My brief review of Goldsworthy's book Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture is published at the Edgren Fellowship website.  Read it here.

Here is a sample list of books I am currently reading:
The Writer's Journey


The Drama of Scripture


Neither Poverty Nor Riches


The Good of Affluence


The Carolina Way


As I finish these, and others I will write brief reviews.

In light of my recent post on James 2:14-26, I have begun to work on some theses regarding faith/deed/justification.  There is a danger, I suppose, in posting these theses prior to working all of them out, but I will begin with this list of five, and then when I add to them, I will up-date the list.  If you have any suggestions along the way are appreciated.

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1. Faith and works are organically related, and thus they should not be separated.  They are as organic as life and breath.
2. Though faith and works should not be separated, they are distinguishable.  This is shown in that faith precedes works.  Paul writes in Romans 1:5 regarding an obedience which comes from faith.  Works do not produce faith, but faith produces works. 
3. Where there is faith there will also be works (Romans 1:5).  If there are no works, then there is no faith.  James writes, “As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead” (James 1:26, NIV).
4. Works are not the basis of our justification, nor is faith the basis of our justification, on the basis of the grace of God were are declared righteous.  Paul writes, “being freely declared righteous by his grace through the redemption which is in Messiah Jesus” (Romans 3:24).  He also writes in Ephesians 2:8-9, “⁸ For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—⁹ not by works, so that no one can boast” (NIV).
5. The basis of our justification is God’s grace and it will be in keeping with our deeds.  Paul writes, [God] will render to everyone in keeping with his deeds (Romans 2:6).  James writes, “You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone” (James 2:24, NIV).  Jesus states, “For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned” (Matthew 12:37, NIV).

Know

In this section we see the most potent treatment of the concept we are calling ‘trust translated’.  James has already hinted at this concept in chapter 1 while calling for the doing of the word.  In that context James contrasted hearing with doing.  One should not simply hear the word, and be deceived into thinking that one is doing it as well.  Rather, one must hear it and do it.  It is the doer who is blessed by God.

            In this section James contrasts faith and deeds.  In the history of the Church this section has been difficult to understand, because James seems to be contradicting Paul regarding faith and works.  But this could not be further from the truth.  In fact, it is most likely that James wrote this before Paul wrote any of his letters, and rather than contradicting Paul, James is fleshing out to his people something similar to Jesus’ words in Matthew 12:36-37,

³⁶ But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken.  ³⁷ For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.

            James’ words are especially important for our culture, which by and large believes that ‘faith’ is a personal matter, and that it ought not have any influence on the rest of life.  This belief is the theology of demons.  James here is arguing that mere mental grasp or assent to biblical ideas is the theology of demons.  This type of faith is not saving faith.  If it were, then all demons would be saved for they believe there is one God.

            James forges a link between faith and deeds.  Faith and deeds are distinguishable, but not separable.  The one who simply has a mental assent (‘faith’) to God will not be justified by God in the last day.  This type of faith is worthless.  Unfortunately it is this type of faith which most Americans possess.  They believe that there is one God, but that belief is not translated into life.  Simply talking about God and saying one believes in God is not the type of faith that honors God. Those who have this type of faith are deceived, and will receive the punishment of demons.

            The faith that honors God is a faith that is translated into life.  It is a faith that produces coherence between belief and action.  It is this type of faith that brings about a declaration of righteousness for a repentant prostitute.  This type of faith lives.

 

Do

First, examine yourself.  Does your life reflect an allegiance to Jesus in all areas of your life?  If so, be of good cheer and persevere in this faith.  But if you simply see faith as something that can be boxed up and contained, only to be let out on Sunday morning, and it does not affect your speech, your marriage, your parenting, your working, your resting, your entertainment, your sporting, your loving, then be filled with dread, and repent, because your faith is not different from that of demons.

Second, use the connection between faith and deeds as a starting point for talking to others about Jesus.  In a non-offensive manner, show them how a belief in God should transform life.  Gently show the inconsistencies between their belief in God and their life, and then lead them to see the true faith, the faith accompanied by deeds.

Third, remember Jesus’ words, “If you love me, you will obey what I have commanded” (John 14:15, NIV).

Internetmonk writes,

I started to look around. Joyce Meyer's books were everywhere in Barnes and Noble. Two shelves. Two tables. Displays. New books at the front. Even at the check out, looking at me from a display behind the desk. This is weird. Rick Warren has convinced these bookstores that there is money to be made, and General Joyce is cranking out all kinds of titles that look great in B&N. So we've gone from a generic evangelical Baptist to an intimidating female word-faith life coach who flashes the bling-bling at every opportunity, and she's looking at me from every aisle like she wants to hit me.

This is creepy. While Meyer is theologically light years ahead of Joel Osteen, she's also a classic televangelist multi-mazillionaire scamming tons of people while she purports to be using the money responsibly. (Read the articles. Don't bark at me.) And she's taken over Barnes and Noble. I kept looking for her jet in the parking lot.

Now that Rick Warren has revealed the buckets of money to be made, the larger publishing industry will be pushing the Osteens and the Meyers to the top of the pile. Why? They know how to play the game. The titles. The packaging. The rehashed content. The multiple tie-ins to some big event at a stadium. General Joyce has the added bonus of being a cross between Dr. Laura and Lou Gossett, Jr in An Officer And A Gentleman. She's the pastor most Southern Baptists wish they had, even though their version of God won't allow her in the ministry.

With so few pastors helping their people sort through this mess, and with Christian television pumping Joyce Meyer into our homes 24/7, it's no wonder she's a hit with the "practical Bible teaching" crowd. That success will translate into books, and as fast as she can crank them out, title them and smile for the cover photo, they will be at a Wal-Mart near you. If you love God and your kids, you'll buy them all.

Read the whole piece.

http://www.internetmonk.com/archives/2005/05/019911.html

Acts29 has posted the sessions, lectures, and workshops of the 2005 church planter's bootcamp.  Get your ipods running!

http://www.acts29network.org/media/audio/bootcamp2005/feb2005.htm

Carson gave three lectures on this topic.  They are good.

http://fieryones.com/lectures/

This is a great little piece by a friend of mine regarding how to get your agenda accomplished in a post-modern culture.  A quick and thoughtful read.

Well, I just saw Star Wars III.  It was good.  Not huge, but good.  I hesitate to write too much about this movie for many reasons.  One, I have not processed the movie yet, so my comments may be a bit premature.  Two, I may give away a bit of the movie, and this would ruin the fun for some.  But then again if you do not know where the movie is going after seeing all the other episodes, then even if I do give away a bit of it, it will probably be so obvious so that you will miss it.  But I know my readers are not that dull.  Three, once my friend Scott at Nehring the Edge writes his review next week, everything which I say here will be very trivial.  Nonetheless, I drank a cup-and-a-half of Turkish coffee at some Mediterranean restaurant today, and the waiter promised me that I would be awake for three weeks.  So I am going to take full advantage of the caffeine high and write a few thoughts.

 

What I am pondering most about this movie is its lack of justice.  What I am primarily concerned with is the redemption of Anikan Skywalker.  Now unfortunately Lucas made Anikan easily deceived, so the move from the force to the dark side was an easy move.  But in Episode II Anikan slaughters a whole tribe of Sandmen because they tortured his mother and killed his mother.  Anikan knows that this is wrong, and he is resolved never to let someone he cares about die.  This is his repentance for the crime he committed.  We learn in Episode III that Anikan confessed it to the Chancellor (The Sith lord).  But there is no restitution, there is no justice for the crime.  The crime goes without punishment or forgiveness.

 

Well, in Episode III the crimes that Anikan commits by way of his transformation to Darth Vader and after he is named the apprentice to the Sith lord are horrible.  He is a murderer in the worst sense of the word.  Now fast forward to Episode VI, The Return of the Jedi.  How is the balance in the force achieved by the ‘chosen one’?  Because he has compassion on his son Luke, Darth Vader picks up the Emperor (the Sith lord), and throws him to his death, thus saving his son from the torture of the Emperor.  This deed displays the little remaining good in Vader, and in the closure of the film, Vader returns to Anikan, and Anikan takes his place in the place of immortality along with Yoda and Anikan’s former apprentice.

 

Now, this is where my question of justice comes in regarding the redemption of Anikan.  This transformation from Vader to Anikan begs the question, where is justice regarding all of the atrocious crimes that Anikan committed before and after becoming Vader?  Anikan took out vengeance on the Sandmen.  He wanted justice for their crimes.  But where is the justice for the Sandmen and all the others that Anikan and Vader murdered?  This is a serious flaw in the worldview that Lucas presents.  Justice is a theme in the movie, but the greatest injustice is that Anikan is given immortality without the absolving of guilt.  In fact Lucas’ worldview cannot stand, because he gives no answer for justice with regard to Vader.  Believing that people have good in them is not enough.  Something must be done to rectify the evil that ‘good’ people do.

 

I may have more in the future on this.  The Turkish delight, I mean Turkish coffee, is wearing off.

I have been doing some thinking and a little writing on James 2:1-13, and it has dawned on me that this section on James has a lot to say in regard to Affirmative Action.  James, because God is no respecter of persons, condemns all forms of preferential treatment based on economic status, race, or sex.  Consider again what he says,

James 2:1-13 My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don't show favoritism. ² Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. ³ If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, "Here's a good seat for you," but say to the poor man, "You stand there" or "Sit on the floor by my feet," ⁴ have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? ⁵ Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? ⁶ But you have insulted the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? ⁷ Are they not the ones who are slandering the noble name of him to whom you belong? ⁸ If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, "Love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing right. ⁹ But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. ¹⁰ For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. ¹¹ For he who said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not murder." If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker. ¹² Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, ¹³ because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!

Here are some thoughts I jotted down for a Word Interact.  I will publish the whole thing next week.  But until then, here is a glimpse of what I am seeing.

God is no respecter of persons.  He judges righteously not showing favoritism.  Elsewhere Paul writes,

            For God does not show favoritism (Romans 2:11).

            …and there is no favoritism with him [God] (Ephesians 6:9).

Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for his wrong, and there is no favoritism (Colossians 3:25).

 

Because God is no respecter of persons, those who call God ‘Father’ are not to be respecters of persons either.  Now, don’t misunderstand me here.  I am not saying that we should not show respect or honor to those whom it is due.  Showing honor or respect is a virtue.  We as Christians are to show honor to our parents (Ephesians 6:1-3).  We are to honor those who are in authority over us (Romans 13:1-7).  But James is not talking about this.  Rather, he is talking about showing preferential treatment to some and not to others.  James specifically uses the rich and the poor as an illustration of preferential treatment.  But the categories could be reversed and expanded.  For example, it is not simply showing preferential treatment to rich, which is wicked, it is showing any preferential treatment to anyone which is wicked.  All preferential treatment is condemned by James.  Why?  Because God does not show preferential treatment to anyone.  God saves from all classes, races, and sexes.  Why does he save from all tribes and tongues?  Because of his mercy; because he chooses to save.

What do you think?

I am greatly indebted to Goldsworthy’s books (The Goldsworthy Trilogy, According to Plan, and Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture).  Goldsworthy has helped me a great deal in understanding the structure of revelation and seeing the big picture of the Bible as God’s story climaxing in Jesus the King.  Because of this, I think Goldsworthy is a must read for all Christian preachers, and I recommend him to all Christians.

          With this said, I still think that Goldsworthy can be improved (as we all can), and I think one area regards God ruling his creation by the means of Man, male and female.  I may have missed something in Goldsworthy’s work, but I don’t think that he gives rightful place to God ruling his creation through Man.  Goldsworthy’s typical pattern for the Kingdom is

a)    God’s People

b)    In God’s Place

c)     Under God’s Rule (The Goldsworthy Trilogy, 54).

Now, while this is helpful I do not think it is dare I say biblical enough.  Why?  Because of the role of Man as the image of God.  In Genesis 1:26-28 it is written,

          ²⁶ Then God said, "Let us make man as our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."  ²⁷ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.    ²⁸ God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground" (Personal Translation).

 

What we have here is that because Man, male and female, is made to be the image of God after the likeness of God; he is to rule over the creation which God had made.  In other words, God is ruling his creation through the kingship of Man.  Some have called this the vicegerency of Man (See especially Dan McCartney’s Ecce Homo: The Coming of the Kingdom as the Restoration of Human Vicegerency, WTJ 56:1 [Spring 1994], 1-24).  Because of the vicegerency of Man I think we need to tweak Goldsworthy’s kingdom of God pattern to something like the following:

a)    God ruling

b)    In God’s place

c)     By his people

With these elements in place, I think there is a more biblically defined view of the kingdom of God.  McCartney summarizes this emphasis on vicegerency thusly,

…the “coming” of the kingdom of God that is expected in the OT involves a reinstatement of humanity to the proper position of vicegerent, exercising the reign of God on earth. This vicegerent reign is imminent, indeed is already here, in the preaching and actions of Jesus and the testimony of the Evangelists. It is already here, in even greater measure though not yet in its fullness, in the preaching of Paul and the other apostles, as they proclaim Christ’s exaltation and his receiving of dominion as the anointed king, God’s Son. It is also growing as the vicegerency of The Man is given to Christ’s elect ones, the saints of the Most High ( Dan 7:18 , 27 ), who are also anointed by the Holy One (1 John 2:20) who thus already reign with Christ in heavenly places (Eph 2:6 ). Finally, at “that day” the vicegerency of all who are in Christ will be fully realized, and the reign of God will be all in all (McCartney, Ecce, 24).