Who thinks about sleep?

We don’t think about it when we’re sleeping, and when we’re awake we’re thinking about other things most of the time. We think about it when we need it. But who really thinks about sleep past that? If sleep was important enough for God to build into his creation, and to give us day and night for a rhythm, presumably, for sleep, then sleep is worth thinking about. It’s worth thinking about because it’s worth doing right and it’s something for which we should give praise to God through proper stewardship and enjoyment.

On the spiritual dimension of getting enough sleep, Psalm 127:2 put’s it beautifully: “It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.” Along these lines, here are some words on the spiritual consequences of sleep from two productive men:

D.A. Carson:

Doubt may be fostered by sleep deprivation. If you keep burning the candle at both ends, sooner or later you will indulge in more and more mean cynicism—and the line between cynicism and doubt is a very thin one….If you are among those who become nasty, cynical, or even full of doubt when you are missing your sleep, you are morally obligated to try to get the sleep you need. We are whole, complicated beings; our physical existence is tied to our spiritual well-being, to our mental outlook, to our relationships with others, including our relationship with God. Sometimes the godliest thing you can do in the universe is get a good night’s sleep—not pray all night, but sleep. I’m certainly not denying that there may be a place for praying all night; I’m merely insisting that in the normal course of things, spiritual discipline obligates you get the sleep your body need. (Scandalous, 147)

John Piper:

Sleep is a daily reminder from God that we are not God. Once a day God sends us to bed like patients with a sickness. The sickness is a chronic tendency to think we are in control and that our work is indispensable. To cure us of this disease God turns us into helpless sacks of sand once a day. (“A Brief Theology of Sleep“)

For more resources on sleep, check out these links, but not if it’s past your bed time:

• “Three Reasons to Get Some Sleep,” Jonathan Parnell
• “A Brief Theology of Sleep,” John Piper
• “Why We Really Sleep In,” Tony Reinke
• “50 Good Reasons to Sleep Longer,” David Murray

There’s a great book you might have heard about for parents of children 6-14 years old. It’s called, Big Truths for Young Hearts: Teaching and Learning the Greatness of God, by Bruce Ware.

Dr. Ware is a seminary professor and Christian theologian. He has written several timely and important books on the doctrine of doctrine of God, the doctrine of Christ, and the doctrine of the Trinity. But in Big Truths, he unpacks the Bible’s major doctrines in the way he unpacked them for his own daughters as they grew up in his home. It’s worth getting if you have kids, and if you don’t have kids.

In a recent blog interview,  Dr. Ware’s wife, Jodi Ware, answered questions about what family devotions looked like in the Ware household when their children were young. It’s titled, “Family Devotions in Real Life,” and it’s worth your time. Here’s how the article begins.

Have you ever felt like your efforts to do family devotions — to read the Bible with your kids, to pray, to sing songs — are doomed from the start? Spilled milk, waning attention, wiggles and more seem to conspire against meaningful discipleship. Is there something the authors of books about discipling your children know but aren’t telling the rest of us?

Here are the questions Jodi goes on to answer:

• Who influenced your approach to discipling your children? Who were your role models?
• In trying to set a routine for family devotions, what challenges did you have to overcome in your own home, for example: schedule conflicts, distractions, young children, etc.?
• What things can parents do with young children, one and two, whom they may think aren’t ready for family discipleship that will lay the groundwork for more intense/focused learning later?
• What advice do you give parents of school age children who want to start doing family devotions?
• How did your formal discipleship time shape your faith conversations with your daughters?

Click here to read the whole blog interview.

As you may know, this Sunday is Sanctity of Life Sunday. Although we don’t build our Sunday service around the occasion, we wholeheartedly embrace the cause of justice for vulnerable unborn human life and wanted to link you to an important article on the subject.

Over at Christianity Today, Daniel Darling and Andrew Walker have written a piece, “Abortion Meets a New Generation,” showing the pro-life cause to be a matter of basic human justice, a cause important for each generation regardless of the cultural mood or cost.

Here are some excerpts:

As evangelicals who came of age during the culture wars, we’re part of a generation ready to move past the pitched left-right debates. The critiques of Christian political activism have held some merit: A hyper-focus on elections, voter guides, and strategy has often buried the gospel story. Sometimes following Christ has strangely looked like following an elephant or a donkey. . . .

We’ve heard well-meaning, but cautious lovers of the gospel say that the cause of the unborn is too political, that it casts a harmful pall over the church, damaging gospel witness. To be sure, politics has not always brought out the best of God’s people. A renewed embrace of the grace-truth tension is needed. And yet, can we really claim to be social justice warriors if we ignore the millions of unborn children silenced and snuffed out in America at the altar of convenience? Can we overlook the corporatist worldview of Planned Parenthood that has industrialized abortion? No, we cannot. . . .

In fact, the denial of human life is arguably what triggers all other forms of activism. If we don’t get our witness right on life, how can our witness on any other issue seem anything other than pyrrhic? A Christian approach to social engagement cannot be calculated through the grid of popular appeal or mass approval. . . .

Being pro-life is about justice. And justice is blind—blind to color, age, gender, ethnicity, religion, or socioeconomic status. Justice is standing up for what is true, good, and beautiful; and on the issue of life, we insist that every child is a uniquely good and beautiful creation of God, and therefore deserving of life.

Click here to read the whole article.

For more reflection on the question of unborn life, read a blog published here earlier this year, “Why are we against abortion?.” Also, in love for the unborn and their parents, consider volunteering at Care Net, one of DSC’s strategic local missions partners. You’ll also have a chance to meet a representative from Care Net next Sunday morning, January 26, at DSC’s Ministry Fair.

Perhaps you have been around DSC for a while and you’ve asked yourself that question. What is The Gospel Coalition (TGC)? Is it a denomination? What is it?

Well, it’s not a denomination. DSC is a local church without ties to any outside governing body. But we are happy to partner with other like-minded churches here and abroad for the sake of the gospel, and that’s what TGC helps us do. It’s a network of pastors and churches committed to the gospel and to its spreading. This network is grounded in a few Foundation Documents, including a Confessional Statement and a Theological Vision for Ministry. Click here to read both.

TGC has a rich website, which serves the broader church with articles on cultural and theological issues, book reviews, a sermon and resource catalogue, and a web hub for TGC conferences and TGC’s global missions effort, International Outreach.

Here in Albuquerque, since Ryan is a council member for TGC, DSC regularly hosts meetings for a network of area pastors who are part of Albuquerque’s TGC Chapter. They meet to pray, discuss Scripture, and offer help to one another in the work of ministry. Click here to check out the chapter’s new website. And, of course, DSC’s annual theology conference, Clarus, is also a TGC regional conference and hosted in partnership with Albuquerque’s chapter.

Enough text. Here are two videos to help put this partnership in context for you, the second of which was recently published at the TGC Blog and features Ryan Kelly.

Founding TGC council members answer the question, “What is The Gospel Coalition?”

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Ryan Kelly discusses the historical background for a church network like TGC

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Kevin DeYoung recently published a three part blog series, “How to Be Better Bereans” (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3). Here’s how it begins:

The Jews in Berea, it is said, were more noble than those in Thessalonica, for “they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so” (Acts 17:11). How telling–for them and for us–that nobility is measured not by titles, land, parentage, wealth, or degrees, but by how we handle the word of God. Our approach to the Scriptures sets us apart as riff-raff or royalty.

So how do we become better Bereans?

That’s the question I recently posed to my congregation and the question I want to explore this week. How can we be more like the noble Bereans and less like the rabble from Thessalonica (Acts 17:5)?

Let me suggest ten ways . . .

Here are Kevin’s ten points:

1. Listen to the sermon with an open Bible
2. Don’t rush on from the Word of God to the rest of your life
3. Get in the Word as a way of life
4. We must approach the Bible with eager expectation
5. Be prepared to study the Word deeply
6. Be confident that you are able to study the Bible and discover the truth of God’s Word
7. Recognize that some things which claim to be from the Bible are not
8. Test difficult doctrines against the Scriptures before simply discarding them
9. Be humble enough to take the Bible at its word no matter who you are
10. Give the Bible the final say in every matter on which it means to speak

Read how Kevin unpacks each of these points here, here, and here.