Tend to the One

Excerpt from Ed Stetzer post:  Thursday is for Thinkers:  Kelly Minter on The Gospel versus Religious Mission

Today's post comes from Kelly Minter. Kelly is a musician and writer, most recently releasing Ruth: Loss, Life, & Legacy, a project made up of both a musical release and a Bible study. I am excited to have her at the blog today.

The Gospel Versus Religious Mission

A few mornings ago I opened my Bible to the story of the blind beggar in Luke 18:35-42, as part of my study through the gospels. I was perfectly prepared to skim through the end of the chapter, seeing as I had heard about Blind Bartimaeus since a small child perched nicely in my Sunday School chair. What I wasn't expecting to find was a surprising lesson on the heart of Christ versus religious mission.

As Jesus approached Jerusalem with a large crowd, a blind beggar cried out for help: "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" What struck me next was a tiny phrase that's only included in Luke's Gospel: "Those who led the way rebuked him and told him to be quiet..." For the first time I noticed that the condemning voices had come from the leaders of the crowd (some translations say, "those in front"). They viewed the ailing man, with no sight and no coins in his pockets, as an embarrassing nuisance worthy only of their dismissal. After all, he was getting in the way of their "mission with Jesus."

Those who led the way. It's startling to think that the very ones in the front of this crowd, barreling toward Jericho like storm clouds rolling across the sky, felt perfectly justified in condemning the vulnerable and needy, all because they were on, what they thought was, a mission with Jesus.

I couldn't miss the correlation between this harried crowd and our often fast-paced, program-heavy Christian environments. How easy it is for us to get swept up in the rhythm of our productivity, marching to the beat of religious mission, while ironically forgetting that our call is about people! Our ministry busyness can often create the illusion that we are keeping in step with Jesus - even leading the way, much like those in the crowd. When in reality, Jesus may be asking us to stop. Perhaps for just the one.

As one who makes my living in what would be considered "full-time ministry," I find this passage especially challenging. Sadly, there have been many instances where I have practically tripped over the proverbial blind beggar because I had a certain mission to accomplish, a Bible study to prepare, a devotional to write. They are the good things that sometimes get in the way of Christ's heart for me to live out His compassion on, what appears to be, a smaller scale.

It is so easy - even as leaders - to miss the individual person for the corporate task at hand. Sermons and meetings and events sometimes overtake God's call for us to minister to an individual or a smaller group, sans the smoke and spotlight. He has put in our path people that may cause us to slow down, or even come to a dead stop as Jesus did (Luke 18:40). Yes, Jesus dealt corporately, but He also followed His Father's leading to stop and tend to the one. Even in the midst of a crowd that was more intent on its destination than on the heart and healing of a blind man.

          ...

I started pursuing what was right in front of me, as opposed to seeking a bigger "ministry." I pressed into my local church and community more intently. I taught the Bible to a small group of women who had just gotten out of prison, as I was desperate to see the gospel transform ravaged lives. I became more available for leisurely coffees with those who simply needed to talk. I threw more dinner parties so I could commune with the church and non-churched alike. I took a couple of international missions trips. And though this may sound like I simply added more to my "to-do" list, this has not been the case. I have simply been more mindful about what God is calling me to, not always saying "yes" to the bigger opportunity, not always keeping step with the crowd. Ultimately, I needed to remember why I was doing ministry in the first place, and tending to the one became not just a reminder, but the fuel for everything else.

Though Jesus never needed any reminder, I can't miss the irony of Him stopping to heal Blind Bartimaeus on the way to His crucifixion and resurrection (Luke 18:31-33), showing us that He never lost His heart for the one, even on the way to give His life for the many.

Take the Offensive

Christine Wyrtzen Devotional

SPIRITUAL ADRENALIN

God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.  I Thess. 5:9

    When ancient armies entered into battle, they sought to secure evidence that the gods favored them and would give them victory.  Military leaders offered sacrifices, even consulted the flight of birds and the entrails of animals for clues that might point to a coming success.  Armies brought soothsayers with them onto the battlefield so that they could interpret these signs.  Imagine how the hope of victory would energize a soldier.  When he was assured of success, he dared become bold with his sword.  He was not afraid to take the offensive.  

    God was gracious to reveal that the ultimate outcome for every believer is victory, not defeat.  It is for salvation, not wrath.  Does this not build confidence into my steps?  The gates of hell shall not prevail against me when I carry out His orders, armed with the sword of the Word and with prayer.  I may suffer, appear to lose a skirmish or two, but victory is written into the storyline of every child of God.

    Some of us will bring the message of salvation today to someone who resists it.  Their eyes are blind, their ears are slow to hear, and their hearts fail to understand.  Yet, we should persist.  God has a heart that is for them, not against them.  He is not willing for any to perish.  Knowing this, I can not give up on anyone.

    The heart of God which longs to birth more children into His kingdom constrains me to carry the message of the Gospel.  I perceive my Father's tears over those who still shake their fist in the face of Love.  With the shield of faith, I combat the lies of the enemy that try to convince me that my loved one is a lost cause.  With His Word on my tongue, I proclaim His power to save.

    My father in law, the evangelist, Jack Wyrtzen, signed every letter "On the Victory Side."  He believed it and traveled to Eastern block countries with the Gospel by  smuggling bibles behind their iron curtain.  He was willing to lose his life if discovered.  Death wouldn't have been a defeat.  Because he knew that that, he enjoyed spiritual adrenaline.  He lived in the hope of the final chapter and would tell any of us today to be stand up and be counted.  This is the time for the boldest advances for the kingdom.

I often live crippled by fear, like I don't know who wins this present battle.  Forgive me.  I know better.  Amen.

For the Sake of Others

Miscellanies post:  The Church as Contrast-Society

“The idea of church as contrast-society does not mean contradiction to the rest of society for the sake of contradiction. Still less does the church as contrast-society mean despising the rest of society due to elitist thought. The only thing meant is contrast on behalf of others and for the sake of others, the contrast function that is unsurpassably expressed in the images of ‘salt of the earth,’ ‘light of the world,’ and ‘city on a hill’ (Mt 5:13-14).

Precisely because the church does not exist for itself but completely and exclusively for the world, it is necessary that the church not become the world, that it retain its own countenance. If the church loses its own contours, if it lets its light be extinguished and its salt become tasteless, then it can no longer transform the rest of society. Neither missionary activity nor social engagement, no matter how strenuous, helps anymore. …

What makes the church the divine contrast-society is not self-acquired holiness, not cramped efforts and moral achievements, but the saving deed of God, who justifies the godless, accepts failures and reconciles himself with the guilty. Only in this gift of reconciliation, in the miracle of life newly won against all expectation, does what is here termed contrast-society flourish.”

—Gerhard Lohfink, Jesus and Community: The Social Dimension of Christian Faith (SPCK, 1985) as quoted in Eckhard J. Schnabel, Early Christian Mission: Paul and the Early Church (IVP, 2004), 1577-1578.

Urgent Immediacy of God in All Things

Excerpt from Ian Morgan Cron post:  Are You a Christian Mystic?

Drop the phrase word ‘Christian mysticism’ into a conversation among a group of Jesus followers, especially among our more conservative brothers and sisters, and you will get a wide array of reactions. Some correlate it with New Age spirituality; others associate it with creepy psychic phenomena that have little to do with “normal” Christian life; others, however, will speak reverently about a transcendent experience of God that occurred in their past that made them wonder if for only one brief and beautiful moment they themselves were mystics.

So, what really makes someone a mystic? In the simplest sense, a mystic is someone who has a lived experience of Jesus in the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. They have experienced Jesus, and through contemplative prayer and meditation, continue to encounter Jesus in such a way that they gain a new perceptive appreciation for the urgent immediacy of God in all things. (This is but one of several thousand definitions of this term. Trust me, I will hear about it’s shortcomings!)

Contrary to what many think, however, these God-encounters are not always seismic events, like those experienced by St Francis or St Teresa of Avila. Catholic theologian Karl Rahner (a theologian we desperately need to revisit), would argue that these unmediated encounters with God are often so delicate and subtle that most people do not even know that what they have experienced is mystical in content.

His Power

Perry Noble post:  Why We Fall Short of Ephesians 3:20

If Ephesians 3:20 is true then why do we fall short of it so many times, here are a few thoughts…

#1 – We believe that God has great plans for other people but not for us.  (Believe it or not…He has Ephesians 3:20 plans for YOU!!!!)

#2 – We want a detailed explanation from God, expecting a complete/detailed outline that lets us know what is going to happen.  (Uh…this never happens, that is why it requires faith to follow Him!)

#3 – We desire to “take up our mattress” rather than taking up our cross, believing that God would NEVER ask us to do anything that might be uncomfortable!  (Truth…the resurrection came AFTER the crucifixion!)

#4 – The fear of man…when we embrace God’s plan for our lives and refuse to be normal people don’t like it…so we allow what others say and think about us lead us to the place where they are rather than the place that God desires for us to be.

#5 – We don’t fully understand Matthew 7:9-11, that HE is THE PERFECT FATHER and desires to give us things that will BLOW our minds!

#6 – We think God blesses us for our glory and not His.

#7 – We have a season of regret in our lives and allow the pain of our past to dominate us rather than the potential of our future!  Romans 8:1 is TRUE about YOU if you are in Christ…and if you don’t let your past die then it won’t let you live!  Get over it…HE has!

#8 – We try to accomplish things in our own strength rather than being desperate for His!  (Zechariah 4:6)

#9 – We refuse to dream big with OTHERS, thinking that, for some reason, God has asked us to do life alone!  (When the church and the people in the church work together and do not care who gets the credit as long as God gets the glory then HIS CHURCH becomes UNSTOPPABLE!)

#10 – We always say “one day” when it comes to taking the step of faith we know we need to take…but we don’t say it because we intend to do it…but rather to make us feel better about ourselves.  Why would you put off until tomorrow what God has clearly called you to do today?  Delayed obedience is immediate disobedience!

For Others

Ray Ortlund post:  For the sake of the liberation of others

“We are not often called to great sacrifice, but daily we are presented with the chance to make small ones — a chance to make someone cheerful, a chance to do some small thing to make someone comfortable or contented, a chance to lay down our petty preferences or cherished plans.  This probably requires us to relinquish something — our own convenience or comfort, our own free evening, our warm fireside, or even our habitual shyness or reserve or pride.  My liberty must be curtailed, bound down, ignored (oh, how the world hates this sort of thing! how our own sinful natures hate it!) — for the sake of the liberation of others.”

Elisabeth Elliot, A Path Through Suffering (Ventura, 1990), pages 67-68.

Investing in Enduring Happiness

Excerpt from Clayton Christensen How Will You Measure Your Life, from address given to the HBS 2010 graduating class (HBR, July-August 2010)

When people who have a high need for achievement—and that includes all Harvard Business School graduates—have an extra half hour of time or an extra ounce of energy, they’ll unconsciously allocate it to activities that yield the most tangible accomplishments. And our careers provide the most concrete evidence that we’re moving forward. You ship a product, finish a design, complete a presentation, close a sale, teach a class, publish a paper, get paid, get promoted. In contrast, investing time and energy in your relationship with your spouse and children typically doesn’t offer that same immediate sense of achievement. Kids misbehave every day. It’s really not until 20 years down the road that you can put your hands on your hips and say, “I raised a good son or a good daughter.” You can neglect your relationship with your spouse, and on a day-to-day basis, it doesn’t seem as if things are deteriorating. People who are driven to excel have this unconscious propensity to underinvest in their families and overinvest in their careers—even though intimate and loving relationships with their families are the most powerful and enduring source of happiness.

If you study the root causes of business disasters, over and over you’ll find this predisposition toward endeavors that offer immediate gratification. If you look at personal lives through that lens, you’ll see the same stunning and sobering pattern: people allocating fewer and fewer resources to the things they would have once said mattered most.

Commitment

Excerpt from Chuck Colson The Lost Art of Commitment in Christianity Today

Among today's young adults, the unwillingness to commit is alarming, clearly one result of the philosophies of the 1960s and '70s coming to full flower. In 1979, sociologist Robert Bellah conducted extensive interviews to understand what "habits of the heart" defined average Americans. Many had no sense of community or social obligation. They saw the world as a fragmented place of choice and freedom that yielded little meaning or comfort. They even seemed to have lost the language to express commitment to anything besides themselves. Bellah called this "ontological individualism," the belief that the individual is the only source of meaning. Bellah saw how this attitude would, in time, unravel the church and larger society. Since then, we've seen an almost uninterrupted march toward self-focus, affecting all of our institutions but especially crippling work, marriage, and family.

The basic building blocks of society simply erode without commitment. Any sensible society must address this problem by educating people that commitment is the very essence of human relationships.

At the least, we need to teach this in our churches. How can you begin as a Christian without death to self and total commitment to Jesus Christ?

But beyond the ramifications for society as a whole, beyond even the obvious necessity of Christian commitment, when we refuse to commit, we miss out on one of the great joys of life. When we obsess over ourselves, we lose the meaning of life, which is to know and serve God and love and serve our neighbors.

Grace Abounds

Excerpts from Kathryn's post:  Little of This; Little of That

I'm reading an book by Bill Bright, the founder of Campus Crusade. He knew how to live; he also knew who he lived for. He wrote this book as he was dying. He lived for Christ and died with the thrill of knowing he would live forever with God. Though this book may sound a bit on the depressing side; quite the contrary. It is not a brushing aside of what he had to endure, but He saw the purpose. To glorify God. When we are struggling with whatever comes this way; we turn to God in prayer. I most certainly have prayed for "what I need." He is my Father, He knows and knew what I needed. I am to trust. I'm learning (how very slowly), He has been working in this situation all along. He wants me to acknowledge that and praise and thank Him for the work he is always doing in my life. He writes, "Too often, we may find ourselves trying to tell God what we need. He knows! He knows!!" "My God shall supply all of your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus." (phil. 4:19 NKJV) He went on to say, he continued to pray, his family and friends continued to pray for healing; but praying in God's will....he learned to say honestly, "my grace is sufficient". God's grace abounds! Abounds! I speak of fall coming as a gift - grace abounds - well, that tops my love of fall.

...

... After my experience this summer, I learned a couple of things. I need people - you were ever present. I needed help. You were there to lift a hand. I saw God's grace over and over again. I asked from the beginning to grow through this. I still have many miles to go; God is growing me.

Nothing But

Pure grace and nothing but grace be with all who love our Master, Jesus Christ. 
Ephesians 6:24 [The Message]

Ready for a New Season

LifeToday Devotional

A New Season
by Randy Robison

I admit it: I love football. If you’re not a fan, don’t quit reading yet. Because whether you like the sport or not, there’s something we can all learn from a basic truth of the game. 

When the season kicks off in September, it’s anybody’s game. Sure, there are favorites like the Patriots, Colts, Cowboys and last year’s champion Saints. But if the last 20 years of pro football have proven anything, it’s the fact that every year is a new season.

Even the worst teams have hope of a winning season. Last year, the Green Bay Packers finished 11-5 in the regular season and landed in the playoffs. They lost an overtime heartbreaker to Arizona, but it was still a vast improvement over the 2008 season when they went 6-10. Another playoff team, the Cincinnati Bengals, also turned a losing season around, going from 4-11 one year to 10-6 the next.

Here’s where football meets the Christian life: the principles true for turning around a losing season on the field parallel some of the principles necessary for turning things around in our lives.

From 1998 to 2002, the Dallas Cowboys had some difficulties.  Three straight years of 5-11 records put the team in the basement.  Coaches saw their careers begin and end in short time.  Players cycled in and out.  Uncertainty and unhappiness reigned.  Despite being one of the top franchises in the NFL and despite the championship rings on many players’ and coaches’ fingers, the Cowboys felt like losers.

Jerry Jones, the owner of the team, said, “I realized since whatever we were doing wasn’t working, we needed to change -- I needed to change.”

Long known for his ego, Jones found it difficult to admit his failure.  “It’s hard to reach up there and say, ‘I’m doing things different,’ because it is admitting I was doing things wrong before.  But the facts are, by bringing in Bill, I’m willing to stand in front of everybody and admit it.”

Bill, of course, was Bill Parcells, the man who led the New York Giants to two championships and helped turn the New England Patriots and the New York Jets from losers into winners.  So what was Jerry Jones saying?  He was laying down his pride to get help from an expert.  He was giving up control to allow a proven champion to work on his team. The next year, the Cowboys went 10-6.


In our lives, we often discover that we are missing the mark in certain areas.  We may be losing more battles than we are winning in our personal lives.  Our marriage may be second-rate.  Perhaps we are distracted by things happening “off the field” -- meaningless or troublesome issues that really have no place in our lives.  Whatever the cause, we find ourselves in a losing season.

As Christians, we can turn our losing season around quickly.  But the first thing we must do is swallow our pride and admit that we have to start doing things differently.  The Bible calls this “repentance”.  It is simply admitting we were wrong and turning away from the things that are causing us defeat.

The next thing we must do is call on the expert.  We must go with a proven winner and ask Him to make some changes in our lives.  Jesus said, “I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in…” Here we have the ultimate coach standing outside our locker room door!  This is the guy who wrote the playbook that is guaranteed to win and He wants to coach us, but we have to let Him in.

Finally, we must give up control.  Jerry Jones not only put his pride on the altar, but he sacrificed one of his favorite players – running back Emmit Smith (who was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday.)  But Parcells could see objectively that it was time for the Cowboys to move on in that area.  If we truly want God to make changes in our lives, we must give him full control.  It may require some emotionally difficult sacrifices.  But God sees the whole picture.  He knows how to make us winners.  Like Jerry Jones, we need to back off, shut up and let go.  Bill Parcells came in and turned the Cowboys around quickly.  They went from losers to playoff contenders.  That’s how quickly an expert can change things.

All of us have losing seasons.  It’s a part of life.  But we are not meant to stay there, repeating the same failures over and over. Are you tired of losing more battles than you win? Then admit your mistakes (confession), turn from your failed ways (repentance) and give God control (submission). When you do that, you’re ready for a new season – a winning one.

Cause and Effect

Ray Ortlund post:  Spiritual adultery, physical adultery

“The Old Testament says that if God’s people turn away in spiritual adultery, it will not be long until the following generations are engaged in physical adultery, for the two things go hand in hand. . . . Our generation proves this with overwhelming force.  Let there be spiritual adultery and it will not be long until physical adultery sprouts like toadstools in the land.  In the 1930s liberalism took over almost all the churches in the United States, and in the 1960s our generation is sick with promiscuous sex.  It is the same in Britain and other countries.  These things are not unrelated; they are cause and effect.”

Francis A. Schaeffer, The Church at the End of the Twentieth Century (Downers Grove, 1970), pages 123-124.

By now, we need a massive cleansing only God can give.  And he can.

God's Plans

As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.  Genesis 50:20

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.  Romans 8:28

In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.  Ephesians 1:4b-6

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.  Jeremiah  29:11

Has Heard Pleas for Mercy

Blessed be the LORD!
   For he has heard the voice of my pleas for mercy.
The LORD is my strength and my shield;
   in him my heart trusts, and I am helped;
my heart exults,
   and with my song I give thanks to him.
The LORD is the strength of his people;
   he is the saving refuge of his anointed.Oh, save your people and bless your heritage!
    Be their shepherd and carry them forever.

Psalm 28:6-9

Small Churches

Excerpts from Ed Stetzer post:  Leadership Book Interview:  The Strategically Small Church by Brandon O'Brien

Brandon O'Brien has written a new book, The Strategically Small Church. In this work, he seeks to demonstrate how small churches are uniquely equipped for success in today's culture. Brandon is editor at large for Leadership journal and a doctoral student in Christian history at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.


I appreciate Brandon for taking the time to answer some questions here and to interact on the blog today.

Here is our interview:

Ed: What do you mean by "strategically small church"? Is this a new church model, like "simple" or "organic" church?

Brandon: A "strategically small" church is one that has learned to recognize and leverage the inherent strengths of being small. Being strategically small means that instead of trying to overcome your congregation's size, you have learned to use it to strategic ministry advantage.

In other words, I'm not advocating for a new model of doing church. Instead I'm hoping that by telling the stories of some truly innovative and effective small churches, other small congregations will stop viewing their size and limited resources as liabilities and begin thinking about them as advantages.

Ed: What keeps small churches from becoming "strategically small?"

Brandon: Many small churches try to operate like big churches. The idea seems to be that if we imitate what the megachurches are doing--if we do ministry like them--then we'll grow like them. The trouble is, operating like a big church can undermine the inherent strengths of being small.

For example, as I explain in the book, research suggests that one of the factors that contributes to whether or not young people stay active in church after high school is intergenerational relationships. The students who have more and deeper relationships with adults other than their parents are much more likely to remain in the church in college and beyond. Now, smaller congregations offer tons of opportunity for developing these intergenerational relationships. But the hallmark of large churches is age-segmented ministry, programs designed to separate children from youth, youth from adults, young adults from seniors. When small churches imitate this model, they undercut their advantage for fostering intergenerational relationships.

Ed: So are you arguing that small churches are more effective than larger ones just because of their size?

Brandon: Absolutely not. I have been involved in healthy big churches and unhealthy small churches (and vice versa). But I believe that small churches have some real advantages over larger ones, advantages that could make them more effective in some important aspects of their ministry. That doesn't mean, though, that small churches will be more effective just because they are small. A congregation has to recognize its strengths and learn how to leverage them in order to be effective.

What I'm trying to say is that small churches aren't ineffective because they are small. Size isn't the problem. The problem is being star-struck by mega ministries so that we fail to recognize all the wonderful things the small church has going for it.

Ed: Some people will argue that if a church isn't growing numerically, it isn't healthy. How do you respond to that?

Brandon: First, I would say that there are many ways to gauge the health and vitality of a church. Instead of measuring success in terms of the number of people we attract, we can judge success in terms of how many people we equip and send out for ministry, for example.

Second, in many places, perpetual numerical growth will be impossible: in rural areas where there aren't many people to attract or in urban areas where the cost of real estate prohibits growth. We need to learn to be more creative--and more biblical--about the ways we measure ministry success. The churches I highlight in the book determine their success based on the percentage of their youth and young adults who stay active in church life after high school, the number of people they are training and sending out to launch sister congregations, the percentage of congregants who are involved in ministry outside the church, or the congregation's ability to reach people on the margins. These things may, and sometimes do, result in numerical growth. But they definitely contribute to kingdom growth, which is ultimately much more important.

          ...

Ed: What is the one main point you want readers to take away from this book?

Brandon: If readers take nothing else from the book, I want them to hear this: your church--whatever size--has everything it needs to be used in extraordinary ways for the Kingdom of God. You don't need more resources or more volunteers; you just need the imagination to see how God has equipped you uniquely to carry the gospel to your neighbors.

...

Delicate Complexities

Ray Ortlund post:  Gospel militancy

“Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord?  Do I not loathe those who rise up against you?”  Psalm 139:21

Strong language.  And there is no ambiguity in the Hebrew.  Moreover, this militant spirit runs throughout the Bible.  In the New Testament, for example, Paul curses anyone who perverts the gospel (Galatians 1:8-9).  We cannot tear this thread from the biblical fabric without ripping the whole to pieces.  But how does this sentiment fit into the gospel of loving one’s enemy (Proverbs 25:21; Romans 12:20)?

One, gospel militancy is not personally spiteful.  David does not say, “Do I not hate those who hate me, O Lord?”  We know that David could accept personal abuse without retaliating, because he trusted in God (2 Samuel 16:5-14).

Two, gospel militancy recognizes that Christ has real enemies.  “Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord?”  There are beasts and false prophets, as in the Revelation, both outside and inside the church.  Their hostility toward Christ is sometimes deflected our way, because we are available for abuse.  But it’s about Christ.

Three, gospel militancy is (1) required by love for Christ and (2) compatible with love for his enemies:

(1)  We must choose sides, clearly and openly, as David did.  There is nothing more disappointing than a Christian man who is hard to read.  David had the guts to stand up for Christ, because he valued the Lord’s approval more than human approval.

(2)  We must both love and hate those who stand against Christ.  What we hate about them is their opposition to him.  What we love about them is his love for them.  John L. McKenzie, writing in the American Ecclesiastical Review 111 (1944): 90, distinguished the odium inimicitiae from the odium abominationis.  The former is the psychology of personal malice.  It is a sinful mindset.  The latter is a more complex psychology.  It values and honors the divine creation of the other, while it disapproves of the perversities to which the divine creation has been devoted.  It would be wrong not to disapprove.  But in this sense, we both love and hate ourselves too.

Four, gospel militancy includes self-criticism.  Immediately after his outcry in verse 21, David also prays, “Search me, O God, and know my heart!” (Psalm 139:23).  David was as suspicious of nothing in the world as he was of himself.  He strove for self-awareness.  He asked God to change him in any way God wanted.

Five, gospel militancy accepts suffering.  Loyalty to Christ is loyalty to a crucified Hero.  Standing boldly for Christ doesn’t mean we have to win; it just means standing, whatever the outcome. 

Frederick William Faber:

Thrice blest is he to whom is given the instinct that can tell
That God is on the field when he is most invisible.

He hides himself so wondrously, as though there were no God;
He is least seen when all the powers of ill are most abroad.

Then learn to scorn the praise of men and learn to lose with God;
For Jesus won the world through shame, and beckons thee his road.

Six, gospel militancy is sustained by quiet confidence in the final triumph of Christ.  Miroslav Volf, Exclusion and Embrace, page 302: “The certainty of God’s just judgment at the end of history is the presupposition for the renunciation of violence in the middle of it.”

Christ is coming.  He will judge.  That is his prerogative alone.  Our part, by his grace moment by moment, is to maintain the strong but delicate complexities of gospel militancy until he comes, whatever the cost to us personally.

Seek His Presence Continually

 Oh give thanks to the LORD; call upon his name;
    make known his deeds among the peoples!
Sing to him, sing praises to him;
    tell of all his wondrous works!
Glory in his holy name;
   let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice!
Seek the LORD and his strength;
    seek his presence continually!   [ESV]


Hallelujah! Thank God! Pray to him by name!
      Tell everyone you meet what he has done!
   Sing him songs, belt out hymns,
      translate his wonders into music!
   Honor his holy name with Hallelujahs,
      you who seek God. Live a happy life!
   Keep your eyes open for God, watch for his works;
      be alert for signs of his presence.   [The Message]
  
Psalm 105:1-4

Idol Damage

Miscellanies post:  How Personal Idols Destroy Community

Readers of this blog know where I stand on N. T. Wright so I will not qualify this post. Last summer I read Wright’s Surprised By Hope (HarperOne, 2008). The book was okay and while I cannot recommend it at one point Wright makes very important point about how idolatry undermines community. And since reading the book the quote has come to mind on several occasions and I wanted to share it here.

Wright’s point is that idolatry is more than a mere internal heart problem—idolatry is something each of us project onto others. Idolatry shapes our value (or de-valuation) others and carries consequences into our families, our communities, and our churches. He writes,

One of the primary laws of human life is that you become like what you worship; what’s more, you reflect what you worship not only back to the object itself but also outward to the world around. Those who worship money increasingly define themselves in terms of it and increasingly treat other people as creditors, debtors, partners, or customers rather than as human beings. Those who worship sex define themselves in terms of it (their preferences, their practices, their past histories) and increasingly treat other people as actual or potential sexual objects. Those who worship power define themselves in terms of it and treat other people as either collaborators, competitors, or pawns. These and many other forms of idolatry combine in a thousand ways, all of them damaging to the image-bearing quality of the people concerned and of those whose lives they touch. (p. 182)

That’s a great point. In other words, idolatry—while at root a heart issue—not only affects the sinner but also those around them. Idols dehumanize the heart and cause us to act inhumanely towards others.

This idol-projecting point is also made Mark Driscoll’s latest book Doctrine (Crossway, 2010):

If we idolize our gender, we must demonize the other gender. If we idolize our nation, we must demonize other nations. If we idolize our political party, we must demonize other political parties. If we idolize our socioeconomic class, we must demonize other classes. If we idolize our family, we must demonize other families. If we idolize our theological system, we must demonize other theological systems. If we idolize our church, we must demonize other churches. This explains the great polarities and acrimonies that plague every society. If something other than God’s loving grace is the source of our identity and value, we must invariably defend our idol by treating everyone and everything who may call our idol into question as an enemy to be demonized so that we can feel superior to other people and safe with our idol. (350-351)

Wright and Driscoll provide a sobering warning. Personal idols dehumanize us, dehumanize our evaluation of others, and necessarily erode community. Personal idols are not isolated in their consequences. We all have something at stake.

We Have the Messiah

Perry Noble post:  Three Arguments That Sound Spiritual But Are Actually Stupid

#1 – “The Church Is Not A Business But Rather A Hospital For Sinners.” 

Uh…ok, the problem with this argument is…a hospital IS a business…and if it is not ran properly then it will have to close its doors, thus losing its effectiveness in helping those it has been called to reach.

Like it or not in church world today leadership matters.  God made sure we knew that leadership IS a spiritual gift and the reason it has been given was to help the church be more and more effective.

I personally believe the church should be the best ran organization on the planet because God has gifted and called leaders to lead AND filled them with HIS Holy Spirit so that they can do so.

#2 – “Too Many Churches Are Just Chasing Cool and Relevant.” 

Uh…so what’s the opposite, chasing uncool, boring, predictable and meaningless?
Sure, churches can go off the deep end and worship creativity rather than the Creator.  But to say that a church should not embrace creativity and inovation and leverage them for the use of the Gospel is insane.

Church should not be a place where people come and see what life was like on this planet during the 1960’s and 70’s…but rather a place where people encounter Jesus Christ and the preaching of HIS Word in an environment in which they understand.  (One does NOT have to be sacrificed for the other!)

We are created in God’s image and called to be like Him…which means that we ARE creative beings.  Somehow I believe that the church is supposed to be reaching kids WAY better than Disney…they have a mouse…we have the MESSIAH who gave His life and rose from the dead.  Our message is SO much greater and should be told in the most effective way possible.

#3 – “Too Many Pastors Today Are Obsessed With Dressing Cool And Shopping At Buckle.” 

This one always cracks me up because, well, I happen to like shopping at Buckle (they actually have jeans that fit me!)  I am not so sure about the dressing cool part…but I really do like their clothes.

Honestly, I was not aware that surrendering to ministry meant that I also had to surrender to the pleated/cuffed khaki, sweater vest, comb over club!  (We could really go back and forth all day on this.)

Bottom line…there is a WAR going on for the battle of the souls of men and women…and fighting over clothing styles should not be a fight we dive into!  Dress how you like to dress…and if others want to obsess about it you should feel sorry for them and not fight with them.

Oh, Yes!

I looked again. I saw a huge crowd, too huge to count. Everyone was there—all nations and tribes, all races and languages. And they were standing, dressed in white robes and waving palm branches, standing before the Throne and the Lamb and heartily singing:

   Salvation to our God on his Throne!
   Salvation to the Lamb!
All who were standing around the Throne—Angels, Elders, Animals— fell on their faces before the Throne and worshiped God, singing:

   Oh, Yes!
   The blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving,
   The honor and power and strength,
   To our God forever and ever and ever!
   Oh, Yes! 

Revelation 7:9-12 [The Message]

Gospel Change

Excerpts from Ed Stetzer:  Preaching Transformation:  The Change That We Need

...


You get the idea. Words can mean one thing from a communicator and something altogether different to the hearer.

The church can, at times, communicate the need for change in peoples’ lives, and it ends up understood as some low-level therapeutic moralistic deism—where a faraway God makes life better and makes you a better person. But that is not the gospel. We don’t want to produce good religious people. We see what becomes of good religious people from the encounters Jesus had with the Pharisees. God wants—as should we—to see people transformed at a spiritual level rather than a behavioral level.

Though often thought of in the same sense as a New Year’s resolution, transformation does not come from decisions made on January 1. Instead, it comes from re-creation, the re-creation that comes from new life in Christ. The change people need most is not in their circumstances, but in themselves.  It is not the ability to try harder, but it is a life entrusted to Jesus.

So, when you preach “change,” translate it to mean “gospel change.”  It is not the same thing as trying harder; in fact, there is no trying involved. Transformation occurs not because we “do,” but because Christ has “done.” So let me share three principles about the change we all need, along with some thoughts on how to clearly preach on the topic for understanding and action.

...


Christian transformation always involves something old passing away and something new taking its place. Spiritual change is needed by everyone—the poor and the rich, the success and the failure. We are constantly in need of this change, no matter who we are. But too many people misunderstand the words. They believe, “If I change, then God will like me more.” The bid to be better accompanies the hope for divine blessing. But this is the false change that comes from religious idealism. It is a misunderstanding of the teaching of the gospel.

Some seek change through obedience. I’ve heard Tim Keller say it this way: “Religion says, ’I obey; therefore I am accepted.’  Christianity says, ‘I’m accepted, therefore I obey.’” Our acceptance and subsequent change is affected by the work of Jesus Christ through his death and resurrection. His work causes my acceptance before God.

Everything else leads to exasperation. Trying to “turn over a new leaf” is a temporary fix to an eternal problem. And it leads to the frustrating, exasperating cycle of always looking for a new fix to our lives.

...

Our Supreme Need

Excerpt from Tullian Tchividjian Worship Is A Big Deal:  Part 3

All this means we ought to come to worship expecting first and foremost to see God. We come to encounter his glory, to be awe struck by his majesty. A worship service isn’t the place to showcase human talent but the place for God to showcase his divine treasure. We gather not to be impressed by one another—how we sound, what we wear, who we are—but to be impressed by God and his mighty acts of salvation. We come to sing of who he is and what he’s done. We come to hear his voice resounding in and through his Word. We come to feel the grief of our sin so that we can taste the glory of his salvation. We gather to be magnificently defeated, flattened, and shrunk by the power and might of the living God.

This is in stark contrast to the world’s insistence that the bigger we get and the better we feel about ourselves, the freer we become. That’s why many worship services have been reduced to little more than motivational, self-help seminars filled with “you can do it” songs and sermons. But what we find in the gospel is just the opposite. The gospel is good news for losers, not winners. It’s for those who long to be freed from the slavery of believing that all of their significance, meaning, purpose, and security depend on their ability to “become a better you.” The gospel tells us that weakness precedes usefulness—that, in fact, the smaller you get, the freer you will be. As G.K. Chesterton wrote, “How much larger your life would be if your self could become smaller in it.” Nothing makes you more aware of your smallness and life’s potential bigness than encountering the glory of God in worship. Corporate worship services in the church today desperately need to recover a sense of God’s size!

Not long ago I was in desperate need for God to liberate me from the slavish pressure to perform by reminding me of my smallness and his bigness. And since God has used the preaching of the late Dr. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones throughout my Christian life to bring great perspective and reorientation to my troubled soul, I went back to one of his 1959 sermons on revival. With great unction, Lloyd-Jones delivered the reminder I craved:

Our supreme need, our only need, is to know God, the living God, and the power of his might. We need nothing else. It is just that, the power of the living God, to know that the living God is among us and that nothing else matters…I say, forget everything else. Forget everything else. We need to realize the presence of the living God amongst us. Let everything else be silent. This is no time for minor differences. We all need to know the touch of the power of the living God.

“The touch of the power of the living God”—that’s what Isaiah experienced. He was freed by realizing that God is big and he was small—that God was God and he was not. And this is what God intends for us to experience when he gathers us in worship. Isaiah didn’t leave the temple thinking, “What a great angelic choir” or “What a great temple.” He left thinking, “What a great God.”

Sing Robustly

Along about midnight, Paul and Silas were at prayer and singing a robust hymn to God. The other prisoners couldn't believe their ears.  Acts 16:25 [The Message]

Young and Old

Then King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men, who had stood before Solomon his father while he was yet alive, saying, "How do you advise me to answer this people?" And they said to him, "If you will be good to this people and please them and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants forever." But he abandoned the counsel that the old men gave him, and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him and stood before him.  2 Chronicles 10:6-8

Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.  1 Timothy 1:12

It's Complicated

Mark Batterson post:  Holy Complications

Sin will complicate your life in unholy ways. The blessings of God will complicate your life in holy ways. But it's still a complication. When I got married it complicated my life. Praise God for complications! We have three complications named Parker, Summer, and Josiah. Praise God for our three complications! More income equals more complicated taxes. May God complicate our lives, Amen? And increased influence complicates life in complicated ways.

My point? Part of counting the cost, when it comes to following Christ, is allowing God to complicate our lives in holy ways. Are you willing to allow God to complicate your life?

Perspective

LifeToday Weekly Devotional

Regret: A Matter of Perspective
by Stephen Arterburn

We should be clear about one thing, right off the bat: There is no way to be alive and avoid doing and saying foolish and even idiotic things, things you’re bound to later wish you hadn’t done and said at all.

Not being able to forgive yourself for your boneheaded, arrogant, and selfish actions is one of the biggest inhibitors to living the life God wants you to live. If you’re always dragging yourself down with the past, how is God going to lift you up in the future? It’s easy to kneel in church and hang your head, praying for God to forgive you, but you must also face what you’ve done and deal with it in a direct and forthright manner. You have to cleanse and prepare yourself so that you’ll always be as ready as possible to be the man or woman God intends you to be.

One of the most dramatic biblical examples of personal regret occurred in connection with the Bible’s most terrible event, the crucifixion of Jesus Christ:

“When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty silver coins to the chief priests and the elders. ‘I have sinned,' he said, 'for I have betrayed innocent blood.’
“’What is that to us?’ they replied. ‘That’s your responsibility.’

“So Judas threw the money into the temple and left, then he went away and hanged himself.” (Matthew 27:3-5, NIV)

Most people believe Judas went to hell for his sin against the Lord. And he may have – we won’t know on this side of heaven. Even though he did just about the most awful thing anyone has ever done, we have no place judging Judas than we do anyone else. The job of ultimately judging anyone belongs to God alone.

Nonetheless, from the passage above we can see clearly that after his evil deed, Judas’s attitude about what he’d done changed a great deal. Soon thereafter he fell on his knees, desperately despondent over his eager choice; he was “seized with remorse.” He was so distraught over his deliberate betrayal of Jesus that the only way he could think to end his suffering was by ending his own life.

What happened to Judas? How did he go from being a craven opportunist to being consumed by burning remorse? How did he go from wanting only money to being utterly desperate to possess what money can’t buy? What changed in the man?

What changed in Judas is the same thing that needs to change in any of us seeking to come to terms with past regrets and learn how to avoid creating new ones: perspective.

At first Judas’s perspective was, “What’s best for me? What can I do that most benefits me? Who can I come out ahead?” He didn’t care who got hurt on his way to self-satisfaction; he just wanted to know what he had to do to get what he wanted.

But that sure wasn’t his perspective after he saw the results of what he’d done. Suddenly his tragically limited, shamefully selfish perspective became markedly broadened. With the force of a piano being dropped, Judas realized he hadn’t been looking at a picture anywhere near big enough.

Put simply, perspective is everything. In my work at New Life, I’m made aware every day that the perspective people have on their problems is easily the most deciding factor on how effectively they’ll be able to deal with them. In fact, I largely think of my mission as helping people to broaden their perspective. Take anyone with a problem. I want to show them the value of changing their perspective from one in which they’re the center and star of the universe to one in which they realize that their world does, or should, revolve around the Son.

When assessing and evaluating a situation that led to your present regret, imagine yourself back in it – and then try to see the whole of what happened not through your eyes but through God’s. Meditate on bringing the peace of the Holy Spirit to the situation that ultimately concluded so poorly. Picture yourself back with that other person in the relationship, and then lift your perspective so that it rises above the two of you here on earth. Strive, in other words, for a heavenly perspective from above.

“Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.” (Romans 12:3, NIV)

Practice that – employ it when looking back on your regretful behaviors – and you’ll be well on your way to feeling better about things you might have thought you could never feel comfortable with at all.



Adapted from Regret-Free Living: Hope For Past Mistakes and Freedom From Unhealthy Patterns by Stephen Arterburn, © 2009 Stephen Arterburn, Bethany House Publishers, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

Transforming Power

Christine Wyrtzen Devotional: 

WHAT KIND OF LOVE IS THIS?
 
May the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another, and for all men, just as we also do for you.  I Thess. 3:12

    God has commanded His children to love all people.  Does that mean that I must feel affection for everyone?  No.  That would require that each person in my life, including my enemies, act lovable. I have often felt guilty for not having feelings of love toward a certain person.  I just couldn't conjure up the warm affectionate emotions that I thought characterized God's love.

    Warm affection was not what Paul was speaking of in today's scripture.  The kind of love he prayed would abound is the kind he referenced earlier in I Corinthians 13.  It was a love empowered by the Spirit of God, one impossible of humanly manufacturing.  This love is not dependent on what another person does or doesn't do.  Paul described it well.

• Love is longsuffering ~ it takes a long time to get hot.
• Love is kind ~ kindness includes compassion and tenderness.
• Love is not jealous ~ it rejoices at the success of the other person.
• Love vaunts not itself ~ it has encouragement for the other on its tongue.
• Love is not puffed up ~ it is characterized by genuine humility.
• Love does not behave unseemly ~ it operates with determined politeness.
• Love seeks not its own ~ it does not think of its own rights, but serves the other.
• Love takes no account of evil ~ it does not ignore evil and is willing to confront it when necessary, but it will not plot to take revenge.
• Love believes all things ~ love is not gullible, but it chooses to give the benefit of the doubt.

    Sometimes my love for others is heartfelt and the fellowship with them a moving experience.  How wonderful when that is the case.  What more accurately showcases my heart though, it how well I love someone I'm not naturally fond of.  At that point, I am not to act out the feelings of my heart but rely on Christ and the transforming power of His Word to empower actions and words that can only be birthed in me by the Spirit.

The inclinations of my own heart leave others wanting.  You tell me to love all people.  Only Your Spirit makes it possible as I submit to You and wait for Your grace.  Live in me.  Amen

Heard of Your Faith

First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world.   For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I mention you always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God’s will I may now at last succeed in coming to you.  Romans 1:8-10

For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints,   I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, ..  Ephesians 1:15-16

We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, ...   Colossians 1:3-5


------------


Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.  Hebrews 11:1

Thankful for Rain

Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth.   Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.

James 5:17-18

Providing Fresh Water

We've received a report from Samaritan's Purse on how our $11,240 contribution is being used in Bolivia to provide clean water:

According to National Geographic, “Nearly 900 million people in the world have no access to clean water…dirty water and lack of a toilet and proper hygiene kill 3.3 million people around the world annually, most of them children under age five.”  This certainly holds true for residents of the altiplano region in Bolivia.

...


Most of the water used in the altiplano is taken from open, hand-dug pits or shallow water reservoirs that are easily contaminated by animals and other sources.  Using this water often results in diarrhea, a leading cause of malnutrition and death among the campesino, or subsistence farmers; young children in these families are especially susceptible.  Half of the year, during the dry season, many families are forced to move closer to the nearest source of water. 

At a cost of less than $500 per well—which also includes a fixed hand-pump—Samaritan’s Purse is changing conditions for entire families and communities in the Bolivian altiplano.  In addition to providing clean, potable water, the project is also bringing together indigenous Aymara communities as they help each other with the arduous work required to complete a well.

...


None of this would be possible without your help.   You contribution is helping hundreds receive the life-saving water they so desperately need.  More importantly, not only we are helping indigenous communities in these arid highlands quench their physical thirst, we are also introducing them to “springs of living water” that are found only in Jesus Christ (Revelation 7:17b).

Your continued prayers are greatly appreciated.  Thank you for partnering with Samaritan’s Purse in this life-changing work.  

Good Name and Favor

A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches,
   and favor is better than silver or gold.

Proverb 22:1

Never Get Beyond the Gospel

Excerpt from Tullian Tchividjian :  The Ongoing Need For The Gospel

...


In Colossians 1:6 the Apostle Paul writes that the Gospel is the instrument of all continual growth and spiritual progress after we are converted. He writes, “All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God’s grace in all its truth.” (Col. 1:6).

Years ago I found great help from Tim Keller’s comments on this passage. I hope you do too. Keller writes:

Paul is showing that we never “get beyond the gospel” in our Christian life to something more “advanced”. The gospel is not the first “step” in a “stairway” of truths, rather, it is more like the “hub” in a “wheel” of truth. The gospel is not just the A-B-C’s but the A to Z of Christianity. The gospel is not just the minimum required doctrine necessary to enter the kingdom, but the way we make all progress in the kingdom.

We are not justified by the gospel and then sanctified by obedience, but the gospel is the way we grow (Gal.3:1-3) and are renewed (Col.1:6). It is the solution to each problem, the key to each closed door, the power through every barrier (Rom.1:16-17).

It is very common in the church to think as follows. “The gospel is for non-Christians. One needs it to be saved. But once saved, you grow through hard work and obedience.” But Col.1:6 shows that this is a mistake. Both confession and “hard work” that is not arising from and “in line” with the gospel will not sanctify you–it will strangle you. All our problems come from a failure to apply the gospel. Thus when Paul left the Ephesians he committed them “to the word of his grace, which can build you up” (Acts 20:32). The main problem, then, in the Christian life is that we have not thought out the deep implications of the gospel, we have not “used” the gospel in and on all parts of our life.

Richard Lovelace says that most people’s problems are just a failure to be oriented to the gospel–a failure to grasp and believe it through and through. Luther says, “The truth of the Gospel is the principle article of all Christian doctrine….Most necessary is it that we know this article well, teach it to others, and beat it into their heads continually.” (on Gal.2:14f) Paul says that the gospel only does its renewing work in us as we understand it in all its truth. All of us, to some degree live around the truth of the gospel but do not “get” it. So the key to continual and deeper spiritual renewal and revival is the continual re-discovery of the gospel. A stage of renewal is always the discovery of a new implication or application of the gospel–seeing more of its truth. This is true for either an individual or a church.

Do Small Things with Great Love

LifeToday Devotional: Words of Life

Small Things, Big Results
by Leigh Anne & Sean Tuohy

The Oscar-winning film The Blind Side tells the story of the Tuohy family and their adopted son, professional football player Michael Oher. Now, the Tuohys tell their story in the new book In a Heartbeat. This week’s Words of LIFE comes from their book.

If the message you take from our experience is that a rich white family tried to save a black kid, then you will totally miss our story’s meaning. It has nothing to do with where we were from, ow we lived, or how much money we had. It’s not important what color we were, whether we had glasses or didn’t have glasses, what kind of shoes we wore. All of that is irrelevant. Some people have tried to make it relevant – but they emphasize the wrong thing.

It so happened that when we first met him, Michael was a black, sixteen-year-old male. But those words are just adjectives that describe the person we tried to help and ultimately came to love. Making him a part of the family was an unconscious act, and it happened in a heartbeat.

It’s equally true, however, that the outlook on life that allowed us to open our hearts and home to Michael was developed over the course of our lifetimes. If the impulse was sudden, the two of us had been thinking for several years about our philosophy of giving.

One of our deepest beliefs is beautifully captured in the Second Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, or 2 Corinthians. The seventh verse of the ninth chapter of 2 Corinthians reads: “Each must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” After many years of attending church together, and helping to found one of the fastest-growing congregations in Memphis, Grace Evangelical, we came to believe that a cheerful, spontaneous offering, no matter how small, could be increased and made powerful by God. Our faith helped us understand that it was up to us to be generous and make ourselves available to be used by others.

We also became convinced that in order to really give, we had to get our hearts right. We had to learn that it was important to let go of any particular agenda. What were we hoping to achieve when we gave? We knew that it couldn’t be “We’re looking to go out and help a fourteen-year-old Hispanic boy today.”

So many people we knew wanted to make a difference and yet they waited for a really important cause to come along. Or they waited for their big bonus check to come in. they said to themselves: “I want to save Africa.” Or: “I want to save the American Indian.” They had an agenda. But why is it necessary to have an agenda? Because it relieves our conscience? Or makes us look good to our bosses? Or makes us feel good about ourselves? Because it makes us more appealing to the congregation? Or gives us more points on our Visa card? Or means the United Way is going to give us a plaque?

The more we thought about the nature of true charity, the more we realized there’s a paradox in Americans’ general attitude toward giving: as a citizenry we are at once charitable and stingy. According to the National Philanthropic Trust, 89 percent of American households give to charity. Sounds impressive, but think about this: on average, we donate just 1.9 percent of our household income. To be frank, that’s miserly. Especially considering how enriched some of us are, that percentage is well below what it should be. And by biblical standards – as most Christians would undoubtedly agree – it’s downright shameful.

As we reflected on our ways of giving, we came to see that we often approached charity too formally. Giving shouldn’t always be a prescribed ritual or ceremony: it doesn’t need to be accompanied by properly stamped paperwork. If we worried less about the procedures and methods of giving and concentrated more on a giving state of mind, we might have more to offer than we know.

It pained us to realize that we too often failed at the simplest kind of giving. While we were waiting for a great cause, or focused on an agenda, we chose not to notice someone standing right in front of us. We looked right past the woman in the grocery store taking things out of her basket because she was short on cash or the elderly disabled man in line at CVS.

Ultimately, we agreed that by embracing a smaller and more cheerful kind of giving, we might ease a lot of everyday problems. It took several years but slowly, informally, we found ourselves arriving at a simple conclusion: it wasn’t important to do something great.

Instead, we decided to take this approach: do small things with great love. If we could do that, little opportunities to give might grow beyond our wildest dreams.



Excerpted from the book IN A HEARTBEAT: Sharing the Power of Cheerful Giving by Leigh Anne and Sean Tuohy, published this month by Henry Holt and Company, LLC. Copyright (c) 2010 Leigh Anne and Sean Tuohy. All rights reserved.

God Looking For

All these things my hand has made,
   and so all these things came to be,

         declares the LORD. But this is the one to whom I will look:
   he who is humble and contrite in spirit
   and trembles at my word.
 
Isaiah 66:2 [ESV]

God's Message: "Heaven's my throne,
   earth is my footstool.
What sort of house could you build for me?
   What holiday spot reserve for me?
I made all this! I own all this!"
   God's Decree.
"But there is something I'm looking for:
   a person simple and plain,
   reverently responsive to what I say. 

Isaiah 66:1-2 [Message]

God-Traveled Roads

And how blessed all those in whom you live,
      whose lives become roads you travel;
   They wind through lonesome valleys, come upon brooks,
      discover cool springs and pools brimming with rain!
   God-traveled, these roads curve up the mountain, and
      at the last turn—Zion! God in full view! 
[Message]

Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
    in whose heart are the highways to Zion.
As they go through the Valley of Baca
   they make it a place of springs;
    the early rain also covers it with pools.
They go from strength to strength;
   each one appears before God in Zion.
[ESV]

Psalm 84:5-7

In His Own Time

Excerpt from Didn't See This Coming post:  ... enough to make a grown woman cry in public ...

These private wrestling with God, the tears, the seemingly calm days when inside I knew a storm was brewing...is it the right time Lord? Are you listening? What is the answer? I have been through enough things to know affirmative answers are not because God is a Santa Claus, just handing out things we decided we wanted from the Sears catalog. God is all knowing, always giving us GOOD gifts...which means to me, appropriate gifts in his will and in his own time.

Only Hope Is the Resurrection of Christ

Excerpt from Brad Hambrick (Crossroads Counseling):  Jesus Is Alive!  So What?  1 Corinthians 15

How often do you battle a particular sin without ever thinking of the resurrection? I’ll admit it, most of the time. Yet Paul says, “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.”  I’ve also tried to change a light fixture without thinking about the breaker box. That did not work out so well either.

Our only hope against the power of sin in our lives is the resurrection of Christ. We get so caught up in learning “practical steps” that we forget that it was Calvary that gave our dead legs the power to take any steps (practical or not). When we forget this we battle sin as if we must conquer (in our strength) an already defeated enemy. We forget the only admonitions we have against sin and Satan are “Stand firm (Eph 6:13)” and “Flee (II Tim 2:22).”

Application: Memorize I Corinthians 15:17 and repeat it during your moments of temptation. Let the verse remind you of the nature of the moment’s struggle.  Christ is raised! Your faith is not futile! You are not still in your sin!  Temptation is not a time to “prove” or “earn” something; it is a time to “reveal” and “display” the effectiveness of what Christ has done. Temptation gains its effectiveness by making the moment about you (your desires or your weaknesses). When you make the moment about Christ (standing firm in His truth or fleeing to His presence) temptation is transformed into a moment of worship – you have declared Christ as worth more than anything Satan could offer (pleasure or protection) in that moment.

Dive In

Ray Ortlund post:  My endlessly recurrent temptation

“This is my endlessly recurrent temptation: to go down to that Sea (I think St. John of the Cross called God a sea) and there neither dive nor swim nor float, but only dabble and splash, careful not to get out of my depth and holding on to the lifeline which connects me with my things temporal.”

C. S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory (New York, 2001), page 187.

Have Conquered By

And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, "Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.  And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.  Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!"

Revelation 12:10-12

Voracious Appetite

Christine Wyrtzen Devotional:

IS IT FELLOWSHIP OR NOT?
 
In all our distress and affliction we were comforted about you through your faith; for now we really live, if you just stand firm in the Lord.  I Thess. 3:7-8

    Two things are true.  1.) If my life is going well but those I love are struggling with their faith, I can not fully enjoy my good times. And, 2.) If I am being tried by fire but those I love are alive to Christ, my valley experience is eclipsed by the joy I feel as I watch them soar.

    Paul has been beaten, thrown in jail, but when he hears that the new believers at Thessalonica are standing strong in the Lord, his spirit is infused with new energy.  He puts it well.  "Now, I can really live!"  

    Is this not the essence of fellowship, that I am energized for having spent time with those who love Jesus with an intensity that is contagious?  By being together, we mutually inspire each other to be bold in our faith.  As we share stories, I am more willing to move to the edge of a new precipice in faith, all because I walk arm in arm with someone else who is doing the same thing.  This must be what God dreamt of when He urged me to live in community!

    I think of the groups of Christians who will meet over lunch today.  One may drain the life out of the other.  Or, both may be spiritually malnourished so their relating has little to do with Jesus.  Their flesh has caused the attraction.  Gossipers love gossipers.  Angry people want an angry audience.  Despairing souls want to air their pain to another who also lives in hopelessness. 

    The process of choosing spiritual journey partners is critical, for I give them license to deeply affect my life.  My associations need to be built on Spirit connections, where we share a voracious appetite for the things of heaven. What spills out in our conversations sparkles with the glory and light of the Spirit who indwells us, the One who is stirred by our passion.

I love hanging out with those who are in love with You and think nothing of living on the edge, even if it costs them.  Amen

Inside Out

In our Sunday morning discussions we have been talking about "story".  I thought this video might have useful implications for us:

Spillover

Excerpt from John Piper:  What Is the Will of God and How Do We Know It?

Three Stages of Knowing and Doing the Revealed Will of God

There are three stages of knowing and doing the revealed will of God, that is, his will of command; and all of them require the renewed mind with its Holy-Spirit-given discernment that we talked about last time.

Stage One
 
First, God’s will of command is revealed with final, decisive authority only in the Bible. And we need the renewed mind to understand and embrace what God commands in the Scripture. Without the renewed mind, we will distort the Scriptures to avoid their radical commands for self-denial, and love, and purity, and supreme satisfaction in Christ alone. God’s authoritative will of command is found only in the Bible. Paul says that the Scriptures are inspired and make the Christian “competent, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16). Not just some good works. “Every good work.” Oh, what energy and time and devotion Christians should spend meditating on the written Word of God.

Stage Two
 
The second stage of God’s will of command is our application of the biblical truth to new situations that may or may not be explicitly addressed in the Bible. The Bible does not tell you which person to marry, or which car to drive, or whether to own a home, where you take your vacation, what cell-phone plan to buy, or which brand of orange juice to drink. Or a thousand other choices you must make.

What is necessary is that we have a renewed mind, that is so shaped and so governed by the revealed will of God in the Bible, that we see and assess all relevant factors with the mind of Christ, and discern what God is calling us to do. This is very different from constantly trying to hear God’s voice saying do this and do that. People who try to lead their lives by hearing voices are not in sync with Romans 12:2.

There is a world of difference between praying and laboring for a renewed mind that discerns how to apply God’s Word, on the one hand, and the habit of asking God to give you new revelation of what to do, on the other hand. Divination does not require transformation. God’s aim is a new mind, a new way of thinking and judging, not just new information. His aim is that we be transformed, sanctified, freed by the truth of his revealed Word (John 8:32; 17:17). So the second stage of God’s will of command is the discerning application of the Scriptures to new situations in life by means of a renewed mind.

Stage Three
 
Finally, the third stage of God’s will of command is the vast majority of living where there is no conscious reflection before we act. I venture to say that a good 95% of your behavior you do not premeditate. That is, most of your thoughts, attitudes, and actions are spontaneous. They are just spillover from what’s inside. Jesus said, “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak” (Matthew 12:34-36).

Why do I call this part of God’s will of command? For one reason. Because God commands things like: Don’t be angry. Don’t be prideful. Don’t covet. Don’t be anxious. Don’t be jealous. Don’t envy. And none of those actions are premeditated. Anger, pride, covetousness, anxiety, jealousy, envy—they all just rise up out of the heart with no conscious reflection or intention. And we are guilty because of them. They break the commandment of God.

Is it not plain therefore that there is one great task of the Christian life: Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. We need new hearts and new minds. Make the tree good and the fruit will be good (Matthew 12:33). That’s the great challenge. That is what God calls you to. You can’t do it on your own. You need Christ, who died for your sins. And you need the Holy Spirit to lead you into Christ-exalting truth and work in you truth-embracing humility.

Give yourself to this. Immerse yourself in the written Word of God; saturate your mind with it. And pray that the Spirit of Christ would make you so new that the spillover would be good, acceptable, and perfect—the will of God.

Remember

Perry Noble post:  10 Things We Need To Focus On!

So, it’s Monday…and you feel like a one legged man who entered a butt kicking contest!

From all of the research I’ve seen…Monday’s are the days when we are most tempted to quit, to give up…to just walk away and start a brand new job as a people greeter at Wal Mart.

Just remember…

#1 – He called you…and it wasn’t to get to this place so He can drop you on your face!  (Philippians 1:6)

#2 – He WILL build HIS church!  (Matthew 16:18)

#3 – He did not necessarily promise to deliver you from the fire…but He did promise to walk with you through it!  (Isaiah 43:1-3)

#4 – There is MORE in STORE for your life and ministry!  (Hosea 10:12)

#5 – When we obey the voice of God we are unstoppable (Joel 2:11)

#6 – Have courage, be strong, don’t back down from what He has called you to do!  (I Corinthians 16:13)

#7 – God didn’t call you because of your greatness but rather because of HIS…and HE’S STILL GREAT despite at times you may feel like you are not!  (II Corinthians 4:1)

#8 – “This” problem will NOT destroy you!  (II Corinthians 4:8-9)

#9 – STOP comparing yourself to others…the same God who called and empowered them did the same for you!  (Galatians 2:8)

#10 – STOP praying for protection…PRAY FOR BOLDNESS!!!  (Acts 4:29-31)

Labor and Perseverance

Miscellanies post:  Active Love

Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov, Pevear/Volokhonsky edition (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1990) p. 58:

…active love is a harsh and fearful thing compared with love in dreams. Love in dreams thirsts for immediate action, quickly performed, and with everyone watching. Indeed, it will go as far as the giving even of one’s life, provided it does not take long but is soon over, as on stage, and everyone is looking on and praising. Whereas active love is labor and perseverance, and for some people, perhaps, a whole science.

Life and Peace

For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. [ESV]

If your sinful nature controls your mind, there is death. But if the Holy Spirit controls your mind, there is life and peace. [NLT]

Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life. [MSG]

Romans 8:6

But Let God

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is.

Romans 12:2 [NLT]

Come Upon You

Ray Ortlund post:  Revival

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.”  Acts 1:8

In Acts 2 the Holy Spirit does come upon them, revealing four things about revival:

One, revival is miraculous (verses 1-4).  Humanly uncaused.  “Suddenly there came from heaven . . .” (verse 2).

Two, revival is mysterious (verses 5-13).  Humanly inexplicable.  “What does this mean?” (verse 12).

Three, revival is meaningful (verses 14-36).  Humanly undeniable.  “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth” (verse 22).

Four, revival is mighty (verses 37-41).  Humanly irresistible.  “There were added that day about three thousand souls” (verse 41).

God grant it.

Faith to Stand

Christine Wyrtzen Devotional:

THE ENEMY'S NARCOTICS

I sent to find out about your faith, for fear that the tempter might have tempted you, and our labor should be in vain.  I Thess. 3:5

    We weren't created for pain, but for the garden.  Adam and Eve loved God and life was absolutely perfect.  Their world was utopian!  Then, the serpent spoke, they listened, and their first introduction to heartbreak occurred.  God judged their sin and they felt shame, remorse, and other emotions that had no fix.  Life was never the same again.

    We, as Adam and Eve's children, are sick to our stomach over what's wrong in our world, globally and personally.  The worse it gets, the more frantic we can be for a means of relief.  Satan knows this and that's where temptation starts.  He gives us all kinds of options to get out of distress except his ways are not God's ways.  Think of Jesus' time in the wilderness.  When he was hungry, Satan tempted him with bread.  When he might have felt powerless, Satan offered him the kingdoms of this world.  Temptation always begins with a need.

   Paul writes to Christians in distress.  They are being persecuted.  The pain is acute.  The tempter has undoubtedly come and provided a way of escape.  "Abandon the faith and your families will stay in tact. Stop preaching and you can save your life."  Quite surprising, even though they were young in the faith, they stayed strong.

    Alleviation of pain should never be our first priority.  Many of us are in the fire because we have taken a stand for God.  There is no resolution on this earth without God's miraculous intervention.  The tempter visits us often but by God's grace, we don't take his shortcuts to escape. We know better.  Following him only offers a narcotic with short-term relief.  We can know that along with it comes a violation of conscience that numbs us out from the voice of our Comforter.  For any who are hanging by a thread today, this devotional comes with fervent prayers for God's grace to poured upon your shoulders.

You told me that there will be rewards.  Just not here.  Give me faith to stand.  I won't sell my soul for temporary relief.  In Jesus' name, Amen

What a Way to Live

Tozer quote from Didn't See This Coming:

"A real Christian is an odd number anyway. He feels supreme love for One who he has never seen, talks familiarly every day to Someone he cannot see, expect to go to heaven on the virtue of Another, empties himself in order to be full, admits he is wrong so he can be declared right, goes down in order to get up, is strongest when he is weakest, richest when he is poorest, and happiest when he feels worst. He dies so he can live, forsakes in order to have, gives away so he can keep, sees the invisible, hears the inaudible, and knows that which passeth knowledge. What a way to live."