Monday, December 31, 2007

A Retelling of the Story

Excerpt from Strange and Plain Things Christmas post on Dan Kimball's blog:

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Today as part of the season, we had three gatherings where we put on a play called "Strange and Plain Things". The title was taken from a line in a G.K. Chesterson poem about the birth of Jesus. But a team here wrote a play which was a retelling of the biblical narrative of the birth of Jesus putting the story in a contemporary context. It was a mix of acting, beat poetry, singing worship songs, and going through a prayer stations. They had all the Scriptures written for each Act in the play bulletin that was handed out - but they had Mary being a young woman (Mary) who worked in a diner. She even had her pregnant cousin Elizabeth visit her while working. Her fiance, a modern day Joseph struggled with hearing the news of her pregnancy but then had an angel tell him it was truth. They traveled for the census but there were no hotels available and a tavern owner opened his garage for them and put on a space heater so they can have some heat. There was a time in the play where everyone actually walked through a prayer walk and went into the garage and there was set up a mattress on the ground, laying next to some tires and a fender - where the baby was born symbolizing the manger.

It was really a gripping retelling of the story as often we can't really picture what a manger would be or what it would have been like having to have a baby in an unpleasant place (a garage instead of a manger). Or instead of shepherds (who at the time of Jesus, shepherds were not known as honorable people and I read how shepherds at the time of Jesus weren't allowed to testify in court as they weren't seen as trustworthy). So the shepherds recreated in this story were biker types who were entrusted with the news about the baby being born. It really was fascinating thinking about it - and the team stuck to the biblical story but tried to tell the story as though it was happening today.

We then wrapped it up with 26 year old Sarah, who was one of the main writers of the play, explain how when she was in high school she became a Christian and how she wanted people today to understand the story of the birth is not just a nice fable from 2,000 years ago, but a truth and reality in our lives today.

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Christian Living

Excerpt from I Will Meditate on All Your Work by John Piper

[Based on Psalm 77]

We know from the way the New Testament writers used the Psalms that the Psalms were the book of praise and meditation for the early church. In other words, the early church did not say, "Well, Christ, the Messiah, has come now, so everything written of old is out of date and unhelpful." On the contrary, they saw Christ in the Psalms, and they saw their own experience in the struggles and triumphs of the psalmists.

So we should read the Psalms like they did. Christ didn't come to abolish them, but to fulfil them (see Matthew 5:17). So we should read them as fulfilled, not as abolished. They should be fuller and richer for us, but not nullified. For example, when the Psalms call us to meditate on the Word of God we don't say, "We don't need to do that, we have the living Christ and his Spirit." Rather we say, "We have a richer, fuller Word of God, including the Gospels and the epistles - the testimony of the apostles - as well as of Moses and the prophets." So our meditation becomes richer and deeper - at least it should.

...

My main claim this morning is this: Christian living means living on the Word of God. We live on the Word of God. Day by day, the written Word of God in the Bible is the means of our relation to Christ. We fellowship with Christ by knowing him in the written Word. We talk to him on the basis of what we know of him from the written Word. We hear him speak to us through what he has shown us of his character and purpose in the written Word. Moment by moment, our vital union with Christ, experientially, is sustained and shaped and carried by the Word of God.

If you don't read the Word and memorize the Word and meditate on the Word daily and delight in the Word and savor it and have your mind and emotions shaped by the Word, you will be a weak Christian at best. You will be fragile and easily deceived and easily paralyzed by trouble and stuck in many mediocre ruts. But if you read the Word and memorize important parts of it and meditate on it and savor it and steep your mind in it, then you will be like a strong tree planted by streams of water that brings forth fruit. Your leaf won't wither in the drought and you will be productive in your life for Christ (see Psalm 1).

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Monday, December 24, 2007

The Life-Light

John 1, The Message

3-5Everything was created through him;
nothing—not one thing!—
came into being without him.
What came into existence was Life,
and the Life was Light to live by.
The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness;
the darkness couldn't put it out.

6-8There once was a man, his name John, sent by God to point out the way to the Life-Light. He came to show everyone where to look, who to believe in. John was not himself the Light; he was there to show the way to the Light.

9-13The Life-Light was the real thing:
Every person entering Life
he brings into Light.
He was in the world,
the world was there through him,
and yet the world didn't even notice.
He came to his own people,
but they didn't want him.
But whoever did want him,
who believed he was who he claimed
and would do what he said,
He made to be their true selves,
their child-of-God selves.
These are the God-begotten,
not blood-begotten,
not flesh-begotten,
not sex-begotten.

14The Word became flesh and blood,
and moved into the neighborhood.
We saw the glory with our own eyes,
the one-of-a-kind glory,
like Father, like Son,
Generous inside and out,
true from start to finish.

Celebrate?

Excerpt from DesiringGod Ask Pastor John "Should Christians Celebrate Christmas?"

I sympathize with those who want to be rigorously and distinctly Christian, who want to be disentangled from the world and any pagan roots that might lie beneath our celebration of Christmas, but I don't go that route on this matter because I think there comes a point where the roots are so far gone that the present meaning doesn't carry the pagan connotation anymore. I'm more concerned about a new paganism that gets layered on top of Christian holidays.

...

I remember I lived next door to somebody back in seminary who didn't celebrate birthdays for their kid. The idea was, partly, that all days were special for their kid. But if all days are special then it probably means that there are no special days. Yet some things are so good and precious—like anniversaries, birthdays, and even deaths—that they are worthy of being marked. How much more the birth and death of Jesus Christ!

It's really worth the risk, even if the date of December 25 was chosen because of its proximity to some kind of pagan festival. Let's just take it, sanctify it, and make the most of it, because Christ is worthy of being celebrated in his birth.

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Friday, December 21, 2007

Happiness

Excerpts from The Happiness Myth by Steve Salerno in Thursday, December 20, 2007 WSJ, A17.

"One morning when I was 13, I elbowed my father as he got ready for work. "Dad," I said, "are you happy?" For a long moment he stared at me. Then he replied, "Son, a man doesn't have time to think about that. A man just does what needs doing." He gave me one of his you'll-understand-someday smiles, and left.

I've been thinking about that exchange a lot, now that another kind of exchange -- the gift-giving kind -- is upon us. If recent traditions hold, a fair percentage of those gifts will be "inspirational" materials that extol the pursuit of happiness and fulfillment. Certain to end up under the trees of at least some Americans who don't already own it is that unparalleled tribute to wishful thinking, "The Secret," by Rhonda Byrne. The year's blockbuster best-seller-cum-cultural phenomenon sold six million books and DVDs on the strength of the belief that you can imagine your way to total fulfillment.

...

Contrary to what you hear from Oprah, not "everything you want in life" is attainable (unless, maybe, you are Oprah). Consider the staple line from school administrators during self-esteem-boosting student-assemblies: "In this great country, you can even be president, if you want!" While technically it's true that anybody can be president, it is not true that everybody can be president. Yet that's the implication. In my own case, growing up in Brooklyn, I wanted desperately to patrol center field for the Dodgers. Alas, I had millions of young competitors, some of whom had actual major league skills. If that is your dream -- the only dream that will make you happy -- what do you do when the Dodgers fail to call?

...

Here's something else Dad told me: "Life isn't built around 'fun.' It's built around peace of mind." Maybe Dad sensed the paradox of happiness: Those most desperate for it run a high risk of being the last to find it. That's because they make foolish decisions. They live disorderly lives, always chasing the high of the moment.

Perhaps happiness is best viewed as an ongoing marathon rather than a succession of disconnected sprints. It's a long-term commitment that sometimes calls for sacrifice and self-denial, compromise and conciliation. Above all, happiness may mean knowing when to quit -- to settle for "just OK." That is a very unpopular message in these empowered times.

...

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Note: I'm reminded of these verses from 1 Timothy 6

6But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. 8But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. 9People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. 10For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. 11But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. 12Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.


Thursday, December 20, 2007

Tribulation

Excerpt from Happy in Hope, Patient in Pain, Constant in Prayer by John Piper

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Tribulation is the normal experience of believers in this life. Some tribulation we share with unbelievers (like sickness and calamity and death) and some is unique to believers (like persecution for Christ’s sake). But my main point here is that tribulation is normal and to be expected in this world. It’s the setting for all our love and joy and hope and patience and prayer. Affliction is where we live. If you don’t live there now, you will. Learning that this is normal will be a great help to you when it comes.

Jesus was the best man who ever lived. None of us has any right to experience less affliction than he did. If we experience less, it is mercy. We don’t deserve the peaceful lives we have. They are merciful gifts. For Jesus it was affliction from the beginning. His birth was scandalous (conceived before marriage). It was in an animal feeding trough. It was threatened and hated by the political powers (Herod). He barely escaped death as a child and had to become a refugee in Egypt. And so it went until he was accused of sedition against Caesar and crucified.

That is the way Christianity began. Jesus said, “Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:27). “If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malignthose of his household” (Matthew 10:25). Paul taught all the young churches he established, “Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22). Peter taught the churches, “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you” (1 Peter 4:12). It isn’t strange. It’s normal. It comes with the fallen, sinful, futile world. “We ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies” (Romans 8:23).

The affliction of our lives extends from cancer to calamity to conflict to death. These are all normal and they are part of what we must live with on our way to heaven. That is why Paul says here in verse 12, “Be patient in tribulation.” Let’s be biblically balanced in our celebration of Christmas. It is good news of great joy (Luke 2:10). A Savior has been born, Christ the Lord! But it is also a call to suffer with Christ. The baby Jesus grew up and said, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household” (Matthew 10:34-36).

So the “great joy” announced by the angels is a very embattled joy. It is a joy to be fought for and a joy always under attack. Always threatened by tribulation. And the call of Romans 12:12 is not to rejoice without tribulation, but to rejoice in spite of, and even because of, tribulation.

...

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Trust His Promises More Than Providences

Excerpt from DesiringGod blog post by Jon Bloom Trust Promises, not Providences

...

Also this morning I read this sentence in a pamphlet titled, “Honey Out of the Rock,” by Puritan Thomas Wilcox,

“Judge not Christ’s love by providences, but by promises.”

Experiences are very powerful. They often feel more powerful than promises. So it's tempting to interpret prosperity and ease as God’s blessing and tribulation as God’s displeasure. And sometimes they are. But often they are not.

Actually, what we see all the way through the Bible is the Lord training his disciples to trust his promises more than providences. Think of Abraham and Sarah waiting for Isaac, or Jacob losing Rachel, or Joseph in slavery and prison, or Job’s suffering, or David running from Saul. Think of Lazarus and the heartbreak of his death and the constant tribulations of Paul. And of course Jesus set the ultimate example by looking to the joy set before him as he endured the cross (Heb 12:2).

Strange, isn’t it? In the Bible pain is often the path to unspeakable joy and prosperity is often an obstacle to it. What’s going on?

Simply, God wants us to treasure what we can’t see more than what we can.

“For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” (2 Cor. 4:18).

And we find out that it’s pain more than prosperity that makes us look for what our eyes can’t see, and long for a satisfaction that doesn’t exist in this world.

...

Enduring Through Hardship

Excerpt from edited audio transcript "Ask Pastor John" topic: Can Christians Be Depressed?

This means we should help each other see Christ, right?

Yes. It seems that whenever one person is struggling—whether in a family, church, or small group—another person is given strength. The point of that is so that the body would work together and the strong would minister to the weak. Then the roles might be reversed the very next week or month, and the one who was just weak becomes strong to help the other who has now become weak.

The weakness can be psychological, spiritual, or physical. But the strength should flow back and forth between us. As we come up out of a discouragement we should minister to others.

This is exactly what Paul said in 2 Corinthians 1:4 where he speaks about comforting others with the comfort with which he had been comforted by God. God ordains that one person walk through a valley, find comfort in the valley, come out, turn around, go back to the beginning of that same valley, and help other people walk through it with the very comforts they discovered there.

We miss some of our greatest blessings by not enduring through hardship in our own families or in a church. God has things to teach us through hardship that we will not learn if we flee from it every time it comes.

A New Creature

Neil Anderson Daily in Christ

A MATTER OF BEING SOMEONE

2 Corinthians 5:17
If any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come

Being a Christian is not just a matter of getting something; it's a matter of being someone. A Christian is not simply a person who gets forgiveness, who gets to go to heaven, who gets the Holy Spirit, who gets a new nature. A Christian, in terms of our deepest identity, is a saint, a spiritually born child of God, a divine masterpiece, a child of light, a citizen of heaven. Being born again transformed you into someone who didn't exist before. What you receive as a Christian isn't the point; it's who you are. It's not what you do as a Christian that determines who you are; it's who you are that determines what you do (2 Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 2:10; 1 Peter 2:9, 10; 1 John 3:1, 2).

Understanding your identity in Christ is absolutely essential to your success at living the Christian life. No person can consistently behave in a way that's inconsistent with the way he perceives himself. If you think you're a no-good bum, you'll probably live like a no-good bum. But if you see yourself as a child of God who is spiritually alive in Christ, you'll begin to live in victory and freedom as He lived. Next to a knowledge of God, a knowledge of who you are is by far the most important truth you can possess.

After years of working with people who are in deep spiritual conflict, I found one common denominator: None of them knew who they were in Christ. None knew of their spiritual heritage. All questioned their salvation and the love of God. Are you aware that there is someone alive and active in the world today who is dead set against you seeing yourself as spiritually alive and complete in Christ? Satan can do nothing to damage your position in Christ. But if he can deceive you into believing his lie--that you are not acceptable to God and that you'll never amount to anything as a Christian--then you will live as if you have no position or identity in Christ.

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, I take my stand as a child of God in Christ. Thank You for giving me this gracious and unwarranted position.

One of the Greatest Issues in Life

Excerpt from Are We to Continue in Sin That Grace Might Increase by John Piper

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As we enter Romans 6, we are taking up one of the greatest issues in the Christian life. And that means one of the greatest issues in life, period. Because the only life that will lead to eternal life is the Christian life. So what we are about to see is relevant and crucial for everybody, whether they call themselves Christian or not. Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, spiritualists, atheists – every person who is descended from Adam needs to know what Romans 6 teaches. What Paul describes here is not provincial or parochial or sectarian or regional or ethnic. It relates to everybody because it describes the only kind of life that leads to eternal life. All of us are sinners and guilty because we are united to the first Adam. We will be saved, or not, because we are united by faith to Jesus Christ, the second Adam. And there is a kind of life that comes from being united to Christ. That life leads to heaven. And that life only. That is what is at stake in Romans 6.

One way to see this is to jump to the end of the chapter and look at verse 22: "But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification [or holiness], and the outcome, eternal life." Notice carefully: What is eternal life the outcome of? It is the outcome of "sanctification" or "holiness" or "freedom from sin and slavery to God." In other words, Romans 6 deals with the kind of life that leads to eternal life: What it is and how to live it.

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Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Possessed by the Answer

"As we walk through the highways and byways and look into the lifeless eyes of individuals who have bought the lie, let us rest assured that by the grace of God we possess the answer and we are possessed by the Answer. The answer is Christ and his supremacy in truth. Let us weep that those who walk aimlessly through this life will never be satisfied with the answers that our culture has seen fit to give. The farther we have run away from the supremacy of Christ, the farther we have run away from the only thing that will ever satisfy and the only thing that will ever suffice. The supremacy of Truth also means the sufficiency of Christ in truth. We preach Jesus and him crucified (1 Cor. 1:23). "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek" (Rom. 1: 16).

This is the supremacy of Christ in truth in a postmodern, dying, rotting, decaying, and hurting world. Let us therefore embrace it and proclaim it passionately, confidently, and relentlessly, because, after all, that is why we are here."


Voddie Baucham Jr, "Truth and the Supremacy of Christ in a Postmodern World", The Supremacy of Christ in a Postmodern World, John Piper and Justin Taylor, general editors.

Pressing On

Excerpt from The Faith of Noah, Abraham and Sarah by John Piper

...

Saving faith is not a mere single act of receiving Jesus. Saving faith receives Jesus in order to go on trusting him. Saving faith is a life of faith. That faith is what this chapter is trying to teach us. You can see that most clearly if you look at the verse that leads into the chapter, Hebrews 10:39, "But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul." Do you see what is at stake: shrinking back to destruction; or pressing on in faith to preserve the soul. In other words, the evidence of authentic saving faith is its pressing on. Faith that saves from destruction is faith that lives day by day. That is what Chapter 11 is meant to illustrate. What does saving faith look like?

So the next verse, 11:1, defines the faith that presses on to preserve the soul as "The assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen." Faith that saves from destruction and preserves the soul is future oriented. It doesn't just look back to what God did in the past, but mainly looks forward to what God promises to do in the future. It gains a lot of its confidence from God's past faithfulness, but what it believes is mainly promises. That is not add-on, second-stage, super-Christian faith. That is basic, ever-growing, ordinary Christian faith.

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Monday, December 17, 2007

Today's Bishops

Excerpt from Chad Hall on The Rise of the New Bishops at Out of Ur

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I’ve been thinking lately about how influential a few leaders are in evangelical Christian America – especially among younger Christ-followers. Such leaders exercise a tremendous amount of influence on the thought and practice of other church leaders. I’ve come to think of them as the real bishops of today.

Just like the earliest church fathers, today’s bishops earnestly seek to discern what faithfulness is and then dispense their discernment among followers. Oh yes, and just like the old bishops, the new ones sometimes disagree and dispute what it means to be faithful and the dispute can carry over to their followers (as an earlier post re: Rob Bell and Mark Driscoll demonstrated).

So what gave rise to these new bishops? Three primary factors…

First, denominations are waning and few church leaders look to denominational leaders as experts on how to think theologically or practice church ministry well. ...

Second, geography has shrunk through the use of media such as the internet and especially the blogosphere, thus giving the masses access to leaders they’d otherwise never have encountered. ...

Third, there seems to be a growing populist mindset among our generation that prefers to select our leaders rather than have them selected for us. ...

...

Life

Excerpt from How the Lord of Life Gives Life by John Piper



But the clearest answer in Acts to the question why a person believes the gospel is that God opens the heart. Lydia is the best example. Why did she believe? Acts 16:14 says, “The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.” Notice four aspects of this conversion.


1) “. . . what was said by Paul.” First, someone must speak the gospel. God does not open the eyes of the heart to see nothing. He opens them to see the glory of Christ in the truth of the gospel (2 Corinthians 4:4-6). Therefore, we must speak the gospel. We don’t make the new birth happen when we do. But we fit into God’s way of doing it. The point of the new birth is to grant spiritual sight. The point of speaking the gospel is give something to see. New birth is for the glory of Christ. Therefore, God causes it to happen when Christ is lifted up.


2) “The Lord . . .” Second, the speaker of the gospel relies upon the Lord. Prayer is not mentioned here. But that is what we do when we realize that it is the Lord who is the decisive actor, not us. We have a significant role in speaking the gospel, but it is the Lord himself who does the decisive work.


3) “. . . opened her heart . . .” Since the key problem in not believing the gospel is the hardness or the closedness of the heart, this is where the Lord does his decisive work. He “opens the heart” of Lydia. This means he takes out the heart of stone, and puts in the heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26); he says with sovereign authority, “Let there be light,” and “shines in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6). So the darkness flies away and the light of truth reveals the irresistible beauty of Christ in the gospel.


4) “. . . to pay attention to what was said by Paul.” The effect of the Lord’s opening her heart is a true spiritual hearing of the gospel. “Pay attention to” is a weak translation of the Greek prosechein. It is stronger than that in this content. In this verse, it is a hearing with attachment. The work of the Lord does not just help her focus. It brings about faith. She was “granted repentance” (2 Timothy 2:25) and faith (Philippians 1:29).


Or, in the terms of John 6, she was given by the Father to the Son (v. 37), and was drawn by the Father to the Son (v. 44), and was granted by the Father to come to the Son (v. 65). She was “made alive” (Ephesians 2:5) and born again (John 3:3, 7).

Friday, December 14, 2007

My Hope Is In the Lord

Excerpt from What's the Difference Between Living for the Kingdom and Living for the American Dream? by John Piper

How does what you're saying accord with the prosperity gospel–the belief that external signs of wealth are a key testimony to the world of God's blessing?

It doesn't accord. We must reject the prosperity gospel. It's just dead wrong. The world is not impressed by the prosperity of Christians. What the prosperity of Christians says to the world is nothing redemptive.

I'm not saying that all prosperity is necessarily wrong. I'm just making the point that the prosperity of a Christian says absolutely zero about Christ to the world. Christians who simply follow the American trend of "moving up" financially and materially causes the world to simply say, "They're just like us! They love the same things we love and do the same things we do." This has zero witness to the world.

The person who follows the prosperity track must find other ways to testify to the world about Jesus, because their wealth, health, and prosperity are not saying anything redemptive.

My way of remedying this lack of witness is to identify that the prosperity gospel is wrong. Don't go that direction! Don't believe that prosperity is our evidence to the world that we belong to the King. It doesn't work that way. In fact, if you look in the New Testament you'll see that the things that bear the clearest witness to our faith are the occasions when we're willing to suffer for him.

A little child can understand that. Something is valuable to you to the degree that you're willing to suffer in order to have it, not to the degree that it gives you other things that you really like. God is not shown to be valuable because he gives us other things that we like more than God. God is shown to be valuable when we're willing, for God's sake, to let certain things go which we wouldn't let go if he wasn't so precious to us.

Our testimony to the world works precisely opposite to what the prosperity gospel says. When Christians are willing to suffer for the cause of the unborn, for racial justice, and for spreading the gospel, then the world is going to say–just like it does in 1 Peter 3:15–"Where is your hope?"

Our answer will not be, "In houses, cars, and lands." Rather, we will say, "My hope is in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is going to take me to himself. To live is Christ and to die is gain. I'm here on earth to spread the gospel. I'm going to keep my life as wartime as I can in order to maximize my effect for showing Jesus as valuable, not things as valuable."

Jesus Was Not a Separatist

Christian Working Woman Transcript

Thursday, December 13, 2007 - Christmas in the Marketplace

As much as we enjoy this time of the year, it's very sad to see people using this holy celebration of our Savior's birth for anything but holy purposes. And nowhere is that more prevalent than in the working world.

Have you ever noticed that people who never give Jesus Christ a thought all year long are more than ready to participate in Christmas celebrations and parties? How should a Christian act and react toward these unholy celebrations?

I would point out that Jesus was not a separatist. He did not, by example or by instruction, tell us to remove ourselves from every situation that was not religious or holy. In fact, He prayed for us in John 17: I do not ask Thee to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one.

We are not called to be separatists. However, that guiding principle has to be balanced with another one as found in

1 Corinthians 10:31: Whether then you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

When we can participate without compromising our standards, when we can join in without giving approval to un-Christian behavior, then we may be able to use these occasions as opportunities. But we need to be well aware of keeping the right balance. Jesus reached out to people in their environment, but He never allowed their environment to penetrate into His mind or His lifestyle. We are in the world, but not of it.

All too often we Christians allow ourselves to be brought down to the level of the unbelievers, instead of vice-versa. If there is any question in your mind that you will be able to keep a strong Christian testimony in the midst of any holiday celebration, then it would be wise to keep yourself separate from those questionable occasions. I know many Christians who will go to a company Christmas party, make an appearance for an hour or so, and then quietly leave before the celebration gets out of hand.

We need to be discerning and wise in determining what is appropriate and what isn’t. One rule of thumb to remember: If in doubt, don’t!

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Wartime Lifestyle

Excerpt from What's the Difference Between Living for the Kingdom and Living for the American Dream? by John Piper

Does the "wartime lifestyle" come easily to you?

No, and I don't think it comes easy for anybody. If it starts coming easily then it may result in pride. That may not always be the case, because the things we work hard at are sometimes the things we boast in the most. Pride is a very insidious and subtle thing.

When I say "wartime lifestyle" I mean something very complex. That's why I say "wartime" and not "simple" lifestyle because of this complexity. In wartime you may need to build a B-52 bomber, which costs millions and millions of dollars, in order to win the war. In a simple lifestyle, however, you wouldn't fiddle around with bombers. Instead you would just move out to Idaho, plant potatoes, and be irrelevant.

In a wartime lifestyle you always ask yourself, How can my life count to advance the cause of Christ? And if it means buying a computer to keep in touch with your missionaries through email, then you're going to invest several thousand dollars into a computer and software. That's a wartime lifestyle. But you might not eat out as often, or you might buy a used car so that you can buy that computer. That's what I mean by wartime lifestyle. The alternative is to just go with the flow. Everybody gets his toys: bigger house and car, more clothing, more fine food, etc., without even thinking about how the war effort is advancing.

Personally, I must battle everyday against drifting. It isn't about making choices so much. The battle is primarily against becoming comfortable with things that aren't essential to the war effort. So you have to check yourself. Sit down with your wife and ask, How are we doing with our spending? How are we doing with the use of our discretionary money for leisure?, etc.

I admit that this is difficult. I don't have any laws to lay down about what specific things you should be doing either once a week or never or whatever. It's just tough, which is why it is tough for me.

Adapting

Neil Anderson Daily in Christ

ADAPTING MINISTRY

1 Corinthians 9:22 I have become all things to all men, that I may be all means save some

The world at the end of the twentieth century is changing at an alarming rate. People are under tremendous stress to keep up with the rapid rate of change. The ecclesiastical challenge is to give anxious people the timeless message of Christ and present it in a contemporary way that relates to a changing culture.

Many of the older and mature saints who rightfully constitute the boards and committees in our traditional evangelical churches resist change. They are comfortable with the form of worship, style of music, and methods of teaching that brought them to Christ and helped them mature. They get uncomfortable when a young pastor comes in with new ideas.

Jesus said you can't put new wine into old wineskins (Luke 5:37). The wineskins don't represent the substance of our faith; they represent the package our faith comes in. Christian practices wear out their purposes and the next generation doesn't relate to them.

Jesus not only came to fulfill the law, but He also came to usher in a new age. The Jewish community was locked in tradition. Most of the opposition didn't come when He presented the truth, but when He confronted their traditions. When one doesn't conform to the customs and practices of the status quo, the establishment will be offended. The new wine often comes under the scrutiny, and sometimes the wrath, of the old wineskins.

I had the privilege of helping an established church through an organizational change. The pastor had been there for 30 years and had led the church from its beginnings to more than 1000 attenders. The organization had evolved with little planning or purpose, so we reorganized 26 committees into seven. Although the organizational change was significant, it took place without any dissension. The major key in this case was the vision and credibility of the pastor, who realized the need for new wineskins.

God is leading us into the twenty-first century, and we must learn how to adapt our ministry to a changing culture.

Prayer:

Lord, enable me to establish my life on the substance of faith, not the package of traditions and customs it comes in.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

What Am I Going to Make Much of Today?

Excerpt from What's the Difference Between Living for the Kingdom and Living for the American Dream by John Piper

What's the difference between living for the Kingdom and living for the American dream?

The essential difference is, What are you trying to make much of? Do you want to make much of Christ in the world, or do you want to make much of yourself, your business, or your family? What are you passionate about seeing exalted, praised and enjoyed?

I want to put that central because if we don't ask the question day by day–What am I going to make much of today?–then we will gravitate towards making much of the same things that everybody around us is making much of, like sports teams, food, or a new computer program. None of these things are sin unless they become the thing that we're driven by.

The difference between a Kingdom mindset and a worldly mindset is the King. What place does the King have? Is he central in our affections, our vocabulary, and in what we want to see happen at work, church, and in our leisure?

Renounce the Self Life

Neil Anderson Daily in Christ

THE EXPRESSION OF PRIDE

Proverbs 16:18 Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before stumbling

Pride is a killer. Pride says, "I can do it alone. I can get myself out of this mess without God's help." Oh, no you can't! We absolutely need God, and we desperately need each other. Paul wrote, "We are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh" (Philippians 3:3). Humility is confidence properly placed. Examine the instructions on pride and humility in James 4:6-10 and 1 Peter 5:1-10. The context reveals that spiritual conflict follows the expression of pride. Pride is what caused Lucifer to be thrown out of heaven.

Jesus said, "Simon, Simon [Peter], behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat" (Luke 22:31). On what basis could Satan make that demand? The context reveals the answer: "There arose also a dispute among them as to which one of them was regarded to be greatest" (Luke 22:24). Pride was Peter's downfall, and it opened the door to the devil's opposition.

The Lord says that pride goes before destruction and an arrogant spirit before stumbling (Proverbs 16:18). We must confess areas where we have not denied ourselves, picked up our cross daily, and followed Him (Matthew 16:24). In so doing we have given ground to the enemy in our lives.

Have we believed that we could be successful and live victoriously by our own strength and resources? We must confess that we have sinned against God by placing our will before His and by centering our lives around self instead of Him. We must renounce the self life and by so doing cancel all the ground that has been gained in our members by the enemies of the Lord Jesus Christ.

We must pray that God will guide us so that we will do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but that with humility of mind we will regard others as more important than ourselves (Philippians 2:3). We must ask God to enable us through love to serve others and in honor prefer others (Romans 12:10).

Prayer:

Loving Lord, I want my life to be marked by a humble spirit today. Forgive me for my proud, self-centered ways and independent spirit.

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

To Magnify His Sovereign Grace

Excerpt from The Issac Factor by John Piper

...

What promise? The promise that Abraham would have many offspring and become a great nation. Genesis 12:2, "I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and so you shall be a blessing." That promise came after the knowledge that Sarah was barren. Indeed, God had closed her womb, and then made the promise. So now, if Abraham believes the promise, it will be a believing not just in the ability of God to predict the future, but in the power of God to create a future that is humanly impossible.

This is what I call "The Isaac Factor": God's purpose to do what is humanly impossible, so that we have to trust his power and grace, and he gets the glory. But we do not naturally trust God so easily. It goes against our fallen nature. Here's what usually happens: When we meet a situation like this, we try to think of ways that we can actually make it happen by ordinary human means.

...

Why? Why won't God opt for anything less than the path of impossibility? I think he tells us in the next chapter (Genesis 18:10-14). God comes to Abraham and makes the promise again:

"I will surely return to you at this time next year; and behold, Sarah your wife will have a son." And Sarah was listening at the tent door, which was behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; Sarah was past childbearing [not only barren all her life, but now passed childbearing years]. Sarah laughed to herself, saying, "After I have become old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?" And the LORD said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh, saying, 'Shall I indeed bear a child, when I am so old?' Is anything too difficult for the LORD?"

There it is. That's the reason God will not settle for anything less than the path of impossibility: He aims to show that nothing is too difficult for the Lord. His purpose in all he does is

To magnify his sovereign grace And keep us in our humble place.

...

Poor in Spirit

Christian Working Woman Transcript

Tuesday, December 11, 2007 - Christmas in the Marketplace

What does it mean to be poor in spirit? Have you ever thought about that? At this time of year when buying things and giving things and receiving things are uppermost in our minds, it's very important as believers that we bring ourselves back to what is eternally important, and it is not things!

There's a wonderful reward for those who are poor in spirit; Jesus said that they will have the kingdom of heaven. But most people miss this great offer because they are not willing to be poor in spirit. Poor in spirit means seeing yourself as possessionless. Regardless of what's on your list of assets, if you're poor in spirit, you know that everything you have is a gift to be used, a resource on loan to you from God. In your spirit you are a poor person.

Poverty is not something many of us would voluntarily choose. But poverty of spirit is something every Christian should desire and pursue. Why? Because it's so easy to be possessed by our possessions and therefore to miss the eternally important values in life.

How do we achieve this poverty of spirit? It's a life-long process. Some people literally get rid of all earthly possessions and own nothing. But for most of us it's a change in attitude.

I have a friend who spent a couple of years on a missionary assignment in a third world country, and as she was returning home, she gave away almost everything she had accumulated while there. And she realized as she was packing that everything she owned at that time would fit on one shelf in the closet. She said, "Mary, I had such a sense of freedom, to realize that I owned practically nothing. I was not a slave to possessions, because I had none."

That's the attitude we constantly need. Frequently I hold up to God all that I call my own, and I confess to God that they are not mine, they are his. For I am possessionless–I am poor in spirit.

In this season when we are more than ever bombarded with materialism, ask yourself if you are poor in spirit–do you have a spirit of being possessionless? How we need Christians in this world who refuse t­o be possessed by possessions.

Hipper Pastor

Excerpt from Time Magazine The Hipper-Than-Thou Pastor by David Van Biema

...

Bell, 37, is guilty of none of the negatives. He is largely apolitical, thinks that only those with gay friends are positioned to judge homosexuality--and he tinkers marvelously. At 28, he founded a megachurch that threw out the conventional sermon-and-worship service and instantly drew thousands of attendees. He has sold hundreds of thousands of books with titles like Velvet Elvis and Sex God that find the sacred in the profane. And he has created a form of video message he calls Nooma (phonetic Greek for spirit or breath) that may make him to YouTube what Graham was to the arena. "He could be one of the most important 21st century Christian leaders," says Bible professor and evangelical blogger Ben Witherington. He and several other thinkers feel that in a "post-Christian America," whose basic assumptions are increasingly secular, the faith needs someone who can defend its tenets in the argot of the day. Bell does this effortlessly. The question now is whether he can sell his approach to the rest of Evangelicalism or whether, as Christianity Today editor Andy Crouch puts it, he will "remain more of a singular rock star in the church world."

...

Monday, December 10, 2007

God Speaking to Us in His Word

Excerpt from Why do you emphasize Bible reading and prayer so much? with John Piper

Why do you emphasize Bible reading and prayer so much?

I don't think there is anything more basic to knowing the supremacy of Christ, loving him, and obeying him—and being the church for each other and for the sake of the world—than to hear God speak to us in his word and then to speak back to him with the praises and the longings of our hearts.

The reason for that is because it is so plain that today God reveals himself to us by the word. The living Christ in his bodily form is not here. He has ascended and taken his place at the right hand of God. Neither are his inspired prophets and apostles here. God has ordained for himself to be known primarily by the word that was recorded from those prophets and apostles—especially those who knew the Lord himself in his physical form—and preserved in a book.

Now, through the Holy Spirit dwelling in us, we are enabled to read that book with illumination and let our hearts cry back to him what we see in it. It becomes a kind of rhythm.

It is absolutely crucial for me that my prayer be saturated with the word and that my Bible reading be saturated with prayer, because this is how we commune with God. And this communion of hearing and speaking is what leads to our transformation, which is at the heart of what it means to be a Christian.

Possessing Nothing

Christian Working Woman Transcript

Monday, December 10, 2007 - Christmas in the Marketplace

It's Christmas time. I didn't have to tell you that, did I? The stores have been decorated since Halloween, and the merchants are busy trying to get our money, as we hurry to buy things. In the midst of all this focus on things, I'd like to look at the biblical principal of possessing nothing.

Seems to me that Christmas is a good time for each of us to remember the danger of being possessed by possessions. Tozer wrote, "There is within the human heart a tough fibrous root of fallen life whose nature is to possess, always to possess. It covets 'things' with a deep and fierce passion."

Jesus said, Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:3). Those who are poor in spirit see themselves as possession-less and Jesus said they are blessed and happy. When a person possesses Jesus Christ and eternal life in heaven, they are the richest of all people. Nothing else can really make us rich except these heavenly possessions.

Paul wrote to the Corinthians that as a servant of God he was "poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything." What do you possess? Things? If that is what you count as your possessions, you are indeed poor. But if you understand that things are simply tools to be used, resources from God, and you truly do not possess them, even if you are in charge of them, then you are poor in spirit. But you are rich because you have everything in Christ.

It is not easy in this possession-mad world to be poor in spirit. People will not admire you for it. You will not be confirmed by the world for maintaining an attitude of possessionlessness. The world evaluates people based on what they own. It's swimming upstream to be poor in spirit.

And yet, those who are, Jesus says, are the ones who are happy. They are not possessed by their possessions, because they understand that they are temporary. Do you think it's actually possible for a Christian today to live in this possession-mad world and truly have an attitude of being poor in spirit? Do you even want to?

Saturday, December 08, 2007

The Nature of God as Evidenced through His Bountiful Grace

Introductory part of The God-Centered Ground of Saving Grace by John Piper

... The goal is God through grace. Not grace through God.

I wonder if that difference sounds significant to you. I think it's immensely significant. Because one of the great divides in American religious life today, as I see it, is whether God is made a means to grace, or grace is made a means to God.

Does the quest of our lives and the longing of our hearts and the labor of our minds terminate on God, in whom we live and move and have our being, so that grace is indescribably precious because it carries us safely to him?Or is God brought in alongside our planning, and our techniques and methods and political strategies and therapies and treatments as a means to the experience of various forms of grace?

I want to press this because I believe it makes a tremendous difference whether our ultimate treasure is the grace of God or whether our ultimate treasure is the God of grace. It seems to me that the most fundamental question standing before American evangelicalism today is whether we put God or ourselves at the center of grace. And my passion today is to plead for the God-centeredness of saving grace; that we cherish saving grace because it brings us to God, rather than cherishing God because he brings us grace.
...

Friday, December 07, 2007

Our Work

Excerpt from How Should We Then Work? by Jonathan Dodson

...

How shall we then work? In order to avoid the pitfalls of these approaches to work, and to participate in their promise, we must work from our acceptance in Christ, not for our acceptance in Christ. Instead of seeking the acceptance and applause of our co-workers or competition by sinfully striving for excellence, we can rest in God's acceptance and approval, working excellently to honor him (Col 3:22; 1 Cor. 15:50-58). Do excellent work, not to earn God's favor but as a faith effort, as an act of worship.

No matter how tight our work ethic, we will inevitably fail. Instead of taking comfort in our superior work ethic, Christ calls us to rest in his finished work on our behalf (Eph. 2:8-9; Heb. 9:23-28). It is by grace that we are saved, and it is by grace that we are sanctified. Our ethics are not the basis of acceptance before God; they are an expression of our new nature and love for our Creator.

Instead of trying to win God's favor with evangelistic work or neglecting the whole gospel, we can work with the whole gospel in view, which recreates souls and societies (Isa. 61 cf. Luk. 4:18-19; Ezek. 36:8-10, 26-32; Rev 21-22).

Instead of leaning upon our theological savvy or reasoning skills, God calls us to rest in the foolishness of the cross for our identity. Our work should be a love offering characterized by excellence, ethics, evangelism and theological integration, but not as a basis for finding our worth before God or our acceptance from others. We work not for God to accept us, but are accepted because of God's work in and for us (Phil. 2:12-13). This is how we should then work.

Focus and Boundaries for the Pain

Excerpt from When Satan Hurts Christ's People by John Piper

When huge pain comes into your life—like divorce, or the loss of a precious family member, or the dream of wholeness shattered—it is good to have a few things settled with God ahead of time. The reason for this is not because it makes grieving easy, but because it gives focus and boundaries for the pain.

...

As a father, I want to help our twelve-year-old daughter Talitha settle some things with God now, so that when little or big losses come—and they will come—her pain will be bounded and will not carry her out, like a riptide, into the terrifying darkness of doubt about God. So as we read God’s word together twice a day, I point out the mysterious ways of God.

Two days ago, we read this from the lips of Jesus to the church at Smyrna in Revelation 2:10:

Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life

...

Passing the test means loving God to the end.

So settle it, Talitha. Loss and pain are coming into your life, but Jesus is infinitely stronger than the devil. So even if the devil is causing it, as he did in Smyrna, Jesus is letting it happen. And he always has his reasons—more than we can know. One of those reasons is always testing, namely, the testing of our faith and our love for him.

We cannot answer every why question. But there is always this answer: My faith is being tested. And our Lord never wastes his tests. Whether we believe this truth is, in fact, part of the test. In the mind of Jesus, the promise that he would give them the crown of life was enough to sustain the Christians in Smyrna. I pray that it will be enough for Talitha—and for you.

...

Entrust Yourself to Him Who Judges Righteously

Neil Anderson Daily in Christ

WHY YOU SHOULDN'T BE DEFENSIVE

1 Peter 2:23 While being reviled, He [Jesus] did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously

There are two reasons why you should not be defensive when there is a critical, negative evaluation of you.

First, if you are in the wrong, you don't have a defense. If you are criticized for saying something which is out of order or doing something which is wrong, and the criticism is valid, any defensiveness on your part would be a rationalization at best and a lie at worst. You must simply respond, "You're right; I was wrong," then take steps to improve your character and behavior.

Second, if you are right, you don't need a defense. Peter encouraged us to follow in the footsteps of Jesus who "while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously" (1 Peter 2:23). If you are in the right, you don't need to defend yourself. The Righteous Judge, who knows who you are and what you have done, will exonerate you.

A dear lady entered my office with a well-thought-out list of "things for me" and "things against me." I suggested that she share the "things for me" first. That didn't take long! As she was going through the "things against me," the part of me that is made of earth wanted to respond to every allegation. But I didn't. When she was finished, there was an awkward pause before I said, "It must have taken a lot of courage to come in and share that with me. What do you suggest I do?" She started to cry.

Nobody tears another down from a position of strength or judges another without being judged. Judgmental people are people in pain. If you can learn not to be defensive when someone exposes your character defects or attacks your performance, you may have an opportunity to turn the situation around and minister to that person.

Prayer:

Lord, give me the courage not to react defensively. You are the only defense I need, and I entrust myself to You, who judges righteously.

Thursday, December 06, 2007

Godly Criticism

Mark Dever has a post on The Five Points of Criticism

Summary: it should be done . . .

1. “Directly, not indirectly”
2. “Seriously, not humorously”
3. “As if it’s important, not casually”
4. “Privately, not publicly”
5. “Out of love for them, not to express your feeling or frustration”

Work World

Elisabeth Elliot Daily Devotional

Title: Women in the Work World

Because I want to be faithful to what Scripture does say I often refer to that passage which tells me, as an older woman, what I am supposed to say to younger women: Titus 2:3-5. But, they want to know, is it wrong for a single mother to work? Is it wrong for a woman who has no children at home to work? Is it wrong for a woman to work because her husband insists on it?

The last question is not quite so difficult, since a wife must submit and trust the results to God. I cannot answer the first two. So, for you who so far have found it necessary to work I want to offer some encouragement and comfort.

1. "My God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:19, NIV). Just remember that God must be the judge of your needs. Being wise, powerful and loving, He can be fully trusted to do just what He says.

2. You only know what you have to do today. None of us knows the future. Be faithful today--do your work faithfully, thoroughly, honestly, and gratefully. "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving" (Colossians 3:23-24, NIV).

3. Be a lady. Betty Greene, pilot during World War II and later with Mission Aviation Fellowship, told me, "I made up my mind if I was to 'make it in a man's world,' I had to be a lady." A true lady is recognized and respected by men. Keep your honor, your distance, and your close touch with God. He will protect you.

4. If you are truly abandoned to the Lord, He will show you if/when He has a different assignment for you. Stay in touch with Him.

Criticism

Christian Working Woman Transcript

Thursday, December 06, 2007 - Criticism: Giving It and Receiving It

Have you ever asked someone to give you an honest criticism? A very positive action on your part is to solicit criticism when appropriate. Ask for it, if you please. A sign of maturity is recognizing you don't know it all and you’re open to learn more and to change, and you want to improve. Have you ever asked your boss for some honest feedback? Have you ever said, “I realize I need to improve in this area. Can you give me some good pointers on how to do that?”

Soliciting appropriate criticism says a lot about you, and the response you receive is generally given in a positive way, much more palatable than unsolicited criticism. Instead of a criticism, it becomes a “critique.” There’s a perceived difference between a criticism and a critique. Criticisms have the feeling of finding fault, pointing fingers, condemnation. Critiques have a much more positive feeling; they are like a review or analysis for the purpose of helping.

I encourage you, when appropriate, to ask your boss for a critique of your work. Ask your mate for a critique of your relationship. Ask your children for a critique of your parenting skills! That may appear a little scary, but it could produce some very encouraging and enlightening conversations.

Remember that some people just don't know how to give criticism well. They may be well-intentioned, but the form it comes in can be difficult to handle. Don't let that keep you from accepting valid criticism. Separate the form from the content. Look behind poor delivery for good motives, and you may discover some very meaningful information to help you.

Proverbs 19:20 says, Listen to advice and accept instructions, and in the end you will be wise. We are the winners when we learn to solicit and accept the right kind of criticism, while at the same time refusing to dwell on the unfair and condemning ones.

Wednesday, December 05, 2007

New Birth

Excerpt from What Happens in the New Birth? Part 2. by John Piper

...

I think this [Ezekiel 36:24-28] is the passage that gives rise to Jesus words, “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” To whom does he say, “You shall be my people, and I will be your God” (v. 28)? Verse 25: To the ones to whom he says, “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses.” And verse 26: To the ones to whom he says, “I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you.” In other words, the ones who will enter the kingdom are those who have a newness that involves a cleansing of the old and a creation of the new.

So I conclude that “water and Spirit” refer to two aspects of our newness when we are born again. And the reason both are important is this: When we say that a new spirit, or a new heart, is given to us, we don’t mean that we cease to be the human being—the morally accountable self—that we have always been. I was the individual human being John Piper before I was born again, and I am the individual human being John Piper after I was born again. There is a continuity. That’s why there has to be cleansing. If the old human being, John Piper, were completely obliterated, the whole concept of forgiveness and cleansing would be irrelevant. There would be nothing leftover from the past to forgive or cleanse.
...

So the way to think about your new heart, new spirit, new nature is that it is still you and so needs to be forgiven and cleansed—that’s the point of the referring to water. My guilt must be washed away. Cleansing with water is a picture of that. Jeremiah 33:8 puts it like this: “I will cleanse them from all the guilt of their sin against me, and I will forgive all the guilt of their sin and rebellion against me.” So the person that we are—that continues to exist—must be forgiven, and the guilt washed away.

But forgiveness and cleansing is not enough. I need to be new. I need to be transformed. I need life. I need a new way of seeing and thinking and valuing. That’s why Ezekiel speaks of a new heart and a new spirit in verse 26 and 27: “I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.”
...

Finding Our Worth

Neil Anderson Daily in Christ

GIVING IN TO THE SYSTEM

1 Peter 2:4 And coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected by men, but choice and precious in the sight of God

"Pastor, I'm a loser," a high school boy told me dejectedly. He explained that he wanted to be a star football player, but had been cut from the team. Instead of being in the spotlight as an athlete, he had to settle for being a member of the pep band. And compared to star quarterbacks, clarinet players were losers at his school.

The largest group of people today respond to rejection like this boy did: by simply giving in to the system. They continue their efforts to try to earn approval, but the inevitable rejection by others prompts them to believe that they really are unlovable and rejectable. The system says that the best, the strongest, the most beautiful, and the most talented are "in." Those who don't fit those categories--which includes most of us--are "out," and we succumb to society's false judgment of our worth. As a result, a large segment of the population is plagued by feelings of worthlessness, inferiority and self-condemnation.

This person may have trouble relating to God. If he blames God for his state, it will be difficult to trust Him. "You made me a lowly clarinet player instead of a star quarterback," he complains. "If I trust You with other areas of my life, how do I know You won't make me a loser there too?"
By giving in to the system's false judgment, this person can only look forward to more and more rejection. He has bought the lie and he even rejects himself. Therefore, any success or acceptance which comes his way will be questioned or doubted on the basis of what he already believes about himself.


God has not equally distributed gifts, talents or intelligence, but He has equally distributed Himself. Our sense of worth comes from knowing who we are as children of God. "See how great a love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God; and such we are" (1 John 3:1).

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, thank You for creating me the way You have and for making me Your child. I find my worth in You.

Tuesday, December 04, 2007

Prayer

Excerpt from A Summary Theology of Prayer by John Piper

...

3. The obedience and service of God's people will glorify him most when they consciously and manifestly depend on him for the grace and power to do what they do.

1 Peter 4:11 Whoever speaks [must do so] as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies-in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

2 Thessalonians 1:11-12: To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, 12 so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

4. Prayer for God's help is one way that God preserves and manifests the dependence of his people on his grace and power. The necessity of prayer is a constant reminder and display of our dependence on God for everything, so that he gets the glory when we get the help.

Psalm 50:15: Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.

John 14:13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

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In the World But Not of It

Neil Anderson Daily in Christ

BEATING THE SYSTEM

Luke 14:11 Everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, and he who humbles himself shall be exalted

A small percentage of people defend against rejection by buying into the dog-eat-dog system of the world and learning to compete and scheme to get ahead of the pack. These are the movers and shakers, people who earn acceptance and strive for significance through their performance. They feel driven to get on top of every situation because winning is their passport to acceptance. They are characterized by perfectionism and emotional insulation and they struggle with anxiety and stress.

Spiritually, the beat-the-system individual refuses to come under God's authority and has little fellowship with God. This person is committed to controlling and manipulating people and circumstances for his own ends, so it is difficult for him to yield control in his life to God. In our churches this person jockeys to be chairman of the ruling board or the most influential member on a committee. His motivation is not to serve God in this position, however, but to control his world because his self-worth is dependent on it. Beat-the-system controllers are some of the most insecure people you will meet.

Sadly, the controlling individual's defensive strategy only delays inevitable rejection. Eventually his ability to control his family, his employees, and his church diminishes and he is replaced by a younger, stronger controller. Some survive this mid-life crisis, but many who make it to retirement don't enjoy much of it. Studies show that high-powered executives live an average of nine months after they retire. They base their lives in the world system they seek to conquer, but inevitably the world claims its own. "See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ" (Colossians 2:8).

Prayer:
Gracious Lord, teach me to be in this world but not of it. I choose Your kingdom to be my standard.

Criticism

Christian Working Woman Transcript

Tuesday, December 04, 2007 - Criticism: Giving It and Receiving It

How do you answer a criticism without sounding defensive? I want to enumerate four practical steps to take to help you deal effectively in the right spirit when someone criticizes you, even if it’s not a fair criticism.

1. Pray that God will give you the patience and wisdom to handle incoming criticisms appropriately.

Just make that a daily prayer, and if there are specific people or situations that cause you to become defensive, pray specifically about those. This is preparing yourself in advance; it is putting on the armor of God, if you will, so that when those flaming arrows of criticism come your way, you’re not doomed to handle it in the wrong way.

2. Don’t go into automatic defensive mode when you are criticized, even if it's unfair.

Listen to it and bite your tongue if you have to, in order to avoid saying something defensive. Watch your body language and facial expressions, also. Don’t allow them to send a defensive response. Just listen. Proverbs 18:13 says, He who answers before listening–that is his folly and his shame. A defensive reaction is something you will regret later on.

3. Give yourself time before you respond.

I have learned that if I react right away, it is usually the wrong reaction. But if I wait, then I can respond properly. Even a five minute delay can help you regain control, send up an emergency prayer, and respond in a much better way. So, buy yourself some time.

4. Begin your response with positive words.

This is effective whether the criticism is fair or not, whether it’s given in the right way or not. It shows self-control and maturity on your part. You might say something like, "You know, I really appreciate you sharing that with me. That gives me something to think about, and I will."

Monday, December 03, 2007

Counter-Culture Pilgrim-Like Christianity

Excerpt from "Where Is It Most Difficult to Be a Christian?" by John Piper

But in America nobody is going to kill you for being a Christian. Rather, the dangers here are more subtle—and probably more dangerous. In fact, it just might be more difficult to be a strong, vibrant, Christ-exalting, mission-driven Christian in America.

You know the parable in Luke 8 about the four soils. On the first soil, the hard path, the sower sows the seed and the bird (representing the Devil) plucks it up. The second soil likewise loses its seed. That happens when the sun, which represents persecution, burns it up. (Maybe that would be like the difficulty of being a Christian in a country where it is illegal.)

Then Jesus tells about a third soil where thorns grow up with the seed and choke out the word. Those thorns are then identified as the pleasures and the cares of this word. That's America.

That third soil is America where to be a Christian is sometimes just easy. It's clubby. You go to church, the music is nice, the AC is nice, the lighting is nice, the friends are there, the children have something fun to do, the sermon is more-or-less interesting, and we can go home saying that we've been Christians.

Christians in other countries, however, are underground and must keep their voices quiet. And if they're found out then they go to jail. Those are two very different situations.

It's easy to just slide in to traditional religiosity in America. We need to be summoned again and again to a biblical vision of counter-cultural, pilgrim-like Christianity, where this world is not our home. We also need to take steps to make sure that we put governors on our lifestyle and that we engage in acts of love that may be costly. We need to channel our wealth towards those who need it most, in terms of receiving the gospel and all that the gospel brings.

So it's really dangerous to live in America, and I think we ought to be very careful that we not equate the American way with the Christian way.

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Acceptance

Neil Anderson Daily Devotional

THE ACCEPTANCE OF GOD

John 15:20 If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you

Everyone knows what it feels like to be criticized and rejected, often by the very people in our lives we desperately want to please. We were born and raised in a worldly environment which chooses favorites and rejects seconds. And since nobody can be the best at everything, we all were ignored, overlooked or rejected at times by parents, teachers and friends.

Furthermore, since we were born in sin, even God had no relationship with us until we were accepted by Him in Christ at salvation. Since then we have been the target of Satan, the accuser of the brethren (Revelation 12:10), who never ceases to lie to us about how worthless we are to God and others. In this life we all have to live with the pain of rejection.

The acceptance of God is not based on our performance but on His kindness and mercy. "But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy" (Titus 3:4, 5). "Wherefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God" (Romans 15:7).

The thoughts and feelings of rejection which often plague us can be major deterrents to growth and maturity if we don't learn to handle them positively. Unfortunately, instead of taking a positive approach, we all learned early in life to respond to rejection by taking one of three defensive postures. Even Christians are influenced to react defensively to the rejection they experience in their family, their school, or society in general.

Over the next several days we will look at three ineffective and unnecessary ways to respond to rejection, and consider God's plan for helping us deal with rejection from others.

Prayer:

Thank You, Lord, for Your unconditional love and acceptance. Teach me to accept others as You have accepted me.