Bovine Theology

I’d never heard this song. I enjoyed the verses but the “refrain” hit my like a bat on the forehead. It shouldn’t have, but it did.

Today we worshipped at East Lanier, where our pastor preached on the importance of church planting. It was wonderful to worship again with this body and to see many familiar faces and friends. Ralph preached from Acts 8:4, from which he encouraged us to preach the Gospel as we are going. Often I think of preaching the Gospel as an event, but from both this passage as well as the Great Commission passage in Matthew, we see that we are to make disciples “as we are going.” This means that it is not an event in our lives, but a way of living our lives. We are to live out the Gospel. One of the things that I’ve come to appreciate through this trial of cancer is how God is in the midst of interweaving so many tapestries “as we are going.” We never know who has gone before us and who will come after us. As we live out the Gospel, which more than often should include us sharing the Gospel with our words, God is at work in the lives of those around us, bring our actions and those of others in the Body, together for His glory. We’ve seen this at work in the ministry of those caring for us. So many people have done so many individual acts of ministry, but God has woven them together to meet every need we’ve had. I often think of wanting to do everything for others. There are so many needs around us. But God has gifted me to do just certain things, as He has others, and He gets the glory for bringing them all together. The same is true in church planting. God scatters his people out to do that which He has enabled us to do. When we obey, we see His work in all its glory. As the Scripture says, some sow, some water, and some reap. When we fail to obey, it doesn’t tie God’s hands. He still works, which is a beautiful thing. He is gracious, carrying out His will beyond our mistakes. But oh the pleasure we can enjoy when we obey Him. When we walk by the Spirit, and follow His leading, we get to witness the tapestry of His glory. One of the songs we sang this morning, from Psalm 73 I believe, dealt with the selfishness we often find ourselves in as we see others who apparently are thriving. We wallow in self-pity, asking “why me?” It is easy for us to do this, whether we are dealing with cancer, death, financial struggles, or relational difficulties. But when we walk by the Spirit, the scales are peeled back from our eyes so that we get small glimpses of what God is doing. Our struggles aren’t about us, any more than our victories. Both are to be lived through, for the glory of God. He is using both, weaving them together, weaving them with the lives of others, to proclaim His great name and His great worth. When we preach the Gospel, as we are going, where we are in the place God has put us, we have the opportunity to revel in His work. When we wallow in self-pity, and ask “why me?” we continually miss what God is doing. He doesn’t cease His work because we disobey. He is the King. He still works. But we can enjoy the tapestry He is weaving, and stand in awe of who He is and all that He is, when we simply obey Him. So today, as you are going, live out the Gospel. Ask God to give you His perspective. When you feel like life is flopping, plead with God to give you eyes to see. He is at work. It’s a glorious thing!

Tomorrow Leslie begins pre-planning. Please pray for strength for her this week. Pray that God would protect her body from the bugs that like to float around elementary schools. But more than anything, pray that as she goes about her work that the fragrance of the Gospel would emanate around her so that others see her not with eyes of pity, but with eyes of appreciation for our great God!

It was a good day for yardwork today, cool and wet. I spent the better part of the day digging holes and planting bushes, pulling weeds and laying mulch. It was a good reminder of the joy of manual labor. I wish I could do it more. I’m sure I’ll sleep well tonight. Now, it’s time to unwind and read a bit… 

I was surprised today to learn that Francis Beckwith, President of the Evangelical Theological Society (or former president), has returned to the Roman Catholic church (see the link for his blog). James White has blogged about this. James also wrote recently on Dave Hunt’s low view of God’s sovereignty.

The Jollyblogger has a good quote from Martin Luther that I find refreshing today.

Steve Camp is always writing thought-provoking things on his blog. I enjoyed this article on preaching. It is a good reminder for both preachers and hearers to rely on the Spirit of God rather than on the power or eloquence of the preacher. In this day we have access to the best of preachers through the Internet and CDs that are readily available. And so after a steady diet of the best it may be hard as a hearer to walk away from your weekly church service less than disappointed. But our disappointment ought to convict us. It’s not that our preachers fail (unless they fail to preach the Word) so much as it is our failure to hear God’s Word by the power of His Spirit. We ought to enter our churches with the mindset of hearing from God, not from man.

If Calvinism scares you, you’ll like this new software.

For those who have heard about John MacArthur’s recent address at the 2007 Shepherd’s Conference, but have not been able to listen to it, Sam Waldron has posted a transcript of it here.

I’m too tired to write much tonight, so I’ll share some good reading with you.

John Piper has written a compelling article entitled “The Morning I Heard the Voice of God.” I read it with a great deal of discomfort. That was convicting! But I finished it in deep worship of God.

Anthony Carter shares his recent talk at a men’s retreat calling them to have “a bigger, better, more biblical picture of God.”

Van Edwards gives us a glimpse into his personal worship of God in reading through Exodus.

Dan Barber, a friend of mine studying at Covenant Theological Seminary, has done his homework in dealing with the recent “discovery” of Jesus’ tomb. Click here to read it. Dr. Steve Cowan of the Apologetics Resource Center has also written on this subject.

Steve Camp has written a two-part series (so far) entitled “There is none like Him: recovering a high view and reverence of God.” Part 1 | Part 2

J.W. Hendryx has written “Jesus Christ: The Interpretive Key to the Scripture.”

Finally, Glenn Lucke shares his tribute to Dustin Salter, a young RUF pastor who recently died. I did not know Dustin but I know several people who knew him and whose lives have been impacted by his ministry.

It sounds almost sacrilegious. But the term was born during my preparation to preach my first sermon. I had been asked to preach, on a Sunday night, in the church I was on staff at as a youth pastor. I’d spoken to the youth plenty of times, taught Bible studies to young folks and adults, but never been in the pulpit. I didn’t know what to do. I hadn’t been to seminary. I was 24 years old. What else was there to do other than plagiarize? So I selected one of my favorite R.C. Sproul tapes and went from there.

There really was nothing original in the sermon, except for my illustrations. The text and the points were all taken from R.C. I don’t even know where that tape is now, and I don’t remember what he titled the sermon. But the text was 1 Samuel 4:18-6:14, and the focus was mainly on the last three verses. The point of the sermon (and there really was only one point) was that God is sovereign even over what seems like very little details in life (like a couple of cows).

I’d been really pounded over the head by this notion. I lived like God was impotent. I never would have said that but I really did act like it. I freaked out all the time. I mean really stressed out over things. But as the moments unfolded in each situation, God suddenly showed me that everything was quite under control and He was indeed working all things together for good. I’d like to tell you that I’ve now, nearly 9 years later, mastered this issue of faith. But I haven’t.

The story went like this. Eli was ruling as a judge in Israel. He had two sons, Hophni and Phineas, who were ungodly to say the least. He failed as a father in many ways, even though he was the spiritual leader of Israel for 40 years (sound familiar?). The Philistines were Israel’s archrival and they were constantly embattled with them. In an attempt to achieve a victory, Israel decided to take the Ark of the Covenant into battle like it was a good luck charm. Well you guessed it, the Philistines won and they took the Ark. Eli’s sons were killed in battle and when he received the news he fell over dead. So the Philistines have this Ark and they have no idea what’s in store for them. God sends plagues against them. They try moving the Ark. Everywhere it goes the plagues follow. They catch on quick enough. So they decide to take a couple of cows and hitch them up to a cart that would carry the Ark. They had better theology that Israel (who thought it was a good luck charm) because they said, “If the cows take it back to Israel then we’ll know this Ark is the reason for the plagues.”  One note of import is that the cows shouldn’t have left and gone anywhere. They should have stayed with momma because they’d just been weaned and had never been hitched. In other words, it wouldn’t be natural for them just to take off, let alone in the right direction (toward Israel). But they did. And the Bible says they turned neither to the left or the right but went straight in the direction they were to go.

So a couple of cows taught both the Philistines and Israel a lot about God that day. They had better theology than God’s people whom He’d given a great deal of general and special revelation to. So, my first sermon title was this: “He is There: Arguments for the existence of God according to bovine theology.” I’m not kidding. I actually used that. Oh what fun it was to be young and dumb. It was a lot more fun than being older and dumb like I am now. Oh yes, and the nod to Francis Schaeffer was intentional.

So when I candidated at the next church I served at (even though at the time I didn’t know I was candidating…but that’s another story), I preached that sermon. After all, it was the only one I had. And from that, the term “bovine theology” kind of stuck. Anytime there was an opportunity to trust God’s sovereignty (or an incident where we didn’t) you could often hear a reference to bovine theology.

I like the term and the idea behind it, mainly because it is so profound and really should be life changing…if I would just consistently believe it. But I find myself going through life, getting all stressed out quite regularly when things don’t go as I think they should. So I thought Bovine Theology would make a good theme for a blog. I don’t know that I’ll always write about matters relating to God’s sovereignty, but it seems like a good enough idea to prompt plenty of thoughts for writing. So here’s to yet another attempt to begin blogging (again). Maybe I can stick with it this time. – JSW