You are on the verge of wrecking your life.

"You are on the verge of wrecking your life. We all are. Forces are afoot right now, negotiating how to get you fat enough for consumption and how to get you calmly and without struggle to the cosmic slaughterhouse floor. The easiest life for you will be one in which you don’t question these things, a life in which you simply do what seems natural. The ease of it all will seem to be further confirmation that this is the way things ought to be. It might even seem as though everything is happening exactly as you always hoped it would. You might feel as though your life situation is like progressing up a stairway so perfect it’s as though it was designed just for you. And it is. In many ways the more tranquil you feel, the more endangered you are. As you find yourself curving around the soft corners of your life, maybe you should question the quietness of it all. Perhaps you should listen, beneath your feet, for the gentle clatter of hooves." (Russell Moore in Tempted and Tried, p.60)


As believers in Christ, we shouldn't live in anxiety or paranoia but this is a sobering warning to all of us. We can't coast.

Your Ministry Is Not Your Identity - Paul Tripp

One day I'll probably write my own post on the subject, but it is so easy as a pastor to unknowingly allow allow the locus of your identity to be transferred from Christ to ministry. Paul Tripp writes a great post describing his own experience with that challenge. Important read.

what sermon prep really looks like

This post by Kevin DeYoung about sermon preparation is almost unbearably real lol. Glad I'm not the only one.

"somewhere along the way we have succumbed to the temptation to displace the foolishness of the cross with the wisdom of strategic planning"

A friend of mine sent me this quote today. Such a good reminder, based on 1 Corinthians 1:18, to trust God's power and wisdom over our own:


"At the moment, books are pouring off the presses telling us how to plan for success, how 'vision' consists in clearly articulated 'ministry goals,' how the knowledge of detailed profiles of our communities constitutes the key to successful outreach. I am not for a moment suggesting that there is nothing to be learned from such studies. But after a while one may perhaps be excused for marveling how many churches were planted by Paul and Whitefield and Wesley and Stanway and Judson without enjoying these advantages. Of course all of us need to understand the people to whom we minister, and all of us can benefit from small doses of such literature. But massive doses sooner or later dilute the gospel. Ever so subtly, we start to think that success more critically depends on thoughtful sociological analysis than on the gospel; Barna becomes more important than the Bible. We depend on plans, programs, vision statements—but somewhere along the way we have succumbed to the temptation to displace the foolishness of the cross with the wisdom of strategic planning. Again, I insist, my position is not a thinly veiled plea for obscurantism, for seat-of-the-pants ministry that plans nothing. Rather, I fear that the cross, without ever being disowned, is constantly in danger of being dismissed from the central place it must enjoy, by relatively peripheral insights that take on far too much weight. Whenever the periphery is in danger of displacing the center, we are not far removed from idolatry." (D.A. Carson in The Cross and Christian Ministry, p.26)


This may seem to be lifting up a false dichotomy between gospel ministry and strategic planning. I don't think that's what D.A. Carson is doing. This is obviously a quote out of a book, from a publisher, and marketed to consumers. There was certainly some strategy in there. But I think the operative words are trust and depend. We should use the wisdom God has given us in strategic planning and demographic research, but at the end of the day we have to trust that the gospel is the power of God for salvation (Romans 1:16). Strategic planning done well will get us to the people who need the gospel but then we must rely on the gospel itself to do its work.

Wisdom from JC Ryle

"Finally, may I not say to all, both old and young, with this great text in view [i.e. Heb.12:2], that we shall do well to aim at greater SIMPLICITY in our own personal religion. The early Christians lacked many privileges and advantages that we enjoy. They had no printed books. They worshipped God in dens and caves and upper chambers, had few and simple ecclesiastical garments, and often received the Lord's Supper in vessels of wood, and not of silver or gold. They had little money, no church endowments, no universities. Their creeds were short. Their theological definitions were scanty and few. But what they knew they knew well. They were men of one book. They knew Whom they believed. If they had wooden communion vessels, they had golden ministers and teachers. They "looked to Jesus" and realized intensely the personality of Jesus. For Jesus they lived, and worked, and died. But what are we doing? And where are we in the nineteenth century? And what deliverance are we working on earth? With all our countless advantages, our grand old cathedrals, our splendid libraries, our accurate definitions, our elaborate liturgies, our civil liberties, our religious societies, our numerous facilities, we may well doubt whether we are making such a mark on the world as Clement and Justin Martyr, and their companions, made 1700 years ago." (J.C. Ryle, from his sermon called Looking Unto Jesus)

it's worth the sacrifice

"It is impossible to renounce anything at the bidding of the inner life without adding immensely to its strength; for it grows by surrender, and waxes strong by sacrifice. " F.B. Meyer

I'm convinced that many of us fail to soar in our spiritual life because our souls are weighed down by unnecessary attachments.

Our lives are full of seemingly harmless things which may actually have some benefit but ultimately weigh us down and keep us from being fully devoted to Christ.

F.B. Meyer makes this comment based on Hebrews 12:1: 


"There would be little difficulty in maintaining an intense and ardent spirit if we were more faithful in dealing with the habits and indulgences which cling around us and impede our steps. Thousands of Christians are like water-logged vessels. They cannot sink; but they are so saturated with inconsistencies and worldliness and permitted evil that they can only be towed with difficulty into the celestial port. Is there anything in your life which dissipates your energy from holy things, which disinclines you to the practice of prayer and Bible study, which rises before you in your best moments, and produces in you a general sense of uneasiness and disturbance? something which others account harmless, and permit, and in which you once saw no cause for anxiety, but which you now look on with a feeling of self-condemnation? It is likely enough a weight." (Way Into the Holiest: Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews)


As A.W. Pink said: "A bag of gold would be as great a handicap to a runner as a bag of lead!”

Confessions of a Gay Christian - Some Thoughts

I just read an article published in Relevant Magazine and I think it's an important article for Christians to read because it articulates a very painful struggle for some of the people in our churches. Here are several applications I took from it and I think Christians, especially Christian men, need to consider:

1. "Gay jokes" are unwise, insensitive, and unacceptable. If you struggle with this, I'd encourage you to study and meditate on Ephesians 4:29, James 3:9-12, and Matthew 12:33-37.
2. Christians tempted with same-sex attraction need the Church to be a community marked by humility, compassion, and truth. Humility = I'm not better than you. Compassion = I am drawn to you in love not repelled by you in disgust. Truth = Love is not synonymous with unbiblical compromise.
3. Christian men shouldn't be afraid of gay men. (I'm sure this applies to women also but seems to be predominant among men).
4. Parents, we MUST teach, emphasize, and model passion for the Gospel and not just the "rules" of Christianity. D.A. Carson says, and I agree, that people don't usually remember what you teach; they remember what you're passionate about.
5. Parents, we should create an environment where our children can doubt, ask questions, and seek truth. They will do that with or without your guidance.
6. Pastors, we can't just preach against homosexuality in the abstract, we must disciple people dealing with it.
7. Pastors, we need to equip the men in our churches to put off the homophobia of secular masculine culture, and put on the grace-and-truth-filled character of Jesus.
8. Christians who stay faithful to the biblical view of sexuality will be increasingly treated with disgust, "moral" indignation, and hostility. And yet, out of love for people and faith in God, we cannot cave in to societal pressure (2 Timothy 3; 1 Peter 4:12-19). Quite frankly, this is a hard one for me because many racists made the same argument for upholding New World slavery and, later, Jim Crow segregation. Bigotry has often been defended by appeals to purity. However, we must hold fast to truth, knowing that biblical truth, truth inspired by the Holy Spirit, is always accompanied by humility not self-righteousness, service not oppression. The wisdom of God has a distinctly humble quality to it (James 3:17). So while we will be treated like bigots, our lives must prove that to be a false accusation (1 Peter 2:12).
   
   

I've come to believe that the most fundamental barrier to Christian faith is not a logical one but a moral one

I've come to believe that the most fundamental barrier to Christian faith is not a logical one but a moral one: We simply cannot believe that there is a Person who has done whatever He wanted to do without consulting us.

This is a moral issue in the sense that, due to our prideful hearts and cultural sensibilities, we disdain any notion of absolute authority.

But after we've ploughed through all of the philosophical, scientific, and experiential arguments for believing or rejecting the God of the Bible, we will inevitably hit the rough, immovable bedrock reality that "the Lord does whatever He pleases" (Psalm 135:6). All things that exist conform to that reality. And to submit to that, my friends, requires you to trust what He has told you to believe.

By faith, that reality comforts and stabilizes us. Apart from faith, that reality offends and disorients us. In fact, to the extent that we reject that truth, we are unable to understand reality.

So what does this mean? It means that no matter what issue we wrestle with (creation, the Fall, election, suffering, Hell, etc.), we should think hard and well about it but ultimately be reminded that at the bottom of our inquiry is the necessity of faith to trust the design of the utterly good, supremely wise, and all-powerful God.

"A lot of times in our preaching what is missing is the call to faith in Christ, a call to reorient our stories to His." Dr. David Prince

"If you teach people that the Bible is all about them, don’t be surprised when they think that the church is all about them." Dr. David Prince

"You can preach texts about Jesus without preaching Christ." Dr. David Prince

"Preaching is warfare." Dr. David Prince

praying for preaching

"It is of no use for me to preach to the people, my dear Christian brothers and sisters, unless you pray for them. It is of no use holding special services for the quickening of the spiritually dead unless the Holy Spirit is brought to them by our prayers. It may be that you who pray have more to do with the blessed results than we who preach." (Charles Spurgeon from a sermon in 1868 called Prayer-Meetings)

stay in intellectual shape

Pastor, one way to "stay in shape" intellectually (post-seminary) is to form a theology reading group where you read and process classic and current material with others. This could be done with your Elders/Pastors as a way to hold each other accountable to theological growth and discernment (kind of like spotting partners at the gym) or with a small group of like-minded people in the congregation.

we need to get back to biblical discipleship

"We have programmed everything to death in our Church. We have rallied it, principalized it, best practiced it. We've gotten so confused...Whatever is the latest, greatest thing becomes a surrogate for discipleship. We need to get back to biblical discipleship, getting guys connected with Jesus and staying with Him." Crawford Loritts, Desiring God 2012 Pastors Conference

God accomplishes things through our prayers

2 Corinthians 1:8-11 is an amazing passage that shows the power of prayer. The New American Standard Bible captures the flow accurately because the end of verse 10 is the beginning of one sentence that goes through the end of verse 11.

Crazy that Paul trusts God to deliver him and his ministry partners from persecution (v10) but says that the church participates in that by helping with their prayers (v11)!!!

Sometimes I really do underestimate the effectiveness of prayer. But the Bible is so clear that prayer is a means through which God accomplishes his purposes.

May we be people who wholeheartedly and maybe even illogically believe in the God to whom we pray!

Here is a great sermon answering the question "Why pray if God knows everything and has planned everything?" One of the most clear and concise messages I've heard on the subject.

Be careful. An OVER-reaction to something negative still lands you on the wrong side of positive.

This is always true.

It applies in so many spheres of life (e.g. personal, social, etc.) but I've become increasingly aware of how true this is in theology and church life. Cessationists overreact against charismatic extremes and end up treating the Spirit like something to be managed rather than Someone to be submitted to. Charismatics overreact against stoic intellectualism and often divorce experience from truth (yes, there is a difference). Liberals (like the emergent church movement) overreact against dogmatism and lapse into relativism (among other errors). Fundamentalists overreact against secularism and end up isolating themselves from...well, everybody.

Social activists overreact against the often reductionistic emphasis of many churches on evangelism and end up reducing the gospel to the good news of upcoming service projects. Evangelism people overreact to social justice people and make serving the poor the equivalent of the free weekend you get at a resort as long as you listen to the timeshare presentation (That's not service by the way; that's marketing). Grace people overreact against moralism and minimize (or eliminate) the necessity of hard work inherent in our sanctification. Seeker-friendly churches often overreact against inward-focused churches and end up making customers rather than disciples.

I could keep doing this. And I will keep doing this as I see overreactions in my own life.

Scripture is the weight that brings us into balance. And yes, we often ironically justify our overreactions with Scripture. But that's a problem with us, not the Bible. We have to continually come before God in His Word, with confidence that His Spirit guides us and with humble awareness that our view may in fact reflect more of our particular theological tradition than the text itself.

But hey, maybe this post is an overreaction....Nah.

"is God sovereign or are we free?" and other theological tensions

My daughter Ava is having a really hard time understanding whether this is "a bottle or "water." It's actually pretty hilarious. The answer is obviously "both."

Makes me wonder if God looks on our theological conundrums and says "Awww, poor baby."

who has true faith?

Helpful distinction:

"Because of the invisible nature of saving faith and because of the complications introduced by the human capacity for inconsistency, we have no infallible way of detecting who possesses true faith in the gospel. What we can do, however, is evaluate who professes faith in the true gospel. We cannot judge the truth (reality) of their faith, but we can—and must—judge the truth (veracity) of the gospel they profess." (Dr. Albert Mohler in Four Views on the Spectrum of Evangelicalism)

Note: This is not to diminish the reality of our ability to evaluate whether or not someone's lifestyle is consistent with their professed faith (Titus 1:16; 1 John 2:4-6; 3:6; James 2:17, 24).