Battling Unbelief: Pride

It’s been a good week: People have complimented my recent sermon, which makes me feel talented. I was accepted into a good seminary, which makes me feel smart. My wife is about to have a baby, which makes me feel like a stud. And both my fantasy football teams won, which makes me feel like a good coach. I’m feeling good about myself. That is, until I read John Piper’s Battling Unbelief, which makes me feel like maybe I’m not even a Christian.

Battling Unbelief: Anxiety

I traveled to Jamaica this past July, a trip which involved flying in a plane. Anyone who knows me well knows that I hate flying for a number of reasons. Needless to say, I experience a lot of anxiety leading up to the flight and, especially, on the flight itself. After the emotions of the flight wear off, I usually laugh at this anxiety, but John Piper’s Battling Unbelief has exposed it for what it really is: the sin of unbelief.

Dads: Don’t Make Your Kids Angry

Dads, There are two emotions you want to avoid developing in your children:
Anger & Discouragement

Ephesians 6:4 Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. (NIV)

Colossians 3:21 Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged. (NIV)

It’s important that we understand the context for these two instructions to Fathers. It’s all about the family, and Paul has just addressed the biblical roles of the husband and the wife: husbands are to be servant leaders and wives are to be submissive supporters.

The Goal of Parenting

Disappointed but not Surprised

Two Miss Teen USA candidates made internet fame this month on YouTube when they were asked the final question. One of the finalists was ridiculed for her nervous bumbling as she answered the big question. It didn’t make any sense at all. I felt bad for her, but her answer was not the one that disappointed me. The other contestant was asked about the biggest risk she had ever taken in life.

Her answer to the biggest risk in life question?

Battling Unbelief

This post begins a series of posts on John Piper’s excellent new book, Battling Unbelief: Defeating Sin with Superior Pleasure. The book itself is a shortened version of Piper’s The Purifying Power of Living by Faith in Future Grace, but it contains enough meat and practical application to satisfy us all. What will be provided here is just a brief summary of Piper’s message, which I wholeheartedly accept. For those desiring more (no Piper pun intended), skip the summary and buy the book!

What is Triangular Christianity? (4)

The third aspect of biblical Christianity - the third side of the triangle - is our relationship with one another. The significance of this third side is outlined well in Scot McKnight’s The Jesus Creed. He explains this as a development above and beyond traditional Judaism:

One can say, then, that the creed of Judaism is this: Love God by living the Torah…But Jesus revises the Shema in two ways: loving others is added to loving God, and loving God is understood as following Jesus.” (7, 11)

Therefore, the Jesus Creed - as found in Matthew 22:37-40 - elevates the significance of loving others, not only as a reflection of our love for God, but as a critical component of our love for God. Several passages in 1 John make this abundantly clear:

What is Triangular Christianity? (3)

If Triangular Christianity is the essence of Biblical Christianity, it is the second side of the Triangle - your relationship with God - that most often gets overlooked.

The first side of the triangle - my relationship with God - is pretty simple. In fact, this is something that most American Christians have absolutely no problem understanding and nurturing. It is also easy to understand the third side of the triangle - our relationship to one another. I think the reason these two are so easy to understand is because they both involve “me”! But what about the side that has nothing to do with me? Am I to be concerned with your relationship with God? Absolutely.

What is Triangular Christianity? (2)

Triangular Christianity suggests that the essence of Biblical Christianity revolves around three equally important relationships: 1) my relationship with God, 2) your relationship with God, and 3) our relationship with one another. It is this first relationship - my relationship with God - that has been overemphasized by many modern evangelicals and risks being underemphasized by emerging evangelicals.

What is Triangular Christianity? (1)

The phrase “Triangular Christianity” is an attempt to describe the essence of biblical Christianity as we understand it. This should not be read to imply that previous attempts at describing the essence of biblical Christianity have failed or that we have suddenly found the secret message of Jesus. In fact, it will be abundantly clear that we are dependent upon multitudes of others, most recently Scot McKnight and his excellent book The Jesus Creed. Triangular Christianity is simply a phrase that resonates with me and helps me understand Christianity. The phrase itself was taken from a brief description in Gary Burge’s commentary on 1 John in the NIV Application Commentary series.