I hope the title got your attention. It is the title of a book I recently read that is very enlightening and challenging. It is by Larry Osborne and worth the time to read. Here are the ten dumb things that smart Christians believe:
1. Faith can fix anything.
Faith is not a skill we master. It’s not an impenetrable shield that protects us from life’s hardships and trials. It’s not a magic potion that removes every mess. It’s a map we follow. (17)
2. Forgiving means forgetting
Forgiveness is a decision lived out as a lengthy process. The expectation that those we’ve wronged should simply forget about it is not only unreasonable; it’s emotionally unhealthy. People who can’t remember what happened to them or who bury their pain are not spiritually mature; they’re mentally or emotionally handicapped. (25)
3. A godly home guarantees godly kids
The myth that a godly home guarantees godly kids (and godly adults) is not just untrue. It’s not just wishful thinking. It’s spiritually dangerous. If we buy into it, we become especially vulnerable to two things that are never part of God’s plan: unwarranted guilt and foolish pride. (44)
4. God has a blueprint for my life
The fact is, God doesn’t have a blueprint for our life. Never has. Never will. He does, however, have a game plan for our life. And the difference is important.
(57)
God doesn’t care where we work so much as how we work, where we live somuch as how we live, and even whom we marry (as long as it’s within the faith)so much as how we do marriage. (60)
5. Christians shouldn’t judge
The idea that Jesus forbade his followers to judge is a myth. Refusing to make judgments or call sin, sin, is not what Jesus asks us to do. . . Refusing to do so leads to costly spiritual consequences, not only in the lives of those of us who refuse to judge but also in the lives of those who never have their sins pointed out. (72)
Underlying the idea that we have no right to judge the beliefs and moral standards of others is another widely held belief. It’s the dogma that truth and morality are relative – the conviction that there are no universal spiritual truths and no universal moral standards. In other words, in the spiritual and moral realms, two diametrically opposing viewpoints or standards can both be true at the same time. (74)
6. Everything happens for a reason
Those who assume that everything that happens has God’s fingerprints all over it fail to distinguish between what God allows and what God causes – what God permits and what God prefers. The Bible makes it clear that there are a number of scenarios where the dark trials of our lives have nothing to do with God’s wonderful plans for our lives. (93)
7. Let your conscience be your guide
The idea that our conscience is a trustworthy moral guide is a myth. (108)
It’s a spiritual thermostat. We set it to the standards we choose. We determine when it kicks in and when it stays idle. Our conscience doesn’t tell us if we’re violating God’s standards. It tells us when we’re violating our standards. (110)
8. God brings good luck
As for Jesus, he certainly never promised his followers a long run of good luck or earthly success. He promised forgiveness. He promised eternity. But winning lottery numbers, job promotions, good health, and riches? Not exactly. (124)
9. A valley means a wrong turn
I’m not talking here about the kinds of valleys and trials that are completely out of our control – the medical issues, tragedies, and injustices that we can do nothing about except suck it up, trust God and endure. I’m talking about the kinds of valleys we can avoid or wiggle out of if we so choose. (139)
. . . the idea that every long-term valley is a mistake and should automatically be wiggled out of is a fallacy. It’s based on a spiritual urban legend . . . the belief that God only leads us to the mountaintop and that long-term valleys always mean a wrong turn. It ignores the long history of God’s dealings with his people and the clear teaching of Scripture. (140)
10. Dead people go to a better place
Jesus and the Bible are quite clear – the wicked don’t go to a better place. There’s a real hell. It’s not the devil’s playground. It’s not a perpetual wild party. It’s Satan’s worst nightmare. (156)
The widespread denial of any sort of actual judgment or a place called hell is nowhere more evident than when we deal with death. It’s here that it becomes obvious that funeral assurances are much more than a social custom. For many if not most folks, they’re a deeply held, core belief. (157)
The cross and salvation are central to the gospel. Once we lose any real concept of hell, the natural consequence is more than just putting us at odds with Scripture; it eventually devalues the cross, redefines salvation, and turns obedience into an extra-credit spiritual add-on. (163)
Monday, December 14, 2009
Counterfeit Gods - Timothy Keller
After a brief hiatus from reading, I’m back to the books. I recently read one I found very helpful and think you will, too. It is called Counterfeit Gods and it’s by Timothy Keller. I strongly recommend this book. Here are some excerpts:
The very things upon which (people) were building their happiness turned to dust in their hands because they had built all their happiness upon them. In each case, a good thing among many was turned into a supreme thing, so that its demands overrode all competing values. But counterfeit gods always disappoint, and often destructively so. (xvii)
What is an idol? It is anything more important to you than God, anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God, anything you seek to give you what only God can give. (xvii)
An idol is whatever you look at and say, “If I have that, then I’ll feel my life has meaning, then I’ll know I have value, then I’ll feel significant and secure.” There are many ways to describe that kind of relationship to something, but perhaps the best one is worship. (xviii)
The Bible uses three basic metaphors to describe how people relate to the idols of their hearts. They love idols, trust idols, and obey idols.
Idols capture our imagination, and we can locate them by looking at our daydreams. What do we enjoy imagining? What are our fondest dreams? We look to our idols to love us, provide us with value and a sense of beauty, significance, and worth.
Idols give us a sense of being in control, and we can locate them by looking at our nightmares. What do we fear the most? What, if we lost it, would make life not worth living? . . . We look to our idols to provide us with a sense of confidence and safety.
. . . we can locate idols by looking at our most unyielding emotions. What makes us uncontrollably angry, anxious, or despondent? What racks us with a guilt we can’t shake? Idols control us, since we feel we must have them or life is meaningless. (xviii-xxii)
Why is getting your heart’s deepest desire so often a disaster? In the book of Romans, Saint Paul wrote that one of the worst things God can do to someone is to “give them over to the desires of their hearts” (Romans 1:24). Why would the greatest punishment imaginable be to allow someone to achieve their fondest dream? It is because our hearts fashion these desires into idols. In that same chapter, Paul summarized the history of the human race in one sentence: “They worshipped and served created things rather than the Creator” (Romans 1:25). Every human being must live for something. Something must capture our imaginations, our heart’s most fundamental allegiance and hope. But, the Bible tells us, without the intervention of the Holy Spirit, that object will never be God himself. (3)
As many have learned and later taught, you don’t realize Jesus is all you need until Jesus is all you have.
Many, if not most, of these counterfeit gods can remain in our lives once we have “demoted” them below God. Then they won’t control us and bedevil us with anxiety, pride, anger, and drivenness. Nevertheless, we must not make the mistake of thinking that this story (Abraham and the sacrifice of Isaac) means all we have to do is be willing to part with our idols rather than actually leave them behind. If Abraham had gone up the mountain thinking, “All I’ll have to do is put Isaac on the altar, not really give him up” – he would have failed the test! Something is safe for us to maintain in our lives only if it has really stopped being an idol. That can happen only when we are truly willing to live without it, when we truly say from the heart: “Because I have God, I can live without you.”
(20)
We learn that through all of life there runs a ground note of cosmic disappointment. You are never going to lead a wise life until you understand that. (37)
No person, not even the best one, can give your soul all it needs. . . .This cosmic disappointment and disillusionment is there in all of life, be we especially feel it in the things upon which we most set our hopes.
When you finally realize this, there are four things you can do. You can blame the things that are disappointing you and try to move on to better ones. That’s the way of continued idolatry and spiritual addiction. The second thing you can do is blame yourself and beat yourself up and say, “I have somehow been a failure. I see everybody else is happy. I don’t know why I am not happy. There is something wrong with me.” That’s the way of self-loathing and shame. Third, you can blame the world. You can say, “Curses on the entire opposite sex,” in which case you make yourself hard, cynical, and empty. Lastly, you can, as C.S. Lewis says at the end of his great chapter on hope, reorient the entire focus of your life toward God. He concludes, “If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probably explanation is that I was made for another world [something supernatural and eternal].” (39)
Some years ago I was doing a seven-part series of talks on the Seven Deadly Sins at a men’s breakfast. My wife, Kathy, told me, “I’ll bet that the week you deal with greed you will have your lowest attendance. She was right. People packed it out for “Lust” and “Wrath” and even for “Pride.” But nobody thinks they are greedy. As a pastor I’ve had people come to me to confess that they struggle with almost every kind of sin. Almost. I cannot recall anyone ever coming to me and saying, “I spend too much money on myself. I think my greedy lust for money is harming my family, my soul, and people around me.” Greed hides itself from the victim. The money god’s modus operandi includes blindness to your own heart.
Why can’t anyone in the grip of greed see it? The counterfeit god of money uses a powerful sociological and psychological dynamics. Everyone tends to live in a particular socioeconomic bracket. Once you are able to afford to live in a particular neighborhood, send your children to its schools, and participate in its social life, you will find yourself surrounded by quite a number of people who have more money than you. You don’t compare yourself with the rest of the world, you compare yourself to those in your bracket. The human heart always wants to justify itself and this is one of the easiest ways. You say, “I don’t live as well as him or her or them. My means are modest compared to theirs.” You can reason and think like that no matter how lavishly you are living. As a result, most Americans think of themselves as middle class, and only 2 percent call themselves “upper class.” But the rest of the world is not fooled. When people visit here from other parts of the globe, they are staggered to see the level of materialistic comfort that the majority of Americans have come to view as a necessity.
Jesus warns people far more often about greed than about sex, yet almost no one thinks they are guilty of it. Therefore we should all begin with a working hypothesis that “this could easily be a problem for me.” If greed hides itself so deeply, no one should be confident it is not a problem for them. (52-53)
The very things upon which (people) were building their happiness turned to dust in their hands because they had built all their happiness upon them. In each case, a good thing among many was turned into a supreme thing, so that its demands overrode all competing values. But counterfeit gods always disappoint, and often destructively so. (xvii)
What is an idol? It is anything more important to you than God, anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God, anything you seek to give you what only God can give. (xvii)
An idol is whatever you look at and say, “If I have that, then I’ll feel my life has meaning, then I’ll know I have value, then I’ll feel significant and secure.” There are many ways to describe that kind of relationship to something, but perhaps the best one is worship. (xviii)
The Bible uses three basic metaphors to describe how people relate to the idols of their hearts. They love idols, trust idols, and obey idols.
Idols capture our imagination, and we can locate them by looking at our daydreams. What do we enjoy imagining? What are our fondest dreams? We look to our idols to love us, provide us with value and a sense of beauty, significance, and worth.
Idols give us a sense of being in control, and we can locate them by looking at our nightmares. What do we fear the most? What, if we lost it, would make life not worth living? . . . We look to our idols to provide us with a sense of confidence and safety.
. . . we can locate idols by looking at our most unyielding emotions. What makes us uncontrollably angry, anxious, or despondent? What racks us with a guilt we can’t shake? Idols control us, since we feel we must have them or life is meaningless. (xviii-xxii)
Why is getting your heart’s deepest desire so often a disaster? In the book of Romans, Saint Paul wrote that one of the worst things God can do to someone is to “give them over to the desires of their hearts” (Romans 1:24). Why would the greatest punishment imaginable be to allow someone to achieve their fondest dream? It is because our hearts fashion these desires into idols. In that same chapter, Paul summarized the history of the human race in one sentence: “They worshipped and served created things rather than the Creator” (Romans 1:25). Every human being must live for something. Something must capture our imaginations, our heart’s most fundamental allegiance and hope. But, the Bible tells us, without the intervention of the Holy Spirit, that object will never be God himself. (3)
As many have learned and later taught, you don’t realize Jesus is all you need until Jesus is all you have.
Many, if not most, of these counterfeit gods can remain in our lives once we have “demoted” them below God. Then they won’t control us and bedevil us with anxiety, pride, anger, and drivenness. Nevertheless, we must not make the mistake of thinking that this story (Abraham and the sacrifice of Isaac) means all we have to do is be willing to part with our idols rather than actually leave them behind. If Abraham had gone up the mountain thinking, “All I’ll have to do is put Isaac on the altar, not really give him up” – he would have failed the test! Something is safe for us to maintain in our lives only if it has really stopped being an idol. That can happen only when we are truly willing to live without it, when we truly say from the heart: “Because I have God, I can live without you.”
(20)
We learn that through all of life there runs a ground note of cosmic disappointment. You are never going to lead a wise life until you understand that. (37)
No person, not even the best one, can give your soul all it needs. . . .This cosmic disappointment and disillusionment is there in all of life, be we especially feel it in the things upon which we most set our hopes.
When you finally realize this, there are four things you can do. You can blame the things that are disappointing you and try to move on to better ones. That’s the way of continued idolatry and spiritual addiction. The second thing you can do is blame yourself and beat yourself up and say, “I have somehow been a failure. I see everybody else is happy. I don’t know why I am not happy. There is something wrong with me.” That’s the way of self-loathing and shame. Third, you can blame the world. You can say, “Curses on the entire opposite sex,” in which case you make yourself hard, cynical, and empty. Lastly, you can, as C.S. Lewis says at the end of his great chapter on hope, reorient the entire focus of your life toward God. He concludes, “If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probably explanation is that I was made for another world [something supernatural and eternal].” (39)
Some years ago I was doing a seven-part series of talks on the Seven Deadly Sins at a men’s breakfast. My wife, Kathy, told me, “I’ll bet that the week you deal with greed you will have your lowest attendance. She was right. People packed it out for “Lust” and “Wrath” and even for “Pride.” But nobody thinks they are greedy. As a pastor I’ve had people come to me to confess that they struggle with almost every kind of sin. Almost. I cannot recall anyone ever coming to me and saying, “I spend too much money on myself. I think my greedy lust for money is harming my family, my soul, and people around me.” Greed hides itself from the victim. The money god’s modus operandi includes blindness to your own heart.
Why can’t anyone in the grip of greed see it? The counterfeit god of money uses a powerful sociological and psychological dynamics. Everyone tends to live in a particular socioeconomic bracket. Once you are able to afford to live in a particular neighborhood, send your children to its schools, and participate in its social life, you will find yourself surrounded by quite a number of people who have more money than you. You don’t compare yourself with the rest of the world, you compare yourself to those in your bracket. The human heart always wants to justify itself and this is one of the easiest ways. You say, “I don’t live as well as him or her or them. My means are modest compared to theirs.” You can reason and think like that no matter how lavishly you are living. As a result, most Americans think of themselves as middle class, and only 2 percent call themselves “upper class.” But the rest of the world is not fooled. When people visit here from other parts of the globe, they are staggered to see the level of materialistic comfort that the majority of Americans have come to view as a necessity.
Jesus warns people far more often about greed than about sex, yet almost no one thinks they are guilty of it. Therefore we should all begin with a working hypothesis that “this could easily be a problem for me.” If greed hides itself so deeply, no one should be confident it is not a problem for them. (52-53)
Monday, December 7, 2009
Hold Onto the Ball
I’m sorry for all the football illustrations, but I am who I am.
The news media in Minnesota is all over Adrian Peterson (the Viking star running back) because he’s leading the NFL in fumbles. It is interesting to hear all the opinions and advice for Adrian about how he can better hold onto the ball, most of which come from people who have never carried a football competitively in their lives.
One of my pet peeves in watching a football game often takes place when someone scores a touchdown by running into the end zone. Often the person immediately lets go of the ball as soon as they cross the goal line. They do this because they can. The football simply has to “break the plane” of the goal line and it counts as a touchdown, so the player really doesn’t need the ball anymore. This is the crux of this article. We quickly let go of the ball which is the only way we can score a touchdown. Without the ball, you can run across this goal line over and over again, but it holds no meaning. But if you have the ball in your hands, it becomes a touchdown, worthy of celebrating.
Sometimes people view the Christian life in much the same way. We need Jesus to be saved, but once we are “saved”, we drop Him. We’ve received our ticket to heaven (or so we think), so we don’t need to carry him around any longer. We have what we wanted; what do we need him for?
One of the more challenging aspects of studying Scripture has to do with the numerous conditional clauses that you find throughout Scripture. Conditional clauses are the “If . . . then . . .” statements you see throughout.
One of the most familiar and a difficult one to truly understand is Romans 10:9, “if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Often this is interpreted to mean that I just need to pray this prayer, admit my sin, and believe Jesus really is who the Bible says, then I’m all set. My place in heaven is guaranteed. No matter what I do from this point on, I am saved because at one point in my life I confessed and believed.
But you can’t interpret one verse without looking at the rest of Scripture. So add these to your consideration as you ponder what Romans 10:9 means.
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?’ Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers.’
Matthew 7:21-23
“Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven; but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven.”
Matthew 10:32-33
“Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Matthew 18:3
“. . . he (Jesus) has now reconciled in his fleshly body through death, so as to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him – provided that you continue securely established and steadfast in faith, without shifting from the hope promised by the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven.” Colossians 1:22-23
“Now by this we may be sure that we know him, if we obey his commandments. Whoever says, “I have come to know him,” but does not obey his commandments, is a liar, and in such a person the truth does not exist; but whoever obeys his word, truly in this person the love of God has reached perfection. By this we may be sure that we are in him: whoever says, “I abide in him,” ought to walk just as he walked.” I John 2:3-6
We can’t let go of the ball. It would be like building a new house on a solid foundation and then, once the house is done, pulling the foundation out from under the house. The house will not stand and neither will we unless we cling to the One who brought us into His salvation.
God calls us to a life of faithfulness not simply a moment. He doesn’t just ask for everything at the moment of salvation and then gives it all back. He keeps asking. He wants everything. And when we say, “I give you my life,” Jesus expects that we do just that every moment of every day of our lives.
As Heidelberg Catechism answer 1 says, “That I am not my own, but belong – body and soul, in life and in death – to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ . . . because I belong to him, Christ, by his Holy Spirit, assures me of eternal life and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.”
My marriage is a great example. I haven’t given my love to Alisa, which is past tense. I am giving my love to her. It is an ongoing commitment I’ve made as her husband.
Are you giving yourself to Jesus each day? That is what He desires, even expects from those who call themselves His followers.
The news media in Minnesota is all over Adrian Peterson (the Viking star running back) because he’s leading the NFL in fumbles. It is interesting to hear all the opinions and advice for Adrian about how he can better hold onto the ball, most of which come from people who have never carried a football competitively in their lives.
One of my pet peeves in watching a football game often takes place when someone scores a touchdown by running into the end zone. Often the person immediately lets go of the ball as soon as they cross the goal line. They do this because they can. The football simply has to “break the plane” of the goal line and it counts as a touchdown, so the player really doesn’t need the ball anymore. This is the crux of this article. We quickly let go of the ball which is the only way we can score a touchdown. Without the ball, you can run across this goal line over and over again, but it holds no meaning. But if you have the ball in your hands, it becomes a touchdown, worthy of celebrating.
Sometimes people view the Christian life in much the same way. We need Jesus to be saved, but once we are “saved”, we drop Him. We’ve received our ticket to heaven (or so we think), so we don’t need to carry him around any longer. We have what we wanted; what do we need him for?
One of the more challenging aspects of studying Scripture has to do with the numerous conditional clauses that you find throughout Scripture. Conditional clauses are the “If . . . then . . .” statements you see throughout.
One of the most familiar and a difficult one to truly understand is Romans 10:9, “if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Often this is interpreted to mean that I just need to pray this prayer, admit my sin, and believe Jesus really is who the Bible says, then I’m all set. My place in heaven is guaranteed. No matter what I do from this point on, I am saved because at one point in my life I confessed and believed.
But you can’t interpret one verse without looking at the rest of Scripture. So add these to your consideration as you ponder what Romans 10:9 means.
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?’ Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers.’
Matthew 7:21-23
“Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven; but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven.”
Matthew 10:32-33
“Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Matthew 18:3
“. . . he (Jesus) has now reconciled in his fleshly body through death, so as to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him – provided that you continue securely established and steadfast in faith, without shifting from the hope promised by the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven.” Colossians 1:22-23
“Now by this we may be sure that we know him, if we obey his commandments. Whoever says, “I have come to know him,” but does not obey his commandments, is a liar, and in such a person the truth does not exist; but whoever obeys his word, truly in this person the love of God has reached perfection. By this we may be sure that we are in him: whoever says, “I abide in him,” ought to walk just as he walked.” I John 2:3-6
We can’t let go of the ball. It would be like building a new house on a solid foundation and then, once the house is done, pulling the foundation out from under the house. The house will not stand and neither will we unless we cling to the One who brought us into His salvation.
God calls us to a life of faithfulness not simply a moment. He doesn’t just ask for everything at the moment of salvation and then gives it all back. He keeps asking. He wants everything. And when we say, “I give you my life,” Jesus expects that we do just that every moment of every day of our lives.
As Heidelberg Catechism answer 1 says, “That I am not my own, but belong – body and soul, in life and in death – to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ . . . because I belong to him, Christ, by his Holy Spirit, assures me of eternal life and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.”
My marriage is a great example. I haven’t given my love to Alisa, which is past tense. I am giving my love to her. It is an ongoing commitment I’ve made as her husband.
Are you giving yourself to Jesus each day? That is what He desires, even expects from those who call themselves His followers.
One Man's Faith continued . . .
Here is the follow-up email I received - an answer to prayer:
Dear friend,
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I fear no evill For Thou art with me!! God saved us from an extremely Dangerous mission that we could have been with the Lord by now ! But He kept us for the work ahead!!! We are safe and sound!!!! We look forward to more fruitful services.
The Muslim leader is in my house right now!! the first attempt was very successful!!! Thanks for praying and fasting, The detailed explanation will come later. we are busy searching the scriptures day and night in my sitting room and will let him go on monday in the next 48hours to return later. This is a miracle!!!!
I cannot thank you enough! Be blessed and will call you later.
Your brother
David
Dear friend,
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I fear no evill For Thou art with me!! God saved us from an extremely Dangerous mission that we could have been with the Lord by now ! But He kept us for the work ahead!!! We are safe and sound!!!! We look forward to more fruitful services.
The Muslim leader is in my house right now!! the first attempt was very successful!!! Thanks for praying and fasting, The detailed explanation will come later. we are busy searching the scriptures day and night in my sitting room and will let him go on monday in the next 48hours to return later. This is a miracle!!!!
I cannot thank you enough! Be blessed and will call you later.
Your brother
David
Thursday, December 3, 2009
One Man's Faith
This is an email I received this week from a man who has and continues to risk his life to try and help others (especially Muslims) come to faith in Jesus Christ. Names have been changed to protect those involved.
Dear friend,
Because we have the Holy Spirit it is never difficult to take risks for the sake of Christ and the Gospel! After all, he has commission us to be His witnesses and ambassadors. Hence our Gospel does not simply go with words, but with power, and with the Holy Spirit and DEEP Conviction. For it is God who works in us both to will and to act according to His good purpose.
A Muslim official has asked me to come in person to pick him up to come into our Discipleship Center. He wants to visit for some few days and then go back to prepare to come permanently for discipleship. This is a miraculous good news! Praise The Lord! However it is also very, very dangerous, because this leader is under 24 hour surveillance. I believe if it is God who is calling me, He is able to protect, but it will be a miracle if I am able to go and come out with him. It would be a disservice to him and to the Kingdom to not go, and it would be unfair for me to send someone else because the risk is extremely high, so I am going in the NAME OF JESUS CHRIST OUR SAVIOR!
I am going because God is not interested in my ability to do it right, but in my sincere availability to go in obedience! Being available to God is being willing to obey Him no matter what the cost is. I am going in obedience to the glory of God! And it is about Him alone! May the Name of the Lord be Glorified!
I am planning two evacuation attempts. The first attempt will be this Friday after Mosque, and if we are unsuccessful and are still alive we shall attempt the second time Monday or Wednesday next week. Please pray as the Lord leads you and, if it is possible, I would be glad if you would fast for a day as well. Pray for safety in danger, strength in fear and worry, calmness regardless of the consequences. Pray that I will love Christ above family concerns! Pray that my actions will inspire our team to emulate daily dedication of trust and commitment to the generations that the Lord is raising as army to go into the Muslim world with boldness in obedience and holy calling!
Please do not worry, but please pray! "But those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the spirit desires!" Romans 8;5
Hey friend, do I sound scared? Yes, you know I am not that brave! It is just mere faith, availability and obedience!
I will keep you posted.
Thanks for your prayers.
Your brother
(David)
Dear friend,
Because we have the Holy Spirit it is never difficult to take risks for the sake of Christ and the Gospel! After all, he has commission us to be His witnesses and ambassadors. Hence our Gospel does not simply go with words, but with power, and with the Holy Spirit and DEEP Conviction. For it is God who works in us both to will and to act according to His good purpose.
A Muslim official has asked me to come in person to pick him up to come into our Discipleship Center. He wants to visit for some few days and then go back to prepare to come permanently for discipleship. This is a miraculous good news! Praise The Lord! However it is also very, very dangerous, because this leader is under 24 hour surveillance. I believe if it is God who is calling me, He is able to protect, but it will be a miracle if I am able to go and come out with him. It would be a disservice to him and to the Kingdom to not go, and it would be unfair for me to send someone else because the risk is extremely high, so I am going in the NAME OF JESUS CHRIST OUR SAVIOR!
I am going because God is not interested in my ability to do it right, but in my sincere availability to go in obedience! Being available to God is being willing to obey Him no matter what the cost is. I am going in obedience to the glory of God! And it is about Him alone! May the Name of the Lord be Glorified!
I am planning two evacuation attempts. The first attempt will be this Friday after Mosque, and if we are unsuccessful and are still alive we shall attempt the second time Monday or Wednesday next week. Please pray as the Lord leads you and, if it is possible, I would be glad if you would fast for a day as well. Pray for safety in danger, strength in fear and worry, calmness regardless of the consequences. Pray that I will love Christ above family concerns! Pray that my actions will inspire our team to emulate daily dedication of trust and commitment to the generations that the Lord is raising as army to go into the Muslim world with boldness in obedience and holy calling!
Please do not worry, but please pray! "But those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the spirit desires!" Romans 8;5
Hey friend, do I sound scared? Yes, you know I am not that brave! It is just mere faith, availability and obedience!
I will keep you posted.
Thanks for your prayers.
Your brother
(David)
Not a Fan
I am a fan of the Minnesota Vikings. It’s been a good year so far, and I’m very hesitant to make any claims or exhibit any arrogance. I’ve been a fan of the Minnesota Vikings ever since I started being a fan of anything. I was raised in Minnesota, so it was natural that I follow Minnesota sports. For me, being a fan means I follow their progress. I get frustrated when they play poorly and I rejoice when they do well. There is an emotional attachment that I’m sure has some unhealthiness within it. I like talking Minnesota football. I collect Minnesota football cards. I read the Minnesota sports page on line, and I even frequently visit a few Minnesota football blogs.
Do I personally know any of the players? No. Have I ever been to a game? Nope. Do I know what it’s like to be at a practice or in the locker room? No. Would I be welcome at their practice or in the locker room? Nope. Do I receive any compensation from the Minnesota Vikings organization for the role I play? Not a cent.
I’m just a fan.
I watch them play. I don’t play. I criticize or brag about their performance depending upon how they do. Do they care about what I think? No. Do they consult me on any of their decisions? Nope. Will I receive a ring if they win the Super Bowl? No, I won’t.
I’m just a fan.
The other day I received a cd set of sermons from a friend in the church. The title of the sermon series is “not a fan: completely, committed, follower.” I have not yet listened to the sermons, but the title itself got me thinking.
There is a huge difference between being a follower of Jesus Christ and a fan of Jesus Christ.
The fan observes from a distance. The fan watches but does not participate. The fan eats and drinks but sure doesn’t get dirty or bruised. The fan goes home after the game and does nothing to help prepare the team for next week. The fan has little if any responsibility for the team. The fan is passive. If the fan doesn’t like what he or she sees, the channel is changed or the stadium is left. Fans come and go.
The follower has a much different and greater role. The follower is in the game. The follower gets dirty and bruised. The follower is part of the team. The follower doesn’t just get to play, the follower practices, listens, learns, grows, and seeks to encourage other team members. The follower is always part of the team whether it is good or bad.
A fan may know a lot about the quarterback. They may be able to share all sorts of details about their life and the statistics of their performance. They can remember moments when the quarterback shined and moments when the quarterback seemed to let them down. But the fan only knows the quarterback from a distance. There is no relationship.
A follower knows the quarterback. The follower can not only share details about the quarterback, he or she can do so based on personal experience. The follower has spend quality and quantity time with the quarterback. He or she can remember moments when the quarterback helped, encouraged, challenged them personally. They can talk about the impact the quarterback has had on their life, and how important it is to them to do what the quarterback says, because they know the quarterback knows what is best for the team.
The church can be filled with fans. People who come and watch and don’t participate in the “GAME OF LIFE.” They watch, criticize, and hope that others will carry the ball down the field. They hope the teams does well, but they are there to watch and see.
The Church is made up of followers. These are people who give their lives to follow the quarterback and He leads them through the “GAME OF LIFE.” Their hands are dirty, their bodies tired, but they are experiencing the thrill of the game. They hope the team does well, too, but they know that they must be in the game. They are needed, and even more than that, they know how much they need the quarterback to lead them as they participate in a game that is filled with so much joy and excitement, they can’t imagine being anywhere else.
Are you a fan or a follower?
Do I personally know any of the players? No. Have I ever been to a game? Nope. Do I know what it’s like to be at a practice or in the locker room? No. Would I be welcome at their practice or in the locker room? Nope. Do I receive any compensation from the Minnesota Vikings organization for the role I play? Not a cent.
I’m just a fan.
I watch them play. I don’t play. I criticize or brag about their performance depending upon how they do. Do they care about what I think? No. Do they consult me on any of their decisions? Nope. Will I receive a ring if they win the Super Bowl? No, I won’t.
I’m just a fan.
The other day I received a cd set of sermons from a friend in the church. The title of the sermon series is “not a fan: completely, committed, follower.” I have not yet listened to the sermons, but the title itself got me thinking.
There is a huge difference between being a follower of Jesus Christ and a fan of Jesus Christ.
The fan observes from a distance. The fan watches but does not participate. The fan eats and drinks but sure doesn’t get dirty or bruised. The fan goes home after the game and does nothing to help prepare the team for next week. The fan has little if any responsibility for the team. The fan is passive. If the fan doesn’t like what he or she sees, the channel is changed or the stadium is left. Fans come and go.
The follower has a much different and greater role. The follower is in the game. The follower gets dirty and bruised. The follower is part of the team. The follower doesn’t just get to play, the follower practices, listens, learns, grows, and seeks to encourage other team members. The follower is always part of the team whether it is good or bad.
A fan may know a lot about the quarterback. They may be able to share all sorts of details about their life and the statistics of their performance. They can remember moments when the quarterback shined and moments when the quarterback seemed to let them down. But the fan only knows the quarterback from a distance. There is no relationship.
A follower knows the quarterback. The follower can not only share details about the quarterback, he or she can do so based on personal experience. The follower has spend quality and quantity time with the quarterback. He or she can remember moments when the quarterback helped, encouraged, challenged them personally. They can talk about the impact the quarterback has had on their life, and how important it is to them to do what the quarterback says, because they know the quarterback knows what is best for the team.
The church can be filled with fans. People who come and watch and don’t participate in the “GAME OF LIFE.” They watch, criticize, and hope that others will carry the ball down the field. They hope the teams does well, but they are there to watch and see.
The Church is made up of followers. These are people who give their lives to follow the quarterback and He leads them through the “GAME OF LIFE.” Their hands are dirty, their bodies tired, but they are experiencing the thrill of the game. They hope the team does well, too, but they know that they must be in the game. They are needed, and even more than that, they know how much they need the quarterback to lead them as they participate in a game that is filled with so much joy and excitement, they can’t imagine being anywhere else.
Are you a fan or a follower?
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Loving the Children
“Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.” Matthew 19:14
"Then Jesus took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.” Mark 9:37
"At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” He called a child, whom he put among them, and said, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.
If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were fastened around your neck and you were drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe to the world because of stumbling blocks! Occasions for stumbling are bound to come, but woe to the one by whom the stumbling block comes.” Matthew 18:1-6
I participated in the recent Summit Against Abuse and Assault in Charlevoix and I was overwhelmed. It is time for all of us to take a stand against the ravages of abuse, especially the abuse of children.
How prevalent is child abuse?
- 1 million children per year confirmed (does not include all the unreported incidents)
- 2,000 children die every year because of child abuse
- 1/5 girls and 1/7 boys by age 18 will be abused
- 1.1 million runaway/throwaway children in the U.S. – often runaway because of abuse
- 241,000 children are prostituted in the United States each year
- The rate of child abuse is 10x greater than the rate of cancer
- U.S. government spends 10x more on cancer prevention than child abuse prevention
- 94 billion dollars are spend every year on aftercare for child abuse
What about the sexual exploitation of children?
- 20% of children ages 10-17 have been solicited sexually online
- 100,000 – 300,000 children are exploited sexually every year
- average child prostitute sees 4-10 customers a day
that’s 1,460 – 3,650 sexual victimizations per year, per child
- avg age of sexually exploited child is 14
- 18.5 million pornographic images/videos of children produced each year
- If a child runs away or is thrown out of their home, and they spend more than 30 days on the street, it is almost a guarantee they will end up in the sex trade industry and become a sexually exploited child.
- 70% of victimizations come at the hands of someone the child knows and trusts
Child abuse is a sin.
Child sexual abuse is a sin.
It is the work of the Enemy who is seeking to destroy children.
“. . . it would be better for you to have a millstone tied around your neck . . .”
All forms of child abuse do exactly what Jesus warns us about. They keep children from God.
“How could God let this happen?”
“Where was God when my own dad was sexually abusing me week after week, year after year?”
“Why did the church provide more support to the offender than to the victim?”
“Why did the church condemn the victim and show mercy to the offender?”
“Why did the church start avoiding me and my family when I reported the abuse?”
“How could the church let this happen in their own building?”
“Why do I feel like I did something wrong by telling the truth?”
“Why doesn’t the church believe me?”
One of the devastating consequences of being a victim of abuse is the temptation to reject God and the church.
It may not be an easy topic to talk about, but it must be addressed. We cannot claim to love our children and the children in this community without acknowledging the reality of this evil that as one person described “is the playground of Satan.” There is nothing that he wants more than to destroy the weak and innocent ones among us. A prime target is children. Our silence only furthers his cause.
A few suggestions:
- Parents must talk with their kids about this reality. Help them understand that no one should touch their private parts and if anyone does, they need to tell someone until they are heard.
- Parents need to help children understand the difference between sinning and being a victim of someone else’s sin.
- Many offenders tell children it is their fault and that they are just as guilty as the perpetrator for participating in this activity.
- Parents need to help children understand that secrets can be very bad especially when they are asked to keep secrets from one or both of their parents.
- Parents need to help their children understand and avoid the dangers of the internet.
Would you allow a stranger to come into your child’s room and close the door and spend time alone with your child? Of course not, but many parents allow this behavior to take place on the internet.
In a loving and helpful way, ask your church, school system, law enforcement, etc. what they are doing to prevent child abuse. Become an advocate for kids and help these organizations do everything they can to protect the children in our community.
Check out the following websites for helpful information:
Grace – www.netgrace.org
Halos – www.charlestonhalos.org
Faith Trust Institute – www.faithtrustinstitute.org
Google the “Darkness2Light” training curriculum
Watch the DVD “Hear Their Cries”
National Child Protection Training Center – www.ncptc.org
Great web site for those in law enforcement/judicial system
Pray for children in our community – for those abused and in the midst of abuse.
"Then Jesus took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.” Mark 9:37
"At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” He called a child, whom he put among them, and said, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.
If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were fastened around your neck and you were drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe to the world because of stumbling blocks! Occasions for stumbling are bound to come, but woe to the one by whom the stumbling block comes.” Matthew 18:1-6
I participated in the recent Summit Against Abuse and Assault in Charlevoix and I was overwhelmed. It is time for all of us to take a stand against the ravages of abuse, especially the abuse of children.
How prevalent is child abuse?
- 1 million children per year confirmed (does not include all the unreported incidents)
- 2,000 children die every year because of child abuse
- 1/5 girls and 1/7 boys by age 18 will be abused
- 1.1 million runaway/throwaway children in the U.S. – often runaway because of abuse
- 241,000 children are prostituted in the United States each year
- The rate of child abuse is 10x greater than the rate of cancer
- U.S. government spends 10x more on cancer prevention than child abuse prevention
- 94 billion dollars are spend every year on aftercare for child abuse
What about the sexual exploitation of children?
- 20% of children ages 10-17 have been solicited sexually online
- 100,000 – 300,000 children are exploited sexually every year
- average child prostitute sees 4-10 customers a day
that’s 1,460 – 3,650 sexual victimizations per year, per child
- avg age of sexually exploited child is 14
- 18.5 million pornographic images/videos of children produced each year
- If a child runs away or is thrown out of their home, and they spend more than 30 days on the street, it is almost a guarantee they will end up in the sex trade industry and become a sexually exploited child.
- 70% of victimizations come at the hands of someone the child knows and trusts
Child abuse is a sin.
Child sexual abuse is a sin.
It is the work of the Enemy who is seeking to destroy children.
“. . . it would be better for you to have a millstone tied around your neck . . .”
All forms of child abuse do exactly what Jesus warns us about. They keep children from God.
“How could God let this happen?”
“Where was God when my own dad was sexually abusing me week after week, year after year?”
“Why did the church provide more support to the offender than to the victim?”
“Why did the church condemn the victim and show mercy to the offender?”
“Why did the church start avoiding me and my family when I reported the abuse?”
“How could the church let this happen in their own building?”
“Why do I feel like I did something wrong by telling the truth?”
“Why doesn’t the church believe me?”
One of the devastating consequences of being a victim of abuse is the temptation to reject God and the church.
It may not be an easy topic to talk about, but it must be addressed. We cannot claim to love our children and the children in this community without acknowledging the reality of this evil that as one person described “is the playground of Satan.” There is nothing that he wants more than to destroy the weak and innocent ones among us. A prime target is children. Our silence only furthers his cause.
A few suggestions:
- Parents must talk with their kids about this reality. Help them understand that no one should touch their private parts and if anyone does, they need to tell someone until they are heard.
- Parents need to help children understand the difference between sinning and being a victim of someone else’s sin.
- Many offenders tell children it is their fault and that they are just as guilty as the perpetrator for participating in this activity.
- Parents need to help children understand that secrets can be very bad especially when they are asked to keep secrets from one or both of their parents.
- Parents need to help their children understand and avoid the dangers of the internet.
Would you allow a stranger to come into your child’s room and close the door and spend time alone with your child? Of course not, but many parents allow this behavior to take place on the internet.
In a loving and helpful way, ask your church, school system, law enforcement, etc. what they are doing to prevent child abuse. Become an advocate for kids and help these organizations do everything they can to protect the children in our community.
Check out the following websites for helpful information:
Grace – www.netgrace.org
Halos – www.charlestonhalos.org
Faith Trust Institute – www.faithtrustinstitute.org
Google the “Darkness2Light” training curriculum
Watch the DVD “Hear Their Cries”
National Child Protection Training Center – www.ncptc.org
Great web site for those in law enforcement/judicial system
Pray for children in our community – for those abused and in the midst of abuse.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Giving Money Away
The following are excerpts from Randy Alcorn’s book, Money, Possessions & Eternity.
If Christ is not Lord over our money and possessions, then he is not our Lord. (5)
Can we put Christ before all, deny ourselves, take up our crosses and follow him (Matthew 10:38; Mark 8:34; Luke 14:27), with no apparent effect on what we do with our money and possessions? (9)
The more America has gained wealth, the less the Church has addressed the subject of giving. Perhaps that’s why the percentage of income Christians give away has been declining for thirty years. In fact, dollar for dollar, the average American gave more during the Great Depression than today. (174)
The meaning of the word tithe is “a tenth part.” Today the term tithing is often erroneously used of all giving. People talk about “tithing” fifty dollars, when they make two thousand dollars a month (a tithe of which is two hundred dollars, not fifty). You can donate 2 percent or 4 percent or 6 percent of your income, but you cannot tithe it . . . (174)
Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops. Proverbs 3:9
Tithe denoted the amount of the offering, firstfruits the nature of the offering. . . The first 10 percent of God’s provision was returned to the Lord. God was regarded as the provider of the harvest. The firstfruits reminded people of God’s ownership. They saw God as the source of all life and blessing. Parents hoped their children, by witnessing this regular, systematic giving of wealth to the Lord, would grow up understanding their infinite debt to God, and their need to continuously honor him by their worshipful giving. (175)
The nature of firstfruits requires that it be taken “off the top.” It’s both the best and the first. As soon as it’s harvested or received, it’s to be given to the Lord. It’s not to be stored up, hidden, hoarded, or distributed in any other way. Those who kept the best and gave God the leftovers brought God’s judgment on Israel. Giving back to the Lord what was rightfully his was a thermometer of faith. When Israel slid spiritually, they ceased to give as they should. When they ceased to give as they should, they slid spiritually. (176)
No one ever had to say, “I feel led to tithe,” or ask, “Would you like me to give the firstfruits, Lord?” The answer had already been given in Scripture. Voluntary giving started after the firstfruits. The tithe was never a ceiling for giving, only a floor. It was a beginning point. . . The tithe was a demonstration of obedience. Voluntary offerings were a demonstration of love, joy, and worship. (178)
Tithing’s stated purpose is “that you may learn to revere the Lord your God always” (Deuteronomy 14:23). Tithing is intended to train people to put God first in their lives. Because the giving of the 10 percent represents the other 90 percent, tithing symbolizes the giving of one’s whole life to God.
Tithing gives perspective. It reminds us that all we are and all we have is from God. Tithing is not a tip thrown mindlessly down on a table after a meal, but a meaningful expression of dependence upon God and gratitude to him. (179)
The tithe is God’s historical method to get people on the path of giving. In that sense, it can serve as a gateway to the joy of true “grace giving” today, just as it gave rise to the spontaneous, joyous, freewill giving we see in various Old Testament passages. It’s unhealthy to view tithing as a place to stop with our giving, but it can still be a good place to start. Remember, even under the first covenant, tithing was never a maximum standard – it was merely a starting point. (183)
With his emphasis on sacrificial giving Jesus never once suggested that the “floor” set by the tithe is now invalid, but simply that the ceiling of Christian giving is far above it. When Jesus told the disciples to go the second mile, he assumed they had already gone the first. (184)
Why not tithe?
There are many common arguments against tithing, including the following:
“Tithing is legalism.”
Any legitimate practice can be done with a legalistic attitude. In such cases, the fault lies with the attitude of our heart, not with the practice itself. . . Legalism can be a convenient label to cover our unwillingness to obey God.
“I must pay off my debts rather than tithe.”
Why am I in debt in the first place? Is God responsible for my unwise or greedy decisions that may have put me there? And even if I’ve come into debt legitimately, isn’t my first debt to God? Isn’t the tithe a debt to God since he says that it belongs to him and not to me? If we obey God and make good our financial debt to him, he’ll help us as we seek to pay off our debts to others. But I must not rob God to pay men.
“If I’m going to tithe eventually, I’ll need to move toward it slowly.”
I’m often asked, “If I haven’t been giving at all, won’t God understand if I move toward it gradually, starting at 3 percent or 5 percent?” What if I told you I’ve had this habit of robbing convenience stores, knocking off about a dozen a year. But then I say to you “This year I’m only going to rob a half-dozen!” Is that better? Well, yes. But what would you advise me to do? The solution to robbing God is not to start robbing him less, it’s to stop robbing him at all.
“I just can’t afford to tithe.”
If tithing is God’s will and he promises to provide for those who trust and obey him, won’t he allow me to get by on 90 percent rather than 100 percent? In fact, aren’t I a lot safer living on less inside God’s will than living on more outside of it?
If my tithe seems to be a lot of money, I should praise God! It proves how abundantly he has provided. When people tell me, “I can’t afford to tithe,” I often ask, “If your income were reduced by 10 percent, would you die?” They always admit they wouldn’t. Somehow, they would manage to get by. That’s proof that they really can tithe. The truth is simply that they don’t want to. (188-189)
If Christ is not Lord over our money and possessions, then he is not our Lord. (5)
Can we put Christ before all, deny ourselves, take up our crosses and follow him (Matthew 10:38; Mark 8:34; Luke 14:27), with no apparent effect on what we do with our money and possessions? (9)
The more America has gained wealth, the less the Church has addressed the subject of giving. Perhaps that’s why the percentage of income Christians give away has been declining for thirty years. In fact, dollar for dollar, the average American gave more during the Great Depression than today. (174)
The meaning of the word tithe is “a tenth part.” Today the term tithing is often erroneously used of all giving. People talk about “tithing” fifty dollars, when they make two thousand dollars a month (a tithe of which is two hundred dollars, not fifty). You can donate 2 percent or 4 percent or 6 percent of your income, but you cannot tithe it . . . (174)
Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops. Proverbs 3:9
Tithe denoted the amount of the offering, firstfruits the nature of the offering. . . The first 10 percent of God’s provision was returned to the Lord. God was regarded as the provider of the harvest. The firstfruits reminded people of God’s ownership. They saw God as the source of all life and blessing. Parents hoped their children, by witnessing this regular, systematic giving of wealth to the Lord, would grow up understanding their infinite debt to God, and their need to continuously honor him by their worshipful giving. (175)
The nature of firstfruits requires that it be taken “off the top.” It’s both the best and the first. As soon as it’s harvested or received, it’s to be given to the Lord. It’s not to be stored up, hidden, hoarded, or distributed in any other way. Those who kept the best and gave God the leftovers brought God’s judgment on Israel. Giving back to the Lord what was rightfully his was a thermometer of faith. When Israel slid spiritually, they ceased to give as they should. When they ceased to give as they should, they slid spiritually. (176)
No one ever had to say, “I feel led to tithe,” or ask, “Would you like me to give the firstfruits, Lord?” The answer had already been given in Scripture. Voluntary giving started after the firstfruits. The tithe was never a ceiling for giving, only a floor. It was a beginning point. . . The tithe was a demonstration of obedience. Voluntary offerings were a demonstration of love, joy, and worship. (178)
Tithing’s stated purpose is “that you may learn to revere the Lord your God always” (Deuteronomy 14:23). Tithing is intended to train people to put God first in their lives. Because the giving of the 10 percent represents the other 90 percent, tithing symbolizes the giving of one’s whole life to God.
Tithing gives perspective. It reminds us that all we are and all we have is from God. Tithing is not a tip thrown mindlessly down on a table after a meal, but a meaningful expression of dependence upon God and gratitude to him. (179)
The tithe is God’s historical method to get people on the path of giving. In that sense, it can serve as a gateway to the joy of true “grace giving” today, just as it gave rise to the spontaneous, joyous, freewill giving we see in various Old Testament passages. It’s unhealthy to view tithing as a place to stop with our giving, but it can still be a good place to start. Remember, even under the first covenant, tithing was never a maximum standard – it was merely a starting point. (183)
With his emphasis on sacrificial giving Jesus never once suggested that the “floor” set by the tithe is now invalid, but simply that the ceiling of Christian giving is far above it. When Jesus told the disciples to go the second mile, he assumed they had already gone the first. (184)
Why not tithe?
There are many common arguments against tithing, including the following:
“Tithing is legalism.”
Any legitimate practice can be done with a legalistic attitude. In such cases, the fault lies with the attitude of our heart, not with the practice itself. . . Legalism can be a convenient label to cover our unwillingness to obey God.
“I must pay off my debts rather than tithe.”
Why am I in debt in the first place? Is God responsible for my unwise or greedy decisions that may have put me there? And even if I’ve come into debt legitimately, isn’t my first debt to God? Isn’t the tithe a debt to God since he says that it belongs to him and not to me? If we obey God and make good our financial debt to him, he’ll help us as we seek to pay off our debts to others. But I must not rob God to pay men.
“If I’m going to tithe eventually, I’ll need to move toward it slowly.”
I’m often asked, “If I haven’t been giving at all, won’t God understand if I move toward it gradually, starting at 3 percent or 5 percent?” What if I told you I’ve had this habit of robbing convenience stores, knocking off about a dozen a year. But then I say to you “This year I’m only going to rob a half-dozen!” Is that better? Well, yes. But what would you advise me to do? The solution to robbing God is not to start robbing him less, it’s to stop robbing him at all.
“I just can’t afford to tithe.”
If tithing is God’s will and he promises to provide for those who trust and obey him, won’t he allow me to get by on 90 percent rather than 100 percent? In fact, aren’t I a lot safer living on less inside God’s will than living on more outside of it?
If my tithe seems to be a lot of money, I should praise God! It proves how abundantly he has provided. When people tell me, “I can’t afford to tithe,” I often ask, “If your income were reduced by 10 percent, would you die?” They always admit they wouldn’t. Somehow, they would manage to get by. That’s proof that they really can tithe. The truth is simply that they don’t want to. (188-189)
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Incompletions
Full disclosure: This article is not about football, however I am going to use a football illustration. If you don’t like football, please keep reading. If you do like football, I hope you are willing to read an article that isn’t just about football.
An incompletion in football is when a quarterback attempts to throw a pass but that pass is not caught by a receiver on the quarterback’s team. So a quarterback may be 12/16 in passes for the game meaning that the quarterback threw 16 passes, 12 were completed, and 4 were incomplete.
The incompletion I want to talk about today has nothing to do with throwing a football. An incompletion is an integrity gap. An incompletion takes place when I don’t keep my word and even becomes worse when I don’t honor my word. An incompletion is a mess (small or big – still a mess) that a person makes because of a lack of integrity.
As we think about the plans God has for Community Reformed Church, we have to think about the incompletions in the life of Community Reformed Church. The incompletions at CRC are the sum total of all the integrity gaps that exist within the lives of those who are a part of CRC. It is nearly impossible for Community Reformed Church to live into God’s preferred future for us while ignoring the incompletions that exist within our church body. These incompletions often include places of unforgiveness, promises we have not kept, brokenness in relationships within the church body, things we’ve said about who we’ll be as a church but not lived out, etc.
God will not ignore our incompletions and neither can we if we desire to live into God’s preferred future. BECAUSE God’s preferred future involves growth in each of us, and so often the growth that needs to happen will happen as we seek to close our gaps in integrity. By seeking to honor our word by cleaning up the messes we’ve made, we put ourselves in places where we grow. Cleaning up a mess is some of the most difficult work we ever do. It means admitting fault, saying we’re sorry, and asking for forgiveness. But yet it also means, being forgiven, being set free from guilt, and no longer feeling separated from someone else in the church.
God’s preferred future for us is not simply about changing what we do, but instead it’s about changing/growing who we are.
Like any quarterback, none of us are perfect. We will all occasionally throw completions. We will all have gaps in our integrity. The goal is definitely perfection, but none of us will be perfect. The challenge comes in how we respond when our errant pass (integrity gap) affects another. Will we blame them? Will we act like nothing happened? Will we take responsibility for our mistake and grow through our willingness to live in restored relationships?
One direct result of working through our integrity gaps is that we grow in hope. Brokenness that has seemed insurmountable is seen to be surmountable. Feelings of separation begin to diminish and even disappear. Hope comes and grows.
Think about that truth as you consider God’s preferred future for Community Reformed Church. Do you have hope about what He has in store for you? Do you know it means growth in you? Will you do your part in addressing the incompletions in your life? Will you work to close the integrity gaps that you’ve created? You can be a means by which hope grows, not only in you, but in the people of CRC, and believe it or not, that hope will impact people far beyond our church body.
An incompletion in football is when a quarterback attempts to throw a pass but that pass is not caught by a receiver on the quarterback’s team. So a quarterback may be 12/16 in passes for the game meaning that the quarterback threw 16 passes, 12 were completed, and 4 were incomplete.
The incompletion I want to talk about today has nothing to do with throwing a football. An incompletion is an integrity gap. An incompletion takes place when I don’t keep my word and even becomes worse when I don’t honor my word. An incompletion is a mess (small or big – still a mess) that a person makes because of a lack of integrity.
As we think about the plans God has for Community Reformed Church, we have to think about the incompletions in the life of Community Reformed Church. The incompletions at CRC are the sum total of all the integrity gaps that exist within the lives of those who are a part of CRC. It is nearly impossible for Community Reformed Church to live into God’s preferred future for us while ignoring the incompletions that exist within our church body. These incompletions often include places of unforgiveness, promises we have not kept, brokenness in relationships within the church body, things we’ve said about who we’ll be as a church but not lived out, etc.
God will not ignore our incompletions and neither can we if we desire to live into God’s preferred future. BECAUSE God’s preferred future involves growth in each of us, and so often the growth that needs to happen will happen as we seek to close our gaps in integrity. By seeking to honor our word by cleaning up the messes we’ve made, we put ourselves in places where we grow. Cleaning up a mess is some of the most difficult work we ever do. It means admitting fault, saying we’re sorry, and asking for forgiveness. But yet it also means, being forgiven, being set free from guilt, and no longer feeling separated from someone else in the church.
God’s preferred future for us is not simply about changing what we do, but instead it’s about changing/growing who we are.
Like any quarterback, none of us are perfect. We will all occasionally throw completions. We will all have gaps in our integrity. The goal is definitely perfection, but none of us will be perfect. The challenge comes in how we respond when our errant pass (integrity gap) affects another. Will we blame them? Will we act like nothing happened? Will we take responsibility for our mistake and grow through our willingness to live in restored relationships?
One direct result of working through our integrity gaps is that we grow in hope. Brokenness that has seemed insurmountable is seen to be surmountable. Feelings of separation begin to diminish and even disappear. Hope comes and grows.
Think about that truth as you consider God’s preferred future for Community Reformed Church. Do you have hope about what He has in store for you? Do you know it means growth in you? Will you do your part in addressing the incompletions in your life? Will you work to close the integrity gaps that you’ve created? You can be a means by which hope grows, not only in you, but in the people of CRC, and believe it or not, that hope will impact people far beyond our church body.
Monday, October 26, 2009
The Church and Money
I hope seeing the word ‘church’ and ‘money’ in the title doesn’t keep you from reading this article. My guess is you already have reservations about reading it because of those two terms in the title.
We are currently budgeting for 2010. The consistory has reviewed a rough draft budget for 2010 and we briefly discussed it at our October consistory meeting. It was an interesting conversation and brought to the surface a couple things I want to address.
1. The church is not out to get your money. One of the most common perceptions of people on the street is that the church exists to get their money. Sadly, churches have at times promoted this perspective by begging, pleading and even guilting people into giving more. There is no desire on the part of the leadership to do this. We believe it contradicts Scripture and our understanding of why we give. It is not primarily for the church to function but instead to reflect our trust in God and our faithfulness to Him.
2. We seek to operate on a needs-based not wants-based budget. We really encourage those making requests for next year’s budget to do so based on their needs not wants. It is the church’s responsibility to make good stewardship decisions regarding the use of the resources given.
3. We wrestle with the balance between basing decisions simply on what happened last year and faith. Is the decision about budgets simply a common sense, logical decision that is easily made by seeing what our income and expenses were last year? How does God fit into the conversation? What part does faith and prayer and seeking after His direction play in this decision? Obviously, it is important we consider the facts and we then work out of our faith. But what does that mean in considering a budget for 2010?
4. Giving is an act of obedience to God not the church. Your giving is a spiritual issue between you and God. Giving reflects a trust in God to provide, a recognition of God being the source of our resources, and a commitment to offer our first fruits, not our table scraps, to Him.
5. We desire to give more away as a church. One of our vision statements says, “to love and serve those outside the church as much as those within.” We believe this means the stewardship of our time and money. We are not yet there, but we hope over time, CRC grows in being a church that can say with integrity that we are living into this vision. This means in a very simple way, that 50% of our budget ought to go to help those outside the church. We are currently between 15-20% of our budget going to those outside the church.
6. Giving more away will happen if we give more not as we cut more in the church budget. Because our budget is needs-based, we don’t have a lot of room to decrease. Yes, there is always some room, but that goes back to the issue of faith and not just math in making these decisions. But even if we focused on cutting, we could only increase our percentage of giving 10-15% on a very bare bones budget for the church. However, if giving is the means to give more away, there is no limit to how our giving can grow. The typical percentage of income a church-goer gives in the United States is 2.6%. During the Depression that number was 3.3%. We have a giving problem in the church in North America, and it’s so much more than a church budget issue, it is a spiritual issue.
7. Giving always includes money. Recognizing that times are very tight for many, giving is still always about money. You can give your time and you can rationalize that as your tithe, but that is not how God views giving. It always includes money. The baseline is 10%, but God desires that through our willingness to let go of our material possessions, we can better grab a hold of Him and see Him (and not ourselves and our bottom line) as the source of our security and hope in this world.
Many churches in this difficult economic time are forced to make difficult decisions about how they use the resources they do have. Numerous churches are choosing to cut their givings. They are sacrificing what they give away because they see it as the only way to keep their staff and their lights on. In no way am I making a judgment statement. It is just true. Churches are having difficult, even heart-wrenching conversations about what they can and can’t do.
2010 Budgets will be made available after the November consistory meeting. I hope you’ll look carefully at this document. I hope you’ll consider prayerfully what this says about who we are as a church. Pray for the leadership as they seek God’s direction regarding these decisions.
Giving does include a commitment to the church, but so much more than that it is a commitment to God. As you consider your own financial decisions, please seek after God’s direction. That has to mean seeking after His direction in Scripture. Please don’t simply give to the church because you perceive a need; give to Him and if you are not sure what this means, ask Him. Giving is an act of obedience not benevolence.
We are currently budgeting for 2010. The consistory has reviewed a rough draft budget for 2010 and we briefly discussed it at our October consistory meeting. It was an interesting conversation and brought to the surface a couple things I want to address.
1. The church is not out to get your money. One of the most common perceptions of people on the street is that the church exists to get their money. Sadly, churches have at times promoted this perspective by begging, pleading and even guilting people into giving more. There is no desire on the part of the leadership to do this. We believe it contradicts Scripture and our understanding of why we give. It is not primarily for the church to function but instead to reflect our trust in God and our faithfulness to Him.
2. We seek to operate on a needs-based not wants-based budget. We really encourage those making requests for next year’s budget to do so based on their needs not wants. It is the church’s responsibility to make good stewardship decisions regarding the use of the resources given.
3. We wrestle with the balance between basing decisions simply on what happened last year and faith. Is the decision about budgets simply a common sense, logical decision that is easily made by seeing what our income and expenses were last year? How does God fit into the conversation? What part does faith and prayer and seeking after His direction play in this decision? Obviously, it is important we consider the facts and we then work out of our faith. But what does that mean in considering a budget for 2010?
4. Giving is an act of obedience to God not the church. Your giving is a spiritual issue between you and God. Giving reflects a trust in God to provide, a recognition of God being the source of our resources, and a commitment to offer our first fruits, not our table scraps, to Him.
5. We desire to give more away as a church. One of our vision statements says, “to love and serve those outside the church as much as those within.” We believe this means the stewardship of our time and money. We are not yet there, but we hope over time, CRC grows in being a church that can say with integrity that we are living into this vision. This means in a very simple way, that 50% of our budget ought to go to help those outside the church. We are currently between 15-20% of our budget going to those outside the church.
6. Giving more away will happen if we give more not as we cut more in the church budget. Because our budget is needs-based, we don’t have a lot of room to decrease. Yes, there is always some room, but that goes back to the issue of faith and not just math in making these decisions. But even if we focused on cutting, we could only increase our percentage of giving 10-15% on a very bare bones budget for the church. However, if giving is the means to give more away, there is no limit to how our giving can grow. The typical percentage of income a church-goer gives in the United States is 2.6%. During the Depression that number was 3.3%. We have a giving problem in the church in North America, and it’s so much more than a church budget issue, it is a spiritual issue.
7. Giving always includes money. Recognizing that times are very tight for many, giving is still always about money. You can give your time and you can rationalize that as your tithe, but that is not how God views giving. It always includes money. The baseline is 10%, but God desires that through our willingness to let go of our material possessions, we can better grab a hold of Him and see Him (and not ourselves and our bottom line) as the source of our security and hope in this world.
Many churches in this difficult economic time are forced to make difficult decisions about how they use the resources they do have. Numerous churches are choosing to cut their givings. They are sacrificing what they give away because they see it as the only way to keep their staff and their lights on. In no way am I making a judgment statement. It is just true. Churches are having difficult, even heart-wrenching conversations about what they can and can’t do.
2010 Budgets will be made available after the November consistory meeting. I hope you’ll look carefully at this document. I hope you’ll consider prayerfully what this says about who we are as a church. Pray for the leadership as they seek God’s direction regarding these decisions.
Giving does include a commitment to the church, but so much more than that it is a commitment to God. As you consider your own financial decisions, please seek after God’s direction. That has to mean seeking after His direction in Scripture. Please don’t simply give to the church because you perceive a need; give to Him and if you are not sure what this means, ask Him. Giving is an act of obedience not benevolence.
Monday, October 5, 2009
"Daddy, let's cuddle."
“Daddy, let’s cuddle.”
It was getting late. It was close to the time John (our 6 year old son) needed to start getting ready for bed. His routine is about a half an hour process before he actually is lying in bed with the lights off. And he is good at every stall tactic imaginable.
My son is good at making requests in the final moments before it is time for bed. “Can I have a snack?” “Can we play a short game?” “Can I watch AFV (America’s Funniest Videos)?” He is a little man who always has hope that he’ll get to do ONE MORE THING before he’s off to bed.
I had just sat down with my feet up on the bed. I had my laptop in my lap and I was excited to check the scores and highlights of all the sporting activities (especially Twins) that had been taking place that day.
“Daddy, let’s cuddle.”
“Not right now, John.”
“Awwwwwwwwww,” groans my son.
And then the voice of my conscience spoke audibly. (Her name is Alisa by the way and she is my wife.) I hear her say from a distant room, “You’re not going to snuggle with your son? It won’t be long and he won’t want to do this anymore.”
I don’t always like what my conscience has to say, but she was right – again. So I hopped in bed with John. He just sat right next to me and was playing with one of his toys. No talking, just touching – being together.
Cuddling and 40 year old men who are into sports is an interesting connection. But John needs it, and I believe his Dad does too. There is something good about being together, being silent, and being close. It is interesting because what is communicated is powerful and it has no need of words. What is said is, “I love you. I love being with you. I need to be with you.”
One of the other things I’ve noticed about cuddling (being the expert I am) is that it is often in these times that the words that are spoken are the most meaningful. It is when John and I are close that he asks some of the deeper questions. “Is God here, Daddy?” “Why are some kids mean to me?” “Why do you have to go to work so much, Daddy?”
The depth of communication changes – for the good – both in being present and silent – but also in the meaningful conversations that sometimes result.
John, once again, has found a way to help me to grow. John, once again, has taught me some things about life and relationships because he is much more willing to express his needs.
Here is a critical one for me: I have to disconnect. I am amazed by the draw of connection which now affects me. Whether it is the TV or internet, I am discouraged by how much I desire to be connected. In fact, I would say it another way. I am distracted. I like being distracted. I like having my attention drawn to these things, but I am distracted from much better things.
The other part that stands out is my need to be with my Father.
Ecclesiastes says it this way,
Guard your steps when you go to the house of God; to draw near to listen is better than the sacrifice offered by fools; for they do not know how to keep from doing evil. Never be rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be quick to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven, and you upon earth; therefore let your words be few. (5:1-2)
It is not a question of whether we should draw near to God; it is a question of how. We need to come, but we need to come as one of the created before the Creator, as a finite human being before an infinite God, as a child before his or her Father. We need to come and honor, respect, and LISTEN to Him. So it will always mean we come and be silent. Silence has to be a part of coming into the presence of God. We need to hear what he has to say far more than we need to speak. He has the words of life, encouragement, direction, hope. We don’t.
And like John, we just need to be in the presence of our Dad. We may have trouble using the word “cuddle” but we need to be next to Him. We need to remember He’s there and with us. And we need to hear him say, “I love you. I love being with you. You need to be with me.”
If silence has no place in your life, that needs to change. If your relationship with God consists of talking at him, that needs to change. Please don’t hear this challenge as an attempt to guilt you into acting, but instead here this challenge as an invitation from Him. He is inviting you to spend time with him, to be still and know He is God, and to bring you to the place where you will be filled.
It’s time to disconnect. It’s time to stop being distracted. It is time to make Him the focus of your attention.
It was getting late. It was close to the time John (our 6 year old son) needed to start getting ready for bed. His routine is about a half an hour process before he actually is lying in bed with the lights off. And he is good at every stall tactic imaginable.
My son is good at making requests in the final moments before it is time for bed. “Can I have a snack?” “Can we play a short game?” “Can I watch AFV (America’s Funniest Videos)?” He is a little man who always has hope that he’ll get to do ONE MORE THING before he’s off to bed.
I had just sat down with my feet up on the bed. I had my laptop in my lap and I was excited to check the scores and highlights of all the sporting activities (especially Twins) that had been taking place that day.
“Daddy, let’s cuddle.”
“Not right now, John.”
“Awwwwwwwwww,” groans my son.
And then the voice of my conscience spoke audibly. (Her name is Alisa by the way and she is my wife.) I hear her say from a distant room, “You’re not going to snuggle with your son? It won’t be long and he won’t want to do this anymore.”
I don’t always like what my conscience has to say, but she was right – again. So I hopped in bed with John. He just sat right next to me and was playing with one of his toys. No talking, just touching – being together.
Cuddling and 40 year old men who are into sports is an interesting connection. But John needs it, and I believe his Dad does too. There is something good about being together, being silent, and being close. It is interesting because what is communicated is powerful and it has no need of words. What is said is, “I love you. I love being with you. I need to be with you.”
One of the other things I’ve noticed about cuddling (being the expert I am) is that it is often in these times that the words that are spoken are the most meaningful. It is when John and I are close that he asks some of the deeper questions. “Is God here, Daddy?” “Why are some kids mean to me?” “Why do you have to go to work so much, Daddy?”
The depth of communication changes – for the good – both in being present and silent – but also in the meaningful conversations that sometimes result.
John, once again, has found a way to help me to grow. John, once again, has taught me some things about life and relationships because he is much more willing to express his needs.
Here is a critical one for me: I have to disconnect. I am amazed by the draw of connection which now affects me. Whether it is the TV or internet, I am discouraged by how much I desire to be connected. In fact, I would say it another way. I am distracted. I like being distracted. I like having my attention drawn to these things, but I am distracted from much better things.
The other part that stands out is my need to be with my Father.
Ecclesiastes says it this way,
Guard your steps when you go to the house of God; to draw near to listen is better than the sacrifice offered by fools; for they do not know how to keep from doing evil. Never be rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be quick to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven, and you upon earth; therefore let your words be few. (5:1-2)
It is not a question of whether we should draw near to God; it is a question of how. We need to come, but we need to come as one of the created before the Creator, as a finite human being before an infinite God, as a child before his or her Father. We need to come and honor, respect, and LISTEN to Him. So it will always mean we come and be silent. Silence has to be a part of coming into the presence of God. We need to hear what he has to say far more than we need to speak. He has the words of life, encouragement, direction, hope. We don’t.
And like John, we just need to be in the presence of our Dad. We may have trouble using the word “cuddle” but we need to be next to Him. We need to remember He’s there and with us. And we need to hear him say, “I love you. I love being with you. You need to be with me.”
If silence has no place in your life, that needs to change. If your relationship with God consists of talking at him, that needs to change. Please don’t hear this challenge as an attempt to guilt you into acting, but instead here this challenge as an invitation from Him. He is inviting you to spend time with him, to be still and know He is God, and to bring you to the place where you will be filled.
It’s time to disconnect. It’s time to stop being distracted. It is time to make Him the focus of your attention.
Monday, September 28, 2009
God's Chisel by skitguys
If you haven't seen this video, it's powerful. Watch God's Chisel and share it with others.
More Thoughts on Worship
From Fredrick Buechner’s book, Secrets in the Dark, chapter 20 – The Church.
. . . Jesus made his church out of human beings with more or less the same mixture in them of cowardice and guts, of intelligence and stupidity, of selfishness and generosity, of openness of heart and sheer cussedness as you would be apt to find in any of us. The reason he made his church out of human beings is that human beings were all there was to make it out of. In fact, as far as I know, human beings are all there is to make it out of still. It’s a point worth remembering.
It is also a point worth remembering that even after Jesus made these human beings into a church, they seem to have gone right on being human beings. They actually knew Jesus as their friend. They sat at his feet and listened to him speak; they ate with him and tramped the countryside with him; they witnessed his miracles; but not even all of that turned them into heroes. They kept on being as human as they’d always been with most of the same strengths and most of the same weaknesses.
And finally when it comes to remembering things, we do well to keep in mind that the idea of becoming the church wasn’t their idea. It was Jesus’s idea. It was Jesus who made them a church. They didn’t come together the way like-minded people come together to make a club. They didn’t come together the way a group of men might come together to form a baseball team or the way a group of women might come together to lobby for higher teachers’ salaries. They came together because Jesus called them to come together. That is what the Greek word ekklesia means, from which we get our word “church.” It means those who have been called out, the way the original twelve were called out of fishing or tax collecting or running a kosher restaurant or a Laundromat or whatever else they happened to be involved in at the time.
. . . One way or another Christ called them. That’s how it happened. They saw the marvel of him arch across the grayness of things – the grayness of their own lives perhaps, of life itself. They heard his voice calling their names. And they went.
They seem to have gone right on working at pretty much whatever they’d been working at before, which means that he didn’t so much call them out of their ordinary lives as he called them out of believing that ordinary life is ordinary. He called them to see that no matter how ordinary it may seem to us as we live it, life is extraordinary. “The Kingdom of God is at hand” is the way he put it to them, and the way he told them to put it to others. Life even at its most monotonous and backbreaking and heart-numbing has the Kingdom buried in it the way a field has treasure buried in it, he said. The Kingdom of God is as close to us as some precious keepsake we’ve been looking for for years, which is lying just in the next room under the rug all but crying out for us to come find it. If we only had eyes to see and ears to hear and wits to understand, we would know that the Kingdom of God in the sense of holiness, goodness, beauty is as close as breathing and is crying out to be born within ourselves and within the world; we would know that the Kingdom of God is what we all of us hunger for above all other things even when we didn’t know its name or realize that it’s what we’re starving for. The Kingdom of God is where our best dreams come from and our truest prayers. We glimpse it at those moments when we find ourselves being better than we are and wiser than we know. We catch sight of it when at some moment of crisis a strength seems to come to us that is greater than our own strength. The Kingdom of God is where we belong. It is home, and whether we realize it or not, I think we are all of us homesick for it. (147-149)
From C.S. Lewis’s book, The Weight of Glory, p. 25-26
If you asked twenty good men to-day what they thought the highest of the virtues, nineteen of them would reply, Unselfishness. But if you asked almost any of the great Christians of old he would have replied, Love. You see what has happened? A negative term has been substituted for a positive. The negative ideal of Unselfishness carries with it the suggestion not primarily of securing good things for others, but of going without them ourselves, as if abstinence and not their happiness was the important point. I do not think this is the Christian virtue of Love. The New Testament has lots to say about self-denial, but not about self-denial as an end in itself. We are told to deny ourselves and to take up our crosses in order that we may follow Christ; and nearly every description of what we shall ultimately find if we do so contains an appeal to desire. If there lurks in most modern minds the notion that to desire our own good and earnestly to hope for the enjoyment of it is a bad thing, I submit that this notion has crept in from Kant and the Stoics and is no part of the Christian faith. Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.
From Fredrick Buechner’s book, Wishful Thinking: A Theological ABC, p. 97-98
To worship God means to serve him. Basically there are two ways to do it. One way is to do things for him that he needs to have done – run errands for him, carry messages for him, fight on his side, feed his lambs, and so on. The other way is to do things for him that you need to do – sing songs for him, create beautiful things for him, give things up for him, tell him what’s on your mind and in your heart, in general rejoice in him and make a fool of yourself for him the way lovers have always made fools of themselves for the one they love.
From John Piper’s sermon, Worship: The Feast of Christian Hedonism from Psalm 63:5-6 found at www.desiringgod.org.
Therefore, if you feel no delight in the wealth of God's glory, nor feel any longing to see and know God better, nor feel any sorrow that your longing and delight are so meager, then you are not worshipping. Isn't it clear, then, that the person who thinks of virtue as overcoming self-interest and who thinks of vice as seeking our own pleasure, will scarcely be able to worship. For worship is the most hedonistic affair of life and must not be ruined by the least thought of disinterestedness. The great hindrance to worship is not that we are pleasure-seeking people, but that we are willing to settle for such pitiful pleasures.
Jeremiah put it like this:
My people have exchanged their glory for that which does not profit. Be appalled, O heavens, at this, be shocked, be utterly desolate, says the Lord, for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water. (Jeremiah 2:11–13)
The great barrier to worship among God's people is not that we are always seeking our own satisfaction, but that our seeking is so weak and half-hearted that we settle for little sips at broken cisterns when the fountain of life is just over the next hill.
. . . Jesus made his church out of human beings with more or less the same mixture in them of cowardice and guts, of intelligence and stupidity, of selfishness and generosity, of openness of heart and sheer cussedness as you would be apt to find in any of us. The reason he made his church out of human beings is that human beings were all there was to make it out of. In fact, as far as I know, human beings are all there is to make it out of still. It’s a point worth remembering.
It is also a point worth remembering that even after Jesus made these human beings into a church, they seem to have gone right on being human beings. They actually knew Jesus as their friend. They sat at his feet and listened to him speak; they ate with him and tramped the countryside with him; they witnessed his miracles; but not even all of that turned them into heroes. They kept on being as human as they’d always been with most of the same strengths and most of the same weaknesses.
And finally when it comes to remembering things, we do well to keep in mind that the idea of becoming the church wasn’t their idea. It was Jesus’s idea. It was Jesus who made them a church. They didn’t come together the way like-minded people come together to make a club. They didn’t come together the way a group of men might come together to form a baseball team or the way a group of women might come together to lobby for higher teachers’ salaries. They came together because Jesus called them to come together. That is what the Greek word ekklesia means, from which we get our word “church.” It means those who have been called out, the way the original twelve were called out of fishing or tax collecting or running a kosher restaurant or a Laundromat or whatever else they happened to be involved in at the time.
. . . One way or another Christ called them. That’s how it happened. They saw the marvel of him arch across the grayness of things – the grayness of their own lives perhaps, of life itself. They heard his voice calling their names. And they went.
They seem to have gone right on working at pretty much whatever they’d been working at before, which means that he didn’t so much call them out of their ordinary lives as he called them out of believing that ordinary life is ordinary. He called them to see that no matter how ordinary it may seem to us as we live it, life is extraordinary. “The Kingdom of God is at hand” is the way he put it to them, and the way he told them to put it to others. Life even at its most monotonous and backbreaking and heart-numbing has the Kingdom buried in it the way a field has treasure buried in it, he said. The Kingdom of God is as close to us as some precious keepsake we’ve been looking for for years, which is lying just in the next room under the rug all but crying out for us to come find it. If we only had eyes to see and ears to hear and wits to understand, we would know that the Kingdom of God in the sense of holiness, goodness, beauty is as close as breathing and is crying out to be born within ourselves and within the world; we would know that the Kingdom of God is what we all of us hunger for above all other things even when we didn’t know its name or realize that it’s what we’re starving for. The Kingdom of God is where our best dreams come from and our truest prayers. We glimpse it at those moments when we find ourselves being better than we are and wiser than we know. We catch sight of it when at some moment of crisis a strength seems to come to us that is greater than our own strength. The Kingdom of God is where we belong. It is home, and whether we realize it or not, I think we are all of us homesick for it. (147-149)
From C.S. Lewis’s book, The Weight of Glory, p. 25-26
If you asked twenty good men to-day what they thought the highest of the virtues, nineteen of them would reply, Unselfishness. But if you asked almost any of the great Christians of old he would have replied, Love. You see what has happened? A negative term has been substituted for a positive. The negative ideal of Unselfishness carries with it the suggestion not primarily of securing good things for others, but of going without them ourselves, as if abstinence and not their happiness was the important point. I do not think this is the Christian virtue of Love. The New Testament has lots to say about self-denial, but not about self-denial as an end in itself. We are told to deny ourselves and to take up our crosses in order that we may follow Christ; and nearly every description of what we shall ultimately find if we do so contains an appeal to desire. If there lurks in most modern minds the notion that to desire our own good and earnestly to hope for the enjoyment of it is a bad thing, I submit that this notion has crept in from Kant and the Stoics and is no part of the Christian faith. Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.
From Fredrick Buechner’s book, Wishful Thinking: A Theological ABC, p. 97-98
To worship God means to serve him. Basically there are two ways to do it. One way is to do things for him that he needs to have done – run errands for him, carry messages for him, fight on his side, feed his lambs, and so on. The other way is to do things for him that you need to do – sing songs for him, create beautiful things for him, give things up for him, tell him what’s on your mind and in your heart, in general rejoice in him and make a fool of yourself for him the way lovers have always made fools of themselves for the one they love.
From John Piper’s sermon, Worship: The Feast of Christian Hedonism from Psalm 63:5-6 found at www.desiringgod.org.
Therefore, if you feel no delight in the wealth of God's glory, nor feel any longing to see and know God better, nor feel any sorrow that your longing and delight are so meager, then you are not worshipping. Isn't it clear, then, that the person who thinks of virtue as overcoming self-interest and who thinks of vice as seeking our own pleasure, will scarcely be able to worship. For worship is the most hedonistic affair of life and must not be ruined by the least thought of disinterestedness. The great hindrance to worship is not that we are pleasure-seeking people, but that we are willing to settle for such pitiful pleasures.
Jeremiah put it like this:
My people have exchanged their glory for that which does not profit. Be appalled, O heavens, at this, be shocked, be utterly desolate, says the Lord, for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water. (Jeremiah 2:11–13)
The great barrier to worship among God's people is not that we are always seeking our own satisfaction, but that our seeking is so weak and half-hearted that we settle for little sips at broken cisterns when the fountain of life is just over the next hill.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Worship - John Piper
The following are excerpts from a couple sermons by John Piper – “The Inner Essence of Worship” and “The Curse of Careless Worship.” You can see these sermons in their entirety at www.desiringgod.org. Type in the titles above.
What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; and in this I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice, 19 for I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, 20 according to my earnest expectation and hope, that I will not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ will even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. 22 But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which to choose. 23 But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better; 24 yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake.
Philippians 1:18-24
. . . the main point was that the New Testament reveals a stunning silence about the outward place and forms of worship and a radical intensification of worship as an inner, Godward experience of the heart manifest in everyday life. The silence about outward forms is obvious in the fact that the gathered life of the church is never called "worship" in the New Testament. And the main Old Testament word for worship (proskuneo) is virtually absent from the New Testament letters.
The intensification of worship as an inner, Godward experience of the heart is seen in the words of Jesus that the hour is coming and now is when worship will not be located in Samaria or Jerusalem, but will be "in spirit and in truth" (John 4:21-23). Inner spiritual reality replaces geographic locality. And we see it again in Matthew 15:8-9 when Jesus says, "This people honors me with their lips but their heart is far from me. In vain do they worship me." Worship that does not come from the heart is vain, empty. It is not authentic worship. It is no worship.
. . . the essence of worship is not external, localized acts, but inner, Godward experience that comes out not primarily in church services (though they are important) but primarily in daily expressions of allegiance to God - in your sex life, in the way you handle your money, or keep your marriage vows, or speak up for Christ.
. . . worship, whether an inner act of the heart, or an outward act of the body, or of the congregation collectively, is a magnifying of God. That is, it is an act that shows how magnificent God is. It is an act that reveals or expresses how great and glorious he is. Worship is all about reflecting the worth or value of God.
Notice from verse 20 what Paul's mission in life is. He says it is "my earnest expectation and hope, that I will not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ will even now, as always, be exalted [the key word, "magnified" - shown to be great and glorious] in my body, whether by life or by death." So what Paul is saying is that his earnest hope and passion is that what he does with his body, whether in life or death, will always be worship. In life and death his mission is to magnify Christ - to show that Christ is magnificent, to exalt Christ, and demonstrate that he is great. That's plain from verse 20 - "that Christ shall be exalted in my body, whether by life or death."
The essence of worship is experiencing Christ as gain . . . it is savoring Christ, treasuring Christ, being satisfied with Christ.
I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish in order that I may gain Christ. Philippians 3:8
1. The pursuit of joy in God is not optional. It is our highest duty.
There are millions of Christians who have absorbed a popular ethic that says it is morally defective to seek our happiness, even in God. This is absolutely deadly for authentic worship. To the degree that this ethic flourishes, to that degree worship dies. Because the inner essence of worship is satisfaction in God, experiencing God as gain.
Therefore I say to you that the basic attitude of worship on Sunday morning is not to come with your hands full to give to God, but with your hands empty, to receive from God. And what you receive in worship is God, not entertainment. You ought to come hungry for God.
Recovering the rightness and indispensability of pursuing our satisfaction in God will go a long way to restoring authenticity and power of worship.
2. Another implication of saying that the essence of worship is satisfaction in God is that worship becomes radically God-centered.
Nothing makes God more supreme and more central than when a people are utterly persuaded that nothing - not money or prestige or leisure or family or job or health or sports or toys or friends - nothing is going to bring satisfaction to their aching hearts besides God. This conviction breeds a people who go hard after God on Sunday morning.
If the essence of worship is satisfaction in God, then worship can't be done authentically as a means to anything else. You simply can't say to God, I want to be satisfied in you so that I can have something else. Because that would mean that you are not really satisfied in God but in that something else. And that would dishonor God, not worship him.
Genuine affections for God are an end in themselves. I cannot say to my wife: "I feel a strong delight in you - so that you will make me a nice meal." That is not the way delight works. It terminates on her. It does not have a nice meal in view. I cannot say to my son, "I love playing ball with you - so that you will cut the grass." If your heart really delights in playing ball with him, that delight cannot be performed as a means to getting him to do something else.
Careless Worship
But you say, 'What a weariness this is,' and you snort at it, says the LORD of hosts. You bring what has been taken by violence or is lame or sick, and this you bring as your offering! Shall I accept that from your hand? says the LORD. Malachi 1:13
So the origin of careless worship is a failure to see and feel the greatness of God.
But how does this cause careless worship? Malachi's answer: It makes a person bored with God and excited about the world. If you don't see the greatness of God, then all the things that money can buy become very exciting. If you can't see the sun, you will be impressed with a street light. If you've never felt thunder and lightning, you'll be impressed with fire works. And if you turn your back on the greatness and majesty of God, you'll fall in love with a world of shadows and short-lived pleasures.
. . . And when you become so blind that the maker of galaxies and ruler of nations and knower of all mysteries and lover of our souls becomes boring, then only one thing is left—the love of the world. For the heart is always restless. It must have its treasure: if not in heaven, then on the earth.
And so when it is time to bring sheep from the flock to sacrifice, what do you bring? You bring the sheep with disease and broken legs. Or you steal a sheep to bring. Why? It's obvious. The good sheep sell better and you love money more than God.
So there it is: the origin of careless worship is a failure to see and feel the greatness of God. And so God becomes boring and the world becomes exciting, and worship . . . well, there may be some social usefulness in keeping up a front of religion, but O how the heart beats fast for the world.
Nature of True Worship
And what is the nature of true worship? I would put it like this. The nature of true worship is worship that does two things:
1) it expresses the feeling of God's value and greatness;
2) and it seeks to sustain in the congregation that same spiritual sense of God's immense worth and beauty.
Or to put it another way, true worship
1) comes from a heart where God is treasured above all human property and praise,
2) and it aims to inspire the same God-centered passion in the hearts of the congregation.
What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; and in this I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice, 19 for I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, 20 according to my earnest expectation and hope, that I will not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ will even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. 22 But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which to choose. 23 But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better; 24 yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake.
Philippians 1:18-24
. . . the main point was that the New Testament reveals a stunning silence about the outward place and forms of worship and a radical intensification of worship as an inner, Godward experience of the heart manifest in everyday life. The silence about outward forms is obvious in the fact that the gathered life of the church is never called "worship" in the New Testament. And the main Old Testament word for worship (proskuneo) is virtually absent from the New Testament letters.
The intensification of worship as an inner, Godward experience of the heart is seen in the words of Jesus that the hour is coming and now is when worship will not be located in Samaria or Jerusalem, but will be "in spirit and in truth" (John 4:21-23). Inner spiritual reality replaces geographic locality. And we see it again in Matthew 15:8-9 when Jesus says, "This people honors me with their lips but their heart is far from me. In vain do they worship me." Worship that does not come from the heart is vain, empty. It is not authentic worship. It is no worship.
. . . the essence of worship is not external, localized acts, but inner, Godward experience that comes out not primarily in church services (though they are important) but primarily in daily expressions of allegiance to God - in your sex life, in the way you handle your money, or keep your marriage vows, or speak up for Christ.
. . . worship, whether an inner act of the heart, or an outward act of the body, or of the congregation collectively, is a magnifying of God. That is, it is an act that shows how magnificent God is. It is an act that reveals or expresses how great and glorious he is. Worship is all about reflecting the worth or value of God.
Notice from verse 20 what Paul's mission in life is. He says it is "my earnest expectation and hope, that I will not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ will even now, as always, be exalted [the key word, "magnified" - shown to be great and glorious] in my body, whether by life or by death." So what Paul is saying is that his earnest hope and passion is that what he does with his body, whether in life or death, will always be worship. In life and death his mission is to magnify Christ - to show that Christ is magnificent, to exalt Christ, and demonstrate that he is great. That's plain from verse 20 - "that Christ shall be exalted in my body, whether by life or death."
The essence of worship is experiencing Christ as gain . . . it is savoring Christ, treasuring Christ, being satisfied with Christ.
I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish in order that I may gain Christ. Philippians 3:8
1. The pursuit of joy in God is not optional. It is our highest duty.
There are millions of Christians who have absorbed a popular ethic that says it is morally defective to seek our happiness, even in God. This is absolutely deadly for authentic worship. To the degree that this ethic flourishes, to that degree worship dies. Because the inner essence of worship is satisfaction in God, experiencing God as gain.
Therefore I say to you that the basic attitude of worship on Sunday morning is not to come with your hands full to give to God, but with your hands empty, to receive from God. And what you receive in worship is God, not entertainment. You ought to come hungry for God.
Recovering the rightness and indispensability of pursuing our satisfaction in God will go a long way to restoring authenticity and power of worship.
2. Another implication of saying that the essence of worship is satisfaction in God is that worship becomes radically God-centered.
Nothing makes God more supreme and more central than when a people are utterly persuaded that nothing - not money or prestige or leisure or family or job or health or sports or toys or friends - nothing is going to bring satisfaction to their aching hearts besides God. This conviction breeds a people who go hard after God on Sunday morning.
If the essence of worship is satisfaction in God, then worship can't be done authentically as a means to anything else. You simply can't say to God, I want to be satisfied in you so that I can have something else. Because that would mean that you are not really satisfied in God but in that something else. And that would dishonor God, not worship him.
Genuine affections for God are an end in themselves. I cannot say to my wife: "I feel a strong delight in you - so that you will make me a nice meal." That is not the way delight works. It terminates on her. It does not have a nice meal in view. I cannot say to my son, "I love playing ball with you - so that you will cut the grass." If your heart really delights in playing ball with him, that delight cannot be performed as a means to getting him to do something else.
Careless Worship
But you say, 'What a weariness this is,' and you snort at it, says the LORD of hosts. You bring what has been taken by violence or is lame or sick, and this you bring as your offering! Shall I accept that from your hand? says the LORD. Malachi 1:13
So the origin of careless worship is a failure to see and feel the greatness of God.
But how does this cause careless worship? Malachi's answer: It makes a person bored with God and excited about the world. If you don't see the greatness of God, then all the things that money can buy become very exciting. If you can't see the sun, you will be impressed with a street light. If you've never felt thunder and lightning, you'll be impressed with fire works. And if you turn your back on the greatness and majesty of God, you'll fall in love with a world of shadows and short-lived pleasures.
. . . And when you become so blind that the maker of galaxies and ruler of nations and knower of all mysteries and lover of our souls becomes boring, then only one thing is left—the love of the world. For the heart is always restless. It must have its treasure: if not in heaven, then on the earth.
And so when it is time to bring sheep from the flock to sacrifice, what do you bring? You bring the sheep with disease and broken legs. Or you steal a sheep to bring. Why? It's obvious. The good sheep sell better and you love money more than God.
So there it is: the origin of careless worship is a failure to see and feel the greatness of God. And so God becomes boring and the world becomes exciting, and worship . . . well, there may be some social usefulness in keeping up a front of religion, but O how the heart beats fast for the world.
Nature of True Worship
And what is the nature of true worship? I would put it like this. The nature of true worship is worship that does two things:
1) it expresses the feeling of God's value and greatness;
2) and it seeks to sustain in the congregation that same spiritual sense of God's immense worth and beauty.
Or to put it another way, true worship
1) comes from a heart where God is treasured above all human property and praise,
2) and it aims to inspire the same God-centered passion in the hearts of the congregation.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
The Soil of Obedience
I’ve spent a lot of mental and physical energy trying to grow grass - easier said than done.
Right now, we have bare spots popping up in our lawn. I’ve pondered that problem. I’ve taken a shovel and dug under and around those spots because I thought it might be grubs. I have not yet determined the source of the problem.
I’m good at growing weeds, but I’m not so good at growing grass.
When I share this challenge with others one of the first questions I receive is “Have you had your soil checked?” My soil checked? How do you check your soil? Who checks soil? What are they looking for? It’s dirt, right?
I’m coming to learn how important your soil is to growing grass. It can be too sandy, too acidic, not acidic enough, needing lime, etc. I’m learning that what you plant your grass in will have a huge impact on how it grows (or not).
We are all familiar with the parable Jesus taught about good soil (Matthew 13:1-23; Mark 4:1-20; Luke 8:4-15). Your seed won’t grow on the path. It will struggle growing if choked out by weeds. If the soil is shallow, you’ll see little growth. But if the seed lands in the good soil, growth is inevitable.
We can’t make ourselves grow; that’s God’s work. But we are responsible for where we place ourselves and who we place ourselves with. We can decide where we place our seed.
I want to suggest and challenge us to place our seeds in the soil of obedience.
As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
Colossians 2:6-7
One of the interesting things about the book of Colossians is Paul’s emphasis on the challenge of false teachers, false philosophies, and deceit. He was very concerned that the Colossians had the right understanding of faith. What they believed mattered and he wanted to make sure they believed in Jesus Christ as Lord “as you were taught.” Paul recognized that false teachings lead away from Christ and undermine what it means to live for Him. Plus, if you no longer have faith in Christ as the Lord, Son of God, Messiah, then you no longer obey. Why would you? It’s easy to move from Christ as Lord to you as Lord.
What we believe matters. If that is undermined, if we allow false teachings to find a place in our lives, it is reflect in how we live. We don’t live for Him; we live for ourselves.
What we believe directly affects what we do.
If we believe in Christ as Lord and that we are His, we do what He tells us to do. We obey. We are planted in the soil of obedience.
Consider for a moment where that has led you. Consider what has happened when you sought to obey. I bet you grew. I bet it wasn’t easy. I bet you look back and are glad you did obey.
When we obey, we grow. (Growth doesn’t mean easy or only good feelings. Growth is often very hard.) When we obey, God puts us in places and with people where growth happens. It’s important to remember that this obedience in not simply into church or with Christians. The soil of obedience will take us into the lives of those in need, we’ll be challenged, we’ll have to trust in God’s help, we’ll be uncomfortable, and we even may experience rejection and persecution. But we’ll grow.
Live your life in Him, it says in Colossians. Rooted and built up in the faith. Abounding in thanksgiving. When we put ourselves in the soil of obedience, our foundation (roots) will grow and deepen. Our character, person will develop (be built up). We won’t remain the same. And proof that this growth is taking place will be the experience of abounding in thanksgiving.
A couple obedience questions:
1. Are you in God’s Word? This is the soil of obedience.
2. Are you encouraging others to grow in faith? This is the soil of obedience.
3. Are you giving your time and money to Him for His work? This is the soil of obedience.
4. Are you taking time to pray and listen to God? This is the soil of obedience.
5. Are you offering Him your job/career/future? This is the soil of obedience.
6. Are you abounding in thanksgiving? This is a sign you are in the soil of obedience.
7. Are you making decisions dependent on His direction? This is the soil of obedience.
8. Are you reaching out to those in need around you? This is the soil of obedience.
And on and on the list goes.
Obedience leads to growth. Obedience reflects what you believe.
If you look at how you live (what’s important, priorities, focus, use of time and money), what do you believe?
Are you growing? Apart from obedience, growth is stunted and even at times non-existent.
Right now, we have bare spots popping up in our lawn. I’ve pondered that problem. I’ve taken a shovel and dug under and around those spots because I thought it might be grubs. I have not yet determined the source of the problem.
I’m good at growing weeds, but I’m not so good at growing grass.
When I share this challenge with others one of the first questions I receive is “Have you had your soil checked?” My soil checked? How do you check your soil? Who checks soil? What are they looking for? It’s dirt, right?
I’m coming to learn how important your soil is to growing grass. It can be too sandy, too acidic, not acidic enough, needing lime, etc. I’m learning that what you plant your grass in will have a huge impact on how it grows (or not).
We are all familiar with the parable Jesus taught about good soil (Matthew 13:1-23; Mark 4:1-20; Luke 8:4-15). Your seed won’t grow on the path. It will struggle growing if choked out by weeds. If the soil is shallow, you’ll see little growth. But if the seed lands in the good soil, growth is inevitable.
We can’t make ourselves grow; that’s God’s work. But we are responsible for where we place ourselves and who we place ourselves with. We can decide where we place our seed.
I want to suggest and challenge us to place our seeds in the soil of obedience.
As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
Colossians 2:6-7
One of the interesting things about the book of Colossians is Paul’s emphasis on the challenge of false teachers, false philosophies, and deceit. He was very concerned that the Colossians had the right understanding of faith. What they believed mattered and he wanted to make sure they believed in Jesus Christ as Lord “as you were taught.” Paul recognized that false teachings lead away from Christ and undermine what it means to live for Him. Plus, if you no longer have faith in Christ as the Lord, Son of God, Messiah, then you no longer obey. Why would you? It’s easy to move from Christ as Lord to you as Lord.
What we believe matters. If that is undermined, if we allow false teachings to find a place in our lives, it is reflect in how we live. We don’t live for Him; we live for ourselves.
What we believe directly affects what we do.
If we believe in Christ as Lord and that we are His, we do what He tells us to do. We obey. We are planted in the soil of obedience.
Consider for a moment where that has led you. Consider what has happened when you sought to obey. I bet you grew. I bet it wasn’t easy. I bet you look back and are glad you did obey.
When we obey, we grow. (Growth doesn’t mean easy or only good feelings. Growth is often very hard.) When we obey, God puts us in places and with people where growth happens. It’s important to remember that this obedience in not simply into church or with Christians. The soil of obedience will take us into the lives of those in need, we’ll be challenged, we’ll have to trust in God’s help, we’ll be uncomfortable, and we even may experience rejection and persecution. But we’ll grow.
Live your life in Him, it says in Colossians. Rooted and built up in the faith. Abounding in thanksgiving. When we put ourselves in the soil of obedience, our foundation (roots) will grow and deepen. Our character, person will develop (be built up). We won’t remain the same. And proof that this growth is taking place will be the experience of abounding in thanksgiving.
A couple obedience questions:
1. Are you in God’s Word? This is the soil of obedience.
2. Are you encouraging others to grow in faith? This is the soil of obedience.
3. Are you giving your time and money to Him for His work? This is the soil of obedience.
4. Are you taking time to pray and listen to God? This is the soil of obedience.
5. Are you offering Him your job/career/future? This is the soil of obedience.
6. Are you abounding in thanksgiving? This is a sign you are in the soil of obedience.
7. Are you making decisions dependent on His direction? This is the soil of obedience.
8. Are you reaching out to those in need around you? This is the soil of obedience.
And on and on the list goes.
Obedience leads to growth. Obedience reflects what you believe.
If you look at how you live (what’s important, priorities, focus, use of time and money), what do you believe?
Are you growing? Apart from obedience, growth is stunted and even at times non-existent.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
The Complete Book of Discipleship - Hull
The following are excerpts from my readings over the sabbatical. The following excerpts come from Bill Hull’s book, The Complete Book of Discipleship. I hope these help you as you consider what it means to follow Jesus.
We don’t just amble our way into discipleship. We make a conscious decision to live by faith. We agree to join others who’ve committed to follow Jesus rather than try to lead Jesus. We fundamentally give up the right to run our own life. In other words, you can follow your heart, your dreams, your gifts, your personality profile, and seek the right fit. But all that’s inferior to following Jesus.
(119)
Saying no to self in order to say yes to God. The only righteous role of self-denial is to eliminate any obstacle that blocks saying yes to God. When my will conflicts with his will, self-denial makes following his will possible. Jesus wants me to deny myself the right to be in charge of my own life.
(121-122)
First we choose the life. We set aside any competing priorities and follow Jesus. Then he reveals our mission en route.
When we wait at the entrance to the path of obedience for full instructions before we start walking, we can never find our mission. That knowledge is found only en route.
By accepting non-discipleship Christianity, many people don’t have a mission. So they sit in the pew and wait. All those missions never completed – what a tragic loss to people’s lives, and how much poorer it has left the church and the society we live in.
(124-125)
Accompanying Mother Teresa, as we did, to these different activities
for the purpose of filming them – to the Home for the Dying, to the
lepers and the unwanted children, I found I went through three phases.
The first was the horror mixed with pity; the second, compassion, pure
and simple; and the third, reaching far beyond compassion, something
I had never experienced before – an awareness of these dying, and
derelict men and women, these lepers with stumps instead of hands,
these unwanted children, were not pitiable, repulsive or forlorn, but
rather dear and delightful; as it might be, friends of long standing,
brothers and sisters. How is it to be explained – the very heart and
mystery of the Christian faith? To soothe those battered old heads,
to grasp those poor stumps, to take in one’s arms those children
consigned to dust bins, because it is His head, as they are His stumps
and His children, of whom He said whosoever received one such
child in His name received me.
Malcolm Muggeridge (132-133)
I would much rather say that every time you make a choice you are
turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into
something a little different from what it was before. And taking
your life as a whole, with all your innumerable choices, all your
life long you are slowly turning this central thing either into a
Heaven creature or into a hellish creature: either into a creature
that is in harmony with God, and with other creatures, and with
itself, or else into one that is in a state of war and hatred with
God, and with its fellow creatures, and with itself. To be the one
kind of creature is Heaven: that is, it is joy, and peace, and
knowledge, and power. To be the other means madness, horror,
idiocy, rage, impotence, and eternal loneliness. Each of us at
each moment is progressing to the one state or the other.
C. S. Lewis (138)
Training, not trying: I think we should outlaw “trying.” Trying occurs when disciples try to reach a goal without the proper tools. Training, however, means that we commit to rearrange our lives around the practices of Jesus. We don’t try to practice spiritual disciplines: fasting, silence, solitude, chastity, sacrifice, study, and so forth. Instead, because Jesus practiced them, we train in spiritual disciplines. We’ve answered the call to follow him and to learn from him, so we want to live our life the way Jesus lived his. And over time, through a patient process, we allow the positive effects of discipline to change us.
(143)
. . . you can’t give yourself as a sacrifice and at the same time manage your image.
(144)
. . . Jesus led with weakness, failure, and rejection. He moved straight into everything that the human spirit naturally abhors. An attitude of willingness is the rite of passage to ministering as Jesus ministered, to following in his footsteps, to giving ourselves for others. As an associate of Mother Teresa once commented, “She is free to be nothing; therefore, God can use her for anything.”
(146)
Trust is key, because we only take in the truth we trust. And that trust has to do with the messenger as much as the message. When you trust someone to the point you become vulnerable, you’re giving that person permission to speak into your life. This is where transformation traction takes place.
(156)
Just as humility is Jesus’ primary character trait, it should be the foundation we build on as we seek to follow him and be formed into his image. Think of it this way: without humility, there’s no submission; without submission, relationships of trust can’t exist; without relationships of trust, we won’t make ourselves vulnerable; without vulnerability, no one can influence us; and without influence, we won’t change.
Submission means saying, “I choose to let others love me.”
(158-159)
In fact, the most pressing need in most local congregations is that we own the truth that all of us are ministers. It seems that most Christians believe they’re consumers. They see their faith and life in the community of their congregation as a way to receive benefits from Christ, a way to set some sore of “get into heaven” card that salvation provides. This leads to acceptance of non-discipleship Christianity.
(172)
Eugene Peterson put it bluntly when asked if the church can reform:
Hasn’t happened. I’m for always reforming, but to think that we can
get a church reformed is just silliness . . . We have a goal. We have a
mission. We’re going to save the world. We’re going to evangelize
everybody, and we’re going to do all this stuff and fill our churches.
This is wonderful. All the goals are right. But this is slow, slow
work; this is soul work, this bringing people into a life of obedience
and love and joy before God. And we get impatient and start
taking shortcuts and use any means available. We talk about
benefits. We manipulate people. We bully them. We use
language that is just incredibly impersonal – bullying language,
manipulative language.
(173)
The world needs more than the secret holiness of individual
inwardness. It needs more than sacred sentiments and good
intentions. God asks for the heart because he needs lives. It
is by lives that the world will be redeemed, by lives that beat in
concordance with God, by deeds that outbeat the finite charity
of the human heart. Man’s power of action is less vague than
his power of intention. And an action has intrinsic meaning;
its value to the world is independent of what it means to the
person performing it. The giving of good to the helpless
child is meaningful regardless of whether or not the moral
intention is present. God asks for the heart, and we must
spell our answer in terms of deeds.
Abraham Joshua Heschel (181)
We make a conscious decision to live by . . . (Jesus’) pattern of life: a life of submission, sacrifice, and obedience, built on a foundation of humility.
This part of the process both marks the starting line and represents the essence of discipleship. We make following Jesus our life’s goal and intent. Faith is following and following is faith. The first action requires creating time and space to train. We don’t try to become like Jesus; instead we make a commitment to train to become the kind of person who naturally does what Jesus would do.
Mission refers to God’s mystery that you only find yourself when you lose yourself in serving others. . . Perhaps the greatest sacrifice is giving up the right to run our own lives, putting to death the dream of creating our agenda and of being in control.
(191-192)
We don’t just amble our way into discipleship. We make a conscious decision to live by faith. We agree to join others who’ve committed to follow Jesus rather than try to lead Jesus. We fundamentally give up the right to run our own life. In other words, you can follow your heart, your dreams, your gifts, your personality profile, and seek the right fit. But all that’s inferior to following Jesus.
(119)
Saying no to self in order to say yes to God. The only righteous role of self-denial is to eliminate any obstacle that blocks saying yes to God. When my will conflicts with his will, self-denial makes following his will possible. Jesus wants me to deny myself the right to be in charge of my own life.
(121-122)
First we choose the life. We set aside any competing priorities and follow Jesus. Then he reveals our mission en route.
When we wait at the entrance to the path of obedience for full instructions before we start walking, we can never find our mission. That knowledge is found only en route.
By accepting non-discipleship Christianity, many people don’t have a mission. So they sit in the pew and wait. All those missions never completed – what a tragic loss to people’s lives, and how much poorer it has left the church and the society we live in.
(124-125)
Accompanying Mother Teresa, as we did, to these different activities
for the purpose of filming them – to the Home for the Dying, to the
lepers and the unwanted children, I found I went through three phases.
The first was the horror mixed with pity; the second, compassion, pure
and simple; and the third, reaching far beyond compassion, something
I had never experienced before – an awareness of these dying, and
derelict men and women, these lepers with stumps instead of hands,
these unwanted children, were not pitiable, repulsive or forlorn, but
rather dear and delightful; as it might be, friends of long standing,
brothers and sisters. How is it to be explained – the very heart and
mystery of the Christian faith? To soothe those battered old heads,
to grasp those poor stumps, to take in one’s arms those children
consigned to dust bins, because it is His head, as they are His stumps
and His children, of whom He said whosoever received one such
child in His name received me.
Malcolm Muggeridge (132-133)
I would much rather say that every time you make a choice you are
turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into
something a little different from what it was before. And taking
your life as a whole, with all your innumerable choices, all your
life long you are slowly turning this central thing either into a
Heaven creature or into a hellish creature: either into a creature
that is in harmony with God, and with other creatures, and with
itself, or else into one that is in a state of war and hatred with
God, and with its fellow creatures, and with itself. To be the one
kind of creature is Heaven: that is, it is joy, and peace, and
knowledge, and power. To be the other means madness, horror,
idiocy, rage, impotence, and eternal loneliness. Each of us at
each moment is progressing to the one state or the other.
C. S. Lewis (138)
Training, not trying: I think we should outlaw “trying.” Trying occurs when disciples try to reach a goal without the proper tools. Training, however, means that we commit to rearrange our lives around the practices of Jesus. We don’t try to practice spiritual disciplines: fasting, silence, solitude, chastity, sacrifice, study, and so forth. Instead, because Jesus practiced them, we train in spiritual disciplines. We’ve answered the call to follow him and to learn from him, so we want to live our life the way Jesus lived his. And over time, through a patient process, we allow the positive effects of discipline to change us.
(143)
. . . you can’t give yourself as a sacrifice and at the same time manage your image.
(144)
. . . Jesus led with weakness, failure, and rejection. He moved straight into everything that the human spirit naturally abhors. An attitude of willingness is the rite of passage to ministering as Jesus ministered, to following in his footsteps, to giving ourselves for others. As an associate of Mother Teresa once commented, “She is free to be nothing; therefore, God can use her for anything.”
(146)
Trust is key, because we only take in the truth we trust. And that trust has to do with the messenger as much as the message. When you trust someone to the point you become vulnerable, you’re giving that person permission to speak into your life. This is where transformation traction takes place.
(156)
Just as humility is Jesus’ primary character trait, it should be the foundation we build on as we seek to follow him and be formed into his image. Think of it this way: without humility, there’s no submission; without submission, relationships of trust can’t exist; without relationships of trust, we won’t make ourselves vulnerable; without vulnerability, no one can influence us; and without influence, we won’t change.
Submission means saying, “I choose to let others love me.”
(158-159)
In fact, the most pressing need in most local congregations is that we own the truth that all of us are ministers. It seems that most Christians believe they’re consumers. They see their faith and life in the community of their congregation as a way to receive benefits from Christ, a way to set some sore of “get into heaven” card that salvation provides. This leads to acceptance of non-discipleship Christianity.
(172)
Eugene Peterson put it bluntly when asked if the church can reform:
Hasn’t happened. I’m for always reforming, but to think that we can
get a church reformed is just silliness . . . We have a goal. We have a
mission. We’re going to save the world. We’re going to evangelize
everybody, and we’re going to do all this stuff and fill our churches.
This is wonderful. All the goals are right. But this is slow, slow
work; this is soul work, this bringing people into a life of obedience
and love and joy before God. And we get impatient and start
taking shortcuts and use any means available. We talk about
benefits. We manipulate people. We bully them. We use
language that is just incredibly impersonal – bullying language,
manipulative language.
(173)
The world needs more than the secret holiness of individual
inwardness. It needs more than sacred sentiments and good
intentions. God asks for the heart because he needs lives. It
is by lives that the world will be redeemed, by lives that beat in
concordance with God, by deeds that outbeat the finite charity
of the human heart. Man’s power of action is less vague than
his power of intention. And an action has intrinsic meaning;
its value to the world is independent of what it means to the
person performing it. The giving of good to the helpless
child is meaningful regardless of whether or not the moral
intention is present. God asks for the heart, and we must
spell our answer in terms of deeds.
Abraham Joshua Heschel (181)
We make a conscious decision to live by . . . (Jesus’) pattern of life: a life of submission, sacrifice, and obedience, built on a foundation of humility.
This part of the process both marks the starting line and represents the essence of discipleship. We make following Jesus our life’s goal and intent. Faith is following and following is faith. The first action requires creating time and space to train. We don’t try to become like Jesus; instead we make a commitment to train to become the kind of person who naturally does what Jesus would do.
Mission refers to God’s mystery that you only find yourself when you lose yourself in serving others. . . Perhaps the greatest sacrifice is giving up the right to run our own lives, putting to death the dream of creating our agenda and of being in control.
(191-192)
The Gift of Being Yourself - part 2
The following are excerpts from my readings over the sabbatical. They address the need we have to know ourselves. This may sound like a pursuit of self-absorption. Read on and see what you think. These excerpts come from David Benner’s book, The Gift of Being Yourself.
Focusing on sins leads to what Dallas Willard describes as the gospel of sin management – a resolve to avoid sin and strategies to deal with guilt when this inevitably proves unsuccessful. But Christian spiritual transformation is much more radical than sin avoidance.
(65)
Discovering our core sin tendencies is helpful because it lets us deal with our problems at their root. But even more than this, it is helpful because discovery of our core sin tendencies will inevitably fill us with such despair and hopelessness that we will have no option but to turn to God. Spiritual transformation does not result from fixing our problems. It results from turning to God in the midst of them and meeting God just as we are. Turning to God is the core of prayer. Turning to God in our sin and shame is the heart of spiritual transformation.
(67)
Everything that is false about us arises from the belief that our deepest happiness will come from living life our way, not God’s way.
(75)
Something else that we know from experience is how to hide and how to pretend. At some point in childhood we all make the powerful discovery that we can manipulate the truth about ourselves. Initially it often takes the form of a simple lie – frequently a denial of having done something. But of more importance to the development of the false self is the discovery that our ability to hide isn’t limited to what we say or don’t say. We learn to pretend. We discover the art of repackaging our self.
In short, we learn how to present our self in the best possible light – a light designed to create a favorable impression and maintain our self-esteem.
While this might seem quite benign, the dark side of pretending is that what begins as a role becomes an identity. Initially the masks we adopt reflect how we want others to see us. Over time, however, they come to reflect how we want to see our self. But by this point we have thoroughly confused the mask and our actual experience. Our masks have become our reality, and we have become our lies. In short, we have lost authenticity and adopted an identity based on illusion. We have become a house of smoke and mirrors.
Nothing other than truth is strong enough to dispel illusion. And only the Spirit of Truth can save us from the consequence of having listened to the serpent rather than God.
(78-79)
The core of the lie that Adam and Eve believed was that they could be like God without God. But without God the most we can ever do is make ourselves into a god.
We are not God. We are not our own origin, nor are we our own
ultimate fulfillment. To claim to be so is a suicidal act that wounds
our faith relationship with the living God and replaces it with a
futile faith in a self that can never exist.
. . . what we get when we choose a way of being that is separate from God is the life of the lie. It is a lie because the autonomy that it promises is an illusion. We do not become free of God by a disregard of Divine will. Instead, by such disregard we forge the chains of our bondage.
What we get when we choose a way of being that is separate from God is the life of the false self.
The false self is the tragic result of trying to steal something from God that we did not have to steal. Had we dared to trust God’s goodness, we would have discovered that everything we could ever most deeply long for would be ours in God. Trying to gain more than the everything God offers, we end up with less than nothing. Rejecting God, we end up with a nest of lies and illusions. Displacing God, we become a god unto our self. We become a false self.
(79-80)
Basing identity on an illusion has profound consequences. Sensing its fundamental unreality, the false self wraps itself in experience – experiences of power, pleasure and honor. Intuiting that it is but a shadow, it seeks to convince itself of its reality by equating itself with what it does and achieves. Basil Pennington suggests that the core of the false self is the belief that my value depends on what I have, what I can do and what others think of me.
Because it is hollow at the core, the life of a false self is a life of excessive attachments. Seeking to avoid implosion and non-being, the false self grasps for anything that appears to have substance and then clings to these things with the tenacity of a drowning man clutching a life ring. One person might cling to his possessions, accomplishments or space. Another may cling to her dreams, memories or friendships. Any of these things can be either a blessing or a curse. They are a blessing when they are held in open hands of gratitude. They become a curse when they are grasped in clenched fists of entitlement and viewed as “me” or “mine.”
(81)
We think of our attachments as anchors of well-being. We feel good when we are surrounded by what seem like innocent indulgences and think they secure a state of pleasure that would not be ours without them. In reality, however, they sabotage our happiness and are hazardous to both our spiritual health and our psychological health.
Ultimately, attachments are ways of coping with the feelings of vulnerability, shame and inadequacy that lie at the core of our false ways of being. Like Adam and Eve, our first response to our awareness of nakedness is to grab whatever is closest and quickly cover our nakedness. We hide behind the fig leaves of our false self. This is the way we package our self to escape painful awareness of our nakedness.
The problem with the false self is that it works. It helps us forget that we are naked. Before long, we are no longer aware of the underlying vulnerability and become comfortable once again.
But God wants something better than fig leaves for us. God wants us to be aware of our helplessness so we can know that we need Divine help. God’s deepest desire for us is to replace our fig leaves with garments of durability and beauty (Genesis 3:21). Yet we cling to our fig-leaf false self. We believe that we know how to take care of our needs better than God.
(82-83)
Touchiness dependably points us to false ways of being. And the more prickly a person you are, the more you are investing in the defense of a false self.
The things that bother us the most about others – our pet peeves – also point toward falsity in our own self.
(83-84)
Every moment of every day of our life God wanders in our inner garden, seeking our companionship. The reason God can’t find us is that we are hiding in the bushes of our false self.
Having first created a self in the image of our own making, we then set out to create the sort of god who might in fact create us. Such is the perversity of the false self.
Coming out of hiding is accepting God on God’s own terms. Doing so is the only route to truly being our unique self-in-Christ.
(88-89)
The true self is who, in reality, you are and who you are becoming. It is not something you need to construct through a process of self-improvement or deconstruct by means of psychological analysis. It is not an object to be grasped. Nor is it an archetype to be actualized. It is not even some inner, hidden part of you. Rather, it is your total self as you were created by God and as you are being redeemed in Christ. It is the image of God that you are – the unique face of God that has been set aside from eternity for you.
We do not find our true self by seeking it. Rather, we find it by seeking God.
(91)
Jesus did not merely accept the identity that others offered him. Had he done so he would have, like us, been pulled in many different directions.
But he did not look to the expectations of others to understand who he was. Instead he looked to his relationship with God.
Jesus gave glory to God by being himself – deeply, truly, consistently. Thomas Merton says that “to be a saint means to be myself.” Sanctity is finding our hidden and true self in Christ and living out the life that flows from this self in surrender to the loving will and presence of our heavenly Father.
(95)
The way of the true self is always the way of humility. Pride and arrogance move us toward our false self, but humility and love allow us to live the truth of our being.
(98)
Too often we think of God’s call (or our vocation) solely in terms of what we do. People speak of being called to the ministry or feeling called to work in healthcare or teaching. However, while doing will always be involved, vocation is much more than our occupation. It is the face of Christ we are called from eternity to show to the world. It is who we are called to be.
(101)
The self is not God. But it is the place where we meet God. There can be no genuine spiritual transformation if we seek some external meeting place. God’s intended home is our heart, and it is meeting God in our depths that transform us from the inside out.
In Christian spiritual transformation, the self that embarks on the journey is not the self that arrives. The self that begins the spiritual journey is the self of our own creation, the self we thought ourselves to be. This is the self that dies on the journey. The self that arrives is the self that was loved into existence by Divine love. This is the person we were destined from eternity to become – the I that is hidden in the “I AM.”
(103)
Focusing on sins leads to what Dallas Willard describes as the gospel of sin management – a resolve to avoid sin and strategies to deal with guilt when this inevitably proves unsuccessful. But Christian spiritual transformation is much more radical than sin avoidance.
(65)
Discovering our core sin tendencies is helpful because it lets us deal with our problems at their root. But even more than this, it is helpful because discovery of our core sin tendencies will inevitably fill us with such despair and hopelessness that we will have no option but to turn to God. Spiritual transformation does not result from fixing our problems. It results from turning to God in the midst of them and meeting God just as we are. Turning to God is the core of prayer. Turning to God in our sin and shame is the heart of spiritual transformation.
(67)
Everything that is false about us arises from the belief that our deepest happiness will come from living life our way, not God’s way.
(75)
Something else that we know from experience is how to hide and how to pretend. At some point in childhood we all make the powerful discovery that we can manipulate the truth about ourselves. Initially it often takes the form of a simple lie – frequently a denial of having done something. But of more importance to the development of the false self is the discovery that our ability to hide isn’t limited to what we say or don’t say. We learn to pretend. We discover the art of repackaging our self.
In short, we learn how to present our self in the best possible light – a light designed to create a favorable impression and maintain our self-esteem.
While this might seem quite benign, the dark side of pretending is that what begins as a role becomes an identity. Initially the masks we adopt reflect how we want others to see us. Over time, however, they come to reflect how we want to see our self. But by this point we have thoroughly confused the mask and our actual experience. Our masks have become our reality, and we have become our lies. In short, we have lost authenticity and adopted an identity based on illusion. We have become a house of smoke and mirrors.
Nothing other than truth is strong enough to dispel illusion. And only the Spirit of Truth can save us from the consequence of having listened to the serpent rather than God.
(78-79)
The core of the lie that Adam and Eve believed was that they could be like God without God. But without God the most we can ever do is make ourselves into a god.
We are not God. We are not our own origin, nor are we our own
ultimate fulfillment. To claim to be so is a suicidal act that wounds
our faith relationship with the living God and replaces it with a
futile faith in a self that can never exist.
. . . what we get when we choose a way of being that is separate from God is the life of the lie. It is a lie because the autonomy that it promises is an illusion. We do not become free of God by a disregard of Divine will. Instead, by such disregard we forge the chains of our bondage.
What we get when we choose a way of being that is separate from God is the life of the false self.
The false self is the tragic result of trying to steal something from God that we did not have to steal. Had we dared to trust God’s goodness, we would have discovered that everything we could ever most deeply long for would be ours in God. Trying to gain more than the everything God offers, we end up with less than nothing. Rejecting God, we end up with a nest of lies and illusions. Displacing God, we become a god unto our self. We become a false self.
(79-80)
Basing identity on an illusion has profound consequences. Sensing its fundamental unreality, the false self wraps itself in experience – experiences of power, pleasure and honor. Intuiting that it is but a shadow, it seeks to convince itself of its reality by equating itself with what it does and achieves. Basil Pennington suggests that the core of the false self is the belief that my value depends on what I have, what I can do and what others think of me.
Because it is hollow at the core, the life of a false self is a life of excessive attachments. Seeking to avoid implosion and non-being, the false self grasps for anything that appears to have substance and then clings to these things with the tenacity of a drowning man clutching a life ring. One person might cling to his possessions, accomplishments or space. Another may cling to her dreams, memories or friendships. Any of these things can be either a blessing or a curse. They are a blessing when they are held in open hands of gratitude. They become a curse when they are grasped in clenched fists of entitlement and viewed as “me” or “mine.”
(81)
We think of our attachments as anchors of well-being. We feel good when we are surrounded by what seem like innocent indulgences and think they secure a state of pleasure that would not be ours without them. In reality, however, they sabotage our happiness and are hazardous to both our spiritual health and our psychological health.
Ultimately, attachments are ways of coping with the feelings of vulnerability, shame and inadequacy that lie at the core of our false ways of being. Like Adam and Eve, our first response to our awareness of nakedness is to grab whatever is closest and quickly cover our nakedness. We hide behind the fig leaves of our false self. This is the way we package our self to escape painful awareness of our nakedness.
The problem with the false self is that it works. It helps us forget that we are naked. Before long, we are no longer aware of the underlying vulnerability and become comfortable once again.
But God wants something better than fig leaves for us. God wants us to be aware of our helplessness so we can know that we need Divine help. God’s deepest desire for us is to replace our fig leaves with garments of durability and beauty (Genesis 3:21). Yet we cling to our fig-leaf false self. We believe that we know how to take care of our needs better than God.
(82-83)
Touchiness dependably points us to false ways of being. And the more prickly a person you are, the more you are investing in the defense of a false self.
The things that bother us the most about others – our pet peeves – also point toward falsity in our own self.
(83-84)
Every moment of every day of our life God wanders in our inner garden, seeking our companionship. The reason God can’t find us is that we are hiding in the bushes of our false self.
Having first created a self in the image of our own making, we then set out to create the sort of god who might in fact create us. Such is the perversity of the false self.
Coming out of hiding is accepting God on God’s own terms. Doing so is the only route to truly being our unique self-in-Christ.
(88-89)
The true self is who, in reality, you are and who you are becoming. It is not something you need to construct through a process of self-improvement or deconstruct by means of psychological analysis. It is not an object to be grasped. Nor is it an archetype to be actualized. It is not even some inner, hidden part of you. Rather, it is your total self as you were created by God and as you are being redeemed in Christ. It is the image of God that you are – the unique face of God that has been set aside from eternity for you.
We do not find our true self by seeking it. Rather, we find it by seeking God.
(91)
Jesus did not merely accept the identity that others offered him. Had he done so he would have, like us, been pulled in many different directions.
But he did not look to the expectations of others to understand who he was. Instead he looked to his relationship with God.
Jesus gave glory to God by being himself – deeply, truly, consistently. Thomas Merton says that “to be a saint means to be myself.” Sanctity is finding our hidden and true self in Christ and living out the life that flows from this self in surrender to the loving will and presence of our heavenly Father.
(95)
The way of the true self is always the way of humility. Pride and arrogance move us toward our false self, but humility and love allow us to live the truth of our being.
(98)
Too often we think of God’s call (or our vocation) solely in terms of what we do. People speak of being called to the ministry or feeling called to work in healthcare or teaching. However, while doing will always be involved, vocation is much more than our occupation. It is the face of Christ we are called from eternity to show to the world. It is who we are called to be.
(101)
The self is not God. But it is the place where we meet God. There can be no genuine spiritual transformation if we seek some external meeting place. God’s intended home is our heart, and it is meeting God in our depths that transform us from the inside out.
In Christian spiritual transformation, the self that embarks on the journey is not the self that arrives. The self that begins the spiritual journey is the self of our own creation, the self we thought ourselves to be. This is the self that dies on the journey. The self that arrives is the self that was loved into existence by Divine love. This is the person we were destined from eternity to become – the I that is hidden in the “I AM.”
(103)
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
The Way We Pray - Skitguys.com
I've found a new video site worth checking out. It's skitguys.com. If you've seen Napoleon Dynamite, you'll appreciate this video. Even if you haven't, you still may enjoy this entertaining look at how we pray. It's called The Way We Pray.
The Gift of Being Yourself - Benner
The following are excerpts from my readings over the sabbatical. They address the need we have to know ourselves. This may sound like a pursuit of self-absorption. Read on and see what you think. These excerpts come from David Benner’s book, The Gift of Being Yourself.
It is a profound irony to write a book promoting self-discovery to people who are seeking to follow a self-sacrificing Christ. It might well make you fear that I have forgotten – or worse, failed to take seriously – Jesus paradoxical teaching that it is in losing our self that we truly find it (Matthew 10:39). As you read on I think you will see that I have done neither.
(13)
The goal of the spiritual journey is the transformation of self. As we shall see, this requires both knowing our self and God.
. . . identity is a challenge only for humans. A tulip knows exactly what it is. It is never tempted by false ways of being. Nor does it face complicated decisions in the process of becoming. So it is with dogs, rocks, trees, stars, amoebas, electrons and all other things. All give glory to God by being exactly what they are. . . Humans, however, encounter a more challenging existence. We think. We consider options. We decide. We act. We doubt. Simple being is tremendously difficult to achieve and fully authentic being is extremely rare.
Our true self-in-Christ is the only self that will support authenticity. It and it alone provides an identity that is eternal.
(14-15)
We should never be tempted to think that growth in Christ-likeness reduces our uniqueness . . . Paradoxically, as we become more and more like Christ we become more uniquely our own true self.
Identity is never simply a creation. It is always a discovery. True identity is always a gift of God.
(16)
“There is no deep knowing of God without a deep knowing of self and no deep knowing of self without a deep knowing of God.”
John Calvin (20)
“A humble self-knowledge is a surer way to God than a search after deep learning.”
Thomas a Kempis (20)
Self-knowledge that is pursued apart from knowing our identity in relationship to God easily leads to self-inflation. . . Unless we spend as much time looking at God as we spend looking at our self, our knowing of our self will simply draw us further and further into an abyss of self-fixation.
(23)
Though we glibly talk about a personal relationship with God, many of us know God less well than we know our casual acquaintances. Too easily we have settled for knowing about God. Too easily our relationship with God is remarkably superficial. Is it any surprise, then, that we haven’t learned much about our self as a result of this encounter?
(31)
Many of the things we know about God we know objectively, accepting them as facts on the trusted testimony of Scriptures and the community of faith. These ground our more personal knowing, serving as an anchor in times of doubt and a frame of reference for making sense of our experience. This bedrock of beliefs will be elaborated by experience but never replaced by it. God’s intention is that we know Divine love by experiencing it. But even when our Divine Lover seems distant, we can hold confident to the hope of the steadfast nature of God’s love because of the testimony of Scriptures and the witness of others.
Transformational knowing of God comes from an intimate, personal knowing of Divine love. Because God is love, God can only be known through love. To know God is to love God, and to love God is to know God (I John 4:7-8). The Christian God is known only in devotion, not objective detachment.
(34-35)
What God longs for us to experience is intimate knowing that comes by means of an ongoing relationship.
(36)
What God wants is simply our presence, even if it feels like a waste of potentially productive time. That is what friends do together – they waste time with each other. Simply being together is enough without expecting to “get something” from the interaction. It should be no different with God.
(40)
Richard Rohr reminds us that “we cannot attain the presence of God. We’re already totally in the presence of God. What’s absent is awareness.” This is the core of the spiritual journey – learning to discern the presence of God, to see what really is.
(42)
Genuine self-knowledge begins by looking at God and noticing how God is looking at us.
Divine love is absolutely unconditional, unlimited, and unimaginably extravagant.
In order for our knowing of God’s love to be truly transformational, it must become the basis of our identity. Our identity is who we experience ourselves to be – the I each of us carries within. An identity grounded in God would mean that when we think of who we are, the first thing that would come to mind is our status as someone who is deeply loved by God.
Coming to know and trust God’s love is a lifelong process. Making this knowledge the foundation of our identity – or better, allowing our identity to be re-formed around this most basic fact of our existence – will also never happen instantly. Both lie at the core of the spiritual transformation that is the intended outcome of Christ-following.
Every time I dare to meet God in the vulnerability of my sin and shame, this knowing is strengthened. Every time I fall back into a self-improvement mode and try to bring God my best self, it is weakened. I only know Divine unconditional radical and reckless love for me when I dare to approach God just as I am. The more I have the courage to meet God in this place of weakness, the more I will know myself to be truly and deeply loved by God.
The God who is Divine love is known only in human community. Deep knowing of perfect love, just like deep knowing of ourselves, demands that we be in relationships of spiritual friendship. No one should ever expect to make the journey alone. And the knowing of self and God described in these pages depends on being accompanied by others on our journey into the heart of God.
(49-52)
Genuinely transformational knowing of self always involves encountering and embracing previously unwelcomed parts of self.
(52)
Self-acceptance and self-knowing are deeply interconnected. To truly know something about yourself, you must accept it. Even things about yourself that you most deeply want to change must first be accepted – even embraced. Self-transformation is always preceded by self-acceptance. And the self that you must accept is the self that you actually truly are – before you start self-improvement projects!
Until we are willing to accept the unpleasant truths of our existence, we rationalize or deny responsibility for our behavior.
If God loves and accepts you as a sinner, how can you do less? You can never be other than who you are until you are willing to embrace the reality of who you are. Only then can you truly become who you are most deeply called to be.
(56-57)
Crucifixion should be directed toward our sin nature. And we must first accept it as our nature, not simply human nature.
(58)
Prayer is meeting God in the darkness and solitude of that secret place. Nothing less than such an encounter with God in the depths of our soul will provide access to the deep knowing of both God and self that is our true home.
What makes this encounter possible is looking at God looking back at us.
(59-60)
Most of us are quite willing to embrace reality when it fits with how we see ourselves and the world, and when it is not overly unpleasant. However, when our life experiences confront us with things about ourselves that we are unwilling to accept, we call on psychological defense mechanisms to help maintain a sense of safety and stability. While these unconscious strategies help with short-term coping, they block long-term growth. This is because they distort reality. Ultimately, their function is to protect us from unpleasant truth.
The human capacity for self-deception is astounding. (Jeremiah 17:9)
(62)
To see God as God is – not as who we want God to be – requires that we see our self as we actually are. For the same cloud of illusions obscures our view of both God and ourselves.
(63)
Some Christians base their identity on being a sinner. I think they have it wrong – or only half right. You are not simply a sinner; you are a deeply loved sinner. And there is all the difference in the world between the two.
(64)
It is a profound irony to write a book promoting self-discovery to people who are seeking to follow a self-sacrificing Christ. It might well make you fear that I have forgotten – or worse, failed to take seriously – Jesus paradoxical teaching that it is in losing our self that we truly find it (Matthew 10:39). As you read on I think you will see that I have done neither.
(13)
The goal of the spiritual journey is the transformation of self. As we shall see, this requires both knowing our self and God.
. . . identity is a challenge only for humans. A tulip knows exactly what it is. It is never tempted by false ways of being. Nor does it face complicated decisions in the process of becoming. So it is with dogs, rocks, trees, stars, amoebas, electrons and all other things. All give glory to God by being exactly what they are. . . Humans, however, encounter a more challenging existence. We think. We consider options. We decide. We act. We doubt. Simple being is tremendously difficult to achieve and fully authentic being is extremely rare.
Our true self-in-Christ is the only self that will support authenticity. It and it alone provides an identity that is eternal.
(14-15)
We should never be tempted to think that growth in Christ-likeness reduces our uniqueness . . . Paradoxically, as we become more and more like Christ we become more uniquely our own true self.
Identity is never simply a creation. It is always a discovery. True identity is always a gift of God.
(16)
“There is no deep knowing of God without a deep knowing of self and no deep knowing of self without a deep knowing of God.”
John Calvin (20)
“A humble self-knowledge is a surer way to God than a search after deep learning.”
Thomas a Kempis (20)
Self-knowledge that is pursued apart from knowing our identity in relationship to God easily leads to self-inflation. . . Unless we spend as much time looking at God as we spend looking at our self, our knowing of our self will simply draw us further and further into an abyss of self-fixation.
(23)
Though we glibly talk about a personal relationship with God, many of us know God less well than we know our casual acquaintances. Too easily we have settled for knowing about God. Too easily our relationship with God is remarkably superficial. Is it any surprise, then, that we haven’t learned much about our self as a result of this encounter?
(31)
Many of the things we know about God we know objectively, accepting them as facts on the trusted testimony of Scriptures and the community of faith. These ground our more personal knowing, serving as an anchor in times of doubt and a frame of reference for making sense of our experience. This bedrock of beliefs will be elaborated by experience but never replaced by it. God’s intention is that we know Divine love by experiencing it. But even when our Divine Lover seems distant, we can hold confident to the hope of the steadfast nature of God’s love because of the testimony of Scriptures and the witness of others.
Transformational knowing of God comes from an intimate, personal knowing of Divine love. Because God is love, God can only be known through love. To know God is to love God, and to love God is to know God (I John 4:7-8). The Christian God is known only in devotion, not objective detachment.
(34-35)
What God longs for us to experience is intimate knowing that comes by means of an ongoing relationship.
(36)
What God wants is simply our presence, even if it feels like a waste of potentially productive time. That is what friends do together – they waste time with each other. Simply being together is enough without expecting to “get something” from the interaction. It should be no different with God.
(40)
Richard Rohr reminds us that “we cannot attain the presence of God. We’re already totally in the presence of God. What’s absent is awareness.” This is the core of the spiritual journey – learning to discern the presence of God, to see what really is.
(42)
Genuine self-knowledge begins by looking at God and noticing how God is looking at us.
Divine love is absolutely unconditional, unlimited, and unimaginably extravagant.
In order for our knowing of God’s love to be truly transformational, it must become the basis of our identity. Our identity is who we experience ourselves to be – the I each of us carries within. An identity grounded in God would mean that when we think of who we are, the first thing that would come to mind is our status as someone who is deeply loved by God.
Coming to know and trust God’s love is a lifelong process. Making this knowledge the foundation of our identity – or better, allowing our identity to be re-formed around this most basic fact of our existence – will also never happen instantly. Both lie at the core of the spiritual transformation that is the intended outcome of Christ-following.
Every time I dare to meet God in the vulnerability of my sin and shame, this knowing is strengthened. Every time I fall back into a self-improvement mode and try to bring God my best self, it is weakened. I only know Divine unconditional radical and reckless love for me when I dare to approach God just as I am. The more I have the courage to meet God in this place of weakness, the more I will know myself to be truly and deeply loved by God.
The God who is Divine love is known only in human community. Deep knowing of perfect love, just like deep knowing of ourselves, demands that we be in relationships of spiritual friendship. No one should ever expect to make the journey alone. And the knowing of self and God described in these pages depends on being accompanied by others on our journey into the heart of God.
(49-52)
Genuinely transformational knowing of self always involves encountering and embracing previously unwelcomed parts of self.
(52)
Self-acceptance and self-knowing are deeply interconnected. To truly know something about yourself, you must accept it. Even things about yourself that you most deeply want to change must first be accepted – even embraced. Self-transformation is always preceded by self-acceptance. And the self that you must accept is the self that you actually truly are – before you start self-improvement projects!
Until we are willing to accept the unpleasant truths of our existence, we rationalize or deny responsibility for our behavior.
If God loves and accepts you as a sinner, how can you do less? You can never be other than who you are until you are willing to embrace the reality of who you are. Only then can you truly become who you are most deeply called to be.
(56-57)
Crucifixion should be directed toward our sin nature. And we must first accept it as our nature, not simply human nature.
(58)
Prayer is meeting God in the darkness and solitude of that secret place. Nothing less than such an encounter with God in the depths of our soul will provide access to the deep knowing of both God and self that is our true home.
What makes this encounter possible is looking at God looking back at us.
(59-60)
Most of us are quite willing to embrace reality when it fits with how we see ourselves and the world, and when it is not overly unpleasant. However, when our life experiences confront us with things about ourselves that we are unwilling to accept, we call on psychological defense mechanisms to help maintain a sense of safety and stability. While these unconscious strategies help with short-term coping, they block long-term growth. This is because they distort reality. Ultimately, their function is to protect us from unpleasant truth.
The human capacity for self-deception is astounding. (Jeremiah 17:9)
(62)
To see God as God is – not as who we want God to be – requires that we see our self as we actually are. For the same cloud of illusions obscures our view of both God and ourselves.
(63)
Some Christians base their identity on being a sinner. I think they have it wrong – or only half right. You are not simply a sinner; you are a deeply loved sinner. And there is all the difference in the world between the two.
(64)
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