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Tim Keller on Hell

Erik — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 16:27:16 +0000

In the midst of the “discussions” going on online about Rob Bell’s new book, I remembered something Tim Keller said in a video I saw a while back.

The video below is from the a talk Keller gave at the Veritas Forums on March 4, 2008, at The University of California, Berkeley. This is before The Reason for God came out and it covers many of the topics in the book. I’d encourage you to check out the whole video, but I’ve set the video to jump to a particular point relevant to the topic of hell (ending around 1:05:50).

In light of all the “controversy” I thought this might shed light on a perspective of hell that many Christians don’t consider. Now I have no idea if this is Bell’s view of hell or not. It’s just that as I watched the video for his new book, this talk by Keller came to mind.

By the way, if you haven’t read Tim Keller’s book The Reason for God, do yourself a favor and pick it up.

I really like his statement: “God only gives you what you want.” I think it puts a lot of things in perspective.

See the Consequence

Erik — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 22:00:44 +0000

I’ve been reading in Leviticus the past several days as I make my way through the Chronological reading plan of the Bible on youversion.com.

Leviticus is hard to read. It’s list after list of laws, regulations and instructions. There’s a whole section on how the sacrifices were to be performed. When reading through those chapters, I was struck with the bloodiness of that system. It’s not that I didn’t realize it was messy before now. It’s just that I realized that I don’t usually “see” the consequences of my sin.

But that was, in a very visceral way, what the people of Israel experienced on a regular basis. They were constantly reminded that their sin resulted in the shedding of blood. The ground around the altar (and the altar itself) would have been stained by the blood of the animals. They would have heard the animals cry out and smell the odor from them burning on the altar. I’m sure that reminder was a fairly good motivator for holy living.

I don’t think about my sacrifice (Jesus) enough. I need to consider the horrible, bloody experience. I need to take time to stop and remember the great lengths he went to on my behalf. Otherwise, there’s no real motivation to change. My sin is just a “bad habit” or a vice that needs to be overcome. I need to remember that it was my sin that Jesus went to the cross to forgive.

I need to “see” the consequence of my sin.

As I was writing this post, I remembered a video that a friend posted a few months ago. It’s a look at the annual sacrificing of lambs by modern day Samaratians at Mt. Gerizim. It’s not overly graphic, but it might not be pleasant for those with weak stomachs…

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Get Moving

Erik — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 15:00:55 +0000

There’s a scene in Saving Private Ryan that still moves me when I think about it. It’s the part where the translator, Upham, stands frozen in the stairwell as his friend is attacked and eventually killed. When watching it the first time, all I wanted to do was scream “Do something!” at the screen. It’s a powerful moment.

I recently was reading in Exodus 14 about a time when the people of Israelite were frozen in fear. They’ve fled from Egypt and found themselves cornered at the Red Sea. The Egyptian army is advancing from behind. The people cry out to Moses in fear.

Moses’ response is simple. “Don’t be afraid. Just stand still and watch the Lord rescue you today. The Egyptians you see today will never be seen again. The Lord himself will fight for you. Just stay calm.”

Apparently Moses wasn’t calm himself. In the very next verse the Lord says, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the people to get moving!” I envision Moses telling the people to relax and then instantly turning around and panicking himself. God’s response? “Do something!”

I think we often get frozen with fear. We hesitate. We avoid making a decision. Maybe we’re waiting to hear a divine voice from above or we just cry out for direction. The simple, practical truth, however, is that we just need to act.

What has you paralyzed with fear? What are you doing about it?

New Year

Erik — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 07:42:28 +0000

I’ve noticed a bit of an attack on resolutions this year. Okay, “attack” may be a strong word, and it may not be widespread. However, I’ve come across several blogs that expressed some negative sentiment towards the idea. I’m not sure where this is coming from, but on one of the posts I read, the author expressed her disdain for resolutions. To her, they were never kept, because they were too radical. Instead she said, we should look to improve areas that we are already excelling in. She then proceeded to make goals for what she wanted to do in 2011. Maybe I was missing something, but they seemed like resolutions to me, regardless of what you call them.

Life works in cycles. We need to experience the ebb and flow that these times bring. For me, the New Year is a time to reflect on the past and find vision for the future.

The Past

It’s healthy to slow down and consider the road we’ve been on. For me, 2010 has been marked with transition. I’ve changed my role in ministry, moving from being a Youth Pastor to Executive Pastor). And we’ve moved from Chicagoland to the St. Louis area. This past year has been a time to heal and be restored. I had to let go off some things as a result of our move that were incredibly important to me (family, friends, familiar environment, etc.). The end result, however, is that my family and I are healthier and stronger because of it. It hasn’t always been easy, be we have great new friends and a church family who have walked with us through the process.

I made 3 commitments/resolutions/goals last year.

One-Year Bible Reading Plan – I completed this…though I missed a lot of days and had to make them up along the way.
Read one book per month. – Didn’t make this one, but I was probably more diligent in my reading than I have been in past years.
Spend more time with family. – I’d say this year has been great for our family and we’ve been able to spend a good deal of time together.

Future

Read one book per month. – I wasn’t going to quantify it this year, but I’m tired of not reaching this goal. This one is important to me. I’m at a point in my life, where I realize how incredibly important this is for me. Part of this will involve cutting distractions out of my life (and that will be the hard part).
Physical Activity – I’m not saying I’m going to exercise everyday or anything like that, but I need to be more active. People may role their eyes at me when I say this, but I’m getting older…and I’m starting to feel older too.
Develop my skills in two areas: Design (general principles as well as skill with the tools) and Web Development (specifically WordPress and Joomla!). I like doing this. Setting up WordPress and Joomla! sites is incredibly satisfying to me. I want to hone these skills and learn more about coding and development. I’m certainly no pro, but I’d like to continue growing in these areas.

So, there you go. That’s my list. What’s on yours?

wronged

Erik — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 22:18:45 +0000

Several weeks ago I was reading from the One Year Reading Plan when I came across 1 Corinthians 6. The Apostle Paul is writing about how some of the Christians at Corinth had disputes with each other and had brought those disputes to secular courts for judgment. Paul criticizes them for their inability to resolve their differences on their own.

But then Paul takes the topic to a deeper level. He says in verses 7-8,

“Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated? Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong, and you do this to your brothers.”

And then week ago Pastor Phil spoke about forgiving those who have hurt you and caused you pain. It was a great message. One of those where you nod your head and think, “yeah, I need to forgive those horrible, evil, arogant people who have wronged me. They’re so bad for treating poor, innocent me that way (#sarcasm).”

Then came the proverbial “kick in the teeth”.

Pastor Phil closed the message out by encouraging us to not only forgive, but then to also pray that those who have wronged us would experience blessing.

Ouch.

Then this past week, Mark Batterson wrote on his blog about bitterness and how to overcome:

I honestly believe that prayer is the only antidote to anger, bitterness, and unforgiveness. You can’t just forgive. You’ve got to pray for that person. Why? Because it will change your heart. You’ll find that a supernatural love for that person disarms your anger. Forgiveness will set your free. And prayer is the key.

Um, anyone else see a reoccuring theme here?

Yeah…I think I have some praying to do….

what to wear

new year commitments

Erik — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 21:40:55 +0000

As I’m typing this, I’m sitting on my couch, trying to work on my final sermon at Stone Church this Sunday, January 3. With all of the craziness of the past few days, I’ve hardly had a chance to reflect on Christmas, let alone evaluate 2009 or really give any thought to 2010. The last couple of weeks have been a blur of activity. Parties, family, get-togethers, saying goodbyes have all been a part of the busyness. I’m grateful for these opportunities, but unfortunate thing is that I haven’t been able to stop and focus on the season.

That may not be a bad thing. Typically I over-analyze my New Year’s resolutions and end up with a list so long that I don’t know where to start…so I typically don’t. So here are three commitments I’m making to myself for 2010.

One Year Bible Reading Plan – I’ve been reading through the Chronological Bible for the past five years. It’s a great way to read the Bible in a year, but like anything else, the process has gotten a bit stale for me and I need to change things up. So I’m going to be using one of the reading plans from youversion.com. They have a great iPhone app that will help me keep up to date as well. I’d encourage you to check out their plans. They have several and one of them is bound to fit you.
Read at least one book a month. This one has been on my list every year for several years. I don’t think I’ve ever quite accomplished it. Well, this year will be different. I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s the fact that I just packed my office and had shelves (yes, plural) of books that I own but have hardly cracked. This means I’ll probably have to cut back on some of the feeds in my Google Reader….
Spend more time with my family. One thing I’ve realized this past year is that I have to fight for my family. I have to fight for time with them and I have to be intentional about the quality of that time. It just doesn’t happen on it’s own. One of the ways I plan to do this is by starting to read to Parker before bedtime (thinking about starting with The Chronicles of Narnia or The Hobbit). This is going to be tough because I’m a TV junkie and his bedtime is right during that primetime hour, but I know I’m doing him a disservice if I don’t do it. And quite honestly, it’s pretty sad if I put TV before him.

Anyway, I’d love to throw in others, but these are the main three I’m going to focus on. The non-negotiable ones that I’m going to fight to accomplish.

What are some of your commitments for the new year?

book review: primal

Erik — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 04:50:39 +0000

When I was in college, I had the privilege of doing my ministerial internship with Mark Batterson at National Community Church. It was an incredible opportunity. While I was there, Mark told me something that I’ve never forgotten. He saw me reading one of the dozen or so books he assigned for me to read and said that I shouldn’t use a yellow highlighter (which I was using). Instead, he instructed me to use another color like blue or orange. That way, when the color fades over the years, I could still see the highlights. Yellow, he said, just didn’t last.

I would have listened to his advice, but to me, utilizing anything other than a yellow highlighter is an abomination. I’m sure there’s something in Leviticus warning against that….

But this is a review of his new book and not a discussion about highlighters. (For what it’s worth, however, that’s where my problems with him start and end.) I have a great deal of respect for Batterson. His two previous books, In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day and Wild Goose Chase have both had a profound impact on my life and ministry.

Batterson’s new book, Primal: A Quest for the Lost Soul of Christianity explores the core elements of what it means to love God according to the Great Commandment. He seeks to pull back the layers of tradition and routine that tend to creep in and crowd out the primal aspects of Christianity.

The book is divided into four parts taken from Mark 12:30. In this passage, Jesus distills the Law down into what we call the Great Commandment: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” Batterson describes these four aspects of love as follows:

Heart = Compassion
Soul = Wonder
Mind = Curiosity
Strength = Energy

Each of these four aspects make up the sections of the book and Batterson tackles them with passion and clarity. For those who have read his previous books or follow his blog, some of the content here will be familiar. For me, that’s not a complaint. If there’s one thing I appreciate about Batterson’s writing, it’s that I’m constantly left feeling challenged, convicted and spurred on to greater faith. The book is jam-packed with insight, fresh perspective and inspiration.

Which brings me back to my highlighter. Maybe I should have listened to Mark. Halfway through the book the other night, mine died. The bright yellow had faded into a dull indistinguishable pale color. In other circumstances, I probably would have just kept on reading, but I knew I wanted to mark the book up along the way. So I stopped and waited until the next day when I could get my hands on another one at the office. I’m glad I did. As I look back over the book now, almost every page has something highlighted on it. Much of this has to do with the way Batterson describes truth in fresh, insightful and memorable ways:

“it’s much easier to act like a Christian than it is to react like one”
“you can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving”
“making money is the way you make a living and giving it away is the way you make a life”
“Pray like it depends on God and work like it depends on you.”
“overanalysis will always result in spiritual paralysis”
“Most of what God accomplishes through our lives isn’t because of us. It’s in spite of us.”

I could go on and on. Maybe I’m a compulsive highlighter, but this book is brimming with great content. For me, it’s a must read. Primal has challenged me to get back to the core aspects of my faith and what it means to love God. I recommend it to anyone who seeks to have an authentic, life-changing experience with Christianity. I’ve already pre-ordered a couple of copies for some of my friends.

Do yourself a favor and make Primal the first book you read in 2010. You won’t be disappointed and I believe it’ll transform your understanding and expression of what it means to love God.

Primal can be pre-orderd on amazon.com and will be released December 22, 2009.

For disclosure’s sake, I need to add that my copy of Primal was provided for review by WaterBrook Multnomah.

love or hate

Erik — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 21:59:00 +0000

This was posted on ragamuffinsoul.com the other day. I realize some of you may have already seen it, but I thought I’d post it for the rest of you. I found it fascinating.

(Update 12/24/08: This is Penn, from Penn and Teller.)

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to yourself

erik — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 19:42:00 +0000

Yesterday I posted about a podcast I’ve been listening to recently. In the same session, Tim Keller told an illustration that Charles Spurgeon used about a King. I did a quick search online and only found it here. The post refers to the same podcast I’m listening to, so I’m not sure if it’s the original illustration or if he typed it up in his own words. Either way, I copied and pasted it here.

There once was a good king. He had a vast kingdom and many, many subjects. One day, one of the king’s subjects, a gardener, came into his courts. He brought with him a huge carrot. He presented the carrot to the king saying, “thank you, o king, for ruling justly!” The king was impressed with the gift, and perceived that the gardener was skillful and hard working. He said to the gardener, “because I can see that you are a skillful gardener, and would be a great service to me, I am giving you the much larger land next to your garden to farm. Go and produce good fruits!” The gardener left and did as the king had commanded. Meanwhile, a horse breeder, another of the king’s subjects, overheard their exchange. He noticed the king’s generosity and favor on the gardener and so the next day, he brought one of his choice horses before the king as a gift. The king, putting together what had happened, took the gift from the breeder saying, “thank you.” Turning to leave, the king was interrupted by the breeder who said, “o king, but what about the favor you had on the gardener?” the king turning to look at the breeder said, “Ah yes, that gardener gave his carrot to me, but you have given this horse to yourself.”

What are you doing for God that you are really doing for yourself/recognition/acceptance/etc?
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faith

erik — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 03:56:00 +0000

My iPod is more of a podcast player than a music player. Sure, I’ve got a ton of songs on it, but day to day, I’m listening to podcasts an overwhelming majority of the time.

I’ve recently been (slowly) making my way through a series of teachings called Preaching Christ in a Postmodern World by Edmund Clowney and Tim Keller. I recommend it, with the mention that I have a hard time listening to Clowney’s sections. They’re not bad regarding content, but I just can’t get around his style and presentation. Keller, however, is an excellent communicator and his sections are well worth your time.

On the way home tonight, Keller was speaking in Session 5 about justification and sanctification. He says, “We tell people, ‘You’re justified by faith’, but when it comes to sanctification, we essentially say, ‘Now you’ve got to get to work.’ ” His point is that we trust Christ, in faith, to save us, but that’s where faith stops. After the “sinner’s prayer” moment, the Christian life becomes something we must work and try hard to live out.

Instead, he correctly states that not only are we justified by faith, but we are sanctified by faith as well. In other words, we come to Christ in the first place because we are broken, helpless sinners. Then we continue to put our faith in Him to live our lives for Him. To remove Christ from the second part is to reduce our experience to moralism. Keller says, “A failure to live a holy life is not just due to a lack of commitment and a lack of hard work. (That doesn’t mean that commitment and hard work isn’t part of it.) The most fundamental root is I’m not living ‘as if’. I’m not living in faith that Christ is my savior.”

I’m not sure why this struck me so much, but there is great comfort in knowing that Jesus has already met the requirements and imparted that to me on the cross. My works didn’t save me and they don’t make me any holier after I’ve begun the journey. Christ is all from start to finish.
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