Surprised by God

Excerpts from James K. A. Smith Teaching a Calvinist to Dance from ChristianityToday

It can be a little intimidating in a Reformed context to admit that one is Pentecostal. It's a bit like being at the ballet and letting it slip that you're partial to NASCAR and country music. Both claims tend to clear a room. And yet I happily define myself as a Reformed charismatic, a Pentecostal Calvinist.

...

Reformed folks praise, value, honor, and make central the sovereignty of God. The theological giants of the Reformed tradition—Calvin, Edwards, Kuyper, and others—have put God's sovereignty at the center and heart of a Reformed "world- and life-view." God is the Lord of the cosmos; God is free from having to meet our expectations; God is sovereign in his election of the people of God.

I think there is an interesting way in which Pentecostals live out a spirituality that takes that sovereignty really, really seriously. In particular, I think Pentecostal spirituality and charismatic worship take the sovereignty of God so seriously that you might actually be surprised by God every once in a while. You are open and expectant that the Spirit of God is sometimes going to surprise you, because God is free to act in ways that might differ from your set of expectations.

...

Reformed folk, particularly in the Dutch tradition of Kuyper and Dooyeweerd, often emphasize the "goodness of creation"— that God created a material universe that he pronounced "very good" (Gen. 1:31). And although it is fallen, God is redeeming this world, not redeeming us out of it. An important piece of that affirmation is the goodness of embodiment—the goodness of the stuff we bump into, the bodies we inhabit.

But that's precisely why I've always found it a bit strange that Reformed worship so often treats human beings as if we're brains-on-a-stick. All week long we talk about how good creation is, how good embodiment is. But then we have habits of worship that merely deposit great ideas in our heads, making us rather cerebral disciples. Despite all our talk about the goodness of creation and embodiment, in Reformed worship the body doesn't show up that much.

Pentecostals, on the other hand, embody their spirituality. I would argue that Pentecostal worship is the extension of the Reformed intuition about the goodness of creation and the goodness of embodiment. We can see this in just a few examples.

...

Harmony

Christian Working Woman Transcript

Friday, May 16, 2008 - Numbering Our Days

I was never particularly good at math, were you? But there's a new math that I truly want to learn. It is the Bible math of learning to number my days rightly.

Numbering our days rightly means that we learn to see everything that happens in light of its meaning in eternity, where we will have numberless days. Whether we have five days left to live, or five thousand or more, they are fleeting and brief and very short compared to numberless days. Yet what we do with our few numbered days will have a great impact on our numberless days. Look closely at this passage from 2 Peter 3:

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. "Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.

Numbering our days rightly produces holy and godly lives, and that kind of life is good for the Judgment Seat because it will not go up in smoke but will produce jewels and gold. But not only is it good for numberless days, living a godly life is the best thing for us while we're still in these numbered days.

Living "holy and godly" just means you are living in harmony with God's plan for your life and that's where we find meaning and joy and peace and contentment and freedom from fear and guilt. This new Bible math called numbering your days is the key to fulfillment here on earth as well as a beautiful experience when you stand at the Judgment Seat of Christ.

Want to learn this new math? Start praying that God will teach you. Remember to say to yourself many times each day: "What difference will this make in eternity?" That's how you number your days rightly.

My book, Looking with Forever Eyes, was written to help us learn to number our days rightly, and I’m offering you a copy of this book for a donation in any amount. I really believe it will give you many more practical help in acquiring this life-changing attitude of living now in the light of eternity. So, contact us today, and for a donation in any amount, we’ll send you a copy of my book, Looking with Forever Eyes.

Epidemic

Excerpts from Leaving Christ(ianity) -- A Christian Epidemic by C. Michael Patton at Parchment and Pen

I sat down with a young lady a couple of weeks ago and had a conversation. This was a conversation about faith—her faith. Better put, this was a conversation about a faith that once was and is no more. She was a very interesting and bright lady—inquisitive, well-read, and suspicious. She began by telling me that she was a Christian (past tense) and had since left the faith. Christ was once a part of her confession, but, as she recounted to me, after a long voyage of not finding sufficient answers for her doubts, she believes that she had no choice but to follow her own integrity and renounce Christ all together. I asked her what her problems were and she became very emotional. It was like I represented Christianity and she was ready to take it all out on me.

...

Over 31 million Americans are saying “check please” to the church, and are off to find answers elsewhere. Jeff Schadt, coordinator of Youth Transition Network, says thousands of youth fall away from the church when transitioning from high school to college. He and other youth leaders estimate that 65 to 94 percent of high school students stop attending church after graduating. From my studies and experience I find that leaving church is many times the first visible step in one’s pilgrimage away from Christ.

The question that we must ask is a very simple one: Why? Why are people leaving the faith at this epidemic and alarming rate? In my studies, I have found that the two primary reasons people leave the faith are 1) intellectual challenges and 2) bad theology or misplaced beliefs.

...

Everyone will go through the doubt phase. Everyone should ask questions about the faith. If you have not asked the “How do you know . . .” questions about the message of the Gospel, this is not a good thing. We should be challenged to think through these questions early in the faith. The Church needs to rethink its education program. Expositional preaching, while important, is not enough. Did you hear that? Expositional preaching is not enough. It does not provide the discipleship venue that is vital for us to prevent and overcome this epidemic. We should not fool ourselves into thinking that it does.

The church has been on an intellectual diet for the last century and we are suffering from theological atrophy. What else do you expect when we have replaced theological discipleship with a gluttonous promotion of entertainment, numbers, and fast-food Christianity that can produce nothing more than a veneer of faith seasoned for departure?

The solution: to reform our educational program in the church. To lay theological foundations through critical thinking. To understand that the great commission is to make disciples, not simply converts. And most importantly, we must pray that God will grant a revival of the mind knowing that without the power of the Holy Spirit, no amount of intellectual persuasion can change an antagonistic heart.

Without these, the epidemic of leaving Christ will only worsen.

“The heart will not accept what the mind rejects.” —Jonathan Edwards

Evangelical

See responses from many including Cal Thomas, Chuck Colson, N.T. Wright, and more, to the question:

"Some Christian leaders issued An Evangelical Manifesto last week to depoliticize the term 'evangelical.' "We evangelicals are defined theologically, and not politically, socially or culturally," they said. In your mind, what is the definition of an evangelical?"

at On Faith at washingtonpost.com

Dependency

Neil Anderson Daily in Christ

DEPENDENCE ON GOD

John 15:5
I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from me you can do nothing

The fourth qualification for demonstrating authority over rulers and authorities in the spiritual realm is dependence . A Spirit-filled life is dependent on God the Father. Even Jesus and the Holy Spirit modeled this dependency. Jesus said: "I can do nothing on My own initiative" (John 5:30); "Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you" (John 17:7 NIV ); "But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak" (John 16:13).

Spiritual authority is not an independent authority. We don't charge out on our own initiative like some kind of evangelical ghostbusters to hunt down the devil and engage him in combat. God's primary call is for each of us to focus on the ministry of the kingdom: loving, caring, preaching, teaching, praying, etc. However, when demonic powers challenge us in the course of pursuing this ministry, we deal with them on the basis of our authority in Christ and our dependence on Him. Then we carry on with our primary task.

Nor is the spiritual authority of the believer an authority to be exercised over other believers. We are to be "subject to one another in the fear of Christ" (Ephesians 5:21). There is a God-established authority on earth which governs the social structures of government, work, home and church (Romans 13:1-7). It is critically important that we submit to these governing authorities unless they operate outside the scope of their authority, command us to do something against God's will, or restrict us from doing what God has commanded. Then we must obey God rather than men.

Prayer:

Lord, it's a great relief to know I can depend on You. You are the Rock, the Almighty, unchanging, full of glory. I praise You.

More Art Than Science

"I think our generation is approaching ministry more as an art than a science. Since the Enlightenment, 'doing church' has been seen as a science, and it was seen as linear, organized, with clearcut leadership principles. Our generation doesn't see things that way anymore. We approach things more creatively, more organically."

-Dave Terpstra is teaching pastor of The Next Level Church in Denver. Taken from "Next & Level" in the Spring 2008 issue of Leadership journal.

Out of Context: Dave Terstra | Out of Ur

Glory of God

Excerpt from A Divine and Supernatural Light Immediately Imparted to the Soul by the Spirit of God by John Piper

...

Focus with me for a few moments on the root of Jonathan Edwards' God-entranced vision of all things. The root is sunk into three levels of salvation. And what makes Edwards' vision of all things so God-entranced and God-centered and God-exalting is that in each of these three levels of salvation God himself is sovereign and decisive and beautiful. You can see these three levels of salvation in 2 Corinthians 4:4 and 4:6.

I'll point them out and then come back and look at them more closely with you. Focus first on the last part of verse 4.

"In their case [those who are perishing] the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God."

Then notice the close parallel to the last words of verse 4 in the last part of verse 6:

"For God, who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."

Notice the similar words in verses 4 and 6:

Verse 4: "the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God."

Verse 6: "the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ."

In both verses the word "light" is parallel. Then the words "gospel" and "knowledge" are parallel: "Light of the gospel" and "light of knowledge." Then the term "glory of Christ" is parallel to "glory of God": "the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ" and "the light of the knowledge of the glory of God." And in both verses Paul adds words to show how the "glory of God" is in fact "the glory of Christ." He does it in verse 4 by saying Christ is the "image of God," so Christ's glory is the glory of God. And he does it in verse 6 by saying that God's glory is seen "in the face of Christ," so God's glory is the glory of Christ.

Now notice the three levels of salvation in these two parallel verses. The deepest level of salvation is in the term, "the glory of Christ, who is the image of God," or "the glory of God in the face of Christ." This is the deepest level of Edwards' vision - the glory of God in Christ, or the glory of Christ who is God. You cannot go beneath this. There is no deeper reality and no greater value than the glory of God in Christ. There is no prize and no satisfaction beyond this. When you have this, you are at the end. You are home. The glory of God is not a means to anything greater. This is ultimate, absolute reality. All true salvation ends here, not before and not beyond. There is no beyond. The glory of God in Christ is what makes the gospel "gospel."

The second level of salvation, moving up from the deepest level of the glory of Christ, is the gospel of Christ. This is the good news (verse 4, or, as verse 6 says, the "knowledge") of what Christ has done in history to make access to the deepest level of salvation possible for guilty sinners. What makes the good news ultimately good is that it opens the way for sinners to approach the glory of God with all-satisfying joy instead of being incinerated. We will come back in a moment to see what Christ did.

The third level of salvation, moving up from the glory of Christ and the gospel of Christ is the shining of divine light in the human heart that enables it to see and savor the gospel of the glory of Christ. You see this in the word "light" in verses 4: "light of the gospel" and verse 6: "light of the knowledge." But you see most clearly how this light comes in verse 6: "For God, who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' has shone in our hearts to give the light. . ." It is not enough to hear "the gospel" mentioned in verse 4, or to have "the knowledge" mentioned in verse 6. There must be a divine work of illumination or awakening. God himself, by his Spirit, must do an act of creation as he did at the beginning of the universe when he said, "Let there be light." Edwards will call this act of God "regeneration" - being born again.

...

Faith

"The goal of faith is not the elimination of risk. In fact, the greatest risk is taking no risks. Isn't that the principle in the parable of the talents? Jesus commends the two men who take a risk and make a return. But the servant who buries his talent and breaks even is called "wicked." Why? Because he wasn't willing to take a calculated risk. Maybe risk taking is at the heart of righteousness. Maybe righteousness has less to do with not doing anything wrong and more to do with doing things right. Righteousness is using our God-given gifts to their God-given potential. And that requires risk. Maybe our view of sanctification is too sanitized. Maybe our view of Christianity is too civilized. Maybe we need to reconsider what made our spiritual ancestors heroic."

In a Pit with a Lion On a Snowy Day by Mark Batterson, p. 109.

Perspective

From yesterday's Christian Working Woman

Monday, May 12, 2008 - Numbering Our Days

How many days do you have left? That's a very sobering, somewhat unsettling question, isn't it? We don't like to think about the fact that our days here on this earth are numbered. Oh, we all know the number behind us–how many days we've lived already. But thinking about how many are left–well, that's not something we think about too often. In fact, most of us live as though our days are without number.

In Psalm 39 David wrote:

Show me, O Lord, my life's end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting is my life.

And in Psalm 90 Moses prayed:

Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

These men of God were not asking for a gift of prophecy, but rather for a change in perspective. They understood that living in the knowledge of how fleeting life is becomes a life-changing attitude, and they recognized that this attitude doesn't come naturally to anyone. So they prayed for the ability to number their days.

I would suggest that all of us need to pray this prayer daily: "Lord, teach me to number my days correctly." You see, how you number your days has everything to do with how you live your life! Let me try to illustrate this for you.

Let's say that you learn that a coworker has been given a promotion that you deserve. That is hurtful and your natural reaction is anger, retribution, self-defense. But suppose you knew you only had five more days here on this earth. Would that loss of promotion have much, if any, effect on you? No, I doubt it, because since your days are few, a lost promotion isn't really important, is it?

That's what David meant when he prayed "let me know how fleeting is my life." You see, this is an attitude that has to come from God because it is not a natural, human tendency to number our days aright. Moses prayed "Teach me to number my days aright," and we need to sign up for that course as well. It is an attitude that has to be learned and imposed into our lives, but when we learn this lesson, we gain a heart of wisdom.

Boldness

Neil Anderson Daily in Christ

SPIRIT-INSPIRED BOLDNESS

Joshua 1:9
Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go

The third qualification for demonstrating authority over rulers and authorities in the spiritual realm is boldness . A Spirit-filled Christian is characterized by a true, godly sense of courage and boldness in spiritual warfare. On the eve of taking authority over the Promised Land, Joshua was challenged four times to be strong and courageous (Joshua 1:6, 7, 9, 18). When the early church prayed about their mission of sharing the gospel in Jerusalem, "the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak the word of God with boldness" (Acts 4:31). Spirit-inspired boldness is behind every successful advance in the church today.

The opposite of boldness is cowardice, fear and unbelief. Notice what God thinks about these characteristics:

I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost. He who overcomes shall inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son. But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murders and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death (Revelation 21:6-8).

That's pretty serious--cowards lined up at the lake of fire alongside murderers, sorcerers and idolaters! It should serve to motivate us to exercise authority with boldness (2 Timothy 1:7).

A lot of Christians I meet fear the dark side of the spiritual world. It's true that a little knowledge can be a dangerous and frightful thing, but a growing knowledge of the truth is liberating. Seminary students have told me, "I used to be afraid of that stuff, but now I know who I am in Christ, and I'm not afraid anymore." That's exactly the perception we should have.

Prayer:

Lord, increase my courage to light candles of truth and dispel the darkness in Your name. I will fear only You today, not the enemy.

Another World

If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not mean that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing.

— C. S. Lewis

(found at New City Church)

Respectable Sins

Excerpts from Every Sin? at GucciLittlePiggy

...

For some time I've struggled with (or rebelled against to be more accurate) the sinfulness of owning music that really isn't mine. ...

Like most sins I struggle with, I've tried to rationalize having them a thousand different ways. ...

Yet for a long season my conscience has been pricked on this issue. For reasons I can't finger, the burden has been heavier on me of late. The proverbial straw that broke the camel's back arrived with the words of a man who lived roughly 400 years before the iPod was ever invented. His name was John Owen, a English Puritan pastor who wrote a little diddy entitled On the Mortification of Sin. I read it a year or two ago in The Works of John Owen, Vol. 6.

For some reason (again, go figure) I decided to reread some of my initial highlights just to catch up with what Owens was saying in dealing with sin and temptation. Almost immediately I read this sentence marked in green highlighter:

Without sincerity and diligence in a universality of obedience,
there is no mortification of any one perplexing lust to be obtained. (Owen, 40)

In essence, if I'm to really see sin killed (mortified) in my life to any degree I need to have my heart set with "sincerity and diligence in a universality of obedience" - I must desire to obey Christ in every aspect of my life. That did it for me! It was inescapable for the next steps I needed to take. Jerry Bridges writes about "respectable sins" concerning those areas of disobedience that we tolerate. I haven't read the book, but on my list is stealing music. It had to go.

So I'm trying to repent of it. I spent well over an hour trying to clean up my computer, iPhone and iTunes from all the illegal stuff I've kept. ...

...

Needs

Christian Working Woman Transcript

Tuesday, May 06, 2008 - Overcoming Our Addictions

Most of us have some habits or areas where we are more controlled than we are in control. Do you see any addictive tendencies in your own life–anything out of balance that tends to control you?

Many people are addicted to other people; we call that a dependency these days. I know women who are addicted to men who are very bad for them, but they can't seem to break away. I've had many letters from people involved in affairs and they are addicted to those relationships. The relationship is not making them happy, it is ruining their lives, and in one case a woman was considering suicide because of her affair with a man. But she said she could not break away from that man.

And of course as Christians we have an enemy, Satan, who is very good at false advertising. When Satan tempted Eve, he told her how wise and god-like and invincible she would be if she ate the forbidden fruit. Never did he tell her that by this act, sin would enter the world, and as a result one of her sons would kill another, sorrow and troubles would come upon all people, and there would be wars and destruction throughout all generations. Eve bought Satan’s false advertising.

But don't be too hard on Eve, because we often buy Satan's lies ourselves. And that's one way we become addicted. Something looks good, such as an affair, it feels good for awhile, and before we know it, we're addicted. But we soon discover the big lie, and often it's too late; we've become addicted.

Now, why are we susceptible to these addictions? Well, isn't it because we are looking for something to satisfy a perceived need? If you scratch the surface, you'll find that most if not all of our addictions are a result of trying to meet our needs in our own way, instead of accepting God's provision for our needs. The needs are legitimate, but our way of meeting them is often destructive.

Details

Excerpt of Aesthetics post by Mark Batterson at Evotional

I was reading the latest issue of Fast Company and came across an article that inspired me. Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide are known for their extraordinary customer service. upscale hotels. Here are some of the ways they serve their guests and create a unique hotel experience.

...

Listen, that may sound extravagant. But what if we put half that effort in welcoming people into our worship environments? What I'm trying to say is this: aesthetics are important. If you don't believe me, then why are a dozen chapters in Exodus devoted to the aesthetics of the tabernacle. God is in the details. He details everything from the color of the curtains to the recipe for the incense!

...

Mission

Excerpts from How Public Is the Gospel? by Collin Hansen at Christianity Today

Has anyone seen N.T. Wright sleep? It seems like no week can end before the Anglican bishop of Durham publishes yet another groundbreaking book. Christianity Today recently excerpted his latest effort, Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church.

As with his other works, Wright has encouraged his many fans on both sides of the Atlantic even as he has provoked some critics. Wright's position as a leader in the Church of England exposes him to jabs from all sides. But this role also makes him quite influential. He wants to hold out the gospel for a largely post-Christian United Kingdom, in part by refuting the faulty scholarship of biblical critics. But he also wants to challenge Christians to see the gospel in a new way. Thus, he takes issue with Luther's view on justification by faith alone. He also worries that many Christians have unbiblically privatized the gospel, stripping the Good News of its public imperative.

This last point has renewed a vigorous theological debate. Wright argues in Surprised By Hope that the "mission of the church is nothing more or less than the outworking, in the power of the Spirit, of Jesus' bodily resurrection. It is the anticipation of the time when God will fill the earth with his glory, transform the old heavens and earth into the new, and raise his children from the dead to populate and rule over the redeemed world he has made."

...

Tim Keller and his Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City fall somewhere between Wright and Dever. Writing for Leadership, Keller answered this year's question for the Christian Vision Project, "Is our gospel too small?" (The article is not yet available online.) In so doing he took a stab at defining the gospel. "Through the person and work of Jesus Christ, God fully accomplishes salvation for us, rescuing us from the judgment for sin into fellowship with him, and then restores the creation in which we can enjoy our new life together with him forever."

It's the last clause of this sentence that makes the difference. Is God's plan to renew creation part of the gospel message? If so, is it the center of the gospel or a peripheral component of the Good News? Again, how you answer these questions affects how you will live, and how you will expect fellow church members to act.

"When the third, 'eschatological' element is left out, Christians get the impression that nothing much about this world matters," Keller wrote. "Theoretically, grasping the full outline should make Christians interested in both evangelistic conversions as well as service to our neighbor and working for peace and justice in the world."

...

Church Space

Excerpts from Welcome to 'My-Space' by Joshua Ross at NewWineskins

...

In October of 2007, the leaders at Southwest Central Church (SWC) chose to take a cookout outside of the city gates (the church property) and to enter into a sun-deprived courtyard at the Louvre.

The apartment manager was surprisingly enthusiastic about our desire to “hang out” with her residents. She had one suggestion—she wanted us to arrange the cookout anytime but the heaviest drinking times, Saturday to Sunday night. In her mind, the thought of mingling church folks (those who are supposed to have it together) with beer drinkers was embarrassing. Our church chose Sunday afternoon. We would trust our people to make their own decisions if an ice cold beverage was offered their way.

I wish I could write that we entered into this experience with no fear, only love and conviction. That would be far short of the truth. Nervousness and apprehension gave birth to low expectations. At SWC, we are like most churches; we are attached to church space. We find it easy to invite people to enter into our territory where home field advantage is appreciated and desired. Stepping on to someone else’s turf means that one must relinquish power, control, and every hint of manipulation. Possibly unknowingly, we have replaced the imperative in the Great Commission “Go” with “Come.” We seem to be content with playing the “Jesus game” on our own turf.
...

Over the next two hours, we stepped onto the turf of our nearest neighbors and we made friends. We didn’t enter with an agenda, but only with a craving to join our fellow human beings on a journey in life. Over three-hundred and fifty hamburgers and hotdogs were grilled, yet that was only a foretaste of what God did among us.

We walked around the complex, inviting bystanders to come and join our feast. I knocked on the door of José. We shook hands and had small talk. Small talk was how I figured out how much English he knew, and I already knew how little Spanish I know!

Although, I easily passed high school Spanish, I can’t really speak Spanish. I was grateful that José was able to speak broken English. Within the first five minutes, I learned that he had moved to the United States from Guatemala.

Back home, he was hunted by drug lords. Unable to find him, they put bullets into his mother. José had left a life of utter darkness and emptiness—running from enemies, drugs, alcohol, and gang activity—in search of something new.

He held his young daughter who was salvaging the last few crumbs from a Doritos bag. José asked, “Why are you here anyways?”

“Because of Jesus,” I said.
...

Addictions

Christian Working Woman Transcript

Monday, May 05, 2008 - Overcoming Our Addictions

I want to look at addictions. Now, your first reaction may be, "Well, this won't apply to me, because I'm not addicted to anything." Usually we associate addiction with alcohol or drugs.

But you know, I'm beginning to realize that most of us are addicted to something or other. We may call it by a more acceptable name such as a bad habit, or stuck in our old ruts, or some kind of dependency. They sound a little better than addiction, but in reality they are addictions.

An addiction is anything that tends to control your behavior rather than you controlling it. We are addicted to that which we cannot quit or that which we cannot keep in balance in our lives.

For example, people are addicted to work; you and I know many workaholics who literally are driven to work all the time. Others are quite the opposite, addicted to laziness. I know people who are addicted to spending money; they buy things they don't need and can't afford, but they can't seem to stop. All of us can relate to people who are addicted to food, and seem to be unable to stop their eating binges.

Think of the people who are addicted to sports, especially in this country. It goes far beyond enjoying a competitive game of some sort; their lives revolve around sports, either in participation or as a spectator. My son-in-law says at one time he was addicted to running. Others are addicted to television.

A listener indicated she was addicted to all her "stuff," and she just couldn't throw it out. A good friend of mine fights the addiction of biting her nails. When you have no control over yourself and can't do what you know you should do, you have to call it addiction.

I started to think about this addiction problem when God convicted me of some areas of addiction in my life. It wasn't much fun to have to admit there were some habits in my life which though not in themselves harmful, were starting to control me more than I was controlling them.

I'm certainly no expert on the topic, but I'd like to explore it with you. Think about areas of addiction in your life today. Maybe there are some you need to face up to, as I did.

Trustworthy

Neil Anderson Daily in Christ

BLOOM WHERE YOU ARE PLANTED

1 Corinthians 4:2
It is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy

An important concept about the will of God that my students hear at seminary is, "Bloom where you are planted." Be the best you can be at your present assignment, and stay there until God calls you elsewhere.

Oftentimes my students will say, "There are no openings to serve at my church!" My response, "Oh, yes there are. They're probably begging for someone to teach third-grade boys." The momentary silence reveals this thought: "But anyone can teach third-grade boys. I had something bigger in mind." Like maybe an opening in the Trinity!

Take the opportunity before you and teach those third-grade boys. Decide to be the best teacher they've ever had. You may start with only three little boys, but at the end of that year you've got 12 boys excited about God, Sunday school and church. Next year, when the personnel committee needs to fill leadership positions, they say, "We need some new life on the Christian education committee." Somebody aware of the fruit you are bearing says, "There's this guy doing a bang-up job with our third graders. Let's ask him to be on the committee."

Now that you are on the Christian education committee, decide to be the best committee member you can be. It won't be long before they recognize your initiative and say, "We could use this person on the board." Determine to become the best possible board member you can. Then an opening develops for an intern and guess who the people suggest! People hearing of your faithfulness and aware of the fruit you are bearing ask you to consider a full-time pastoral position. So you become the best youth pastor, small group pastor, or college minister you can possibly be. Before long you'll be bearing so much fruit that other churches will be inquiring about your availability.

God guides those who bloom where they are planted.

Prayer:

I want to be faithful in the small things, Lord, so You will advance me to greater responsibilities in Your timing and according to Your will.

Pray

Today is the National Day of Prayer.

2008 Prayer for Our Nation

Dr. Ravi Zacharias
2008 Honorary Chairman, National Day of Prayer Task Force


Holy Father, in a world where so many are hungry,
You have given us food in abundance;

In a world where so many are hurting,
You offer to bind up our wounds;

In a world where so many are lonely,
You offer friendship to every heart;

In a world longing for peace,
You offer hope.

Yet, we are so stubborn and resistant.
Have mercy upon us, Lord.

Our nation is at a crossroads this year;
we look to you to be our strength and shield.

Please give us the guidance to elect one who will honor you
and to respond to the wisdom from above
so that our hope may be renewed and our blessings be treasured.

In God's holy name.

Forgive

Neil Anderson Daily in Christ

THE COST OF FORGIVENESS

Matthew 18:35 NIV
Forgive your brother from your heart

Forgiveness is agreeing to live with the consequences of another person's sin. Forgiveness is costly; we pay the price of the evil we forgive. Yet you're going to live with those consequences whether you want to or not; your only choice is whether you will do so in the bondage of bitterness or the freedom of forgiveness. That's how Jesus forgave you--He took the consequences of your sin upon Himself. All true forgiveness is substitutional, because no one really forgives without bearing the penalty of the other person's sin.

Why then do we forgive? Because Christ forgave us. God the Father "made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Corinthians 5:21). Where is the justice? The cross makes forgiveness legally and morally right: "For the death that He died, He died to sin, once for all" (Romans 6:10).

How do you forgive from the heart? First, you acknowledge the hurt and the hate. If your forgiveness doesn't visit the emotional core of your past, it will be incomplete. This is the great evangelical cover-up. Christians feel the pain of interpersonal offenses, but we won't acknowledge it. Let God bring the pain to the surface so He can deal with it. This is where the healing takes place.

Ask God to bring to your mind those you need to forgive. Make a list of all those who have offended you. Since God has forgiven them by His grace, you can forgive them too. For each person on your list, say: "Lord, I forgive (name) for (offenses) ." Keep praying about each individual until you are sure that all the remembered pain has been dealt with. Don't try to rationalize or explain the offender's behavior. Forgiveness deals with your pain, not another's behavior. Remember: Positive feelings will follow in time; freeing yourself from the past is the critical issue.

Prayer:

Lord, I desire to be free from the hurt and the hate of offenses in my past. Today I move beyond desiring to forgive and asking Your help to forgive. Lord, I forgive _________ for ___________.

Ask Questions

Excerpt of Form and Function post from guccilittlepiggy

... The point is: we are talking about how we best maximize our redemptive potential. I think that's a critical question to repeatedly ask over time as people lead a local church.

Unfortunately, many churches get all too enamored with some model (of church) they saw operate with great effectiveness and adopted it, never to look back. At first, maybe even for decades it worked well for them and the context they lived in...but then something changed. Maybe it was the leadership, maybe it was the context, maybe it was everything in between but something changed that made their current model less effective for reaching and discipling people in their neck of the woods. But they don't change. They like the form (the model). It gives them comfort because of its familiarity, its easier because all your systems revolve around it and most of all it takes less courage to change (I mean, think of all the people you might lose if you shifted gears now).

...

Conviction

Summary of Each One Should Be Fully Convinced in His Own Mind by John Piper

[Romans 14]

...

So in this text we have two kinds of disagreements among Christians: What to think about certain days, and whether to eat certain foods. What is Paul’s counsel? In verses 1-4 his counsel was, Don’t despise each other and don’t judge each other. God has received the brother, the Lord will be his judge not you, and God will make the brother stand. Here he says something different. He says (verse 5b), “Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.” This is remarkable because it seems to make the problem worse not better. Let’s be sure we see it. Verse 5: “One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.”

This is not what I would have expected. He is not saying as a kind of concession, Each one can have his own conviction. He is saying, Each one should have his own conviction. It’s a command, not a permission: “Let each one be fully persuaded in his own mind” (hekastos en tö idiö voi plërophoreisthö). It’s the same word used in Romans 4:21 where it says that Abraham “grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, 21 fully convinced (plërophorëtheis) that God was able to do what he had promised.” It’s the same idea that we find in Romans 14:23, “Whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.” In other words, minor matters do not call for mushy faith or flimsy convictions. They call for clear faith and full conviction.

...

So here’s the sum of the matter: Paul is dealing with disagreements over non-essential matters like days and food. Instead of saying, “Don’t sweat the small stuff,” or “Lighten up,” he says, “Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.” He believes people with conviction and decisiveness are better risks than the other kind.

So how does he handle the risk of conflict when lots of people are “fully convinced” that their way is not sinful, and honors God, and is the best way they can see for themselves in this situation? He boldly asserts that opposite behaviors—eating and not eating—can both show the worth of Christ. To support that radical statement he says its true of the ultimate condition of opposites: life and death. And to support that radical statement he goes to the greatest event in history: “For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.”

The living display the infinite worth of his lordship by valuing him in all his good gifts. The dead display the infinite value of his lordship by valuing him above all his gifts when they are taken away.

Therefore, I do not say to you, “Lighten up.” Or, “Don’t sweat the small stuff.” Rather I say, “Stand in awe of the risen Christ who will get his glory from the living and from the dead and from the eaters and the abstainers and from the day-keepers and the non-day-keepers. Stand in awe of Jesus Christ. And whatever you do, whether you eat or whether you drink, do all to the glory of Christ (1 Corinthians 10:31).

Jump?

Neil Anderson Daily in Christ

ACTIVE FAITH

James 2:18
You have faith, and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works

When my son Karl was just a toddler, I would stand him up on the table and call for him to jump from the table into my arms. Did Karl believe I would catch him? Yes. How did I know he believed? Because he jumped. Suppose he wouldn't jump. "Do you believe I will catch you, Karl?" I might coax, and he may nod yes. But if he never jumps, does he really believe I will catch him? No. Faith is active, not passive. Faith takes a stand. Faith makes a move. Faith speaks up.

There are a lot of Christians who claim to have great faith in God but are spiritually lethargic and don't do anything. Faith without action is not faith; it's dead, meaningless (James 2:17, 18)! If it isn't expressed, it isn't faith. In order to believe God and His Word, we must do what He says. If you don't do what He says, you don't really believe Him. Faith and action are inseparable.

Sadly, one of the common pictures of the church today is of a group of people with an assumed faith but little action. We're thankful that our sins are forgiven and that Jesus is preparing a place in heaven for us, but we're basically cowering in fear and defeat in the world, just hanging on until the rapture. We treat the church as if it's a hospital. We get together to compare wounds and hold each other's hands, yearning for Jesus to come take us away.

The church is not a hospital; it's a military outpost under orders to storm the gates of hell. Every believer is on active duty, called to take part in fulfilling the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19, 20). Thankfully the church has an infirmary where we can minister to the weak and wounded, and that ministry is necessary. But our real purpose is to be change agents in the world, taking a stand, living by faith, and accomplishing something for God. You can say you believe God and His Word. But if you are not actively involved in His plan, are you really a mature believer?

Prayer:

Lord, if I'm not moving forward by faith and taking ground today, I'm only treading water or slipping backward. Nudge me forward today, Lord.

Declare Dependence

Neil Anderson Daily in Christ

THE LUST OF THE FLESH

1 John 2:16
The lust of the flesh . . . is not from the Father, but is from the world

Satan first approached Eve through the channel of the lust of the flesh. He planted a doubt in her mind about the fruit of the tree when he said: "Has God said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?" (Genesis 3:1). Eve answered, "God has said, 'You shall not eat from it or touch it'" (verse 3). But Satan had piqued her appetite for the forbidden fruit, and she "saw that the tree was good for food" (verse 6). Yielding to the lust of the flesh contributed to Adam and Eve's downfall.

Satan also challenged Jesus through the channel of the lust of the flesh. Our lord had been fasting for 40 days when Satan tempted Him in the wilderness at the point of His apparent vulnerability: "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread" (Matthew 4:3). Satan is not omniscient, but he's not blind either. He learned about Jesus' apparent vulnerability to physical temptation by watching Him go without food for 40 days. He's watching you too, looking for soft spots of vulnerability in your appetites for food, rest, comfort and sex. Temptation is greatest when hunger, fatigue and loneliness are acute.

The temptation of the lust of the flesh is designed to draw us away from the will of God to serve the flesh (Galatians 5:16, 17). When Satan tempts you through the channel of the lust of the flesh, he will invite you to fulfill your needs in ways that are outside the boundary of God's will. Whenever you feel enticed to meet a legitimate need by acting independently of God, you are being tempted through the lust of the flesh.

When you resist the temptations of the lust of the flesh, you are declaring your dependence on God for your needs. As such you are remaining "in the vine," tapping into the resources Jesus referred to in John 15:5. But when you yield to temptation in this area, your fruitfulness as a Christian will suffer because apart from Christ you can do nothing.

Prayer:

You are a strong, fruit vine, Lord, and I will not wither as long as I remain in You. Strengthen me today to resist the temptation to meet my needs apart from You.

Both

A rather long excerpt from a post by Dan Kimball on Social Justice - yes.....Heaven and Hell - yes

...

I shared in the teaching how as we talk about this, we don't see this as a "program" of the church but instead see it is part of the DNA of who we are and who we desire to be as a church. There is a big difference between the two. I told how if you asked me 8 or 9 years ago what is Christianity all about and the gospel, I would have answered "it is about putting faith in Jesus and His work on the cross so we can go to heaven when we die." I wrote about my change of understanding about this in The Emerging Church (2003) on page 282-283 where I wrote about the importance of "living in the Kingdom now, not just when we get to heaven". I wrote about the difference of focusing the gospel entirely about going to heaven in the next life when it is more than that the focus is also on the Kingdom now on earth and our roles as followers of Jesus in it.

I spoke Sunday about we need to repent if we have simply bought into the "going to heaven when we die" mindset and not taken our role in this life and on this earth seriously now. God seems to be moving amongst the church as the many churches who did not take this seriously have seemed to awaken to this false dichotomy. So it is wonderful, wonderful, wonderful to see this happen. I have nothing but thrill to see and hear this happening and I can only imagine the delight of God as He sees this happening. We only have just begin too as there is so much work to be done, the marginalized, the oppressed, even the way we steward caring for the earth and environment really all plays into this. But it is just incredible seeing the work that is now beginning and happening with those of us who did not understand the impact the gospel holistically makes.

But, I as I listen, watch, read, observe.... I have a sort of nagging in the back of my mind/heart concern......questions.... trying to project things out 10 years, 20 years...... I did speak about this Sunday at Vintage Faith Church as part of the message. I also raised it up at Willow Creek Community Church when I was there 2 weeks ago which you can read about and see a video clip here and also it was written about here by someone who covered the event.

What I am wondering about, is how do we avoid patterns of the past when the church jumps strongly in the realm of focusing on the gospel's impact for this earth and in this life - but slowly neglects teaching and reminding people of the gospel's impact about the reality of eternal heaven and eternal hell in the life to come after we die?

...

New Restoration

Excerpt from Greg Taylor, The 21st Century Restoration: Will We Join It? at NewWineskins

...

The world is changing and our worldview ought also to change. Rather than asking, “Are the Baptists or the Catholics right?” millions are asking a question on a completely different plane: “Is Jesus the Lord or should I follow Muhammad?” I’m more concerned to tell Muslims and sinners about Jesus than I am debating matters of precise doctrinal formulations with fellow Christians. I’d rather show a wanderer the gospel of Jesus than “convert” an Episcopalian’s view of scripture to mine.

...

Video

Some interesting productions at FaithVisuals.

Gospel

"Today there are many who doubt that there is just one gospel. That gives them the warrent to ignore the gospel of atonement and justification. There are others who don't like to admit that there are different forms to that one gospel. That smacks too much of 'contextualization,' a term they dislike. They cling to a single presentation that is often one-dimensional. Neither of these is as true to the biblical material, nor as effective in actual ministry, as that which understands that the Bible presents one gospel in several forms."

Tim Keller (quoted at Our of Ur)

Intelligent Design

Excerpt from C. Michael Patton post on Expelled: Evolution vs Intelligent Design - A Review


Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed is the highly anticipated Ben Stein documentary concerning the Intelligent Design (ID) movement. The ID movement describes a belief among many scientists that the supposition and/or conclusion of an Intelligent Designer makes more sense out of science than the alternatives. IDers have had a strong and rising presence in the Christian community over the last ten years, and this movie hopes to give their arguments exposure and validity within scientific academia.

The best word that I can use to describe the movie is this: Effective.

I don’t really like propaganda. I don’t like spins. I don’t like misrepresentation. Even though I am all for the ID movement, I highly expected this movie to make my face red. It did not. In fact, I think that the producers and writers proposed a humble agenda and accomplished this, giving people a educational video that should well outlast its Hollywood light.

...

Worship

"Worship is forgetting about what's wrong with you and remembering what's right with God. It is like hitting the refresh key on your computer. It restores the joy of your salvation. It recalibrates your spirit. It renews your mind. And it enables you to find something good to praise God about even when everything seems to be going wrong." [p. 67]

Mark Batterson, In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day

Behavior

Neil Anderson Daily in Christ

CHANGING YOUR BEHAVIOR

Galatians 5:16
Walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh

A careful distinction must be made concerning your relationship to the flesh as a Christian. There is a difference in Scripture between being in the flesh and walking according to the flesh. As a Christian, you are no longer in the flesh. That phrase describes people who are still spiritually dead (Romans 8:8), those who live independently of God. Everything they do, whether morally good or bad, is in the flesh.

You are not in the flesh; you are in Christ. You are no longer independent of God; you have declared your dependence upon Him by placing faith in Christ. But even though you are not in the flesh, you may still choose to walk according to the flesh (Romans 8:12, 13). You may still act independently of God by responding to the mind-set, patterns and habits ingrained in you by the world you lived in. Paul rebuked the immature Corinthian Christians as "fleshly" because of their expressions of jealousy, strife, division and misplaced identity (1 Corinthians 3:1-3). He listed the evidences of fleshly living in Galatians 5:19-21. Unbelievers can't help but live according to the flesh because they are totally in the flesh. But your old skipper is gone. You are no longer in the flesh and you no longer need to live according to its desires.

Getting rid of the old self was God's responsibility, but rendering the flesh and its deeds inoperative is our responsibility (Romans 8:12). God has changed your nature, but it's your responsibility to change your behavior by "putting to death the deeds of the body" (Romans 8:13). You will gain victory over the flesh by learning to condition your behavior after your new skipper, your new self which is infused with the nature of Christ, and learning to transform your old pattern for thinking and responding to your sin-trained flesh by renewing your mind (Romans 12:2).

Prayer:

Lord, knowing that I am no longer controlled by sin is such a liberating concept. I can walk today in freedom from my old self, the world system, and the devil. Praise Your name!

Missional Path

Excerpts from interview with Alan Hirsch in NewWineskins

...

Fred: If you were asked to steer a conventional, western church on a missional path and were given the freedom to utilize or reallocate all funds and resources in the best way you felt this could be accomplished, how and what would you do? Let’s say you have three staff members and a lien-free building. And the building is located in a neighborhood where few members actually live.

Alan Hirsch: Fred, you want to get me into trouble here! The issue of change and transition into missional forms of church is fraught with many complex problems. But again, at the heart of the problem is our ‘idea of church’—the conception we have of what it means to be God’s people as a community. Part of the problem is that we have so associated our idea of church with the institutional forms of it (including programs, services, professionalization of ministry, theologies, denominational templates, etc.) that we need to at least be given the chance to experience each other as Jesus’ church divorced from the predominance of the institution of the church.

Having said this, I do believe the building can present a real problem—for one, it staticizes our idea of church. I would certainly have the building in my sights. But that would be just one thing—the heart of my strategy would be to try to communicate a more primal and organic idea of church and mission because I think that is more who we truly are meant to be. You no doubt know that wonderful quote from Antoine de Saint Extupery: "If you want to build a ship, don't summon people to buy wood, prepare tools, distribute jobs, and organize the work—rather, teach people the yearning for the wide, boundless ocean."

The unfolding of Christianity as the means by which people are re-connected to God has nothing to do with the institutionalized idea of church in the first instance. We need to recover our most basic, and dangerous, forms of church—that of an apostolic movement. It’s the story of the church and her mission that I outline in The Forgotten Ways. I would tell and retell of that story and then let’s see what happens!

Fred: Can you talk a little about "third place communities?" How important are they to the missional mode?

Alan Hirsch:I think in the West these are absolutely vital to our mission. For those who don’t know the jargon, the first place is our homes, the second place is our work environments, and the third place is our preferred social environment. It is where you hang out when you have time to hang out. The problem for us in the West is that the first place (home) is primarily defined by our concepts of the nuclear family. The home is our fortress from the onslaughts of the world around about us. It can be a place of mission but in most cases it is severely limited because most of us do not see the family as an extended, or open, family as in ancient Mediterranean cultures of the Bible. The second place (work) is very formalized and guarded by roles you have to play if you are to get on with others and is also therefore very limited. The third place however, is a wonderful place where you can engage with people on their own turf. But as Neil Cole says, you have to be willing to sit in the smoking section if you want to do mission in our contexts. It’s a great way to get us out of our cloistered holy zones and take Jesus to where the people are. I actually think it should be our primary missional ground.

...

Faithful

David Crowder Band "Never Let Go"

Purpose

Christian Working Woman Transcript

Monday, April 21, 2008 - Finding Biblical Balance for Our Lives
Balancing Our Energy Checkbooks

We hear a lot about finding balance in our lives, especially those of us who are working women. And for Christian working women, we have a completely different yardstick by which to measure the balance of our lives, because we have—or should have—an eternal perspective: What matters for eternity?

Our dilemma is: How do we know what a balanced life is—and how do we find it?

Which of these statements would you say are true? Our lives are in balance when:

• We accomplish everything we plan to do each day
• We are able to meet all the expectations others have of us
• We are able to look good all the time
• We never feel pressured or frazzled
• We live stress-free lives
• We never have to say “no” to anyone
• We can juggle many balls in the air at the same time
• We are very good at multi-tasking

Are these the signs of a balanced life? No, not necessarily. We need a biblical perspective of what it means to live a balanced life. So let’s begin by asking the question: Why am I here?

Why Am I Here?

We are here to do the good works He has planned for us to do:

For we are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:10).

We are not to be lazy; we are not here to please ourselves; we are to be about the Father’s business. God does not exist to make us happy and fulfilled and solve all our problems. We belong to Him, and we are here to do what He planned for us to do.

In the last decades we’ve been programmed to believe that we are special, and we deserve to have what we want just because we are special. Well, God’s Word certainly affirms that each individual is special to God, created in His image, and loved by Him. But we are not here to be doted upon and fussed over. We are here to do good works.

When we get outside of that parameter, then we’re in trouble. How do we get outside of God’s plan for our lives? Here are some of the reasons:

• We start “doing our own thing.”
• We plan our life and ask God to bless it instead of seeking to know and do His plan.
• We try to do our good works and some others as well.
• We fail to seek God’s will.
• We allow others to dictate what we should do and be.

If we want to live the kind of balanced life that will count for eternity, we have to be intentional about doing it.

Living Dependently

Neil Anderson Daily in Christ

YOUR LIFE APART FROM GOD

Romans 8:13, 14
If by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God

Why do you still react as if your old skipper were still in control of your behavior? Because while you served under it, your old self trained and conditioned your actions, reactions, emotional responses, thought patterns, memories, and habits in a part of your brain called "the flesh." The flesh is that tendency within each person to operate independently of God and to center his interest on himself. An unsaved person functions totally in the flesh (Romans 8:7, 8), worshipping and serving the creature rather than the Creator (Romans 1:25). Such persons "live for themselves" (2 Corinthians 5:15), even though many of their activities may appear to be motivated by selflessness and concern for others.

When you were born again, your old self died and your new self came to life, and you were made a partaker of Christ's divine nature. But your flesh remains. You brought to your Christian commitment a fully conditioned mind-set and lifestyle developed apart from God and centered on yourself. Since you were born physically alive but spiritually dead, you had neither the presence of God nor the knowledge of God's ways. So you learned to live your life independently of God. It is this learned independence that makes the flesh hostile toward God.

During the years you spent separated from God, your worldly experiences thoroughly programmed your brain with thought patterns, memory traces, responses, and habits which are alien to God. So even though your old self is gone, your flesh remains in opposition to God as a preprogrammed propensity for sin, which is living independently of God.

Be aware that you no longer have to obey that preprogrammed bent to live independently of God. You are a child of God, and you are free to put to death those fleshly deeds and obey Christ.

Prayer:

Lord, I make a fresh declaration of dependence on You for today. I renounce all my old tendencies to live independently of You.

New Significance

Excerpt from Tony Reinke interview with Dr. J. Ligon Duncan III on “Patristics for Busy Pastors” posted at The Shepherd's Scrapbook

“When we go back to the church fathers we see them defending the important Christian doctrines that are very basic to us, those doctrines that—if we’ve been Christians for a long time—we may well take for granted, doctrines we don’t question, or have any qualms about. Sometimes as important as they are, we don’t think about them much, and we don’t weave them into our teaching, nor do we express the passion for the importance of them to our people as we ought. When we go back to the patristic period and we see the church fathers defending the reality of, for example, the incarnation of Christ and showing the importance of it, we may—who have fully embraced the incarnation of Christ and never questioned it in our Christian experience—suddenly have a new sense of the significance and the absolute essentialness of the doctrine of the incarnation in a way we hadn’t before."

Theological Thinkers

Excerpts from Dan Kimball's article Sticks and Stones found at Catalyst

...

Our fast-paced culture has also accelerated change in the Church. Books, blogs, emails, web sites, and podcasts all communicate new and changing information faster and faster. It is a thrilling time dreaming of the potential these forms of communication have for making the gospel of Jesus known and helping people grow in their maturity as disciples of Jesus.

What I wonder about however, is if we sometimes move so fast and have so much communication happening that we aren’t stopping long enough to see if we are communicating correctly? Could we be eagerly moving ahead so fast in ministry methodology that we aren’t stopping to think about the theology behind the methodology? Are we stopping in the midst of fast communication to see if the words we are using are actually theologically correct?

Words are powerful. Words frame beliefs. Beliefs shape actions. As we use words and terms we need to stop and listen to see how the meanings of our words have subtly but significantly shifted in the minds of people.
...
Let me press this even further. Do we think theologically about the way we set up the room for when we gather to worship? The way we set up a room communicates theology to people. Rows of chairs, all facing a stage, with someone up front – does this communicate community? What does this teach about the priesthood of all believers vs. a separation of those with strong enough gifts to make it to the platform? Have we stopped to ponder what this can communicate or do we simply imitate what we have seen and know, and then continue it without thinking about it theologically?

...

What about all things emerging and emergent? We can be very fast to jump on trends and new ideas (or what sounds like new ideas). But are we stopping as leaders to critically think about why we may be drawn to something and think change is needed? I am fully aware and agree that there is a longing for change due to the dissatisfaction of the often overemphasizing of some doctrines or even sins and lack of enough emphasis on others. Perhaps there has been too much emphasis on orthodoxy without enough emphasis on orthopraxy. But as we respond and react as leaders, are we careful to examine to what degree we react and make change. As leaders we have the responsibility to guard those we oversee - to make sure they understand the implications of when we remove focus on one part of our theological spectrum and focus on another.

As leaders, are we are stopping to listen? Do we listen and ask questions to see how the people of our church understand the terms and words we use? So maybe having the wrong definition of “worship” or “church” isn’t a big deal. How about when we start hearing subtle changes of definitions of words like “salvation,” “hell,” “the gospel,” “sin,” “atonement,” “inspiration” etc. Are we listening and stopping as leaders to see if the people we lead understand these words in the way we think they understand them? Misunderstanding these words can lead to a misunderstanding of Christianity.

The world we live in with this information flow and fast change is totally thrilling. But, to me, it also means that the leaders of churches need to be sharpening themselves theologically all the more. This means we need to view all we do theologically: our teaching and our methodology. To me, this means we need to seriously stop long enough in the fast pace of change and new ideas to ponder the trajectory of theological changes we may be pursuing. To me, this means we need to be studying church history all the more. We need to understand patterns of the past and see if the “new” things we’re doing have already been played out in history and what the result was. I personally feel that we need to be building leadership skills and growing as leaders. But at the same time, it means that leaders in our culture today need to be theological thinkers. As we look to the future, we also need to be looking to the theological future – mindful of the paths we’re carving and where they lead.

LORD Most High

Neil Anderson Daily in Christ

NEW AGE THINKING

Psalm 83:18 NIV
Let them know that you, whose name is the LORD--that you alone are the Most High over all the earth

The New Age Movement is very attractive to the natural man who has become disillusioned with organized religion and Western rationalism. He desires spiritual reality but doesn't want to give up materialism, deal with his moral problems, or come under authority.

I've discovered six unifying factors in New Age thinking. We will consider three of them today and three tomorrow.

The first is monism --the belief that all is one and one is all. It says we all swim in one great cosmic ocean. History is not the story of humanity's fall into sin and its restoration by God's saving grace. Rather, it is humanity's fall into ignorance and the gradual ascent into enlightenment.

Monism is a counterfeit to the unity Jesus prayed for in John 17:21. That unity is possible only when we are united together in Christian fellowship.

Second, all is God . If all is one, including God, then one must conclude that all is God--trees, snails, books and people are all of one divine essence. A personal God is abandoned in favor of an impersonal energy force or consciousness, and if God is no longer personal, He doesn't have to be served.

New Agers say, "When I was a little child, I believed in God. When I began to mature, I stopped believing in God. Then I grew up and realized that I was God."

A third unifying factor refers to a change in consciousness . If we are God, we need to know we are God. We must become cosmically conscious, also called "at-one-ment" (a counterfeit of atonement), self-realization, god-realization, enlightenment, or attunement. Their faith has no object, neither does their meditation, so it becomes an inward journey. To us, the essential issue is not whether we believe or mediate, but who we believe in and what we meditate upon. We believe God and meditate upon His law day and night.

Prayer:

Lord, I affirm that I am nothing, can do nothing, and will amount to nothing apart from You. You are the object of my faith and life today.

Perfect Storm

Excerpt from Brian McLaren's Breakout Session |Live from Shift: The Perfect Storm | post by Skye Jethani at Out of Ur

...

A similar storm is hitting the world today. Brian covered western history in about fifteen minutes, revealing paradigm shifts that have occurred in the past—including the one that gave us modernity about 500 years ago.

We are experiencing another prefect storm today, says McLaren.

In the last century there have been unprecedented changes in communication, technology, transportation, and economics that has shifted how people think. And once again, Christianity needs to recognize how it has linked itself to an old world view and be prepared to make the shift as well. McLaren was mindful to say that the bible is not the problem, but the modern boundaries or “bands” that we’ve constrained it with.

Following the presentation he gave a generous amount of time to questions. This is where his pastoral sensitivity and pragmatism came through.

A 61 year-old gentlemen who works for Evangelism Explosion asked, “How do we keep current? Things are changing so fast.”

Brian’s answer—there are two big shifts every organization must recognize. First, that their current method isn’t working. And second, that even the new method they develop won’t work forever either. That’s hard for modern institutions that value stasis.

A young pastor from west Texas shared his struggle with defining postmodernism for others in this church. He said it’s really hard to talk with his senior pastor about these ideas. He asked Brian for his advice.

McLaren admitted that the word “postmodernism” is becoming problematic. Many people automatically associate it with evil, relativism, or some other heresy. He suggested avoiding the term. Instead, we ought to approach leaders in our churches from a place of humility rather than solutions. Let’s talk about the problem together. Help them see the challenge you’re facing with younger people. “If you rush at people with a solution before they feel the problem you’ll have trouble,” he said.

One inquisitor, an Anglican priest from Canada, said that his church has embraced many of these postmodern/post-Christian ideas for decades. But now they’re not only wrestling with issue of homosexuality but also the resurrection and the deity of Christ. He wanted to know, what are the guards the boundaries to ensure that his conversation doesn’t go outside of orthodoxy.

Brian said that the polarities his church is witnessing is the “residue of modernity.” In modernity there were two ways of being Christian—the fundamentalist way and the liberal way. But both of these came from a modern world view, they just landed on different conclusions. When we see churches fighting between liberals and conservatives, that’s a church still locked in modernity. McLaren says that in a postmodern paradigm he’s finding liberal Christians who are open to the idea of miracles again, and fundamental Christians who are rethinking the way they read the bible.

Toward the end of the session, Brian talked about the challenges of taking a church in this new direction and the conflicts that can arise. He said we’ve got to remain focused on those who need a relationship with Christ. “It’s heartbreaking to see Christians fighting and arguing with Christians about all of this stuff,” he said. “The fighting is driving people away from Christ.”

Rather than fighting with church leaders to make changes, Brian suggested finding more creative ways to live out the mission to reach people for Christ. He said, “If you wait for your religious organization to give you permission to do the things you know have to happen, then you’ll never be faithful.” If the kind of people you are called to reach won’t be welcomed into your church then invite them in to your home, he said. This doesn’t mean leaving the church, but for some people it might mean “getting out your resume.”

...

Brian McLaren: podcast | presentation

Revamping

Excerpt from interview with Greg Hawkins | Live from Shift: Willow Implements REVEAL | post by Skye Jethani at Out of Ur

...

Because it’s the mature Christians who drive evangelism in the church Hawkins says, “Our strategy to reach seekers is now about focusing on the mature believers. This is a huge shift for Willow.”

One major implementation of this shift will occur in June when Willow ends their mid-week worship services that had been geared toward believers. Instead the church will morph these mid-week events into classes for people at different stages of growth. There will be theological and bible classes full of “hard-hitting stuff.” Hawkins said most people are very enthusiastic about the change.

On the seeker end of the spectrum, Willow is also changing how they produce their weekend services. For years the value people appreciated most about the seeker-oriented weekend services was anonymity. This is what all their research showed. People didn’t want to be identified, approached, confronted, or asked to do anything. But those days are over.

“Anonymity is not the driving value for seeker services anymore,” says Hawkins. “We’ve taken anonymity and shot it in the head. It’s dead. Gone.” In the past Willow believed that seekers didn’t want large doses of the Bible or deep worship music. They didn’t want to be challenged. Now their seeker-sensitive services are loaded with worship music, prayer, Scripture readings, and more challenging teaching from the Bible.

Willow has been wrestling with the research from REVEAL since 2004. Hawkins said, “We’ve tried incremental changes for four years, but now we know we have to overhaul our whole strategy.” Small steps are no longer the method; Willow is revamping everything. “It would be malpractice for us to not do something with what we’re learning.”

In the larger REVEAL survey taken by 200 churches, people were asked what they want most from their church. Three of the top four responses were:
1. Help me understand the Bible in greater depth
2. Help me develop a closer personal relationship with Christ
3. Challenge me to grow and take the next step in my faith

...

Right Valuing

Excerpt from All of Life as Worship by John Piper

...

So if verse 2 [Romans 12] is likely a realistic explanation of the symbolic picture of verse 1, let's look at it for a moment. There is a negative command and a positive one: negatively, don't be conformed to this world; positively, be transformed. Not conformed, transformed. Devote your life as a Christian to being changed. Don't settle in at the level of transformation you now have. O how many Christians throw away their birthright by coasting. Be transformed! It's present tense, on-going, continual growth in un-conforming yourself to the world.

But how does this happen? What is involved? Does it mean we should just study what the world wears and watches and listens to and buys and plays, and then do the opposite? Well there will be a difference at most of those levels probably, but that's not what the text focuses on, is it? It says, "Be transformed by the renewing of your mind." The focus is not first on getting the outside of the cup cleaned up, but on getting the inside cleaned up. In other words, transformation and non-conformity on the outside must flow from a new mind. Be transformed in the renewing of your mind.

So you might say, OK that means we must learn to think differently than the world thinks, and that will transform us from the inside out. Well, that is true. But there is a word in verse 2 to show us that it is not the whole truth, and may not even be the main truth - depending on what you mean by "thinking."

What is the function of the mind according to verse 2? What is the goal of a renewed mind? Right thinking is surely essential. If you think illogically, you will probably live badly. For example, you might think something like this: "Premise 1: Most TV ads entice me to want things that I don't need. Premise 2: Watching more TV causes me to see more such TV ads. Conclusion: Therefore the more TV I watch the less I will be enticed to want things I don't need." That is simply illogical thinking and it will cause you to live badly if you don't think better than that.

But that is not what verse 2 stresses. There is a very crucial word that we have to get right. The NASB says that our renewed mind is so that we may "prove what the will of God is." The key word is "prove." It is a tremendously important word. It has two implications: one is the idea of testing and proving something's value. And the other idea is the capacity to assess it and approve of a value when you see it. It is very hard in English to bring out both these ideas with one word. The NIV does it in fact by using two words. It refers to the renewing of your mind, then says, "Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is." That is the full idea. Test and approve.

So what is the root issue in verse 2? The root issue is more than right thinking. It is right valuing. Not just right proving, but right approving. Not just right testing, but treasuring. Let me see if I can help you see the difference like this. It would be possible, perhaps to teach an uneducated person to recognize some of the traits of gold without his knowing how valuable gold is. So you might give him a job panning gold with you in a stream and pay him a dollar an hour while he accurately tests the yellow stones and tosses thousands of dollars worth of gold nuggets into your bag.

That is not the kind of renewal Paul is talking about. He is not saying: read enough books or listen to enough tapes or sermons so that you can spot a good deed when you see it and then work up the discipline to do it. He is saying, be renewed so deeply in your mind that you not only can test and spot gold when you see it, but also love gold - approve gold, treasure gold. That's what the word means. (See Romans 1:28; 14:22; 1 Corinthians 16:3.)

Now you can see that the renewal involved is more than a logic lesson. If you want to find out if a certain material is sweet, you might reason logically: it is brown, gooey, comes from a bee hive, crystallizes if you drop water in it, and makes the eyes a two-year-old light up if you put it on toast. Therefore, you infer, it must be honey, and honey is sweet. That is not the main way Romans 12:2 means for you to find the will of God. The way to know if this material is sweet, is by the power of taste, not logic.

...

In other words, mind-renewal is a deep spiritual change in how the mind assesses things and values things. In Ephesians 4:18 Paul says that ignorance (of mind) is rooted in hardness of heart. So if the mind is going to be wise and discerning about the will of God, the heart must be soft and susceptible to spiritual reality. In other words, the renewal Paul is calling for is profound, and deeper than any mere mental effort can achieve. This is why prayer is utterly essential. The constant prayer of the Christian is, "Open my eyes that I may see" (Psalm 119:18); and, "Let the eyes of my heart be enlightened" (Ephesians 1:18); and, "Cause me, O Lord, to taste and see that you are good" (Psalm 34:8). In other words, God must do the renewing through his word and Spirit.

...

Jealous

Excerpt from The Lord Whose Name Is Jealous by John Piper

...

But there is another reason why I have stressed that the covenant of Exodus 34 is not a covenant of works but is based on mercy. I wanted to make sure that we saw the jealousy of God in its true context.

God is not jealous like an insecure employer who fears that his employees might get lured away by a better salary elsewhere. God's jealousy is not the reflex of weakness or fear.

Instead God is jealous like a powerful and merciful king who takes a peasant girl from a life of shame, forgives her, marries her, and gives her not the chores of a slave, but the privileges of a wife—a queen. His jealousy does not rise from fear or weakness but from a holy indignation at having his honor and power and mercy scorned by the faithlessness of a fickle spouse.

The ten commandments are not a job description for God's employees. They are the wedding vows that the peasant girl takes to forsake all others and to cleave to the king alone and to live in a way that brings no dishonor to his great name.

...

Hungry

Excerpt from Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish post by Mark Batterson

...

This week someone gave me a copy of the commencement address Steve Jobs gave at Stanford a few years ago. It was titled: Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. His words resonated with my spirit. He closed his address this way:

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewritters, scissors, and Polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along. It was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then, when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970's, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early-morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish."

It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

Centrality of the Cross & Missional

Excerpt from Dan Kimball's post about the recent Awaken conference

...
Erwin [McManus] did a really great job hosting this and kept things moving well and I didn't sense any lulls or people losing connection to what was happening. I loved hearing spontaneous thoughts from people. Nancy Beach, Nancy Ortberg, Mark Batterson and so many others that had great things to say about real life ministry. Erwin's closing words of the conference were the strong reminder how he repeated "it's all about Jesus, it's all about Jesus, it's all about Jesus" and stressed the importance of the centrality of the cross. Erwin was one of the people I emailed Kevin about (see last post) in the book he wrote "Why We're Not Emergent".

They mentioned Erwin in the book a few times and I shared with them that they took some quotes of Erwin and assumed things which weren't really accurate. When you know Erwin, listen to his messages, learn about all that is happening at his church throughout the week, and actually read his books through (not just read quotes taken out of the books) you discover pretty quickly that Erwin takes Scripture extremely seriously and takes evangelism extremely seriously. He definitely uses creative metaphors and encourages followers of Jesus to understand the fullness of life that Jesus tells them they have in Him (John10:10) and to be on the mission and dream big dreams sort of a thing. It is odd to hear from some critics that dreaming missional dreams is seen as humanistic or not God-centered, when the point of the dreams he encourages us to have are ones that are all pointing to making a difference in this world for the gospel of Jesus. He constantly stresses it isn't about us, it is about Jesus and reaching and serving others for Jesus. You can't hang around Erwin or Eric Bryant or other Mosaic staff and not almost feel like you are back in the book of Acts going into new cultures and being on this unpredictable mission for the gospel taking risks, facing all kinds of unusual situations that naturally arise because of the adventure - but committed to the gospel and seeing the Spirit lead people to their need of a Savior. That is why I love hanging out with them and like I blogged about St. Patrick a few weeks ago, how risk-taking missional Christians will probably get criticized as St. Patrick did and Hudson Taylor etc.

...