A Time of Fasting

I wanted to let my loyal readers know that I am taking a month break from the internet.  This is for a two reasons.  First, as many of you know, I am getting married in June, and there are many things that need to be done before that wonderful event.  Second, as I study for my sermon this week, which includes Jesus' instructions on fasting (Matthew 6:16-18), I felt that this is what God was asking me to give up.

Look for a new post at the end of April.  Until then remember 1 John 2:6.

Walking with the Spirit

A man cannot live one hour a godly life unless by the power of the Holy Ghost. He may live a proper, consistent life, as people call it, an irreproachable life, a life of virtue and diligent service; but to live a life acceptable to God, in the enjoyment of God’s salvation and God’s love, to live and walk in the power of the new life—he cannot do it unless he be guided by the Holy Spirit every day and every hour. ~ Andrew Murray, Humility and Absolute Surrender, p. 128

Trying to follow Jesus is hard work, especially when it is attempted solely by our own strength and will power. It is, in fact, impossible.

I know from experience that I don’t have what it takes to follow Jesus. The truth is that given the first sign of difficulty I crumble. It is what I do with trying to write a book, to run every morning, to eat healthier, and a numerous other things that I think are important. The cold reality is that in the battle of desires my flesh takes the easier road rather than sticking things out to the end.

This is one reason why we cannot boast in our salvation: because I do not have what it takes to save ourselves. We are weak and ignorant creatures, and the experience of life shows us that we will do things that we enjoy doing, even when we now that they are not good for us. There is not one of us that doesn’t know that McDonald’s isn’t a healthy place to eat, yet millions of us eat there every day. [Confession time: I am craving a Double Quarter Pounder and french fries right now] The problem isn’t about knowing what is right and wrong, the problem is disciplining our flesh to do the right thing.

Since we lack the will power and stamina to correctly discipline our flesh, we need to the help of another if we are going to experience the new life we have been given through Jesus’ death and resurrection. That help comes from the Holy Spirit working in our lives. Consider what the apostle Paul wrote in Galatians 5:

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. (Galatians 5:16-17; ESV)

The Spirit will enable us to live in such away that we will not feel compelled to give into every desire and whim our flesh has. By walking with the Spirit we turn our backs on the desires of the flesh, and we are able to live the way God desires us to live.

How do we do this? It is at this point that I wish Paul would have given us a little more instruction in his letter. It appears there is an assumption that the Galatians already knew what Paul was talking about. So let me offer a couple of my own thoughts.

First, I think it is safe to assume to walk by the Spirit is not about keeping a Law. In both Romans and Galatians Paul equates trying to keep the Law as a work of the flesh. The Law shows us what it means to live as God’s holy people in this world, but it requires our own strength and will power to keep, and thus it is said to be a work of the flesh.

My second thought is that to walk with the Spirit begins with repentance. We need to lay aside trying to become holy by our own effort and turn to God so He can make us holy. This requires that we confess our weakness, denounce our sin, and pledge our loyalty to God. It is this attitude of humility and of being poor in spirit that allows us to be open to the Holy Spirit working in our lives.

It is time to stop tiring so hard to be come holy by own efforts and it is time to start trusting the work of the Spirit in our lives. For it is the Spirit’s work, and not our efforts, which produces the changed life God desires for His people; But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law (Galatians 5:22, 23; ESV). It is the Spirit’s fruit, the result of His work, that produces the type of life that God wants us to live.

Daily Thought: An Inhabitant of Eternity

"Let nothing satisfy you but the the power of godliness.  Seek a religion that is spirit and life.  Seek to dwell in God and have God dwell in you.  In doing this, you will become an inhabitant of eternity.  You enter into the Kingdom of Heaven by the blood of sprinkling.  You then sit in heavenly places with Jesus." ~ John Wesley, The Sermon on the Mount, p. 91

Momentum in Our Finances Part 5

(I am taught three sessions at a local Christian Conference called Momentum on March 19.  The first session dealt with our finances and using them for God's Kingdom.  I have broken the talk up into 5 different sections.  This is part number 5.)

In these uncertain economic times it is hard to trust God.  There are always seems to be more bills to pay than there is money to pay them.  Yet I believe it is  only by trusting God can we experience momentum in our finances.  To have momentum in our finances means that we have the financial freedom to use our money for the good of God's Kingdom.  This requires that we will be good stewards of what God has blessed us with and that we will be generous with His resources.

To build up momentum in our finances doesn’t begin with creating a budget or making the right investments, though those things are important, but it begins by having a new perspective on our finances. Ultimately our finances aren’t about satisfying our needs and wants, but it is about using our finances in the light of God’s Kingdom. This is the big idea that I want you to take away from this series of ponderings: Our finances are an avenue through which God enables us to bless other people. God has made us stewards of this wealth so we will manage it well and bless the world with it.

I know that this is difficult to do when we see all the financial obligations, the needs, and even the wants before us. We want to know how to increase our wealth, and I think God is telling many of us, “Learn to manage what you have now well.” It will not be easy and it will go against our instincts, but that is our responsibility. That is why it comes back to trusting God to provide for our needs. If we do not trust God to provide, then we will never experience momentum, using our wealth for God’s Kingdom, in our finances. Instead we will find ourselves enslaved to debt, desire, and fear. I want to leave you with the words of the apostle Paul to Timothy:

Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment. Tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and generous to those in need, always being ready to share with others. By doing this they will be storing up their treasure as a good foundation for the future so that they may experience true life. (1 Timothy 6:17-19; NLT)

Only by experiencing momentum in our finances can we truly use our financial resources for good in this world.

Daily Thought: Divine Humility

"I call this a Divine humility because it is a poor thing to strike our colours to God when the ship is going down under us; a poor thing to come to Him as a last resort, to offer up 'our own' when it is no longer worth keeping.  If God were proud He would hardly have us on such terms: but He is not proud, He stoops to conquer, He will have us even through we have shown that we prefer everything else to Him, and to come to Him because there is 'nothing better' now to be had." ~ C. S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain, pp. 86-87

Daily Thought: We Need Hope

"We can survive the loss of an extraordinary number of things, but no one can outlive hope.  When it is gone, we are done.  Therefore the capacity to stay focused on the presence and power of God in our lives becomes supremely important." ~ John Ortberg, If You Want To Walk On Water You've Got To Get Out Of The Boat, p. 157

Momentum in Our Finances Part 4

(I am teaching three sessions at a local Christian Conference called Momentum on March 19.  The first session deals with our finances and using them for God's Kingdom.  I have broken the talk up into 5 different sections.  This is part number 4.)

To have momentum in our finances means to have the financial freedom to use our money for God's Kingdom.  In these tight and troubling economic times it is difficult to feel like we are able to do that.  Financial freedom begins with trusting God.  There are two thoughts connected with trusting God with our money.  The first thought is that we have been called to be stewards.  Too many of us see ourselves as consumers rather than stewards and so we don't live disciplined financial lives and we pile up debt.  Remember we are managing God's wealth.

The second thought is: We are called to be generous. Followers of Jesus Christ are not to hoard the gifts we receive from God, but we are to share those gifts with other people. As responsible stewards we are to direct God’s resources so they can benefit other people. This is what we see in Acts 2:

All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer. 

A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity—all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved. (Acts 2:42-47; NLT)

These early Christians shared what they had with one another so the people who were in need would not be in want. The reason they lived this way was because they didn’t see what they owned as their personal property, rather it belonged to God. So the extra coat in the closest wasn’t their coat, but it was God’s coat, and they were responsible for making sure it was put to good use.

The concept of being generous is tied to our giving. One of the commands God has given to His stewards is to give. Jesus during the Sermon on the Mount said; “Give to those who ask, and don’t turn away from those who want to borrow” (Matthew 5:42; NLT). It isn’t up to us to ferret out the swindlers from the truly needy (though I do think wisdom needs to be involved in our giving, but it is better to error on the side of being duped), it is up to us to give to those in need. That doesn’t mean that we give the person exactly what they ask for, but rather what we can afford to give or what we think will best meet their need. Peter and John didn't have money to give to the crippled beggar (Acts 3:6), but through the Holy Spirit they had the ability to heal the man. So maybe it is buying groceries for the person rather than simply giving them money or giving a person a ride rather than allowing them to use your extra car. They might reject your help, but that is on them and not on your lack of generosity.

We also give to share in the work of the Church. We are not all called into the same level of ministry, and that is okay, because we are all part of one big body, and the body needs the talents, gifts, and resources of each member. It is proper then for people not called into paid ministry to provide for those who are. 1 Timothy 5:17-18 reads:

Elders who do their work well should be respected and paid well, especially those who work hard at both preaching and teaching.  For the Scripture says, “You must not muzzle an ox to keep it from eating as it treads out the grain.” And in another place, “Those who work deserve their pay!” (NLT)

It is not a bad thing to have a ministry staff that gets paid for their efforts. In fact it is a very beneficial thing because it provides for a division of labor. The person who is paid is freed to use their time teaching, preaching, studying, and praying. It is in this manner that we can become partners with those people doing the work of ministry. In Philippians 1:3-6 Paul writes:

Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God. Whenever I pray, I make my requests for all of you with joy,  for you have been my partners in spreading the Good News about Christ from the time you first heard it until now.  And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. (NLT)

The primary way the Philippians have partnered with Paul in his mission is through their financial support. They gave the fruit of the labors to Paul so Paul could spend his time preaching, teaching, and praying. So while we might not be gifted in these areas of service, we can make it possible for those who are to focus their lives in doing ministry.

So how much should we give? That is the question we want to know. There are many thoughts out there on this topic, and I will share mine. The standard for giving that runs through Scripture is generosity. The Law laid out that this generosity began with a tithe, 10% of the first fruits of a person’s labor, but there was other giving required according to the Law so the poor would be taken care of, the needs of the priests met, and sins atoned for. Remember a sacrifice was an additional expense families had to pay in order to worship God.

I think a good rule of thumb would be 10% of our income be given to our local church families for the purpose of supporting the ministries they have decided are important (local ministries and mission work), but that our are giving also includes supporting missions, ministries, and organizations that we think are important.

This concept of generosity is also tied to our hospitality. Peter writes; Cheerfully share your home with those who need a meal or a place to stay (1 Peter 4:9; NLT). Paul writes; When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality (Romans 12:13; NLT). We need to open up our homes and set a table for people so they can share in the abundance that God has given to us.

 In God’s Kingdom our homes do not become our castles where we hide behind the walls from the rest of the world, instead they become places of rest and refuge for people traveling through the world. We should pray that our homes be a place of love, light, truth, and rest so that the people who visit us will be blessed by being there. We need to be willing to open our homes to other people, because we remember our houses are not ours but rather God’s property.

Why can we generous with what we have? Because we trust that God will provide for our needs. Paul writes to the Philippians:

At the moment I have all I need—and more! I am generously supplied with the gifts you sent me with Epaphroditus. They are a sweet-smelling sacrifice that is acceptable and pleasing to God.  And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:18-19; NLT)

God is able to provide for all of our needs through His glorious power. When we are generous we are able to experience that power at work in our lives providing for what we need.

Daily Thought: Obey the Word

"This is no less true of His words of commands and instruction.  If we study them to gain knowledge, if we admire their beauty and praise their wisdom, but do not do them, we delude ourselves.  They are meant to be done.  It is only as we do them that their real meaning and blessing can be unfolded to us.  It is only as we do them that we really grow in the divine life." ~ Andrew Murray, The Best of Andrew Murray, p. 173

Momentum in Our Finances Part 3

(I am teaching three sessions at a local Christian Conference called Momentum on March 19.  The first session deals with our finances and using them for God's Kingdom.  I have broken the talk up into 5 different sections.  This is part number 3.)

In these uncertain economic times, when prices get higher and our bank accounts get lower, it is important to trust God.  Only by trusting God can we experience momentum in our finances.  What do I mean by that?  When we trust God we discover the freedom to use our financial resources for the glory of God's Kingdom.  What does it look like to trust God with our finances?  Let me give you two thoughts.

The first thought is: We are called to be stewards. We are the recipients of a number of great blessings from God. Paul wrote:

In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly. (Romans 12:6-8; NLT)

The apostle Paul tells us that God has given each of us gifts and our responsibility is to use those gifts to the best of our ability. Peter has this same thought in 1 Peter 4:10-11:

God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another. Do you have the gift of speaking? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you. Do you have the gift of helping others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ. All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen. (NLT)

In essence this is what stewardship is all about. Stewardship is the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one’s care, and that is exactly what the two apostles tell us to do with the gifts that we are given, which includes our money.

The key to this is remembering that the things in our possession are ultimately not ours, but they are on loan from God, for everything is His. It is up to us to use what we have been given for His purposes. Now stop and consider for a moment what that means, not only for your money, but all your possessions. Yes, some of these things are necessary for life, but that doesn’t give us the freedom to be wasteful or sinful with what we have. The bottom line is that many of us struggle with our finances because we forget that we are just stewards of God’s resources.

That is why the #1 thing we must do when it comes to being good stewards of God’s financial resources is to live by a budget. What happens when we don’t live by a budget, and I know this from personal experience, is that our money slips through our fingers in small but non-essential purchases. A budget gives us the ability to direct our money to go where we want it to go, in a prayerful and thoughtful way, rather than letting it go through impulse or immediate gratification.

If we are going to be good stewards of God’s resources not only do we need to live by a budget, but we also need to avoid debt. The major contributor to our present economic crisis is debt. We are under the false impression that a healthy economy requires many consumers, and that even if people go into debt in order to consume it is a good thing because the money that will flow from the consumption will cause job creation.

One of the reasons we know this to be false is because a lifestyle of credit and debt is unsustainable. We cannot continue to spend tomorrow’s money today without having to face the consequences of those decisions. Debt is what happens when we see ourselves as consumers rather than stewards. As God’s people we are called to avoid debt. Consider this from Proverbs: The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender (Proverbs 22:7; ESV). In other words when we are in debt, when we have used money that was not in our possession, our time and money belongs to the person who lent us the money, and usually the privilege of borrowing comes with a fee (interest). How much of your monthly budget goes to pay-off past obligations that you are now responsible for?

Debt restricts how we can use the financial resources God sends our way. No wonder the apostle Paul wrote: Owe nothing to anyone—except for your obligation to love one another. If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill the requirements of God’s law (Romans 13:8; NLT). Now we might want to justify ourselves and say that we need to have credit in our society, but that just isn’t the case. Yes, much of our society is now built on the assumption of people using credit, but we do not have to live that way. In fact, what God wants us to understand is that good stewards refuse to go into debt, let alone allow the debt/credit cycle be a way of life.

Just as an aside, since this reality isn't something we consider, is that credit also inflates prices.  In other words the easy availability of credit makes things more expensive then they need to be. The reason it does this is because easy credit creates artificial demand. That is in part what happened to the housing market, easy credit was extended to people which enabled more people to buy houses, which created what seemed to be this huge market for houses, so existing house prices skyrocketed in value and new homes were built to satisfy this apparent demand. The reality was that there wasn’t enough real money to support that demand, and thus you had the housing market bubble burst. The best thing to do is buy with your savings, which is the essence of free market capitalism.

God has given us the gift of wealth and we are to be good managers of that wealth. That means we are to use it for His purposes first and foremost and it also means that we should not be wasteful of it. Our money ultimately isn’t ours, but it is a loan from God. May we manage it well.

Daily Thought: The Path to Gladness

"Men sometimes speak as if humility and meekness would rob us of what is noble and bold and manlike.  Oh, that all would believe that this is the nobility of the kingdom of Heaven, that this is the royal spirit that the King of Heaven displayed, that this is Godlike, to humble oneself, to become the servant of all!  This is the path to the gladness and the glory of Christ's presence ever in us, his power ever resting on us." ~ Andrew Murray, Humility and Absolute Surrender, p. 20

Momentum in Our Finances Part 2

(I am teaching three sessions at a local Christian Conference called Momentum on March 19.  The first session deals with our finances and using them for God's Kingdom.  I have broken the talk up into 5 different sections.  This is part number 2.)

In this climate of economic uncertainty we need to take to heart Jesus’s teaching on wealth:

“Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal.  Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be. 

“Your eye is a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is good, your whole body is filled with light. But when your eye is bad, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is!

 “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. 

“That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? 

“And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are.  And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith? 

“So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. 

“So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today. (Matthew 6:19-34; NLT)

I think three truths should pop out at us from this passage. The first is that material wealth is not the most important thing, because they are just temporary. The second is that we can trust God to provide for our needs, just as He provides for the needs of flowers and birds. The third truth is that we don’t need to be worried about tomorrow, rather we should seek God’s Kingdom above all else. If we are going to have momentum in our finances it begins at this point: Trusting God.  You don't know what tomorrow holds, but we can know the One who holds tomorrow.

What I want to do with the rest of this series  is to offer two thoughts that flow out of trusting God in the realm of our finances: (1) We are called to be stewards.  (2) We are called to be generous.

Daily Thought: Seasoning The World

"Indeed, if we separate ourselves wholly from sinners, how could we possibly answer that character which Jesus requires in His other teachings?  'You are the salt of the Earth.' It is your very nature to season whatever is around you.  It is the nature of your faith to spread it to whatever you touch.  You diffuse it on every side to all those around you.  In relationship to others, you are lowly, serious, and meek.  You show that you hunger after righteousness, and love God and man.  In doing that you do good to all, and often suffer evil in return.  This is the great reason why God has put you together with other men.  It is so that whatever grace you have received from God, you may communicate it to others." ~ John Wesley, The Sermon on the Mount, p. 126

Daily Thought: A False Trinity

"True spiritual freedom, we maintain, is something that we can consider after we have established our physical and relational security in the world.  In our culture, the three gods we do trust for security are possessions, power, and human relationships.  To a greater or lesser extent, all of us worship this false trinity." ~  Gerald May, Addiction and Grace, p. 32

Momentum in Our Finances Part 1

(I am teaching three sessions at a local Christian Conference called Momentum on March 19.  The first session deals with our finances and using them for God's Kingdom.  I have broken the talk up into sections and will be posting them over the next few days.)


Even though we live in a land of abundance there is great economic uncertainty in our country.  There is high unemployment, low house prices, very low interest (good for borrowers, terrible for savers), and a huge debt load (not only for individual consumers, but also for our state and nation).  So there is every reason to be a little worried about our money.  We want to make sure we have the security of wealth to build on lives upon so we can handle all the other things that life throws our way.

Let me be up front at the beginning.  This is session is not about how to invest wisely or even how to budget consistently, but it is about putting our finances into their proper place.  If we are going to build our lives upon the foundation of financial security then we are going to have a very shaky foundation.  The primary reason for that is because there are so many things outside of your control when it comes to your finances.  You can do all the right things, and yet still find yourself in trouble.  The monetary policy (Federal Reserve: interest rate control, TARP, Quantitative Easing) and fiscal policy (government spending, deficits, and debt) of the government as well as the market place all play a hand the value of your money.  These things are entirely outside of your control, and yet they play a huge part of your life.

There is no doubt that we need to use our wealth wisely.  That is why I would recommend Dave Ramsey’s The Total Money Makeover as a good place to start when it comes to getting your financial house in order.  The temptation that we need to resist when use resources like the ones produced by Dave Ramsey is the thought, “Well that doesn’t apply to me because my situation is unique.”  In other words we come up with reasons why we are the exception to the rule, and why the principles given will not work in our situation.

Being disciplined with our money is not fun, it takes hard work, and it also takes sacrifice.  It will mean having to go with out or making do with second best so we can eventually get to the place where we can actually afford the best.  It means intentionally directing where your money goes rather than being at the mercy of your every whim and desire that wants to slowly steal your money away.

Here is a great example.  Think about how much money you have spent on VHS tapes, DVDs, and now BlueRay Discs.  Now if you went to sell all those movies how much would you get for them?  Only a fraction of what you paid for them.  In other words these things are ultimately a wealth stealer and add very little to our quality of life, especially if you consider the money you are also paying for cable TV and a subscription to Netflix.

You see the principles taught by Dave Ramsey or Crown Financial help us be intentional and thoughtful about our finances, and thus we can feel more in control about how our money is being used.  It is an excellent idea to take the time to create a budget, to develop the discipline to live within that budget, and to be intentional about where your money goes.

I also want to encourage us, especially in economically uncertain times, to trust in God.  We have all heard the advertisements to buy gold because gold will get you through tough times.  I have also heard people say that it is too late to buy gold, that what you need to focus on are commodities like rice, beans, and other type of food items.  You need to do this and that in order to prepare for an economic collapse.  Many of us are then left wondering just what is the best way to prepare.

Here is my sage advice: the best way to prepare is to be good stewards of what you have and trust God to provide for our needs.  We don’t know what is going to happen in the future.  Remember those people who spent all that money to prepare for the end of the world with Y2K, when all the computers would shut down and the world would be thrown into chaos? In hind sight was that a good use of their resources?  It wasn’t, but they sure were convinced they were preparing themselves for the future.

We don’t know what is going to happen in the future.  At this point the economic could continue to collapse or it could recover (I am leaning towards a collapse), but we have experts telling us both things.  So all we can do in times like this is to use our money wisely and generously while trusting God with our future.

Not Many of You Should Presume to Be Bloggers | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction

I think this is a good reminder of the high calling of teaching Scripture. We certainly live in a society that wants us to give our opinion about everything that is happens, but many of us are ignorant about a good many things.

What few of us realize is that when we press those "Publish," "Post," "Comment," and "Send" buttons, we are making the shift away from merely "believing" truth and stepping into the arena of publishing that belief. In doing so we are effectively assuming a position of leadership and teaching that prior to 2004 was not available to us.

Reading this helped me realize that I need to be more careful in what I write, teach, and publish in blogosphere. Prayer, study, and thought need to accompany what I teach and write about. May I be a more careful and thoughtful blogger.

Not Many of You Should Presume to Be Bloggers | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction

Daily Thought: Father and Priest

"How privileged and exalted a thing it is to be a father—it images God himself. If children do not have a good image of their earthly father to start from, it will be much harder for them to come to know God as a loving heavenly Father. Saint Augustine had a very bad relationship with his father, and he could not bring himself to address God as Father for a long time. Every father is a priest, like it or not, a good one or a bad one, mediating an image of God to his children." ~ Peter Kreeft, Fundamentals of the Faith: Essays in Christian Apologetics, p. 125

Sunday Sermons

Here is a link to the sermons I preach at the Storm Lake Church of Christ.  This includes the sermon I preached this morning: Laying Down Our Rights:  Sunday Messages. I hope you hear something that encourages, convicts, or any other way improves your walk with Jesus.

Daily Thought: Test the Fruit

"You shall know them, Jesus said, by their fruit.

"The principle holds true for anything in life.  It is especially helpful in diagnosing what the enemy might be up to.  What is the fruit of what you're experiencing?  What is its effect? If it continues, what will the results of that be? What will be lost?  Jesus said he came that we might have life and have it abundantly.  He also warned that the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy.  Is something being stolen?  That's not from God.  He called Satan the accuser of the brethren.  Are you under accusation, that feeling of 'I'm such an idiot'? (I'm using polite language here.) Look at the fruit—it will give you a good idea of the tree it came from." ~ John Eldredge, Walking with God, p. 51

Daily Thought: Trust God for Transformation

"In my experience, the road to healing is long, and at one time or another every one  of us will have to endure disappointment and failure.  Sometimes it will happen that we fall back into the sin we dreaded most or were most certain of having conquered.  Yet in spite of the despair that follows, we should not lose confidence, for 'he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus' (Phil. 1:6)." ~ J. Heinrich Arnold, Freedom From Sinful Thoughts (e-book version)

Christus Victor

The last few days I have been reading different essays.  There is no doubt that I like essays because of their length compared to the length of a book.  I also like essays because they help simplify the point being made so I am in a better position to get my mind around it.  The essay I finished this morning was by Gregory Boyd on the Christus Victor view of atonement.

I know that in many circles Boyd is viewed as a heretic because of his position as an Open Theist (more accurately the open view of the future).  Having read some of his thoughts on this position I don't think he is a heretic, even though I am not in agreement with what he says. There I two reasons why I think it is wrong to label Boyd as a heretic.  The first reason is because he is attempting to reconcile the Biblical data with human experience.  This is a noble task and just because he arrives at some different conclusions than have traditionally been given doesn't mean that he is intentionally leading people astray.  Feel free to disagree with his position, explain why he is wrong, but don't call him a heretic.

The second reason I don't think he is a heretic is because of his teaching about Jesus.  Ultimately this is what the Christian faith is about.  Boyd writes in the opening paragraph:

God accomplished many things by having his Son become incarnate and die on Calvary. Through Christ God revealed the definitive truth about himself (Rom 5:8, cf. Jn 14:7-10); reconciled all things, including humans, to himself (2 Cor 5:18-19; Col 1:20-22), forgave us our sins (Ac 13:38; Eph 1:7); healed us from our sin-diseased nature (1 Pet 2:24); poured his Spirit upon us and empowered us to live in relation to himself (Rom 8:2-16 ); and gave us an example of what it looks like when we live in the kingdom (Eph 5:1-2; 1 Pet 2:21). Yet, I believe all these facets of Christ’s work can be understand as aspects of the most fundamental thing Christ came to accomplish: namely, to defeat the devil and his minions (Heb 2:14; 1 Jn 3:8). He came to overcome evil with love.

That definitely falls within accepted orthodoxy of Jesus.  Is Boyd wrong about Open Theism? Maybe.  Is he a heretic? No.  In fact I think he can help us better understand what Christ's atonement really accomplished.

It is no secret that I have had trouble with the substitutionary view of atonement.  I get the view if it is a one on one substitution, like Aslan dying for the traitor Edmund in The Lion, the Witch, and Wardrobe.  My problem is that I  don't understand how Jesus' death is a substitute for my death as well as the death of all God's people. It is just something I haven't been able to get my mind around.  So for most of my adult life I have held it as a matter of faith, even though I didn't fully understand it.

The Christus Victor view of atonement is appealing because it has deeper historical roots.  It is the view that many of the early church fathers had, and that carries a lot of weight with me.  It is also the logical extension to the early message of Jesus, "Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand."  This theme of the Kingdom of God has become a vital part of my theology, and thus why the Christ the Victor view makes a great deal of sense to me.

As Christ established the kingdom of God by the ways his life, ministry, teachings and death contrasted with the power-dominated kingdom of the world, so his followers are called to advance the kingdom of God by living lives that sharply contrast with the kingdom of the world. Instead of trusting the power of worldly force, we are to trust the “foolish” power of the cross and thereby proclaim its wisdom to the gods of this age (Eph 3:10). Following the example of our captain, we are to always overcome evil with good, trusting that when Easter morning comes it is goodness that will have won the day – and the entire cosmos.

I would encourage you to take some time to read through Boyd's essay.  You might not agree with his position, but think through why you don't agree.  Part of living a life of faith means to wrestle with what we believe and to actively pursue the truth, that is what made the Bereans so noble (Acts 17:11).

The “Christus Victor” View of the Atonement | Christus Victor Ministries 

Daily Thought: Fighting Against Selfishness

"In whatever sector of society Christian faith exists, it sets out to fight against the cost to human dignity that selfishness has exacted. It teaches the wealthy to be generous and to have a proper view of the privileges and responsibilities that come with financial success. When wealth is used properly and those who have it demonstrate humility, the inequalities of life are less bitter to those who do not possess it. On the other hand, for those who live in less-affluent circumstances, authentic faith teaches diligence, patience, industry and a recognition that the faithful execution of their responsibilities is to be done without envy of the rich or bitterness toward their own state." ~ William Wilberforce, Real Christianity, pp. 155-6

The Gospel's Good News

Today I read an essay by N. T. Wright entitled Paul's Gospel and Caesar's Empire which lays out a fresh perspective on what Paul meant by the word gospel.  I found it fascinating because it helps clarify some of my thinking as of late. It seems to me that we have been limiting the idea of Gospel to primarily mean that we have been saved from our sins.  The bad news is that we are sinners and destined for hell, and the good news is that Jesus died for our sins so we can go to heaven.

Certainly there is an aspect of the Gospel that means just that, but I would suggest that the Good News associated with Jesus means much more than this.

It is important to stress, as Paul would do himself were he not so muzzled by his interpreters, that when he referred to "the gospel" he was not talking about a scheme of soteriology. Nor was he offering people a new way of being what we would call "religious". Despite the way Protestantism has used the phrase (making it denote, as it never does in Paul, the doctrine of justification by faith), for Paul "the gospel" is the announcement that the crucified and risen Jesus of Nazareth is Israel's Messiah and the world's Lord. It is, in other words, the thoroughly Jewish, and indeed Isaianic, message which challenges the royal and imperial messages in Paul's world.

The world's rightful King has come into this world through the nation of Israel.  He has come to rescue us from evil and set the world to rights.  That is Good News! Yes, the fact that we are saved from our sins is tied up in this, but it is not the entirety of what the Gospel is about.  In other words the King has come and now is the time to pledge your loyalty to Him.

Paul's Gospel and Caesar's Empire | N. T. Wright

Daily Thought: The Ball is in Our Court

"Everyone must be active in the process of their salvation and  transformation to Christlikeness. This is an inescapable fact.  But the initiative in the process is always God’s, and we would in fact do nothing without his initiative.  However, that initiative is not something we are waiting upon.  The ball is, as it were, in our court. God has invaded human history and reality.  Jesus Christ has died on our behalf, is risen, and is now supervising events on earth toward an end that he will certainly bring to pass, to the glory of God.  The issue  now concerns what we will do." ~ Dallas Willard,  The Renovation of the Heart, p. 82

Understanding Biblical Covenants | Chuck McCoy

One of the many blessings I received by attending Nebraska Christian College was to have Chuck McCoy as one of my professor.  Mr. McCoy emphasized with to us the idea of covenants.  When we look at the Bible as a whole one of the ideas or themes that run through the entire book is covenant.  What sets the God of the Bible apart from all other gods is that He is the Creator and He is the Covenant Maker.

To begin with, understanding the Bible requires that we recognize that the God of the Bible (YHWH) is not what the Greeks and pagan imagined - whimsical, mysterious magnified humans who ride roughshod over people’s lives, operate in the shadows,  and hide their will from mankind!  The gods of Greco-Roman paganism were thought of in terms of “power” rather than principle.  On the other hand, the Hebrews were dealing with the God who presented Himself as a faithful covenant maker/keeper, who reveals His will to mankind and then, being holy Himself, He holds His people accountable for their actions.

I believe that as we read the Bible and think about God through the lens of covenant the better we will understand who God is and what He is doing in the world.

Understanding Biblical Covenants | Chuck McCoy

Daily Thought: Deal with Sin Immediately

"If we do not see immediate consequences of our sin, we feel it is all right with God.  If God does not come and deal with us severely when we know we have sinned, we will probably assume it must be all right because there have not been any consequences to our sin.  But you do not have to wait for the consequences—you can know from the Word of God whether it is correct or not, or whether it is sin or not, and deal with it immediately.  Do not let the sun go down on sin in your life.  Do not presume on the mercy and the grace of God.  Deal with sin immediately." ~ Henry Blackaby, Holiness: God's Plan for Fullness of Life, p. 44

Daily Thought: Take the Initiative

“God has created you to do something.  It is not enough to stop the wrong and then be paralyzed when it comes to the right.  God created you to do good.  And doing this requires initiative.  There is a subtle danger of hiding apathy behind piety.  Getting rid of the sin in your life?  Great.  Now it’s time to do something." ~ Erwin McMaus, Seizing Your Divine Moment, p. 35

Making the Choice of Freedom

{Romans 6:15-20; NLT} 

Well then, since God’s grace has set us free from the law, does that mean we can go on sinning? Of course not! Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living. Thank God! Once you were slaves of sin, but now you wholeheartedly obey this teaching we have given you. Now you are free from your slavery to sin, and you have become slaves to righteous living. Because of the weakness of your human nature, I am using the illustration of slavery to help you understand all this. Previously, you let yourselves be slaves to impurity and lawlessness, which led ever deeper into sin. Now you must give yourselves to be slaves to righteous living so that you will become holy. When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the obligation to do right.

While freedom is a God-given gift there remains certain choices that will either help us live a life of freedom or a life of restriction. For example, if you decide to murder someone, that choice will rob you of freedom. Even if you were able to get away with the crime and therefore didn’t have to spend the rest of your life behind bares, the guilt of the deed you committed and the constant fear of being caught would hamper your ability to enjoy being on the outside of the prison bars.

Here is another, much more practical, example. The choice to use credit to furnish a lifestyle way above your means will lead to the reality that you will be enslaved to your creditors. By spending tomorrow’s morning today you limit what you can do in the future because there is already a group of people who have a legal claim to your money. Not only that, because of the interest that will also have to be paid you will actually be paying more for your things than what they are worth. Your freedom is hindered by the choice that you made.

Our choices will either lead us to greater levels of freedom or they will restrict the freedom that we already enjoy. There are many choices, both large and small, that we make that will end up taking away our freedom. Our freedom and our choices are eternally connected. Ponder for a moment what Erwin McManus wrote:

“Not all free acts lead to freedom. The choices you freely make may cost you a life of genuine freedom. This is why the Bible talks about the human experience in terms of being slaves to sin. Sin creates the illusion of freedom; it fools us into seeking freedom from God rather than finding freedom in God.
“Whatever else Jesus came to do, one thing is clear—He came to set you free. God is not a warden; He is a deliverer. And so earnest is He about your freedom that He was willing to be taken captive and crucified on your behalf just so you can run free” (Stand Against the Wind; p. 14).

If we are going to be free we have to make those choices that bring and enhance the freedom in our lives. This requires that we look towards the future and not just live in the moment. We have to think about the consequences of our actions and ask the question; “What is the true cost of my behavior?” Ultimately we have to realize that a life lived apart from Christ Jesus is a life that is devoid of freedom. Only Jesus has the power to rescue us from the slavery of sin.

In Romans 6:15-20 the apostle Paul tells us that we have to make a choice. We can choose to continue to allow sin to control us, or we can give ourselves over to righteousness. What Paul is asking us to do is to establish disciplines in our lives that help train us train to live lives of holiness, and in this way experience freedom.

The follower of Jesus is free because they have given themselves over to Jesus’ way of living life. We devote our lives to the study of God’s Word, to being part of a Christian community, to taking time to celebrate Christ’s victory over sin and death, and to seeking God’s guidance and blessing through prayer (Acts 2:42). There are other disciplines that I could mention, but these are the basic four that the early church used to grow in faith and freedom.

We need to be devoted to disciplines because that is the way we learn to live in freedom. A person of faith is like a jazz improviser. This musician has learned the chords and studied the music so much that they understand where the song going. The discipline of practicing the music gives them the ability to stay true to the song, even when they go off on their own. The jazz musician has freedom to improvise because they have been a slave to the music.

When we devote ourselves to holiness through observing the spiritual disciplines of the Christian faith we are able to live with freedom because we know our purpose in life and we know where life is heading. These to realizations help us make the right choices in all the thousands of different situations we face in our lives. We are able to do the right thing because we have chose to surrender our lives to following Jesus.

True freedom is not found in doing whatever we want to do, but it is discovered in choosing to do the right thing. We discover what the right thing is when we train our lives in righteousness, but that is a choice that we have to make. Jesus came and opened up the way to freedom, now we have to decide whether or not we will take it.

Daily Thought: Explaining Away Holiness

"We talk  about leading a different kind of life, but we also have ready explanations for not being really different.  And with those explanations we have talked our way out of the very practices that alone would enable us to be citizens of another world." ~  Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines, p.108

Waiting for Rob Bell | Jesus Creed

In light of the post about Rob Bell from yesterday I think this from Scot McKnight is worth pondering:

I’ve not read the book, and I don’t trust blurbs or excerpts. Nor do I trust my own judgment of watching a provocative promo video and think I know where he’s going. Nor do I trust those who say they have read the book or parts of the book.

I think the entire post at Jesus Creed is worth reading, but I think this paragraph gets to the heart of what I was trying to communicate.  It is too easy to fire off a blog or a tweet in response to something we disagree with and not give the issue the amount of thought and reflection it requires.   Yes, we need to guard against false teachers, but we also have to be sensitive to the voice of the Spirit.

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Ben Witherington has also chimed in:

 Frankly this is all too typical of the hyper-Calvinistic wing of the Evangelical world.   Shoot first, ask questions later.   They’ve even given a Reformed Evangelical like Tom Wright this sort of treatment in some cases.

It is that shoot first and ask questions later mentality that I was questioning in my post yesterday.  I find it rather sad and frustrating because it really squelches any type of meaningful discussion.  The whole thing between John Piper and N. T. Wright over justification is just another example.  Don't be so eager to label someone as a false teacher or a hertic, because they might be saying something you need to hear.

Daily Thought: A Brilliant Disguise

"We are hiding, every last one of us.  Well aware that we, too, are not what we were meant to be, desperately afraid of exposure, terrified of being seen for  what we are and are not, we have run off into the bushes.  We hide in our offices, at the gym, behind the newspaper and mostly behind our personality.  Most of what you encounter when you meet a man is a facade, an elaborate fig leaf, a brillant disguise." ~ John Eldredge, Wild at Heart, p. 52

Daily Thought: Opposite of the World

"The spirit which is in the world is directly opposite to the Holy Spirit, which is of God.  It must, therefore, be that those who are of the world will be opposite to those who are of God.  There is the utmost difference between them.  They differ in their opinions, their desires, designs, and tempers.  We know that they cannot be in peace together." ~ John Wesley, The Sermon on the Mount, p. 112

Rob Bell's Upcoming Book on Heaven & Hell Stirs Blog, Twitter Backlash on Universalism | Liveblog | Christianity Today

At times it seems that there are Christians who have made it their life goal to point out the "heretics" and "false teachers" among us. I am not defending Rob Bell here since I am not sure what his position on hell is, but I rather would like to caution us about labeling people "false teachers" merely because they disagree with our position.

Rob Bell is somewhat of an enigma for me. On the one hand he has helped me rethink "Church" and I think he has some very good things to say in that regard. On the other hand I think that his doctrine can be a little suspect at times, and therefore it is very hard for me to endorse what he has to say.

What I am concerned about is not so much whether or not Rob Bell is a universalist, but rather how eager and flippantly some Christians leaders were in making the proclamation. What is even worse are those individuals that cloak their judgment in religious language: "I'll be praying for him." No, you just wanted to come off looking like a nice guy.

We live in a public world where we have access to millions of people because of the internet. The easiest thing in the world, especially if you see yourself as a guardian of correct doctrine, is to pass judgment on people via the web. This judgment then gets picked up and passed around (especially if you have a large following), all the while the real issue is never addressed. Notice how Rob's book isn't even out yet, but people want to comment on it even though they have not read it.

If these Christian Leaders were really concerned about Rob Bell, his teaching, and his salvation then instead of blogging and tweeting about him they should set up an appointment to visit with him, to pray with him, and to discover what the real Rob Bell thinks. The easy way is to make a declaration behind the comfort of a computer screen. The hard way is to engage the man personally. May we follow the example of Acts 18:26.

Rob Bell's Upcoming Book on Heaven & Hell Stirs Blog, Twitter Backlash on Universalism | Liveblog | Christianity Today