Ways to Evade?

Powerful observation by Ray Ortlund:

The Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea. Jonah 1:4

The lot fell on Jonah. Jonah 1:7

The Lord appointed a great fish. Jonah 1:17

The word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time. Jonah 3:1

The Lord God appointed a plant. Jonah 4:6

God appointed a worm. Jonah 4:7

God appointed a scorching east wind. Jonah 4:8

The Lord has more ways of confronting me than I have ways of evading him.

Worry is a Sin? (Again)

Good Quote from Thabiti Anyabwile

We obsess about the future and we get anxious, because anxiety, after all, is simply living out the future before it gets here.

We must renounce our sinful desire to know the future and to be in control. We are not gods. We walk by faith, not by sight. We risk because God does not risk. We walk into the future in God-glorifying confidence, not because the future is known to us but because it is known to God. And that’s all we need to know. Worry about the future is not simply a characterstic, it is the sin of unbelief, an indication that our hearts are not resting in the promises of God.

Kevin DeYoung in Just Do Something (pp. 47, 48)

If a Conviction Infringes Upon the Written Word of God...

While listening to a message from Thabiti Anyabwile, I was stunned by this quote by Daniel Alexander Payne. Payne was a United States clergyman, educator, college administrator and author. He became a bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal Church and was a major shaper of it in the 19th century. He was one of the founders of Wilberforce University in Ohio. In 1863 he became its first president, and the first African-American president of a college in the United States.

“An individual man or woman must never follow conviction in regard to moral, religious, civil, or political questions until they are first tested by the unerring word of God. If a conviction infringes upon the written word of God, or in any manner conflicts with that word, the conviction is not to be followed. It is our duty to abandon it. Moreover, I will add that light on a doubtful conviction is not to be sought for in the conscience, but in the Bible. The conscience, like the conviction, may be blind, erroneous, misled, or perverted; therefore it is not always a safe guide. The only safe guide for a man or woman, young or old, rich or poor, learned or unlearned, priest or people is the Bible, the whole Bible, nothing but the Bible.”

—Bishop Daniel Alexander Payne (1811-1893)

Love and Baseball

By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. - John 13:35

Love is the most important thing in the world, but baseball is pretty good too. - Yogi Berra

Can I do both at the same time by taking my friends to baseball games?

Is this the first time Yogi Berra and the Apostle John are quoted in same post?

Quote of the Week- Archbishop Oscar Romero

Beautiful is the moment in which we understand that we are no more than an instrument of God; we live only as long as God wants us to live; we can only do as much as God makes us able to do; we are only as intelligent as God would have us be.

- Archbishop Oscar Romero

The Message of the Gospel is Not "Behave!"

Jared Wilson is probably going to get me kicked out of the South for publishing on the blog his latest post...but here it is anyway:

This is the major malfunction of American evangelicalism's political idolatry. To the extent we equate God's blessings and his kingdom coming to bear with the right men on Capitol Hill and the right laws in place, we settle for moralism and a righteousness born of self.

We'd all reject this theologically, I think, but it is implicitly central in a lot of the rhetoric and the exasperation from American Christians about what's wrong with America, etc etc.

As I was waiting for my ride to the airport from the hotel in Louisville, KY last week after the Together 4 the Gospel Conference, I was reminded of cultural Christianity's real concerns. The transportation attendant at the hotel noticed from my tag that I was from Vermont. Our conversation went like this:

Him: "You're from Vermont?"

Me: "Yup."

Him: "That's great. That van load that just left were from Vermont."

Me: "Oh cool."

Him: "Yeah. Good to know you guys are getting the good news out up there."

Me: "Well, we're trying."

Him: "Need to get some Republicans up there."

And there I was transported back to everything that drives me nuts about American evangelicalism: the equation of the good news with something other than the gospel of Jesus Christ, in this case -- as is often the case -- with political conservatism.

I believe many Christians in America would be satisfied if "the culture" just stopped using pornography and drugs and alcohol and stopped aborting babies and started "acting right." As far as I can tell, that would be a Win.

But it's not a win. A land where everybody acts right and is on their best behavior, where peace reigns and social decay is no more and the poor are helped and the hungry are fed, but Christ is not worshiped as the sole supreme satisfaction in all the universe, is a big fat FAIL.

As C.S. Lewis says:

We must not suppose that if we succeeded in making everyone nice we should have saved their souls. A world of nice people, content in their own niceness, looking no further, turned away from God, would be just as desperately in need of salvation as a miserable world.

The message of the gospel is not "Behave!"

But that is the message American evangelicalism -- Southern and Northeastern, and most other places -- has been proclaiming. It is at its heart pharisaical.

We are called to preach not moralism but Christ crucified, foolishness to American culture and a stumbling block to American Christians.

Michael Horton illustrates this well in his book Christless Christianity:

What would things look like if Satan really took control of a city? Over half a century ago, Presbyterian minister Donald Grey Barnhouse offered his own scenario in his weekly sermon that was also broadcast nationwide on CBS radio. Barnhouse speculated that if Satan took over Philadelphia (the city where Barnhouse pastored), all of the bars would be closed, pornography banished, and pristine streets would be filled with tidy pedestrians who smiled at each other. There would be no swearing. The children would say, “Yes, sir” and “No ma’am,” and the churches would be full every Sunday . . . where Christ is not preached.

There is a great difference between “being good” and the gospel. Some call it moralism. Moralism, in fact, blinds us from the gospel by giving us something of “the real thing” ensuring that we miss out on the true gospel all together. We must remember that Christ came first not to make bad people good but to make dead people live. If we forget that, our Christianity will turn out to be Christless.

"Pre-Christian"

The post below is by Brian Russell--Prof. at Asbury Seminary. It made me think also---- do we (and I mean me) sometimes speak of our relationship with God in such grand theological terms (like the word theological) that "pre-Christians" can't even get started? Should we take greater care to express the simple truth found in John 9 when we describe our life in Jesus? "I was blind and now I can see" Should we be careful in group worship not to complicate the simple message of Jesus so that "pre-Christians" don't feel left out, confused or alienated? (Not talking about sermons as much as I am other areas.) I am not sure of the answers but I am interested in the question. Enjoy the post below. By the way I think the term "pre-Christian" is great. What optimism.

Brian wrote:

I found this church sign during my recent trip to NE Ohio. Notice the sermon title for "Father's Day": Faith as Patrimony.

This sign was at the center of a small town of less than 30,000 people. It is a "rust belt" city consisting predominantly of working class and working poor. Most of the residents have a high school education or less. When I spotted the sign, I was struck by the title. I wondered aloud how many persons passing the sign even know what the word "Patrimony" means. It means "inheritance from a father" but I had to look it up and I consider myself to have a decent vocabulary. Obviously, this would be a good topic for a Father's Day message. But who would know from the church sign.

Lesson for missional leaders:
Use language that is appropriate for the people that you desire to reach. The above sermon sounds like a message that should be reserved for a Ivy League chapel or the like.

What does the above church sign convey?
You need to be really smart to enter the doors of this sanctuary. If the sermon carries this title, how likely is it that the rest of the message would be understandable to a preChristian that wondered in with a parent for Father's Day?

What do you think?

Worry Is not Your Friend

I am reading a book called The Christian Atheist by Craig Groeschel. This is a pretty tough passage. Worry is a Sin? Do you agree with Craig?

Worry Is not Your Friend

Worry (or not trusting God) has been a significant issue in my life. Although I believe in God, I’ve trusted more in my own abilities than I have in his faithfulness. For Christian Atheists, our worry proves we don’t trust in God as we claim to. We think, I know God’s a good God and all that, but I’ve got this situation handled. And when it turns out we don’t have it handled, then it falls to us — not to God — to fix it.

Worry reminds me of my feelings about snakes. I hate snakes. I hate them worse than Indiana Jones does. It was a serpent that seduced all of mankind into the fall, after all. Coincidence? I think not. Snakes in general freak me out, but bringing venomous vipers into the equation adds another diabolical dimension. My family lives in a heavily wooded area, where we’re basically besieged by poisonous snakes.

One day, when my son Bookie (whose real name is Stephen Craig) was about two years old, he was playing on our front porch. We were all doing different things around the yard when suddenly we heard Bookie squealing with delight. He was jumping up and down, calling out, “My fwend! My fwend! Daddy, look! He’s my fwend!”

I strolled over and asked, “Bookie, where’s your fwend? Is it an imaginary fwend?”

Bookie chirped, “No, Daddy!” and pointed excitedly.

“Look! My fwend!” And there, directly at his feet, was a small rattlesnake. In case you didn’t already know, a rattlesnake is not your fwend. I jerked Bookie away from the snake, then stomped on the snake’s head and crushed it — immediately after I first cut off its head with a shovel.

Many of us treat worry like our fwend. We don’t consciously think or talk about it that way, of course, but how we live tells a different story. We clutch worry to our chests like our favorite stuffed animals from childhood. We have many different euphemisms to mask this sin:

“I’m concerned about something.”
“I have some issues I’m working through.”
“I have a lot on my mind.”

Using such substitute terminology makes me sound like I’m really smart, like I’m an important person with big things going on. What they don’t do is make me sound like I’m a worrywart.

But no matter what you call it, worry is still sin. In Philippians 4:6, Paul tells us not to be anxious about anything. Romans 14:23 says, “Everything that does not come from faith is sin.” That’s pretty clear to me. Worry is the opposite of faith; therefore, it’s sin.

When we live by faith, we believe that God has everything under control. But if we start to worry, how we live says the opposite. If we are worried about losing our jobs, we are essentially saying that our jobs are our providers. But isn’t God our provider? What if God has something else planned for us? And what if, as unpleasant as it may be to think about, the path to that “something else” is through some pain? Will we still trust in God to provide during that time?

Worry, in essence, is the sin of distrusting the promises and the power of God. It’s choosing to dwell on, to think about, the worst-case scenario. It’s faith in the bad things rather than faith in God. Second Timothy 1:7 says, “God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline” (NLT). In this verse, you could also easily translate “fear and timidity” as “anxiety, tension, and worry.” Fear doesn’t come from God. It’s a tool the evil one uses to distract us from our true purpose here.

In Matthew 6:25, Jesus says, “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?” The Greek word Jesus uses for “life” is psuche (SuE-kay). It doesn’t just mean your breathing life, the force that makes your body go. It actually means every aspect of your life, taken together in total: mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual. It means your yesterday, today, and future life. Jesus is simply saying don’t worry about anything.

The Christian Atheist may do everything humanly possible to ensure a situation’s positive outcome, and still worry, I can’t just let this sit. I have to do more. But if we’ve honestly done everything we can, by definition we can’t do anything more. And in many cases nothing’s going to go wrong anyway; there’s really nothing you can do about a nonexistent worst-case scenario. So in our powerlessness we settle for the only thing left within our control: we worry.

Worry is a control issue. People are often obsessed with trying to control their circumstances. And while some things in life are within our ability, many things aren’t.

Just last night I sat on a plane, hoping to make a connecting flight. As we were grounded on the runway, time seemed to fly, chipping away at my chances to make my connection. Even though I had zero control over the situation, I glanced continuously at my watch, consumed with worry — as if my worry had any bearing on the outcome. (In case you’re wondering, after our plane landed, I could have given Usain Bolt a run for his money, sprinting across the airport just in time to catch my final leg home.)

Worry indicates we’re not willing to let God handle certain things — at least not in his way, and certainly not in his time. Matthew 6:27 asks a practical question: “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?” I wonder how many hours worry has shaved off the end of my life? (Now I’m really worried.)

Fortunately, God’s power and love have enabled me to genuinely overcome much of my worry and unjustified desire to control. I know I still have a long road ahead of me, but I’m going to share with you some of my journey so far.

Human Approval

By Ray Ortlund -- Pastor of Immanuel Church in Nashville.

1. Human approval is divided. Some like you, others dislike you. A split vote. Who can you believe?

2. Human approval is shallow. None of them know your deepest heart. What if they did?

3. Human approval is distorted. Your friends overlook — hopefully — some failings. Your enemies are blind to your merits. How do you sort it all out?

4. Human approval is unsatisfying. The need of your heart for belovedness goes far beyond anything another sinner can say or do.

5. Human approval is a blessing. The loving favor of true friends is a gift from God. Receive it cheerfully, with thanks to Him. And be sure to give it out to others in generous supplies every day.

“I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you.” Philemon 7

Stuff Only God Could Possibly Deliver

By Jim Martin, the pastor of Crestview Church of Christ in Waco, Tx

Prayer is the most powerful communication we have. It is more powerful than speaking through a public address system. It is more powerful than Facebook or Twitter.

Prayer is the most powerful and intimate form of communication that a human being can experience.

After all, when you pray, your words do not simply stay in the room. Nor is God somehow drawn by your eloquence. No, when you pray, there is a sense in which you ride the wings of the Spirit into the very throne room of the living God.

As we pray, we have his attention. Our words, our thoughts, and our concerns are heard. Even when our words do not come out just right, the Spirit knows our longing and communicates them to the Father.

Five powerful ways to pray:

1. Pray that God will use you as he carries out his kingdom dream for this world. (Such a kingdom dream will bring renewal and a grand sense of purpose to a Christian.)

2. Pray that God will give you an absolute passion for him and for his will. (We will only become passionate about something that is awesome, overwhelming, and absolutely incredible. Let us see what a big God he is and how desperately we need him.)

3. Pray for your children that God would be the center of their lives and that you as a parent would be a bridge and not an obstacle. (Far too many parents pray for their children and then later discourage them from missional living or giving their lives to a cause which bears some risk.)

4. Pray that the grace of God would refresh today's church and that his Spirit would bring real revival.Include those who teach/preach and lead. (I am convinced that nothing is more important for the futurechurch than the prayer of the present church.)

5. Pray for God to do what would be impossible without an answer to prayer. (Far too often, we limit our prayers to what sounds reasonable to us.)

Question:

What do you pray for that only God could possibly deliver?

My Personal List of Sins (That Others Commit)

By Pete Wilson -- pastor at Cross Point Church in Nashville, TN.

9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: 10″Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee (religious Leader) and the other a tax collector (scum of the earth). 11The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.

This is a classic look at religion which is all about comparing and condemning.

Everyone creates a list just like this religious leader did. It’s a list of the sins you think are most appalling to God. And do you know what sins you think are most appalling to God? The ones you don’t struggle with, right?

This is what religious institutions have done for centuries. A bunch of power hungry religious leaders get in a room and figure out which group of sins they are least likely to struggle with and then they declare that “list” as the posterboard sins their denomination is going to boycott, picket and vote against.

Anne Lamott says, …

“You can tell you have made God in your image when it turns out He hates all the same people you do.”

Ever struggle with this “list”?

"More of anything, Mr. Seinfeld?"

Last week, I posted an article by Jon Acuff at Stuff Christians Like Blog. If you haven't visited his site, go now. Hilarious and insightful stuff.

The article was about the dramatic difference of getting "caught" versus being "found" and called "Getting Wrecked by These Two Words."

"Found and Caught.

Sometimes, when we’ve done something we are ashamed of, when we’ve made a mistake or fallen or broken something, we fear getting caught. But what if instead we were found? What if instead of being caught, we were found by God?"

I was "found" or got "caught" by two more words this week.

"And"

"As"

Look pretty harmless, right? A conjunction and the little word "as." Conjunctions are the easiest parts of speech to learn. Remember School House Rock?

But here is where the wheels come off for me:

Luke 10:27

He answered: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"

Do you see my problem? I know I am supposed to love the Lord. I can even handle that Jesus is tossing around the "and" word pretty frequently at first. I get it that I am to love with all my heart and soul and mind.... Lots of conjucting (not a real word) but I get the point. Heck, I teach Sunday School. Love God. I teach it, I like it. But, then Jesus gets personal. "AND, Love your neighbor as yourself."

Whoa, Jesus, have you seen all these people you tell us are our neighbors? Not the nicest group of folks that he is telling me to love. If it's just the folks on my street, maybe...but he tells us that our neighbor is broader than that. (Luke 10 - That's right, same chapter.) He doesn't leave any wiggle room. I'm a lawyer, I checked. (My friend Mason Booth pointed out that in Chapter 10, Luke tells us the lawyer is trying to justify himself when the lawyer asks "Who is my neighbor?" This leads into the story of the Good Samaritan and Jesus declaring that our neighbor is anyone we meet along the road of life that is in need. Not just the person next door, or the person on my ball team, or school or the same ethnic identity or perhaps even religion.)

Notice Jesus does not say: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and if you feel led to then, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" Or, and if they are nice people, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"

OK OK, I get it, It will be tough but "Love God, Love Others". I think Casting Crowns sings about this so I must be able to give it a try.

Then the verse hits me harder: AS

Such a small word. But it kills me.

Question: How am I supposed to Love my neighbors?

Answer: "As" myself.

For those who know me, do you see the problem? I really am good at lavishing myself with attention and gifts to show love to me!!! Big screen TV? Sure, Bob will love it, let's get it. Bob need a vacation? You betcha. Somewhere nice. Like the Seinfeld episode where Jerry is in First Class on the plane: Flight attendant: "More of anything, Mr. Seinfeld?" Jerry: "More of everything!!"

We can even justify our behavior. "I've worked so hard that I have earned 6 days and 5 nights at the Grand Floridian at Disney World with breakfast and spa treatments included."

You get the picture? Unfortunately, I do too. Is my choice to treat myself worse or treat my neighbors better?

Is it possible for me/you/us to show others both the same level and the same amount of love that we lavish on ourselves?

Quote of the week - C.S. Lewis

Prostitutes are in no danger of finding their present life so satisfactory that they cannot turn to God: the proud, the avaricious, the self-righteous, are in that danger.

- C.S. Lewis

By answering every possible prayer...

Quote from Philip Yancey's book, Prayer: Does it Make a Difference?

"Apart from prayers impossible to answer - those that involve a logical contradiction such as opposing sides praying for victory, or farmers and athletes praying for conflicting weather patterns - what would happen if God answered every prayer?

By answering every possible prayer, God would in effect abdicate, turning the world over to us to run. History shows how we have handled the limited power granted us: we have fought wars, committed genocide, fouled the air and wather, destroyed forests, established unjust political systems, concentrated pockets of superfluous wealth and grinding poverty. What if God gave us automatic access to supernatural power? What further havoc might we wreak?"

Final 2%

By Pete Wilson -- Cross Point Church in Nashville, TN.

I'm convinced that the majority of us live about 98% accountable. The problem with being 98% accountable is that it’s about as useless as not being accountable at all.

It might even be more dangerous.

You see, you go to your small group.
You meet with your accountability partner.
You even intentionally confess just enough to seem open and honest.

But you guard and conceal the 2% that is slowly gaining momentum in the dark.

Proverbs 28:13 says,

People who conceal their sins will not prosper, but if they confess and turn from them, they will receive mercy.

Confess?

Even the 2%?

Especially the 2%.

Today I’m praying you have at least one relationship where you can be fully known and fully loved for it’s in that moment you find yourself coming fully alive.

How are you doing with the final 2%?

Michael Spencer, 1956-2010

I join today those who are mourning the death of Michael Spencer, who blogged as The Internet Monk.

Trevin Wax writes a nice tribute:

When I first stumbled across Michael Spencer’s blog (under his nickname, the Internet Monk), I didn’t quite know what to make of his writing. On the one hand, Michael was giving voice to some thoughts and questions I had wrestled with, but never fully articulated. On the other hand, his honesty was brutal, intense, and often made me uncomfortable.

What I eventually came to appreciate most about Michael – both from his blog and from personal contact – was that the center of his thought and ministry was grace: extravagant mercy and favor to undeserving, broken sinners.

And posts a bit of one of my favorite Imonk Articles called "I like the Prayer List":

The

prayer list frees us from the notion that the people of God are the healthy, happy ones who turned up for worship today. It reminds us that our community is extended into hospitals, nursing homes, psych hospitals, the homes of the poor, the relationships we have with other kinds of Christians and the mission we’re on together.

The prayer list is a picture of the broken and humbled body of Christ. It has a particular kind of beauty, and I’m glad our church- which hasn’t gotten around to a confession, covenant or constitution- has that prayer list.

It’s part of my journey these days to know that my name will one day be on that list, and these will be the people who will love and pray for me when my place in the church is to be ministered unto by the praying people of God.

READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE HERE.

Desire and Hope

Pastor Matt Chandler of Villlage Church in Texas received the pathology report following his recent operation the other day and the news was difficult. He is home but is facing appointments with doctors and some difficult decisions. One of his friends Pastor Vassar wrote an incredible post about the difference between desire and hope. Here is is in full:

I write this today because I need to. I need to tell myself these things. I just read the pathology report from the Village Church on Matt Chandler (http://ow.ly/MM81). I have known Matt for many years and love and respect him deeply. I am praying for him and for his sweet wife Lauren, and their kiddos, and the Village. And, I am praying with this in mind: there is a difference between desire and hope.

I am praying with great desire. My desire is that God would heal Matt, hand him to Lauren and the kids to be her husband and their daddy, restore him to the pulpit, empower him to preach his heart out for the magnification of Jesus, and one day let him play with his grandkids. I think God wants me to desire those things and ask Him for them, knocking until my knuckles bleed, making it clear to God how I desire Him to respond. And, those desires are good. But those desires are different than our hope.

Sometimes desires are not fulfilled. But, our hope is. Hope does not disappoint us (Romans 5:5). Our hope is certain and sure. Our hope is that none who trust in Him will ever ultimately be put to shame. Our hope is that in Jesus we are forgiven, given his Spirit, adopted as sons and daughters of God, and will one day be revealed as such (Romans 8:14-16; 1John 3:2-3). Our hope is that Jesus has defeated our greatest enemies of Satan, Sin, and Death and through Him we will triumph (Romans 8:37). Our hope is that God is sovereignly moving heaven and earth to secure the good of his elect and bring about their glory and joy (Romans 8:28). Our hope is that we who are in Christ are the eternal objects of God's love and that nothing, absolutely nothing, can change that status or rob us of its privileges (Romans 8:38-39). Our hope is that these momentary and light afflictions are preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison (2Cor 4:16-17); that the things we suffer are not worth comparing to the glory that God will reveal to us (Romans 8:18). Our hope is that God will not leave us nor forsake us so that even as we experience ten thousand shadows of death come over us, we shall not fear because He is with us (Psalm 23). Our hope is that He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us into his presence (2Cor 4:14). Our hope is that if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united to him in a resurrection like His (Romans 6:5). And, our hope is that Christ, who is our great treasure, will be exalted as such whether by life or by death (Philippians 1:20). This is Matt's hope. He knows this hope; he lives this hope; he preaches this hope. Lauren knows and lives this hope as well, and Matt is blessed to have her at his side.

I just needed to tell myself that today. I need to remember that as I voice desires to be fulfilled and as I plead with the "God who is able," for Matt's strength and healing and restoration, I must not confuse my desire and my hope. I am holding tightly to hope and finding my comfort in the God of Hope. Praying we all will. Apostles Church will be praying for the Chandlers.