savor the beauty of the godhead in it. They merely want to be rescued by it, not to revel in it. This book is a a beutiful meditation on the redemption that we have in Christ. May God use this little book so that many will savor him more fully!

Waldron Continues on Millenium

Sam Waldron has posted several times on his response to MacArthur since the last time I mentioned it on the blog. Go here to see the posts.

Worry as Sin

A good friend of mine has posted an excellent series of blog entries on the subject of worry.

Ryle on Training up Children

I was looking online today at monergism and found an online book by Ryle on the duties of parents. In this book, he gives several hints for training your children. I felt chastened when I read hint #2:

"2. Train up your child with all tenderness, affection, and patience.

I do not mean that you are to spoil him, but I do mean that you should let him see that you love him. Love should be the silver thread that runs through all your conduct. Kindness, gentleness, long-suffering, forbearance, patience, sympathy, a willingness to enter into childish troubles, a readiness to take part in childish joys, — these are the cords by which a child may be led most easily, — these are the clues you must follow if you would find the way to his heart. Few are to be found, even among grown-up people, who are not more easy to draw than to drive. There is that in all our minds which rises in arms against compulsion; we set up our backs and stiffen our necks at the very idea of a forced obedience. We are like young horses in the hand of a breaker: handle them kindly, and make much of them, and by and by you may guide them with thread; use them roughly and violently, and it will be many a month before you get the mastery of them at all."

How often I am rough and violent, attempting to drive my children (especially my son) to obedience rather than drawing them with the thread of love. How harsh and impatient I often am with them. Thank God for the cross...

Ligonier's Website

Ligonier Ministries has updated its website. Check it out here.

Preaching the Cross

As you probably already know, the material from the Together for the Gospel conference in 2006 is now in book form. What a conference... What a gospel.

Book Review: The Expository Genius of John Calvin

I just finished reading The Expository Genius of John Calvin by Steven J. Lawson, published by Reformation Trust. It is a subseries of the larger Long Line of Godly Men Series, a five-volume series where Lawson surveys men throughout history (from 1400 BC to present) who have taught and defended the doctrines of grace. This book on John Calvin is part of the "Long Line" Profiles where Lawson will "focus in on the ways in which these [especially gifted] men discovered, honed, and empoyed their gifts, affording insights for God's servants today." Other such profiles in the future will include Luther, Whitefield, Edwards, Suprgeon, and more! This 142-page book is not intended to be a full blown biography of Calvin. Rather, Lawson delves into thirty-two distinctives of his pulpit ministry.

Are you a Calvinist? What an offensive question. What an offensive term. I have been told that you should not use that term because it is very offensive and that it scares people. It gives the impression that you claim allegiance to a man. You are of Calvin. There are many negative things that this man's name has provoked throughout history. Many picture a mean, crusty theologian who like systems more than scripture. As we see in this book, nothing could be farther from the truth. Rather, we see that Calvin's "system" came from years and years of verse by verse exposition of the scriptures. Like Luther before him, his system came from scripture - not the other way around.

Much like Piper's book on Edwards that I read a few years ago, I found this book to be very helpful in that it gave concrete examples of how to preach and different elements to included in sermons without exalting homoletics as the key to Biblical preaching. Biblical preaching must be Biblical. In other words, the meaning of the text is the text. These examples came mostly (if not exclusively) from his sermons on Micah and Galatians. I was again struck with the importance of being God-centered and blood earnest in the ministry. Again, much like when I read the Supremacy of God in Preaching (which surveyed Edwards) it amazed me that these men were not what many would consider outstanding speakers. They weren't the best orators of their respective days. But they were very serious about the task of preaching and they were hyper-theocentric (my word). This gave their words a weight which many today (and apperenty in their day) don't have. We are all too often lighthearted in the assembly. Listen to Lawson on this:

"The preacher must speak, Calvin said, "in a way that shows he is not pretending." This calvin did-he was blood-earnest in his preaching. Listen to him exhort his congregation:

Moreover, let us learn that God does not intend there to be churches as places for people to make merry and laugh in, as if comedy were being acted here. But there must be majesty in His Word, by which we may be moved and affected."

This book accomplishes what it sets out to accomplish, namely, to inspire men and show men how to "return to preaching that is Word-driven, God-exalting, Christ-centered, and Spirit-empowered." Lawson says the need of the day is this: "we need Calvins again to stand in pulpits and boldly proclaim the Word of God." You ask me if I am a Calvinist, I say I am not nearly as much of a Calvinist as I want to be.

The Sabbath

Well, I asked a question about the Sabbath or Lord's Day a couple/few weeks ago. Richard Barcellos at MCTS is now doing a series of posts about the Sabbath. I am hoping that it will answer some of the many questions I have about this doctrine.

Waldron's Blog Book

Waldron has posted a few more times on his blog book in response to MacArthur. Here is the latest one.

End Times Debate Continued

Sam Waldron continues his response to MacArthur here.

George Whitfield's Biography

I want this book and this book! Read Tim Challies review of them here. If any of you are feeling generous, you would make me a very happy Vinnie if you bought on of them for me. Father's Day is coming up, as well as the 4th of July, my birthday and then Christmas. Rachel...

Help with the Sabbath (or the Lord's Day)

I am confused about this Christian Sabbath thing. My thing is this (a few things): I think that it is pretty clear that the Ten Commandments are binding for Christians because of the way that the new testament uses them and assumes that they are binding on Christians. However, it seems that there is little or no evidence that the Lord's day is to be practiced as a sabbath. Yet, Christians are the new and true Israel and it is true that the New Testament requires that Christians meet on the first day of the week for corporate worship. Further, the law of God (which I believe is the ten commandments) is written on our hearts. I believe this because of Jeremiah 31:31-34 and passages like 2 Corinthians 3 (where the contrast is between the law being written on tablets of stone and on tablets of human hearts). The only thing that was written on tablets of stone by God was the ten commandments, not any other laws. The other laws under the Mosaic administration were written down by Moses. Further, Paul talks about the doers of the law being justified in Romans 2. The law, I believe, is talking about the ten commandments (Romans 2:21-23). Therefore, it must be biding on the Christian as a rule of life (the historic third use of the law as set out by Calvin). What confuses me most about this issue is that Mohler, Luther, Calvin, and Gill (just to name a few) don't believe in a Christian Sabbath. Rather, they believe in the observance of the Lord's day with the emphasis on the positive importance of the corporate gather together in worship, fellowship, and praying with God's people. The emphasis is not on resting. Therefore, they would not call it a Christian Sabbath. What makes this more confusing is that Mohler says it is emphatically not a Christian Sabbath and then he quotes the Baptist Faith and Message (BFM), which says this:
The first day of the week is the Lord's Day. It is a Christian institution for regular observance. It commemorates the resurrection of Christ from the dead and should be employed in exercises of worship and spiritual devotion, both public and private, and by refraining from worldly amusements, and resting from secular employments, work of necessity and mercy only being excepted.

Mohler actually quoted this and still says that it is not a Christian Sabbath! I am confused. I'm even more confused because the BFM came from New Hampshire Confession which came from the 1689, which are both Sabbatarian. The New Hampshire Confession basically says the same thing, except the title is "The Christian Sabbath" instead of "The Lord's Day". It is almost like they want it to be called the Lord's Day but observed as a Sabbath...

Further, I have come to embrace the regulative principle of the Church, which is the opposite of the Anglican normative principle. The Anglicans say that, with regards to worship, anything that is commanded and anything that is not expressly forbidden is okay for the church to do in the activities of worship. The puritan regulative principle says that, for corporate worship, the tasks of the church, and the government of the church, only that which is either commanded or that which has Biblical precedence is true worship. Because it is God's house (or temple) He has the right to say what is and is not acceptable (1 Timothy 3:15). It is not the same as how I would do family worship or how I make many of the personal decisions I make. In our every day life we take the principles that we learn in God's word and apply them in the ways that we think best. Every situation is not addressed in scripture, but we can take the principles in God's word and apply them to those situations. Not so in the way that God's church is run because it is his place of special presence (Matthew 18:20). Much like God set out the specification of His temple in the OT, He has the right to determine how church is to be done. You get the point.

What does this have to do with the Sabbath? Well, if God is going to specify the way that worship is to be done, then would he not specify the day of worship?

Another thing I am wrestling with on this is the fact that the Bible does not trace the origins of the Sabbath back to the Mosaic Covenant but back to creation. Exodus 20 8 "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 "Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. 11 "For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and made it holy. Men like John Owen and Vos have argued that the Sabbath was a creation ordinance and, therefore, does not go away with the comng of the new covenant. According to them it is binding on all generations because it is part of the law written on the hearts (conscience) of all men from birth as Romans 1 and 2 set out.

Any help here? I am confused and need the help of my theologically-minded brothers.

Excellent Counseling Article!

Check out this great article about counseling (which has implications for the entire Christian life) here. A little controversial...

New Affections!

I got this excellent Thomas Chalmers quote from Piper's book, Future Grace:

"There are two ways in which a practical moralist may attempt to displace from the human heart its love of the world-either by a demonstration of the world's vanity, so that the heart shall be prevailed upon simply to withdraw its regards from an object that is not worthy it; or, by setting forth another object, even God, as more worthy of its attachment, so that the heart shall be prevailed upon not to resign an old affection, which shall have nothing to succeed it, but to exchange an old affection for a new one. My purpose it to show that from the constitution of our nature, the former method is altogether incompetent and ineffectual, and that the latter method will alone suffice for the rescue and recovery of the heart from the wrong affection that domineers over it."

So let us preach and counsel, yes, against sin and wickedness but also for the beauty and excellence of God and all the he is for us in Christ. Let us emphasize the greatness of God over the futility of the world.

Waldron Posts Chapter 4!

Finally, Sam Waldron has posted Chapter 4 in his blog book in response to MacArthur's sermon at the Shepherd's Conference here.

Books I have Read

First I must qualify that I have not read ALL of each of these books. In other words, I have chosen to list the books that I have read either all the way through or most of the way through (I have a bad habit of starting new books before I finish the ones I am already reading). These are only the ones I can think of off the top of my head without giving it much thought:

Piper
Desiring God
When I Don't Desire God
God's Passion for His Glory
The Hidden Smile of God
Future Grace
Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ
Legacy of Sovereign Joy
Don't Waste Your Life
Counted Righteous in Christ
The Supremacy of God in Preaching
God is the Gospel
The Innkeeper
A Hunger For God

Sam Waldron (my professor at MCTS)
Reformed Baptist Manifesto
End Times Made Simple
In Defense of Parity
Biblical Baptism
To Be Continued?
Who Runs the Church
We Must Obey God

John MacArthur
The Gospel According to Jesus
The Murder of Jesus
Battle for the Beginning
Why One Way?
Fool's Gold
Successful Christian Parenting

Others
The Cross - Lloyd-Jones
The Cross Centered Life - Mahaney
Sex, Romance, and the Glory of God - Mahaney
God at Work - Veith
Mortification of Sin - Owen
The Doctrine of Repentance - Watson
The Mischief of Sin - Watson
Is God Really in Control - Bridges
Some of Systematic Theology - Grudem
An Eschatology for Laymen - Ladd
Religious Affections - Edwards
The Complete Husband - Priolo
Heart of Anger - Priolo
Shepherding a Child's Heart - Ted Tripp
Age of Opportunity - Paul Tripp
Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life - Whitney
The Church - Clowny
Chose by God - Sproul
Grace Unknown - Sproul
The Sovereignty of God - Pink
Spurgeon Versus Hyper-Calvinism
Tell the Truth - Metzger
Today's Gospel - Authentic of Synthetic - Chantry
The Gospel According to Dispensationalism - Kimbro

That's all I can think of right now...

Historical Theology

After some of Greg Stancil’s posts on historic premillenialism, I am leaning toward historic premill as my view on the end times. A big part of that has to do with the wide acceptance of it in the early church. It also occurred to me (again) that historical theology can be very helpful in developing our own theology. Of course, we don’t come to our conclusions based solely on church history. For that would be a return to Roman Catholicism. Exegesis is our primary epistemological source. But it is an unwise overreaction to Rome to ignore church history in formulating our own system of theology. This got me thinking about some other areas that I have been wondering about and led me again to contemplate the role that Ten Commandments are to have in the Christian life, particularly, the fourth Commandment regarding the Sabbath Day. I asked the question, “What did the early church think about the Sabbath Day and how did it affect their practice?”. You can see for yourself in this article by Philip Schaff.

Sale at Westminster Bookstore

The CCEF (Christian Counseling and Education Foundation) books are on sale at the Westminster bookstore right now at half price!

Historic Premil

My friend, Greg Stancil, is posting some blogs about historic premil and how it compares to other eschatological systems here.

Living the Christian life

Mark Redfern posts this great James McDonald quote here.

Sam Waldron Continues His Response

Here, here and here, Waldron continues his response to MacArthur.

The Church is Very Important

In studying for my seminary class, it has struck me how little value and importance is placed upon the church (especially in its local expression) in today's evangelicalism. This doesn't quite square up with scripture pasages such as 1 Timothy 3:15:

"but in case I am delayed, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth."

-The church is the household of God
-The church is the church of the living God
-The church is the pillar and support of the truth

Let us treat it as such!

Sam Waldron Responds to MacArthur

Here is a link to the first of several posts in response to John MacArthur's opening address at the 2007 Shepherd's Conference.

The New Covenant and Boasting in the Cross - 2

And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood. (Luke 22:20)

What is the New Covenant?

“The phrase “New Covenant” is used explicitly seven times in the New Testament. There are at least five more times in which clear allusions to it occur. This, however, does not adequately reveal the all-importance of the New Covenant in the Bible. The last 27 books of our Bibles are called the New Testament. This phrase is an alternate translation of the New Covenant. In one sense, the New Testament is the New Covenant. That is to say, the Scriptures of the New Testament are the scriptures of the New Covenant, just as the scriptures of the Old Testament are the scriptures of the Old Covenant. This in no way takes the Old Testament out of the hands of Christians. Just as the Old Testament has to do with the establishment and implications of the Old Covenant, so the New Testament has to do with the establishment and implications of the New Covenant.”

Here we see that Christ is linking His death with the New Covenant as He is instituting one of the two sacraments of the church - the Lord’s supper. I said all that to say this. The New Covenant is very important for Christians to understand and appreciate. The whole New Testament , in a sense, has to do with the New Covenant. The most important event in the history of the world, Christ’s shedding of His blood on the cross is linked to the New Covenant. This is very important to grasp. So let’s get into it. What is the New Covenant?

-The New Covenant is the fulfillment of promises made in the Old Testament – Jeremiah 31:31-34; 32:40; Ezekiel 36:26-27; Isaiah 54:10; 55:3; 59:21; 61:8; Hosea 2:18-23; Malachi 3:1-4

-It is contrasted with the Old Covenant – Jeremiah 31:32; Exodus 19:1-8; Exodus 24:6-8

The Old Covenant here, then, is the Mosaic Covenant with all the institutions of worship annexed to it (Hebrews 9:1-3). This covenant is going to be different than the Mosaic Covenant.

We will talk more about the specific provisions of the new covenant next time as well as how the New and Old Covenants are different. This week I want to move on to Christ’s next phrase in Luke 22:20, “in my blood.” This is the new covenant in my blood. What does He mean here?

The New Covenant and Boasting in the Cross

And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood. (Luke 22:20)

How much do you value the blood of Christ? Do you ever just stop in the middle of your day and say, “Thank you Lord, for the blood of Christ”? I don’t typically do that. It is my conviction that one of the reasons why I don’t is because I don’t understand the value of the cross of Christ and how much his shed blood truly accomplished for me. One of the things I don’t think many Christians understand is how the blood of Christ and the new covenant relate. This passage connects these two things - the blood of Christ and the new covenant. What I would like to do in the next few posts is just expound upon Christ’s phrase here in the latter part of this verse, “the new covenant in My blood”. This verse that we read over so often and so quickly is full of meaning and implications for the Christian life. I would like concentrate on what those meanings and implications are for our lives. I think this will help us appreciate the blood of Christ more fully. It is important to appreciate the blood of Christ because that is what makes us more Christlike and less worldly. “But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. (Galatians 6:14)