Donald A. Carson

Bible in 6 Minutes

/ Dennis Griffith / 1 Comment

Is there a particular theme that runs through the whole Bible?  No doubt there are many stories and lessons, but is there a central message by which we can connect all else?

Dane Ortland asked several pastors and scholars if they could summarize the Bible in one sentence. Here are some notable responses:

John Frame:

God glorifies himself in the redemption of sinners.

Kent Hughes:

God is redeeming his creation by bringing it under the lordship of Jesus Christ.

Tom Schreiner:

God reigns over all things for his glory, but we will only enjoy his saving reign in the new heavens and the new earth if we repent and believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ, who is the crucified and risen Lord and who gave himself on the cross for our salvation.

Mark Dever:

God has made promises to bring His people to Himself and He is fulfilling them all through Christ.

Kevin DeYoung:

A holy God sends his righteous Son to die for unrighteous sinners so we can be holy and live happily with God forever.

And, finally, my favorite…

Ray Ortlund:

The Lover of our souls won’t let the romance die, but is rekindling it forever.

In the above video Bible scholar D.A. Carson provides a concise, comprehensive, and comprehensible, summary of the theme that permeates the entire Bible.

Worship is the Proper Response

/ Dennis Griffith / 1 Comment

Worship is the proper response of all moral, sentient beings to God, ascribing all honor and worth to their Creator-God precisely because he is worthy, delightfully so. This side of the Fall, human worship of God properly responds to the redemptive provisions that God has graciously made. While all true worship is God-centered, Christian worship is no less Christ-centered. Empowered by the Spirit and in line with the stipulations of the new covenant, it manifests itself in all our living, finding its impulse in the gospel, which restores our relationship with our Redeemer-God and therefore also with our fellow image-bearers, our co-worshippers. Such worship therefore manifests itself both in adoration and action, both in the individual believer and in corporate worship, which is worship offered up in the context of the body of believers, who strive to align all the forms of the devout ascription of all worth to God with the panoply of new covenant mandates and examples that bring to fulfillment the glories of antecedent revelation and anticipate the consummation.

~ D.A. Carson, in Worship By the Book

What is God Like?

/ Dennis Griffith / Leave a comment

What is God like?  Describe to me the God you say you believe in. 

In the first chapter of his best selling book, Crazy Love, Francis Chan challenges his readers to ponder who God is. “Who is it that you are praying to?” Chan wants us to ask.  I really appreciate that challenge and that exercise because, quite frankly, I am not sure most people, even in our churches, can offer a substantial answer.

J.I. Packer wrote:

“Those who know God have great thoughts of Him.”

Donald Carson wrote:

“The better we know God, the more we will want all of our existence to revolve around him, and we will see that the only goals and plans that really matter are those that are somehow tied to God himself, and to our eternity with him.”

How well do you know God?

While there is no substitute for Scripture, sometimes the insights of others can help us notice things that we might otherwise not see. Like a tourguide who has navigated a trail many times is able to point out things of importance, of beauty, and of danger, so is one who has walked with God and given himself to careful study of God.

I have found the following books are faithful to Scriptureand helpful in shaping my knowledge of God:

Knowledge of the Holy by A.W. Tozer 

Attributes of God by A.W. Tozer

Holiness of God by R.C. Sproul

The Pleasures of God by John Piper

Knowing God by J.I. Packer