HELLO EVERYONE!!! It's been such a long time since I've blogged. God is really doing some amazing things in my life right now; things I find hard to put in words. I'm sort of shocked that for 10 years, I went to church, read the bible, hung with Christians and I didn't get it..... It has been such an amazing display of the power of the gospel and the work of the Spirit. I don't think I have ever been so in love with His church and so in love with his word. I don't think I have ever loved people as much as I do now. That's kind of disturbing when I consider that these are two of the many clear distinctions of what the church looked like in Acts..... OK, I'll go more in depth at another time.
For now, I want to post something that God used to impact me tremendously early this year. I don't know who wrote it, but it is about self pity; something I dealt with for years. This helped me to really see that my problem was rooted in selfishness and my misunderstanding of the gospel. I constantly emphasize this in my blog and I don't think I do an adequate job of speaking this loudly enough...... If you don't get the gospel right, every part of your walk with Christ will suffer in direct proportion to that misunderstanding. As Tim Keller stated "The gospel is not just the A-B-C’s but the A-Z of Christianity." Getting a biblical understanding of conversion and the gospel was a great help in me realizing what was done on the cross. Christ became so much greater than I ever imagined and I realized how undeserving I am.... Read, think, repent, and enjoy Christ more fully.
The bitter fruits of self-pity
Self-pity leads to resentment, despair, and cowardice.
All problems that can be dealt with and solved in Christian counseling sessions are always due to the pride, self-centeredness and self-pity of the counselee.
If this proposition sounds harsh, unloving and crude, then I will propose that you listen carefully for the BIBLICAL evidence.
But it is important at the very outset to distinguish between organic illnesses (that do not make us sin) and spiritual and moral failures in man (from which man is held responsible to repent). I am seeking hereby to restore a right balance between that for which a counselee cannot be held responsible and that for which he is fully responsible, before God and society.
It is known for a fact that where there is said to be a medical problem, whether it is true or not, or where they have been classified as "mentally ill," self-pitying counselees invariably use this to excuse their behavior. They anchor themselves in this comfortable and convenient excuse. Their tendency, just like everybody else, is to find an external excuse for them that avoids any guilt devolving upon themselves. When they hear the physiatrist pontificating that they are ill, what else would they need?
On the contrary, it is found that once the counselee has realized that he is responsible for his present situation, he will begin to put his own life in order and little additional counseling may be actually needed.
Now it is both scriptural and crucial in our case to come to grips with the human situation, as fallen creatures in Adam. Pride and self-centeredness, our natural state in sin, include self-pity. It is when people cannot get their own way and feel frustrated in their designs that they can descend into self-pity, an ever-increasing spiral (unless confronted with and repented of).
They then may begin to display one or more of the many forms of "mental illness." But once they repent of self-pity, then all the rest of their troubles melt away. Self-pity leads to all the behavior patterns common to counselors.
The terms used in psychoanalysis and other related pseudo-sciences are actually descriptions of various kinds of sinful behavior arising from self-pity, such as we constantly find in the record of God's Word, beginning from the case of Cain: "My punishment is more than I can bear...".
No-one is a hysteric, or a schizoid or paranoid by nature. They are rebellious against God by nature (original sin), and therefore are behaving in an hysteric, schizoid or paranoid way.
There is only one situation that precipitates bad behavior. In a nutshell it is: "I can't have my own way." Adam was the first one to, if not express it explicitly, to act upon this philosophy of life. All men, fallen in him, act the same way.
This can be realized in three different situations:
1. "That which makes me happy has been denied me or taken away." This leads to resentment.
2. "That which gives meaning and purpose to life has been denied me or taken away." This leads to despair.
3. "That which enables me to cope with life has been denied me or taken away." This leads to cowardice and timidity.
And it is the outworkings of these three attitudes that lead to all forms of irresponsible behavior which psychiatrists have called "mental illness."
Christian counseling will seek to lay the cards on the table for the counselee to look at. It will endeavor to prove that such attitudes are all stemming from self-pity, loving self rather than loving God and neighbor, paying too much attention on yourself rather than self-denial, as the gospel demands of us all.
By the grace of God these corrupt attitudes can be broken down and replaced with godly and loving attitudes. In such breakdown, and in recovering from them, we realize how good they have been to us, for thus we are delivered from passionately loving ourselves (thus self-pity) to such an extent that we would want the world to revolve around us. But the moral order of things, of course, is not built around us. It is built around Christ.
The answer to self-pity is to see our worthlessness, but also to rejoice in God who graciously opened the way of reconciliation to Him through the blood of the cross. We should not pity ourselves, but the gospel says that God has pitied us, in Christ, who died as our substitute to bring us unto God (1 Peter 2:24; 3:18).
This does not mean that we deserved pity; it only exalts the greatness of God's unmerited love towards us; and if God so loved us, then we also ought to love one another (not only ourselves).
Friday, October 15, 2010
Thursday, September 9, 2010
The balance of weight and joy
As I'm getting my application ready to get into Reformed Theological Seminary, I've been thinking of the implications this whole process will have on my life. I had a conversation recently that was very encouraging, but also put the reality of what I'm about to embark on right in front of my face. You see, I have this heavy burden on my heart to preach the gospel biblically and to see others live a life where they are overwhelmed by who God is; to see people give their lives away for the sake of Christ and his gospel. At the same time, I know that I recently purchased a house and I have a lot of other bills that need to be paid. I know that to leave a pretty good IT job and forfeit a stable life for a life that doesn't have the safety that we all long for is flat out not a wise thing to do....depending on where you get your wisdom from...But honestly, what is it that really matters in this life? When I look at the landscape of Christianity in America, the thought that comes to mind is this....is this what Christ died for? Is this really it? Is dying to self for the sake of something immeasurably greater than self a command reserved for a select group of Christians who have been "called" to it? Is the goal really to be saved, get a good education, get a good job, get married, buy a nice house in a nice neighborhood, raise my kids to strive to be excellent, retire early, and enjoy the rest of my life traveling with my wife? Ok, now take out the "be saved" and what do you have left? The American Dream. And this is where things become difficult for me. Maybe the majority of the "successful" churches in America are right and I'm losing my mind....but this isn't what I see in the bible.
When I was studying 1 John 1:3-4 "that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete."....I realized that every day this is becoming my reality. My joy isn't made complete in the comfort and safety the Christian version of the American Dream offers, it's made complete in my identification with Christs suffering; my joy is made complete when I'm doing what he commands by proclaiming the truth, creating disciples and bringing them into fellowship with Christ. My joy is found in inaudibly proclaiming Christ though living sacrificially and forsaking the individualism of our culture in order to love and care for people inside and outside of the church who I'm sure will disappoint and hurt me. When I open the bible and read it, I see something totally different from what I see when I open the typical churches doors and speak to the people who go to church. And to state it frankly, I don't want to be like them. I don't want my family to be like them. I don't want for my children what they want for theirs. I don't want a Christ that is just an accessory on my self-made, self-satisfying life. I don't want to be comfortable living a life that looks nothing like what I read in the bible and be comfortable there because everyone else who goes to this place every week is living just like me. I don't want to simply be moral. I don't want to offer people a salvation that makes them look like me: safe, secure, and selfish. I refuse to live out a cross-less salvation.
This is not a burden to become a radical christian....it's a burden to live like a normal Christian; the Christianity that I see in the bible. I feel like I'm sort of rambling in this post, but what I desire to say is this: our Christianity cannot be simply a easy, safe, and joyous life that strives for security and avoids suffering as much as possible. There must be a realization of the weighty reality of what the bible actually says and God actually commands. We must live, think, and act with a balance of joy and weight. Our reality seems to be so shaped by the world and so far from God. I listened to a message by Frances Chan where he made a painful observation. If a person was to get rid of their retirement plan in order to have enough money to send to a country where people are starving to death, what would we say? That isn't wise, right? What about having money for emergencies? LISTEN TO OURSELVES!!! Isn't people dying of starvation an emergency?!? Or is it only an emergency if it pertains to us? If you end up growing old and dying of starvation, what would Christ say to you when you face him? "You had money and gave it all away to care for others at the risk of losing everything yourself in faith that I would care for all of your needs?....THAT WAS STUPID!" There is not one thing unwise about risking everything for the sake of the Christ you claim you "trusted" for your salvation.
I say this with my heart broken people....there is too much at stake. The gospel has been prostituted and as a result, what most so called Christians look like looks nothing like what is in the scripture. What most so called churches look like looks nothing like what is in the bible. If you saw a tree with apples on it and someone told you it was an orange tree, would you believe him? Now ask yourself this question concerning your Christianity and your church. Does the bible, and I mean the whole counsel of scripture and not singled out verses, agree with what we proclaim ourselves to be? There is no more serious matter in the world than this. Many people in the world have not heard the gospel and will die without knowing Christ. Over half of the world lives on $2 a day or less. People around the world are starving to death. There are places around the world where Christs name has not been proclaimed....What does this mean to you? We must ask ourselves these real questions, face these realities and figure out how we will deal with them. Will we continue to call ourselves Christians and live lives that are clearly aimed at marginalizing the weighty things Christ takes seriously to sooth our consciences and running after the preaching and lifestyles that promote our desire for comfort and "blessings"?
"Christians should be grave and serious, though cheerful and pleasant. They should feel that they have great interests at stake, and that the world has too. They are redeemed—not to make sport; purchased with precious blood—for other purposes than to make men laugh. They are soon to be in heaven—and a man who has any impressive sense of that will habitually feel he has much else to do than to make men laugh. The true course of life is midway between moroseness and levity; sourness and lightness; harshness and jesting. Be benevolent, kind, cheerful, bland, courteous—but serious. Be solemn, thoughtful, deeply impressed with the presence of God and with eternal things—but pleasant affable and benignant. Think not a smile sinful; but think not levity and jesting harmless."
—Albert Barnes
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Choose your chef wisely
Ever since I bought my first home last December, I've had a desire to make it a place that is open to my friends and family. I truly believe God gives us all that we have so that we can glorify him by caring for and loving others. So on Labor Day, I decided to fire up the grill and invite a few friends over my house for a time of fellowship and fun. We had such a great time hanging out together. My brother and I were working wonders on the grill, Dwayne brought some of his signature "you're officially invited to every event I have at my house" macaroni and cheese, Christiana FINALLY brought the fruit tray that she promised to bring to the last barbecue, and my parents came over late as usual with a few African dishes that the barbecue just couldn't be complete without. We all had a great time together.
That evening after everyone went home, I decided to do some cooking to relieve me from the guilt of the burger/hot dog/mac-n-cheese feeding frenzy I enjoyed earlier. While baking some maple glazed salmon to eat with vegetables for lunch this week and preparing spaghetti for my brother and I, a thought came to my mind. One of the biggest barriers I've had in my quest to learn how to cook has been my indiscriminate taste buds. You see, I've always been the kind of person that likes a lot of different kinds of foods and doesn't tend to be very selective or picky with the foods I eat. A large reason for this is because...well....most things tend to taste ok to me. I know it sounds strange to some, but I don't care if two foods in my plate mix. If the food I select at a restaurant doesn't taste that great, I usually won't send it back, and it's not because I'm a passive guy who doesn't want to offend anyone or make them do something out of their way, I'm just not that selective. It's probably because to me, it really doesn't taste that bad. Here's the other strange twist to this...this is NOT the case when I eat African foods. Growing up, my mother and grandmother were great cooks and were constantly complimented by people who ate the food they prepared. As a result of eating the same kinds of foods with distinct tastes over a long period of time, I could easily tell what was missing or added in an African dish and developed a very selective taste of African foods.
The problem this presented as I attempted to cook was that my indiscriminate tongue didn't taste what was missing in a dish. It accepted almost anything. And since I wasn't highly selective in my likes and dislikes and didn't pay attention to the distinctive flavors and spices in the foods I ate, it didn't matter much to me. So I was the perfect chef...as long as I was cooking for myself because it all tasted fine to me. Over time I have become much more aware of the flavors in dishes, and a bit more picky as a result. The transition began to take place when I became intentional about learning to cook with a desire to host dinners at my house in the future and learning the appropriate taste to look for through intentionally eating foods that were prepared well and asking how they were made. All of a sudden, flavors and spices mattered so much more, and knowing that I'd be cooking for others was additional motivation.
One of the things I try to do and encourage others to do as believers is to live lives where everything we do is shaped/fashioned by the gospel and try to use our everyday lives and experiences as a means of reflecting on the truths of the gospel. While cooking, this reflection came to mind. If you had to choose between two chefs to cook a meal for an important event, would you pick the one who has developed a keen sense of taste that enables him to know the fine details of how to make a dish taste just right...or a chef with an indiscriminate tongue? One who enjoys what he cooks up, even though it might not taste the way it should? Now consider the words of the bible that mean much more than food or drink. Would you prefer to have a person preaching to you who has studied the scripture and has taken the time to carefully understand key doctrinal matters in order to make sure the words he uses are not passively spoken, but carefully understood and defined for the listeners? One who teaches and shepards in a way that encourages the listeners to live a life shaped by clearly defined truths? Or would you be fine with a preacher who proves by his handling of the word that he does have some sort of concept of important truths of the gospel but does not have a firm grasp on them? One who passively speaks about them so that the congregation ends up having an assumed understanding of important things, but they don't have any depth in their knowledge of these VERY important and essential truths?
Like the cooking example I gave, this is often the case for speakers and hearers alike; the dangerous practice of speaking and listening with an indiscriminate ear. Some of the keys that result in developing an indiscriminate ear are the absence of consistent teachings that have a high view of God and the truths explained in the word, and the absence of the examples of lives lived out which clearly show that they are shaped by these truths. I developed a taste for African food that helped me to be able to know the difference between a properly cooked African dish and one that was missing important ingredients through consistently eating well made dishes. We learn to know sound doctrine and theology through consistently hearing sound theology and checking for consistency with the word. As we hear them, the Holy Spirit aids us in understanding rightly what Christ did for us, giving us an appropriate understanding of scripture that we can learn to follow. On the other hand, we learn to hold tightly to wrong doctrine if we are constantly taught it and don't look into scripture to see if it's correct (as scripture commands). If the chef never learns to know the difference, his customers, if they eat at the same place consistently for a long period of time, will learn to develop a liking for food that tastes similar, but is not prepared properly. And they will possibly develop a distaste for the food that is prepared right. The distaste for good food is a result of a paradigm that has been shaped by the wrong foundation of the untrained chef's cooking standard. If we are consistently taught the scriptures wrongly, the result is that even when something sound is taught, it is understood according to a wrong paradigm and becomes useless .
A wise way to prevent this is by looking for a church that has a high view of scripture. Some signs are:
That evening after everyone went home, I decided to do some cooking to relieve me from the guilt of the burger/hot dog/mac-n-cheese feeding frenzy I enjoyed earlier. While baking some maple glazed salmon to eat with vegetables for lunch this week and preparing spaghetti for my brother and I, a thought came to my mind. One of the biggest barriers I've had in my quest to learn how to cook has been my indiscriminate taste buds. You see, I've always been the kind of person that likes a lot of different kinds of foods and doesn't tend to be very selective or picky with the foods I eat. A large reason for this is because...well....most things tend to taste ok to me. I know it sounds strange to some, but I don't care if two foods in my plate mix. If the food I select at a restaurant doesn't taste that great, I usually won't send it back, and it's not because I'm a passive guy who doesn't want to offend anyone or make them do something out of their way, I'm just not that selective. It's probably because to me, it really doesn't taste that bad. Here's the other strange twist to this...this is NOT the case when I eat African foods. Growing up, my mother and grandmother were great cooks and were constantly complimented by people who ate the food they prepared. As a result of eating the same kinds of foods with distinct tastes over a long period of time, I could easily tell what was missing or added in an African dish and developed a very selective taste of African foods.
The problem this presented as I attempted to cook was that my indiscriminate tongue didn't taste what was missing in a dish. It accepted almost anything. And since I wasn't highly selective in my likes and dislikes and didn't pay attention to the distinctive flavors and spices in the foods I ate, it didn't matter much to me. So I was the perfect chef...as long as I was cooking for myself because it all tasted fine to me. Over time I have become much more aware of the flavors in dishes, and a bit more picky as a result. The transition began to take place when I became intentional about learning to cook with a desire to host dinners at my house in the future and learning the appropriate taste to look for through intentionally eating foods that were prepared well and asking how they were made. All of a sudden, flavors and spices mattered so much more, and knowing that I'd be cooking for others was additional motivation.
One of the things I try to do and encourage others to do as believers is to live lives where everything we do is shaped/fashioned by the gospel and try to use our everyday lives and experiences as a means of reflecting on the truths of the gospel. While cooking, this reflection came to mind. If you had to choose between two chefs to cook a meal for an important event, would you pick the one who has developed a keen sense of taste that enables him to know the fine details of how to make a dish taste just right...or a chef with an indiscriminate tongue? One who enjoys what he cooks up, even though it might not taste the way it should? Now consider the words of the bible that mean much more than food or drink. Would you prefer to have a person preaching to you who has studied the scripture and has taken the time to carefully understand key doctrinal matters in order to make sure the words he uses are not passively spoken, but carefully understood and defined for the listeners? One who teaches and shepards in a way that encourages the listeners to live a life shaped by clearly defined truths? Or would you be fine with a preacher who proves by his handling of the word that he does have some sort of concept of important truths of the gospel but does not have a firm grasp on them? One who passively speaks about them so that the congregation ends up having an assumed understanding of important things, but they don't have any depth in their knowledge of these VERY important and essential truths?
Like the cooking example I gave, this is often the case for speakers and hearers alike; the dangerous practice of speaking and listening with an indiscriminate ear. Some of the keys that result in developing an indiscriminate ear are the absence of consistent teachings that have a high view of God and the truths explained in the word, and the absence of the examples of lives lived out which clearly show that they are shaped by these truths. I developed a taste for African food that helped me to be able to know the difference between a properly cooked African dish and one that was missing important ingredients through consistently eating well made dishes. We learn to know sound doctrine and theology through consistently hearing sound theology and checking for consistency with the word. As we hear them, the Holy Spirit aids us in understanding rightly what Christ did for us, giving us an appropriate understanding of scripture that we can learn to follow. On the other hand, we learn to hold tightly to wrong doctrine if we are constantly taught it and don't look into scripture to see if it's correct (as scripture commands). If the chef never learns to know the difference, his customers, if they eat at the same place consistently for a long period of time, will learn to develop a liking for food that tastes similar, but is not prepared properly. And they will possibly develop a distaste for the food that is prepared right. The distaste for good food is a result of a paradigm that has been shaped by the wrong foundation of the untrained chef's cooking standard. If we are consistently taught the scriptures wrongly, the result is that even when something sound is taught, it is understood according to a wrong paradigm and becomes useless .
A wise way to prevent this is by looking for a church that has a high view of scripture. Some signs are:
- A church with biblically qualified leaders. (Titus 1:5-16 9*)
- Exegetical preaching: preaching of the word that goes through the text and emphasizes what was actually meant by the text and does not add meaning to what was inspired by God. (2 Tim 4:2, 1 Cor 1:17, 1 Cor 15:2)
- Practicing of biblical church discipline. It honors God's word and shows a trust for God's means of lovingly dealing with sin. (Mat 18:15-20)
- A church that clearly defines terms such as atonement, justification, conversion, and most importantly, gospel.
Monday, August 30, 2010
On agreeing vs. being...
This idea of agreeing vs. being has been on my mind all week. I shared a story when I preached last month to the youth group at my church; a story that was a part of the beginnings of a radical transformation that has taken place in my life over the last year. A friend and I went to watch a movie that I was a bit reluctant to see. I had an idea of what to expect as far as the content of the movie is concerned, but I also knew it was going to be really funny so I decided to go. As my friend and I reclined in our seats surrounded by the laughter and amused faces of the audience that filled the packed theater that night, I began to grow more and more uncomfortable. By the end of the movie, I saw the smiling faces of the audience, heard them as they complimented the humor and could not help but sense the reality of what I was experiencing. Here is that reality:
Most of the people in this theater probably do not know Christ and have no interest in him. They just watched all of these things that clearly offend God and had no problem watching it; in fact, they enjoyed it....and the truth is, if these people were to die today, I'm pretty sure the vast majority of them will spend eternity in hell. My friend and I sat here, enjoyed the movie they enjoyed, laughed at the offensive things they laughed at, were amused and entertained by what we clearly know dishonors God, and did not say anything to any of them concerning this offense to God. We enjoy the same things, were entertained by the same things, and did not take seriously the offense to God....the difference between us and them is, on Sunday we will go to Church and when we die our expectation is to meet Christ in glory.
And at that moment, the questions I had to painfully confront are: If God is really God, if he means what he says in his word, how can this be compatible with Christianity? And to go deeper...is this it? Is this all that Christ's blood that was shed on the cross accomplished? We get saved, God rescues us from hell, but we still indulge in the sin we love? It's as if we are saved from the weight, guilt and result of sin, but we are not saved from sin itself. A Jewish theologian by the name of Art Katz put it this way, We have made the faith into "a comfortable religiosity that leaves our real interests unchallenged and undisturbed in the avoidance of the cross of Christ Jesus."
And I think this is the question we need to be asking ourselves. Has our Christianity degenerated into mere religion that is accomplished by agreeing with what has been said but in actuality has no resemblance to what is seen in scripture? Is it simply a agreeing that does not result in being; a crossless salvation where there is no death to self? If we have a Christianity that the bible does not agree with, is it Christianity at all? The answer to these questions have been plainly answered in the bible, but somehow we have clouded our view of the reality of scripture. In Mark 4, Jesus appropriately asks "Don't you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable?" We are warned in the parable of the sower through this question. This parable deals with a recurring theme in the gospels which is the careful comparing of what is true and want is false. Wheat and tares, wise virgins and foolish virgins, sheep and goat, true and false, actual and appearing. I agree that if you do not carefully consider this parable, you cannot understand the others. If it is flippantly overlooked, there is a danger of living a Christianity that hears about sheep and goats, and instead of confronting what is the true condition of our hearts, passively convinces ourselves that we are fine. And many churches cater to this by passively avoiding the critical doctrines of conversion and regeneration and instead unknowingly participating in the practice of encouraging behavior modification that simply creates a platform for training goats to behave like sheep rather than challenging us to biblically examine ourselves to see if we are in the faith.
Now don't get me confused. I am not promoting a works salvation. What I am saying is that our repentance is proved by our good works (Acts 26:20). Biblical Christianity is not simply to agree that what God says is right. The rich young ruler agreed that Jesus was right even though he was not willing to forsake what he valued most, as a result he walk away downcast. He knew what Christ said was right. Herod actually heard about Jesus and longed to see him even though he is the one who ordered for John the baptizers beheading and had no intention of following him (Luke 23:8). So agreeing with the teaching of Christ or wanting to hear what he says with intrigue is not an appropriate measure of biblical conversion. The work of Christ in conversion is giving life to men who were dead in their sin through regeneration; to actually bring about real change in the hearts of men and a new found heart felt desire for God. The work of Christ accomplished on the Cross was to take the heart of stone and give men hearts of flesh; a heart that has the capacity to react to the commands of God and to love and enjoy him. The work of God in conversion is to literally take men that are dead in sin and give them life. To change their affections so they begin to love God, to love what he loves and hate what he hates. The result of this work of Christ in the hearts of men is BEING a new creature, not just agreeing with what God says and doing good things when it's convenient.
Too often the experience of professing believers is to still have a heart that is actively pursuing all of our own desires and longings, a heart that conforms the scripture to our lives. The result is a condition where we want all the same things, but we want God to provide them rather than us getting them on our own. To paraphrase John Piper....Same hotel, different bus boy.... same restaurant, different waiter..... same longings, same desire, different servant. Now Christ is the means, but it is still the serving of our own interests.
Contrary to what many have portrayed, Christianity is not a life where we make many extraordinary claims but live such ordinary lives. The common word for that is HYPOCRISY. If Christ saves, he does the work to change us as well. He puts in the work through diverse means to conform us to his image. We suddenly have a deep love for Christ and a desire to know him. We have a desire to read and understand his word. We have a desire to pray. And even at times when the desire seems dim, our hearts ache because we desire to want him. We have a new found love for other believers that makes us willingly sacrificially serve each other. There is a longing to see those who don't know the good news of the gospel come to Christ. And as a corporate body, God begins to show himself to the world through a community that does not embrace the individualism of the culture, but recklessly and selflessly pursue relationships in order to serve each other in love so that we all draw nearer to Christ.
I have seen drastic changes in my life through the work of Christ, but because of how I understood Christianity when I was first introduced to the scriptures, I was always torn inside. Many of us go through our Christianity making excuses for not sharing the gospel with the lost, discipling others, and fighting and overcoming our besetting sins. I definitely know what it feels to go through that, and at times it is still difficult. I felt like there had to be more to the faith than what I was experiencing. And by God's grace, through many difficult dealings, I have come to understand in scripture that Christs death was not weak. He came to save those whom the Father gave to him and when the scriptures say that anyone who is in Christ is a new creature, this is not figurative language. It is a glorious truth of what was powerfully accomplished through Christs death on the cross. The examples are seen throughout the new testament. God took ordinary men and totally changed them. They became men who lived selflessly and embraced suffering because of a love for God that overwhelmed them. And that love was driven by the realization of their sin along with the penalty they deserved and the amazing grace granted to them through Christ. (The Gospel!) And this is what changed me, understanding the glorious gospel in truth. I cannot emphasize the "in truth" enough. I did not have men to physically disciple me on many of the things that God has graciously helped me understand, but I did have the sermons and teachings of John Piper, Paul Washer, Voddie Baucham, Leonard Ravenhill, Mark Driscoll and so many others who take the scriptures seriously to learn from. I also had a few brothers in the faith who have been on this road with me in the faith. And as I am learning, I am becoming more aware of my sin and more dependent on the grace of God. I am also experiencing the change in heart that makes me long to reach out to people, bring them in and show them how to walk it out through the scriptures and my life. I am naturally an introvert so this was not my default disposition, but Christ is so worthey of losing all that you are for His glory to be seen by all men! By God's grace, these examples and all that is written throughout the scriptures will challenge us to examine ourselves and see where we stand biblically. I write all of this praying it will encourage you, challenge you and help you realize that change is possible. It is possible because of what Christ accomplished on the cross. There is more to the Christian life than agreeing with scripture and passively walking it out rather than being all that God calls us to be.
Most of the people in this theater probably do not know Christ and have no interest in him. They just watched all of these things that clearly offend God and had no problem watching it; in fact, they enjoyed it....and the truth is, if these people were to die today, I'm pretty sure the vast majority of them will spend eternity in hell. My friend and I sat here, enjoyed the movie they enjoyed, laughed at the offensive things they laughed at, were amused and entertained by what we clearly know dishonors God, and did not say anything to any of them concerning this offense to God. We enjoy the same things, were entertained by the same things, and did not take seriously the offense to God....the difference between us and them is, on Sunday we will go to Church and when we die our expectation is to meet Christ in glory.
And at that moment, the questions I had to painfully confront are: If God is really God, if he means what he says in his word, how can this be compatible with Christianity? And to go deeper...is this it? Is this all that Christ's blood that was shed on the cross accomplished? We get saved, God rescues us from hell, but we still indulge in the sin we love? It's as if we are saved from the weight, guilt and result of sin, but we are not saved from sin itself. A Jewish theologian by the name of Art Katz put it this way, We have made the faith into "a comfortable religiosity that leaves our real interests unchallenged and undisturbed in the avoidance of the cross of Christ Jesus."
And I think this is the question we need to be asking ourselves. Has our Christianity degenerated into mere religion that is accomplished by agreeing with what has been said but in actuality has no resemblance to what is seen in scripture? Is it simply a agreeing that does not result in being; a crossless salvation where there is no death to self? If we have a Christianity that the bible does not agree with, is it Christianity at all? The answer to these questions have been plainly answered in the bible, but somehow we have clouded our view of the reality of scripture. In Mark 4, Jesus appropriately asks "Don't you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable?" We are warned in the parable of the sower through this question. This parable deals with a recurring theme in the gospels which is the careful comparing of what is true and want is false. Wheat and tares, wise virgins and foolish virgins, sheep and goat, true and false, actual and appearing. I agree that if you do not carefully consider this parable, you cannot understand the others. If it is flippantly overlooked, there is a danger of living a Christianity that hears about sheep and goats, and instead of confronting what is the true condition of our hearts, passively convinces ourselves that we are fine. And many churches cater to this by passively avoiding the critical doctrines of conversion and regeneration and instead unknowingly participating in the practice of encouraging behavior modification that simply creates a platform for training goats to behave like sheep rather than challenging us to biblically examine ourselves to see if we are in the faith.
Now don't get me confused. I am not promoting a works salvation. What I am saying is that our repentance is proved by our good works (Acts 26:20). Biblical Christianity is not simply to agree that what God says is right. The rich young ruler agreed that Jesus was right even though he was not willing to forsake what he valued most, as a result he walk away downcast. He knew what Christ said was right. Herod actually heard about Jesus and longed to see him even though he is the one who ordered for John the baptizers beheading and had no intention of following him (Luke 23:8). So agreeing with the teaching of Christ or wanting to hear what he says with intrigue is not an appropriate measure of biblical conversion. The work of Christ in conversion is giving life to men who were dead in their sin through regeneration; to actually bring about real change in the hearts of men and a new found heart felt desire for God. The work of Christ accomplished on the Cross was to take the heart of stone and give men hearts of flesh; a heart that has the capacity to react to the commands of God and to love and enjoy him. The work of God in conversion is to literally take men that are dead in sin and give them life. To change their affections so they begin to love God, to love what he loves and hate what he hates. The result of this work of Christ in the hearts of men is BEING a new creature, not just agreeing with what God says and doing good things when it's convenient.
Too often the experience of professing believers is to still have a heart that is actively pursuing all of our own desires and longings, a heart that conforms the scripture to our lives. The result is a condition where we want all the same things, but we want God to provide them rather than us getting them on our own. To paraphrase John Piper....Same hotel, different bus boy.... same restaurant, different waiter..... same longings, same desire, different servant. Now Christ is the means, but it is still the serving of our own interests.
Contrary to what many have portrayed, Christianity is not a life where we make many extraordinary claims but live such ordinary lives. The common word for that is HYPOCRISY. If Christ saves, he does the work to change us as well. He puts in the work through diverse means to conform us to his image. We suddenly have a deep love for Christ and a desire to know him. We have a desire to read and understand his word. We have a desire to pray. And even at times when the desire seems dim, our hearts ache because we desire to want him. We have a new found love for other believers that makes us willingly sacrificially serve each other. There is a longing to see those who don't know the good news of the gospel come to Christ. And as a corporate body, God begins to show himself to the world through a community that does not embrace the individualism of the culture, but recklessly and selflessly pursue relationships in order to serve each other in love so that we all draw nearer to Christ.
I have seen drastic changes in my life through the work of Christ, but because of how I understood Christianity when I was first introduced to the scriptures, I was always torn inside. Many of us go through our Christianity making excuses for not sharing the gospel with the lost, discipling others, and fighting and overcoming our besetting sins. I definitely know what it feels to go through that, and at times it is still difficult. I felt like there had to be more to the faith than what I was experiencing. And by God's grace, through many difficult dealings, I have come to understand in scripture that Christs death was not weak. He came to save those whom the Father gave to him and when the scriptures say that anyone who is in Christ is a new creature, this is not figurative language. It is a glorious truth of what was powerfully accomplished through Christs death on the cross. The examples are seen throughout the new testament. God took ordinary men and totally changed them. They became men who lived selflessly and embraced suffering because of a love for God that overwhelmed them. And that love was driven by the realization of their sin along with the penalty they deserved and the amazing grace granted to them through Christ. (The Gospel!) And this is what changed me, understanding the glorious gospel in truth. I cannot emphasize the "in truth" enough. I did not have men to physically disciple me on many of the things that God has graciously helped me understand, but I did have the sermons and teachings of John Piper, Paul Washer, Voddie Baucham, Leonard Ravenhill, Mark Driscoll and so many others who take the scriptures seriously to learn from. I also had a few brothers in the faith who have been on this road with me in the faith. And as I am learning, I am becoming more aware of my sin and more dependent on the grace of God. I am also experiencing the change in heart that makes me long to reach out to people, bring them in and show them how to walk it out through the scriptures and my life. I am naturally an introvert so this was not my default disposition, but Christ is so worthey of losing all that you are for His glory to be seen by all men! By God's grace, these examples and all that is written throughout the scriptures will challenge us to examine ourselves and see where we stand biblically. I write all of this praying it will encourage you, challenge you and help you realize that change is possible. It is possible because of what Christ accomplished on the cross. There is more to the Christian life than agreeing with scripture and passively walking it out rather than being all that God calls us to be.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Do you know the truth?
One thing I have come to learn in my walk with Christ is that the Gospel is the key to understanding life appropriately, and in the categories that we disagree with it, disobey its call, or do not rightly comprehend it in our hearts, we will find the root of most of our frustrations. Okay, I know that was a lofty thesis, but I promise to break it down. I once read a quote from Jim Elliot that reads:
"I may no longer depend on pleasant impulses to bring me before the Lord. I must rather respond to principles I know to be right, whether I feel them to be enjoyable or not."
The verbiage of this quote may throw you off, but like myself, this is probably something you need to remind yourself of constantly. Think about how many of us behave when it comes to essential disciplines such as the studying of the word and prayer. When we are in seasons where we are on a proverbial "spiritual high", we tend to have hearts that long to study the bible and pray. We become increasingly attracted to conversation that exalts God and shuns the trivialities that almost constantly steal our hearts away from weighty, important things. We find a deep and strengthening sense of joy in the realities of God. Our sensitivity of sin becomes heightened, the realities of the truths of the gospel become clear, and the urgency of the gospel message becomes dyer. But then there are the seasons where our emotions are not as deeply stirred by the truth. As a result, we do not push ourselves to wake up in the morning and spend time in prayer and meditation; forgetting that this is a privilege and not just a check mark on the "Christian Duties" to do list. We are not careful with how we spend our time during the day. We are not aroused enough about God to speak about him. There is no urgency concerning the souls of the people around us..... I am reluctant when using the word "seasons" because I do not want to portray these experiences like we have no part in their happening. We are guilty in every sense of our dryness. We cling to the very things that rob us of the joy of the Lord and the reality of life as God sees it. We watch programs and listen to music that makes light of sin. We indulge in conversation that is not God honoring and shrink rather than bring Christ into it. Our issue is usually not one of seasons or victory and defeat, it's one that stems from obedience and disobedience.
With all of that said, Jim Elliot's quote portrays the reality that our propensity to desire God and pursue him is too impulse driven rather than truth driven. The reason we should desire to pray, study the word, stay in Christ glorifying fellowship and turn away from the things that dull our hearts to the glorious and weighty realities of the gospel is NOT how we feel about God on any particular morning. Our desire must be driven by the truth, or as Jim Elliot stated, what he knew to be right, weather it feels good or not. The fact that God is REALLY GOD!!! The fact that He means the radical things he says in his word and realizing what was accomplished on the cross should bring us to our knees. Think about how this concept of "feel" and "impulse" being the measure of our willingness to do or sacrifice permeates all of our life. So even truth is determined by your "feel." And if God's word challenges us radically, we say "he couldn't have meant that!" because we FEEL like Gods call couldn't be that demanding and he can't be that jealous for his glory. I have bad news for you....God could care less about what you "feel" when it comes to his truth. But this is a problem with the modern view of Christianity that has been infected by the relativism in our Godless culture. Too many churches have not trained their congregations to love truth or honor the bible as absolute objective truth, as a result, the people are slaves to their desires and are resistant to any truth that does not correspond to their "feel". With that in mind, here is a frightening question: if you are not preaching a biblically accurate Christ to your congregation, then who are they singing to when they raise their hands? If the Christ of the bible who demands EVERYTHING from us is presented to them, would they still want him? After we hear a message, the questions commonly asked are "how did you feel about the message? Did you like it?" and the response to these questions are usually shaped by all of the wrong things. How entertaining was it? How funny was he? How deep was it? How "real" was he? So the measure of a good, God honoring sermon is relative to our "feel." But the measure of a message is not and should never be its entertaining value or even how inspired you feel by it. The measure is truth. And many of the messages we hear these days are not biblically sound, but people have been so trained to love, desire and listen for the wrong things that they do not know the difference between what is true and what is not. No biblical discernment has been developed in order to know the difference between what is true and biblical vs. what is an experientially stimulating yet damaging mishandling of the truth. To hear "an experientially stimulating yet damaging mishandling of the truth" should make our blood boil as believers who love the truth, but we don't mind because, like the preachers who present these messages, as long as it keeps churches filled, keeps us feeling good, and we see people walking out with smiling faces, it must be a good message. This is the modern measure of a successful church.
Before I go on, I really hope this is as disheartening to you as it is to me. This has been a great burden on my heart for a long time. I have had many evenings where I have woken up in the middle of the night broken by this painful reality. So many who believe themselves to be converted are not and churches are not preaching an honest and complete message. If the church is full of carnal, self seeking, church members who are interested in getting all they can get from God and living out the Christian version of the American Dream….full of young people who see no problem with being entertained by the arrogant and ungodly activity found in music and TV programs/movies – the very things that Christ suffered for…full of people who live lives that are shaped by the Godless culture around them rather than the gospel….then what exactly did the death and resurrection of Christ accomplish? If this is the case, then his blood was only powerful enough to save us from hell, but it is not powerful enough to save us from our sin. If this is how we are living, we do not understand the cross and it is very likely that we have not been converted. The blood of Christ is not weak and insufficient. If Christ is only a savior from hell and not a savior from sin to you, then he has not saved you at all. His death powerfully took men that were dead in sin and did not desire God and changed the orientation of their hearts so that they love what he loves and hate what he hates. This is what the blood accomplished in the lives of the elect.
The issue presented to us is truth and the question is do we love it or even know it? Do you love the Jesus that the truth of scripture presents or the one that is not scriptural and has been created in the minds of unbiblical preachers?...the one who gives grace because he knows you won’t stop sinning rather than giving you grace as the powerful means by which men no longer live in sin? But to simply state it this way is not enough. There is the bible that we believe to be absolute truth, and then there is the way the bible is understood and presented. This is where truth is lost for many -- in how it is understood and presented. We believe what we hear is true because it comes from a book that we agree is true and the message includes bible verses that seem to make sense. One area that many preachers get wrong is in neglecting to understand that the bible is objective truth, and when Paul was writing, he had one meaning. This means it is not ok for us to take a text and read into it what we want in order to get our point across. We must understand what Paul meant when he said it to the audience he was speaking to. We must also know what Paul believed before we can understand what he meant. Like I stated earlier, the gospel is the key to understanding life appropriately, but what happens if you don't get the gospel right? What happens if you understand it incorrectly or misinterpret it? I don't think it's hard to see the results of not getting the gospel right. Simply take a look at modern Christianity, where the average nominal Christian does not have a biblical view of the finished work of Christ on the cross and as a result, the people who call themselves Christians live lives that are carnal, self centered and self promoting in the name of Christ. Take a look at the large number of pastors who do not understand the Gospel and lead congregations that are in danger of living out Luke 6:40 "A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher". I find it funny that the Bereans questioned what was said to them by Paul, the man whom God inspired to write half of the New Testament, and somehow we almost NEVER question what comes out of the mouths of the people who teach us. In large part, this is because we do not know what to question. We do not have anything to measure what we hear against. If you do not have a firm grip on truth, you cannot tell what is counterfeit from what is authentic.
In closing, I will sum this blog up with a quote from J.I. Packers introduction of The Death of Death in the Death of Christ by John Owen:
There is no doubt that evangelicalism today is in a state of perplexity and unsettlement. In such matters as the practice of evangelism, the teaching of holiness, the building up of local church life, the pastor's dealing with souls and the exercise of discipline, there is evidence of widespread dissatisfaction with things as they are and or equally widespread uncertainty as to the road ahead. This is a complex phenomenon, to which many factors have contributed; but, if we go to the root of the matter, we shall find that these perplexities are all ultimately due to our having lost our grip on the biblical gospel. Without realizing it, we have during the past century bartered that gospel for a substitute product which, though it looks similar enough in points of detail, is as a whole a decidedly different thing. Hence our troubles; for the substitute product does not answer the ends for which the authentic gospel has in past days proved itself so mighty. Why?
We would suggest that the reason lies in its own character and content. It fails to make men Godcentered in their thoughts and God-fearing in their hearts because this is not primarily what it is trying to do. One way of stating the difference between it and the old gospel is to say that it is too exclusively concerned to be 'helpful' to man - to bring peace, comfort, happiness, satisfaction - and too little concerned to glorify God. The old gospel was 'helpful', too - more so, indeed, than is the new - but (so to speak) incidentally, for its first concern was always to give glory to God. It was always and essentially a proclamation of divine sovereignty in mercy and judgment, a summons to bow down and worship the mighty Lord on whom man depends for all good, both in nature and in grace. Its center of reference was unambiguously God. But in the new gospel the center of reference is man. This is just to say that the old gospel was religious in a way that the new gospel is not. Whereas the chief aim of the old was to teach people to worship God, the concern of the new seems limited to making them feel better. The subject of the old gospel was God and his ways with men; the subject of the new is man and the help God gives him. There is a world of difference. The whole perspective and emphasis of gospel preaching has changed.
"I may no longer depend on pleasant impulses to bring me before the Lord. I must rather respond to principles I know to be right, whether I feel them to be enjoyable or not."
The verbiage of this quote may throw you off, but like myself, this is probably something you need to remind yourself of constantly. Think about how many of us behave when it comes to essential disciplines such as the studying of the word and prayer. When we are in seasons where we are on a proverbial "spiritual high", we tend to have hearts that long to study the bible and pray. We become increasingly attracted to conversation that exalts God and shuns the trivialities that almost constantly steal our hearts away from weighty, important things. We find a deep and strengthening sense of joy in the realities of God. Our sensitivity of sin becomes heightened, the realities of the truths of the gospel become clear, and the urgency of the gospel message becomes dyer. But then there are the seasons where our emotions are not as deeply stirred by the truth. As a result, we do not push ourselves to wake up in the morning and spend time in prayer and meditation; forgetting that this is a privilege and not just a check mark on the "Christian Duties" to do list. We are not careful with how we spend our time during the day. We are not aroused enough about God to speak about him. There is no urgency concerning the souls of the people around us..... I am reluctant when using the word "seasons" because I do not want to portray these experiences like we have no part in their happening. We are guilty in every sense of our dryness. We cling to the very things that rob us of the joy of the Lord and the reality of life as God sees it. We watch programs and listen to music that makes light of sin. We indulge in conversation that is not God honoring and shrink rather than bring Christ into it. Our issue is usually not one of seasons or victory and defeat, it's one that stems from obedience and disobedience.
With all of that said, Jim Elliot's quote portrays the reality that our propensity to desire God and pursue him is too impulse driven rather than truth driven. The reason we should desire to pray, study the word, stay in Christ glorifying fellowship and turn away from the things that dull our hearts to the glorious and weighty realities of the gospel is NOT how we feel about God on any particular morning. Our desire must be driven by the truth, or as Jim Elliot stated, what he knew to be right, weather it feels good or not. The fact that God is REALLY GOD!!! The fact that He means the radical things he says in his word and realizing what was accomplished on the cross should bring us to our knees. Think about how this concept of "feel" and "impulse" being the measure of our willingness to do or sacrifice permeates all of our life. So even truth is determined by your "feel." And if God's word challenges us radically, we say "he couldn't have meant that!" because we FEEL like Gods call couldn't be that demanding and he can't be that jealous for his glory. I have bad news for you....God could care less about what you "feel" when it comes to his truth. But this is a problem with the modern view of Christianity that has been infected by the relativism in our Godless culture. Too many churches have not trained their congregations to love truth or honor the bible as absolute objective truth, as a result, the people are slaves to their desires and are resistant to any truth that does not correspond to their "feel". With that in mind, here is a frightening question: if you are not preaching a biblically accurate Christ to your congregation, then who are they singing to when they raise their hands? If the Christ of the bible who demands EVERYTHING from us is presented to them, would they still want him? After we hear a message, the questions commonly asked are "how did you feel about the message? Did you like it?" and the response to these questions are usually shaped by all of the wrong things. How entertaining was it? How funny was he? How deep was it? How "real" was he? So the measure of a good, God honoring sermon is relative to our "feel." But the measure of a message is not and should never be its entertaining value or even how inspired you feel by it. The measure is truth. And many of the messages we hear these days are not biblically sound, but people have been so trained to love, desire and listen for the wrong things that they do not know the difference between what is true and what is not. No biblical discernment has been developed in order to know the difference between what is true and biblical vs. what is an experientially stimulating yet damaging mishandling of the truth. To hear "an experientially stimulating yet damaging mishandling of the truth" should make our blood boil as believers who love the truth, but we don't mind because, like the preachers who present these messages, as long as it keeps churches filled, keeps us feeling good, and we see people walking out with smiling faces, it must be a good message. This is the modern measure of a successful church.
Before I go on, I really hope this is as disheartening to you as it is to me. This has been a great burden on my heart for a long time. I have had many evenings where I have woken up in the middle of the night broken by this painful reality. So many who believe themselves to be converted are not and churches are not preaching an honest and complete message. If the church is full of carnal, self seeking, church members who are interested in getting all they can get from God and living out the Christian version of the American Dream….full of young people who see no problem with being entertained by the arrogant and ungodly activity found in music and TV programs/movies – the very things that Christ suffered for…full of people who live lives that are shaped by the Godless culture around them rather than the gospel….then what exactly did the death and resurrection of Christ accomplish? If this is the case, then his blood was only powerful enough to save us from hell, but it is not powerful enough to save us from our sin. If this is how we are living, we do not understand the cross and it is very likely that we have not been converted. The blood of Christ is not weak and insufficient. If Christ is only a savior from hell and not a savior from sin to you, then he has not saved you at all. His death powerfully took men that were dead in sin and did not desire God and changed the orientation of their hearts so that they love what he loves and hate what he hates. This is what the blood accomplished in the lives of the elect.
The issue presented to us is truth and the question is do we love it or even know it? Do you love the Jesus that the truth of scripture presents or the one that is not scriptural and has been created in the minds of unbiblical preachers?...the one who gives grace because he knows you won’t stop sinning rather than giving you grace as the powerful means by which men no longer live in sin? But to simply state it this way is not enough. There is the bible that we believe to be absolute truth, and then there is the way the bible is understood and presented. This is where truth is lost for many -- in how it is understood and presented. We believe what we hear is true because it comes from a book that we agree is true and the message includes bible verses that seem to make sense. One area that many preachers get wrong is in neglecting to understand that the bible is objective truth, and when Paul was writing, he had one meaning. This means it is not ok for us to take a text and read into it what we want in order to get our point across. We must understand what Paul meant when he said it to the audience he was speaking to. We must also know what Paul believed before we can understand what he meant. Like I stated earlier, the gospel is the key to understanding life appropriately, but what happens if you don't get the gospel right? What happens if you understand it incorrectly or misinterpret it? I don't think it's hard to see the results of not getting the gospel right. Simply take a look at modern Christianity, where the average nominal Christian does not have a biblical view of the finished work of Christ on the cross and as a result, the people who call themselves Christians live lives that are carnal, self centered and self promoting in the name of Christ. Take a look at the large number of pastors who do not understand the Gospel and lead congregations that are in danger of living out Luke 6:40 "A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher". I find it funny that the Bereans questioned what was said to them by Paul, the man whom God inspired to write half of the New Testament, and somehow we almost NEVER question what comes out of the mouths of the people who teach us. In large part, this is because we do not know what to question. We do not have anything to measure what we hear against. If you do not have a firm grip on truth, you cannot tell what is counterfeit from what is authentic.
In closing, I will sum this blog up with a quote from J.I. Packers introduction of The Death of Death in the Death of Christ by John Owen:
There is no doubt that evangelicalism today is in a state of perplexity and unsettlement. In such matters as the practice of evangelism, the teaching of holiness, the building up of local church life, the pastor's dealing with souls and the exercise of discipline, there is evidence of widespread dissatisfaction with things as they are and or equally widespread uncertainty as to the road ahead. This is a complex phenomenon, to which many factors have contributed; but, if we go to the root of the matter, we shall find that these perplexities are all ultimately due to our having lost our grip on the biblical gospel. Without realizing it, we have during the past century bartered that gospel for a substitute product which, though it looks similar enough in points of detail, is as a whole a decidedly different thing. Hence our troubles; for the substitute product does not answer the ends for which the authentic gospel has in past days proved itself so mighty. Why?
We would suggest that the reason lies in its own character and content. It fails to make men Godcentered in their thoughts and God-fearing in their hearts because this is not primarily what it is trying to do. One way of stating the difference between it and the old gospel is to say that it is too exclusively concerned to be 'helpful' to man - to bring peace, comfort, happiness, satisfaction - and too little concerned to glorify God. The old gospel was 'helpful', too - more so, indeed, than is the new - but (so to speak) incidentally, for its first concern was always to give glory to God. It was always and essentially a proclamation of divine sovereignty in mercy and judgment, a summons to bow down and worship the mighty Lord on whom man depends for all good, both in nature and in grace. Its center of reference was unambiguously God. But in the new gospel the center of reference is man. This is just to say that the old gospel was religious in a way that the new gospel is not. Whereas the chief aim of the old was to teach people to worship God, the concern of the new seems limited to making them feel better. The subject of the old gospel was God and his ways with men; the subject of the new is man and the help God gives him. There is a world of difference. The whole perspective and emphasis of gospel preaching has changed.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
A Generation Without Men
On the day I planned to depart from Atlanta (after Okey and Leslie's AWESOME wedding!) , I got an opportunity to go to my boy Nnamdi’s house briefly before going to the train station. While there, his uncle unexpectedly told all of us to sit down. He read a few verses in Hebrews that morning and wanted to discuss them with us with the intention of thanking us for coming to the wedding and encouraging us before we parted ways. This experience was one that I had grown accustomed to over the years due to my close connection to the family and my late uncle Richards family leadership. As we sat together on the sectional, leaning forward and listening intently as our uncle explained the verses being read by Uzoma, I felt a bit eerie. Every time this man talked, laughed or made an expression, I couldn’t help but to remember my late uncle who played such a significant fatherly role in my life. In my 11 years of walking with the Lord, I have not had any other man show me so closely what it means to be a father who strives to honor God in the raising of his children. He is the only man in my 11 years of walking with the Lord that ever sent everyone out of the room, sat me down, and had a man to man talk with me about a concern he saw in my life and to advise me concerning manhood….I was 29 years old at the time. He is the only man I have ever seen model what it means to lead a family. I can remember several occasions where he would randomly sit his family and anyone else in the house down and use the opportunity to discuss the issues of life, teach us with story's from his life, discuss the mysteries of God, and remind us of our responsibility as growing adults to lead and be prepared for life. Needless to say, his passing left a significant void in my life. I remember recently sending a message to his Facebook inbox that read “I miss you uncle. So much to say, so many questions to ask.” Those words have gone through my head in so many of my difficult moments.
As we came to a close of the brief exhortation and prayer, Nnamdi said something to me that he has expressed many times and said for the second time during this particular weekend. He mentioned how challenging, and at times scary, it is for him as the oldest son in the family to attempt to fill the shoes of his father. It’s not only the fact that his father, by the life he lived, left huge shoes to fill, it’s also the way just about every man in his large family has set a high standard in word and deed of what it means to lead. I never got a chance to respond, but as I’ve had a chance to think about it, I’m kind of puzzled. It’s one thing to be humbled and challenged at the example you were shown daily of what it means to lead with the tough and tender hand that is necessary for a man to have when shepherding his family (and uncle Richard was a SICK example of this)…..it’s another thing to aspire to lead in this way knowing that you haven’t had any examples of what it means to be a man of God who leads in his home. I did have my father in the home growing up and I care deeply for him, but there is a vast difference between having an unbelieving father and one who strongly pursues a life that is shaped by the gospel and expresses it in how he loves his wife and raises his children.
Sadly, there are way too many men who do not have the challenge of having large shoes to fill. Instead many are left to fend for themselves; to attempt to be the first to purchase a pair of shoes and wear them well. But by God’s grace, I’m encouraged that we have not been left to fend for ourselves. My first teacher has been the word of God. The scriptures set in front of me a command to refrain from living idly, to be responsible, to work hard, to lead boldly and to love gently and generously. They also lay in front of me the ultimate example of what it means to be a man – Jesus Christ. Despite pop cultures depiction of a feminine, passive, long haired hippie-king, the scripture describes Christ as a man who worked hard, who was responsible for himself and was able to sacrificially lead and be responsible for others. The scriptures depict him as a man who was fearless in the face of opposition, from both the religious and ungodly and from the cultural norms and the demands that they presented which often stood in opposition to what God was all about. The scripture describes him as a man who was willing to stand alone and not shrink, even when he spoke before men he knew wanted him dead. A man who suffered for the sake of others without complaining. They describe him as a man who was neither passive nor domineering; the two positions all men lean toward due to the fall. And along with all of this, the scriptures describe him as a man who was loving and compassionate, a man who loved children and could sympathize with the pain and sufferings of those around him. This is the example we have been given and this is the kind of manhood that we have been called to.
So yeah....we have MASSIVE shoes to fill! It's a wonder that fathers don't take the scriptures example of fatherhood seriously, especially those who claim to be Christ followers. Many men in the church are actually raising their sons to chase after the Christian version of the American Dream; education, money, a hot wife and a life of ease and comfort.....oh yeah, and God. Sidebar::: doesn't that sound like Lil Wayne thanking God after winning a Grammy.....only because "without him, none of the crap I've selfishly acquired for myself would be possible." As a result, we have an epidemic of 30-something year old boys who have not been prepared to lead themselves and certainly should not be allowed within 50 yards of a wife and kids. And many of them, though they claim Christ, life effectually as atheists in terms of what shapes how they live, their views of marriage/family, and their views of the BASICS of Christianity. All of the things just listed seem to be shaped more by the Godless contemporary culture than the gospel.
I don't feel like we have taken seriously the trend in our culture that has even crept deeply into the church. In the last year, more than ever before, I have learned that there is a cost to living out biblical manhood. It is the cost of Christianity.....everything. It is laying down your life as Christ laid his down for the church. God has called men to be the primary discipler of their children and wife. He has called men to teach, to lead, to love and to live sacrificially. He has called men to work hard, to have a Christ centered vision for their homes. He has called us to raise children who, contrary to the cultural norm, have a CHRIST CENTERED vision for their lives and hearts that are ready to give themselves away at an early age for the purposes of Christ. This is normal Christianity. Not the next level......the only level.
My brother Nnamdi and I had two very different experiences in the home, but the task set before us is the same. Though he got to see his father transformed by Christ and see an example of a man who leads with his eyes set on Christ, there is still the similar difficult task of striving to be men who know God, know the scripture, and bring up children that are the beginning of multigenerational faithfulness in our families. And not only to do this in the context of our families, but to be the kind of men in the church that uncle Richard was to me. To, at times, be called out by men older than us and boldly stand for the offensive truths of the gospel that may conflict with our culture, and one day raise sons that have their eyes fixed firmly on eternal purposes in a world where everything in our culture marginalizes or misinterprets manhood.
I'll close with a prayer that Mark Driscoll prays with his son almost every night, not only for his son, for himself as well. It reflects the kind of men we need........
“God, make me a man with thick skin and a soft heart. Make me a man who is tough and tender. Make me tough so I can handle life. Make me tender so I can love people. God, make me a man.”
I also leave you with two links....
One with the problem ::: The Omega Male
Two with the solution ::: Sermon by Mark Driscoll ::: Sermon by Voddie Baucham
As we came to a close of the brief exhortation and prayer, Nnamdi said something to me that he has expressed many times and said for the second time during this particular weekend. He mentioned how challenging, and at times scary, it is for him as the oldest son in the family to attempt to fill the shoes of his father. It’s not only the fact that his father, by the life he lived, left huge shoes to fill, it’s also the way just about every man in his large family has set a high standard in word and deed of what it means to lead. I never got a chance to respond, but as I’ve had a chance to think about it, I’m kind of puzzled. It’s one thing to be humbled and challenged at the example you were shown daily of what it means to lead with the tough and tender hand that is necessary for a man to have when shepherding his family (and uncle Richard was a SICK example of this)…..it’s another thing to aspire to lead in this way knowing that you haven’t had any examples of what it means to be a man of God who leads in his home. I did have my father in the home growing up and I care deeply for him, but there is a vast difference between having an unbelieving father and one who strongly pursues a life that is shaped by the gospel and expresses it in how he loves his wife and raises his children.
Sadly, there are way too many men who do not have the challenge of having large shoes to fill. Instead many are left to fend for themselves; to attempt to be the first to purchase a pair of shoes and wear them well. But by God’s grace, I’m encouraged that we have not been left to fend for ourselves. My first teacher has been the word of God. The scriptures set in front of me a command to refrain from living idly, to be responsible, to work hard, to lead boldly and to love gently and generously. They also lay in front of me the ultimate example of what it means to be a man – Jesus Christ. Despite pop cultures depiction of a feminine, passive, long haired hippie-king, the scripture describes Christ as a man who worked hard, who was responsible for himself and was able to sacrificially lead and be responsible for others. The scriptures depict him as a man who was fearless in the face of opposition, from both the religious and ungodly and from the cultural norms and the demands that they presented which often stood in opposition to what God was all about. The scripture describes him as a man who was willing to stand alone and not shrink, even when he spoke before men he knew wanted him dead. A man who suffered for the sake of others without complaining. They describe him as a man who was neither passive nor domineering; the two positions all men lean toward due to the fall. And along with all of this, the scriptures describe him as a man who was loving and compassionate, a man who loved children and could sympathize with the pain and sufferings of those around him. This is the example we have been given and this is the kind of manhood that we have been called to.
So yeah....we have MASSIVE shoes to fill! It's a wonder that fathers don't take the scriptures example of fatherhood seriously, especially those who claim to be Christ followers. Many men in the church are actually raising their sons to chase after the Christian version of the American Dream; education, money, a hot wife and a life of ease and comfort.....oh yeah, and God. Sidebar::: doesn't that sound like Lil Wayne thanking God after winning a Grammy.....only because "without him, none of the crap I've selfishly acquired for myself would be possible." As a result, we have an epidemic of 30-something year old boys who have not been prepared to lead themselves and certainly should not be allowed within 50 yards of a wife and kids. And many of them, though they claim Christ, life effectually as atheists in terms of what shapes how they live, their views of marriage/family, and their views of the BASICS of Christianity. All of the things just listed seem to be shaped more by the Godless contemporary culture than the gospel.
I don't feel like we have taken seriously the trend in our culture that has even crept deeply into the church. In the last year, more than ever before, I have learned that there is a cost to living out biblical manhood. It is the cost of Christianity.....everything. It is laying down your life as Christ laid his down for the church. God has called men to be the primary discipler of their children and wife. He has called men to teach, to lead, to love and to live sacrificially. He has called men to work hard, to have a Christ centered vision for their homes. He has called us to raise children who, contrary to the cultural norm, have a CHRIST CENTERED vision for their lives and hearts that are ready to give themselves away at an early age for the purposes of Christ. This is normal Christianity. Not the next level......the only level.
My brother Nnamdi and I had two very different experiences in the home, but the task set before us is the same. Though he got to see his father transformed by Christ and see an example of a man who leads with his eyes set on Christ, there is still the similar difficult task of striving to be men who know God, know the scripture, and bring up children that are the beginning of multigenerational faithfulness in our families. And not only to do this in the context of our families, but to be the kind of men in the church that uncle Richard was to me. To, at times, be called out by men older than us and boldly stand for the offensive truths of the gospel that may conflict with our culture, and one day raise sons that have their eyes fixed firmly on eternal purposes in a world where everything in our culture marginalizes or misinterprets manhood.
I'll close with a prayer that Mark Driscoll prays with his son almost every night, not only for his son, for himself as well. It reflects the kind of men we need........
“God, make me a man with thick skin and a soft heart. Make me a man who is tough and tender. Make me tough so I can handle life. Make me tender so I can love people. God, make me a man.”
I also leave you with two links....
One with the problem ::: The Omega Male
Two with the solution ::: Sermon by Mark Driscoll ::: Sermon by Voddie Baucham
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Let Me Learn By Paradox...
Okay, I fell asleep trying to complete this post on Thursday night while packing for my trip to Atlanta. While I was preparing, I had a little...I don't quite know where to start...
There's something I felt like I had dealt with and a small situation came up to show me that I really haven't. Instead of me being glad or even neutral about the person/situation, I was sort of frustrated by it. Instead of my prime interest being this persons well being and seeing Christ glorified in their life, my mind was on me and my feelings. It's funny how many of the things we do are driven by our selfishness; even the things that appear to be innocent in our eyes. I find it so amazing how Christ saves us from a heart that is convinced that our sins weren't that bad, and all of a sudden he opens our eyes, and we are forever branded in our hearts and shown in the most basic happenings of our lives how unworthy we are (and how AMAZING God's grace is).
In a land that is so driven by self esteem; where bookstores are stocked full of shelves of books teaching us to take pride in ourselves, God offers in his word the total antithesis. He tells us to die to self is great gain, that we are lifted through humility rather than when we pridefully esteem ourselves, and that he who forsakes everything for Christ and the sake of the Gospel gains. My selfishness, sinful self pity, and pride become so large in light of the example of Christ in Philippians 3:3-11 and that is the exact means God has prescribed to constantly remind me of my dire need of his Son and the mercy and grace offered through him. So instead of being frustrated when I see how short I fall, even in my failures I find gladness knowing that I am excepted due to Christs sacrificial death on the cross. Instead of being frustrated when my sin becomes evident to me, I find gladness knowing that the ability to be convicted about these things and repent is something I could never do if not for what was accomplished on the cross. So my joy is no longer performance driven, it is in the finished work of Christ on the cross.
My prayer is that failures and shortcomings like this one help to shape the way I treat people. I realize that I am entitled to absolutely nothing but judgement if not for the cross, so bearing with the failures of others and with annoying people..... giving my time, strength and energy to express the worth of Christ to others..... if God has given me the greatest gift that could ever be offered even though I am not even entitled to the strength in my fingers to type this post, what is it that he could ask of me that should be withheld? Man....I am in CONSTANT need of His grace....and I'm so glad that his grace is constantly with me.
This puritan prayer is such an encouragement right now. It helps to be reminded that even our failures are our servants when we are with the Lord, to purify us and draw us to Christ.
"Lord, High and Holy, Meek and Lowly,
Thou has brought me to the valley of vision,
where I live in the depths but see thee in the heights;
hemmed in by mountains of sin I behold thy glory.
Let me learn by paradox
that the way down is the way up,
that to be low is to be high,
that the broken heart is the healed heart,
that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit,
that the repenting soul is the victorious soul,
that to have nothing is to possess all,
that to bear the cross is to wear the crown,
that to give is to receive,
that the valley is the place of vision.
Lord, in the daytime stars can be seen from deepest wells,
and the deeper the wells the brighter thy stars shine;
Let me find thy light in my darkness,
thy life in my death,
thy joy in my sorrow,
thy grace in my sin,
thy riches in my poverty,
thy glory in my valley."
taken from
The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions.
There's something I felt like I had dealt with and a small situation came up to show me that I really haven't. Instead of me being glad or even neutral about the person/situation, I was sort of frustrated by it. Instead of my prime interest being this persons well being and seeing Christ glorified in their life, my mind was on me and my feelings. It's funny how many of the things we do are driven by our selfishness; even the things that appear to be innocent in our eyes. I find it so amazing how Christ saves us from a heart that is convinced that our sins weren't that bad, and all of a sudden he opens our eyes, and we are forever branded in our hearts and shown in the most basic happenings of our lives how unworthy we are (and how AMAZING God's grace is).
In a land that is so driven by self esteem; where bookstores are stocked full of shelves of books teaching us to take pride in ourselves, God offers in his word the total antithesis. He tells us to die to self is great gain, that we are lifted through humility rather than when we pridefully esteem ourselves, and that he who forsakes everything for Christ and the sake of the Gospel gains. My selfishness, sinful self pity, and pride become so large in light of the example of Christ in Philippians 3:3-11 and that is the exact means God has prescribed to constantly remind me of my dire need of his Son and the mercy and grace offered through him. So instead of being frustrated when I see how short I fall, even in my failures I find gladness knowing that I am excepted due to Christs sacrificial death on the cross. Instead of being frustrated when my sin becomes evident to me, I find gladness knowing that the ability to be convicted about these things and repent is something I could never do if not for what was accomplished on the cross. So my joy is no longer performance driven, it is in the finished work of Christ on the cross.
My prayer is that failures and shortcomings like this one help to shape the way I treat people. I realize that I am entitled to absolutely nothing but judgement if not for the cross, so bearing with the failures of others and with annoying people..... giving my time, strength and energy to express the worth of Christ to others..... if God has given me the greatest gift that could ever be offered even though I am not even entitled to the strength in my fingers to type this post, what is it that he could ask of me that should be withheld? Man....I am in CONSTANT need of His grace....and I'm so glad that his grace is constantly with me.
This puritan prayer is such an encouragement right now. It helps to be reminded that even our failures are our servants when we are with the Lord, to purify us and draw us to Christ.
"Lord, High and Holy, Meek and Lowly,
Thou has brought me to the valley of vision,
where I live in the depths but see thee in the heights;
hemmed in by mountains of sin I behold thy glory.
Let me learn by paradox
that the way down is the way up,
that to be low is to be high,
that the broken heart is the healed heart,
that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit,
that the repenting soul is the victorious soul,
that to have nothing is to possess all,
that to bear the cross is to wear the crown,
that to give is to receive,
that the valley is the place of vision.
Lord, in the daytime stars can be seen from deepest wells,
and the deeper the wells the brighter thy stars shine;
Let me find thy light in my darkness,
thy life in my death,
thy joy in my sorrow,
thy grace in my sin,
thy riches in my poverty,
thy glory in my valley."
taken from
The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Wow....that sort of looks like....Christianity
Last night I had a conversation that unexpectedly left me with a mixture of feelings that I certainly couldn't have anticipated. I had just went to buy the shirt, tie, and shoes that I needed for a wedding I will be in on Saturday, and while I was in the store picking up the suit that I just got altered I got a phone call. My aunt/friend/sister/(fill in the blank) called me with some great news. She had just been informed by her bank that they approved her contract for a home. I was extremely happy for her. The conversation started off with us just talking about how it all seemed unlikely when we first spoke about it a few weeks ago and how grateful we were to be seeing this door open up. As she continued to speak, I was honestly awed. She began to talk about some of her current expenses. She talked about her school books that would cost her around $500, about some things she needed to take care of for her son in college (including his car payment), she had spoken to me earlier about having to buy him a suit for a special event he was attending. She also spoke about a person at church that needed money for rent and how she gave her whole check from her part-time job to help them out. She spoke of how her phone was off because she didn’t have money left and how she even had to search her pocket book for change to come up with a dollar a few days earlier….she had been basically living off of her change for a few days. She spoke of the expense of the home inspection. The whole time she continues to re-emphasize “This is what God calls us to, a life of caring for each other and trusting him for our needs.” I’m listening to her and almost tearing up because of how recklessly she’s doing it!
Here’s what blew me away: I wish I could describe the mixture of joy and contentment that radiated from her over the phone. And she’s not trying to convince herself that God will supply her needs. She has made a habit of sacrificially giving to others and trusting God for hers. She doesn’t make a ton of money. She doesn’t have much expendable income. She is a woman with an ordinary job and an apartment, no car, and a son in college. While I was listening to her, so many feelings and thoughts flooded my heart: joy, conviction, gratefulness, happiness….
The thought that gripped me was simply this—“Wow…this is awkward. It sort of looks like…….Christianity.” Let’s be real here, Christians and unbelievers alike would say she is not using wisdom. They would say she lacks prudence. They would say ‘Take care of you first.’ But this is Acts 2 in the flesh. This is what I see in Philippians when Paul is writing from jail and speaking about Epaphroditus saying ‘But I think it is necessary to send back to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger, whom you sent to take care of my needs. For he longs for all of you and is distressed because you heard he was ill.’ A man who was ill, but overlooks his pain and was hurt deeply for others. Christianity is soooo counter cultural! There is no place in the world where this behavior makes sense. This is foreign to the unbeliever and the common American Christians actual life, but this is indeed Christianity: Sacrificial and radical rather than safe and comfortable. This is what the blood of Christ accomplished; power to change the orientation of a heart so much so that it finds great joy and pleasure in suffering for the sake of others and the name of Christ. This is a life that displays the exceeding worth of Christ. A life that says “I value Christ more than comfort, security, and safety. I trust Christ more than the cultural norms and prudence as defined by the world.”
I think the thing that always stands out about Acts 2 is that Peter didn’t tell these people to sell what they had and make sure everyone’s needs were met. This was the new orientation of the hearts of these people once they saw the exceeding value of Christ as described in the Gospel . All of a sudden everything else paled in comparison and no one had to tell them to give anything away. They treasured him and his people. I’m sure some of these people were selfish and had all kinds of crazy lives before this, but look at the change God worked in their hearts and their uncoerced response.
I was so broken that by the end of the conversation I asked to pray for her…but I felt like I did more confessing and repenting than praying for her. I had to ask myself some questions. The last thing I wanted to do was waste this experience that God, by his sovereign grace, allowed me to experience. In light of what the Lord just showed me, how must I live? What needs to change? What needs to go? I see clearly that I’m living a life that doesn’t make room for the needs of others. I sort of came to a point of asking myself, how can I cut my expenses by about 10-20 percent in order to be able to take care of the needs of others? I know that is a large percentage and it may seem extreme, but this is the reality of scriptures definition of what the faith looks like when it's lived out and not simply agreed with. This is SACRIFICIAL living. It doesn't cater to convenience. Instead it leaves me no choice but to transfer my source of pleasure from "stuff" to Christ. I want to find my greatest joy in his pleasure, no matter the cost to me. I want to live a life that tells the world "Christ and his purposes are more valuable than my comfort, safety, security or convenience." And I want Christ to do a work in me where I can say it and mean it joyfully. This is what we were put on the earth for. To joyfully serve Christ and glorify him in our sacrificial service to others.
Here’s what blew me away: I wish I could describe the mixture of joy and contentment that radiated from her over the phone. And she’s not trying to convince herself that God will supply her needs. She has made a habit of sacrificially giving to others and trusting God for hers. She doesn’t make a ton of money. She doesn’t have much expendable income. She is a woman with an ordinary job and an apartment, no car, and a son in college. While I was listening to her, so many feelings and thoughts flooded my heart: joy, conviction, gratefulness, happiness….
The thought that gripped me was simply this—“Wow…this is awkward. It sort of looks like…….Christianity.” Let’s be real here, Christians and unbelievers alike would say she is not using wisdom. They would say she lacks prudence. They would say ‘Take care of you first.’ But this is Acts 2 in the flesh. This is what I see in Philippians when Paul is writing from jail and speaking about Epaphroditus saying ‘But I think it is necessary to send back to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger, whom you sent to take care of my needs. For he longs for all of you and is distressed because you heard he was ill.’ A man who was ill, but overlooks his pain and was hurt deeply for others. Christianity is soooo counter cultural! There is no place in the world where this behavior makes sense. This is foreign to the unbeliever and the common American Christians actual life, but this is indeed Christianity: Sacrificial and radical rather than safe and comfortable. This is what the blood of Christ accomplished; power to change the orientation of a heart so much so that it finds great joy and pleasure in suffering for the sake of others and the name of Christ. This is a life that displays the exceeding worth of Christ. A life that says “I value Christ more than comfort, security, and safety. I trust Christ more than the cultural norms and prudence as defined by the world.”
I think the thing that always stands out about Acts 2 is that Peter didn’t tell these people to sell what they had and make sure everyone’s needs were met. This was the new orientation of the hearts of these people once they saw the exceeding value of Christ as described in the Gospel . All of a sudden everything else paled in comparison and no one had to tell them to give anything away. They treasured him and his people. I’m sure some of these people were selfish and had all kinds of crazy lives before this, but look at the change God worked in their hearts and their uncoerced response.
I was so broken that by the end of the conversation I asked to pray for her…but I felt like I did more confessing and repenting than praying for her. I had to ask myself some questions. The last thing I wanted to do was waste this experience that God, by his sovereign grace, allowed me to experience. In light of what the Lord just showed me, how must I live? What needs to change? What needs to go? I see clearly that I’m living a life that doesn’t make room for the needs of others. I sort of came to a point of asking myself, how can I cut my expenses by about 10-20 percent in order to be able to take care of the needs of others? I know that is a large percentage and it may seem extreme, but this is the reality of scriptures definition of what the faith looks like when it's lived out and not simply agreed with. This is SACRIFICIAL living. It doesn't cater to convenience. Instead it leaves me no choice but to transfer my source of pleasure from "stuff" to Christ. I want to find my greatest joy in his pleasure, no matter the cost to me. I want to live a life that tells the world "Christ and his purposes are more valuable than my comfort, safety, security or convenience." And I want Christ to do a work in me where I can say it and mean it joyfully. This is what we were put on the earth for. To joyfully serve Christ and glorify him in our sacrificial service to others.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
My first ever blog---THE CENTER!
So today I decided on the whim to start blogging for the first time. I've spoken to people about doing this, but I never really considered doing it until last night. As I prepared to go to sleep, I began to considering the missions trip I just returned from and how difficult it was for me to gather my thoughts and experiences and to write them out. I guess the thing that made blogging unappealing to me is that I often have much to say and spend time considering my life and faith, but articulating them in a way that makes them tangible seems to be a difficult task for me. So I guess my writing tends to be like my music was, if I can't articulate it so clearly that the listener is experiencing it with me, I don't see the point of recording it. It sort of reminds me of my favorite Switchfoot line "There's a song that's inside of my soul. It's the one that I've tried to write over and over again." I plan to change my approach to this blogging thing. I definitely desire to make sure my thoughts are clear and descriptive, but I won't let what's lacking rob me of my zeal to continue writing.
Now for the explanation of the title: the center. There's so much I could say about this title. It's pretty simple but so full of meaning. Anyone who knows me or has asked me for advise in the past year or so knows that there is a statement that I often make. It goes sort of like this. The Gospel is everything and without it, Christianity will never make sense, biblical principles become more dangerous then helpful because they simply become a means to modify behavior, and ultimately Christ becomes a means to an end rather than the glorious end of salvation. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is not simply where salvation begins, IT IS EVERYTHING! But sadly, in my observation, many who claim to be believers do not understand it, and many preachers don't either. The evidence is seen in the preaching of a culturally/psychology driven Gospel that aims to raise self esteem, not realizing that the Gospel aims to do the exact opposite by putting Christ at the center rather than man, and take men low so that grace becomes amazing and the good news actually becomes good news to them. I was in the same position for the first 10 years of my walk with Christ until through a painful/glorious set of circumstances sovereignly orchestrated by God, everything changed (I'll share more details in the future).
As I'm considering the Gospel, I'm thinking of a troubling realization I faced that I think many can relate to. I remember a time when I came to a realization that I didn't understand the cross...the cross! It's easy to simply read over that last sentence, but take a moment to linger there.... Think about it...how could I be saved for almost 10 years, listen to countless sermons supposedly aimed at drawing me closer to the Lord and not understand the cross and what was accomplished on it? Now ask yourself if you get it. In fact, think of some of the hymns you sing and consider the same question. Do you get what you're singing or even mean the words you're saying? Many of you know exactly what I mean. It's living out your Christianity with a feeling like you are moving forward in years, but there is something foundational, significant and infinitely substantial that is lacking yet you can't quite grasp it. You know the cross as what Christ died on and that it was where our sins were forgiven and that's about it. The cross is just one example, but in general, there seems to be a plethora of things pertaining to our faith that we believe but we don't know why we believe them. There is no substance or depth. To be frank, if God is really God and his word is really true, to have a shallow, assumed understanding of these things but to have never had them carefully defined is not okay. If he is God and his word is infallible, inspired, and adequate objective truth for every generation, that demands a radical response from all who claim to believe. So for me, everything in life, every decision, every relationship must overflow with meaning and that meaning must be shaped by the Gospel (and NOT simply our experiences or reflections which are not always correct). The Gospel is the center and I desire everything to be clearly and definitively shaped by, driven from and connected to it....including this blog. So every blog will have one thing in common just like every book of the bible has one thing in common...the center, the Gospel, the Christ.
So on that note, I pray that this blog grows, inspires, and challenges you and me to the glory of God.
Sol Deo Gloria! (look it up ;-)
Now for the explanation of the title: the center. There's so much I could say about this title. It's pretty simple but so full of meaning. Anyone who knows me or has asked me for advise in the past year or so knows that there is a statement that I often make. It goes sort of like this. The Gospel is everything and without it, Christianity will never make sense, biblical principles become more dangerous then helpful because they simply become a means to modify behavior, and ultimately Christ becomes a means to an end rather than the glorious end of salvation. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is not simply where salvation begins, IT IS EVERYTHING! But sadly, in my observation, many who claim to be believers do not understand it, and many preachers don't either. The evidence is seen in the preaching of a culturally/psychology driven Gospel that aims to raise self esteem, not realizing that the Gospel aims to do the exact opposite by putting Christ at the center rather than man, and take men low so that grace becomes amazing and the good news actually becomes good news to them. I was in the same position for the first 10 years of my walk with Christ until through a painful/glorious set of circumstances sovereignly orchestrated by God, everything changed (I'll share more details in the future).
As I'm considering the Gospel, I'm thinking of a troubling realization I faced that I think many can relate to. I remember a time when I came to a realization that I didn't understand the cross...the cross! It's easy to simply read over that last sentence, but take a moment to linger there.... Think about it...how could I be saved for almost 10 years, listen to countless sermons supposedly aimed at drawing me closer to the Lord and not understand the cross and what was accomplished on it? Now ask yourself if you get it. In fact, think of some of the hymns you sing and consider the same question. Do you get what you're singing or even mean the words you're saying? Many of you know exactly what I mean. It's living out your Christianity with a feeling like you are moving forward in years, but there is something foundational, significant and infinitely substantial that is lacking yet you can't quite grasp it. You know the cross as what Christ died on and that it was where our sins were forgiven and that's about it. The cross is just one example, but in general, there seems to be a plethora of things pertaining to our faith that we believe but we don't know why we believe them. There is no substance or depth. To be frank, if God is really God and his word is really true, to have a shallow, assumed understanding of these things but to have never had them carefully defined is not okay. If he is God and his word is infallible, inspired, and adequate objective truth for every generation, that demands a radical response from all who claim to believe. So for me, everything in life, every decision, every relationship must overflow with meaning and that meaning must be shaped by the Gospel (and NOT simply our experiences or reflections which are not always correct). The Gospel is the center and I desire everything to be clearly and definitively shaped by, driven from and connected to it....including this blog. So every blog will have one thing in common just like every book of the bible has one thing in common...the center, the Gospel, the Christ.
So on that note, I pray that this blog grows, inspires, and challenges you and me to the glory of God.
Sol Deo Gloria! (look it up ;-)
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