Edmund Clowney

Living Together as the Church

/ Dennis Griffith / 5 Comments

The late theological statesman, Edmund Clowney observed:

“If we lack interest in the church we lack what was for Jesus a  consuming passion. Jesus loved the church and gave himself for it (Ephesians 5.25).”

Jesus’ love for his church is evident throughout the pages of the New Testament.  In Matthew 16.18 Jesus promises to build his church. In fact he promises to empower it and protect it to such a degree that even Hell itself can not stand against it.

In Ephesians we are told that we, the followers of Christ, are the Body of Christ. (Ephesians 5.30) And the way the world will know we are his people is through the way we relate to one another. (John 13.35)

OK. I know that there is little, if any, new ground being broken here so far. What I have written is widely understood and little debated by those who are followers of Christ.  But while these principles are widely known, lesser understood is how we can -and should – practically live out our life together as Christ’s Church.

The folks at 9 Marks have developed a wonderful little e-book that helps lay a solid foundation and offers wise instruction about life together.  It is titled: Living as a Church.  Originally a Sunday School curriculum, each chapter is only about 3-4 pages designed to spark conversation as well as instruction.

Below are the links to the various chapters. I commend them all, but they are also of value considered by subject of interest.

  1. Introduction: Unity- God’s Goal for the Church
  2. Church Membership: Context for Unity
  3. Preaching: The Foundation of Unity
  4. Corporate Prayer: God’s Power Creates Unity
  5. Church Government: Godly Authority Fostering Unity
  6. Fellowship: Building a Bond of Unity
  7. Discontentment: A Test of Unity
  8. Church Leadership: Submission for the Sake of Unity
  9. Church Discipline: Preseving God-honoring Unity
  10. Serving & Giving: Sacrifice for the Sake of Unity
  11. Worship: Praising God in Unity
  12. Corporate Evangelism: A Harvest of Unity

Sharing the Father’s Welcome

/ Dennis Griffith / 1 Comment

Tim Keller’s new book, The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith, will be released in a few weeks, on October 31. In the book Keller presents a powerful expression of the gospel, rooted in the parable of the Prodigal Son.  Having heard Keller teach from this parable, I am looking forward to the written form.

But Keller’s insights were not developed in a vacuum.  They were cultivated by careful and thoughtful study and prayer. They were built upon a foundation of those who had walked before him, like Edwards and Chalmers. And they were influenced by the wisdom of those who invested in him. Among them, Dr. Ed Clowney, former president of Westminster Seminary, whom Keller credits in the Introduction of this upcoming book as having provided the inspiration: 

Many excellent studies have been written on this Biblical text over the last several years, but the foundation for my understanding of it was a sermon I heard preached over thirty years ago by Dr. Edmund P. Clowney. Listening to that sermon changed the way I understood Christianity. I almost felt I had discovered the secret heart of Christianity.  (Click: article.)

Crossway Books has made available Clowney’s sermon, Sharing the Father’s Welcome.  I hope it not only whets you appetite for Keller’s upcoming book, but that it opens your eyes to see how high and wide and long and deep is the love of God for we, his children.

(NOTE: My thanks to Justin Taylor of Between Two Worlds for tipping me off about this.)