I think my outlook on life and on Christianity has been significantly shaped by about a dozen people. There are obviously more than that who have had some influence, but the list is probably about that long of those who I am very indebted to for some fundamental aspect of the way I think about things. On this list there are those who I know and have been personally discipled by, and there are also those who are preachers or teachers I have found online. I have benefited greatly during my college years from the Christ-centered use of my ipod.
David Blevins has helped shape my thinking significantly through numerous conversations over multiple years and also through the taking of his worldview class. Here are a handful of the things pressed on me by the worldview class...
1. There are good reasons for believing in God. Christianity is not a blind leap of faith against all evidence, though that is what many in the church today seem to do.
2. God wants me to love him with my mind, not just my heart. Therefore, I need to think deeply and well about God.
3. There are many forces in the world and many college professors who disparage the Christian message, but we need to be prepared to give a defense and a reason for the hope within, instead of lying over and just taking everything.
4. The Bible isn't simply a collection of true things, but it has a true unified message that speaks into a million different subjects. Jesus is Lord over all, not just church-y things. Jesus is even Lord of art. It is legitimate to wrestle with questions - while having humility about the answers - such as, what would God think about government?
5. Everyone has presuppositions. Everyone has a worldview. Everyone believes something. Everyone operates on some morality. It is better to live an examined life of intellectual and moral integrity. Christianity can put together the puzzle pieces the best out of all worldviews.
Thank you, David, for your heart for true discipleship, your commitment to the local church, and your counsel and challenge over the years. I am deeply indebted. I know that other worldview graduates - the category with which we self-identify - will join me in expressing that indebtedness. What an awesome picture of how the Body is meant to function, each part serving as God has gifted. Thank you!
I write all of that as preamble to a very interesting resource. David is currently doing a summer book study through Tim Keller's book "The Reason for God". Tim Keller is one of those who would make my list of highly influential people, though he is one from a distance. David Blevins and Tim Keller definitely do not agree on everything, though both definitely love Jesus, and they seek to love Jesus with all their minds. It is good, I think, to read a bit outside of your comfort zone and listen to teachers who don't just say all the things you already believe. In that way, I think it is good for me to prayerfully think through those areas where my significant influences disagree, and I bid you to do the same while always relying on God through his infallible, sufficient Scripture.
The first place I want to send you is to a course that Tim Keller co-taught with the late Edmund Clowney on "Preaching Christ in a Postmodern World". This is essentially Tim Keller's philosophy of preaching, which will add significant depth to what comes across in "The Reason for God" if you have time to listen to these talks. I have listened to probably about two thirds of them. These talks bring you back to Tim Keller's presuppositions about a lot of things, and I believe it is applicable even to people who are not called to preach because it basically comes back to what the Gospel is and how it is to be best communicated and given to people, topics relevant to every Christian.
The talks by Edmund Clowney are also interesting and worth a listen. He deals more directly with how Christ is to be exposited from all of Scripture. For instance, how do you preach Christ from wisdom literature or the story of David and Goliath or from Leviticus. The idea is that all of Scripture is unified, everything is summed up in Christ, and Jesus was constantly interpreting Scripture (which was just the OT when he was walking around) in light of himself. Very fascinating. The whole Old Testament, not just random bits, is a testimony to Christ.
http://www.thegospelcoalition.org/resources/category/courses/a/series/preaching_christ_in_a_postmodern_world/
I am also including a link to the syllabus for the course. Syllabus is probably not the right word. It is more like a book, but they refer to it as a syllabus. Reading parts of this may be more effective for some than trying to listen to all of the talks.
http://www.endangeredleadership.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/keller-on-preaching-syllabus.pdf
As always, I hope you are helped and encouraged, and as always, to God be all the glory!
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Chariots of Fire Clip
"...when I run, I feel God's pleasure."
My parents are watching the movie "Chariots of Fire" in the other room. It reminded me of this scene, and the awesome quote in the middle of it. I love the truth that our God, while angry at sin, is an exceedingly happy and joyful God. Indeed, he is far happier and takes far greater pleasure in things than we do because his capacity for it is infinite. And I believe God delights in and sings over his creation and creatures.
Friends, let God into every inch, every nook, every cranny, every light and dark space of your life and heart and soul. Give yourself wholly to him, and whatever you do, in word or deed, do it as unto the Lord. God will meet you in unexpected places and in unexpected ways, and I pray that we would all find our joy in Christ alone. When we hold fast to Christ and lose to everything else (like winning races), we will then be able to worship ever more freely and enjoy God ever more fully, even in things like races. The different things populating God's creation make horrible gods when we depend on them as gods, but they make for great opportunities to worship when they are seen as grace gifts of the God who is really there. The Giver of good gifts is then glorified. To God alone be all the glory!
Bono on Grace, Karma, Jesus
The following is an excerpt from a book called Bono: In Conversation with Michka Assayas. I think having a conversation with Bono would be interesting; though I wouldn't always agree with him, he is challenging. Here towards the end of this particular interview he gives a good present-day incarnation of CS Lewis's trilemma (Liar/Lunatic/Lord). Enjoy.
Bono: My understanding of the Scriptures has been made simple by the person of Christ. Christ teaches that God is love. What does that mean? What it means for me: a study of the life of Christ. Love here describes itself as a child born in straw poverty, the most vulnerable situation of all, without honor. I don't let my religious world get too complicated. I just kind of go: Well, I think I know what God is. God is love, and as much as I respond [sighs] in allowing myself to be transformed by that love and acting in that love, that's my religion. Where things get complicated for me, is when I try to live this love. Now that's not so easy.
Assayas: What about the God of the Old Testament? He wasn't so "peace and love"?
Bono: There's nothing hippie about my picture of Christ. The Gospels paint a picture of a very demanding, sometimes divisive love, but love it is. I accept the Old Testament as more of an action movie: blood, car chases, evacuations, a lot of special effects, seas dividing, mass murder, adultery. The children of God are running amok, wayward. Maybe that's why they're so relatable. But the way we would see it, those of us who are trying to figure out our Christian conundrum, is that the God of the Old Testament is like the journey from stern father to friend. When you're a child, you need clear directions and some strict rules. But with Christ, we have access in a one-to-one relationship, for, as in the Old Testament, it was more one of worship and awe, a vertical relationship. The New Testament, on the other hand, we look across at a Jesus who looks familiar, horizontal. The combination is what makes the Cross.
Assayas: Speaking of bloody action movies, we were talking about South and Central America last time. The Jesuit priests arrived there with the gospel in one hand and a rifle in the other.
Bono: I know, I know. Religion can be the enemy of God. It's often what happens when God, like Elvis, has left the building. [laughs] A list of instructions where there was once conviction; dogma where once people just did it; a congregation led by a man where once they were led by the Holy Spirit. Discipline replacing discipleship. Why are you chuckling?
Assayas: I was wondering if you said all of that to the Pope the day you met him.
Bono: Let's not get too hard on the Holy Roman Church here. The Church has its problems, but the older I get, the more comfort I find there. The physical experience of being in a crowd of largely humble people, heads bowed, murmuring prayers, stories told in stained-glass windows
Assayas: So you won't be critical.
Bono: No, I can be critical, especially on the topic of contraception. But when I meet someone like Sister Benedicta and see her work with AIDS orphans in Addis Ababa, or Sister Ann doing the same in Malawi, or Father Jack Fenukan and his group Concern all over Africa, when I meet priests and nuns tending to the sick and the poor and giving up much easier lives to do so, I surrender a little easier.
Assayas: But you met the man himself. Was it a great experience?
Bono: [W]e all knew why we were there. The Pontiff was about to make an important statement about the inhumanity and injustice of poor countries spending so much of their national income paying back old loans to rich countries. Serious business. He was fighting hard against his Parkinson's. It was clearly an act of will for him to be there. I was oddly moved by his humility, and then by the incredible speech he made, even if it was in whispers. During the preamble, he seemed to be staring at me. I wondered. Was it the fact that I was wearing my blue fly-shades? So I took them off in case I was causing some offense. When I was introduced to him, he was still staring at them. He kept looking at them in my hand, so I offered them to him as a gift in return for the rosary he had just given me.
Assayas: Didn't he put them on?
Bono: Not only did he put them on, he smiled the wickedest grin you could ever imagine. He was a comedian. His sense of humor was completely intact. Flashbulbs popped, and I thought: "Wow! The Drop the Debt campaign will have the Pope in my glasses on the front page of every newspaper."
Assayas: I don't remember seeing that photograph anywhere, though.
Bono: Nor did we. It seems his courtiers did not have the same sense of humor. Fair enough. I guess they could see the T-shirts.
Later in the conversation:
Assayas: I think I am beginning to understand religion because I have started acting and thinking like a father. What do you make of that?
Bono: Yes, I think that's normal. It's a mind-blowing concept that the God who created the universe might be looking for company, a real relationship with people, but the thing that keeps me on my knees is the difference between Grace and Karma.
Assayas: I haven't heard you talk about that.
Bono: I really believe we've moved out of the realm of Karma into one of Grace.
Assayas: Well, that doesn't make it clearer for me.
Bono: You see, at the center of all religions is the idea of Karma. You know, what you put out comes back to you: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, or in physics; in physical laws every action is met by an equal or an opposite one. It's clear to me that Karma is at the very heart of the universe. I'm absolutely sure of it. And yet, along comes this idea called Grace to upend all that "as you reap, so you will sow" stuff. Grace defies reason and logic. Love interrupts, if you like, the consequences of your actions, which in my case is very good news indeed, because I've done a lot of stupid stuff.
Assayas: I'd be interested to hear that.
Bono: That's between me and God. But I'd be in big trouble if Karma was going to finally be my judge. I'd be in deep s---. It doesn't excuse my mistakes, but I'm holding out for Grace. I'm holding out that Jesus took my sins onto the Cross, because I know who I am, and I hope I don't have to depend on my own religiosity.
Assayas: The Son of God who takes away the sins of the world. I wish I could believe in that.
Bono: But I love the idea of the Sacrificial Lamb. I love the idea that God says: Look, you cretins, there are certain results to the way we are, to selfishness, and there's a mortality as part of your very sinful nature, and, let's face it, you're not living a very good life, are you? There are consequences to actions. The point of the death of Christ is that Christ took on the sins of the world, so that what we put out did not come back to us, and that our sinful nature does not reap the obvious death. That's the point. It should keep us humbled . It's not our own good works that get us through the gates of heaven.
Assayas: That's a great idea, no denying it. Such great hope is wonderful, even though it's close to lunacy, in my view. Christ has his rank among the world's great thinkers. But Son of God, isn't that farfetched?
Bono: No, it's not farfetched to me. Look, the secular response to the Christ story always goes like this: he was a great prophet, obviously a very interesting guy, had a lot to say along the lines of other great prophets, be they Elijah, Muhammad, Buddha, or Confucius. But actually Christ doesn't allow you that. He doesn't let you off that hook. Christ says: No. I'm not saying I'm a teacher, don't call me teacher. I'm not saying I'm a prophet. I'm saying: "I'm the Messiah." I'm saying: "I am God incarnate." And people say: No, no, please, just be a prophet. A prophet, we can take. You're a bit eccentric. We've had John the Baptist eating locusts and wild honey, we can handle that. But don't mention the "M" word! Because, you know, we're gonna have to crucify you. And he goes: No, no. I know you're expecting me to come back with an army, and set you free from these creeps, but actually I am the Messiah. At this point, everyone starts staring at their shoes, and says: Oh, my God, he's gonna keep saying this. So what you're left with is: either Christ was who He said He was the Messiah or a complete nutcase. I mean, we're talking nutcase on the level of Charles Manson. This man was like some of the people we've been talking about earlier. This man was strapping himself to a bomb, and had "King of the Jews" on his head, and, as they were putting him up on the Cross, was going: OK, martyrdom, here we go. Bring on the pain! I can take it. I'm not joking here. The idea that the entire course of civilization for over half of the globe could have its fate changed and turned upside-down by a nutcase, for me, that's farfetched
Bono later says it all comes down to how we regard Jesus:
Bono: If only we could be a bit more like Him, the world would be transformed. When I look at the Cross of Christ, what I see up there is all my s--- and everybody else's. So I ask myself a question a lot of people have asked: Who is this man? And was He who He said He was, or was He just a religious nut? And there it is, and that's the question. And no one can talk you into it or out of it.
Bono: My understanding of the Scriptures has been made simple by the person of Christ. Christ teaches that God is love. What does that mean? What it means for me: a study of the life of Christ. Love here describes itself as a child born in straw poverty, the most vulnerable situation of all, without honor. I don't let my religious world get too complicated. I just kind of go: Well, I think I know what God is. God is love, and as much as I respond [sighs] in allowing myself to be transformed by that love and acting in that love, that's my religion. Where things get complicated for me, is when I try to live this love. Now that's not so easy.
Assayas: What about the God of the Old Testament? He wasn't so "peace and love"?
Bono: There's nothing hippie about my picture of Christ. The Gospels paint a picture of a very demanding, sometimes divisive love, but love it is. I accept the Old Testament as more of an action movie: blood, car chases, evacuations, a lot of special effects, seas dividing, mass murder, adultery. The children of God are running amok, wayward. Maybe that's why they're so relatable. But the way we would see it, those of us who are trying to figure out our Christian conundrum, is that the God of the Old Testament is like the journey from stern father to friend. When you're a child, you need clear directions and some strict rules. But with Christ, we have access in a one-to-one relationship, for, as in the Old Testament, it was more one of worship and awe, a vertical relationship. The New Testament, on the other hand, we look across at a Jesus who looks familiar, horizontal. The combination is what makes the Cross.
Assayas: Speaking of bloody action movies, we were talking about South and Central America last time. The Jesuit priests arrived there with the gospel in one hand and a rifle in the other.
Bono: I know, I know. Religion can be the enemy of God. It's often what happens when God, like Elvis, has left the building. [laughs] A list of instructions where there was once conviction; dogma where once people just did it; a congregation led by a man where once they were led by the Holy Spirit. Discipline replacing discipleship. Why are you chuckling?
Assayas: I was wondering if you said all of that to the Pope the day you met him.
Bono: Let's not get too hard on the Holy Roman Church here. The Church has its problems, but the older I get, the more comfort I find there. The physical experience of being in a crowd of largely humble people, heads bowed, murmuring prayers, stories told in stained-glass windows
Assayas: So you won't be critical.
Bono: No, I can be critical, especially on the topic of contraception. But when I meet someone like Sister Benedicta and see her work with AIDS orphans in Addis Ababa, or Sister Ann doing the same in Malawi, or Father Jack Fenukan and his group Concern all over Africa, when I meet priests and nuns tending to the sick and the poor and giving up much easier lives to do so, I surrender a little easier.
Assayas: But you met the man himself. Was it a great experience?
Bono: [W]e all knew why we were there. The Pontiff was about to make an important statement about the inhumanity and injustice of poor countries spending so much of their national income paying back old loans to rich countries. Serious business. He was fighting hard against his Parkinson's. It was clearly an act of will for him to be there. I was oddly moved by his humility, and then by the incredible speech he made, even if it was in whispers. During the preamble, he seemed to be staring at me. I wondered. Was it the fact that I was wearing my blue fly-shades? So I took them off in case I was causing some offense. When I was introduced to him, he was still staring at them. He kept looking at them in my hand, so I offered them to him as a gift in return for the rosary he had just given me.
Assayas: Didn't he put them on?
Bono: Not only did he put them on, he smiled the wickedest grin you could ever imagine. He was a comedian. His sense of humor was completely intact. Flashbulbs popped, and I thought: "Wow! The Drop the Debt campaign will have the Pope in my glasses on the front page of every newspaper."
Assayas: I don't remember seeing that photograph anywhere, though.
Bono: Nor did we. It seems his courtiers did not have the same sense of humor. Fair enough. I guess they could see the T-shirts.
Later in the conversation:
Assayas: I think I am beginning to understand religion because I have started acting and thinking like a father. What do you make of that?
Bono: Yes, I think that's normal. It's a mind-blowing concept that the God who created the universe might be looking for company, a real relationship with people, but the thing that keeps me on my knees is the difference between Grace and Karma.
Assayas: I haven't heard you talk about that.
Bono: I really believe we've moved out of the realm of Karma into one of Grace.
Assayas: Well, that doesn't make it clearer for me.
Bono: You see, at the center of all religions is the idea of Karma. You know, what you put out comes back to you: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, or in physics; in physical laws every action is met by an equal or an opposite one. It's clear to me that Karma is at the very heart of the universe. I'm absolutely sure of it. And yet, along comes this idea called Grace to upend all that "as you reap, so you will sow" stuff. Grace defies reason and logic. Love interrupts, if you like, the consequences of your actions, which in my case is very good news indeed, because I've done a lot of stupid stuff.
Assayas: I'd be interested to hear that.
Bono: That's between me and God. But I'd be in big trouble if Karma was going to finally be my judge. I'd be in deep s---. It doesn't excuse my mistakes, but I'm holding out for Grace. I'm holding out that Jesus took my sins onto the Cross, because I know who I am, and I hope I don't have to depend on my own religiosity.
Assayas: The Son of God who takes away the sins of the world. I wish I could believe in that.
Bono: But I love the idea of the Sacrificial Lamb. I love the idea that God says: Look, you cretins, there are certain results to the way we are, to selfishness, and there's a mortality as part of your very sinful nature, and, let's face it, you're not living a very good life, are you? There are consequences to actions. The point of the death of Christ is that Christ took on the sins of the world, so that what we put out did not come back to us, and that our sinful nature does not reap the obvious death. That's the point. It should keep us humbled . It's not our own good works that get us through the gates of heaven.
Assayas: That's a great idea, no denying it. Such great hope is wonderful, even though it's close to lunacy, in my view. Christ has his rank among the world's great thinkers. But Son of God, isn't that farfetched?
Bono: No, it's not farfetched to me. Look, the secular response to the Christ story always goes like this: he was a great prophet, obviously a very interesting guy, had a lot to say along the lines of other great prophets, be they Elijah, Muhammad, Buddha, or Confucius. But actually Christ doesn't allow you that. He doesn't let you off that hook. Christ says: No. I'm not saying I'm a teacher, don't call me teacher. I'm not saying I'm a prophet. I'm saying: "I'm the Messiah." I'm saying: "I am God incarnate." And people say: No, no, please, just be a prophet. A prophet, we can take. You're a bit eccentric. We've had John the Baptist eating locusts and wild honey, we can handle that. But don't mention the "M" word! Because, you know, we're gonna have to crucify you. And he goes: No, no. I know you're expecting me to come back with an army, and set you free from these creeps, but actually I am the Messiah. At this point, everyone starts staring at their shoes, and says: Oh, my God, he's gonna keep saying this. So what you're left with is: either Christ was who He said He was the Messiah or a complete nutcase. I mean, we're talking nutcase on the level of Charles Manson. This man was like some of the people we've been talking about earlier. This man was strapping himself to a bomb, and had "King of the Jews" on his head, and, as they were putting him up on the Cross, was going: OK, martyrdom, here we go. Bring on the pain! I can take it. I'm not joking here. The idea that the entire course of civilization for over half of the globe could have its fate changed and turned upside-down by a nutcase, for me, that's farfetched
Bono later says it all comes down to how we regard Jesus:
Bono: If only we could be a bit more like Him, the world would be transformed. When I look at the Cross of Christ, what I see up there is all my s--- and everybody else's. So I ask myself a question a lot of people have asked: Who is this man? And was He who He said He was, or was He just a religious nut? And there it is, and that's the question. And no one can talk you into it or out of it.
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Life Goals
1. To love God with all I am and to love others as myself.
2. To be a husband to the glory of God by loving my wife as Christ loved the Church.
3. To raise a godly family.
4. To do all my work with humility, excellence, and perseverance.
5. To seek out the oppressed, the widows, the fatherless, and the sojourners to give them help and home insofar as I am able.
6. To know Jesus by talking to him always and by clinging to his Word for dear life.
7. To make sacrificial discipleship a priority and lifestyle that God’s kingdom might grow.
8. To consistently and passionately share the gospel wherever I am however I am able.
9. To be a constant learner and reader of the Bible, of the world, and of people. To be a gentle, humble, and passionate teacher aiming to show Christ as true and supreme in all things, even math.
10. To always pursue a joyful holiness in Christ.
This list is probably different than the list the world would write for me.
Samuel, Israel, Kings... Oh My!
I have been reading 1 Samuel recently, and I want to offer some brief comments on what I read today in chapter 12.
First, earlier in 1 Samuel the people ask for a king. That does not sound terribly bad at first, but it is very clear from a reading of 1 Samuel that it is actually wicked. It is an evil thing with consequences that they have asked for a king. The surrounding nations had kings that led them and went to battle for them, and the Israelites became jealous. God was their king, and God fought their battles, but I guess they wanted a more manageable, normal, understandable kind of situation. God is free, and he is love, but he is fierce and at times unpredictable.
So God tells Samuel that Israel can have a king. After all, they were really rejecting God and not Samuel. But God does have Samuel warn them about what having a king will entail... taxes and oppression and unpleasant things. After Saul has been anointed and wins a battle, Samuel addresses the people again, and that brings us to 1 Samuel 12, which is where I was reading today:
And Samuel said to the people, "Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil. Yet do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. And do not turn aside after empty things that cannot profit or deliver, for they are empty. For the Lord will not forsake his people, for his great name's sake, because it has pleased the Lord to make you a people for himself. Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you, and I will instruct you in the good and the right way. Only fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart. For consider what great things he has done for you. But if you still do wickedly, you shall be swept away, both you and your king. (verses 20-25)
Observations
1. This sequence resonates with my depraved heart: "Fear not. You have done evil. But serve the Lord with all your heart." Samuel and God do not mince words or ignore the evil we have done. They call it like it is. But this is followed immediately by an exhortation to give the Lord your heart! Oh, how sweet are the words, even of a command, as they come to one who has felt the depths of his sin and feels hopeless.
2. All things when they are separated from God - when they are pursued or trusted apart from God - are empty. They cannot profit me; they are not worth it compared to Jesus; they are loss. They cannot deliver; dead idols cannot themselves give life to dead hearts; for the condition we are in, we need a Savior and a deliverer; Jesus is that deliverer alone. To him be all glory!
3. God's not forsaking his people is rooted in his acting for his great name's sake. God does not act toward us in love because we are lovable. He acts toward us in love because he is God! It is his nature and person and work that are magnified and on display here, not ours.
4. God is pleased... We serve an abundantly happy God. He is a God who takes pleasure in doing good to those who delight in him.
5. God is pleased to make the Israelites a people. As gentiles, we have also become part of the people of God. God is happy to put us into community. There is an individual component to salvation, of course, but there is also a glorious community aspect to it. Thanks be to him that we are not lone rangers, but that we have been given to each other in the Body.
6. I sin against the Lord when I neglect to pray for people. This is blunt and convicting. Period.
I hope you have been helped by some of these observations. I am thankful for and humbled by those of you who take the time to read my ramblings. I pray that your love may abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment and that the grace and peace of Christ would be with you all the days God has decided to give you. To him be all they glory!
First, earlier in 1 Samuel the people ask for a king. That does not sound terribly bad at first, but it is very clear from a reading of 1 Samuel that it is actually wicked. It is an evil thing with consequences that they have asked for a king. The surrounding nations had kings that led them and went to battle for them, and the Israelites became jealous. God was their king, and God fought their battles, but I guess they wanted a more manageable, normal, understandable kind of situation. God is free, and he is love, but he is fierce and at times unpredictable.
So God tells Samuel that Israel can have a king. After all, they were really rejecting God and not Samuel. But God does have Samuel warn them about what having a king will entail... taxes and oppression and unpleasant things. After Saul has been anointed and wins a battle, Samuel addresses the people again, and that brings us to 1 Samuel 12, which is where I was reading today:
And Samuel said to the people, "Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil. Yet do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. And do not turn aside after empty things that cannot profit or deliver, for they are empty. For the Lord will not forsake his people, for his great name's sake, because it has pleased the Lord to make you a people for himself. Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you, and I will instruct you in the good and the right way. Only fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart. For consider what great things he has done for you. But if you still do wickedly, you shall be swept away, both you and your king. (verses 20-25)
Observations
1. This sequence resonates with my depraved heart: "Fear not. You have done evil. But serve the Lord with all your heart." Samuel and God do not mince words or ignore the evil we have done. They call it like it is. But this is followed immediately by an exhortation to give the Lord your heart! Oh, how sweet are the words, even of a command, as they come to one who has felt the depths of his sin and feels hopeless.
2. All things when they are separated from God - when they are pursued or trusted apart from God - are empty. They cannot profit me; they are not worth it compared to Jesus; they are loss. They cannot deliver; dead idols cannot themselves give life to dead hearts; for the condition we are in, we need a Savior and a deliverer; Jesus is that deliverer alone. To him be all glory!
3. God's not forsaking his people is rooted in his acting for his great name's sake. God does not act toward us in love because we are lovable. He acts toward us in love because he is God! It is his nature and person and work that are magnified and on display here, not ours.
4. God is pleased... We serve an abundantly happy God. He is a God who takes pleasure in doing good to those who delight in him.
5. God is pleased to make the Israelites a people. As gentiles, we have also become part of the people of God. God is happy to put us into community. There is an individual component to salvation, of course, but there is also a glorious community aspect to it. Thanks be to him that we are not lone rangers, but that we have been given to each other in the Body.
6. I sin against the Lord when I neglect to pray for people. This is blunt and convicting. Period.
I hope you have been helped by some of these observations. I am thankful for and humbled by those of you who take the time to read my ramblings. I pray that your love may abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment and that the grace and peace of Christ would be with you all the days God has decided to give you. To him be all they glory!
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Where We Are
Friends,
Many of you know much of this, but I want to update you and invite your prayers for Nicole and myself. We are getting married on October 22, 2011. This is a very exciting time, and I am so incredibly blessed by God to even get to know this beautiful young woman!
Things you can pray for us about...
1. Jobs. Both Nicole and I want to be teachers. I want to teach high school math, and she wants to teach early childhood education. I have currently had two interviews, one at Coahulla Creek in Dalton and one at Trinity Christian School in Newnan. Both of these opportunities seem exciting, and I am waiting to hear back. I would like to get an offer from one of these, or get an interview with another school that would want me. Nicole is interviewing soon for a charter school in Newnan, and so we would be very appreciative of prayer for that... that she would not be nervous, that the interview would go well, and God-willing, that she would get a job offer.
God is teaching us both patience because we obviously would like to have things figured out. Through all this, God is sovereign. We must be diligent to do what we need to do, but in the end, our job situation is in God's powerful, wise, and good hands. Pray that we will live out Proverbs 3:5-6. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. May God be glorified even in the uncertainties of our job situation.
2. Where to live. This obviously is dependent on the job situation, but I still think that this is a big enough request to also be a separate one. We both are close to our families and friends now, and whatever the new situation, there will be many adjustments, and I pray and invite you to pray that we would grow closer together as a new family through the process of finding a new place to live. Pray that we would be able to, wherever we end up, build a new home in which Christ is exalted, love is shown, and the worn and weary are welcome.
Just as with the previous request, I acknowledge that all is dependent on God and his provision. We must not presume that we will have another day, unless God wills it. Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit" - yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that." (James 4:13-15)
3. Wedding stuff. The wedding planning is coming together, and we really have figured out most of the major stuff. We have recently done some good thinking on what we want the service to look like. It is going to be awesome!!! I am so pumped, and Nicole's ideas make me smile and realize how much we were meant for each other. There are still a lot of things to do between now and October 22, so pray that we make it through in as stress-less a way as possible in such a way that Christ is exalted and magnified every step of the way. My hope and intention is to, as far as I am able, simultaneously lift up Christ as supreme and make Nicole feel like the princess she is. (In case you didn't realize this, we are heirs with Christ, children of the Father. What does that even mean?!!! For a jolt to your system, you should check out CS Lewis's sermon entitled "The Weight of Glory".)
4. Growth. We both need to continue growing in Christ-likeness. I know that I am a sinner, and my battle with the indwelling sin in my own heart takes on a new gravity when I realize that my flesh is to be joined with another. Nicole and I will become one. There is nothing I can do to change Nicole, and there is nothing I can do about the sin in her heart. My job is not to change her or cleanse her, though I do believe that through grace - especially grace grounded in Christ's love toward us in the cross - we will be given to each other to help each other grow. No, my job is not to change her, but to do serious battle with the sin in my own heart. Even the small sins that seem like such a small deal I must see as seeds of very ugly and destructive tendencies that want to take root and destroy me and our marriage. All sin is serious because all sins are against Jesus.
I want to be cleansed and washed and sanctified because I do not want to bring more junk and sin into this union than I can help. I want to be a better man for the sake of my future wife. I think that even this tendency within my heart - to want to be better for Nicole - is a tiny practical micro-cosm of what should be happening already with the Church if we take the words of the Bible seriously. In becoming a follower of Christ, I am united to Christ, I am in Christ. I become a part of his Body, mysteriously united to other believers, and indwelt by his Holy Spirit. For the sake of the holiness of Christ's Bride, of which I am a part, I want to fight my sin. I invite you to do the same. And please do pray this for the both of us.
I want to be holy for my spouse. Likewise, I also want to be holy for our Spouse.
5. Our future. Pray that our lives would be blessed by God so that we would be a blessing to others. I want our lives to be beautifully intertwined with a love that increases for each other, for others, and for God. I never want to grow stagnant in this. I want to constantly pursue her. I want our household to be one that serves the Lord, that cares for the poor, that takes seriously the Great Commision. There are so many ways to pray for our future, and I am sure you can get creative.
Most importantly, pray that we will always remember the purpose of marriage. We are to, through our love and commitment to one another, paint a picture of Christ and his Church to the world. I believe Christ is supreme in all things. I believe things like this... God created us as creatures who would need to eat food (he didn't have to), so that he would have a good analogy to use to describe a greater spiritual reality - Jesus as the Bread of Life. Likewise, I believe that God created us male and female and instituted marriage, not just for our fun, help, and enjoyment (though it is those things), but for the greater purpose of helping us to understand the worth and awesomeness of Jesus even a little bit better. Our marriage is about us, but it is even more about Jesus. I believe that if we keep this central and pursue the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, all that we need will be added to us.
I close with this (slightly tangential but still important) point: I wasted a lot of my time in high school because I did not invest in real relationships. I wasted my time because I built it around myself, and I loved poorly. My challenge to you is to love others, not just in theory, but in practice. Don't just theoretically love the lost people in faraway lands. Love well those who are in close to you, those in your own household and the homeless and broken in your own town. And pray that God would lead you into new relationships to bring love as well. Everyone is your neighbor, even those who may feel like your enemies.
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. ( part of 1 Cor 13)
Love well. Pray that we will love each other well. Soli Deo gloria!
Many of you know much of this, but I want to update you and invite your prayers for Nicole and myself. We are getting married on October 22, 2011. This is a very exciting time, and I am so incredibly blessed by God to even get to know this beautiful young woman!
Things you can pray for us about...
1. Jobs. Both Nicole and I want to be teachers. I want to teach high school math, and she wants to teach early childhood education. I have currently had two interviews, one at Coahulla Creek in Dalton and one at Trinity Christian School in Newnan. Both of these opportunities seem exciting, and I am waiting to hear back. I would like to get an offer from one of these, or get an interview with another school that would want me. Nicole is interviewing soon for a charter school in Newnan, and so we would be very appreciative of prayer for that... that she would not be nervous, that the interview would go well, and God-willing, that she would get a job offer.
God is teaching us both patience because we obviously would like to have things figured out. Through all this, God is sovereign. We must be diligent to do what we need to do, but in the end, our job situation is in God's powerful, wise, and good hands. Pray that we will live out Proverbs 3:5-6. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. May God be glorified even in the uncertainties of our job situation.
2. Where to live. This obviously is dependent on the job situation, but I still think that this is a big enough request to also be a separate one. We both are close to our families and friends now, and whatever the new situation, there will be many adjustments, and I pray and invite you to pray that we would grow closer together as a new family through the process of finding a new place to live. Pray that we would be able to, wherever we end up, build a new home in which Christ is exalted, love is shown, and the worn and weary are welcome.
Just as with the previous request, I acknowledge that all is dependent on God and his provision. We must not presume that we will have another day, unless God wills it. Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit" - yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that." (James 4:13-15)
3. Wedding stuff. The wedding planning is coming together, and we really have figured out most of the major stuff. We have recently done some good thinking on what we want the service to look like. It is going to be awesome!!! I am so pumped, and Nicole's ideas make me smile and realize how much we were meant for each other. There are still a lot of things to do between now and October 22, so pray that we make it through in as stress-less a way as possible in such a way that Christ is exalted and magnified every step of the way. My hope and intention is to, as far as I am able, simultaneously lift up Christ as supreme and make Nicole feel like the princess she is. (In case you didn't realize this, we are heirs with Christ, children of the Father. What does that even mean?!!! For a jolt to your system, you should check out CS Lewis's sermon entitled "The Weight of Glory".)
4. Growth. We both need to continue growing in Christ-likeness. I know that I am a sinner, and my battle with the indwelling sin in my own heart takes on a new gravity when I realize that my flesh is to be joined with another. Nicole and I will become one. There is nothing I can do to change Nicole, and there is nothing I can do about the sin in her heart. My job is not to change her or cleanse her, though I do believe that through grace - especially grace grounded in Christ's love toward us in the cross - we will be given to each other to help each other grow. No, my job is not to change her, but to do serious battle with the sin in my own heart. Even the small sins that seem like such a small deal I must see as seeds of very ugly and destructive tendencies that want to take root and destroy me and our marriage. All sin is serious because all sins are against Jesus.
I want to be cleansed and washed and sanctified because I do not want to bring more junk and sin into this union than I can help. I want to be a better man for the sake of my future wife. I think that even this tendency within my heart - to want to be better for Nicole - is a tiny practical micro-cosm of what should be happening already with the Church if we take the words of the Bible seriously. In becoming a follower of Christ, I am united to Christ, I am in Christ. I become a part of his Body, mysteriously united to other believers, and indwelt by his Holy Spirit. For the sake of the holiness of Christ's Bride, of which I am a part, I want to fight my sin. I invite you to do the same. And please do pray this for the both of us.
I want to be holy for my spouse. Likewise, I also want to be holy for our Spouse.
5. Our future. Pray that our lives would be blessed by God so that we would be a blessing to others. I want our lives to be beautifully intertwined with a love that increases for each other, for others, and for God. I never want to grow stagnant in this. I want to constantly pursue her. I want our household to be one that serves the Lord, that cares for the poor, that takes seriously the Great Commision. There are so many ways to pray for our future, and I am sure you can get creative.
Most importantly, pray that we will always remember the purpose of marriage. We are to, through our love and commitment to one another, paint a picture of Christ and his Church to the world. I believe Christ is supreme in all things. I believe things like this... God created us as creatures who would need to eat food (he didn't have to), so that he would have a good analogy to use to describe a greater spiritual reality - Jesus as the Bread of Life. Likewise, I believe that God created us male and female and instituted marriage, not just for our fun, help, and enjoyment (though it is those things), but for the greater purpose of helping us to understand the worth and awesomeness of Jesus even a little bit better. Our marriage is about us, but it is even more about Jesus. I believe that if we keep this central and pursue the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, all that we need will be added to us.
I close with this (slightly tangential but still important) point: I wasted a lot of my time in high school because I did not invest in real relationships. I wasted my time because I built it around myself, and I loved poorly. My challenge to you is to love others, not just in theory, but in practice. Don't just theoretically love the lost people in faraway lands. Love well those who are in close to you, those in your own household and the homeless and broken in your own town. And pray that God would lead you into new relationships to bring love as well. Everyone is your neighbor, even those who may feel like your enemies.
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. ( part of 1 Cor 13)
Love well. Pray that we will love each other well. Soli Deo gloria!
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Living the Surrendered Life
I think it is good to have heroes in the faith. Hebrews 11 is a list of heroes in the faith. Of course, we do not want to idolize anyone, but I very much want to be like those who really follow Christ and give themselves fully to him.
I have a handful of people who have been very influential in my life and spiritual development. Those most influential would be my father and mother, both who exemplify Christ-like love. I am so blessed! And in the last several years, my brother's walk has challenged me greatly. Others on this list would be David Blevins, Jonathan Baggett, Michael Gilbert, and my fiance, Nicole.
Thomas Queen and his wife and daughter are here on this podcast. I call him Coach Queen, and without going into much detail, I will say that my view of God is bigger because of Coach, and my decision to be a teacher is due in a non-trivial way to Coach's example of the type of difference a teacher can make in the lives of youth like me. Coach is one of my heroes. Coach and his family have been very blessed materially as measured by this world, and for the sake of the advancement of the Gospel, they are rejecting the American Dream in favor of eternal significance, giving up much of what they have amassed. This has included the sale of their awesome house to be able to really follow God wherever he calls them. Anyway, they can tell it better than me... This is their message to our church in which they invite accountability for themselves and also issue quite a challenge to our comfortable sensibilities.
Don't listen to this unless you really want God to mess you up for your good and his glory! (There is a bit of music and preamble to get to their message, but not too much.)
I have a handful of people who have been very influential in my life and spiritual development. Those most influential would be my father and mother, both who exemplify Christ-like love. I am so blessed! And in the last several years, my brother's walk has challenged me greatly. Others on this list would be David Blevins, Jonathan Baggett, Michael Gilbert, and my fiance, Nicole.
Thomas Queen and his wife and daughter are here on this podcast. I call him Coach Queen, and without going into much detail, I will say that my view of God is bigger because of Coach, and my decision to be a teacher is due in a non-trivial way to Coach's example of the type of difference a teacher can make in the lives of youth like me. Coach is one of my heroes. Coach and his family have been very blessed materially as measured by this world, and for the sake of the advancement of the Gospel, they are rejecting the American Dream in favor of eternal significance, giving up much of what they have amassed. This has included the sale of their awesome house to be able to really follow God wherever he calls them. Anyway, they can tell it better than me... This is their message to our church in which they invite accountability for themselves and also issue quite a challenge to our comfortable sensibilities.
Don't listen to this unless you really want God to mess you up for your good and his glory! (There is a bit of music and preamble to get to their message, but not too much.)
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