What Kind of Knowledge?

We read this quote in a museum this week: 'Learn if you are wise, for knowledge is worth more than an inheritance. An inheritance will fail you, knowledge will feed you.' 

The Bible teaches that 'the fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge' (Proverbs 1:7), so Christians must be nuanced as we talk about knowledge.  On the one hand, it can puff up (1 Cor 8:1); but on the other hand, we are to be mature in our thinking (1 Cor 14:20) and to think over what the Bible says for the Lord will give us understanding in everything  (2 Timothy 2:7).


What really is knowledge apart from a godward orientation? Foolishness (1 Cor 1:20).


Can't wait to attend (virtually) the conference next month on this topic!

Kilby: How to Wield the World in the Fight for Joy

John Piper in one of his books commended a lecture with 11 resolutions that Wheaton professor Clyde Kilby gave in Minneapolis years ago, resolutions to help us marvel at our God and Savior who made the universe:

1. At least once every day I shall look steadily up at the sky and remember that I, a consciousness with a conscience, am on a planet traveling in space with wonderfully mysterious things above me and about me
2. I shall suppose the universe guided by an Intelligence which, as Aristotle said of Greek drama, requires a beginning, a middle, and an end
3. I shall not fall into the falsehood that this day, or any day, is merely another ambiguous and plodding twenty-four hours, but rather a unique even filled, if I so wish, with worthy potentialities
4. I shall not turn my life into a thin straight line which prefers abstractions to reality
5. I shall not demean my own uniquesness by envy of others...Mostly I shall simply forget about myself and do my work 
6. I shall open my eyes and ears. Once every day I shall simply stare at a tree, a flower, a cloud, or a person. I shall not be concerned at all to ask what they are but simply be glad that they are
7. I shall sometimes look back at the freshness of vision I had in childhood and try to be a "child of...dreaming eyes of wonder"
8. I shall follow Darwin's advice [ironically] and turn frequently to imaginative things such as good literature and good music
9. I shall try to live well just now because the only time that exists is just now
10. I shall assume my ancestry to be from the heavens rather than from the caves
11. I shall bet my life in the assumption that this world is not idiotic, neither run by an absentee landlord, but that today, this very day, some stroke is being added to the cosmic canvas that in due course I shall understand with joy as a stroke made by the architect who calls Himself Alpha and Omega 

Advice to Graduates: Worship God Now and Forever

Pastor Dan Holst at Bethlehem Baptist Church recently wrote this wise advice to the graduates:

"Worshiping the great triune God is to be our primary pastime in this life because it will be our primary pastime in the life to come" - Romans 12:1 and Revelation 21:23-26.

Some other pastors' advice:

• "Know the terrain of God's word better than the back of your hand" - Pastor John Piper
• "Above all else, guard your heart" - Tim Johnson, Elder Chairman
• "Cameron Townsend's [life motto]: Adilente! Siempre Adilente! ('Forward...always forward!')." - Pastor David Livingston

Worship and John 13

Ernst-August Gutt and John 13

Recently, I was pondering John 13:30: "As soon as Judas had taken the bread he went out. And it was night."  That last sentence - ἦν δὲ νύξ, 'And it was night'- communicated much more than just the time of day.

According to Dr. Gutt, we can infer several things in context:

• Judas was leaving the presence of Jesus, the Light of the world (John 3:19)
• It was night not only around Judas, but also in his heart
• It is dangerous to walk in the night (John 12:35), to destruction
• With Judas' departure, night had also fallen on the work of Jesus, as He predicted (John 9:4; 12:35)

Worship

Gutt wrote, "I think I spent more than half an hour pondering those three words, and did not exhaust their intrepretation but kept on discovering new, exciting insights." (p. 54). 

In other words: Gutt was worshipping and praising God as he studied.  And so was I, thinking about John 13 and reading a book about linguistics and relevance theory!

Related: 

Worship: Theology to Doxology

Worship: Theology to Doxology

A story that Tom Steller and John Piper onced shared with us when I was in TBI made an incredible mark on me:

In 1977, John Piper's Bethel students spontaneously sang the doxology at the culminating arc of Romans 9-11. Romans 11:36 was part of prompting that unplanned eruption of praise: “From him, through him, and to him are all things. To him be glory forever.”  Pastor John's point in sharing that story with us was that theology should lead to doxology; knowing God and His Word should prompt us to worship Him.