Desiring God Conference

Briefly stated, this past weekend was great. Much enjoyed time with friends and much truth spoken. For those who didn't attend, I'll briefly sum up my thoughts on the conference. But, they are quite inadequate, so I highly recommend going straight to the sources. Pay particular attention to Piper (Joy), Keller (Gospel), Bauchem (Truth), Driscoll (Church), and the conversation with the pastors. You won't be disappointed.

The weekend was all about the supremacy of Christ as we live in our postmodern world. There is much thought going on in our world today, most importantly in the church, that is trying to downplay doctrine and theology and concentrate more on friendly relationships. Our postmodern worldview that we live in constantly feeds us the lie that Truth is relative to the person. And this idea has come into the church more or less stating that a high view of God's inerrant Word will not allow for relevancy and love among people.

Driscoll's talk summed up in a lot of ways our role as Christians in this world. There are two hands. One hand must be tightly closed around timeless, biblical Truth. We are to contend for things like the Sovereignty of God, substitutionary atonement, doctrine of hell, and the exclusivity of Jesus. These ideas are all being thrown away by many in the church. This hand must not waver. But our other hand should be open and willing to change with the culture (timeless ministry). It is the hand of contextualizing the gospel. To be seeker sensible, not seeker sensitive. To be relevant, not relative. We are to become all things to all men. These two hands work together to bring the Truth of the supremacy of Christ to a lost world.

So much is lost when we began to downplay theology and doctrine, for the sake of being relevant and friendly. I have had many conversations recently with fellow believers about setting aside theology in order to love people. We must fight this incredibly postmodern way of thinking. We must fight for a biblical worldview by soaking ourselves in the richness of God's revealed Truth in the Bible. If we bring our finite brains to the Bible and try to shape the Bible in accordance to our own thoughts, we lose. We can't truly see the beauty, majesty, sovereignty, and benevolence of God. Therefore, we can't effectively be used as an empty vessel to bring God's love and grace to others. So, join me in the fight to know the God of the Bible and fight for Truth. And as we see Him, our hearts will beat with Jeremiah saying "if I will not mention Him, or speak any more in His name; there is in my heart as it were, a burning fire, shut up in my bones, and I am weary of holding it in."

...off to London for the week...