"It's only after we've lost everything that we're free to do anything."

Warning! This post will be concerning a movie that some may find offensive. Therefore this post may be offensive to you. You have been warned!







"It's only after we've lost everything that we're free to do anything."- Tyler Durden - Fight Club.

If you have never watched Fight Club, I do not recommend reading this post. It will not make sense and it may ruin the movie for you if you choose to watch it. I do not want to review the movie, you can find a great review here: Fight Club Review Over the next couple of blogs, I would like to talk about some of the themes and brilliant quotes from this movie.

The first one is the quote by Tyler above, "It's only after we've lost everything that we're free to do anything." This is such a brilliant idea and a very Christian idea, let me explain. In the scene where Tyler makes this statement, it was just after taking a convient store clerk out behind the store and threatening to kill him. As the clerk feared for his life, Tyler asked him questions about his life and why he didn't finish his goal to become a Veterinarian. Tyler then threatened to kill the man if he was not on his way to becoming a vet in a couple weeks. Afterwards, Edward Norton's character asked him why he would do such a thing. Tyler responds, "Tomorrow morning his breakfast will taste better than yours and mine ever has."

When we realize that we are about to loose something really important, all the small stuff does not matter. When someone dies, you really don't care if you are wearing designer jeans or if you have the latest gadget, you are just glad to be alive. You treasure things like family and friends more. But what is it like to loose everything?

Do you really have to loose everything to be free? According to Jesus, you do! Jesus told the Rich Young Ruler, that he had, to sell all that he had and follow him. The ruler left, sad, because he was unable to let go of everything to follow Jesus. Jesus also told us, the Kingdom of God is like a man who finds a great treasure buried in a field. In his joy, he goes and sells all that he has and buys the field. And again, Jesus says, He that wishes to save his life will loose it, but he that looses his life, for my sake, will gain it.

It is only when we have lost all that we have, self-reliance, independence from God, the will to power, and hit the bottom of the barrel (as Tyler describes it), will we be able to have the freedom to embrace Christ. We are slaves, consumers of sin, and we are bound. Not only are we unable to embrace Jesus but, in our sin, we think we are free and that all that Jesus has to offer is slavery. It is the complete opposite! Jesus is Life and only in Him can we be free at all. We must daily remind ourselves that we must loose it all to follow Jesus and by loosing it all, we live!

Presuppositional Apologetics Anyone?

Lately I have been very busy. I am taking two online classes, remodeling our house, and two birthdays in the family, plus the holidays. Therefore, I do not have the time to blog as extensively as I would like, but I do have a little time to point you in some directions that may help you grow as a theologian and student of the Word.

I was sharing with a co-worker today that no one is truly an atheist. Romans chapter 1 demands that, at best, they have bought into their own lie. This led to a discussion which made me realize that I need to brush up on my apologetics.

On my Ipod I have a fantastic debate between Greg Bahnsen and Gordon Stein. This is a clinic for how to debate as a presuppositional apologists. I did some searching on google for the audio and it is available for free here:

Bahnsen-Stein Debate MP3's

There is a lot of other good resources on this site. I also have a few more links that will help give you an introduction to apologetics and specifically to Van Til and his presuppositional framework.

This site has a lot of audio: Apologetics Audio

John Frame's response to the Bahnsen- Stein debate: Frame-Poythress Site

Great Site with a lot of resources: Center for Reformed Theology

I would also like to point you to, what I think, is the best defense of God's sovereignty that I have heard. It combines a High view of God with a loving compassionate response to the question of God's sovereignty and natural disasters. It also deals with how Christians should view tragic events and illnesses.

It is a interview on National Public Radio with John Piper. You will not regret listening to it.

Here is the link: Tsunami Interview

These resources have greatly influenced me and I hope that they will be of great benefit to you through the power of the Word and His Spirit.

What about Freewill?

Men as Predators

Tim Challies has a very disturbing blog today titled "Avoiding Kids: How Men Cope With Being Cast as Predators".

As a father with a nine month old little girl, it disturbs me to think that people may one day view my affection towards my daughter as "not right". I believe that God has created us for affection.

I am 29 years old and I still enjoy hugs from my mom and my dad. It is such a shame that the perversions of our culture has caused us to be afraid to show affection to our kids.

While I do understand that their are predators and that abuse is widespread in our culture, we cannot afford to be a society that stands by and refuses to help lost children because of fear.

I am not an expert, nor have I done a lot of personal research on this subject. But, I am a father and a firm believer that God has ordained that men lead their families and love their families as Christ loves the church. Al Mohler has many articles and commentaries on parenting, fatherhood and children's issues in our culture on his website (www.almohler.com). I recommend his site as he is a very well read man and a godly man, husband, and father.

This is a serious issue. We do not want to leave our kids open to predators , yet we do want adult men and women to be role models and mentors to our kids. (e.g. Big Brother/Big Sister, youth leaders, etc.)

I am not certain what kind of response we should have but I do have two suggestions.

One, Godly men need to demonstrate proper love, affection, godliness, and leadership at home and in the church for their children and all children within the Covenant Community.

Two, Women need to stop cutting men down all the time. We all have our faults but in our current society with its bent to destroy masculinity, fatherhood, and male leadership, Christian women should be the greatest lobbyist for their husbands and the godly men of their church.

God created the family and the family must support each other and defend each other in our immediate families and also in our larger covenant family.

Children Desiring God Resources

This is just a quick note to let everyone know that Desiring God has updated their Children Desiring God page. They have added a resource page loaded with free resources. Lot's of audio resources! I have not listened to them but the speakers are guys that exult God and are Christ-centered.

Here is the link to the resource page:

http://www.childrendesiringgod.org/training_resources.php


May God use this to help us all raise our children to love Jesus and grow in the knowledge of Him!

Sovereign Grace Free MP3 Downloads

I love John Piper and the Desiring God family for helping me see more clearly the glory of God. They have been greatly instrumental in my conversion to Calvinism and Reformed theology.

There policy of giving away everything for free or at whatever you can afford is unprecedented. Their influence on this modern reformation cannot and should not be minimized.

Mark Driscoll, of Mars Hill and Acts 29, gives almost all of his sermons and videos away as well.

We can now add Sovereign Grace Ministries to the growing number of ministries which give away as much of the gospel as possible.

Many people may not know that Melissa, Katie and I,as well as, my brother Josh and his wife Karina are attending the Sovereign Grace church of Frederick which is a recent church plant by Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg.

We started attending because of the ministry that C.J. Mahaney has had on me through conferences, sermons, and books. Whereas we differ on some points of doctrine (paedo vs credo baptist), We have never felt more loved and free with a group of believers than we do at Sovereign Grace Church of Frederick.

Our Care group is amazing and the honesty that they have with one another about the sin in their own lives, is very convicting. They truly care for one another and they understand that there is no condemnation to those that are in Christ. I cannot say enough good things about how Sovereign Grace does their care groups. I pray that the church as a whole will see what they are doing and embrace it as essential to caring for and discipling people in their congregations.

I encourage you to make use of all the free audio that is out in cyberspace. May God use it to help mature you as He has used it to help me.

Here are some links to great reformed audio resources:

Desiring God Resource Library

Mars Hill Media Library

Sovereign Grace Store

Monergism Audio Page

Acts 29 (Church Planting/Pastoral Resources

Steve Brown (click on Podcast link)

How Much Of The Gospel Do You Want to Buy?

I was looking around the internet and came across this:

From D. A. Carson's Basics for Believers: An Exposition of Philippians:

I would like to buy about three dollars worth of gospel, please.

Not too much – just enough to make me happy, but not so much that I get addicted.

I don’t want so much gospel that I learn to really hate covetousness and lust.

I certainly don’t want so much that I start to love my enemies, cherish self-denial, and contemplate missionary service in some alien culture.

I want ecstasy, not repentance;

I want transcendence, not transformation.

I would like to be cherished by some nice, forgiving, broad-minded people, but I myself don’t want to love those from different races – especially if they smell.

I would like enough gospel to make my family secure and my children well behaved, but not so much that I find my ambitions redirected or my giving too greatly enlarged.

I would like about three dollars worth of the gospel, please. (pp. 12-13)

Ray Van Neste comments:

This is piercing application. I am cut to the quick. I know the approach to life he is satirizing not simply by looking out at others but by looking within. I need to hear this word again. And, how we need this word in our churches! All too easily we warp the gospel into a way for securing the ‘good life’ for ourselves. . . . Brothers, we must preach this searching point. Many will be entirely content for us to “do our sermon”, but when you begin to press the call of the gospel to shape our lives, rebuke our sin, calling for repentance many will rebel. But without this we have failed to discharge our ministries (Col 4:17). Without this we are mere hirelings awaiting rebuke from the Master on the final day. There is no discount version of the Gospel. It is all or nothing. Let us wield the searching sword of the Spirit (Heb 4:12) as those who have first been pierced by it.

I am blown away at these quotes because I am guilty of only wanting $3 worth of the gospel. We Christians, for some reason, do not want the full nature of the gospel. We do not want to be free, we want to be just free enough.

I cannot thank Steve Brown enough for showing me that I have been living on $3 dollars worth of the gospel for far too long. I was striving for perfectionism through working to become a better Christian instead of resting in Jesus. I wanted to be able to say I've never done this or said that. I wanted to be able to point to myself and say that I was better than most Christians. I was prideful and did not fully understand the gospel.

My wife, Melissa, tells me that I need to be more specific and give examples of the theological concepts that I state, so that people will understand what it looks like to live them out. I want to attempt to show how we may live on more than $3 dollars worth of the gospel.

1. Those whom God has forgiven and accepted into his family, we should accept and fellowship with as family, even if they believe differently than we do about baptism, Calvinism, the gifts, or differing systematic theologies.

2. There is no more condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus! That means we are all sinners and we should be able to confess our sins to one another without fear. Sovereign Grace's Care Groups are to me the Gospel lived out in the real world.

3. Forgiving others and being able to admit your wrong or could be in the wrong without fear of not being seen as a "good" Christian is truly living in the wealth of the gospel.

This is what God has been teaching me lately by better understanding the gospel. I am learning that it is harder to live free because it forces you to rest in the gospel and in Christ's obedience not your own. It is hard work living free and resting in the Gospel, yet, I am beginning to taste and see the Joy of the Lord in ways I never had.

"If the Son has set you free, you are free indeed" (John 8:36)

Infinite Gospel is infinitely better than $3 dollars worth!


Source: Kubecki.com
Between Two Worlds

The City of God

I have been thinking about church planting, theology, bad theology and social issues a lot recently. I have read a number of articles, listened to sermons and reasoned from the Scripture on a number of issues. I was reading Peter Leithart's blog when I ran across this post:

Wilken summarizes Augustine's social vision of perfection this way: "This peace for which the city of God yearns is a 'perfectly ordered and harmonious fellowship in the enjoyment of God,' a peace of 'enjoying one another in God.' Notice that Augustine's language is social, not individualistic. He does not say, 'fellowship with God,' but enjoying one another in God, or as one translator has it, a 'mutual fellowship in God.' Augustine's controlling metaphor for the new life that God creates is not, for example, being born again, but becoming part of a city and entering into its communial life." - Peter J. Leithart, June 25, 2007

I have a friend that says she rejects postmillenialism because of reading Augustine's City of God. I own City of God but have not yet had an opportunity to read it. Yet, from this quote it would appear that Augustine is concerned with social justice and advancement in the City of God which is growing in the city of the world.

Mark Driscoll does an excellent job of showing us that "we are to be a city within the city", teaching from Jeremiah 29 on the 10th anniversary of Mars Hill Church( Audio link/Pdf notes).

How has the church at large lost this idea of being a "City within a City"? I believe that there are many reasons but I must agree with Driscoll, that "Rapture Fever" is primarily the most problematic. We have allowed our eschatology to keep us from building the "City of God". Instead, we run to the hills, leaving the culture and the city to itself, all the while condemning them and praising ourselves for being separate from the world.

As Driscoll also points out, Jesus was accused of being a drunkard, a glutton, and hanging out with sinners. You don't get accused of such things unless you are hanging out in bars, eating with pagans, and befriending the lost. The very things that most of my Christian friends and acquaintances pride themselves on not doing. They believe that by not doing those things, they prove their Christianity and their growth in sanctification. Yet, this is exactly how NOT to built a "City within a City".

I personally have been challenged in my thinking during this past year. I have began to throw down my pride and piety, so that, I may hang out with sinners. I have changed how I react to people who are or have been homosexuals, in jail, been drunk, on drugs, addicted to sex/porn, chain-smoke, go to bars and many other things. Not because I think it is o.k. to live anyway we want but because I am a sinner just like they are and they need Jesus just like I do. We are to be IN the world not of it!

I confess that I have not been IN the world but have prided myself on being self-righteous towards other sinners.

I am starting my personal mission to be IN the world but not of it! Since I have been set free to live in freedom through faith because of Christ, I am now going to live free and love hard, so that, by the Holy Spirit, the Church will transform our cities into "The City of God".

Gospel Coalition Conference

I had never heard of the Gospel Coalition until I read a blog on Desiring God which linked to Mark Driscoll's blog titled "Good Times with Good Men". I am excited to see the outcome of this conference in light of Driscoll's blog. The part that interests me the most is the documents that are being drawn up as a confession. This is REALLY exciting as I believe that there are great things on the way. Here is an excerpt from Mark's post:

"The big task was completing a confession of faith and vision for ministry statement compiled by Dr. D.A. Carson and Dr. Tim Keller with input and edits from dozens of pastors at their theological colloquim which has met annually for the past few years refining the documents. When completed, the documents will be posted at www.thegospelcoalition.org and available for use by churches and organizations. The documents are very encouraging. The doctrinal confession follows the narrative of Scripture more than the systematic theological categories and is richly reformed with enough breadth to include people from a variety of denominational traditions. The vision for ministry is a missiological call for biblically faithful and culturally accessible ministry that a lot of younger reformed pastors will resonate with."

I don't know what will become of all this but these are truly exciting times. I will be following this with great interest and will post further updates as they become available.

Children without Fathers: What should we do?

I feel I need to write about a caller on a radio program that I heard this morning. Before I tell you about her, let me first refer you to Dr. Al Mohler's commentary on his website called "The Disappearing Father".

I read Dr. Mohler's article yesterday and was mildly concerned, but thought it was just another article talking about possible dangers and abuses. This was until I listened to the radio this morning. After discussing the argument on "The View" between Rosie O'Donnell and Elizabeth Hasselbeck, a caller phoned in to express her support for Rosie. After a brief discussion, the caller revealed that she was a lesbian which caused the subject of the conversation to quickly change after a baby was heard in the background. The Morning show host remarked to the caller that "you were at least heterosexual once" to which she responded by sharing about how she was impregnated by in vitro through an anonymous sperm donor.

Suddenly, Dr. Mohler's concerns became very real to me,which led me to ponder much about this throughout the day. At first I was outraged, but quickly realized that it would not solve anything by just being outraged. I then tried to see it from their point of view, but I kept being constrained by God's Word that these things ought not to be. I seem to be at a loss for how to be Biblical about these issues without being a smug, self-righteous, stereotypical Christian.

So, here we are! How should we respond, because, as a follower of God's Word we must respond.I think we should respond, first of all, in light of the gospel of God's grace towards us. For, without God's grace changing our hearts and desires, we could be on the other side of this issue and she could be the outraged Christian. With that in mind, I believe that we need to address the issue in love. Laws may need to be passed, clear positions may need to be drawn on the issues, but in the end it is Christ that changes hearts not new laws and not picket signs.

This lady, her partner, and son need to be presented with the good news of God's transforming grace as well as to have Christians demonstrate love even to those who may be enemies of our values and our King.

May we demonstrate in the way we love others-while still being staunchly opposed to their sin- the love of God and freedom that comes through forgiveness of sin, by living in a way that pleases the Father and brings us all-satisfying joy.

My First Blog!

Here I am listening to Counting Crows, eating pizza and typing my first blog in the darkness of my office. "This is fun", is my first impression, now that I have a title for my blog. I chose "Where's my Hasenpfeffer" because I am a big Looney Toons fan and my friends and I have turned Hasenpfeffer into a slang word which can mean anything, like hooah. So I have a personal affinity for, as well as, the novelty and intrinsic coolness of the word itself. It also gives me the flexibility to write about anything that I would like, since everything has to do with God then all things are at their root theological, whether it is talking about your favorite show (right now mine is Heroes) or deep Biblical and Theological ideologies and anything in between.

This Blog is essentially for me to help me think through my own thoughts and to develop habits of writing them down. I hope that my friends will frequent this page and provide me with feedback and comments that will help me stretch in all areas of life.

Well I think I will keep my first post short but I would like feedback on the title of my blog,as well as, suggestions for topics that would be of interest to you.

-Jeremiah