Rapture

Posting lama, namun agaknya masih penting untuk dibaca.

Dua orang sedang menunggu bus lewat. Yang seorang berdiri, lainnya duduk. Tiba-tiba yang pertama lenyap, sedang yang terakhir tinggal. Seorang ayah mengajak putrinya main-main di taman. Tiba-tiba sang putri lenyap, padahal sang ayah sedang memeluknya erat-erat.  

Apakah anda familiar dengan gambaran ini? Ada tertulis dalam Matius 24:40-42, “Pada waktu itu kalau ada dua orang di ladang, yang seorang akan dibawa dan yang lain akan ditinggalkan; kalau ada dua orang perempuan sedang memutar batu kilangan, yang seorang akan dibawa dan yang lain akan ditinggalkan.” Oleh karena itu, kita dipanggil untuk selalu berjaga-jaga, sebab kapan saja Tuhan bisa datang. Kita harus siap sedia. Jika kita tak siap, kita akan ditinggalkan. Sebaliknya, jika kita siap, kita akan diangkat-Nya.

Kebanyakan orang Kristen percaya pada tafsir demikian. Mereka menyebut peristiwa itu sebagai ‘rapture.’ Tapi familiaritas dan mayoritas tidaklah menjamin kebenaran. Saya harap anda bisa mengerti ini.

Pertanyaannya, apakah rapture merupakan konsep alkitabiah? Jawabnya, sama sekali tidak. Alkitab tak pernah mengajarkan rapture theology. Ajaran dan tafsir ini pertama kali disampaikan oleh seorang teolog British, John Nelson Darby. Ia kemudian dianggap sebagai bapak dispensasionalisme.

Matius 24 jelas tidak berbicara mengenai pengangkatan. Silakan anda baca lagi pasal tersebut dengan baik, lalu bandingkan dengan Markus 13. Konteks dari Matius 24 adalah keruntuhan bait Allah. Di sana Yesus dan murid-murid sedang mempercakapkan bait Allah yang dibangun kembali oleh Herodes. Yesus mengatakan bahwa nanti semua itu akan diruntuhkan hingga rata dengan tanah. Kapankah terjadinya? Ketika perang Romawi-Yahudi tahun 70 AD. Pada waktu itu sejarah mencatat bahwa Bait Allah diruntuhkan oleh Romawi. Jadi, Yesus sebenarnya menubuatkan kehancuran bangsa Israel. Mereka tengah berada di bawah penghakiman Allah.

Nah, dalam situasi perang tentulah setiap orang harus bersiap sedia untuk kabur dan menyelamatkan diri. Jika ada dua orang di ladang, yang seorang bisa diciduk, yang lain dibiarkan. Rapture theology telah menakut-nakuti begitu banyak orang Kristen. Dengan mempelajari konteks naratif dan sejarah alkitabiah, kita akan memahami nubuat Yesus bertolak belakang dengan paham rapture.

Bagi rapture theology yang diangkat, selamat; yang ditinggalkan, sial. Pembacaan yang alkitabiah: yang diangkat (diciduk, ditangkap) celaka, yang ditinggalkan justru selamat. No one knew what was going to happen at the time.

Di bawah ini anda bisa menyaksikan interview dengan Barbara Rossing, seorang New Testament Scholar, Debungking the Rapture. Menurut saya, sangat bagus dan mencerahkan.
  

 

Interview dengan N. T. Wright on Heaven and Rapture Theology juga membantu.  

Longing for joy

C. S. Lewis in The Weight of Glory says,

I am trying to rip open the inconsolable secret in each one of you — the secret which hurts so much that you take your revenge on it by calling it names like Nostalgia and Romanticism and Adolescence... Wordsworth’s expedient was to identify it with certain moments in his own past. But... if Wordsworth had gone back to those moments in the past, he would not have found the thing itself... The books or the music in which we thought the beauty was located will betray us if we trust to them; it was not in them, it only came through them, and was only longing. If these things are mistaken for the thing itself they turn into dumb idols, breaking the hearts of their worshippers. For they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited... But if we are to take the imagery of Scripture seriously, we believe that God will one day give us the Morning Star and cause us to put on the splendor of the sun... At present we are on the outside of the world, the wrong side of the door. Someday, God willing, we shall get in. When human souls have become as perfect in voluntary obedience as the inanimate creation is in its lifeless obedience, then they will put on its glory, or the greater glory of which Nature is only the first sketch... Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.

How important is the assurance of salvation in your life?

J. C. Ryle says,

Assurance [of salvation] goes far… It enables you to feel that the great business of life is a settled business, the great debt is a paid debt, the great disease is a healed disease, and the great works a finished work; and all other business, diseases, debts and works are then by comparison small. In this way assurance makes you patient in tribulation, calm under bereavements, unmoved in sorrow, not afraid of evil tidings, in every condition content, for it gives you a fixedness of heart…

What do you love when you love God?

St. Augustine in his Confessions, book X, answers this question:

But what do I love, when I love Thee? Not beauty of bodies, nor the fair harmony of time, nor the brightness of the light, so gladsome to our eyes, nor sweet melodies of varied songs, nor the fragrant smell of flowers, and ointments, and spices, not manna and honey, not limbs acceptable to embracements of flesh. None of these I love, when I love my God; and yet I love a kind of light, and melody, and fragrance, and meat, and embracement when I love my God, the light, melody, fragrance, meat, embracement of my inner man: where there shineth unto my soul what space cannot contain, and there soundeth what time beareth not away, and there smelleth what breathing disperseth not, and there tasteth what eating diminisheth not, and there clingeth what satiety divorceth not. This is it which I love when I love my God.

Sermon Note: Gospel Humility

Bible reading: Romans 12:2-3; 1 Corinthians 4:3-4, 6

After we offer our lives to be a living sacrifice, what’s next?

In v. 2 Paul is speaking about God’s will. He begins with the negative counsel: “Do not conform to the pattern of this world.” Then he continues with the positive one: “Give your life to be transformed by the renewing of mind.” The renewing of mind is a continual process. For us to know the will of God, it is not going to be a one time event. It needs to be a learning process.

How is it like to have a renewed mind? How does the renewed mind think?

Paul also speaks about the mind renewing in a negative and positive structure. v3 Negative: do not think with hyper-minded, beyond what you must think. Positive: but think soberly; think in the right mind, with proper judgment and moderation.

Now this is remarkable! From all the things he could possibly say about human mind, and how it works, he chooses to speak about pride (hyper-minded). Why?

The answer is: Because Paul believes that the root cause of all divisions, of why we can’t get along, and of war are boasting, pride.

Reformasi atau Halloween? Ya!

Hari ini, 31 Oktober 2012, kembali kita merayakan Hari Reformasi dan Halloween. Hari Reformasi merupakan salah satu hari besar gereja Protestan, tapi Halloween, apa hubungannya dengan gereja?

Banyak orang Kristen masih bertanya, “Apakah boleh kita ikut merayakan Halloween?”

Jawab saya, boleh saja, asal dengan pengertian yang benar.

“Halloween” sebenarnya merupakan singkatan dari All Hallows’ Eve – Hallow even – Hallow e’en – Halloween. Hallow sendiri merupakan kata lain dari holy, kudus. Ingat Doa Bapa Kami dalam bahasa Inggris, “Hallowed be Your Name,” artinya “Dikuduskanlah Nama-Mu.”

Sehari setelah All Hallow’s Eve, 1 November, diperingati sebagai All Saint’s (Hallow’s) Day. Hari tersebut merupakan perayaan atas kemenangan orang-orang kudus dalam Yesus Kristus (Union with Christ). Jadi, kita lihat sedianya All Saints Day tak ada urusannya dengan ritual/kegiatan penyembahan setan-setan.  

Ide perayaan Halloween sederhana. Pada 31 Oktober, roh-roh jahat mengerahkan segenap kekuatan mereka untuk merebut kemenangan, namun gagal oleh sukacita kemenangan orang-orang Kudus. Untuk menyatakan kekalahan mereka, kita menertawai dan mengejek mereka. Mengapa mengejek? Karena Iblis telah kalah dalam perang melawan Yesus, dan ia tak lagi berkuasa atas kita. Iblis tak lagi menakutkan kita!

Dalam Perjanjian Baru, kita membaca, peperangan kita “bukanlah melawan darah dan daging, tetapi melawan pemerintah-pemerintah, melawan penguasa-penguasa, melawan penghulu-penghulu dunia yang gelap ini, melawan roh-roh jahat di udara” (Efesus 6:12). Kita percaya bahwa dengan iman, doa, dan ketaatan, orang-orang kudus milik Allah akan memenangkan peperangan melawan segala kuasa gelap.

Maka, kekalahan kuasa jahat dan gelap berkait dengan Halloween. Untuk itulah, Martin Luther memasang 95 dalilnya pada hari Halloween demi untuk mereformasi gereja yang telah terjebak oleh tipu muslihat iblis, dan menyesatkan umat. Ia sengaja memilih hari Halloween, saya kira, karena pada hari itulah umat berkumpul untuk berbakti di chapel sehingga ada peluang bagi para teolog atau rohaniwan yang umumnya mengerti Latin membaca selebaran tersebut. Sejak itu gereja-gereja Protestan merayakan Halloween sebagai hari Reformasi.

Sebagai penutup, mari renungkan sepotong kutipan dari seorang teolog Reformed Belanda, Herman Bavinck, The Christian Family, yang terbit di tahun 1908.

All good, enduring reformation begins with ourselves and takes its starting point in one’s own heart and life. If family life is indeed being threatened from all sides today, then there is nothing better for each person to be doing than immediately to begin reforming within one’s own circle and begin to rebuff with the facts themselves the sharp criticisms that are being registered nowadays against marriage and family. Such a reformation immediately has this in its favor, that it would lose no time and would not need to wait for anything. Anyone seeking deliverance from the state must travel the lengthy route of forming a political party, having meetings, referendums, parliamentary debates, and civil legislation, and it is still unknown whether with all that activity he will achieve any success. But reforming from within can be undertaken by each person at every moment, and be advanced without impediment.

Dan sebagai kenang-kenangan hari Reformasi, silakan Anda mengunduh (download) kuliah R.C. Sproul mengenai Luther dan Reformasi tanpa dipungut bayaran alias gratis. Jangan lewatkan, tawaran ini mungkin hanya berlaku untuk hari ini: ligonier.

Sabbath - Ceasing

I just want to share my sermon on Sabbath-Ceasing with you. My hope is that you may be blessed and strengthened by it. It was delivered in Indonesian at IRECT, my church in Canada.

Please click Ceasing.

I Owe Myself to Him Twice Over

In His first work of creation, He gave me myself. But in His new creation, He gave me Himself. By that gift of redemption, He also gave me back myself, restoring me to the self that I had lost. Given and regiven, I owe myself to Him twice over.

- Bernard of Clairvaux

Terjemahan bebas: Dalam karya penciptaan yang semula, Ia memberikan padaku diriku. Namun dalam penciptaan baru, Ia memberikan padaku diri-Nya. Dengan karunia penebusan itu, Ia pun memberikan diriku kembali, mengembalikanku pada diriku yg telah pernah hilang. Sudah diberi, diberi lagi, aku berhutang padanya dua kali.

Musik Penyembahan

Dalam A Song To Sing, A Life to Live: Reflections on Music as Spiritual Practice, Don Saliers, professor teologi dan penyembahan di Emory University, berpendapat bahwa the gift of music berasal dari Allah; Ia menanamnya dalam tubuh kita. Gift tersebut dapat kita rasakan dalam detak jantung, pernapasan, jeritan, dan gerak-gerik kita. Tak heran mengapa anak-anak kecil suka membuat bunyi-bunyian. Banyak permainan anak-anak disertai nyanyian. Anak-anak kecil sulit untuk quiet, karena hati mereka penuh dengan musik. Allah telah mengaruniakan suara dan musik dalam tubuh kita sebagai modal/bekal untuk menyembah Dia.

Ada 2 alasan mengapa kita bernyanyi dalam ibadah. Pertama, karena musik mempermulia, memperindah, kata-kata (speech) kita. Since music glorifies worship, we worship the Lord with music. Allah senang akan musik. Ia Allah yang bernyanyi. Ia memanggil kita untuk bernyanyi dan mengekspresikan pikiran dan perasaan kita dengan musical instruments. Coba baca kembali seluruh kitab Mazmur, Keluaran 15, Ulangan 32, semua ditulis untuk dinyanyikan. Ada sedikitnya 2 referensi dalam Perjanjian Baru yang membuktikan bahwa Tuhan Yesus sendiri bernyanyi (Matius 26:30; Roma 15:9).

Alasan kedua, musik mengingatkan kita dan Allah akan janji-janjiNya. Music is memorial. Memorial to us and to God. Tuhan memang tidak perlu diingatkan, tapi Ia berkenan diingatkan. Kalau hal ini terdengar asing bagi kita, tidaklah demikian, baik bagi believers di Perjanjian Lama maupun gereja mula-mula di Perjanjian Baru. Mengingatkan Allah akan janji-janjiNya sama sekali tak dipandang menghina Allah, sebaliknya merupakan ekspresi kebergantungan kita secara total padaNya. Karena dengan mengingatkan Allah, kita mereafirmasi covenant relationship denganNya, bahwa kita tak dapat bertahan hidup tanpa Ia setia memegang dan menggenapi janji-janjiNya.

Oleh karena itu, janganlah jemu-jemu kita bernyanyi, memuji, dan bersyukur pada Allah. Bernyanyilah tidak hanya saat kita bersukaria, tapi juga ketika kita sesak, tak berdaya. Tetaplah senandungkan pujian hingga sukacita memenuhi hati kita, hingga spirit kita terbangun, hingga kemuliaan Tuhan nyata.

Ingat Ibrani 13:15, “Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name.”

Jangan kita lalai membawa korban yang satu ini, korban pujian.

Dr. Packer's Honorary Doctorate

Dr. Packer is one of my theological heroes. I have learned a lot from his books. In fact, I have for a long time used his Grow in Christ and Concise Theology for instructing the catechumens at my church.

In the first video, you will see a short interview that was conducted by Carl Trueman, inquiring about the story of his repentance, how he got to know and became an addict of the puritans' writings, and so on. For me, it is really an inspiring interview. I enjoy it so much. The second video is the honorary doctorate service that is being done in absentia at Regent College, since Dr. Packer was unable to come to Westminster Theological Seminary, the institution that conferred the degree.

Penyembahan yang Indah

Seorang teolog berkebangsaan Skotlandia bernama James Denney pernah berkata, “You show me someone who hasn’t purchased a gift he couldn’t afford for someone he loves and I’ll show you someone who isn’t fit for the Kingdom.” Apa maknanya? Mengapa tidak fit for the Kingdom of God?

Buat saya ini:

Kita tak punya cukup uang atau waktu atau tenaga untuk membeli sebuah gift, namun karena rasa syukur di hati sudah meluap dan mendesak-desak, kita lakukan pula, dan kita persembahkan gift itu pada seseorang yang sungguh kita cintai. Ketika itu kita tak memerlukan kata-kata untuk menjelaskan perbuatan kita. We better be quiet, don’t spoil it. Perbuatan itu telah berbicara jauh lebih keras, jauh lebih banyak dari kata-kata yang dapat terucap.

Ingat persembahan perempuan tak bernama dalam Injil Markus 14:3-9.

Lalu mengapa Denney mengaitkannya dengan “fitting for the Kingdom?” Ya, karena Kerajaan Allah tak lain adalah Kerajaan Syukur. Hanya perbuatan yang lahir dari syukur yang fit bagi KerajaanNya.

Logika syukur berbeda dari logika akal sehat. Ditinjau dari logika akal sehat, pemberian perempuan itu jelas-jelas merupakan pemborosan, tidak pakai perhitungan, bodoh. Akan tetapi ditinjau dari logika syukur, melampaui kaidah akal sehat, pemberiannya justru merupakan tindakan yang indah. Dan bila dipersembahkan pada Tuhan, pemberian itu merupakan wujud penyembahan yang indah.

Apakah Tuhan tak layak menerima pemberian yang ”boros” dari kita? Tidakkah Tuhan sendiri telah memboroskan diri-Nya bagi kita?

This Momentary Marriage

This is simply wonderful. Friends, I just want you to watch this short video about a young married couple, Ian and Larissa. I got it from Desiring God, the website that provides God-centered resources from the ministry of Pastor John Piper. Introducing this lovely couple, he said, "Here is one of those testimonies. I tremble with the glad responsibility of introducing you to Ian & Larissa Murphy in this video. Tremble, because it is their story and so personal. So delicate. So easily abused. So unfinished. Glad, because Christ is exalted over all things."


If you are interested in reading the book they go through in the video, click This Momentary Marriage.

Acceptable Worship I

I. Apa itu WORSHIP?

The work of acknowledging all God’s worth.

Dalam Alkitab terdapat 2 grup istilah (Frame):

1. Abodah (Heb) / Latreia (Gr) = Labor/work/service yang dilakukan oleh priest di tabernacle/temple.

2. Shachah (Heb) / Proskuneo (Gr) = Sembah sujud/paying homage, honouring the worth of Someone else.

Jadi,

1. Worship itu active. Worship adalah kata kerja. Worship bukan tontonan atau hiburan. Worship menuntut keterlibatan kita.

2. Worship adalah pengagungan Dia yang superior atas kita. What matters bukanlah kepuasan kita, tetapi kepuasan Dia. Bukan better for us, tapi better for Him.

Untuk direnungkan: Adakah sikap beribadah kita yang tidak bersesuaian dengan prinsip ini?

II. Mengapa persembahan Habel yang diindahkan oleh Tuhan Allah? Baca Genesis 4:3-5a.

1. Persembahan Habel dibawa dengan IMAN (Hebrews 11:4).

2. Habel membawa firstlings (anak domba sulung) plus lemak-lemaknya.

Tuhan tahu benar hati Habel dan Kain. Iman Habel, khususnya, berkait dengan hope dan conviction akan keselamatan (Hebrews 11:1). Mengapa? Karena persembahan/ibadah Kain dan Habel merupakan ibadah Pasca-Kejatuhan (Post-Fall). Di sini, Tuhan memberi 1st lesson pada mereka: Persembahan mana atau apa yang acceptable to God. Tuhan berkenan pada firstlings dan lemak-lemaknya. Baca Leviticus 9:24, Psalm 66:15!

Untuk direnungkan: Adakah persembahan yang kita bawa pada Tuhan memuaskan hati-Nya?

III. Berpusat pada Kristus

Setiap ibadah Pasca-Kejatuhan haruslah dimediasi oleh Kristus. Karena Tuhan memilih persembahan Habel. Kita perlu beri perhatian pada Habel dan persembahannya.

Habel adalah type of Christ.

-          Ia seorang gembala.

-          Ia membawa kurban binatang - substitutionary atonement - digenapi dalam Yesus, korban sejati dan lebih baik.

-          Dibunuh tanpa salah/dosa. Darahnya berteriak menuntut keadilan. Darah Yesus pun berteriak memanggil Allah, lebih baik dan kuat. Teriakannya bukan untuk menghukum kita, sebaliknya untuk membebaskan kita. Ialah mediator kita, juru syafaat kita, pembela/advokat kita.

Untuk direnungkan:

Allah berkenan pada penyembah-penyembah yang active dan mengarahkan hati-pikirannya pada Yesus Kristus. Solus Christos = Christ alone. Berilah hormat, sembah, puji, mulia padaNya. Bagaimana melakukannya? Selama ini apa yang menghalangi kita melakukannya?

Khotbah Video, Mengapa Tidak Juga Ibadah Video?

Artikel ini mengingatkan saya pada sejarah perjalanan gereja kami. Carl Trueman, you nailed it again!

Multisite, the Poker Tell and the Importance of Presence

Any classic rock fan knows that there is nothing quite like hearing a live band.   A few years ago, I went to hear The Who (or at least Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend, the extant members).  I remember listening on the way home to a live recording of 'Won't Get Fooled Again' just after hearing the real thing in the stadium.  Even without Moon and Entwistle, the live performance was so much more powerful than the recording which, in the immediate aftermath of the concert, sounded like an anemic cover by a wannabe boy band.  The same thing applied next day to my watching of the video of the last time the original line-up ever played together, performing that very song.  It was simply not a patch on actually being there, despite the absence of Keith and John.

Istri Pendeta

Sebuah artikel bagus mengenai istri pendeta atau penatua. Silakan direnungkan!

Is There an Office for Pastors' Wives?

By Jonathan Leeman | 4.19.2012

What role should a pastor's wife or elder's wife play in the church? What are her responsibilities? How can she serve as a helpmate to her husband in the ministry? 

THERE IS NO "PASTOR'S WIFE" OFFICE

The first thing to say on this topic is that the Bible does not establish an office for "elder/pastor wife." It doesn't offer her a job description. This in turn means an elder's wife should not feel forced into some mold or set of expectations. Rather, an elder's wife should feel free to simply be a happy, healthy, growing Christian who seeks to fulfill the "one another" commands in the context of her church just like every other member should.

Why go to church

Video singkat yang nanti bisa Anda saksikan memuat Q-A (Canadian bilang, "Q-Eh.") dengan Marva Dawn, salah satu teolog favorit saya. Dalam observasinya, Dawn menemukan bahwa orang Kristen sendiri, entah sadar atau tidak, telah memisahkan penyembahan dari pelayanan. Kita sering bilang, "Ini hari Minggu, saya mau pergi ke gereja." Menurut Dawn, itu BAD THEOLOGY. Dan jika kita speak bad theology, kita live bad theology. Kita pergi ke gereja, participate dalam kehidupan gereja, merasa sebagai gereja, hanya 1 minggu sekali. Sudah itu kita kembali seperti sediakala, menjadi dunia: berpikir seperti dunia, berlaku seperti dunia. Keadaan kita perburuk dengan motivasi mencari hiburan (music, songs, sermon) dalam kebaktian. Kalau tidak dapat di sini, kita cari di tempat lain.

Fear of the LORD and Wisdom

Post ini merupakan response saya terhadap pertanyaan seseorang. Semoga menjadi berkat bagi anda juga.

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight." - Prov. 9:10

1. Apa artinya takut akan Tuhan?

Tim Keller memberi jawaban yang sangat baik; saya berhutang padanya. Ini yang ia katakan:

Free e-book

The Logos Bible Software is giving away J. C. Ryle, Holiness: Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties, and Roots. You can download it for free until midnight, February 6, 2012. Here is the link.

Pelajaran Berpuasa

Sebenarnya saya memulai disiplin abstinence (berpantang) sejak Lent tahun lalu. Buahnya adalah berat badan saya turun 12 kilo - dari 100 kilo hingga 88 kilo. Sejak itu saya belajar untuk makan tidak berlebihan (diet) dan berolah raga secara regular. Kemarin dan hari ini (in process) saya mulai lagi berpuasa. God willing, saya hendak melakukannya setiap minggu.

Berpuasa atau berdiet

Dari pengalaman pribadi, saya menemukan perbedaan antara berpuasa dan berdiet. Dalam berdiet saya menahan diri dari makan dan minum secara berlebihan, tapi tidak dari hal-hal lain. Artinya, saya masih melakukan apapun yang saya sukai tanpa limit. Saya tidur larut hingga pukul 2 pagi, kadang malah lebih. Saya main game, facebook-an, browsing selama berjam-jam, nonstop.

Dalam berpuasa, saya memusatkan perhatian pada Tuhan, membuka hati selebar-lebarnya untuk mendengar sapaan dan panggilan lembut-Nya. Jam makan saya ganti dengan jam doa. Saya berdoa syafaat bagi beberapa anggota Jemaat, dan pergumulan saya sendiri. Dalam berpuasa, saya peka terhadap waktu, oleh karena saya tidak ingin hal-hal yang tak penting (junk) mengganggu saya berelasi intim dengan Tuhan. Ya, dalam arti tertentu, berpuasa dapat juga dilihat sebagai berpantang makan ’junk food’ dengan hanya mengasup ’heavenly healthy food.’

Disiplin

Bagi saya, disiplin berpuasa penting, terutama bagi pelayan-pelayan Tuhan. Berpuasa mengingatkan kita akan apa atau siapa yang sesungguhnya memuaskan hati kita. Berpuasa bertujuan untuk membebaskan diri kita dari belenggu keinginan-keinginan daging dan mata yang tanpa terasa telah mendominasi tubuh, pikiran, dan imajinasi kita. Berpuasa juga meringankan hati kita untuk melayani Tuhan dan sesama kita.

Tidak bisa tidak, berpuasa harus dibedakan dari diet. Berpuasa adalah sebentuk doa - berdoa secara intensif, ekspresi kebergantungan total kepada Tuhan.

Do You Have a Set Honorarium, Preacher?

This interesting blogpost by Prof. Stackhouse I unexpectedly found when I was browsing through internet on preachers' honoraria. Google is amazing. Just by inserting "honorarium" and "preacher," his article showed up as the first in the list. Check and read, folks! Your church will be much healthier by reading and considering his thoughts here.

By Their Honoraria Ye Shall Know Them
February 13, 2007

(A number of friends have asked me to make this article–published originally in the Canadian journal ChristianWeek–available in this form. So here it is.)

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The way some Christian churches and other organizations pay their speakers, it makes me embarrassed to be a member of the same faith.

Bloodlines For Free

Bloodlines was the book that I purchased because I was planning to preach about the sin of racial discrimination at my church. But unfortunately, I did not have a chance to execute my plan yet. So the book is now just kept in my old white bookcase. You know, pastors like to collect books. Anyway, I would actually like to let you know that today Desiring God has made the book available for free download.

John Piper, the author, says:

Bloodlines is one of the most autobiographical books I have written. It tells my story from racism to the path of redemption. I preached on the theme of Bloodlines yesterday to mark Martin Luther King weekend. The title of the message was “From Bloodlines to Bloodline.” I argued that God is calling his people to move from the alienation of many bloodlines to the reconciliation of the single bloodline that began on the cross of Christ.

I urged my people to read the book. Not because I care about selling books, but because I want them to know my story, to be aware to the global relevance of the issue, and to feel the hope that comes from the power of the gospel.

In making the book available in a PDF version online for free we are trying to remove every obstacle that might keep you from that experience.

Chapter six is the one I tried to unpack in this week's message (to be posted shortly). It is close to the center of the Gospel’s relevance for perseverance in the cause of Christ-exalting ethnic diversity.

Jesus and Religion

I just want to share this critical commentary on Bethke's Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus video that has been viral among facebookers. This will also kinda explain why I don't completely agree with Bethke, but still love him.

Does Jesus Hate Religion? Kinda, Sorta, Not Really
Kevin DeYoung

There’s a new You Tube video going viral and it’s about Jesus and religion.

Specifically how Jesus hates religion.

The video—which in a few days has gone from hundreds of views to thousands to millions—shows Jefferson Bethke, who lives in the Seattle area, delivering a well-crafted, sharply produced, spoken word poem. The point, according to Bethke, is “to highlight the difference between Jesus and false religion.” In the past few days I’ve seen this video pop up all over Facebook. I’ve had people from my church say they like it. Some has asked me what I think. Others have told me there’s something off about the poem, but they can’t quite articulate what it is. I’ll try to explain what that is in a moment. But first watch the video for yourself.



Before I say anything else, let me say Jefferson Bethke seems like a sincere young man who wants people to know God’s scandalous grace. I’m sure he’s telling the truth when he says on his Facebook page: “I love Jesus, I’m addicted to grace, and I’m just a messed up dude trying to make Him famous.” If I met him face to face, I bet I’d like Jefferson and his honesty and passion. I bet I’d be encouraged by his story and his desire to free people from the snares of self-help, self-righteous religion.

Free E-books from Monergism

If you have kindle reader, ipad, ipod touch, or any other kind of tablets that can operate mobi and epub files, here is the link to the classical theological e-resource: monergism. All is free. I actually just downloaded Calvin's Institutes of Christian Religion, Berkhof's Summary of Christian Doctrine, de Bres's The Belgic Confession of Faith (1561). So enjoy the books and be glad in the Lord.

Memorization

We are oftentimes cynical about memorizing the Bible. But Philip Yancey finds it beneficial in helping him recognizing God's voice. Debra Rienstra calls the process of memorization "stocking up" on words of the Bible, "giving the Spirit a bigger repertoire to work with in speaking to you - more Post-its on the bulletin board." Ben Patterson has an encouraging comment on Bible memorization:

Paul's prayers are especially good for this. Take, for example, his prayer for the Ephesians, that "the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints." Or, "that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." The thought of memorizing prayers seems an artificial and stilted way to restore something as vital as spiritual hunger. but consider what Rabbi Abraham Heschel said to the members of his synagogue who complained that the words of the liturgy should express what they felt. He told them that it was not that the liturgy should express what they feel, but that they should learn to feel what the liturgy expressed. Recited faithfully, great thoughts put into great words can do that for us.... Memorization can be to our hunger for God what practicing a musical instrument is for performance. It can be the singing of the scales of the soul.

Logos Bible Software Free Books

The Logos Bible Software is giving away a book every month starting in January 2012. Click here! You can also subscribe to their mailing list to get the info on their future freebies and free books.

January’s Free Book of the Month is John Owen’s Temptation and Sin. This book contains:

• On the Mortification of Sin
• On Temptation
• On Indwelling Sin in Believers
• Exposition of Psalm 130

Temptation and Sin is more than a fanciful book on behavior modification; this is a powerful resource for anyone looking  to understand and battle sin. Theologian J. I. Packer has admitted to owing more to John Owen than to any other theologian—and owing “more to On Mortification of Sin than to anything else he wrote.”

Not only can you pick up your free copy of Temptation and Sin, you can enter to win the 24-volume Works of John Owen! Just head over to the Free Book of the Month page to download your free book and enter the giveaway!