Depression, anxiety and work

“We have responsibility before God to work: it’s part of our created nature, and God has purposed for us to work diligently. We are not to be lazy, wasting away our time idly; we are to be busy rather than busybodies, and burden-sharing rather than burdensome.

But what does this mean for the person who suffers from depression or anxiety?…”

– ACL Council member Scott Newling writes with some encouragement. At The Australian Church Record. It might be just what you need today.

Helpful, free, e-books

In exchange for your e-mail address, the Good Book Company is giving away the free e-book ‘Transgender’ by Vaughan Roberts.

Really worth downloading as a short overview of the issues we are facing in society and in the Church and how to provide a Christian response. From this link.

The Good Book company is also giving away a free ebook of expository preaching by David Helm – also well worth grabbing.

Another helpful book – this one from Monergism – The Sovereignty of God by A.W.Pink.

Claire Smith interviewed about God’s Good Design: What the Bible Really Says about Men and Women

“It is an especially sensitive subject in our culture, but Christians still must come to grips with the biblical teaching regarding the roles of men and women in the church and in the home – perhaps especially so since it is such a sensitive subject.

Claire Smith’s book, God’s Good Design: What the Bible Really Says about Men and Women, is a refreshingly clear study of the subject, and we are happy to see it now available in its second edition. …”

– Fred Zaspel, editor at Books At a Glance, speaks with Claire Smith.

(The book is available from Matthias Media.)

Hey Ministers and Theologians: When it comes to the secular workplace, you just don’t get it

“The Israel Folau storm has exposed many things, and this is one of them: many ministry workers have little idea of the pressures people face in the modern workplace. They just don’t get it. Not that it stops them making big statements about it.

If you’re a Christian ministry worker and you’ve had a lot to say about Izzy (either for or against) the last few weeks on social media, then it might be time to get off Facebook and have a listen to the people in your congregation who hold down a job Monday to Friday. …”

– Steve McAlpine’s latest article is published at the Gospel Coalition Australia.

The Prodigal

“I was recently asked to speak on the story of the Prodigal Son, a story which you can find in any Bible. The story is a famous one and often used proverbially in words like, “the prodigal returns”. Some literary giants have described this story as the greatest story ever written. For me it is the greatest story I have never really addressed. So in this article I thought I would invite you into the story that Jesus tells.

The story is really about three shameful people. …”

– Bishop of Armidale, Rick Lewers, continues to write helpful pieces for his local newspaper. Here’s the latest. Many of these could be useful conversation-starters.

How should we respond when a church leader is guilty of abuse?

“I have been asked to reflect, in the light of the bible and Christian theology, on how we should respond when it comes to light that a church leader has been guilty of abuse.

I recently wrote a blog post asking in more general terms, how we should respond when a church leader falls. All that is said there applies here.

But this paper addresses a more particular situation involving abuse, and two kinds of abuse in particular. …”

– Christopher Ash (pictured) has written a very helpful paper (PDF file) to assist Christians responding to some distressing news which has recently come to light, and which was discussed in public at last week’s Evangelical Ministry Assembly in London.

Christ’s body: A brief history (Ephesians 4:11–13)

“…if you care a lot about organisation, strategy, and leadership, then you can end up reading the Bible entirely through the lens of those particular concerns. You can start to believe that the most important questions in the world are pragmatic questions.

And so you can assume that the Bible is written to give you answers to those questions.

So, for example, you can end up reading passages describing the church and ministry as if they’re extracts from a handbook designed to answer Roman-style questions: Who’s in charge? What does the organisational chart look like? What are the various offices and what exactly do they do? What’s the division of labour? …”

– At Forget the Channel, Lionel Windsor draws our attention to Ephesians 4.

Reading or speaking the Bible?

“Words are the lifeblood of relationships.

When a person speaks to another, the speaker reveals something of themselves to the hearer; when the hearers listens, they come to know the speaker better. …“

– At The Australian Church Record, ACL Council member Scott Newling reflects on reading and hearing the Bible.

Have all our changes been good ones?

“Perhaps it is an opportune time to ask ourselves about some of the changes that have occurred in church ministry in the last little while. It would be good to begin a conversation about whether those changes are all as good as we might have thought them to be.”

– Moore College Principal Dr Mark Thompson asks some questions about change, in order to provoke discussion.

See them, and consider your response, at Theological Theology.

How might Folau’s court case impact religious freedom?

“A victory in his case would be helpful as sending a message that believers have the freedom to speak in accordance with their faith, even when saying something that offends. And perhaps in persuading employers that they should not try to rely on over-broad “codes of conduct”. …

If he loses his case, it will in my view send a message to corporate Australia that they can require uniformity of opinion on controversial topics. It may lead to further restrictions on what Christians can say in public.”

– The Gospel Coalition Australia speaks with Associate Professor Neil Foster about the decision by Israel Folau to begin legal proceedings against Rugby Australia.

Some Research on Preaching in the Presbyterian Church of Victoria

“In March each year the Presbyterian Theological Centre in Victoria runs a Pastors’ conference to encourage faithful and engaging expository preaching in our churches. … I presented an audit report on preaching in Presbyterian churches in Victoria.

In conducting the audit I listened online to 40 preachers, with at least one from each of the 13 Presbyteries in the state. …”

– David Cook shares some encouragement – at AP, the National Journal of the Presbyterian Church of Australia.

(You might remember that Peter Jensen conducted a similar exercise in 2016.)

Male and female: Equality and order in Genesis 1:27

“I’ve recently picked up the Kindle version of Kevin Giles’s book What the Bible Actually Teaches on Women (Eugene: Cascade, 2018).

While I’m not in agreement with Giles on every issue, I expect to learn some things from his book. I expect come to a greater understanding of how egalitarian exegesis works, from an influential and prolific exponent of this position. And I expect to be challenged to see areas where I and other complementarians need to change in some way: perhaps repent, or at least sharpen up. Indeed, I have learned a number of useful things already (for more, see below).

Yet I’ve also been a little disappointed at certain points by how Giles treats his complementarian opponents. … I think the way this particular discussion has proceeded ends up hindering, rather than helping, constructive discussion about the Bible.”

– Dr. Lionel Windsor interacts with the latest contribution from Kevin Giles.

Reading the Bible Upside Down

“As the dust settles around Pope Francis’s approval of changing the translation of the Lord’s Prayer, there is one vital angle on this that has not received much attention – the implications of the pope’s rationale for the change.

The pope’s decision to approve the change from the traditional translation “‘Lead us not into temptation’ to ‘Do not let us fall into temptation’ was based on this reported rationale…”

– John Piper writes about the issue of authority in what we believe about God. The authority of the Pope? Or the authority of God’s revealed Word. (This is the same issue Martin Luther tackled five hundred years ago.)

Wrath: The Divine Reality we’d like to gloss over (but mustn’t)

“On July 8, 1741, in a church in Enfield, Massachusetts, USA, Jonathan Edwards rose to preach what has become probably the most infamous sermon of all time. His text was Deuteronomy 32:35 –

‘ …their foot shall slide in due time’. But it was the title that has stuck in our collective imaginations: ‘Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.’

It conjures up images of poor helpless sinners being dangled by their ankles above the roaring fires of hell. At the time it is reported that many of the listeners were hysterical with fear afterwards. Some have labelled it ‘the most powerful sermon ever preached’. …”

– Tim Thorburn writes at the Gospel Coalition Australia.