Random Musings - Living Word with Carson and Revelations

The last two nights with Don Carson, and Revelations 12 and 13 have been a very special time for me and my wife.. We could hardly contain our excitement as we feverishly copied notes, as we saw the Word of God open up to us in such a wonderful way.. there were also convicting moments for me, Night 1, when Prof Carson expounded Revelations 12:11 "And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.." and talked about the Cross, and the Gospel.. How we can only stand accepted by God because of the Cross-Work of Christ.. I put my pen and my notes aside, put my face into the palm of my hands, and allowed my heart to be gripped afresh by what Christ did on the Cross... saved, justified, at such cost! It is finished, Satan is defeated! He has no case against me! my sins, all forgiven! The tears flowed freely... Oh how that must be now extend to "testimony", unashamedly witnessing about my Saviour Jesus Christ! and how that must change my perspective of life and death.. heaven is my home, where my Treasure is.. Came across a blog of a young, restless and reformed Singaporean [..they are here among us.. ;-P] who blogged about Night 1.. must thank her, saves me the time of typing out my notes.. (and her's are better anyway).. hehe.. ;-)

The strangest thing happened Wednesday morning, before Night 2.. this is my charismatic side coming out [haven't seen that side of me for some time now..].. My wife was really affected by Night 1's message, and I was rejoicing in my heart over it.. then I get an SMS telling me that during her morning QT, she had such a burden to tell others about the conference, especially because Night 2's topic [Antichrist and the False Prophet, Revelations 13], was so needful for many to hear.. I did a quick take in my head.. some of the thoughts were [in no particular order..]:

1. Is this of the Lord ? Donno le.. must think further..
2. Is it Biblical ? Well, the Lord does give impressions, dreams etc.. and no reason to believe He has stopped
3. Does this honour God, the Word of God and the Gospel ? Well, yes, we know Carson to be a Gospel-centred, careful, and engaging exegete, who would bring the Word of God across clearly and faithfully
4. Was there a need? As I thought about the direction my church was heading.. Definitely..
5. Should I support her in this, although I personally did not feel the burden ? Well, we did become "one flesh" when we said "I do"..

So, we enthusiastically mass SMS-ed people (not sure how many.. 50?.. expensive man!) felt a bit silly at times.. like hey, "we feel this leading and just want to tell you about it".. most did not reply.. some graciously declined.. one or two said they'd try to make it.. i'm guessing many were simply not interested.. her mum, and my father came in the end.. in fact they came at the expense of cancelling other appointments.. :-) to be honest, we don't really know how much impact what we did had.. was it foolishness perhaps ? whatever it is, time and eternity will tell.. I only hope that we did it because our blood-bought hearts were grateful for all that He has done for us on the Cross, and not because we thought that by doing it, we somehow earn some special favour from God.. :-) I'm more sure of her heart before God.. Its mine I'm worried about.. ;-) Only the blood! Lord, keep our eyes, always only on the Cross!

One more night to go.. Revelations 14..

Don Carson - Before the End: The Conquering Lamb, the Suffering Church & the Clash of Powers

Will be heading down to the St Andrew's Cathedral tomorrow night, where Don Carson will be giving expositions from the Book of Revelations. Really looking forward to it, and glad to hear that the Diocese of Singapore (Anglican) is expecting a turn-up of more than 1,000 people. But besides the large numbers (sadly, the turn-up would pale in comparison to a Benny Hinn rally.. sigh, sigh and what can I say but sigh again..), what I am trully excited about is the opening of the Word of God in faithful exposition, where God's voice can be clearly heard by His people. "How we long to hear Your voice Lord!" Trully, the Bible is the Living Word!
Check it out.. here are the details again..

Prof Donald A. Carson

29 – 31 July 2008

St Andrew’s Cathedral, Singapore

Morning Seminars

(S$40)

Preaching: Growing in Skill to Unpack the Whole Counsel of God.

(For Christian workers and & lay preachers who want to learn to preach with a biblical world view that is subsumed under the ‘whole of Scriptures’.)

Dates: 29-31 July 2008

(Tuesday to Thursday)

Time: 9.00 am to 12.00 noon

Venue: St Andrew’s Cathedral

(Next to City Hall MRT)

Public Evening Sessions

(Collection to be taken)

Before the End: The Conquering Lamb, the Suffering Church & the Clash of Powers

(Studies from the book of Revelation 12, 13 and 14)

Dates: 29-31 July 2008

(Tuesday to Thursday)

Time: 7.45 – 9.45 pm

Venue: St Andrew’s Cathedral

(Next to City Hall MRT)

Bob Kauflin - Let Your Kingdom Come

When I visited Wellsprings Church in San Leandro during my trip to the US, they gave me a Sovereign Grace Music sampler, with some really good, catchy, passionate and yet theologically rich songs.. One of the songs, that I can't seem to shake is "Let Your Kingdom Come" by Bob Kauflin. Bob Kauflin uploaded it for free here, and also shared a bit about his writing this song here:

Let Your Kingdom Come
Words and music by Bob Kauflin
As recorded on Valley of Vision

Your glorious cause, O God, engages our hearts
May Jesus Christ be known wherever we are
We ask not for ourselves, but for Your renown
The cross has saved us so we pray
Your kingdom come

Let Your kingdom come
Let Your will be done
So that everyone might know Your Name
Let Your song be heard everywhere on earth
Till Your sovereign work on earth is done
Let Your kingdom come

Give us Your strength, O God, and courage to speak
Perform Your wondrous deeds through those who are weak
Lord use us as You want, whatever the test
By grace we’ll preach Your gospel
Till our dying breath
© 2006 Sovereign Grace Praise (BMI).

Ray Ortlund on being Truly Reformed (again)

Ray Ortlund posted a comment to comments made on his post Truly Reformed. This is one of the most profound comments I've read, and one that is worth sharing:

"Thanks for your thoughtful comment. And maybe you're right. But I think we can side with the Galatian legalists at a functional level even as we side with Paul at a theoretical level. My sinful heart is capable of abandoning the gospel in one nanosecond. It happens whenever I use my allegiance to the doctrine of justification by faith alone for emotional purposes of self-justification. And that masterpiece of iniquity is the essence of the Galatian problem -- self-justification. But because I'm using Reformed doctrine, maybe even expounding Galatians, I am blind to myself. But the problem shows itself in the form of emotional aloofness from other true Christians. Relationships reveal what we really believe, as opposed to what we think we believe."

Acts 29 - Should you be a church planter ? (20 questions)

Adrian Warnock has an interesting post about a recent church planting conference in London. Scott Thomas, the US Director of the Acts 29 church planting network, shared 20 questions that a potential church planter should ask himself.

Its a checklist with many tough, but wise and needful questions..

Looking through the list, I find myself disqualified on many accounts..
:-)

Give me a buzz, though, if any of you out there qualify, and are looking to plant a church in Singapore with the following characteristics (or working towards..) :

1. Gospel-centered,
2. Expository preaching,
3. Reformed/Calvinistic,
4. Baptistic,
5. Charismatic/Continuationist,
6. Missional, and
7. Ministries of Mercy.

I could make the coffee and tea.. ;-P

Young, Restless, Reformed and the Local Church

“… the danger is always there whereby people become attached to the man rather than to the message or to the church. We are commanded to love the body of Christ; and our leaders are useful only to the extent that they are instrumental to that end… ” Carl Trueman

“We believe the local church is the focal point of God's plan for displaying his glory to the nations.” 9 Marks Ministry

One of the dangers that Carl Trueman pointed out in the Young, Restless and Reformed (YRR) movement, was its lack of anchor in the local church [see my previous post]. This, I think is an important point to note. In the individualistic, consumer culture that we have bought into, modern day Christians think that we are free to have a “me and my Jesus” religion, a hodge-podge concatenated faith put together from the buffet that is popular Christian merchandising.

The Church
But, reading Scripture, we get a very different picture, the church, as the community of God's people, is key in Christian discipleship. Jesus died for His church [Ephesians 5:25], which is His Body[1 Cor 12:12-27], His Bride[Ephesians 5:32], and God's family [1 Timothy 5:1-2], what Christ Himself will build on earth[Matthew 16:18].

He has given His church authority on earth to carry out spiritual warfare [2 Cor 10:3-4], proclaim the Gospel, and exercise church discipline [Matthew 16:19, 18:17-18]. He appoints leaders over His flock in the church [Ephesians 4:11-12], and has given it the "means of grace" for His people. All this for the purpose of bringing His people to maturity and final conformity to the image of Christ. In His wisdom, He has appointed the local church as the main context, in which we grow in Christlikeness.

The Local Church
Now, its true that those verses up there don't just talk about the local church, but the church universal. However, the place where we plug into the church universal cannot but be the local church. Take the three means of grace that the Reformers associated with the church, (i) Word, (ii) Sacraments - Baptism and the Lord's Supper, and (iii) Church Discipline. Now, you could arguably get (i) in a parachurch organisation, and some would even venture as far as to celebrate the Lord's Supper (which they shouldn't), but what parachurch organisation would baptize, or exercise church discipline ? Now, none of these contribute to your salvation, but they are commands of the Lord, and designed for your sanctification. So, like it or not, we need to plug into a local church - hence Trueman is right, YRR would be less than Biblical, and less than Reformed if the local church were not affected.. end of story (?)

Touched by the YRR or Reformation Theology
Well, yes, but working that out in the life of an individual affected by YRR, or awakened by the truths of Reformed/Calvinistic theology is a far more complicated process. I can't help but feel for the guy in the Adventist church.. after all, didn't Paul himself have a great desire to see his own people saved ? [Romans 10:1-4] Leaving a local church is no small matter, and not to be taken lightly.. after all, it isn't just some organisation or club that you can enter or leave at whim.. it is family.. perhaps in the case of a "fringe group" like the Adventist (?) , the choice is clearer.. but, what happens if you find yourself in a fairly evangelical, but not necessarily Reformed/Calvinistic church [think Willow Creek, Rick Warren, evangelical Methodist..] ?

Working it Out
Well, it seems to me that there are 4 options for someone who isn't in a Reformed / Calvinistic church, awakening to Reformation truths - 1. Reform the church from within; 2. Leave the church to join another; 3. Form a new church or denomination; and 4. Give up the YRR / Reformed / Calvinistic vision altogether, and be content with your lot in life. Now, 4. would be unhealthy if you believe in truth, but 1. to 3. do present dilemmas of their own. Let's reflect:

1. Reform the Church from Within
The NT’s call to unity within the body is unmistakable [John 10:16, John 17:21]. We are called to unity. And we are called to the work of collectively working for the purity of the church [no matter how pure your current church is, anyway]. We don’t just attend the church, we are the church. One of the great metaphors of the church is family, and you don’t just leave family, or scream, "Heretic!" at Dad or Mum or Bro or Sis lightly. If we are in a position of leadership, or any other position to affect positive change in our churches and denomination, I think we should stay. One thinks of how in the 1960s in Singapore, when most of the mainline churches had became flat-out liberal, evangelical young people awakened by Inter-Varsity, prayed, served and waited patiently for that generation of Elders to die[literally], before taking back those churches for the Gospel. Now, we are blessed with no more liberal churches in the mainline denominations here. Although I'm more Free Church than Anglican Ecumenical, standing on Scripture, I think our default position should be to stay and work for the purity of the church..
Yet, let's be realistic, how many of us actually have the capacity, tenacity and ability to influence change, without compromising our own faith and sanity ? Perhaps, even this is a special calling.

2. Leave the Church to join Another
Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology (page 880 and following) gives 3 possible reasons for leaving a church
(i) Doctrinal – when the doctrines of the church have deviated to the point of the church becoming a false church;
(ii) Conscience – when you are not able to preach or teach according to your conscience informed by Scripture; and
(iii) Practical – when, for practical reasons, you would do more harm than good by staying e.g. your ministry is constantly frustrated by others, staying would disrupt the evangelistic efforts of the church etc.
But, Grudem is wise to state that these are guidelines, and to advise that special care be taken in thinking through the reasons for leaving.

Now, well and good if you live within the vicinity of a church pastored by one of the good ol' T4G or Gospel Coalition guys, and the likes. By all means, move, join them and flourish in Calvinistic fervour. But.. what if you don't ? What if what you've got is the best bet at this point ? Not openly heretical, pastor isn't gay, preaching still comes from the Bible, Gospel is still preached.. but, perhaps Arminian, or Seeker-sensitive, or legalistic, or just not Gospel-centered? What if the "reformed" folk in town, also happen to be the KJV-only folk? Or what if you're baptistic and continuationist in your convictions, and the next best thing is a cessationist presbyterian set-up, or a pastor that speaks in tongues and drives a BMW ? At the end of the day, perhaps our current church is the best there is at present ?

3. Form a New Church or Denomination
Now, I am not kidding with this point - it may be the only option. But planting a church is no laughing matter. In fact, I am told that most church plants actually fail. Some really good questions to ask may be, (i) Are you called to do this ?, (ii) Do you have the resources ?, (iii) Do you have the training - seminary etc. ?; (iv) Do you have the people to form a sizeable fellowship ?; and perhaps, most importantly, Carl Trueman's question (v) How much is about genuine mission, and how much is about self-promotion and self-perpetuation? For the majority of us, this wouldn't really be a realistic option...

Conclusion
Now wouldn't it be great if the YRR and this new awakening to reformation truths were to burst forth in the reformation and renewal of whole churches and denominations, and the planting of new churches that were distinctly God-glorifying, and Gospel-centered? It seems to me then that for this to happen, the demographic that needs to be impacted the most by YRR and the like, are Christian leaders - pastors and elders in our churches, and lecturers and students in our Bible schools and seminaries. Aren't these the ones responsible for steering the direction of our churches for the future? And until that happens, perhaps, dare I say, the YRR would just be yet another passing fad.. sniff.. :-(

So, what can us normal people do then ? Well, I guess, some of us would have to make some tough choices about our church situation.. And, in that process, we could continue to let the truths of the Reformation change our lives and behaviour, we could continue to share, we could continue to pray and serve and love, we could continue to be rested in the Jesus who said, "I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Matthew 16:18, and we could continue to hope...

Ajith Fernando at Go Forth

Rev Dr Ajith Fernando spoke on Thursday, 17 July, at the Go Forth Missions Conference, evening rally here Singapore. His topic, "Response to Asian Societal Challenge". He expounded 5 challenges facing the cause of the Gospel in Asia.

Opening with 1 Cor 16:8-9, he noted that Paul was writing from Ephesus, which was in Asia, and spoke about "a wide door for effective work" that had opened to Paul for the Gospel. At the same time, there were many adversaries opposing the work. Asia found itself in a similar situation at present. Fernando expounded 5 challenges[he admitted that these were not exhaustive] facing Asia vis-a-vis Gospel Ministry.

1. Indigenisation

Christianity by and far is still considered a foreign western and incompatible with Asian ways. On the one hand, although Asia was becoming increasingly nationalistic, on the other hand, due to the influence of education and media et al, Asia was also becoming increasingly Western. Thus, you had a mixture of Easter-minded Asians and Western-minded Asians. Taking his text from 1 Cor 9: 22, where Paul says, "I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some", Fernando thus observed that we needed to look for Eastern ways that were appropriate to communicate the Gospel. On the other hand, a Western approach was also needed for those who were Western-minded, for "what is indigenous to someone, may be foreign to another". Western-minded Asians may thus not be the best people to reach out to their Eastern-minded neighbours, but could play a supporting role in enabling their Eastern-minded brothers and sisters to reach out [as did/do the foreign missionaries], while focusing, themselves on reaching out to others who were Western-minded.

2. Reaching Intellectuals

The religions of Asia are intellectual in nature, but as a whole the church thus far had not been very successful in drawing in Asian intellectuals - business people were coming to the Lord, but not the intellectuals. A strategy was thus needed to reach intellectuals in Asia. Taking his text from Acts 14 and Acts 17, Fernando observed that the first evangelists such as Peter, Stephen and Paul were a combination of miracle workers [Acts 14] and intellectual apologists [Acts 17]. As the need arose, they either "impressed by demonstrations of the Spirit's power", or "reasoned with the intellectuals of the day" - we need that same combination today. We have to ask the question, "How are we to engage the intellectuals in Asia ?", "How does the Gospel face post-modernism?" etc. We need Asian C S Lewiss and Tolkiens who speak and write about the Christian worldview without Christian jargon.

3. Keeping the Missionary Fire Burning

Fernando observed a waning in the missionary fervour of the Asian church, and saw a pressing need to re-energize the Asian church for the cause of the Gospel. Henry Martyn once said, "The spirit of Christ is the spirit of missions. The nearer we get to Him, the more intensely missionary we become.". Sadly, fulfillment and success in the Asian church is still measured in earthly, material terms. Thus we keep our very best brains at home. Not discounting the fact that God can use anyone, nonetheless, the church needed to send its best and brightest into the mission field, who could think and strategise for the cause of the Gospel, as did the church in Antioch days of old.

4. Persecution

Referring to 2 Tim 3:12, "..all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted", Fernando observed that persecution was coming from 2 fronts, (i)Pluralism and (ii)Fundamentalism. He told Asian accounts of perseverance with Gospel ministry in face of beatings, and even death, and moved on to address, what could keep Christians going in the midst of persecution. He suggested that it would be a vision of the Sovereignty of God. Going to Acts 4, he observed that the first response of the early church to persecution was to ponder the Sovereignty of God [Acts 4:24 and following]. But, they did not stop there. After they had pondered the Sovereignty of God and caught a vision of it, they cried out in effect, "Help us to evangelise more!"[Acts 4:29]. Fernando then exhorted, "If God is Sovereign, the only thing you have to fear is disobedience".

5. Lostness

Taking his text from Romans 9:1-3 and Romans 10:1, on Paul's hearfelt desire to see the Israelites saved, he concluded that, "Missions is about people's need to encounter their Creator". Sadly, some who claim to be evangelical are arrogant. And yet, the Gospel and arrogance are on separate poles altogether. "How can we be arrogant if it is all of grace ?", Fernando asked. Going to 2 Cor 4:5, "For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.", he stressed the need to preach the absolute gospel as servants.

An Aside

After the talk, I had an opportunity to speak to Dr Fernando briefly. I mentioned that some in the West had observed the fragmentation of the evangelical church - instead of keeping the Gospel at the centre, some were emphasising the peripherals instead. I asked if he thought this analysis was correct, and if it applied to Asia. He said "Yes" to both, and mentioned that it was something that he was "very worried about". That was why he spoke about the need to re-energize the Asian church for the cause of the Gospel.

On evangelism and ministries of mercy, he felt that the church needed to do both, keeping the two in balance. He noted the difficulty of doing this, and lamented that evangelicals who wanted to hold on to the Gospel, had a tendency to neglect ministries of mercy and vice-versa. But, there was indeed a need to do both. I enquired after his wisdom on how we could do this. He replied that we should stay Biblical, and stay away from fads.

Ray Ortlund on being Truly Reformed

I came across a link at Between Two Worlds to Ray Ortlund's post on being Truly Reformed. It really is worth a read:

"I believe in the sovereignty of God, the Five Points of Calvinism, the Solas of the Reformation, I believe that grace precedes faith in regeneration. Theologically, I am Reformed. Sociologically, I am simply a Christian – or at least I want to be. The tricky thing about our hearts is that they can turn even a good thing into an engine of oppression. It happens when our theological distinctives make us aloof from other Christians. That’s when, functionally, we relocate ourselves outside the gospel and inside Galatianism.

"The Judaizers in Galatia did not see their distinctive – the rite of circumcision – as problematic. They could claim biblical authority for it in Genesis 17 and the Abrahamic covenant. But their distinctive functioned as an addition to the all-sufficiency of Jesus himself. Today the flash point is not circumcision. It can be Reformed theology. But no matter how well argued our position is biblically, if it functions in our hearts as an addition to Jesus, it ends up as a form of legalistic divisiveness."

"What unifies the church is the gospel. What defines the gospel is the Bible. What interprets the Bible correctly is a hermeneutic centered on Jesus Christ crucified, the all-sufficient Savior of sinners, who gives himself away on terms of radical grace to all alike. What proves that that gospel hermeneutic has captured our hearts is that we are not looking down on other believers but lifting them up, not seeing ourselves as better but grateful for their contribution to the cause, not standing aloof but embracing them freely, not wishing they would become like us but serving them in love (Galatians 5:13)."

The conclusion:

"My Reformed friend, can you move among other Christian groups and really enjoy them? Do you admire them? Even if you disagree with them in some ways, do you learn from them? What is the emotional tilt of your heart – toward them or away from them? If your Reformed theology has morphed functionally into Galatian sociology, the remedy is not to abandon your Reformed theology. The remedy is to take your Reformed theology to a deeper level. Let it reduce you to Jesus only. Let it humble you. Let this gracious doctrine make you a fun person to be around. The proof that we are Reformed will be all the wonderful Christians we discover around us who are not Reformed. Amazing people. Heroic people. Blood-bought people. People with whom we are eternally one – in Christ alone."

Another call to be a kinder Calvinist, another call to be so secure in Christ alone, that joy and peace bubble over, so that we know we don't always need to win an argument, or to beat another person down, so that we can push ourselves up in a false sense of idolatrous superiority and self-security. God help us all - sinners saved by grace.

Trueman and the New Calvinists

My good friend Edward [who unfortunately blogs mainly in Chinese, and, even then, has not done so for some time.. ;-)] sent me a link to Carl Trueman’s cautiously optimistic review of Colin Hansen’s Young, Restless and Reformed writings. While generally positive towards the resurgence of reformed theology among the younger crowd, Trueman helpfully cautions by raising two concerns:

1. The personality driven nature of the movement

“..The name of John Piper looms large in the narrative, but there are others: R C Sproul, the T4G guys, Joshua Harris, Mark Driscoll etc. Without such dynamic figureheads and the organizations around them, it is doubtful that the movement would have made the impact on young people which it has done…”

“..the danger is always there whereby people become attached to the man rather than to the message or to the church..”

2. The lack of an anchor of the movement in the local church

“I find myself disturbed by the account of the man who loves Piper, and company, has embraced the doctrines of grace with zeal, but who continues to attend at Adventist church, apparently on the grounds that that is where he can be a kind of missionary for Calvinism. But the church is surely not a mission field; rather, it is the place where Christians are fed and watered and grow to maturity. Put bluntly, you don't get fed at conferences and through reading books in order to go to church to evangelize the couple next to you in the pew. To the extent that the Reformed revival does not make this connection, or leaves it optional, to that extent it is not really Reformed or biblical.”

Trueman then goes on to ask two pointed questions, which I think have great value for reflection :

1. How much is this movement about genuine belief and how much is social belonging?

2. How much is about genuine mission, and how much is about self-promotion and self-perpetuation?

These are needful cautions from someone within the fold.. hope to blog some reflections on them in the comings days/months/years… meanwhile, if anyone has any thoughts on this, do leave a post :-)

Gospel Coalition Website - Revamped

The Gospel Coalition Website has been revamped, with a whole lot of new and useful material.

1. The new Themelios Journal, is a thoughtful journal for pastors and theological students - in this issue, Carl Trueman writes about reading the Medieval mystics, and a mega-church pastor shares how he and his church are rediscovering the gospel

2. The Resources section is now stocked with a good range of MP3s from some great Gospel-centred guys - think Carson, Keller, Piper, Harris, Dever, Driscoll, and some lesser known, but equally cool guys

3. The TGC Network section will soon allow people to align themselves with the Coalition’s Statement of Faith and Theological Vision of Ministry - this will be a useful networking tool, maybe we'll find some interesting people from our region signing up? Perhaps some Singapore pastors and theologians?

4. The Conference line-up for 2009 is drool-worthy.. And what makes me happiest is that it is anchored as an exposition of 2 Timothy by various parties [of course there are some other talks and workshops]

Truly, an amazing resource for pastors, preachers, and the interested lay person.. God is good.

Turning 30 with 3 thoughts

I turned 30 sometime this week, which was kind of a strange transition. No longer young, neither am I really that old (or so I say.. hehe). Anyways, a couple of fairly related questions have been doing their rounds in my head these couple of days - (i) where have your years gone? (ii) what have you done with your life so far?, (iii) is the best really yet to come? and of course (iv) will I ever lose this gut?

Well, its in brood mode that I came across 3 rather different pieces of information that have formed 3 thoughts in my mind as I contemplate the big 3 - 0:

3 thoughts for the the big 3 - 0

Firstly, I watched The Bucket List on my flight to San Francisco. Its a story of two very different characters (played by Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson) who meet in hospital, both diagnosed with a terminal illness, and with only have a few months to live - "...recalling an assignment from his college philosophy class, Carter (Freeman) begins to write a "bucket list" of things he'd like to experience before he "kicks said bucket". Staring at mortality, their deadlines looming, wealthy Edward (Nicholson) makes some additions of his own and proposes that the two begin fulfilling their checklist, a journey that takes them around the world.." - CT Movies Review. From this, Life is fleeting, and not to be wasted

Secondly, with great anticipation fulfilled, I managed to get a copy of Tim Keller's Reason for God at Barnes & Nobel in San Jose [still not sure why its not yet available in Singapore]. In the introduction, Keller shares the testimony of Kelly, an atheist who came to faith in Christ - "..I realized that my achievements were ultimately unsatisfying, the approval of man is fleeting, that a carpe diem life lived solely for adventure is just a form of narcissism and idoltry.." - pg [xxii, xxiii]. From this, A wasted live is one lived purely for self

Thridly, have been reading (slowly) D A Carson's "A Call to Spiritual Reformation" in my devotions. On 2 Thessalonians 1:5-10, Carson wrote something that brought focus, "In our pragmatic, materialistic society, where each of us seeks comfort and "fulfillment" and respect, it is hard to follow a despised, crucified Messiah - unless we fix our eyes on the end. If we do not aim for the new heaven and the new earth, many of our values and decisions in this world will be myopic, unworthy, tarnished, fundamentally wrong-headed. To put the matter bluntly: can biblical spirituality long survive where Christians are not oriented to the world to come?" - pg 50. From this, A life worth living, is one oriented towards the new heavens and the new earth

A Christian Bucket List ?

I kinda like the idea of a "bucket list" and was asking myself what it should look like for a Christ follower. We'll probably have different answers on the specifics, but I think Paul's prayer framework in 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12, should also give us a "bucket framework". In view of the end, Paul wrote, "..we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ."

So, whatever it may be, the items on the list should be (i) birthed with a view of the end, (ii) prompted by our faith, (iii) fulfilled by His power, (iv) glorifying to God, (v) sanctifying to the believer, and (vi) carried out according to God's grace.

Lord, give me strength and give me grace still, to expect great things from You, and to attempt great things for You!