Christmas, Theology, Advent, Church, Hospitality
John Beeson
The Faithfulness of God of the Manger

Recently we had someone over and as the night came to a close Angel warmly offered, “Let’s do this again soon!” I wilted as I processed just how many things were on our calendar in the coming month. Just like Angel did, I wanted to be with them again and soon, but her invitation made me flinch.

 

My wife Angel and I are very different people. Angel brings light and life everywhere. People are drawn to her, and she is drawn to people. One of the many things I love about Angel is how she gets caught up in a moment with people. In that space, it’s not unusual that she shares hopes with those we are with of spending more time together. And she means it: there is no doubt of her genuineness.

The Faithfulness of God of the Manger
Advent, Christmas, Theology
John Beeson
A Humble God?

“I don’t compare myself with anybody, but nobody is better.” Michael Jordan

“They say the sky’s the limit, but I think my potential is beyond it.” Jay-Z

“I won’t be happy until I’m as famous as God” Madonna

“I won’t be a rock star. I will be a legend.” Freddie Mercury

“We’re more popular than Jesus now.” John Lennon

We tend to expect that greatest among us are also some of the most arrogant. And why wouldn’t they be? For many who make it to the top of their field, we can see how that arrogance can be a driving force for their greatness.

A Humble God?
Christmas, Forgiveness, Theology
John Beeson
The Just and the Justifier

God became flesh.

Let that sink in. Christianity asserts that God—sovereign, immutable, omnipotent, other—the eternal God who has no beginning and end—became a human being.

 Because many of us have had exposure to Christianity from our early years, it is easy to miss how massive the theological implications of the incarnation are. The incarnation lays the groundwork for a God who chooses to participate in his creation. The incarnation denies the existence of an abstract and distant God, unmuddied by his handiwork.

The Just and the Justifier
Advent, Christmas, Theology
John Beeson
The Theology of the Manger

“God did not, as the Bible says, create man in his own image; on the contrary, man created God in his own image.” Ludwig Feuerbach dropped this theological bombshell three years before Friedrich Nietzsche’s birth. Feuerbach, a name forgotten by most, but who influenced Nietzsche, wrote these words in his book, The Essence of Christianity (1841). He argued that human beings project their own attributes and desires onto an imagined deity, creating God in their own image. This for Feuerbach, is the essence of Christianity (and indeed all religions), the deification of our human ideals. “What man wishes to be, he makes his God… God is the outward projection of a man’s inward nature.”

The Theology of the Manger
Death, Gratitude, Prayer, Suffering
John Beeson
Go To a Funeral

We Westerners avoid death.

 

When was the last time you walked through a cemetery? When was the last funeral you went to? Our churches no longer have cemeteries, those who are older head to retirement communities and then to head to long-term care or assisted care facilities. The number of funerals held in churches has diminished. Death has become professionalized, antisepticised, and remote.

Go To a Funeral

Dane Ortlund

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Wrestling With Rest

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Wrestling With Rest

God made Adam and Eve to have dominion over his creation (Gen. 1:26-27). Plants were planted, cultivated, trimmed, and harvested. Delighted in his work, God rested on the seventh day “and made it holy” (Gen. 2:3). This is God’s rhythm: we are invited to work with him for six days and then rest on the seventh. Which is harder for you? Working the six or resting on the seventh?

Rest has been a consistent challenge in my life. As a type A overachiever, the do’s of Christianity come more naturally than the invitation to rest. Our culture struggles with rest. What passes for rest is usually recreation and entertainment. Good things, but not rest.

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What I Read in 2022 (and perhaps some books you might want to read in 2023)

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What I Read in 2022 (and perhaps some books you might want to read in 2023)

How much would you pay to meet your favorite celebrity? $100? $1,000?? $10,000??? The number isn’t insignificant, is it? Listening to the stories and wisdom from those we trust is worth quite a bit, isn’t it?

This year Angel and I worked hard to bring our first co-written book entitled Substitute Identities to publication. Right now it is in the hands of our publisher’s copy editor, and we can’t wait to share it with you. The process of pouring our hearts into this book makes me reflect on just what gifts books are. While we might be willing to pay exorbitant sums to sit at the feet of the world’s best thinkers, it only takes $10-$20 to listen to these spinners of tales. Isn’t that amazing?

So, however many books you read in 2022, maybe you might be blessed to read a few more in 2023, and perhaps some of my favorites might point you to a few gems.

In 2022 so far, I’ve read 110 books and hope to read a handful more before the year closes. I’ve been blessed to read a wide variety of good books this year. I’ll begin with my four favorite books of 2022, followed by the entire list of books I read. I hope you find some gems for you in this.

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Need a Book for the Pool?

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Need a Book for the Pool?

Summer is here! Looking for some good books to dive into this summer? Here are some of my favorite books I’ve read over the first half of this year that I think you’ll love.

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

  1. What Was Paul’s Thorn in the Flesh? Dane Ortlund shares, “The presence of God will sustain Paul; the power of God will strengthen him. What we must not miss is that it is not Paul’s strength but God’s. Paul’s contribution is weakness. But this is not a concession; it is precisely what God needs. This is the mystery, the wonder, the glory, of apostolic Christianity: our weakness attracts, not repels, God’s own power. Our lowness and incapacities, which we naturally fear and flee, are precisely where God loves to dwell.”

  2. 22 Vital Stats for Ministry in 2022: This is a loaded post. I’ll be thinking about many of these. This is one important data point, “Few American adults identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (5.6%), according to Gallup, but the numbers are much higher among younger generations (15.9% of Gen Z). Almost every Christian student will have an LGBTQ friend or classmate, so church leaders must speak on issues of sexuality with truth and love.”

  3. Endangered Attention: Scott Hubbard reminds us that, “When we give someone our full attention — our patient, focused, self-forgetful gaze — we look a little like God.”

  4. Shall We Cancel the Theologians? Carl Trueman asks how we should respond to the fact that many Christian heroes have significant sins: Jonathan Edwards owned slaves, Martin Luther hated Jews, and Martin Luther King Jr was a womanizer, for instance. He asks, “The question—and it is a very legitimate question—is whether we should continue to take seriously such men who failed so signally to conform to moral positions that we now regard as self-evident and, indeed, a consistent application of the Christianity into which they both had such signal insights. Should we cancel them?”

  5. We Just Wanted to Be Bad Guys: This kid. Hilarious.

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What I Read in 2021 (and Maybe What You Should Read in 2022)

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What I Read in 2021 (and Maybe What You Should Read in 2022)

I’ve been able to hit the 100-plateau of books the past few years. This year I read 111 books (the symmetry of that number made me smile). If you wonder how I read that much, this post might help spur you on and provide some practical pointers in your reading journey in 2022. I love reading for many reasons. It’s a gift to be in conversation with a multitude of wise voices, to be invited into the imaginative worlds of some of the best minds of our time, and to grow in empathy and understanding as I step into the shoes of those very different from myself.

I love the gift of reading books with friends. Most of the books I read are recommended by friends and I love it when friends read a book I recommend. If you read any of the books recommended below, I would love to hear what you think. And I would love to hear what your favorite books of 2021 were. If you want fuller reviews on any of the books listed above or just want to connect on an ongoing basis about reading, I encourage you to friend me on Goodreads.

Let me start with my three favorite books of 2021, and then we will get to the rest of the action:

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This Week’s Recommendations

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This Week’s Recommendations

  1. Sin is Death? Pierce Taylor Hibbes begins his profound post on how we can say that sin is death this way, ““Sin is death” sounds like something you’d hear echoing from a bullhorn in a city that embraces noise as part of its culture.”

  2. What Lewis Had Wrong About Hell: Paul Dirks confronts CS Lewis’s notion that the gates of hell are locked from the inside. He explains that, “In other words, man’s will to populate hell thwarts God’s desire that they should be in heaven. In Lewis’ view, God—in a particular but important sense—is eternally defeated.”

  3. Why You Must Leverage Your Self-Despair: Dane Ortlund doesn’t want us to waste our discouragement. He says, “Fallen human beings enter into joy only through the door of despair. Fullness can be had only through emptiness.”

  4. Is there Such a Thing as Righteous Anger? Maybe not. Marli begins, “As a teenager, I took a hunter safety course at a Christian retreat center that also hosts hunting groups. On the wall by one of the main doors, there was a spattering of holes, scars from a shotgun accident. Thankfully it only injured the wall, and turned into a convenient object lesson for gun safety. A sign next to the hole reads, “There’s no such thing as an empty gun.”

  5. Ocean Depth Comparison: Oh, how little we know!

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Digging Deeper into Rest

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Digging Deeper into Rest

We have been navigating a sermon series that has been a while in the making here at New Life. It is called Rest. If you’re interested in digging into the sermon series, you can find it here. Sabbath has been an interest of Greg’s for years. In fact, growing up Jewish, understanding a Christian perspective on Sabbath was a stumbling block to Greg’s conversion.

As a type A overachiever, rest has been a very personal challenge to me. The do’s of Christianity come more naturally than the invitation to rest. Our culture struggles with rest. What passes for rest is usually recreation and entertainment. Good things, but not rest.

If you want to dig deeper into rest, here are some books that have helped me in growing in what it means to follow the way of Christ. I hope they help you as well

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What I Read in 2020 (and What You Might Want to Read in 2021)

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What I Read in 2020 (and What You Might Want to Read in 2021)

In 2019 I read 101 books, which was a personal high for me, at least since I’ve been keeping track. I expected to tail off that number in 2020. And then COVID-19 struck. With fewer social gatherings than ever and more quiet nights at home, my reading actually increased. A new high-water mark for books resulted: 115.

2020 was also a year that provided plenty of internal reasons to need the companion of books. I read loads from other pastors and leaders on how they were navigating leading through COVID (given the immediacy of the issue, most of that was by way of blogs, not books). The fracturing of the nation over issues of race and racism had me diving deep on that topic. I’m still processing much of that, but I do plan on sharing more about what I’m learning about race and racism on my blog in the future.

2020 also saw the publication of my first book (co-authored with Benjamin Vrbicek), giving me a new appreciation for the labor of love every author has in bringing a book into the world. Thank you to those who read Blogging for God’s Glory in a Clickbait World. I’m grateful you let Benjamin and I spend several hours with you.

Let me start with my three favorite books of 2020.

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What is the Shape of Jesus' Heart?

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What is the Shape of Jesus' Heart?

Do you know Jesus’ heart? How do you think his heart is inclined toward you? Does that thought make you flinch?

In Gentle and Lowly Dane Ortlund wants us to get to know God’s heart. Ortlund believes that many of us misunderstand God’s heart. We think he’s frustrated and disappointed with us, irritated with our lack of obedience.

Ortlund takes us to Matthew 11, where Jesus says, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Here Jesus tells us about his heart. In fact, Ortlund tells us, it’s the only time he speaks about his heart in the Bible. And what does Jesus say characterizes his heart? That he is “gentle and lowly.”

Is that how you think about Jesus’ heart in relation to you? Jesus’ heart is gentle and lowly. It is love incarnate. Thomas Goodwin said, “Christ is love covered over in flesh.”

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