Humble Beginnings

Wiser Devotions

2011-08-07T15:08:00.002-04:00

Recently a dear friend kindly complimented a short article I wrote for Christ and Pop Culture asking whether we need a daily quiet time. She asked if I would flesh out my thoughts on ways to keep devotions fresh and beneficial. Here is the letter I wrote in reply.

The simple, central question we need to have about devotional time is this; What is devotional time for? The answer I keep coming back to, time and time again, is intimacy. Devotional time with God is for developing intimacy with him, for knowing him better, and for more closely aligning our hearts and our desires with his. Just like any relationship, the connection is built through time together, through experiences together, and through vulnerability with each other. Of course there are a whole host of reasons that intimacy with God has a different flavor and, in my experience, is more difficult. But the serious Christian mind can’t get around the absolute necessity of intimacy with God. Devotional time is all about helping us get that. And as such, the way we build our devotional time needs to be directed at achieving it.

Joshua Harris gave an excellent talk called Principle and Practice (you can find it online), in which he challenged his church with their tendency to wrongly lift up a PRACTICE (say, homeschooling your kids) as if it were biblical, when in fact it is not, rather than focusing on honoring the PRINCIPLE (such as loving your kids and overseeing their education and training). I think this is what happens with devotions, especially in conservative churches. As you say, it becomes a checklist- the practice of a certain type of quiet time becomes a matter of right and wrong, when in fact nothing in the Bible says this. And yet we see many things that devotions are trying to accomplish that ARE in Scripture; principles like the importance of knowing God’s word, closeness with God in prayer, and the pursuit of godly wisdom.

So whatever you do in devotions, whether my ideas are helpful or not, the MOST important thing is to design it in ways that help YOU grow in intimacy with God. If something is preventing that, change it! If some new idea seems to work especially well, incorporate it! My suggestions from here on out all have that goal in mind.

The Value of Structure

I don’t have to tell you that structure has value. I think it’s probably fair to say that you’re a more structured person than me as a general rule! But I think when it comes to devotions, we have the wrong idea about structure. For some reason we think that a)we have to follow certain structures even if they don’t work, and b) structure means doing something the same way every single time. My question to both those things is; why? If I was trying to grow in intimacy with my friend Bob by working out with him (the exact same way every time!), but it was resulting in boredom and zero healthy conversations (and weird muscle disparities), why would I keep doing it that way?

And yet the need for intimacy remains. So one big switch in my thinking was this: the best kind of devotional structure is structure in GOALS. That means that it is a good idea to set a devotional goal for myself, but a poor idea to assume I HAVE to do it a certain way every time. Instead, I want to focus on getting to that goal any way I can. And because we’re businesspeople, let’s say that our goals should be SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely).

Example: The month of August is beginning, and I’m noticing that I have an especially ugly attitude toward people. Humanity has lost any redeeming or redeemable value in my mind, and I’m constantly angry at everyone. I want to fix this. I decide that in this case intimacy means seeing humanity the way God sees humanity. So then, my goal for August is, “To see improvement in my love for others by the end of the month, as measured by my day to day attitude toward people at work and at church.” The first thing I want to do is to pray about that; asking God to help me accomplish that goal, to open his wisdom in this area to me, etc.

Now, there are a lot of ways I can get there. I can begin by doing a study of Genesis… reading through it, reading commentaries on the parts that pertain to my goal, etc. I can also read passages from other parts of the Bible that apply. I can read a book on the topic. I can read articles (of which there are MILLIONS for free online). I can do some google searches to find art or movies that might help me think about this area more. I can chat with friends or mentors about my ideas or questions. Each day, I can find a new way of advancing my understanding of how God sees humanity and work to mirror that in my own life. And most importantly, I can spend time praying about each of these things… asking that God would help me take them to heart, that he would give me a sense of how he thinks about them, etc. This approach is powerful because, as science tells us, our brains are stimulated by newness and change. By doing things this way, we are consistent in pursuing a devotional goal, but we allow ourselves to use simple tricks of human psychology to help keep us engaged and excited by that pursuit.

So by the end of the month, I have vigorously addressed a particular area. The structure of the goal helped me and gave me direction and a plan, without limiting me by becoming rote or liturgy. It also kept me open to new or unexpected insights… because my reading and experience is all over the place, I am prepared to be taught things I didn’t expect. And because I’m still taking in a lot of information, I am learning more than just my topic; I am building my theological framework for how I think about all of the Christian life. And as I take all that in, God and I have something specific to talk about. J I think those are the values of structure.

Oh, and one quick side note. A constant question in my mind this week has been this; “how does this apply to our brothers and sisters who are illiterate or don’t have access to a Bible?” It bothers me that so many Christians say something is sin (i.e. failing to have a daily quiet time of reading Scripture) when there are people in the world who do not have that option. THAT is a huge indicator that someone is mixing up Principle with Practice. So a big thing I like about the structured goals approach is that it gives freedom to the illiterate or Bible-less brother who can find alternative ways of developing his intimacy with God and still be faithful.

The Value of Flexibility

One difficulty with scheduled devotions in general, and even the structured approach I’ve advocated above, is that there are certain moments when we experience extremes; specifically, either extreme inspiration in a particular area or extreme challenge. These extremes command a response from us, but we can easily feel a challenge if we assume that our devotional schedule cannot change and yet our interest lies elsewhere.

That is why I would advocate openness to flexibility. Essentially, this means allowing yourself tangents from your structured devotions. One allowable tangent is time-sensitive, God-oriented projects. Perhaps you are asked to teach a Sunday School class on the book of Acts, but you are in the midst of studying the Old Testament prophets. It is OK to set aside the prophets for a time and to focus your devotional time on your lesson! I’m always shocked by how many people think this is an evil thing. What could be bad about that one week delay while you do something else that is just as legitimate in developing your relationship with God?

Another allowable tangent, it seems to me, is response to extreme emotions and circumstances. Perhaps I’m having a good month and I decide to delve into the theological nuances of soteriology. But a week into it, my friend tells me his wife had an affair and they are getting a divorce. Because intimacy with God (rather than following a schedule) is our goal, this is a good opportunity to use devotional time to cry out in anguish, to work through sorrow, and to know God’s will for times of trial more intimately. One specific example of this for me was September 11, 2001. We were in college, and that experience drove me (and, I assume, millions of other people) to more closely consider sorrow and why God allows such spectacular pain. There is no reason that I needed to spend half an hour every day in the week after that event completing my assigned readings of Leviticus.

A final helpful tangent is moments of inspiration. Sometimes some little thing in a book, or a movie, or something someone says in a good conversation will set your mind ablaze with possibilities, and you’ll be inspired to know much more about God in that area. It’s perfectly ok to lay aside your scheduled plan for a while so that you can pursue intimacy in response to inspiration, and then come back to your structured purpose later.

A key point here is that this has to do with MINDSET… recognizing that certain things are ok, and knowing WHY they are ok, so that you are freed to pursue them without guilt.

The Value of Feedback

We all know consistency is difficult. I think it is both ok and even important to find pragmatic ways to help ourselves grow in consistency. One of the best ways of doing this is getting feedback. I think it is helpful to get feedback and insight, even constructive criticism, from a friend on things like what they think about the devotional goals we’ve chosen, how we’re pursuing them, and how successful we are in accomplishing them. This is true because it keeps us accountable, but also because they help us see things we may have missed. Like a good editor for an article you are writing, a wise Christian friend can help streamline your devotional approach and can keep an eye on whether you are doing it. This tends to motivate us, and it also helps us with the M (measurable) part of our SMART goal. After all, who can tell you better about whether you seem to be progressing than a friend who sees your life?

I think too many of us grew up with this idea that there HAS to be a purely personal, separate-from-everything aspect to your relationship with God. Ok, I can agree with that to a certain extent. But who says we can’t use community to help strengthen us in that pursuit? And in what way is our time with God degraded if someone else knows what we’re doing in it? For that reason, I think being very open with someone about our devotions… and even about our devotional STRATEGY beforehand… is a good way to help keep us on task and inspired. I also think it’s a really good idea that this person KNOW they fill this role. In other words, it gives them a way to help you build and maintain your spiritual life without committing huge amounts of time or effort. You can simply write down your devotional goal for a time period, check in with them periodically to let them know how it’s going and what you’re learning, and then ask them whether they are seeing fruit in that area of your life. This also allows you to be quicker to challenge each other, because instead of arguing about “enough” devotional time or “filling a checklist,” you can focus on questioning each other’s growth according to goals that the other person committed themselves to. And of course you can be in prayer for each other, asking God to speak to that person in a particular area and to reveal himself in ways that help them grow.

One final note here is that we tend to grow more from experiences we remember, and we remember things better when we articulate them to someone else. Most of the stories about my life that I remember well are crystalized because I told someone a story about them soon after. This is a great practice for charting our devotional journeys… tell friends so they stay locked in your mind! This helps us a lot later on when we face that issue again.

The Value of Self-Forgiveness

To say it honestly, Christians have a history of using guilt to, “inspire” good behavior. The problem is that this “inspiration” also inspires resentment and bitterness and frustration. But time and again, Scripture speaks of the Christian life as, “freeing.” That is, when Christ enters your life you are meant to feel more free to live life the way God intended than any non-Christian ever can.

To me, this means that I need to be quicker to self-forgive. When I fail, yes, it is usually due to laziness and selfishness. But the way to correct it isn’t to wallow in self-hatred. The way to correct it is to get back on the horse. So forgive yourself when you fail and, making use of an accountability partner, get back at it!

Conclusion

So, here’s the short version of what I’d recommend.

Stage 1: Pray, asking God to give you wisdom in organizing your devotional time. Next, set a devotional goal for yourself, and set a specific time period for pursuing that goal. Write down some ideas for how you plan to pursue that goal. Finally, ask a friend to look over your plan, giving feedback on the basis of their knowledge of you, things to think about, new ideas that might be worth adding, etc. Finalize a basic (but always flexible!) structure for the time period.

Stage 2: Pursue it! And have fun. Consume Scripture, read recommended books, google articles, find people who disagree on the topic, write out an essay about how you answer a particular question, watch a movie that pertains to your topic… give your mind plenty of time to work through all the possibilities and to stretch in new ways.

Stage 3: Find ways to keep track. Tell stories about your experiences. Keep a record of the things you learn. Blog! Find a way to measure your progress.

Stage 4: Always be flexible. Allow yourself time off to focus on teaching a class or leading a bible study. Let yourself pursue a new idea you’d never considered, or respond to a time of strong sorrow or intense joy.

Stage 5: Forgive yourself. You’ll be imperfect, you’ll fail, and you’ll display the same weakness that every other human in all of time has displayed. Get over it and come up with a new idea.

Whatever you do, let intimacy with God be your constant pursuit, your constant joy, and a goal that never wavers even when we do. I’m hopeful that mindset will produce better results in your heart and in mine than we’ll ever get from rote practices and dry schedules.

Dealing with Routine, Faithful with What is Now

2009-07-04T13:16:00.002-04:00

Something about routine has a numbing effect on me. The daily rhythms of preparing for work, commuting, clacking keyboards, schedules, watching movies and going to bed have a way of lulling me into a sort of tunnel vision, where I forget bits and pieces of who I meant to be.

Still, it is nice to sit down at the old keyboard, fighting to make the emotions skipping around in my psyche translate clearly into written words. It gives shape to things I experience, and an object with shape is much easier to hold and process and use meaningfully.

Samantha and I now live in a non-Seminary apartment complex called Village Manor. It is a place full of life- seminary students, people on welfare, refugees from foreign countries, international students… the list goes on. Here, we are trying to figure out the most constructive way to wait for what God would bring to us.

Samantha is wonderfully active. She spends time with friends, teaches English to two Nepali refugee girls, participates in small groups and a reading group, and of course takes care of Isaiah. It is a joy to watch her flourish as a person. I like it when people call me up out of the blue, only to find out that they want to talk with my wife and not me!

Speaking of joy, Isaiah is a thrill every day. He gets smarter and quicker all the time, which is sometimes wonderful and sometimes scary! I find that even his growing capacity for deceit and stubbornness is highly amusing. Isaiah likes to climb in my lap for about three seconds, and then he wants to climb onto other stuff. He likes to play with toys, but LOVES to play with adult stuff, especially cell phones. He enjoys pulling wires out of their sockets, and biting his stuffed animals on the nose.

My favorite thing is when I wake up in the morning and start to walk down the hall; he hears the floorboards creak and starts to yell at/for me. “Da! Da Da! DADADADADADA!” As far as I can tell, this means, “Get over here right now and get me out of this crib!” It is fun to comply, even when it means changing a soggy diaper that smells of ammonia.

My goal of late has been to become a pastor while I wait to become a pastor. People can be hard for me, and I do not think having official position will solve that struggle. So, I have been trying to use what free time I have to develop the skills to be a shepherd for those I love and whom God has given me a place of influence with. This might mean listening when a friend is frustrated, pursuing a wandering heart, counseling someone in a new situation, or leading a group of people toward new perspectives. I find that I am terribly uncertain of myself when doing these things, but it is always wonderful to see how clearly the Word speaks to all, allowing me to ignore my weakness and point to Certainty.

It has also been a time of growing confidence for me. I find that I can be effective at work, consistent in relationships, and even sorta fun sometimes. Mind you, my struggles with a bleak outlook on life certainly have not gone away. But still, it is comforting that God keeps bringing challenges designed to show his ability to bring you along safely.

So as I look forward to yet another stage of life not doing what I long to do, my hope is that Christ will continue to show himself strong in my weakness, that I will be prepared for whatever is next, and that I will be faithful with what is now.

People and Sadness

2009-03-09T13:02:00.002-04:00

The other day my dad jokingly called me a, "road warrior." Between Christmas, New Years, new car, baby showers, and car problems, I've been on the road a lot. We were in Michigan this weekend, and I'm going back again next weekend.

When I travel, I wonder a lot about the people I see along the way. The friendly old lady at McDonalds, the sour-looking gas station attendant who perked up and smiled when she saw Isaiah, the strong-looking white haired old farmer who wanted a coffee refill; all these people have stories (most of them much longer than mine) and backgrounds and things they think about or are frustrated with. It makes me sad that I cannot talk to them, or help them with their frustrations and hurts, or even make their day all that much better.

I guess it highlights my preference for deep, thorough, complete ways of dealing with problems. I would much rather be a big help to one person than of passing help to ten, though it makes me sad that I cannot help the ten in a deep way too.

I think, when we come to these sorts of realizations about ourselves, it is very hard to make wise use of them. Is it a problem I should fix? Is it unhealthy for me? Does it hurt me in a good way? Would it be better for me to try to change my characteristics or find ways to accept them?

Though I do not know all the answers, I am deeply grateful that God designed the church to make use of every individual strengths and gift. And though it hurts me, I like the deep sadness that comes from seeing people who are hurting. It motivates me, deepens me, and hopefully causes me to better love those I can affect. When sadness moves us closer to Christ likeness, perhaps it is a sadness we need to be more comfortable with.

A Father's Gifts

2009-01-16T12:19:00.002-05:00

Sometimes I don't identify with Scripture passages, but sometimes I do.

Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! -Matthew 7:9-11

I want so badly to do the best thing for Isaiah. He brings incredible joy to my life, but he also makes me ask the question, "which is best?" about 10 times per day. Should I let him stay up later or put him to bed even though he's not tired? Is it ok to for him to chew on the table or do I need to start teaching him not to bite large items of furniture? How forceful should I be in holding him down while changing his diaper to communicate obedience?

God, in some sense, faces these decisions as our father every day. But unlike me (thank goodness) his actions toward us are perfect. He gives precisely what we need.

As Isaiah develops and matures, he'll want things from me. He may want a tennis racquet or ballet shoes (to which I'll say yes and no, respectively). He may prefer kung fu or video games depending on which way he leans culturally (hopefully toward his mother!). He will ask for the keys to the car or money for a date. He may ask to go on a mission trip to a dangerous city or country.

In all these things, my goal must be to give or withhold things on the basis of trying to best bless him toward a correct understanding of God, which is in his best interest. I must try to love him in a way that will bring glory to the Savior. One thing I hope Isaiah learns is that when he asks for things that are good for him, I will gladly give them. When he asks for things not in his best interest, I will withhold him. At least, that is my aim.

God, who gives perfectly, never fails in this quest. When we ask for things that God knows are in our best interest, he is pleased to give them. When we ask for things not in our best interest, he withholds them.

And when it is in our best interest to wait quietly, that is what he makes us do.

I'm not sure when, if ever, I will understand living quietly. But this I know; trusting the father pays, because he perfectly gives and withholds life's blessings. And so I pray and I wait.

To live quietly

2009-01-14T13:00:00.002-05:00

Sometimes I read a passage of Scripture and don't identify with it, and can hardly believe it is true. Here is an example.

But we urge you, brothers, to do this (love the brethren) more and more, and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one.
1 Thessalonians 4:10-11

My wife knows how to live quietly. She can invest in home and family to the point where she has to check herself and reinvest in outside things. She doesn't bother people, doesn't make a fool of herself, and to my knowledge has few if any enemies.

I am quite the opposite. I toss my opinions around, argue hard for things that may or may not matter, and am impatient with a quiet life. I do like quietness, mind you; I love to read and spend hours thinking on my own. But on the whole, I prefer a list of challenges to the prospect of sameness any day of the week. When a problem arises, I want to solve it. When a group is presented with a challenge, I want to lead the charge. And when a people struggles with apathy, I want to call them back to faithfulness.

But now, life is quiet. Feedback I get from others suggests that though I have the gifts to be a pastor, I am not steady or mature enough to be one yet. I can barely take school classes because of my work schedule. I cannot invest in the church with the same amount of time that others can. I am not leading anything, not solving any problem, not learning anything (except electric market structures in the state of Illinois).

As a result, I am bored. I am embarrassed to have anyone look at my life. And I constantly wish I were elsewhere, despite knowing the problem of discontent is in the heart rather than the circumstance.

I wish I understood better what God wants to do in me. And I wish I could offer my wife more certainty of our place and direction. But I cannot. And so I pray and I wait.

A Song and a Blessing

2008-11-17T11:53:00.004-05:00

I recently finished Deuteronomy. What a book! Moses recites God's Law to Israel, reminding them that success rides on obedience rather than strength of arms. He calls them to live obediently, rejecting the ways of the nations. He challenges them to love God only.

Deuteronomy ends with Moses delivering a song and a blessing. The song celebrates the way God fights for his people, delivering them from enemies. It ends thusly:

"Rejoice with him, O heavens;
bow down to him, all gods,
for he avenges the blood of his children
and takes vengeance on his adversaries.
He repays thsoe who hate him
and cleanses his people's land."

The blessing spreads hope for the ways God will bless individual tribes. It ends in a similar way;

"Happy are you, O Israel!
Who is like you,
a people saved by the Lord,
the shield of your help,
and the sword of your triumph!
Your enemies shall come,
fawning to you,
and you shall tread upon their backs."

These two pieces remind Israel of the most important thing, just before they enter the Promised Land: God fights the battles. He is the Sovereign One, success depends on Him alone, and their hopes for peace and prosperity rest on their relationship to him.

I love this thought, because it highlights truths that we can appreciate just as much today as the Israelites then. God fights our battles. We cannot look to worldly means for success, we can only live faithfully and trust God's direction for us. Our response to every challenge must be the same; faithfulness and obedience.

It is also beautiful and sad to remember throughout that Moses knows some key things:

1. He will not enter the Promised Land.
2. He will soon die.
3. Israel will fail to walk in obedience.

And yet he delivers this powerful oration with joy and strength, knowing that God will use his faithfulness rightly to bless the world with the knowledge of the Master of the Universe.

Deuteronomy is a powerful book for interacting with the character of God, and I've greatly enjoyed sitting under its teaching.

Next up; Micah.

The Joy for Those Who Obey

2008-11-12T15:58:00.004-05:00

Deuteronomy 30 is the close of Moses' speech to the Israelites, which began in chapter 1. After the horrors of chapter 28 (see my last entry), it is full of welcome joy.

The LORD your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your cattle and in the fruit of your ground. For the LORD will again take delight in prospering you, as he took delight in your fathers...

It is an excellent closing arguement, because it emphasizes the certainty of God's character and the importance of choosing wisely.

I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.

What is interesting here is how Moses structures his speech as a call to action. "Do you desire blessing?" he seems to say. "Pursue it! Pursue it rightly, by repenting of sin and walking in obedience. Love God, love your neighbor. Enter joy by living in submission."

Recent days reminded me of the challenge presented by the world's self-centeredness. An atheist friend of mine recommended a book (called The Alchemist) which tries to beautify one young man's pursuit of his life purpose- conveniently ignoring the way he forsakes all duty, relational connections, and responsibility for the sake of finding what he wants. It is attractive because your mind tells you that the path will fulfill your longings.

After all, wouldn't it be nice to leave your spouse and family, leave your responsibilities, leave your problems? Do what you want, when you want? Never have to feel guilty?

It does sound nice. It is also a lie.

God calls us to something else entirely. He calls us to submission and sacrifice, to responsibility and suffering, to glorification of Him rather than of ourselves. And yet strangely, impossibly, and wonderfully- this path of suffering is the true path of joy and prosperity. What a God we serve.

The Horrors that Await Disobedience

2008-11-10T13:19:00.007-05:00

My latest Deuteronomy (Ch. 28) reading was a little disturbing. It is a clear example of the Old Testament reward/punishment structure for the nation of Israel in response to their obedience or disobedience.

The simple, specific language (take note, all ye who would desire to be good writers!) is especially powerful. If you obey, it says, "Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field. Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock." Later it says, "And all the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be afraid of you. And the Lord will make you abound in prosperity…"

However, if they do NOT obey, the results are horrifying. "The Lord will strike you with wasting disease and with fever, inflammation and fiery heat, and with drought and with blight and with mildew. They shall pursue you until you perish." Not only that, but starvation will be so pervasive that, "The most tender and refined woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground because she is so delicate and tender, will begrudge to the husband she embraces, to her son and to her daughter, her afterbirth that comes out between her feet and her children whom she bears, because lacking everything she will eat them secretly, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy shall distress you in your towns." It really does not get much worse than that.

What do you think it felt like, to be among the people receiving this communication from the Lord? Would it not drive you to moralism, to fear, to shame? On one hand, I think our tendency is to gloss over passages like this. We prefer to talk about Jesus, about love, about joy. But are those things even possible without their antithesis? Could the Israelites hope for a Savior to come without a desperate fear of their inability to save themselves?

One portion of faithfulness in the life of a Christian is meditating on all that we have been saved from. The driving, sickening fear of punishment is now a mild guilt; we learn to be dismayed at our sin, but do not feel the pits of hell advancing every time we make a mistake. We cry before God, but not in abject horror at the shrieking tortures awaiting those who fall into serious moral decay.

Yes, our situation is somewhat different. God no longer ties earthly wealth to ethical adherence. But ultimately, our situation is the same. Our disobedience equals death and horror, and we only have one location in history to look to for salvation: the life, death, resurrection, and offer of salvation by Christ to all those who place their faith in him.

It is good to read the Old Testament. It allows us to see our need not merely as individual sinners, but as humanity. And it ought to fill us with desire for the spread of the gospel, as the only hope of the nations.

Where will the new Wilberforce come from?

2008-11-05T13:46:00.006-05:00

William Wilberforce

Over at Owen's blog, he gives an excellent call for Christians to consider public service as an opportunity for displaying the gospel in the world, much the way William Wilberforce did in England. Let me say outright that I agree almost entirely with Owen in this. However, it brought to mind this question; why isn't this already happening? Lots of Christians are interested in politics, we have lots of money and plenty of people in the culture who lean our direction... where are the Wilberforces?

My suggestion is that it may partly be a question of tactics. Here is my response (which I posted in the comments section) to Owen's call.

Owen,

Thanks for this thoughtful article. It expresses well a great need and a helpful metaphor.

However, I think there are two major things that go along with this call.

First, the need for evangelicals to rethink how we educate young people in regards to politics. I think our paradigms are not well thought out, and as a result Christian interaction with politics tends toward the extremely simplistic and unhelpful. Christian teaching about politics tends to focus only on value issues, apologetics, and the like. We are taught to be so moralistic, as well as so vociferous in our denunciations of secular morality, that we have little opportunity to demonstrate the grace and hope that the gospel offers. How can we be excellent negotiators and policy makers when so much Christian thought is devoted to loud denunciations of the evils of the secular worldview? They simply stop listening to us.

I saw this clearly, because for nearly seven years I was absolutely committed to being one of those Christians who would change the political sphere. I studied carefully, debated thoughtfully, took non-paying internships, was introduced to the right people, and so on. However, I soon saw that politics is dominated by secular characters. These people may claim faith, but generally are pragmatic to the core. When they think of Christians, they think of a voting block, but not serious thinkers about civic policy and direction. As a result, they have little reason to support Christian involvement in positions of real power and responsibility, because they do not think them capable of serious engagement with the issues. In fact, the reality is that they basically ignore us and placate us with pro-life votes.

This leads to the other problem. Christian ethics are extremely hard to maintain in the ultra-pragmatic world of politics. Part of the reason that those Christians in politics seem to be “weak” ones is that you usually HAVE to be willing to sacrifice your principles for the sake of advancement to leadership and decision-making roles. Wilberforce had massive advantages in regards to his personal fortune, his location in society and history, the governmental structure, etc. Without those, it is an extremely rare Christian who can both advance politically and maintain his ethical stance consistently.

In my own life, I saw how often (even at the lowest levels of party politics) I was required to compromise to gain notice and influence. Don’t want to steal the other candidate’s signs? You’ll never help run a campaign. Won’t accept money from pornography producers, sweat shop runners, unethical businessmen? We’ll run the guy who will. Won’t vote yes on the bill your party leader supports but you don’t? You won’t be supported by the party, won’t get a leadership position, and will be relegated to a meaningless committee. Won’t do a dirty backroom deal? You’ll never accomplish landmark legislation that will give your resume the credibility it needs to take the next step.

One possible exception to these problems is the legal field. Christians have made some remarkable gains in legal practice and judgeships, often in alliance with conservative groups such as The Federalist Society. Advancement comes through consistency and high standards, which works in Christians’ favor. However, party politics is nigh-unto impossible to navigate without moral compromise, unless a person makes a name for himself outside of the party “system.”

It is this last that is the key. Rather than support parties and hope that solid Christians can penetrate party structures (a rarity), I believe we can be much more effective on the local level. We can look for people with the will and character to make God-honoring decisions, and then strongly support them for jobs like county commissioner, mayor, or attorney general. After that, they have the opportunity to gain enough name recognition to run for Governor… and it’s the governors who are in the best position to run for executive office.

Bobby Jindal

So, there’s no one Senator I can think of whom I would feel entirely comfortable with running for President (this last election being Exhibit A). However, there are several governors who, if not perfect, exhibit signs of being our best hope for mature, thoughtful , and ethical leadership; Bobby Jindal, Tim Pawlenty, Mike Huckabee, etc. (Palin hasn’t really convinced me that she is willing to forego the party line).

I guess what I’m saying is this… we Christians should probably focus less on supporting one party or making unholy alliances to focus on one issue, and focus more on using dollars and volunteerism to support individual candidates who show excellent moral character and an ability to create thoughtful and non-partisan policy. This, I think, will separate us from being characterized as a “voting block” and give far greater opportunity to use our civic engagement to point to the health and hope of the gospel.

Isaiah...Churchill?

Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States

2008-11-04T23:25:00.003-05:00

Whatever your party, this is a historic moment for our country.

A Wistful Vote

2008-11-04T12:17:00.004-05:00

Well, I voted. There are all kinds of good things about voting today.

-I get to add my contribution to the political process.
-Lines were short.
-NO MORE POORLY WRITTEN POLITICAL ADS.
-No more abuse for my unorthodox political perspectives.
-One less thing for which to be called an argumentative person.
-It looks like almost all of my political predictions are going to come true (I thought Guiliani would do better, but otherwise I nailed most of them).

But that said, I did it with a bit of wistfulness. I voted for George W. Bush both times he ran, and am glad I did so. I will miss him. I think he was an excellent President in many respects.

-I believe he sought to lead in a morally consistent way. He sought to limit stem cell research on embryos, but expanded AIDS relief in Africa. He did more to fight the sex slave trade than any other president, and chose excellent judges who do not view abortion as a right. His tenure was marked by thoughtfulness and character rather than responsiveness to opinion polls.

-I believe he made courageous decisions, such as propping up an economy on the edge of disaster even though his own party was against it. He wanted the nation to be stable, and acted accordingly even though it seemed to go against his own party. He did so in spite of opinion polls.

-I believe he understood his role as a figurehead in times of crisis. His ability to deliver hope and strength exactly when we neeeded it were remarkable. He helped the nation heal quickly after September 11, and carried out justice as best we understood it. He only delivered a few great speeches, but those were truly great. Rather than focus on himself and his ability to fix problems, he guided us to faith in something higher as the source of hope. And he did not give speeches designed to respond to opinion polls.

-I think the justification for the Iraq war was badly communicated, but I think it was the strategically correct move and I believe our nation will reap the rewards (not primarily financial) for generations to come. I think Iraq and indeed the Middle East are significantly better off because President Bush saw a larger need for significant change in that region, and he followed through in a way that UN always has and likely always will be too weak to emulate. And he did not capitulate because of opinion polls.

-I believe he truly cared about us. But he cared too much to try to give us everything we asked for, because George W. Bush is not beholden to opinion polls.

I think these things make him a great man and president, as opposed to his predecessor, who DID build most of his actions around opinion polls.

So today I cast my vote for Barack Obama, because I believe he will be better for the nation on the whole in executing the office of president and casting vision for the people. But I also heave a sigh, because I will miss that brief period when we had a President too stubborn to listen to anything but his own moral clarity.

Thank you, Mr. President.

Economic Grapes of Wrath

2008-11-03T13:32:00.004-05:00

(note: I also submitted this article at Christ and Pop Culture. Even so, my frustration on this point is personal enough that I thought I would post it here as well)

I recently joined a book club, and our next book is, "The Grapes of Wrath," by John Steinbeck. Most interesting was the reason for choosing this particular book; the choosers felt, "it would be especially relevant to our time and situation." In other words, they felt the many parallels between our time and the events depicted in the book warranted close consideration.

Of course, the title for the book comes from the Christian hymn "Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory," which uses martial terms to depict God's harshly judgmental return before the coming of the new heavens and the new earth. As it says;

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord:
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword:
His truth is marching on.

In other words, the book depicts economic conditions so bad it is like being smashed in a winepress. Steinbeck carries the analogy forward to argue that its best result –or, "wine,"- is the way it forces workers to unite and organize. Still, his book depicts sad and crushing hardships during the late stages of the Great Depression.

But are things really so dire? Our presidential election seems to suggest it is. The campaigns are dominated by discussion of economics, and people have been more willing than prior years to look to government for financial help (even making Obama immune to accusations of socialism, whether or not these are true). President Bush's approval ratings are through the floor, partially for an unpopular war but with a much stronger correlation to the condition of the economy.

I, on the other hand, would tend to disagree for a couple of reasons. First, though government can be of help in times of crisis, it really does not control the economy. Our financial situation is governed by thousands of decisions by millions of different people, all of whom have their self-interest first and foremost in their hearts. To argue that our chief executive is the cause or the downfall of happy economic times is merely to find a scapegoat; any economist worth his salt will tell you that federal government impact on the economy is usually negligible at best.

Second, I would disagree quite strongly with the core accusation that our economy is fundamentally, "bad." After all, our unemployment is at 6.1%, better than all but the most efficient (and usually resource-rich) countries worldwide (by comparison, during the Great Depression it reached 24%). Average income, even after adjustment for the buying power of money, is light-years ahead of any other time in history, American or otherwise. And those truly in some form of poverty have more options for recourse and support than any other civilization that has ever existed.

As these thoughts were running through my mind, I came across a helpful article that compares our economic condition to that of the last twenty years. In it, the authors trash most objective measures of riches, and focus on how we FEEL about our money. In other words, they try to describe economic conditions by our emotional status rather than numbers that depict- well, economic conditions.

Their case is startlingly valuable, because it highlights a basic problem for human happiness; we have no perspective. Though we live in the richest, healthiest, most robust, most diversified economy in world history, we are angry about its condition.

The reason, I think, is a nice little mix of short memories, self-centeredness, and the influence of postmodern thought. Or, we forget things used to be worse, we desire the absolute best for ourselves, and we think the relative value of economic conditions is a matter of comparing them to the best we ever had.

This is a childish way of thinking. If I defined the value of marriage by comparing it to the absolute best our relationship ever was, I would be unhappy all the time (or at least divorced in a very short amount of time). If I defined whether a meal is good by comparing it to the best meal I ever tasted, then a dinner at a four-start hotel would ruin my appetite for life.

Christians, then, need to approach our time in this world very differently. Here are a few principles for responding to living conditions, economic or otherwise.

Trust God's Providence. The Christian who believes God is in control has no real reason to fear or become incensed over the condition of the economy. God provides what is right and good, and our goal must be to respond with faithfulness to whatever he deems to be best.

Practice Contentment. Jeremiah Burroughs, in "The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment," (highly recommended) points out that if our desires are larger than our possessions, we will always be unhappily straining to achieve our desires and ignoring the blessing of our possessions. However, if we learn to constrain our desires to meet our possessions (in other words, accept that God has given what we need), we will find contentment and joy in the present, rather than looking for it in the future.

Hope in the Gospel, not Finances. We look forward not to a time of constant economic growth, or fulfillment of our wildest financial dreams, but to a place of perfect joy and peace. Money is a tool, but it is not a fountain of satisfaction. God, on the other hand, is. In times of economic downturn (relative though they may be), Christians have a special opportunity to show the world that our joy is different from theirs, that our hope is not conditioned on our portfolios, and that Jesus is the same whether we are getting richer or not.

In these and other ways, Christians can reflect the image of God by laughing at days to come, because our Risen Savior is Ruler of All.

Happiness and Ethics

2008-10-31T12:40:00.002-04:00

My readings from yesterday and today in Deuteronomy were both ethical in nature. God lays down laws for his people that go against what they might naturally think or feel or do. His desire is that they recognize His Truth, and in so doing alter their behavior accordingly.

So, I began asking some co-workers questions about how they make ethical decisions. Their answers seemed to compete between two desires... the desire to be nice to people on the one hand, and the desire to be consistent with their atheistic world views on the other. The result was a sort of mish-mashed relativism, where they will say that PERSONALLY they would not, say, kill a pregnant woman to save a group of ten other people, but they also would not say that it is wrong for someone else to do so.

At heart, they believe the key goal in life is to be happy, to be content with decisions, to enjoy life. Because they are young and educated and financially stable, this seems within grasp for them. And yet I feel they will struggle when the storms come with the question of whether their life has value and purpose.

In Augustine's Confessions, he is using lies and rhetoric (before he became a Christian) to gain status and power in the world. While doing so, he comes across a drunk beggar in the street:

Sighing, I spoke to the friends around me of the many sorrows that flowed from such madness. I was dragging the burden of my unhappiness under the spur of ambition, and, by dragging it, increasing it at the same time. Despite all our efforts, we still aimed only to attain the very happiness that this beggar had reached before us-and there was a grim chance that we should never attain it! For what he had obtained through a few coins gotten by his begging, I was still scheming for by many a wretched and torturous turning, namely, the joy of a passing bliss. He had not gained true joy, but at the same time, with all my ambitions, I was seeking one that was even more untrue.

This caused me to recall why Christian morality is and should be so entirely different from the world. Our message is that our base desires and strivings are essentially false. Though our natural instinct is to sacrifice only at the altar of self-worship through pleasure, it is not what is best or healthiest for our true joy.

Instead, we must first recognize an Objective Truth outside of our contained little lives, and submit our moral choices to the guidelines that flow from that moral truth. For the Christian, this means submitting moral decisions to the prism of God's glory; we find true joy by responding to the good news with faith and repentence, by living to the glory of Him who has saved us, and by entering into His joy and rest when our time here is done.

How much more consistent, how much more beautiful is this picture! The strivings of the world are but begging for coins to get drunk, but the life of the Christian is one of submission and obedience for the purpose of greatest joy in God's glorification.

Keep these things in mind when you are tempted by the things of this world. Remember, as Steven Curtis Chapman sings, that your chains are gone.

On Leaving and the Purposes of God

2008-10-27T12:47:00.004-04:00

Augustine, remembering his mother's fierce desire for him to stay in Carthage rather than move to Rome, because she feared he would never come to faith:

What was it, O Lord, that she was asking of You in such a flood of tears, but that you would not allow me to sail? Nevertheless, You, took Your own secret counsel and, noting the real point to her desire, didn't grant what she was asking in order to grant to her what she had always sought.

The wind blew and filled our sails, and the shore dropped out of sight. Wild with grief, my mother was there the next morning, and filling Your ears with complaints and groans which You disregarded. At the very same time, You used my longings as the means to hasten me toward the fulfillment of all my longing, thus the earthly part of my mother's love was justly purged by the pain of sorrow. Still, like all mothers, though even more than others, she loved to have me with her. She had no idea what joy You were preparing for her through my departure.

Classic Augustine; full of wisdom, full of truth.

And So We Worship the Stars

2008-10-22T12:13:00.005-04:00

In Deuteronomy 17, God lays out a stiff penalty. If a person turns away from Him to, "worship the stars," or a variety of other false gods, they are to be stoned.

This got me thinking about the ways in which we worship the stars. For instance, our culture has an incredible fascination with celebrity. I can hardly believe the importance people place on Katie Holmes hair, Britney Spears' domestic instability, Will Smith's upper body, or Alex Rodriguez's marriage.

But there are other ways as well. I imagine myself worshiping the stars, and see myself looking in the great nothingness of the dark sky... with hope. Out there, bright points of light could be the seats of the gods, or holes in a black tapestry hinting at glory beyond. I am taken away from everyday frustration and into a world of possibility, where boredom flees and drudgery dies.

When I imagine this heart condition, I see how it carries over to other activities I do even now. I am prone to placing great hope in the starry panorama of technology, where new ideas and solutions can create a happier and more efficient world. I keep close track of new ideas in math and urban design and storytelling and fuel efficiency hoping these things will make life more comfortable and joyful. I allow myself to mentally say, "If this one thing happened, life could be so much better." Rather than merely enjoy new ideas, I place hope for future joy in their hands. In so doing, I worship the stars.

We as Christians must be very careful about the things that fascinate us. While we serve a God not seen, it is all too easy to take comfort in our physical interests. When these interests move from joys to hopes, we risk displacing the power found in God with the amusement found in hobbies.

I still like to look at the stars. And I will continue enjoy using statistics and science to solve problems. But my prayer is that my life, considered as a whole, will display faith in my Creator rather than small-minded fascination with his creation.

A Father's Child

2008-10-22T01:27:00.002-04:00

Sometimes my little guy wants something. Usually it involves wanting to play, to eat, or to be changed. If none of those helps, he needs a nap. If it is not one of those four things, it means I am out of ideas and I have to use my special emergency word- “Honey?”

As you can see, it is a dire circumstance because his begging face is irresistible. Also it immediately precedes crying, which is just painful. So when Isaiah wants something, if it is reasonable, I give it to him. If it is unreasonable (like not wanting to go to bed), I steel myself to ignore his pitiful cries for freedom.

This is the simple metaphor used by Christ in Matthew 7 to encourage us to make requests of the Father. “Ask and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find…or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone?...If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”

I tend to be comfortable with conflict and challenges- much more comfortable with those things, in fact, than I am with times of peace. Right now my little family is in a time of great peace, and I struggle with restlessness. I want to move on to new battles and challenges, to see lives changed and the Word proclaimed.

On one hand, I need to learn trust and patience. My God is a father more faithful and loving than I could ever be to my own adorable son, how then can I fault the situation he has given us? Each day I am learning to find joy in peace and quiet, when much is at rest. God has placed us here, and I would be ungrateful to overlook the blessings of this time.

At the same time, Christ encourages us to make use of our son ship. As a child of the King, I am to ask for good things with passion and confidence, knowing that God uses my pleading as part of his plan to open new directions and insights. It is as though by crying out, I take a snapshot of a moment in time, so that later I can look back at that snapshot and see how much I have changed; or, more accurately, God has changed me.

So today I work to practice these things; trust and gratefulness for all that God gives, but also desperate pleading for new opportunities to proclaim His gospel to the world. These are the tasks he gives me as a child in my Father’s house. Hopefully without the pouty face.

The Bruce

2008-10-16T13:05:00.003-04:00

I am reading a book called, "The Steps to the Empty Throne," the first of a historical novel trilogy about Robert the Bruce. In a poignant set of scenes, you see how the king of England is disrespectful and condescending to his people when they are in a humiliated position; and soon after, you see a young Robert treating his people in a similar situation with great dignity and respect. It is quite beautiful to see how he used his experiences (even negative ones) to drive his leadership.

Today I filled out health insurance forms for a large part of my precious lunch period- half an hour I could have spent reading instead.

However, I find more joy in it than I used to. When I write down, "Samantha Bartlett," as my wife and, "Isaiah Bartlett," as my son, I declare to the world that we are an interdependent family unit, a small community whose fates are inextricably tied together. I am no longer a smart-mouth kid trying to make my mark on the world- I am leader and representative of a small tribe.

Our goals are simple. We are here to honor God in our stewardship of the life he has given us. We love each other deeply, look out for each other's interests, and drive each other nuts (that last one is for internal use only). We will fight when necessary, make alliances when possible, and try to love all consistently (well, Isaiah is a little lacking in this area, but we'll show him some leniency at this point). Our hope is that our presence in your life is a blessing, but we make no apologies when when our goals challenge your preferences.

As our maturation continues and our identity evolves, our greatest purpose is faithfulness.

Like the Bruce, I hope reflection on my experiences, positive and negative, will help me accept leadership of my small community, so we can together pursue the joys of scriptural faithfulness.

Why does God require physical locations?

2008-10-14T11:57:00.005-04:00

Is it not interesting that even in Deuteronomy, God requires physical locations? In chapter 12, he requires ONLY making certain types of sacrifices in specific locations no less than seven times. He also commands destruction of physical idol worship locations- high places in mountians and hills, under green trees, and beside large pillars.

Of course, Christians see this same impulse (if you can say God has impulses) in God's emphasis on the local church. We are called to gather in his name and to not give up meeting together, called to share what we have, called to use what gifts we have been given. Why?

I think, at core, it could almost be called a pragmatism. God calls us to these things because he is glorified in his people, be they Jews in the OT or the redeemed in the NT (revealing my New Cov. leanings here). God's people are more able to bring glory to him through coming together, through the combinations and recombinations of their gifts and skills, and through mutual care and protection for each other on various fronts. Ephesians 4 makes it clear- our sharing of gifts makes us stronger.

We are to be a city on a hill, but as is true of any city, we will only shine if each member participates and accepts responsibility as part of the body.

At the same time, we recognize our severe dependence on the grace of God. Communities of faith, be they large or small, are entirely needy of God's favor for survival. Without it, and without faithful commitment to gospel ministry, they are no better than a bowling club losing members to the local gardening club.

This is probably a piece of why I so enjoy smaller churches. In a church of 50-200 people, you can have true community. People bless each other with gifts, but are not lost in the cracks. They have the opportunity to be a light to the community without devolving into an attraction for the shallow.

At the same time, they are small enough to see their need. They can pray, "O God Almighty, thy sea is so vast and my boat is so small!" and mean it. They can watch the destructive power of sin and know that, "Come Lord Jesus!" is the only hope.

All this to say one thing; commit yourself to your local church. Make sacrifices to contribute. Be there as often as you can. Get to know the members, and fall in love with their quirks and failings (and do not hesitate to make light of your own!). You have no better opportunity to praise your maker than to join hands with fellow believers and display the hope of the gospel.

God loves physical locations, I think, because they force us into the, "warts and wounds," of community, a place where frustration and boredom can run high, but where the friction burns away dross and highlights the beauty and purity of our Father's plan for the world. To that end, then, we must show up.

Discerning Life's Romance

2008-10-10T12:43:00.003-04:00

I long for a romantic life. I imagine travelling some mystical world, one that does not include high health care costs or excel spreadsheets. There I enjoy adventure and leisure, with problems that are immediate challenges rather than long term budget shortfalls.

Of course, that place is mere fantasy. And yet, do we not all desire for life to have a romantic flavor, an epic feel, a powerful thematic storyline?

I think this desire explains John Elderidge's popularity. Though theologically imprecise, he captures our internal wish to participate in a story larger than our lives and more poetic than balance sheets and alarm clocks.

It's here that reading Deuteronomy and Augustine's Confessions simultaneously has been such a blessing.

In Deuteronomy, Israel comes together to remember all that God has done for them. Their hearts are strengthened for the coming wars against Canaan (a land of people viewed as "sons of Anak" for their size, living in cities, "fortified up to heaven.") by the memory of all God had done for them, and by reminders of his promises. They are readied to enter this terrifiying land, but "Know therefore today that he who goes over before you as a consuming fire is the Lord your God. He will destroy them and subdue them before you." (D. 9:3)

In Confessions, Augustine celebrates God's action in his life, even referring to the joy of God making him miserable while he was in sin. He prays, "...I confess my shame to Your glory. Bear with me I pray, and give me the grace to retrace in my present memory the devious ways of my past errors and so be able to 'offer to God thanksgiving.'"

In both cases, the people of God find comfort by remembering their past, and discerning the part that past played in the larger story of God's action in the world. Their participation held meaning because both ups and downs had roles in proclaiming God's glory to the world.

From all this, I am reminded to remember. I am called to spend time appreciating (perhaps even articulating) God's action in my history, and to take joy in how he uses my life to glorify His name.

So today, as I fight annoyance at the cost of healthcare or impediments to financial stability, I remember. I recall my wife and son, both brought to an undeserving man desperately needy of their stabilizing influence. I recall my varied job history, and the incredible frustration it brought... along with great preparation in a variety of areas. I recall years of embarassment at having a quick mind that cannot seem to settle down and master any one area- and yet I now see how it has prepared me for ministries that favor just such a mind. I recall anger at my many failures, and then appreciate their value for sanctification.

Joy takes work, and today I celebrate the way God shows himself in our histories, allowing us to see the epic romance of participating in God's plan of glorification.

Conform to Obey

2008-10-02T12:51:00.003-04:00

Today's reading from Deuteronomy was chapter 5, where the "younger" exodus generation recalls the bringing of the 10 commandments. The response of the people is wonderful- they are so overcome they cannot stand to remain in God's presence. They ask Moses to hear the word of the Lord for them, and commit themselves to hear and obey what Moses tells them from the Lord.

This recalled to my mind how important obedience is. Quite a breakthrough, right? But obedience is more than simple action response to a command. Real obedience is a constant reshaping of life and character to correctly submit to God. One who truly fears him will accept his desires on his terms, rather than carrying out their version of what he "means." The Israelites here are a good example, because their fear of God leads them to change themselves to better submit.

"And the Lord heard your words, when you spoke to me. And the Lord said to me, 'I have heard the words of this people, which they have spoken to you. They are right in all that they have spoken. Oh that they had such a mind as this always, to fear me and to keep all my commandments, that it might go well with them and with their descendents forever!'"

I hope that I am growing in my ability to see how I need to change my life to better submit to and obey God out of fear and reverence. If I want to be a minister of the Word, it is key that my life be constantly conforming to better obey.

Are you happy?

2008-09-30T12:45:00.002-04:00

An atheist was once addressing a crowd of people in the open air. He was trying to persuade them that there was no God and no devil, no heaven, and no hell, no resurrection, no judgment, and no life to come. He advised them to throw away their Bibles, and not to pay attention to what preachers said. He recommended them to think as he did, and to be like him. He talked boldly. The crowd listened eagerly. It was "the blind leading the blind." Both were falling into the pit (Matthew 15:14).

In the middle of his address a poor old woman suddenly pushed her way through the crowd, to the place where he was standing. She stood before him. She looked him full in the face. "Sir," she said, in a loud voice, "Are you happy?" The atheist looked scornfully at her, and gave her no answer. "Sir," she said again, "I ask you to answer my question. Are you happy? You want us to throw away our Bibles. You tell us not to believe what preachers say about Christ. You advise us to think as you do, and be like you. Now before we take your advice we have a right to know what good we will gain by it. Do your fine new ideas give you a lot of comfort? Do you yourself really feel happy?"

The atheist stopped, and attempted to answer the old woman's question. He stammered, and shuffled, and fidgeted, and endeavored to explain his meaning. He tried hard to return to the subject. He said, he "had not come to preach about happiness." But it was of no use. The old woman stuck to her point. She insisted on her question being answered, and the crowd took her side. She pressed him hard with her inquiry, and would take no excuse. And at last the atheist was obliged to leave, and sneak off in the confusion. His conscience would not let him stay: he dared not say that he was happy.

(taken from Practical Religion, by J.C. Ryle)

I do not think this is a hard and fast rule, per se. There are people who seem very happy and content without being Christians, and a lot of Christians who are not happy or content.

But even so, I am often struck by the stark difference between the empty life of self-service and the joyful life of submission and service to God.

Recently, I realized I've almost entirely let go of apologetics. I used to be very much into the creation-evolution debates, arguments about reality, or technical discussions of Biblical accuracy. Those things are still good: I think it is wise for Christians to have a good understanding of them. But for as for me, my trust is in God because of the works he does; the way he has shaped and molded me through experience, the way his answers are always the healthier answers, and the way he speaks to me through my own prayers.

Though I tend toward sorrow and struggles with depression, I still find my joy in the hope of the gospel and the glory of God. I believe relationships can be healed through the strength of the Spirit even when my strength wanes. I know my purpose is tied to my obedience and not my competance. And I am happy, because God is real and all he says and does is right.

Moses and me: Practicing Faith and Pragmatism

2008-09-23T13:00:00.002-04:00

I am too selective in my Scripture reading. My favorites include Psalms, Jeremiah, Habbakuk, Ephesians, Hebrews, and James. The Samuels, the Corinthians, and the Timothys are also nice. Revelation is just right out.

I recently finished Colossians, which I quite enjoyed. However, it is very similar to Ephesians. So, I'm going to try something a bit new and go with Deuteronomy.

Simply beginning with chapter 1, I saw that even Moses struggled with the problem of both trusting God and living pragmatically at the same time. God was very clear on several points; Israel would re-enter the land, they would do so at the end of the 40 year exilic period, and God would be with them.

Even so, Moses spent much time in preparation. He organized a diverse and thorough leadership structure, so that the majority of problems could be handled locally and only the largest issues would hit his desk... or his camel, I suppose. Further, though he knew God had blessed this generation, he spent a lot of time (specifically, the length of the book of Deuteronomy) reminding them of the Law and exhorting them to obedience. (Hm... a diversified organizational structure and ethics training. Maybe Wall Street should read Deuteronomy too!)

This interplay between "God WILL do it" and "we should honor his blessing with faithfulness" is a powerful though sometimes confusing one.

On one hand, I need to continue to remind myself that God is a God of faithfulness. He knows his purposes for me, will bring things about in just the way I need, and will maintain sovereign care over my future.

On the other, I still need to focus my mind on my job, shepherd the people I love (both prayerfully and pragmatically), fulfill my ministry obligations, and look for opportunities to build the kingdom.

Moses knew the weakness of his people, and was careful to strengthen them with clear teaching and exhortation, as well as pragmatic structures to prepare them for the rigors ahead. I hope I can do the same to honor all God's blessings, trusting while doing so that his sovereign guidance steers the ship.

Fun notes and pictures.

2008-05-17T14:02:00.008-04:00

Ok, I have a series of more serious posts coming up, so I thought I'd throw a few fun things out there first.

First of all, to satisfy Jamie and any other Isaiah fans out there, here are a couple pictures.

Dude, chill.

Who are you people?

Me and My Buddy

The End of a Long Day... or 2 hour period.

Second, Drew complained that my last couple Moments of Beauty have featured Asians (Pavoratti and Al Pacino nonwithstanding). So, here is a decidedly non-Asian Moment of Beauty just for Drew. The singer is Eva Cassidy, and if you enjoy this song you'll likely enjoy this and this as well.

Finally, I definitely recommend that you see Prince Caspian. Here is a helpful review for your consideration!

Take care!

Baby Isaiah Pics!

2008-05-05T16:11:00.016-04:00

Hey folks,

Thanks again for your prayers and support. Here are some pictures from a crazy and wonderful weekend!

The Infamous, "Grumpy Old Man"

Isaiah Sees The Light

Mommy and Isaiah

Daddy and bored Isaiah

Funny Face

Sleeping... again.

Growing Family

If you want to see more, click on the "My Pictures" link on the sidebar.

I'm a father!

2008-05-04T04:26:00.005-04:00

Hey Folks,

I'm a Daddy! Samantha's water broke around 3:15 yesterday morning, and we went to the hospital. She was throwing up because of the contraction pains, so she had an epidural around 6:15. From there, it was just a matter of waiting until she was fully dilated.

Isaiah was born at 1:13 on May 3... Derby Day! It was one of the ugliest and most beautiful things I've ever seen. He literally looks like a grumpy old man... the back half of his head is covered in hair, and the front half is bald!

He was a pretty big kid for being a few days early- 8 pounds, 3 ounces, and 20.5 inches long. We love him to pieces even though he's so funny looking.

I've been trying all day to post pictures, until I finally realized the hospital doesn't seem to allow uploads. So, you'll just have to wait a day or two.

Throughout all this, God has been exceedingly kind. An easy pregnancy, my sister and wife delivering two days apart, getting a job. I can only pray that we lean on him in the good times in the same way we were forced to in the very hard times.

Thanks for all your love and prayers,

Ben

Oh yes, and here it is... your Moment of Beauty. This is a special one that talks about three of my favorite things- children, classical music, and Sesame Street!

Proactively Vulnerable

2008-04-19T22:54:00.002-04:00

What does the word vulnerable mean to you?

My own immediate answer is twofold. First, vulnerability calls to mind standing at a window on a cold day, looking out at a bleak landscape. It is a question about what I am doing, whether I have value, and whether there is meaning in my interaction with life. I feel afraid, because the world’s negative answers to my questions could easily hurt, and I therefore feel quite vulnerable. Not a very Christian answer, I grant you, but it’s the first one I have and to say otherwise would be dishonest.

My next imaginative leap flees to the Lonely Mountain, where Smaug (the dragon in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit) resides. He is powerful and angry, full of evil and hate. However, there is a weak place in his armor. This vulnerability in his defenses leads to his demise as he is shot down by a well-placed arrow.

What then is vulnerability? It seems, in some way, to be an area of potential damage. It is something to be protected, guarded, defended. To quote the good Mr. Webster, it is when one is, “capable of being physically or emotionally wounded.”

We tend to fear these areas of potential damage in our lives, especially in the emotional context. Because we fear them, we defend them. We avoid them by not talking about our past or our problems, not admitting our fears, not letting anyone too close, not confessing our sin. We formulate sterile worlds that do not challenge us or have any potential to harm us.

This is done by only spending time with others when we are, “in the mood.” We keep visits short and sweet so that we never display a hint of annoyance. We back away from offending anyone. When someone hurts, we, “give them time to themselves.” We share our lives with helpful statements like, “I’m fine,” or, “I’ve been pretty busy lately.” We organize our schedules so that nobody sees our ugliness. If the ugliness does come out, those who do see it usually won’t ever see us again.

These things create a perfect, plastic world where smiles are painted on and everyone is fine. We know about each other, but we would not ask each other for money. We hear others’ words, but do not know how to listen to others’ hearts.

In the church, however, we say we desire close fellowship. We say we want to bear burdens and share sorrows. We say, “If you need anything, just ask.” We say, “Let me know if I can serve in any way.” We say the church is our community. We say.

I want to suggest that real fellowship does not happen without vulnerability. True relationships are not possible until we see each others’ weaknesses and failings, sorrows and anger. Without the reality of the warts and wounds, we are simply acting out the plastic world once again.

But in today’s society, the plastic world is more easily accessible than ever before. The internet, the suburbs, and the automobile have created a perfect storm of community-less life. It is simply easier not to seek out the ugly things that make relationships real.

My perspective, then, is that the creation of real community, in our local context, depends on our willingness to be proactively vulnerable. We must make ourselves, “capable of being emotionally wounded.” We must put ourselves in a position to see the ugliness that is in all our lives, so that we can begin the work of loving, accepting, discipling, and forgiving each other.

How will we create a community that can confess real sin if we are scared that we are the weakest one in the room? How will healing happen when our culture stifles our ability to admit the wound?

Here, then, are a few thoughts on being proactively vulnerable.

1. Live an open life. Find creative, sacrificial ways to spend time with people. More time means more opportunity to know people intimately by seeing them as they really are.

Yes, I realize your schedule is busy. That’s why it requires both creativity and sacrifice. But trust me, the drawbacks of occasional loss of sleep or schedule are outweighed by the rewards of intimacy and honesty in relationships.

2. Share your ugliness. Yes, this is a good thing to save for groups or individuals you have a certain level of trust for. But if you never put anything out there, whom will you trust?

Leaders, especially, need to find ways to show their own weaknesses before God, so that the community can collectively celebrate God’s grace. If leaders (even unrecognized leaders, like the unofficial leader of conversation in a dinner group) do not communicate safety in sharing weakness, nobody else will go there either.

3. Ask hard questions. Though they are very uncomfortable, the fact is that most people want to be known. If you ask simple surface questions like, “how’s it going?,” you’ll get simple surface answers like, “fine.” But if you have the guts to ask questions like, “Does it hurt you that nobody seems to ask you for help when they need it?,” you’ll find out very quickly just how badly people want to be known.

4. Listen to the answers. Don’t just hear them. Come to terms with the pain and loneliness in people’s hearts. Consider situations that might give you the same emotional distress their situation is giving them, and use that mind exercise to develop compassion. Listen to people’s hearts, and let them listen to yours.

5. Pray for each other, deeply and strongly. Pray for real and ugly things, pour out your sorrow for others before God. You will be shocked at how it draws you closer.

Friends, be proactively vulnerable. It is one of the greatest needs in our sterilized culture, and it won’t change unless someone like you does something about it.

Healthy Interaction About Obama

2008-04-09T01:48:00.002-04:00

Hey folks,

Here is a comment left recently by my friend Josh Dove. Notice a couple things. First, it's very irenic (meaning it's designed to be a peaceful interaction, rather than inflammatory) even when disagreeing. Second, he considered all the information that was presented. And third, he has some very helpful points and arguments! I'll put my response at the end, but I wanted to highlight an example of good disagreement between Christians. The beautiful thing, as you'll note, is that disagreeing peacefully actually helps people find more common ground than you might expect!

Ben,

This is an interesting post. I've thought about the post overnight before watching the YouTube video this morning and wanted to share a few thoughts/ask a few questions.

(A) The whole issue of how, exactly, Rev. Wright's comments should affect Sen. Obama's candidacy has not been thought about nearly enough. Here are a few clarifying thoughts:

1. I accept that Obama going to this church for 20 years does not, necessarily, mean that he holds all the same views as Rev. Wright. We all need to be intellectually honest about this.

2. But, these and other comments by Rev. Wright DO at least raise questions about Sen. Obama's core convictions. Because I don't believe Sen. Obama could have been ignorant of Wright's anti-American positions (and by his own admission he was at the church at least sometimes when controversial statements were made) I submit that Sen. Obama's attendance and support for the church poses the following dilemma. Either:

(a) Obama knew of the church's positions and is sympathetic enough with them to remain in the church, which I think questions his judgment, or

(b) Obama knew of the church's positions, and though he opposed them, said (apparently) nothing, kept giving money to the church, and decided to stay (perhaps for political reasons?). This questions his integrity.

The crux of this disjunction rests on Obama's assertions that racial healing/unity is his core concern. My observation is simply that you CANNOT have racial healing as a core value, in any intellectually honest way, and attend for 20 years a church that, to say the least, borders on racism (or, if you want to be even more precise, I might simply say stokes, rather than settles, racial tension).

Is that fair?

In sum, Rev. Wright has a constitutional right, as does Sen. Obama, to hold to whatever opinion he wants to. This is obvious. But I don't want a President who lends a sympathetic ear to an influential anti-American pastor. Obama may, or may not, sympathize with Wright's positions, but were I, or almost anyone that I know, subjected to such ideology from the pulpit, I would raise strong, public objections and/or I would leave. Obama seems to have done neither. For 20 years.

(B) The CHIEF tragedy of Rev. Wright is how he has made a mockery of the pulpit and the Gospel. Liberation theology is not Gospel theology.

(C) I did listen to Sen. Obama's speech in its entirety, and I thought it was terrible, not in the delivery but in the content. But, that is for another discussion. I merely mention this to evidence that I have taken into account Sen. Obama's response.

At any rate, you can only trust that I submit these comments in a spirit of cordial conversation, rather than that of debate. We should both harbor few expectations of changing the other's mind, but a little clarity and friendly exchange could prove quite interesting.

Best wishes,
Joshua

Ok, this was a fantastic comment, but I do have some differences. Thankfully Josh has broken his questions down very clearly, so I'll just respond as they were written.

A) Josh suggests that a person cannot attend a church for 20 years while disagreeing with a large political/theological issue such as a severely negative view of America. The fact that he says he did means he is either sympathetic to the views or has a lack of integrity.

My disagreement here rests on two things. First, I believe Obama's membership at his church was partially pragmatic. Nearly his entire career, before an almost miracle run to the Senate and presidential candidacy, was devoted to one local area in downtown Chicago. Anyone who has tried to get something done politically in a largely African-American community knows that the church is the spiritual, cultural, and political center of African-American community life. I'm sure Obama was much more effective as a community organizer and state senator by being a member of that church than he would have at, say, a small church in the suburbs. And to put it frankly, it would have been very hard to find a church with a non-liberation theology perspective. But as Obama himself says, he was invited to church by others, and while there experienced his spiritual "conversion." Whatever you think of his theology, the fact is that it was a powerful experience for him, and that type of thing breeds a lot of loyalty. Combine that with the understanding of the church as "center of the community" (rather than ONLY "place of worship") and you have understandable ingredients for a local community organizer to stay at the same place and become deeply ingrained in that community.

Second, I DO believe you can be part of a church, for a specific reason (in Obama's case, community influence), and disagree with fairly major things. My last church was American Baptist. I disagreed on their egalitarianism, certain church practices, and a host of denominational problems. However, while I was in that city, my wife and I had a specific role and mission there. We had a flourishing ministry with college students, a Sunday School class I taught, friends we had accountability with, and a pastor and his wife who loved and mentored us. We became a close part of that wonderful little community, and we very likely would have stayed if God had not led us elsewhere. Does the fact that my church allowed women to preach disqualify me from being president of the CBMW someday?

B) Josh says the chief tragedy of Reverend Wright is his commitment to liberation theology, which is not gospel theology.

Josh is absolutely correct about this. Liberation theology, as far as I can tell, is a false gospel which I have never seen preach the true gospel correctly. It is wildly popular in poverty-stricken areas, including most inner cities (especially African American communities), the shantytowns and favelas of Latin America, and other places.

Keep in mind, though, that this is true of the Health and Prosperity Gospel as well, which is huge in a lot of white and Asian communities. The church must constantly be speaking to all of these groups, proclaiming the one true gospel of Jesus Christ.

And as a matter of politics, keep in mind that McCain is certainly no Christian!

C) I'll be interested to see which things Josh disliked about the Obama speech. As far as I could tell, it was well researched and quite honest. The vast majority of factual information he communicated was true as far as I know and have studied.

But, as Josh says, we'll have to discuss it together when we get the chance. I am also going to spend some time talking with an African-American friend of mine here at the seminary, so that he can give me some insights into some of the things Obama said, as well as how he views his role in a church that he has some large theological disagreements with, but is working to reform (that last bit should tip you off that his mission is very different from Obama's, so I don't mean to equate them. I just plan to get some good insight from him).

Anyways, I hope this and my original post on Obama have been helpful examples of how Christians can discuss contentious issues like politics, race, and abortion in a thoughtful and constructive way.

And yes, I'm planning on doing a post (as I said I would) when I get the time about how a Christian can vote for someone who supports abortion.

Till next time.

What Does the Weird Northerner Read?

2008-04-09T01:04:00.004-04:00

I was tagged by Rich. This is new to me, but I suppose I'll play along for the sake of solidarity with my TABC/SBTS/CAPC friend.

Of course, this could be a bit different of an exercise. I'm a little different in my reading habits than the average guy around here. I tend to read a little bit of a lot of books each day, so I get through more books more slowly, and it all averages out. Keep in mind I likely won't finish any of these this week, except maybe the Jane Jacobs book. We'll see what happens.

What are you reading on Spring reading days?

>Things That Count-Gilbert Meilaender. Highly recommended!

>The Revolt of The Masses-Jose Ortega y Gasset

>The Baseball Chronicles-David Gallen, ed.

>Neither Poverty Nor Riches-Craig Blomberg

>Dark Night of the Soul-Saint John of the Cross

>Bernard Malamud: The Complete Stories-Bernard Malamud

>The Death and Life of Great American Cities-Jane Jacobs

>Hope-Jeremiah Burroughs

>The Discoverers-Daniel Boorstin

What do you wish you had time to read?

>The Brothers Karamozov-Fyodor Dostoevsky

>The Structure of Scientific Revolutions-Thomas Kuhn

>Peter the Great-Robert Massie

>The Rise and Fall of the British Empire-Lawrence James

>Hearing God's Words-Peter Adam

What have you decided NOT to read that you were assigned to read?

I suspect certain sections of Theological Aesthetics (Richard Viladesau) will fall by the wayside. Thankfully, having only two classes allows me to miss very little.

What is one great quote from your reading?

On having children-
"But there are no guarentees that the final, 'product,' of this process will be what the parents anticipated. Parents know this, of course, and are therefore understandably anxious about their children's future. However understandable such anxiety may be, it also constitutes a great temptation-the temptation to try to be the guarentor of our children's future, to protect them from all disappointment and suffering. To give in to such temptation would be, in effect, to deny their freedom to be an-other like us, equal in dignity. This means that parents must seek more than their own satisfaction in rearing their children. They must give themselves in faith and hope, recognizing that they are not more than co-creators and that they cannot shape the future."
-Gilbert Meilaender, Things That Count

Why are you blogging? (You’re supposed to be reading!)

Blogging is one helpful way to articulate the things I learn. When we read, learning certainly happens. But the true value of learning isn't to just plug it in and say, "I have read this!" The true value is to take all those inputs from reading and to understand and articulate truth as best you can. This process of learning, comprehending, and articulating is key to helping us conform our physical daily lives to the transcendent truths of Scripture. Certainly none of us would be better off if Augustine had spent more time reading rather than wasting his time writing!

Let's see, we're running out of people to tag. I'll tag brand-new blogger Drew Hickok, the always intellectual Josh Dove, and Mr. Muleshoe himself, Riley Byers.

Improv Everywhere Does It Again! Baseball

2008-04-07T17:00:00.003-04:00

I can't get enough of these guys. As I've mentioned in the past, Improv Everywhere entered my YouTube pantheon with their Frozen in Grand Central Station. However, they've taken a direct shot at my heart with this one. I love kids, I love baseball, and I love this mission!

Enjoy watching Improv Everywhere stage the Best Game Ever.

Whoops! I forgot that when I put up links, I want to also remember to put up a Moment of Beauty. Here it is.

Obama's pastor, Rev. Wright, in Context

2008-04-07T03:48:00.005-04:00

We as seminarians often say, "You have to look at the verse in context!" It's quite frustrating when someone takes a small portion of a teaching out of context and misuses it.

May I submit to you that this should be true of how information is reported, as well?

Look, I don't agree with Reverend Wright on a host of things. But please be fair and thoughtful in how you evaluate him. The best way to do this is to first read up on and understand the paradigms of liberation theology and the Jim Crow era, both of which formulated his character.

Another way to do that is to listen to the things he says in context. I think you'll find it's not quite so bad as short clips make him out to be.

While you're at it, at least hear Obama out in his response.

And here is the hero of Christians all over, Mike Huckabee, and his reaction to the Obama speech.

The Place of Decision

2008-04-05T22:34:00.003-04:00

Sometimes I imagine a large white room. The floors are cold plastic tile, and you wish for a leather chair and deep carpet. The high ceilings give no sense of place or comfort. The lone furniture is a metal folding chair. Sheets of paper covered in 10-font print lie strewn across the floor.

Several dozen doors line the walls. They have peepholes, which allow one to see about a foot beyond but not much more. The metal doors are gray, but you rarely see that because each is covered in hundreds of bits of paper, the type with sticky backing loved by secretaries. These sticky notes are either blue or red. In varying types of handwritten urgency, they make their case.

“It would make Mom happy!” says one blue sheet on a particular door. Directly next to it is a foreboding red, suggesting, “My dad would be secretly embarrassed.”

Moving from door to door, you realize you are in the Place of Decision. The room is the state of mind we all must enter when a time for choosing comes. Perhaps yours is more comforting than mine, but of course I only know my own little corner of the world.

Each door is one answer to the decision at hand. Some are locked- they are not options this time around. Some are unlocked. However, you can only walk through one. And you must first be confronted by those infernal bits of paper. Blue bits are reasons this door is a good one, red bits are reasons it is not.

How do you choose?

Some go by color. Do blues outweigh reds?
Some are cautious. Does this door contain as few reds as possible?
Some are cantankerous. Choose the door with the most reds! It’s the only way I can feel unique!

The variations are, of course, quite endless. I imagine some go to the doors one at a time, peel off all the notes, and sit squirming in the metal chair as they shuffle through each note, one at a time. Some arrogantly pick a single note off the door and ignore the others. Some take the notes to a wall and arrange a hierarchy, designing a system that puts the key considerations at the top. Some simply ignore the doors, and wait until all but one are locked from the outside.

Amidst the diversity of approaches, one universal truth stands out. We must choose. Nobody gets to avoid the Place of Decision; no one can be given a long and unaltered hallway. We must choose.

My room, my Place of Decision, is ugly. It is cold and frustrating and I do not like to be there. And yet it is not a room you can leave behind. Each new wrinkle of life brings me back to that room to face decisions with varying degrees of importance.

So then, let us pretend for a moment that I am a wise man. I am in this room ALL THE TIME. What should I do? Why, I should make it a more comfortable and more efficient place. I should organize and upgrade. I should not allow such a significant portion of my life to be so physically and spiritually empty.

How will this be done? Answer: The Right Tools.

My Place of Decision should be filled with helpful tools and furniture, things that bring guidance and wisdom in accordance with my life commitments. These include;

-a prayer bench with two permanent imprints in the cushions
-a worn and dog-eared Bible
-a telephone with wise mentors on speed dial
-shelves of books, to interact with great minds of the past
-an easy-access door (with no lock) for a close friend
-a diary and family photo album

Much could be said about these items, and about other things for improving my room. That is a discussion for another day. For now, let me emphasize that these items must be IN the Place of Decision.

Too often, we leave these things outside, while life is smooth and relatively free of hard decisions. Then, when we are forced into the Place of Decision, it is cold and barren and scary and stressful. Our furniture is forgotten and ignored.

And so, alone and distressed, we fight through red and blue sticky notes one at a time. By ourselves.

When we live this way, why are we surprised to feel as though God has left us alone?

Links: A Breath of Fresh Air

2008-02-28T17:48:00.004-05:00

My last two posts (and, hopefully, my next one) are focused on topics that have been in the public square a lot lately. Many of my (three or four) readers are probably bored by now. So, I thought I'd give you a break. Here are some fun or fascinating links I've come across in recent days!

First and foremost, THIS is just way too cute. I can hardly wait to be a father!

This website is called detroitblog, and I think it's absolutely fascinating. If you get a chance, go back through the archives to get an amazing window into inner-city life. This post is just one example- and it's very sad. Christians need to spend time thinking about the serious spiritual problems these areas face.

I know many people don't like him. I know they regard him as a failure. But here's a neat article about a man whom, despite his failings, I will always love and respect.

Are you interested in philosophy? This website has an incredible store of key philosophy texts. I already have used it to find a lot of stuff I remembered learning from my liberal arts program in college.

This website is just awesome. It uses statistics to show the relationships of various economic and health characteristics in countries around the world. Be sure to watch the lectures to see how he uses the gapminder tool... and then try it out for yourself!

Boy... if only we had the discipline to listen to political debates like THIS these days.

This website is wonderfully helpful, but also a bit saddening. It's called We Feel Fine, and it takes a beautiful approach to searching through people's blogs. The sad part, of course, is that it highlights the incredible lostness in our world. This video helpfully explains the tool and how to use it.

THE AMAZING OCTOPUS.

Are you interested in global warming? Well, I strongly suggest you watch these lectures. I can hardly get over this silliness of this debate. If you are looking for a repository of articles representing both sides of the discussion, HERE YOU GO.

Finally, I cannot leave without at least one moment of beauty. Here it is.

Obama: Comments, Criticisms, and Further Thoughts

2008-02-28T16:59:00.002-05:00

Wow- my last post garnered more comments and interest (both on and off the Internet!) than any other since… well, since I started sharing bits and pieces of my life on blogger in 2002. Thank you Christ and Pop Culture!

Here’s what I want to do. First, I’ll review some of the feedback I’ve gotten from comments both on and off the web. In my next post, I’ll flesh out some of my thoughts on why I am voting for Obama and how I think about some of the issues involved. Keep sending in your comments! They are very helpful to me.

First, Matt Privet agrees with my McCain frustrations, but argues that not voting at all is a better approach to the problem. As a political conservative, he sees possible dangers in supporting a candidate with a more liberal stance. From a political philosophy standpoint, he makes a very strong point. As I have mentioned in a few places, I’m trying to toss a lot of those philosophical stances out for this election, focusing on trying to vote as an extension of Christian faithfulness rather than voting for political ideology. However, the conservative in me has a LOT of sympathy for his helpful point.

Next, my friend Matt Wireman lets me know that he’s not entirely convinced… and guides us to a very helpful article (and yes, Matt, I had seen it previously) discussing some of the things a president is able to do that help control the spread of abortion. Matt is right to point to this issue; it is a key problem in the question of whom to vote for. I will flesh out my understanding of this problem more in a bit, but for now let me say simply that I just do not see it. Abortion trends seem significantly unaffected by the president in office- you would think 8 years of dominating federal politics would be enough for conservatives to make at least SOME gains in abortion reduction, but I just do not see it. Still, it is a very important aspect of the discussion to consider.

Alan agrees with the problem of single-issue voting, but is struggling with the issue of Supreme Court Justice appointments. I think he is right to do so, but I would suggest that conservatives put far too much faith in the Supreme Court. Remember, they do not make law… they merely interpret it. Also, they generally try not to take cases they have already spoken on. Though we certainly desire more conservative justices, I’m no longer convinced that voting for a string of conservative presidents to try to wait for the liberal justices to die off is viable or justifiable.

Alex Fear is a Pentecostal from England (read that twice! Are you with newfrontiers at all?). He comments that the American focus on the abortion is really quite unique- at least in England, it’s barely a political issue at all. He supports the bottom approach I’ve advocated elsewhere for addressing the abortion problem through social action and heart change rather than political change. One thing that especially struck me was when he said, “The church should be offering the answer…” Amen to that. The problem is not merely abortion- it’s all the reasons for HAVING an abortion which are widely accepted as morally ok. We as a church need to offer answers of hope, help, forgiveness, and a better way forward.

He also brings up the fairly common “what about capital punishment?” argument. I actually don’t think that’s a very helpful paradigm. Capital punishment is a right of the state. I do believe Christians should lobby for leniency, and even for abolition of capital punishment, but it is not on a moral parallel with abortion. When the state kills a dangerous criminal (who have GIVEN UP their right to freedom and even life), it is protecting society. When an individual aborts their baby (who is entirely innocent), they are usually not protecting anyone or anything other than their personal interests, even if those reasons are heartbreaking ones.

My good friend Luis chimes in, supporting again the bottom-up paradigm of going after root causes rather than bulldozing with legislation. To receive a compliment from him is a mighty thing! There are few people whom I enjoy interacting with so much as him- I think we challenge each other well, and so it’s fun to agree on something!

Pastor Bill Reichart from Georgia agrees with the trend away from a purely Republican voting line, and links to a post he’s written on God’s politics.

My friend Gracelin agrees with voting for Obama in her usual subtle and nuanced style. As you’ll see, though, she’s as smart as they come and has done her homework in a variety of areas. Can you say, “future journalist?” I say yes. Probably for the NY Times before the Wall Street Journal, but one can always hope!

Outside the Internet world, two of my church's excellent elders (I won't say which two) cornered me to talk politics. They had some very helpful arguments that should be considered.

The first argued that, as an initial step, abortion should be left up to the states. Should that happen, abortion debates would be local and presidential politics would be freed to focus on other issues. This is a great scenario, but I don’t think it could last very long if it happened. The first thing the ACLU would do is go to a poor area of a large state that outlaws abortion (say, Texas) and find a woman who wants an abortion but is financially unable to leave the state. They would argue that it if the SC has not OUTLAWED abortion, then this woman is being denied her rights merely on the basis of living in a state that is against abortion. I feel that it’s the same structural problem that slavery presented- keeping the decision in the hands of the states bears too many inconsistencies to make it last.

The second pointed out that there are a million smaller decisions pertaining to abortion that are made at a lower level- and that a pro-choice president, over time, would encourage a mostly pro-choice government work force (committee chairs, bureaucratic positions, etc.) that would have negative effects across the board. This, again, is a strong point. However, as far as I know, the majority of federal bureaucratic positions are filled without regard to political stance (specifically to prevent this type of influence from the executive). Further, this gets back to the original question about abortion- will political answers really win the day?

These comments were all helpful to me, and were excellent articulations of the various problems associated with the abortion issue in the evangelical community. Thank you to everyone! I will soon write a post on my take on the abortion issue in presidential politics.

I Will Vote For Obama

2008-02-22T00:38:00.004-05:00

I will vote for Barack Obama.

I realize this post will not be popular. I realize it flies in the face of some strongly held beliefs, and many will feel I am doing something questionable, even wrong. However, I believe I am making the best choice I can, and that I am being as God-honoring as possible.

Let me also throw in a few disclaimers. I am a registered Republican. I currently am and have always been politically conservative. I attended a mostly liberal college within my university and remained conservative. I have worked for a Republican running for Congress (Tom Hickey), a Republican state senator (Loren Bennett), a Republican congressman (Mike Rogers from Michigan), and have voted for Republicans almost exclusively. I have credentials that would prevent me from being hired by nearly any liberal organization. Furthermore, I am a big fan of George W. Bush and some (though not all) of the hard decisions he has made in his presidency. If this race were him against Obama, I would vote Bush.

And yet I am voting for Obama. Why?

Now, this post is long. Here is my request. If you are skimming, feel free to skim away. However, if you want to criticize or respond to my post, that’s fine, but PLEASE READ THE WHOLE THING FIRST. I have spent lots of time reading the many blogs and commentators supporting or disparaging Huckabee, Romney, McCain, Paul, Thompson, Clinton, Edwards, and Obama. I do look at the major issues, the candidate biographies, and the ins and outs of the campaign. Please respect me enough to hear me out before rebuking me. If you REALLY want to be fair, I suggest you even take a few minutes to check out the things I link to.

I will first highlight some (though not all) of the reasons I find Obama to be an attractive candidate. I will then list some (though not all) of the reasons why I am willing to vote against John McCain and the Republican party in this election cycle. I will close by briefly referring to other statements I have made in the past regarding politics.

First, some of why I am for Obama.

Obama articulates a common hopeful vision.
Throughout American history, the greatest presidents have articulated a unifying vision for the country. This has been key to our sense of togetherness and accomplishment in facing various problems. More than any other candidate, Obama is thoughtful and intelligent in assessing, considering, and articulating the various struggles we face as people, and then guiding us into a sense of commonality as we deal with those things.

Obama is connected to society.
None of the other candidates has been so closely and intimately invested in the problems of local government as he. His work in inner city Chicago will, I think, help him to be more thoughtful about the effect national policies have on local communities than the other candidates. This speech illustrates my point about these last two paragraphs.

Obama has the most Christian worldview of the remaining (viable) candidates.
Though one could argue that Huckabee deserves to win this category, he is pretty much out of the race. Barack Obama has articulated a conversion experience, and has faithfully and consistently lived out his faith. You may have some theological disagreements with the African-American church, as I do, but there is no denying that his faith is much more clear and authentic than any claimed by McCain or Clinton.

Obama’s character and approach to problem solving will, I believe, be more constructive on the world stage.
He reminds me of Tony Blair in his thoughtful and articulate approach, willing to acknowledge faults and mistakes but always looking for a positive way forward. I look forward to seeing his talents on display at the international level, whereas the thought of being represented by the maverick McCain or the pandering Clinton just scares me.

Obama is by far the most thoughtful and reflective candidate regarding the role of faith in politics.
If one is to be fair to him, you really must listen to his Call for Renewal speech (you can READ IT too, but seeing and hearing it is more effective). Though you may disagree with the conclusions he has come to, he has clearly put much consideration into the way he approaches such a large and contentious issue.

Now, here is why I am prepared to vote against the Republican party.

The Republican party has squandered its opportunity.
Though there is much I like about George W. Bush, the party on the whole has been given every advantage in the world and they cannot seem to get anything worthwhile done. They have not found ways to create good policy, they have not found ways to work helpfully with Democrats, and they have done more to hurt the nation’s view of conservative political policy than they have to help it.

The Republican party is no longer listening to Christians.
We have become a voting bloc for them, a monolithic single-issue creature that will support ANYONE so long as they agree in one key area. I have worked in the United States Congress, heard their conversations, seen the way they make decisions, seen how they talk about evangelicals, and seen the results. I tell you plainly; for the most part, the party is not listening to us. They pay us verbal respect because we are large, but they are not responding to our desires so long as we guarantee them our votes in exchange for the lip-service of being against abortion.

Since when is coming down hard on illegal immigration something for Christians to get fired up about? What has happened to our compassion for the foreigner, the outcast, the exile? And yet we allow the party to tell us how we should think about that and many other topics… so long as they, “are pro-life,” an issue which most politicians can’t influence anyways. (note: I speak generally here- I realize some Christians do have good reasons for wanting a tougher stance on the problems of illegal immigration. However, I do think it’s an area many Christians just follow the party line on, rather than researching it carefully)

John McCain is an immoral man.
Do you remember when the big Republican argument for supporting Bob Dole was, “Bill Clinton is immoral and unrepentant”? McCain is very much in the same vein. He has had multiple affairs. The most recent led to his divorcing his wife and remarrying less than a month later. Any, “repentance,” he has displayed was over hurt feelings, but not over the sin itself. Does this disqualify him from the Presidency? No. However, Christians who argued that morality was reason to vote for Dole and against Clinton should check themselves carefully in this race.

John McCain is a bad policy maker.
The laws he has helped write are mixed up gobblygook; they were not thought through clearly, they were not written well, and they are not making our country a better place. Nothing about his career suggests that he will ably handle the highest administrative office in the land. This is a big problem to me, as you’ll see in THIS POST on this topic.

John McCain is not a leader or a consensus builder.
For his entire career, he has played the part of maverick. He revels in challenging convention, and rather than work with others he takes his case public to wedge his opponents into a rhetorical corner. The whole campaign finance fiasco, for instance, was a case in point. He made a big moral issue out of campaign finance, made his party look bad, and then wrote a bad law to the sound of thunderous applause from the public and meek acquiescence from the rest of the Senate. The result? There’s even MORE money in campaign finances, it’s even EASIER to get support from questionable sources, and individuals have even LESS influence than they used to as compared to larger lobbying organizations. Why should I trust him as a leader? HERE is an article describing some of the problems of McCain's signature legislation.

Overall, I believe my role as a Christian voter is to vote for the person I feel will best lead the country, so that the name of Christ can most easily be proclaimed to everyone. To me, that candidate is Barack Obama.

Of course, it is fine that many (if not most) Christians disagree with me. I understand and appreciate the case made by most evangelicals regarding abortion, just as I understand and appreciate the arguments made by most African-American churches regarding social justice (by the way, they really DO have some helpful things to say that we evangelicals should consider carefully).

I certainly would never say that to vote for John McCain because of a single issue is wrong- I know that we are all just trying to work out faithfulness as best we can. If you want to see the other side of this question from a man much more intelligent and articulate than I, check out Owen’s post HERE. For my own thoughts on that particular issue, you can look HERE.

But this is the place I’ve come to. I’ve been into politics since I was in high school, and in all that time I have never before supported a Democrat for president. However, I believe that this is the best possible time for Christians to declare to the world that we will not be pigeon-holed, that we are not an automatic voting bloc for the secular leaders in the Republican party, and that our aim and goal is of a much higher and more lasting importance than the advancement of the conservative party agenda.

For me, this means I am voting for Barack Obama. My hope and prayer is that we evangelicals can continue to carefully consider and discuss these things as the campaign continues, without disparaging each other for taking one side or the other.

Two updates

2008-02-03T00:26:00.001-05:00

Hey folks,

Two quick updates for today. First, would you believe that I changed the starter on my car? My mechanically-inclined friend Drew seemed to think I could do it, so I took a shot at it. My car has been completely dead for a week, but it's worked perfectly since I fixed it! What a thrill.

The second update is that a new YouTube video has entered my list of "Top 5 favorites." I'll have to give the full list another day, when I've decided what the new order is. However, I think it will be very much worth your time to watch THIS. Enjoy!

Ben

The Purposes of God

2008-01-29T01:51:00.000-05:00

How do you address hard questions? As Christians, we all want to be biblical, submitting ourselves to God’s will. But what about issues Scripture doesn't talk about directly?

Recently, I’ve been thinking about, "the purposes of God." If we assume God is absolutely sovereign, it should follow that he intends everything. He intends for certain people to be saved and others not to, he intends for challenges to arise to Christianity and for Christians to answer them, and he intends to communicate himself to humans in a particular way.

This last idea seems important for unraveling hard questions. When we as Christians formulate answers to tough questions, one thing we should ask ourselves is whether our, “answer,” makes sense in light of what God is trying to do in the world. Here are some examples.

We ask the question: Did God create the world using evolution or did he do it in six days?

Whatever you choose, faithfulness requires that your answer should also stand up to this inquiry: How does this method of bringing the world into being fit God’s character and purposes?

If you believe in theistic evolution, what purpose would God have for spending millions of years putting the world together when he COULD have done it instantly? If you believe in six-day creation, why did God allow so much scientific evidence that suggests evolutionary processes when he COULD have made instantaneous creation the only scientifically credible possibility?

We ask the question, is it better to vote for the political candidate who wants to turn my views into law or one who will create an environment that best highlights the differences between a Christian worldview and someone else’s (i.e. does not legislate Judeo-Christian morality)? If you want to vote for the guy who agrees with you, ask yourself; is it God’s intention for Christians to force non-Christians to act like Christians by making it illegal to do otherwise? If you want to vote for the guy who tends to allow people to do what they want, do you think it is God’s intention for us to sit passively by while someone else legally harms innocent people with the direction of their degraded worldview?

We ask the question, should I be open and honest about my sin with others or should I keep those personal matters to myself? If you think vulnerability is the greater virtue, you must answer this: does God intend for you to share deeply personal things that could make sin seem permissible and less serious? If you think staying aloof is better, you must answer this: is it God’s intention for you to seem perfect, causing sinners to possibly despair of ever reaching your, “level”?

I’ve purposely avoided giving my opinions on these questions, because I think there can be a lot of room for debate on these and a million other questions. My concern, instead, is that too many Christians do not ask what God intends to do. In other words, they formulate what they think is, “right,” without asking about God’s purposes, or his desire for how his children should live in this world.

Here’s an example. As far as I can tell, the majority of Christians do not practice animal sacrifices like the Old Testament, because they feel that the coming of Christ did away with the Old Covenant legal system. Fine, I agree with that too. But at the same time, many evangelical Christians agree with the death penalty. Their rational? The legal structure of the Old Covenant! Instead of asking what God’s intent for the justice system is in our day and age, I believe many of them tend to simply agree with a particular political party and then look for any Biblical rational they can find.

But what does God intend for Christians in the New Covenant world? As far as I can see, here are some of his key and clearly stated principles:
-The government (be it religious or heathen or secular) has been given authority by God to maintain order.
-Christians are to proclaim that ALL have sinned, ALL fall short of the glory of God, and ALL must obtain salvation by faith alone in the person and salvific work of Jesus Christ.
-Christians must evangelize to every tribe and tongue and nation, seeking to bring as many as possible to Christ.

In other words, I do not think Christians should support the death penalty. Nothing about God’s purposes for us in the New Covenant environment seem to allow that. Instead, we should advocate for life sentences, so that criminals have the greatest opportunity to hear the good news of Jesus Christ. After all, the proclamation of the gospel is our PRIMARY purpose in this world! To that end, we should be seeking opportunities to witness to those criminals, to let them know that Christ can cleanse them of all their sin in the same way that he has done for us!

So, my call to you is to challenge yourself in this area. Seek to answer hard questions in a way that is consistent with the character and purposes of God, so that our submission goes beyond submission to God’s RULES and toward God’s DESIRES for the weay we live our lives.

Note to fellow Seminary geeks: I'm working on being a bit more accessible in my posts, since I have intelligent but non-geeky friends who read this blog, but this idea of aligning ethical structure with God's purposes in the redemptive-historical drama has, I think, significant hermeneutical implications. The whole concept of submission to the authority of God is allowed to go beyond the LEGAL structure of the Bible and moves into an entire PHILOSOPHICAL framework of God's purposes for his creation. Of course, Scripture is still the inerrant centerpiece of that framework, proclaiming the salvatory act of Christ as the most necessarily important action in all of created history. However, this perspective allows us to also search for creative ways of submitting all areas of life to the King, even those areas not directly spoken to in Scripture. That's a big deal for topics like ethics, politics, proactive social services, and the goals for apologetic or interfaith dialogue groups.

Bits and Pieces

2008-01-11T18:03:00.000-05:00

Goodness! I haven’t posted in a while. Here’s a series of small bits and pieces from my life lately. For the more TV-oriented among us, this might be a welcome relief from my usual verbosity!

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My wife saved Christmas. Usually I hate the holiday. “Bah humbug,” becomes my favorite phrase, and I spend 50% of the time complaining about everything I can think of. Also, I’m not big on gifts, because nobody ever gets me the books I truly want. They think they can do better by surprising me with something I didn’t ask for. But they can’t.

So, my terrific wife saved Christmas by e-mailing my family and directing them to get gifts from my Amazon gift list for me! I got a huge stack of books from her and others that were exactly the ones I’ve been wanting but haven’t been willing to spend the money on. What a doll!

More than that, we had a great time with my family. I was so thankful for the way God organized everything to work out just right.

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I just got over the flu. I haven’t had a real flu since I was in high school! In one night, I threw up 5 times. In the course of three days, my eyes were so sensitive to light that I couldn’t read, watch movies, play video games, or type on the computer. All the stuff I usually like to do to feel better when I’m sick! It was miserable. Also, my stomach hurt so bad I couldn’t sleep. So, I mostly just lay around in pitch darkness doing nothing.

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I really enjoy teaching high school. Each week, my kids crack me up with their funny comments. Yesterday, someone handed Alex a sheet of paper, and his eyes got big. “I was elected to LEAD, not to READ,” he declared in a dead-on imitation of the Gubernator (well, the Simpsons version). They sure have a lot of personality!

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I love Amazon.com, but it can be a bit fickle. I decided I wanted to do a bunch of book reviews, so that my, "reviewer rating," would get a lot higher. So, I went out and wrote 20 reviews of some of my favorite books. Later, I checked my profile... and I had dropped about 20,000 places! Later on it came back down, but it was a humbling experience.

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Our baby is growing! I like to use my wife’s belly button to mark time. It’s still an innie, but we’ll be getting to the outie stage soon!

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I had a friend about to graduate with his degree in theology tell me that you are not allowed to make use of hypothetical scenarios, rhetorical questions, or thought experiments in an argument. Apparently, these ignore the, “normative Christian experience.” And yet in the past few weeks, I’ve come across those very types of arguments by A.W. Tozer, St. Augustine, and the apostle Paul!

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My wife and I are tentatively in the market for a new apartment. For a long time I have been pulling to move downtown, closer to our church. So, we found a place that was inexpensive, close, and situated in a beautiful old home in Louisville's historic Old Town. I was convinced this would be the place. So, we went to look at it. It was awful! It was basically an unfinished... no, a LESS than finished basement. It was just cracked cement floors and wall, peeling paint on the cabinets, and a dank smell. Utilities not included.

As we walked around, trying not to laugh, it really felt like a place you wouldn't store your books (well, I wouldn't) for fear that they'd rot. Samantha made a valiant effort to be nice to the guy showing it, but she lost out in the end.

"It's like a castle," she said. Pause. "Like a dungeon or something." Ha! That's my wife, telling it like it is. Our search goes on!

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Go MSU Spartans!

Guess what?

2007-12-20T08:49:00.000-05:00

Hey folks,

Yesterday Samantha and I went to the doctor's office, and got to see our little baby! It was moving around, kicking, and generally being problematic. However, it could not escape (not much room to work with) and we were able to see...

It's a boy!

We think that his body type looks a lot like me... for instance, he seems to have a thin face with a large head. It's still early, though, and of course you can't see skin or hair color.

The ultrasound is very cool. I was amazed by how clear the picture was. We could see his bones, his toes, his ears, his eyes and mouth... at one point, he opened his little mouth in what looked like a yawn (though it probably wasn't... he's under water!)

Anyways, at the moment we're planning on naming him Isaiah. We haven't decided on a middle name, though.

Thanks to everyone praying for us! We can hardly wait for our little son to arrive.

In the meantime, I need to start stocking up on trucks, sports equipment, and LEGOs!

Christ and Pop Culture

2007-12-10T19:52:00.000-05:00

Ok, let's review the facts, strange though they may be.

I hate pop music.

I don't connect with teenagers.

I can't figure out what Mac and PC owners are always arguing about.

I purposely buy the most boring clothes I can find because I don't understand fashion.

I know more about political philosophy than I do about American Idol.

I buy the simplest, cheapest cell phones on the market.

I have never read Kurt Vonnegut or Steven King, but I have read Augustine and Oliver O'Donovan.

I do not text message. Ever.

The last music CD of secular music from after the 70's that I bought was the Garden State soundtrack.

I hate "Christmas season." Bah humbug.

I do not know what Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, George Clooney, or Prince William did in the past month.

My favorite pastimes are reading history, theology, and philosophy. Oh, and I really love baseball.

Of the music bands I like, exactly zero are still together.

My dream home is downtown Edinburgh, Scotland, so I can be near the castles and cathedrals. My anti-dream home is anywhere near Hollywood.

I like going to museums in Washington DC, and hate spending time in downtown Chicago.

Ok, so here's the big question. WHY AM I WRITING FOR A WEBSITE ON CHRIST AND POP CULTURE?

I have no idea. But I am, and I really enjoy it. I think I'm the "old soul" in the group, but thankfully the other guys are a lot sharper and more knowledgable than me. I'm good for a different perspective on the same things.

Anyways, check us out, listen to our podcasts, and spend some time thinking about the pop culture YOU engage every day.

Christ and Pop Culture

A New Political Paradigm for Christians

2007-12-08T16:54:00.000-05:00

Christmas is, “in the air,” for a longer period each year- this time around, I started hearing Christmas songs before Thanksgiving week! However, even Christmas cannot compare to the length of time we spend talking about politics, especially in a presidential election year.

Government’s basic job is to create a lawful and orderly society. However, laws and societal structures are imperfect, so people and their government are continually trying to figure out ways to solve the problems and imperfections. I want to describe for you the basic ways that is done, and then challenge you to think carefully about your contribution to that process.

To solve a societal problem, there are only two basic approaches. One is the top-down approach, and the other is the bottom-up approach. Each approach has strengths and weaknesses.

The bottom-up approach has to do with citizens trying to heal an area whose policies have failed, pragmatically or morally. So, an environmental group is a bottom-up approach to fixing environmental problems. Church-run addiction recovery organizations are a bottom-up approach to healing addictions in a better way than the government does.

Meanwhile, the top-down approaches to the same problems are environmental policies, addiction recovery programs, and the like.

Note here the interaction between the two groups. They need each other, but they fulfill different roles. The role of the top-down group is to set orderly policy. However, they are often somewhat deficient because they are beholden to a wider constituency. They are subject to state and federal laws, and must protect the rights of a wide array of groups with each of their policies.

Meanwhile, the bottom-up group is passionately committed to one point of view, and they are always trying to sway public policy in their direction. The top-down group needs these people, because they do research and advocacy and healing action that the government does not have the time or focus to do. Often, the best public policy comes from healthy interaction between the two groups, when each understands the other’s role and place in the process.

My soapbox is this; I think Christians have a problem with taking their passionate personal politics –things that can only be fixed in a bottom-up sort of way- and assuming that their vote can only go to a candidate who agrees with their bottom-up politics. This is a false construction, because a government official is elected to do a top-down job, not to advocate for a bottom-up group.

So, when a politician asks for votes, Christians often ask these questions. Is he a Christian? Where does he stand on abortion? Where does he stand on illegal immigration? Where does he stand on homosexual marriage? Where does he stand on the war? Where does he stand on use of the Confederate flag? Where does he stand on gun control? And so it goes.

I do not think those are the healthiest questions. I think the standards we should have for our top-down officials are these: Is this candidate likely to make societal order healthier? Do they have experience and a good track record in that area? Can my bottom-up advocacy interests interact well with this candidate? Will the candidate make good policy decisions? Do they understand good governmental policy?

Now, here is where I get controversial.

From a top-down perspective, to me, the abortion battle is over. The toothpaste is out of the tube, and no government official can push it back in. We will not end abortion without a massively scaled reformation in the moral structure of the United States.

As a result, I do not think it is wise for Christians to be single-issue voters. We should not make abortion a litmus test for our vote.

Hear me out on this. I am not suggesting that we stop supporting pro-life causes, or staffing Crisis Pregnancy Centers, or advocating required ultrasound machines in abortion clinics. Those are all valuable bottom-up approaches, and I think we should increase those things.

However, I do think we should stop saying we will not support a candidate (or an entire political party!) on the basis of their perspective on a small number (sometimes single!) of moral issues, rather than on their effectiveness as an administrator. Instead, we should use the election period to be discerning about which candidate will most effectively administer an orderly society with good policy choices.

The powerful thing about this understanding is that it gives a healthy forum for policy debate. If an administrator is committed, first and foremost, to good policy, then they will hear both sides of an issue. When he does, the two sides know that they have to focus on why their perspective is healthiest from a societal perspective, rather than arguing about whose moral worldview is better.

So on abortion, as I mentioned, I do not think that voting in dozens of yes-men who are pro-life is a good approach… because pretty soon they screw up various other policy areas, and the public gets sick of them, and they get kicked out. And the abortion problem remains.

Instead, we need officials who realize that abortion is not a legal problem you can solve through changes in the law. It is a moral problem that can only be solved by bottom-up groups proclaiming a different moral perspective.

However, if those groups can show that abortion creates serious detriments to societal health (a case that can easily be made), then a government official can create an environment for those groups to work in. He can see the importance of requiring free use of ultrasound machines in abortion clinics (which statistically does far more to reduce abortion than electing a pro-life president ever has!). He can support the legitimate mission of Crisis Pregnancy Centers. He is, in essence, working in tandem with the bottom-up groups- he works for a healthy society, and they work for their individual issues. And he can do all those things without being a committed pro-life candidate.

Christians need to stop pretending that a foolish administrator who agrees with their moral system is the best thing for society. Instead, they should use their votes to support someone who will make the legal order stronger and wiser, so that there is a safer environment in which to address societal ills.

The great Augustine of Hippo once wrote to a judge named Macedonius regarding some criminals. Augustine’s goal was to advocate against a penalty of death, even though he acknowledged that Macedonius had the right to give the death penalty. He said this:

“Your strictness is, therefore, beneficial. Its exercise assists even our peace. But our intercession is beneficial as well. Its exercise modified even your strictness. You should not object to being petitioned by the good, because the good do not object to your being feared by the bad.”

Augustine understood the separate roles of the judges (government officials) and the intercessors (interest groups). The one has a role of enabling a lawful and orderly society; the other has a role of advocating and healing. For Christians to have true value in whatever free society we inhabit (oppressive societies are another discussion), it is imperative that they seek wise administration and openness to advocacy from government officials, rather than dogmatic commitment to specific moral perspectives.

The City Around the Heart

2007-11-09T19:40:00.000-05:00

I had lately struggled to understand why we came to Kentucky. With a baby on the way and a never-ending stream of bills, I’m going to have to take a full-time job. That’s not so bad, but it makes me question why we moved.

After all, in Lansing I had a much more lucrative job, we were surrounded by family and friends, and I was a deacon at a church that I loved. I could easily have driven down to Plymouth to attend Michigan Theological Seminary a couple times a week and followed the exact same pattern that we will have to do now here in Kentucky, except with far fewer money problems!

Of course, the whole problem with this mental construction is that were things reversed, I can almost guarantee I’d be looking at SBTS with envy and Michigan with disdain. The core problem is my own heart’s discontent. I want so badly to be doing something that feels significant that I am (a) not good at appreciating God’s acts of preparation in my life for later things and (b) not able to see the significance of what we are doing here and now.

This was brought into sharp relief for me when I read this poem by C.P. Cavafy.

The City

You said: “I’ll go to another country, go to another shore,
find another city better than this one.
Whatever I try to do is fated to turn out wrong
and my heart lies buried like something dead.

How long can I let my mind moulder in this place?
Wherever I turn, wherever I look,
I see the black ruins of my life, here,
where I’ve spent so many years, wasted them, destroyed them totally.”
You won’t find a new country, won’t find another shore.
This city will always pursue you.
You’ll walk the same streets, grow old
in the same neighborhoods, turn gray in these same houses.
You’ll always end up in this city. Don’t hope for things elsewhere:
There’s no ship for you, there’s no road.
Now that you’ve wasted your life here, in this small corner,
You’ve destroyed it everywhere in the world.

In other words, as I constantly need to be reminded, contentment is something found within our own hearts, when we rightly place our faith in God to lead and guide.

I’m so thankful for the way these simple reminders, which I need so often, can be found anywhere and everywhere here at seminary, like lights on a Christmas tree. When they come, I am startled and a bit frustrated by my own repeated forgetfulness. But then I remember that life is beautiful, and that God is faithful, and turn once more to the task of honoring the Giver of gifts.

Longing for the Memories that Shaped Us.

2007-09-29T23:55:00.000-04:00

Memory shapes us. When you ask why someone does something odd, the answer is that they picked the habit up when they were small. Perhaps they are afraid of worms, or have trouble looking into another person‘s eyes when they speak, or have a deathly fear of disapproval. I myself watch fearfully when I see someone playfully wrestle with a dog, because I was bitten by our retriever when I was young.

Bits and pieces of our past bond together to form a collective “wisdom” of sorts, and we apply that wisdom to daily circumstances. Often it is the primary or even sole thing we depend on to interpret surroundings and make predictions for the future. We learn to trust it, and when it fails we struggle with the disconnect. It is a checklist, giving us a range of possible outcomes based on the circumstances. When events or outcomes differ from what the checklist says will happen, we feel lost in uncertainty.

Our perspective on how to handle a bully, for instance, is probably shaped heavily (though perhaps unconsciously) by the unique combination of experiences we had with bullies growing up. I had the good fortune to be in a very safe environment, and that is part of the reason I view bullies as quite silly and harmless. My wife experienced bullying in a very different light, and so aggressive people make it hard for us to reconcile our two “wisdoms,” because they are so different from each other.

This personal wisdom needs to come under submission to the absolute truth of God’s wisdom in Scripture. It is the only true and unchanging standard, the only place where the vast array of personal experiences can find agreement and peace. Still, when our lives hit the “gray areas,” that Scripture does not clearly speak to, we tend to fall back to the wisdom born of experience.

This past weekend, I went home for my dad’s wedding. Everything about the wedding was excellent. His new wife is terrific, and a welcome addition to our family. The event went smoothly, and my dad was clear in expressing his love for his kids.

So why did the kids all feel an ugly and powerful sense of hurt and loss?

I’ve been struggling with this question because I don’t WANT to feel it. It seems sinful and mistrusting and unkind and petty. The worst part is that it feels like it is slamming a wedge of separation between my dad and his kids… a wedge we do not understand, cannot see, and do not know how to fight.

Strangely enough, it’s a quote from one of my “weirdo movies” (as my wife likes to call them) that has started me down what I hope will be a beneficial path. It’s from “Garden State,” and the hero is trying to come to terms with his feeling of separation from his family, especially his father.

Andrew: You know that point in your life when you realize that the house that you grew up in isn't really your home anymore? All of the sudden, even though you have some place where you can put your stuff, that idea of home is gone.

Sam: I still feel at home in my house.

Andrew: You'll see when you move out. It just sort of happens one day one and it's just gone. And you can never get it back. It's like you get homesick for a place that doesn't exist. I mean it's like this rite of passage, you know. You won't have this feeling again until you create a new idea of home for yourself, you know, for your kids, for the family you start, it's like a cycle or something. I miss the idea of it. Maybe that's all family really is. A group of people who miss the same imaginary place.

I think my dad’s remarriage has hit us at a funny time, when we are at different stages of leaving our old home and entering a new life. Actually, it’s not just his remarriage. It’s the changes. It’s cooking and dancing and organic foods and a larger house and new clothes and travel and defensiveness. The safety of stepping back into the home of our memory is gone. We can’t pull up to the old house, pop in the side door, and ask mom what she’s making (well, reheating) for dinner while dad wrestles with a sibling in the family room. We can't even tease him in the same way. Nearly every aspect of that place is gone, and my dad was the lifeline. And now he’s changing too, and we react with fear and uncertainty.

We try to put it into words, but it comes out wrong. We complain about going too fast, or being too physical, or spending too much, or seeming too yuppyish, but we don’t really mean those things. What we mean is that we miss who we were, and we don’t know how to hang on to the things we loved.

"Homesick for a place that doesn't exist," is a good way of putting it. The fact is, I just want the joy of what was, but it is gone. I wish I were better at coming to terms with that.

The Bible is not specific on this idea. I think I could combine some structured thoughts to describe how, “a man leaves his father and mother,” connects with, “blessed are those who mourn,” and, “God is disciplining you as sons,” to form a picture of God’s desires for us in this time. But I’m too tired today.

The thing is, God has given me great gifts of love and nurture and joy in my childhood. Those memories and experiences have been key to becoming who I am now, and have prepared me for God’s purposes. Still, they are gone. My goal must be to love and appreciate them for the way God used them, but they are not mine to grasp.

When my mom died, she was gone. I still cry when I see certain pictures or videos, and still miss her whenever something significant happens in my life. But letting go of her is something God has given me as part of my development, and the same is true of my childhood, the place I miss and long for that no longer exists.

It is time to create something new, armed with the character God has given through gifts of wonderful parents, a joyous childhood, and a flood of memories that contribute to my unique brand of personal wisdom. I will continue to mourn in certain ways, but I should also have joy as God completes his plans for me in my life.

Lord, I am desperately thankful for your gifts in my life. Teach me how to mourn with joy; and then move on. Teach me also to take up the responsibility of creating a new idea of home in humble submission to your plans, rather than holding on to a place that you have allowed to pass away. Teach me perseverance and joy.

Amen.

Modulate, Sharpen, and Restate!

2007-09-04T22:58:00.000-04:00

Recently, I wrote out a few thoughts to help a friend strengthen his papers. I thought I’d post them, so that anyone who wants me to edit for them will consider these things first!

My suggestions can be typified by three words: Modulate, Sharpen, and Restate.

Modulate- Imagine that you go to church, and the pastor begins his sermon. He has great points and insight, and clearly understands the passage well, but he speaks in a boring monotone voice, never changing, and the words come out at the exact same speed like one loooooong sentence.

Of course, the advice you would give him is to modulate his tone. Get excited for important parts, lower your voice for the reverent parts, and clearly state each point that you are making.

In a paper, the same effect is achieved by the way you organize. It is important that the reader naturally FEEL the organization behind your paper. To do this, keep paragraphs VERY short. When you move to a new point, clearly state that you are doing so. Use punctuation to add to the effect. Make the structure of your paper obvious to the reader.

Bad:

I like horses. They are big. A big horse is a lot of fun, and horses also have nice tails. The tail of a horse can be three feet long. Do you think horses smell? I want a horse when I get older. A horse runs very fast through the fields on a beautiful day. Horses can be your best friends if you let them although I know that dogs are also nice. The problem with dogs is that you can't ride them and they are also much smaller.

Good:

I want a horse when I get older. I like horses! They are big, beautiful, and fast.

Horses are big, and I have always appreciated large animals.

They also are quite beautiful, especially their tails. Did you know a horse’s tail can be up to three feet long? For some reason their beauty captures me.

Finally, and most importantly, horses run very fast. I love to ride my horse through the fields on a beautiful day, because it seems like I am flying.

Keep your arguments clear!

Sharpen- This is one that everybody struggles with. It's a key part of how your paper comes across to a grader.

The key here is to be extremely exacting. It is important to say things simply, in as few words as possible. Ruthlessly cut away prepositions, and use the word "that" as little as possible.

Bad:

The conceptual framework that Ware takes time to explain to us is supported by the Scriptural outlook.

Better:

The framework Ware teaches is supported by Scripture.

Best:

The Bible supports Ware's framework.

Remember to say everything that you can in the shortest sentences possible!
(Whoops! I mean, "Say everything as shortly as possible!")

Restate- This one is simple. If a sentence or paragraph seems uneasy or strange or just doesn't feel quite right- restate it! People have a habit of being committed to their first attempt at articulating a concept, and no matter how hard they try it just comes off wrong.

Wrong:

The economic ideal that capitalism is built on greed coincides with the middle age ideal that property begins with the divine right of kings because it allows risk taking and pulling up your own bootstraps.

Right:

Capitalism is built on greed. It encourages risk taking and seeking your fortune. This is opposed to the middle age ideal, in which property is divinely given to and distributed by the king.

Remember to Modulate, Sharpen, and Restate- it will give your paper a huge boost!

Harry Potter: The Boy Who Should have Died... or at least Matured!

2007-09-03T05:47:00.001-04:00

Well, I finally sat down and read the last Harry Potter book. I am an odd mix of too-cool and too-geeky. I was too cool to buy or read the book when it came out, but I was too geeky to stop reading it when Rich let me borrow it!

In true Harry Potter fashion, it was a fun read. J.K. Rowling is enormously creative, and I enjoyed seeing the story come to its somewhat convoluted conclusion.

However, they certainly are not excellent books.

First, the number of key “coincidences” was ridiculous. The kids would be camping in some random woods for months, and then key characters would just HAPPEN to be fishing in a nearby stream, and would just HAPPEN to be having an important conversation about exactly what the kids needed to know. Rowling did not even bother to disguise the deus ex machina… she just dropped it in there multiple times.

Second, the flow of the stories (in all the books together) did not add anything to the characters. Think back to “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.” What were Ron’s main issues? Well, he was jealous of Harry and wanted to be the hero. And guess what happens in this book? Or consider the description of Hermione from way back then, when she was a bit prissy at times but would break the rules when need be for the good of the group. Anybody want to guess what she’s like in the final installment?

To be honest, even Harry does not change much. He still has (we are told) powerful emotional reactions to anything regarding his friends or parents. Actually, though, it’s a good thing Rowling blatantly TELLS us this is the case… I never actually felt it through the story.

I think this gets at my third complaint… J.K. Rowling seems to have only one method of story advancement- to make the story darker. So, in the beginning everything ends happily; but eventually things get darker and more painful, and then she finally kills a key character, and then it snowballs into multiple key deaths by books 6 and 7. Or the various plots need to be more epic, so larger and larger numbers of people become involved: which, of course, means that suddenly hundreds of students and teachers and warriors and creatures are all together at one time and place to fight hundreds of bad guys and massive creatures and the like. There’s nothing wrong with that type of plot advancement per se, but there is if it’s the only way in which the story gets better.

By contrast, as I mentioned, the characters do not get deeper, few serious twists are involved, people remain idiotic (spending MONTHS camping in the woods before they come to realizations the reader figured out with the same set of clues in less time than it took to finish the chapter), situations remain implausible (like Harry and Hermione living together for weeks in a tent trying to think of new plans and NEVER accidentally saying the name Voldemort), and we remain dependent on the timing always working out because…well, because that’s just how it goes.

Finally, the writing is cheesy. Rowling insists on telling us everything (such as “Ron said this darkly” or “Hermione pleaded, with a pained look on her face” or “Harry felt exactly the way he felt five years earlier waiting to hear if he would be kicked out of Gryffindor”). As I always complain, you can read 2 out of every ten words in the entire book and still get all the important stuff. The difference between Rowling’s book and true classic literature is like the difference between watching Gone with the Wind and The Little Mermaid. Sure, The Little Mermaid is exciting, lots of fun, and enormously creative. But at the end of the day, it is just a fast-paced cartoon, and does not include a serious, insightful, and deep look at life in the way The Once and Future King or Danny the Champion of the World do.

To put it simply, Harry Potter is a large bag of cotton candy in the grocery store of literature. It looks great and tastes sweet, but people seeking to enrich their lives and to grow in wisdom while reading escapist novels should look elsewhere.

Try books like The Once and Future King, Captains Courageous, Ender’s Game, Lord of the Rings, The Boyhood of Ranald Bannerman, or The Chosen.

If you are looking for kids books (though my sense is that adults defend HP more vigorously than kids do), stick to the Chronicles of Narnia, Maniac Magee, Roald Dahl books, Robin Hood, or other Newbery Award winners.

Rowling’s creativity is fun for a time, but as far as good literature goes it falls quite short.

To Work the Works of God

2007-08-21T13:19:00.000-04:00

Well, the computer isn't fixed yet, but thanks to my heroic friend Dave that should be corrected fairly soon.

In the meantime, here is a quick update/meditation on recent life.

I've been struggling a bit with being busy. School, teaching, and deacon responsibilities all sorta hit at once. Things are starting to settle down, but it was pretty hectic for a while there. At times, I wondered whether I was actually dis-honoring God by being so busy.

So it was interesting in my devotions to come upon this rich little precurser to Christ's healing of a blind man in John 9.

"As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, 'Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?' Jesus answered, 'It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.'"

Jesus went on to heal the blind man, which led to a series of significant clashes between himself and the Pharisees.

Here's the thing that struck me. Whatever situation we face in life was given to us ON PURPOSE by our creator. He sovereignly desired that we should be who we are, face what we face, and do what we do. He will be glorified through it, no matter what. So then, our job here on earth is to "Work the works of God" by displaying the light of Christ to the world in the way we live.

For me, it was a great reminder; I've been given schooling, a job, a deaconship, and other responsibilities so that I might glorify God in my life and display the light of Christ to the world. Outside of that purpose, little matters. Even my busy and sometimes tiring life can glorify God as I seek to honor him first in all things. My prayer is that you and I together would pursue this goal!

School restarts and so does blogging... I hope?

2007-08-13T20:12:00.000-04:00

Ok, my buddy Riley called me out on not blogging in a while. There are a couple good reasons and one bad one.

The good reasons are these. FIRST, life has been extremely busy. Seminary classes are starting, I just accepted a job teaching classes for a classical education home-school program, and I've been asked to be deacon of college outreach at my church. Phew! I love all these things, I'm just needing to be good about using my time wisely to prepare well for each one. Thankfully, all of the above are fragmented enough (schedule-wise) that I'm not having any major problems yet.

SECOND, my computer died. Apparantly the power source needs to be replaced, and I don't really have the Ca$h for that new laptop I've been wishing for. So, we're internet free at the moment (I'm at the public library right now).

THIRD, well, I am lazy lots of times.

Hopefully, though, that will change once our computer is fixed. I hope to articulate the outworkings of my "Organizing principle for outreach" in a more practical way. I also hope to give more detailed updates of things I'm thinking about regarding camp, seminary, church, and books. We'll see if it happens or not! I appreciate your patience (knowing that the waiting is just killing you) while I try to find somebody who knows how to attach a power source and its millions of wires.

Reflections on camp

2007-07-12T01:57:00.000-04:00

In case you are not one for looking over the comments in someone else’s blog, I want to share a comment made on my last post about our service at Upper Peninsula Bible Camp.

Hey, I just stumbled upon your BLOG and wanted to say thanks for wanting to be a great male role model for the young men attending UPBC. I don't know which session you will be at, but my son (he's 12) is attending boy's camp for his second year in a couple of weeks and I am excited about the opportunity for him to interact with Godly men.

I am in prayer for you as well as the other men and women who are giving their talent as leaders and speakers to the boys (and girls) at camp.

If you are a regular attendee of UPBC, you might know my pastor and friend, Bruce Black. He and his family have been a blessing to me and my family for the last several years, and I know they are very involved in UPBC as well. If you see him, tell him the Kirby's said "hi!"

God will surely bless your time at UPBC - His word never returns void. Keep plugging along, and I will definitely check your BLOG now and then to see how school's going! God bless!!

I do not know Mr. (or Mrs.?) Kirby, and I actually spoke at JV camp rather than boys camp. Even so, this person cannot know how extremely encouraging their comment was. Note their healthy expectations for the program staff; to be good role models, especially for those of their gender- to interact with kids in a way that displays godliness- and to proclaim God’s word to the campers even when it seems to have no immediate return. It is a wonderful thing to encourage these expectations in camp staff!

I think this forms a great backdrop for a quick review of my time at camp. Here are a few of the larger themes and issues that we learned from.

First, Samantha had a tough cabin. The oldest kids are always hard, and she counseled a large cabin of the oldest girls in camp. In case any campers read this I’ll try to be careful about specifics, but suffice to say that it was a stretching and draining week for her. I can’t thank God enough that she remained tough about it, and is still willing to do camp ministry in various forms in the future. She is a trooper.

Second, I think I struggled as a speaker, but I was thankful for clarity (which was my chief request of God regarding my sermons). I’m not very good at drawing kids in, and I have a bad habit of using terms they do not understand. Still, the gospel was clearly presented every day, and I think the separate paths of the world and of the true Christian were made clear. As Mr./Mrs. Kirby rightly pointed out, the key is that clear proclamation of God’s word is of higher importance than entertainment because it is GOD who works through the Word, not man.

Third, I was reminded how I love and appreciate camp and the people who keep it running. Though I had been gone two years, my friends of every age from 4 to 80 welcomed us with open arms and hearts. They helped me with the office printer and copier (I HATE technology), chatted with me, teased me about my sorry fashion skills, played Ultimate Frisbee with me, and argued with me about modernism vs. postmodernism (well, that one was primarily Grace).

Fourth, I was so impressed by my family. I spoke, and my wife (Samantha), sister (Bethany), brother-in-law (Aaron), and brother (Peter) all counseled! They were terrific. Also, my other brother (David) and sister did a mission trip to the area the week before, and Peter is staying at camp on summer staff. What a crew!

Finally, I was struck once again by the amazing things God can do in a short period of time. In two simple weeks, all kinds of spiritual progress happened in the lives of campers, in the lives of my summer staff buddies, and in the lives of the program staff. Truly camp is a special form of para-church ministry, with unique avenues to share the gospel that no single church could accomplish.

Thanks to all my UPBC friends! Samantha and I look forward to however we can stay involved in the future.

p.s. Mr./Mrs. Kirby should know that I LOVE Bruce Black. He has been a mentor and friend to me for years, and he is continuing to do terrific ministry at UPBC by speaking, acting as president of the trustees, and driving the bus. Men and women of God like Bruce and others are what make a camp like UPBC work.

The Joy of Bible Camp

2007-06-22T13:01:00.000-04:00

I love camp.

When I was 7 years old, my mom sent me off to boys camp at UPBC (Upper Peninsula Bible Camp). I was not very good at it. I made few friends, hated the water (I sink), and even at that age was annoyed at the way the campers only liked songs where they got to yell or jump around.

Still, there were three very good things. First, we got to go on a one-night camping trip. I could hike around the edge of a lake for long periods of time by myself, or stare into the fire and think. I quickly fell in love with camping.

Second, we played a lot of capture the flag. At the time I was too short to outrun people and get the flag, but I was quick enough to be very good at defense.

Third, I had my birthday during the week, and one of the staff girls gave me a kiss on the cheek in front of the whole camp. Very cool.

So, I came back. And then came back again. And again. With only a couple of exceptions, camp became my primary place to relax and grow as a person during the summer months. At camp I did the ropes course and swung from trees, learned to kayak and canoe, camped, and built relationships. I was introduced to what would become one of my top-two favorite sports, Ultimate Frisbee. I learned how to relate to girls. I learned to work hard, serving on staff for half a summer. I learned how to be a teacher and a leader, and eventually a pastoral figure by being a counselor. I was taught manhood and godliness. I had opportunity to see solid men of God wrestle with tough discernment issues. And of course, I heard the Bible preached clearly and with great passion.

I would not be the same without camp. Life made up of struggles and frustrations, strengths and foibles. Camp brought those out and taught me to understand them in ways that were more intense and more revealing than daily life in school ever could. It was one of many powerful shapers of my thinking and personality growing up.

Today we begin our trip back to camp, to yet again experience camp in a new way. I’m nervous and excited, worried about doing well and yet certain the Holy Spirit will accomplish his purposes. Once again, I am sure God will find a new way to teach, expand, and strengthen me for his purposes. I hope that whatever you are doing this summer, you are able to find experiences that do the same for you.

UPBC, here we come!

Third Avenue Devotional

2007-06-18T12:55:00.000-04:00

Hey Folks,

Here is my lightning-round devotional at Third Avenue. They give us fifteen, and I managed to sneak it in at ten seconds under ten minutes! Ah well. Just go to the link and scroll down until you find the May 27th sermon on Isaiah 40:6-8. Enjoy!

Third Avenue Devotionals

Fall Reading List

2007-06-13T23:11:00.000-04:00

Wow... this is my reading list for the Fall semester. There is just one small problem; this is the list for only THREE of my FOUR classes! And I need a job, too!

Augustine, The City of God

Elshtain, Jean Bethke, Augustine and the Limits of Politics

Markus, R.A, Christianity and the Secular

O’Donovan, Oliver, The Desire of the Nations: Rediscovering the Roots of Political Theology.

Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine

Anthony Hoekema, Created in God’s Image

John Piper and Wayne Grudem, Recovering Biblical Manhood & Womanhood

Andreas Kostenberger, “A Complex Sentence Structure in 1 Timothy 2:12,” in Women in the Church: A Fresh Analysis of 1 Timothy 2:9-15

Ronald W. Pierce, Rebecca Merrill Groothuis, Gordon D. Fee, Discovering Biblical Equality: Complementarity Without Hierarchy

Wayne Grudem, “But What Should Women Do in the Church?”

Cornelius Plantinga, Jr., Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be: A Breviary of Sin

Paul Wegner, The Journey from Texts to Translations

Graeme Goldsworthy, According to Plan

Dan McCartney and Charles Clayton, Let the Reader Understand

Graeme Goldsworthy, Gospel-Centered Hermeneutics

Hermeneutics and Discernment

2007-06-13T00:05:00.000-04:00

Everyone faces important decisions. Work, relationships, finances, all kinds of things. However, I want to mention just three.

First, I’m speaking at a bible camp in a few weeks. What things should I share with the kids? What will be interesting and relevant, but also (more importantly) God-honoring and true?

Second, I’m getting more involved at church. I want to be a positive addition to the larger church culture, even in the various discussions and (usually minor) disagreements that go on. How will I decide what things to fight for or ignore? How will I help set new directions or explore good ministry ideas?

Third, always looming in the mind of a seminary student is the problem of what to do after school. Though I’m a few years away, I want to prepare well to minister in whatever context God might place me. To do so, I need to ask; what things are NECESSARY and what things are not? Can I be pastor at a church that is dispensational? Charismatic? Egalitarian?

Finding answers to these questions is a matter of finding guidance from God through prayer, meditation, talking with more experienced Christians, and studying Scripture. That last is one I want to focus on here.

There are two interrelated ideas I am hoping to pursue in the coming semester. The first is Direct Hermeneutics. The second is Biblical Discernment.

Watching the complex arguments that are made in various contexts (seminary, the blogosphere, churches, etc.), I worry that we can sometimes become a bit Pharisaical, in that we easily create new, “commandments,” for the church which God did not necessarily intend. Or at least he did not intend the level of severity we sometimes give them.

So then, I want to first investigate how we do hermeneutics. I’m taking a class on the subject, and intend to learn as much as I can. My goal is to learn this; what things can we DEFINITELY say based on Scripture, and what are some things we cannot necessarily prove without a philosophical middle step? For instance, we can certainly prove salvation through faith in Christ alone. On the other hand, we cannot prove whether it is better to sing hymns or praise songs in church. The problem is that a LOT of issues fall in between these two when it comes to provability from Scripture, and we need to learn how to show very clearly what Scripture does and does not say. I call this Direct Hermeneutics because I want to learn to glean guidance directly from Scripture, and avoid governing philosophical systems as much as possible.

After that, I want to develop Biblical Discernment for the issues we face in life. We need to know how to take Scriptural guidelines and teach people how best to fulfill them in a way that is loving, wise, and above all God-honoring. To do so, it is key that we make it our practice to avoid easy answers (such as creating new rules for everything) and learn to construct solutions to confusing problems that stay withing the bounds of Scripture and make honoring God their primary goal, but also do not place unnecessary and unscriptural burdens on the people struggling with these issues.

So, that’s one of my quests for the next several months. Good luck to you, as you work to be discerning with your own life!

As a side note, here is a series of sermons that have so far been a major player in my conception of how we learn from Scripture.

Said at Southern

2007-06-02T06:36:00.001-04:00

If you're interested, there's a new website up that has various resources from the Southern Seminary community... student, faculty, and alumni blogs, as well as some editorial articles. The link is www.saidatsouthern.com, which I've also placed on my blog links. Enjoy!

The Wod of Our God Will Stand

2007-05-28T06:15:00.000-04:00

I had the privilege of giving the devotional at my church, Third Avenue Baptist, on Sunday night. Here's the manuscript. I'll put a link up when the audio is available!

Isaiah 40:8

Look around you. It seems that wherever you turn, people struggle with feelings of inadequacy, of insignificance, and of smallness. At different points in our lives, we are all struck by how tiny we are in comparison to things that are much bigger than us; things like time, or war; the universe, or heartbreak; death, or God.

We see it in the movies we watch and the poetry we admire. We hear it in the songs on the radio and see it in the works of the philosophers. In a seemingly infinite variety of contexts and modes, the human heart is forced to consider its own smallness and mortality.

So, as you go about your daily life, you will hear things like this:

“Good luck exploring the infinite abyss!”

or

“We mortals are but shadows and dust!”

Or this

“We've grown used to the idea of space, and, perhaps we forget that we've only just begun. We're still pioneers. They, the members of the Challenger crew, were pioneers.”

Or this

“O God, thy sea is so great, and my boat is so small.”

Now, sometimes we might decide to shake these feelings off, or to quickly change the subject. We often put a high premium on an optimistic view of the world. Too often, perhaps.

But here in Isaiah 40, we see that this cry of insignificance is normal, even for a prophet. Isaiah, we know, has seen a glorious vision of the Most High God on his lofty throne. Themes of God’s power and of justice flow throughout his proclamations. Here, sandwiched between a passage about hope for the coming messiah and one regarding the greatness of God, Isaiah tells us of a voice that seems to cry out in despair.

6 A voice says, “Cry!”
And I said, “What shall I cry?”
All flesh is grass,
and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.
7 The grass withers, the flower fades
when the breath of the Lord blows on it;
surely the people are grass.

Through this simple metaphor, we are reminded of how weak and small our lives are. And yet, Isaiah goes on to proclaim the powerful truth that is contrasted with our small lives; God’s word is eternal and unchanging. Look at verse 8;

8 The grass withers, the flower fades,
but the word of our God will stand forever.

Now, there are a lot of great studies you can do from this simple passage. You can study how it interacts with Isaiah’s other prophetic proclamations. You can consider the many uses of the term “the word of God” throughout the Bible. You can make some terrific parallels between this passage and the gospels, because in verses 3-5 it prophesies about John the Baptist.

However, because our time is limited, I just want to make three simple exhortations to you that this passage should inspire in us.

1. First, spend time meditating on your smallness before God.

It is good and healthy to recognize how small we are compared to God. I think Keith did a terrific job this morning of showing how John the Baptist had a clear and accurate view of his role in the kingdom of God, and how it informed the way he lived and taught. In the same way, our lives should display the fact that we understand ourselves to be quite small and insignificant in the grand scheme of things.

If you need some help meditating on this topic, I encourage you to simply look in Scripture. This basic meditation is used in a variety of contexts by the Biblical authors.

-For instance, Peter actually quotes this passage in 1 Peter 1. He meditates on how our thankfulness for the new birth, which comes through the word of God, should express itself in an earnest love for one another.

-In James 4, James speaks of life as a vapor. He uses it to criticize those who spend their lives pursuing money rather than serving God.

-In Matthew 6, Christ teaches that it is more important to pursue the kingdom of God than to worry about food and clothing. He reminds us that earthly treasures will rust or be stolen, but that heavenly treasures are eternal.

I could go on and on, but I would encourage you to learn how to repeat this pattern of meditation in your own life. Seek to enlarge your soul by thinking about how small and transient our lives are, and then contrast that with the wonder and beauty and power and eternity of our Great King.

2. Second, learn to hear the world struggle with insignificance.

By this, I simply mean it is important for us to recognize that nearly every person we know struggles in some way with feeling small and insignificant. They are crying out for an answer, and we will never be able to offer it if we do not know how to listen for the tears of their hearts. Learn to see this human problem in poetry, and in music; in literature, and in art. Listen for it in your conversations with friends and co-workers. Learn to see it in the reckless way that so many people live their lives. As we become more sensitive to this problem, we will be more able to proclaim the solution.

3. Finally, use this common human problem to proclaim the gospel.

As Isaiah highlights for us, our lives are like grass, easily burned or blown away by the wind. Any way you look at it, we are alive only because it pleases God that we should be so. While we are here on this earth, then, like John the Baptist, we should fulfill our role by proclaiming the Messiah.

When your friends or co-workers cry out because of their sin and insignificance, tell them of the hope and eternal nature of the gospel. Preach God’s word to them, knowing that it is the only thing worthy of their complete trust. Live your life in such a way that it could be said of you, “this was a person who trusted the word of God more than they trusted anything about this life.”

My friend, meditate on your smallness before God. Learn to listen to the world as it recognizes its own insignificance. And then, as one who knows your role in the kingdom, proclaim to them the eternal and unchanging gospel of Christ, to the glory of our God.

The grass withers, the flower fades,
but the word of our God will stand forever.

A Quick Note of Appreciation

2007-05-26T23:52:00.000-04:00

A few days ago, I was reviewing a discussion I had with a friend regarding gender roles. Now, I believe this discussion/argument is primarily a hermeneutical one- in other words, gender roles in the church should be determined by what we understand Scripture to be teaching, and a Christian cannnot change that without an alternate hermeneutical approach (way of studying and extracting the Bible’s meaning).

However, the discussion also made me realize how much I appreciate the terrific women in my life. If you go to the church where I grew up (Lake Pointe Bible Church), Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington DC, or Third Avenue Baptist Church here in Louisville, you will find dozens of smart, articulate, strong, and godly women (you can find them at University Baptist Church too, but I’m just pointing out that complementarianism does not repress women).

The thing I’m most thankful for is this; if you talk to these women, you will find that they LIKE being part of a complementarian church. They APPRECIATE men taking leadership roles in the church (interestingly, all three of these churches seem to somehow have avoided the problem of men not being interested or taking initiative in church). They do not feel restricted in the least from using their gifts.

Knowing this gives me a lot of confidence. I would have a harder time making the hermeneutical argument if I did not have the confirmation from women that I admire and trust that it is a valuable doctrine for them.

So last night I was listening to a discussion between three very respected, high profile pastor-theologians. The complementarian issue came up, and you know what? ALL THREE affirmed how much they appreciated the women in their congregations who affirmed to them the value of a complementarian leadership structure.

So ladies, thank you. Thank you for having the strength to submit, even when you could probably do it yourself. Thanks for having the patience to encourage the men, even when they are weak. Thank you for overcoming the need for praise and popularity that the “head honchos” sometimes get.

And thanks especially to my wife, Samantha, for always expanding your ability to submit and follow my leadership, weak and inconsistent though it may be.

Discharge Your Duty With Fidelity

2007-05-24T05:59:00.000-04:00

As I mentioned in my last post, I wanted to comment on how our actions interact with God’s. As one who believes that the Bible is clear regarding the subject of God’s sovereignty, I do believe we can say with certainty that God directs our steps, changes our hearts, and produces the results for any actions we undertake.

Still, the implications for that concept are pretty tough, right? Throughout my spiritual life, I have been involved with small ministries that have a hard time putting together programs or events that most would consider “successful.” Outreach events, youth groups, advertising… godly men and women frustrated again and again by the seeming unimportance of their actions.

The usual “correct” Christian response is to say, “Well, our job is just to put in the effort, and let God handle the results.” It is the response of faith, yes- but it also gets harder and harder to swallow when the results seem so pragmatically oriented. After all, often it really IS the more exciting programs that draw in the most people!

How then should we respond? I fear that too many churches respond by knee-jerk reaction; they launch themselves to one side or the other.

I saw this clearly in college. I attended one church for a while, but became tired of the non-stop action and overly simple teaching. Their model was strongly pragmatic. It was built on exciting “worship” that was much more like a rock concert, fancy coffee, updated facilities, and the like.

The church I later attended was in a process of what I felt was healthy transition. For a long time they had looked to pragmatic concerns to help them renew what they felt was their mission to the university; large outreach events, fund drives to make the church more attractive, interest in more exciting worship. However, I had the pleasure of seeing them work to be more faithful; they taught more Bible-centered Sunday school lessons, accepted their congregational makeup, and devoted more time to spiritual growth than numerical. However, even there you could see the frustration when they were so certain God was going to do amazing (generally numerical) miracles through their humble efforts- and then it did not happen.

Friend, what I want to propose to you is this; be wise and thoughtful about your role in the kingdom. Do not be rash in counting on God to make an otherwise unlikely idea work, but also do not abandon spiritual health and meat for the sake of building a program so pragmatically exciting that it barely needs God. The fact of the matter is this: wisely and proportionally committing your work and ministry to God with faithfulness as your goal IS the true victory. Let God do what he will through it. Expect good fruit, but do not presume to always know what form that good fruit will take.

I’m reading an excellent little book called Baptists; Thorough Reformers by Rev. John Quincy Adams (no not THAT John Quincy Adams). In it, he says this about the true reformer:

“The true religious reformer must [will] ultimately triumph. However opposed, reproached, and persecuted, he triumphs. Even when he appears to be discomfited he triumphs. While he struggles on in adversity, and while sad reverses meet him in his work, still he triumphs. The power of the truth is manifest in the support it yields him amid these disheartening circumstances. The consciousness that he has discharged his duty with fidelity, fills his mind with peace… He esteems ‘the reproaches of Christ greater riches than all the treasures’ of earth.”

May we too, in our attempts to honor our King with our efforts for his kingdom, discharge our duty with fidelity, and there fill our minds with peace.

The Danger of Passivity While Seeking God's Will

2007-05-18T18:36:00.001-04:00

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.
Be not wise in your own eyes;
fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.
It will be healing to your flesh
and refreshment to your bones.

Passages like Proverbs 3:1-12 (including vs. 5-8 shown above) are nice, because they are so applicable. They display Christian wisdom, and help order our lives. Many normal daily problems we face could be quickly solved by following the advice of the Proverbs and learning to trust and acknowledge God in all our ways.

But I ask; how do we determine our ways? Often I struggle with a perceived lack of long-term guidance on God’s part. He has not told me for certain that I will be a pastor, or what ministry I should do at church, or how to decide between a job that is interesting or one that has health insurance. When we face these things, we tend to go with the default. We just do… well, whatever. We study the subject that interests us, do the job that follows naturally from our studies, attend the church that seems closest to our theology, and in the meantime have a family and pursue our hobbies.

In the back of our minds, though, we are nagged by the feeling that we are coming up just a tad short. I think this is why books can make us feel so guilty; we read of Jim Elliot and feel that our passion for the lost is inadequate. We read of George Mueller and are disgusted by our weak prayer lives. We look at “read through the Bible in a year” plans and quietly shake our heads in frustration because we have tried them a thousand times and cannot prevail.

But look again. Read the stories of great heroes of the faith; even better, read stories of the faithful in the Bible. Ask yourself a different kind of question; how did they determine their course of action?

Yes, we may have a certain level of envy for Paul and the clarity of his conversion. But look again… do you see how often he just chose something? The city to go to, when to leave on a missionary journey, whom to talk to- he just picks. With some (usually supernatural) exceptions, this happens all over the place in the bible and in the lives of the saints. A man or woman greatly desires to serve God, and the just DO something.

Here I want to refer especially to Matthew 25 and Luke 19. Jesus tells the parables of the servants and their talents/minas. Without reading too much into the text, notice these things; first, the master does not inquire how the servants obtained the monies they earned. Now, I do not mean to advocate some sort of hard-core pragmatism, where ends always justify means. However, it does seem that the master did not ask for his servants to try to guess his exact preferred plan for making money; he only expected that they do their best to honor his desire for expanded funds.

Next, notice that the master does not care so much about measurable output. He certainly appreciates that one servant made more than the others, but he does not have a scale where 10=good, 5=fair, 1=not good, and 0=worst. It seems from his reaction that the master hates inactivity more than he hates failure, and loves faithfulness more than output.

Here is what I am trying to say. I fear that as Christians, passivity is one of our worst problems. We take our amazing ability for rationalization (like the servant rationalizing hiding his talent in the ground) and tell ourselves that we have done enough. God will understand! Our highest priority is to not destroy our lives through public sin or moral failure or embarrassment. Get an education, get a job, start a family, and DON’T SCREW UP!

However, I do not think that is right. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer says, when God calls a man, he bids him come and die. Dying to self is a concept so radical that I fear we brush it off. George Eldon Ladd expresses this powerfully in his terrific book, The Gospel of the Kingdom.

“Denial of self does not mean that I am to deny myself things. It means to deny myself, not to deny things to myself… Self-denial is self-centered; denial of self is Christ-centered. Denial of self means death, nothing less… This is what cross-bearing means: a readiness to die with and for Christ. It means complete dedication to Christ, even though this dedication costs one his life. It means an act of self-surrender which holds nothing back, not even life itself. It means my life, my will, my ambitions, my hopes- all are given to Christ. It means that I count myself as dead that Christ may live and reign in me.”

As Christians, we are called to ACTION. We are called to die to self, to commit ourselves wholly to serving God. We must pursue the advancement of the gospel and the expansion of his kingdom in the world.

Yes, these things should always be tempered by prayer, and wisdom, and advice from elders, and Scripture above all else. And yes, God is ultimately the one who “does the work.” In my next post I’ll discuss the interaction between our action and God’s.

However, there is a fundamental danger we must avoid. It is very easy to live in a Christian way and yet, protected by rationalization and pious words, not be wholly committed to the kingdom of God.

God has given us freedom to choose how best to serve him with the blessings he has given. If it is his desire to change our path, he will (think of Paul being denied access to some places and given unexpected access to others). But that is his responsibility, not ours. Our job is to continually build, to expand, to work for the kingdom. Christian, BE IN MOTION for the glory of God. His imperative on our lives is not to merely avoid sin, but to DO something for the advancement of the kingdom.

So then, choose. Choose a ministry, share the gospel, teach, serve your family. But whatever the case, however you decide to use the talents the master has given, be certain that you can look back and see a life that denied self, took up its cross, and followed Christ.

Off for a few days

2007-05-06T18:18:00.000-04:00

Hey folks,

I'm off for a few days, I'll be attending the Basics for Pastors Conference in Cleveland with my brother. I'm excited, it'll be my first chance to hear Alistair Begg and Voddie Bauchaum in person!

I may have e-mail, but then again I may not. So feel free to call me if you need anything!

Ben

Identifying With a Luge Prodigy

2007-05-04T17:42:00.000-04:00

When I was in college, I was part of a small group called a, “freshman family.” The “father” of this group was a senior named Thor. Thor is a fun, kind, and godly man. His leadership meant the world to our group. He was different from me in just about every way imaginable, which is probably why we got along so well.

Thor once told us that growing up, he wanted to be in luge. The sport is so obscure that my spell-checker does not even think it is a word! For whatever reason, Thor loved the dangerous, high-speed nature of the sport.

When Thor was in late high-school or early college (can’t remember which), he happened to find a luge track, and watched people practicing. An instructor asked him if he wanted to try, and did not have to ask twice!

Thor whipped down the track, and found himself to be a natural. The instructor set up hay bales along the track, and Thor maneuvered between them, time and time again applying just the right amount of pressure to dodge the obstacles.

After several runs, the instructor told Thor he was a natural. He offered a scholarship to the United States school for luge! Thor could not have been more thankful or gratified.

But by this time, Thor knew what God would have him do. He was a brilliant linguist, and had a heart for the lost overseas. He turned down the scholarship, and went on to be a teacher and missionary.

I identify with Thor. Thanks to all those luge instructors out there.

Soli Deo Gloria.

They Said It Better Than I Ever Could

2007-05-03T03:32:00.000-04:00

Do you ever find yourself reading a speech, or an article, or a book, and just shake your head in amazement at how much you agree with the author? It's as though he or she has given voice to thoughts and passions you knew you had, but could not articulate (and they often have a lot more research to back it up, too!). One obvious value of articles like this is that they are good to hand out to people when you are trying to convince them of your point of view. However, they can also be an important insight into a person's thinking.

So, here's the request/challenge/idea. What is a speech, article, or book chapter that you find yourself in complete agreement with? Something that expresses some of your deepest interests and conclusions? I would love to read stuff that provides such a valuable window into other people's hearts and minds.

Just so you don't think I'm talking without doing, here are some of my favorites.

First, on politics, my favorite is a speech given in 1978 by Alexander Solzhenitsyn at Harvard. The speech was entitled, "A World Split Apart", and it has molded my thinking on politics for years.

Second, on people and relationships, G.K. Chesterton wrote a wonderful article/book chapter called, "On Certain Modern Writers and the Institution of the Family," that has been a guide for many of my relationship choices over the last several years, including my marriage.

Finally, one of my three favorite theologians is A.W. Tozer. In his classic book The Pursuit of God, he wrote a chapter which reminds me time and time again to practice complete faith and trust if I ever would seek to gain anything. I would not be here at seminary if it weren't for principles I learned in this chapter, entitled "The Blessedness of Possessing Nothing."

Please take up this challenge! It will, I hope, provide some thought-provoking material for everyone to work through. And no, Rich, the video of Soul Force doesn't count.

Keeping our eyes open to The Way Things Are

2007-05-01T17:53:00.000-04:00

I have always had an interest in The Way Things Are... in other words, I want to know what the actual truth is, regardless of who agrees with what. This caused me to be terrible for party politics, because I would argue with the higher-ups whenever I felt they were wrong. This is not conducive to moving up the food chain in those circles (though you do get great job recommendations, because they tend to respect you and want to see you do well... somewhere else!)

So, today I just wanted to recommend some good resources for seeing The Way Things Are.

First, here is an interesting article that wrestles with how schools and universities can prevent school shootings. They do in-depth research and observation to try to answer some questions about the way these things happen. It's pretty short, so take a minute to read it! Before the Rampage: What can be done?

Second, for all you aspiring pastors, youth leaders, and educators out there, I highly recommend this book. I used many of the things I learned in some sermons I gave at a youth retreat last year. The authors do exhaustive research on high-school kids in the U.S., and paint a bleak (yet, importantly, truthful) picture of the passionless nature of today's kids. Very quickly, the term moralistic therapeutic deism will come to have great meaning to you. The book is called Soul Searching.

Finally, as I've mentioned before, I have great interest in urban missions. It is important that urban missionaries and church planters have an acute sense of The Way Things Are if they are to be successful in speaking the gospel clearly to the huge varieties of people and backgrounds found in an urban setting. Harvie Conn and Manuel Ortiz do, I think, an excellent job of assessing many of these difficulties without compromising the gospel or the hand of God in outreach. Their book, Urban Ministry, is terrific.

Let me just encourage you to seek out articles and resources of this kind, ESPECIALLY in your area of ministry. If you are a teacher, look for articles and books that are observational, and not just theoretical. If you are in politics, look for case studies that examine actual cases of an issue you are researching, and don't just toe the party line. If you are a pastor or youth leader, UNDERSTAND your people. Don't just assume they will respond to the same things that drove you to Christ. Learn how to make the gospel speak clearly to their situation.

Of course, much has been written about not compromising the gospel, and I strongly agree with that. I am no fan of the Schullers and Hybels of the world. However, that doesn't mean we have license not to know anything about the people in our care.

Have a great day!

I Went For A Walk, That's All

2007-04-25T19:55:00.000-04:00

I went for a walk, that’s all.
Feet bouncing with strength of youth,
Clothes neat and fresh on my back.
Scenery aging slowly
With years and fast with seasons.
Into the hills of heather,
Where trees are old and paths new.
Leaves crackle under my feet,
As I walk a path I know
Or at least I think I’ve seen.

Down a dusty dirt pathway,
A fond memory from youth.
Down the hillside of pebbles;
Slightly dangerous, but fun.
Down the scratchy forest trail
Through bushes best avoided.
Down the laughing ice-edged stream;
Getting wet, but what a tale!
Down to the valley in mud
Slickened by leaves and old rain.

Here I pause, just to take stock,
But going back is too much.
A walk must be a circle
Guided by vision and goals.
I won’t fail! And so proceed
With thoughts of stories well-told,
Faces lighting with wonder,
Hearts putting trust in my strength.
On for a new direction!
A pathway between the seas.

Tramping along valley floor,
No scenery, just boredom.
Tramping along valley floor,
Further and further from home.
Tramping along valley floor,
Aching joints and wet clothing.
Tramping along valley floor,
Wishing home were soon ahead.
Tramping along valley floor,
Maybe I’ll just live alone.

Then a cloud covers the sun.

And ankle twists on a rock.

And I just don’t like pancakes.

I plop into muck and sob.

Strange how hard it is to turn,
To leave wrong pathways behind.
We’d not believe it a strain,
Did not our lives display it.
I tightened wet shoes and belt,
Ignored the scrapes and blisters.
Allowed shame to take its course,
Till blood drained from reddened cheeks.
Wiping mud from seat of pants,
I turned.

The cloud still covered the sun.

My gait sported a slight limp.

My tears froze upon my face.

Tramping along valley floor,
Resolved not to live alone.
Tramping along valley floor,
Home still lying far away.
Tramping along valley floor,
Aching joints and wet clothing.
Tramping along valley floor,
Nearer and nearer to home.
Tramping along valley floor,
Still monotonous and cold.

Here I pause, just to prepare.
But staying is wholesale loss.
I recall each bush and tree,
Testament to backtracking.
Afraid I’ll break, I proceed,
With thoughts of bed and pillow,
Of hot meat and creamy milk,
Arms hugging around my waist,
Just happy we are both there,
A couple on an island.

Up the valley slick with mud,
Slipping on leaves and old rain.
Up the ice-edged stream, still wet,
The tale washed away by shame.
Up the thistled forest trail,
Warning before, scratching now.
Up the hillside of pebbles,
Knees bloodied and nothing fun.
Up the dusty dirt pathway,
New memories of wisdom.

Too dark to watch scenery
Along a path known too well.
Even so it is aging
Slow with years, fast with seasons.
Out of the hills of heather,
Where trees are old and paths new.
Home to my wife and children,
Relief flooding my tear ducts,
The pain of growth and wisdom.
I went for a walk, that’s all.

Outreach ideas at Third?

2007-04-21T01:51:00.000-04:00

1. Always stay within Scriptural boundaries.
2. Continually pray for God’s guidance and blessing, for his will to be done and his glory to be shown.
3. Carefully assess what ministries the church is best prepared and equipped to do.
4. Strive for specific short-term goals and work to build toward certain long-term goals as well.
5. Be open to God’s guidance, whether it be through circumstances, clear calling, unexpected changes in people or resources, or new avenues to ministry.

These are the five tenets of the, “organizing principle for church outreach,” that I suggested in my last post. As promised, here are my thoughts on what this might look like in our church.

1. Always stay within Scriptural boundaries.
Our church is committed to this idea. Even when we debate each other, both sides have fidelity to God’s will as revealed in Scripture as their highest goal. Any discussions we have regarding outreach, then, will be continually checked for their faithfulness to the Bible.

2. Continually pray for God’s guidance and blessing, for his will to be done and his glory to be shown.
One struggle in any church is that a particular idea can take hold in people’s minds, and they assign it greater value than it necessarily deserves. For instance, a social worker might become very frustrated with a church for not having a developed domestic abuse response program. On the one hand, the social worker has a good point: domestic abuse is a serious and widespread problem and deserves attention and preparation. On the other hand, though, responding to domestic abuse is not necessarily the primary goal or role of the church. It is important that a church respond to various outreach ideas by prayerfully and biblically listening for God’s guidance, praying for wisdom, and praying for a clear direction. We are God’s sons: if we ask for bread, will he give us stones?

At our church, I think it would be good (and this may already be done, so I’m naming this as my thought, not a criticism) to be specific in praying for ways that we can do systematic corporate outreach. Sometimes it is a little too easy to lean on the idea of, “every member ministry,” and allow it to become, “every member a lone minister/ministry.” If we are in prayerful agreement about the primary outreach ministries of the church, we may be better able to organize ourselves in carrying out those ministries corporately.

3. Carefully assess what ministries the church is best prepared and equipped to do.
Assessment is hard, because there is a constant tension between what you WANT to do, and what you are best BUILT to do. To state it with a bit of absurdity, it does not really matter if the construction team wants to perform Swan Lake and the ballet team wants to build an office building. Organisms, be they individual or corporate, are best able to carry out the role they are best designed for.

At our church, sometimes I question how well positioned we are to do much neighborhood ministry in the short term. Most of our members are only here for a few years because they are in school, and then they leave. I think that if we are honest, we are not built to do much neighborhood ministry right now.

However, we ARE uniquely positioned to have a ministry of discipleship for future church leaders, and of outreach and discipleship for college students. We have a large seminarian population, and this population desperately needs the wisdom and criticism and correction of more experienced church leaders. Our church has several good things in place to work in this area, including sharing the evening pulpit, giving good feedback, and building mentoring relationships. We could probably make this even stronger, though.

We also have a growing number of college students. This population is extremely smart, and they are going through that exciting time of life when you ask all kinds of questions about who you were (your family, childhood, etc), who you are (your likes and dislikes and personality and character), and who you will be (what kind of man or woman, etc.). Our church is uniquely able to speak to them, because we have so many younger men and women who are strong and knowledgeable in their faith.

When we assess ourselves in this way, we start to get a picture of what we are best able to do. It is much like looking at my individual life and realizing that one piece of the way God expresses his purpose for me is through my gifts and talents. This is not to say that God cannot overcome weakness for his glory (for instance, did you know John Piper used to have serious stage fright problems?). However, those are special acts of God that are hard to prepare for. Responsibility demands that we do the best we can with what we have, like the servants given varying numbers of talents by their master.

4. Strive for specific short-term goals and work to build toward certain long-term goals as well.
If my assessment were correct (certainly open to debate), our short-term goals should reflect it. We might set a goal of getting a certain number of people involved in college outreach, or of starting a consistent and systematic program that will speak especially to college students. We might also look for further ways that we can be continually teaching and discipling each other in what it means to be a pastor. Our goal would be to develop wisdom and discernment for future church leaders to carry with them when they leave our church.

At the same time, we might have somewhat different long-term goals. We may not currently be well positioned to reach out the community, but that might change in the next 10 years. If several college students or young families form a core of local people living in the area and attending the church, they might eventually be well positioned to develop better outreach ministries to the local community. If our church sets this as a goal, we could support it by being intentional about helping people who intend to stay for the long haul in getting housing or jobs. We might also continue to encourage connections between those living near the church, to develop the sense of community there.

5. Be open to God’s guidance, whether it be through circumstances, clear calling, unexpected changes in people or resources, or new avenues to ministry.
Who knows what God can do! Even as we attempt to be wise in structuring strong outreach programs that express our church’s unique gifts and strengths, we should be open to new possibilities. Whether this includes new connections with overseas missionaries, or new uses of our space, or new members with strong gifting in an area not previously considered, we should always be flexible as we seek to spread the gospel as best we can using what we have.

Hopefully, organizing principles of this kind will help us be wise and discerning as we glorify God and seek faithfulness in our local church body.

Organizing Principle for Outreach

2007-04-17T02:16:00.000-04:00

Learning about word definitions can be fun, but I especially like learning the definitions of phrases. Often you can communicate a more complex idea by combining words. Lately I have been thinking quite a bit about the concept of the, “organizing principle.”

An organizing principle is any concept or idea that helps guide decisions that you make. We all have lots of organizing principles, and they guide how we choose our favorite things, how we pick a job or career, or how we make friends. Even having an alphabetical filing system is making use of an organizing principle. Here are some other examples:

Every March, to the frustration of red-blooded males everywhere, the same thing happens. Millions of longtime sports fans, basketball lovers, and rabid favorite-team followers fill out their brackets based on careful observation, weighing the various factors of individual match-ups, and deep understanding of all the forces involved in college basketball. It is March Madness, baby!

Meanwhile, also every March, millions of mild-mannered, sweet-as-pie, reasonable and practical women who never watch sports on TV (why would you, when there are more productive things to be doing?) fill out their brackets. And of course, they almost ALWAYS beat the guys.

This drives men insane… but why? Is it because they dislike women, or are incapable of losing, or think that the college games were rigged by some nefarious female?

Of course not. It’s because men feel that they lost DESPITE having a superior organizing principle. Men make decisions about who will win games based on knowledge of the teams and knowledge of the game. Women make those same decisions based on whether they have good memories of being in that area (hm… I enjoyed Washington DC more than North Carolina, so I think Georgetown will win!), or which team has cooler uniforms, or which mascot is more imposing. Not sure you believe me? Here is the beginning and conclusion of this very thing straight from the heights of Christendom.

Here is another example. When you were a kid, this is how you decided what to wear: What do I want to wear today?

When you were in early high school, this is how you decided what to wear: What outfit will annoy my mom the most today?

When you were in late high school, this is how you decided what to wear: What will my friends think is cool, especially the cute girl who sits next to me in Western Civ?

When you were in college, this is how you decided what to wear: What takes the fewest seconds to put on? I’m late for class!

In all these cases, you were exercising different organizing principles to make your decisions. If you look a few posts ago, you can see how I am trying to do this same thing regarding which church to attend at different phases in my life. My organizing principle was this: What do I believe is God’s purpose for my church involvement at this time in my life? How can I best glorify him with this decision?

You might say that an organizing principle is a rule that helps you make a decisions.

Alright, that’s all well and good, but how do you make those same kinds of decisions corporately? In other words, how can this concept be applied in the local church?

A few friends have rightly called me out of late, because I have been lax in fulfilling my promise to share my thoughts regarding church outreach. So, here it is; my thoughts on creating an organizing principle for local church outreach.

1) Church outreach must submit to all Scriptural commands. Now, note that this does not mean that the principle must DO all things. Like individuals, individual churches cannot simultaneously conduct ministries in every possible realm of ministry. So, like individuals, they must make decisions about what they WILL do. However, they must fulfill Scriptural commands by not sinning, not compromising the gospel, and not creating unnecessary discord and disunity in the church. They must seek to proclaim the good news, and they should implement godly qualities and desires such as love for the brethren, compassion for the lost and for the poor, and productive use of the blessings God has given (people, money, time, talents, strengths, etc.)

2) Church outreach must be supported by continual prayer for guidance. It is far too easy to mobilize people through persuasive words and ideas that SEEM to line up with godly principles, but will be useless without God’s blessing. Like individual evangelism, it is not the program (or the individual) that brings about change in men’s hearts, but God. Prayer is needed to discern his will, to be affirmed of the rightness of his calling, and to be open to new concepts that he may bring forward.

3) Church outreach should begin with careful and thoughtful assessment. Mark Driscoll has said that it is useless to train someone to be a church planter if God has not given them the right talents and commitment and qualities, so his church-planting organization puts heavy emphasis on assessment. Our approach to outreach programs should do the same. We should carefully assess our churches resources (financial, talents, makeup, time constraints, location, strengths and weaknesses, etc.) BEFORE we lay out a plan for outreach.

Really, this is more intuitive than it sounds. Would you enter a NASCAR race driving a VW Bug? Would you try to enter the NBA draft if you were 5-5 and weighed 100 pounds?

However, sometimes churches have a habit of thinking that they have one particular mission when in fact it does not match an honest assessment of their situation at all. At my last church, we sometimes held on to the tired notion that we were going to reach the MSU campus for Christ, when in fact we did not have the right time, talent, money, or people to make that happen. However, we DID have an excellent ministry to many university employees and their families, as well as a few college students who appreciated family atmosphere more than big exciting programs. When we recognized that fact, we were better able to serve the ministry God had given us, rather than talk about a ministry that we just could not do. Instead of trying to put on big dinners for college students, we started focusing on small groups in family homes. We soon saw the benefit of this more realistic approach.

4) Church outreach should have a specific plan for short-term success and a constructive plan to achieve long-term goals. Once assessment has been done, a church should try to build a plan that is honest about what it can do in the short term. A 30 member family church in Ann Arbor, Michigan probably will not be able to baptize 1000 inner city kids in the next 4 months.

However, they may be able to set up a solid mentoring program for a few international students attending the University of Michigan. At the same time, they can be taking steps toward a larger goal- for instance, they could seek to have 70 members within 5 years, or something like that.

Whatever the individual case, a church should be realistic about using the resources it has for its short-term goals, and also thoughtful about what it can accomplish with long-term goals.

Sometimes churches feel bad about this, as though they are failing their responsibility by not doing EVERY kind of ministry. One member might call a mentoring program into question because, “we should be out saving souls,” or another might be angered by the lack of a ministry to the poor even though the church does not have the financial resources to do such a venture.

However, it is important to recognize, that we are all individual parts of the Body. This is not just individual, as if EVERY church should have EVERY part of the body. It is also corporate; each church has a limited individual role within the larger kingdom of God.

5) Finally, a church outreach program should be open and flexible regarding new possibilities and the providence of God. Realistically, a small church may not feel prepared to take on a major outreach ministry to the local university. However, what if God providentially brought in 10 new members to the church, all of whom were especially well suited to college outreach? A church needs to be open to the new things that God may do in the hearts and minds and lives of its individual members. This does not necessarily mean creating a new ministry every time someone has an idea, but it does mean being prepared to make midstream changes should God so lead.

These five things may seem intuitive, or even obvious! They may well be, but it still helps me to write it out. That way, I can take a proposed idea (like a new ministry) and line it up against these rules to see whether it fits.

So then, though there may be some considerations that I’m missing, I would at least suggest that a church outreach program should do these things.

1. Always stay within Scriptural boundaries.
2. Continually pray for God’s guidance and blessing, for his will to be done and his glory to be shown.
3. Carefully assess what ministries the church is best prepared and equipped to do.
4. Strive for specific short-term goals and work to build toward certain long-term goals as well.
5. Be open to God’s guidance, whether it be through circumstances, clear calling, unexpected changes in people or resources, or new avenues to ministry.

In my next post –which should come much more quickly than this one did!- I’ll try to apply this formula to my local church in a rough way. By that, I mean that I do not know the situation intimately enough to say anything with certainty (I trust the elders and deacons to do that), but it will at least give an example of how this sort of organizing principle could be carried out.

A Prayer in Times of Frustration

2007-04-04T16:14:00.000-04:00

You may have noticed in my last post that Riley asked how we (meaning our church, Third Avenue) can be doing outreach in our local community. Well, Riley is my deacon, and therefore in authority over me! I would not want to face his wrath, so my next post will seek to answer his question. I have already been meditating on the topic and outlining my thoughts, but they are not quite complete.

However, before that is finished, I wanted to share something else I wrote. This was written for a good friend in the midst of a time of significant frustration, and it caused me to reflect on my own tendencies when everything seems to go badly. Maybe it will speak to you, maybe it will not. It was valuable for me, though. Till next time!

A Prayer in Times of Frustration

I’ve had a lot of opportunity to think about times of frustration and struggle; they happen to me all the time. I suspect it has a lot to do with getting into tight spots because of my own weaknesses. Still, I know how hard they can be. Do you ever get that feeling like your stomach is being sucked out and you’re afraid that the world will see how weak you are? Yeah, me too.

Problems seem to come from everywhere. Not only is that homework assignment late, but that friend is hurting and in need of counsel. Not only is the bank account low, but I overslept and missed an important class this morning. Not only am I having a fight with my wife, but I hurt my shoulder and it is slowing my ability to work. It seems like the scales are about to tip and I am about to be humiliated by the mess I have made of a perfectly decent life. I wish I were dead, or that I were living in a simpler world, or that something would happen to free me.

I wish there were quick solutions, but there really are not. So when you face those times, these are my prayers for you.

I pray for you situationally: Each stage of life has its own frustrations. God will bring you through the problems of this context and life situation. I pray that you will learn how to deal with its unique challenges and issues in a way that honors him in thought and deed.

I pray for you practically: Each of us has weaknesses that cause practical problems. I often become overwhelmed by workload, and need to prioritize my work and finish it in bits and pieces. Whatever your weaknesses, I pray that God will help you recognize them and come up with solutions to help you overcome them efficiently.

I pray for you physically: Health often has a lot to do with our approach to life. Not enough sleep, sickness, injuries, and other physical issues can frustrate us and make everything seem a little bit worse. For me, headaches and lack of sleep are common problems. My prayer is that God will give you comfort, allow you to learn to work through those things, and bring healing.

I pray for you mentally: Deadlines and frustrations cause all kinds of mental struggle. We are filled with anxiety as we survey seemingly insurmountable problems. We grow tired as we try to process too much information in too short a time, and often we simply check out and let things slide. I have had many times when there was so much on my mind that the only thing I could think to do was take a nap and take the hit to my grades or relationships, because I did not want to spend the time and focus needed to work through them. My prayer is that you will be able to pray and have patience in those situations, fulfilling your duties and trusting God for the strength to get through. Also, I pray that you will have a godly perspective, knowing what things matter and what things do not.

I pray for you emotionally: When lots of bad things are happening, emotions run wild. We feel like failures, we even hate ourselves. We compare ourselves to others and find ourselves wanting. We can go from extreme anger to extreme lethargy in a matter of moments, neither of which is healthy. We are afraid or embarrassed to talk to God. My prayer for you is that you would learn to see yourself as God sees you. With a godly perspective comes calm, for He is in control. As Christians we should be filled with joy and gratefulness for Christ’s work on the cross, and love and wonder for the God who saves. By focusing on these things, I pray that you will be able to work through and overcome times of emotional hurt and frustration.

Finally, I pray for you spiritually: Many times the root of our hurt and frustration and anger and worry is that we are either missing God or running from God. By this I mean that in my life, my problems begin when I am struggling with a particular sin. It eats away at me, hurting my view of myself and making me too embarrassed to talk to God. It cultivates a sense of inadequacy, and affects other areas of my life.

Even if I am not in sin, many times I am not nourishing myself spiritually. When I fail to pray, or read and meditate on God’s word, or worship, or spend time with God’s people, I quickly tire out. I lose motivation to live faithfully with the life God gave me, and I stop fulfilling my responsibilities. The problem here is not just a failure of my usually-iron will, and the solution is not to just, “gut it out.” Instead, I need to see my problem as spiritual, and use repentance and prayer and listening to the Word to return to a place of being nourished by God. My prayer for you is that you will see this need in yourself when it arises, and that you will have the wisdom to defeat it by leaning on God through repentance, change, and recommitment to obedience.

I pray these things for you because they are problems for me; I pray them because hard times are common to us all. May we together encourage and pray for each other, learning to love and honor God more and more as we seek to speak his gospel, advance his kingdom, and glorify him by living faithfully in this world.

Thoughts on today's church

2007-03-31T05:38:00.000-04:00

One of the disciplines I give a lot of time and thought to is asking how we can push our thoughts about the church to the very limit. In other words, how can we challenge ourselves in ways that bring more honor to God in the way that we do ministry.

Mark Driscoll is one of the masters in this category, so I'm posting a couple of short interview sections he did that have stretched my mind. Enjoy!

Driscoll on young leaders.

Driscoll on relating to sinners.

He has several more of these on YouTube, but these were the ones that challenged me the most.

How do you challenge your own mind and preconceptions?

Two Churches

2007-03-29T05:18:00.000-04:00

I want to tell you about two churches.

A. Church A has money from tithing members. They invest it in normal things; building maintenance, a new music minister/youth pastor, and a monthly commitment to a missionary family in Africa whom they have met and like. They have a surplus. They invest the surplus:

-They expand the parking lot, get better coffee for the coffee hour, buy a set of drums for the church worship band, and begin a fundraising drive for an expanded front entryway.

-Church members are involved in fundraising, seeing plans for the expansions, auditioning to play the drums during the worship service, and choosing and serving the new coffee with all the extras (fancy creams, various types of sugar, coffee shop cups, etc.)

B. Church B has money from tithing members. They invest it in normal things; building maintenance, a new music minister/youth pastor, and a monthly commitment to a missionary family in Africa whom they have met and like. They have a surplus. They invest the surplus:

-They support a Christian camp that keeps costs low for kids in poorer families, and a local seminary that trains pastors, elders, and laypeople from the entire region (including pastors from suburbs, rural areas, and the inner city). They begin an internship program to train young men in their church to be elders, and a few to be pastors. They organize a service missions trip to help a poorer church in another area of the country.

-Church members counsel and work at the camp, attend classes at the seminary, participate in the internship or help train the interns, and support or go on the mission trip.

Do you know churches like these?

I do. Several of each, in fact. They are really compilations of things I’ve seen in various churches, but they highlight what I see as a big issue. I think a lot of churches are focused on themselves, and it shows up in their stewardship of resources (both financial and people resources).

See, churches like Church A are fairly predictable. They often just continue on their self-focused track, growing larger and larger. They become more and more exciting, more and more fun. They begin drawing weaker Christians away from other churches. They build a “Solid Rock Café” coffee ministry. They pull in people who might call themselves Christians, but won’t go to church unless it is fun and exciting. The sermons at these churches often become more life application focused and simple, but involve less of sin and hell and judgment and the gospel. They still support missionaries, but nobody really knows them.

In the end, one of two things usually happens. Either they pursue this direction efficiently, and become megachurches, or they pursue it ineffectively, and struggle with both size and content (often they eventually die). Either way, in my experience, they often are not a) spreading the gospel to areas that desperately need it, or b) producing spiritually mature disciples from among their membership.

Churches like Church B, though, are a lot harder to categorize. They orient their ministries to the context God has placed them in. They serve in whatever way best fits that context. Some of them start private Christian schools, or even colleges and seminaries. Some of them support gospel-proclaiming ministries in the local area. Some provide services to the needy or hurting, but carefully show that their love is because Christ loved first. They often have a much stronger culture of discipleship. They are often better at keeping track of and caring for people who are having a hard time. In my experience, these types of churches are generally better at promoting faithfulness to Scripture. Their membership is more spiritually mature. They fit many sizes, from living room assemblies to massive numbers. Either way, they seek to retain the qualities mentioned above. Not only do they know the missionaries they support, often those missionaries come from their congregation.

Now, I realize the obvious criticisms here. I am over generalizing, and the types of churches are much more fluid. There are plenty of struggling, faithful churches, and plenty of megachurches with wonderful ministries. There can be a lot of debate about whether supporting a local camp as an outreach to kids is truly more godly than building a Solid Rock Café as an outreach to kids.

That said, though, I have SEEN these trends with significant consistency. I have seen churches make self-centered stewardship decisions as if they are trying to make the Fortune 500, and I have seen it hurt the spiritual maturity of their members a few steps down the road. I have seen churches where a person can believe in contact with dead relatives or guardian angels and still be a children’s Sunday School teacher. I have seen places where more priority is given to the parking-lot ministry than training people to rightly interpret Scripture.

At the same time, I have seen the wonderful impact a gospel-centered church can have on its members and its community. People are trained in the gospel and evangelism, ministry and godly living. They are taught to give up their time and effort and skills and talent for the sake of the gospel and the building up of saints. Lives are changed, and efforts to proclaim Christ’s saving message go out all over the world. There is an aura of true worship.

Where does it begin? In some ways, it begins with stewardship. Stewardship of God’s grace, of the gift of the gospel, of the blessings of money and time and talent. If a church wants to be faithful, it must seek to manage the blessings God has given it in a way that honors Him. This means they will be radically committed to the gospel, will creatively work to expand the kingdom of God, and will care more about ministries that exalt the name of Christ than those that exalt the name of the church.

This is a key area of meditation for me. I want to be a church member or pastor that is committed to using my profession, my resources, and my gifts for the cause of the gospel, and not just the cause of my church. I want to launch new church plants, train new leaders and missionaries, see lives change and mature. I want to be able to look back at the end and know that all was in service to Christ, and that I was not just building my own little empire with a rockin’ band and great coffee.

The Church and The City

2007-03-27T01:23:00.000-04:00

I have a lot of interest in urban planning. If I had not been called into ministry, I think I may have found my niche in city governance. So, one of my hobbies is to keep up on things that are happening in various cities. I also like to dream about city missions, because I think cities are often more hopeless, lost, and needful of the gospel than anything overseas.

I’m from Michigan, so I pay especially close attention to Detroit, which is falling apart. (If you don’t believe me, check out the archives of this Detroit blog) Here is an article from today’s Detroit Free Press… schools are closing all over the city, and the mayor is desperately trying to bring in any schools that he possibly can. And this from a city that has steadfastly refused the influence of most charter or private schools in the past!

I see this as an amazing opportunity. I mean, what better way to reach the inner city with the gospel than to open a solid private school funded as a sort of missionary outreach? A gospel-centered education, teachers who truly care, high educational standards… in fact, this is a pretty common approach among missionaries overseas.

So why do I feel so cynical about whether this will ever happen? Money and willingness. Evangelicals are quick to open their pocketbooks for parachurch ministries like InterVarsity (don’t get me started on THAT particular issue) or go on a missions trip to Mexico, but they steadfastly refuse to participate in significant ministries to the inner city. Unless, of course, you count donating used clothes to the Salvation Army or taking a youth group to serve at the soup kitchen once a year (which in my experience is much more for the youth group kids than it is for the needs of the city). I doubt moving into the city and establishing a ministry there is an option for most conservative Protestants these days.

I really believe churches, missions groups, denominations, and individual pastors and businessmen and educators need to think more seriously about the missions challenge presented by the city. After all, what was Paul’s missionary strategy but establish churches in influential cities? Granted there are a lot of differences between then and now, but there are some key similarities too.

What about you? Have you thought about how you will apply your trade, time, knowledge and energy? Do you want to go where you are most needed, or are you just looking to carve out a decent life somewhere in suburbia and give your tithe to a theologically accurate church?

The Deeper Life

2007-03-25T08:17:00.000-04:00

The human heart has remarkable capacity for depth and beauty. You know the feeling.

Sometimes something is so exquisite that a lump swells in your throat and the tears start falling. Sometimes the joy of accomplishment overwhelms you and all seems right with the world. People go for long walks in the woods (or the shopping mall, depending on your personality!) to set their souls at peace. Athletes receiving gold medals sob with joy as their nation’s flag is raised and their anthem sung. Mothers glow with peace and contentment as they cuddle a newborn nestled in their arms.

Humans have a shared sense of longing, a desire for those things that are sweet and powerful and lovely. They will fight and die for concepts like love, honor, nobility, joy, or even sorrow.

In all these things, our hearts express powerful feelings in reaction to various circumstances or sensory experiences. Why did God create us this way? What are we to do with it?

I read an article by A.W. Tozer recently that I think captures precisely what I am getting at. He struggles with what it means to develop Christian maturity, and it talks about the very things I’ve been meditating on. I’ll use his general framework as a jumping-off point to share some thoughts.

First, the ground rules: Tozer points out that what he calls The Deeper Life must continue to be constrained by Scripture. As we explore the limits of emotional experience and intellectual maturity, we must be cautious not to let these things become ends unto themselves, nor should we pursue them for their own sake. Our understanding of The Deeper Life must square with the Bible.

By implication, we must pursue The Deeper Life as Christians. It will not do to call ourselves Christians, yet spend our time expanding and exploring emotional experience apart from the One who created it.

So then, here is our guiding definition:

The Deeper Life is the cultivation and expansion of our human ability to know, love, and honor God. Its purpose is to enhance our intimacy with God and expand our ability to glorify Him in our lives and in the world.

Hopefully this definition creates a picture in your mind of a person whose loves God, but wisely knows their love could be far greater. They use a variety of means (which we will discuss) to love and honor God more.

Tozer denotes five categories in which we develop intimacy with God. When we recognize these areas, we can then work to expand and deepen them in our lives to better know and honor him.

1. Our first union with God is judicial. By this, we mean that the most important relational tie between you and God is his Fatherhood over you, which is present because he has saved you by his grace. As we see in Ephesians 1:4, God, “chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.” In other words, if you are a Christian, God has chosen you as his child, and you are clean in his sight through Christ’s atoning sacrifice on the cross.

The beginning of The Deeper Life, then, is to continually nurture our appreciation for the Gospel. It is our only hope of salvation; the only truly good news man has had since The Fall. We use it as our hermeneutic for the Bible and our hermeneutic for life. We cry out to God in gratitude for it. We remember it by the practice of communion, and we remind ourselves of our indebtedness throughout life. Above all, we must in gratitude preach and teach it to the ends of the earth. Christians are nothing without God’s judicial relationship to us.

Christian, ask yourself- do you love the Gospel? Are you constantly reminding yourself of it? Does it guide your thought process, your Bible study, your decision making? Does your life reflect profound gratefulness for God’s saving grace?

Suggested activities: Study Scripture continually and carefully. Read books on various aspects of the gospel. Listen carefully to stories and biographies of those whose lives have been changed by the gospel. Meditate on it, both by yourself and together with your church in communion. Learn to consider various topics, “in light of” the gospel.

2. Our second union with God is vital. By this, we literally mean that God’s blessing is the source of life and peace. In John 15:4-5, Christ says, “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”

For the Christian, this means recognizing that all our blessings, even our very lives, are dependent on the grace of God. We accept our lot with contentment, knowing that it is from God and that it is good. We honor him within our current context, rather than always wanting something more to be happy (the grass is greener on the other side, etc.) or even wanting more blessings before serving God. We praise him for the good things in our lives, and praise him also for hardships and discipline.

Christian, ask yourself- are you grateful and content with the blessings of God in your life? Do you recognize him as the source of all that happens to you for good or ill, and have you learned to appreciate both? Can people recognize that your health and vitality of spirit flow from the True Vine?

Suggested activities: Read The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment, by Jeremiah Burroughs. Find small ways of reminding yourself that all you have is from God. Practice giving him the credit when good things happen, and practice praising him for his wisdom when bad things happen. Spend some time meditating on your life, seeing how God has used various circumstances to bring you to himself and prepare you for whatever lies ahead. Challenge yourself every time you want, “more,” to fulfill a personal rather than a godly desire.

3. Our third union with God is volitional. This means that we are unified with him in our will. God has specific desires for our lives and for mankind. As his bondservants and as his children, we must seek to have that same will. We should want what he wants, fight for what he fights for. In short, the pursuits and goals of our lives should clearly reflect God’s own heart for the world.

Christians seem to have this idea that SOME people are pastors, and SOME people are missionaries to Africa or China, and everyone else is just supposed to carve out the most pleasant niche they can from the world in which they live. Frankly, that is wrong.

Every Christian should cultivate their will in such a way that when an outsider looks at their life, it clearly shows the same desires and priorities God has in Scripture. We should seek the proclamation of the gospel (in whatever area of life we inhabit), the expansion of the kingdom, and the glory of God. We need to honor God by our choice of career path, by the administration of our families, by our submission to Scriptural commands, and by the use of our gifts. The man who has talent in designing websites or leading camping trips has just as much responsibility to use what God has given him as does a pastor or missionary.

So then, we must saturate ourselves with the Word of God, so that we can know how to make discerning choices with our time and priorities. We must learn to want what God wants, and to orient ourselves to help accomplish those things in our local context. We must want to see the spiritual and numerical growth of the Church (both local and universal), desire to see God’s name lifted up, and long for souls to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Christian, ask yourself- do you know what God wants you to do tomorrow? Do you know what he wants to see happen in your church? Have you thought about how you can use the gifts he has given you to serve HIS priorities? Can you say with all honesty that you want what God wants?

Suggested activities: Write down a particular area of your life, be it free time, work and career, or family. Ask yourself… based on my understanding of Scripture, what does God want for that area? Do my desires match his? Do my activities show that I want what God wants? Read Charles Sheldon’s book, In His Steps. Study the lives of famous missionaries, especially how they gave up normal lives because of their desire to follow the will of God.

4. Our fourth union with God is intellectual. God has given us minds that are capable of amazing things. We are fascinated by advances in science and industry, mathematics and innovation. Buildings grow taller, products last longer, coffee heats up faster. We process more information now reading the New York Times than most of the people in history could have learned in an entire lifetime.

As Christians, though, we must use our minds to expand our knowledge of God. This does not prevent involvement with science or art; in fact, it promotes it. When we use our minds, we are committed to developing and fleshing out our understanding of God through examination of various aspects of his character and creation. What is important here is that we use it for his glory. The Christian who makes their intellectual development God-centered will be blessed indeed, for they capture a small piece of what mankind could have been, and what heaven may very well be. They experience a world that is wise and orderly, beautiful and wondrous.

The Christian should expand their mind, growing in knowledge and discernment as they seek to be faithful with everything God has given. If you are a parent, you should learn as much as you can from other godly parents. If you are a nuclear physicist, you should do it with all the brilliance and competence God has given. Whatever your calling, the disciplined expansion of your ability to carry out the function God has blessed you with is an important part of binding yourself to God and affirming his lordship over your life.

Christian, ask yourself- have you been faithful with the abilities God has given you? Are you seeking knowledge, so that you can better honor him with it? Do you study, learn, read, discuss, and meditate to know him more fully? Can non-Christians look at your life and see that Christians are just as competent and intelligent as anyone else, but that they use it for a higher purpose?

Suggested activities: Learn the discipline of reading. Study Scripture, study your job, study books that give Christian guidance in regards to family and wisdom and life. Attend lectures to better understand the world around you. Keep up to date with the news without obsessing over it. Ask questions of the many intelligent Christians around you. Learn about Christian activities in the past and present. Don’t be afraid to use your mind for God’s purposes!

5. Our fifth union with God is emotional. This is an area I have alluded to before. Every person has a powerful emotional life, an area of the heart where joy and sorrow and anger and beauty slosh back and forth like waves in a storm. Our logical minds work to control them (with varying degrees of success), but it would be silly to deny them or ignore them completely. Why did God give us emotion, anyway?

The thing is, God himself is a deeply emotional being. He consistently displays joy and sorrow, anger and satisfaction. Could we truly love and honor him if we could not identify with this component of his nature? I doubt it. As weak and grainy reflections of God, we should embrace emotion. However, we need to work at simultaneously deepening it and guiding it.

On the one hand, emotion should be deepened. We must admit that our petty emotions will never compare to the power of God’s emotions, but we can seek to grow closer to his day by day. We should develop our ability to love, and cultivate our understanding of sorrow. We should be angered by sin, and should cry for the pain in the world.

In The Chosen (by Chaim Potok), Danny’s father cries out to God regarding his brilliant but arrogant son.

“A mind like this I need for a son? A heart I need for a son, a soul I need for a son, compassion I want from my son, righteousness, mercy, strength to suffer and carry pain, that I want from my son, not a mind without a soul!”

As Christians, we learn to embrace the powerful feelings that God has for this world. However, they must be guided by a correct understanding of God. Emotions set free can be chaotic, but when we focus our emotions on the character of God, we see him more clearly. Beauty, rather than pleasing self, points to the beauty of the Creator. Sorrow reminds us of the depth of our weakness and our desperate need for grace. Anger, no longer a weapon of personal vengeance, is a correct response to the ugliness of sin and exploitation. Happiness is no longer getting what you want, but is instead being thrilled with contentment at all that God has given.

The Christian who develops and deepens their emotion with this God-centered focus will find themselves a more able servant for him to use. They will be better able to identify with the suffering, and show greater compassion to those who hurt. They will be more thoughtful in leadership, more accessible in preaching and teaching. Their children will be given a more complete picture of God by their parents, and non-Christians will see the separateness and otherness of our faith. The Christian with a powerful and well-directed emotional life can be a beautiful tool in the hands of the Father.

Christian, ask yourself- are you learning to deepen your emotional experience? Do you allow yourself to feel things powerfully, and seek to feel them the way God feels them? Do you look to God for emotional guidance in the Bible, and learn to identify with his prophets? Are you seeking to understand the heart of God in the way that the Psalms, Song of Solomon, Ecclesiastes, and the Prophets do? Like Christ, can you view the world with joy and sorrow, anger and patience, disappointment and love?

Suggested activities: Read through the Psalms and the Prophets, spending time meditating on the emotions that they were experiencing. Read good poetry with an eye toward identifying with the human emotional experience. Leave the remote control lying on the coffee table when a Save the Children commercial comes on. Rent a documentary on conditions in third-world countries. Enjoy sports, and art, and human achievements, being careful to recognize how they display the wonder and beauty of God more than anything else. Cry with your friends when they hurt.

The Deeper Life and Union with God

A relationship begins when something forms a connection between two entities, like a string tied between two trees. It does not mean much, and it can be easily broken. But as the relationship develops, more and more strings are tied. A conversation here, a walk in the park there. A shared experience. Matching perspectives or opinions. A hug.

Eventually, the two are tied together by so many bonds at so many levels and in so many ways that it would be nearly impossible to break them. They are inextricably linked, sharing a closeness that no outsider can challenge. They have created intimacy, and the bonds cannot be broken by anything short of betrayal or a more intimate bond somewhere else.

Christian, as one who has been redeemed by the grace of God, it is your duty to pursue that type of intimacy with him. It is your responsibility to develop every aspect of your relationship with him and your understanding of him. It is your calling to honor him by knowing and reflecting him as clearly as possible. It must be your joy to try to be like him in every aspect.

In his chapter on maturity, Tozer says that the result of building this intimacy with God is freedom from loves and freedom from fears. In other words, by cultivating the bonds of intimacy with God above all others, we are freed from the idolatry of love for the things of this world. In addition, we are removed from the fear of anything that the world can throw at us. We become increasingly independent, functioning not as fearful pleasers of self, but as joyful servants of God.

Do you desire that type of life? Would it be your joy to honor God by being more like him, acting more like him, and displaying his beauty to the world? Christian, pursue maturity and intimacy.

Be united with God judicially in his Gospel. Repent of your sin, receive his gift of redemption by faith, and set him as Lord and Master of your life. Study and understand and explain and share and proclaim his glorious gift.

Be united with God vitally as the source of your life and being. Recognize that he is the source of all that is good, your only hope for existence. Pray to him for strength and guidance. Look to his Word for knowledge and understanding and direction.

Be united with God volitionally as you serve him and honor his desires. Learn the will of God from Scripture. Make the expansion of his kingdom your priority, and organize your life to reflect that priority.

Be united with God intellectually by using the gifts he has given. Study thoroughly to excel in your vocation and life situation. Ask questions to know more about God and his world and his desires. Do not be afraid of hard questions, but ask them and pursue them knowing that God is able to answer.

Be united with God emotionally as you seek to know his heart. Experience the power of beauty and emotion, and learn how to connect your heart to that of the Father. Love God deeply, and cultivate disciplines in your life that will help you love him even more deeply. Utilize your emotions to reflect God as clearly as you are able to all who come into contact with you.

Remember our definition of The Deeper Life?

The Deeper Life is the cultivation and expansion of our human ability to know, love, and honor God. Its purpose is to enhance our intimacy with God and expand our ability to glorify Him in our lives and in the world.

Be united to God. Be free from love of the world. Be free from fear of the world. Experience The Deeper Life, glorify your Father in heaven, and prepare for the joy that awaits you.

The Beautiful Things

2007-03-21T08:18:00.000-04:00

I've been in a funny mood the last day or two. I've been wondering how a Christian should interact with things that are beautiful and transcendent. If you think about it, there isn't a whole host of guidance in this area from Scripture, especially when it comes to secular things. Anyways, I plan on writing an article about it. Until then, I want to do two things.

First, I want to post a few video clips, so you can see some of the things that I think are beautiful. There are more, of course, but these are just a few I happened to grab. Let me know what you think! #4 is my favorite.

Second, I'm curious about what YOU think is beautiful! If you read this, leave me a comment or send me an e-mail with a couple websites or youtube clips to let me know what inspires you, maybe even brings you to tears. I'm curious to see what you folks enjoy. Now that I actually have a few readers, it would be nice to get feedback!

Here are a few things that I think are absolutely beautiful. All four have either inspired me or brought me to tears.

Nessun Dorma
Cradle of Leadership
Chariots of Fire
Tosca and the Heart of a Champion

Let me know what some of yours are!

Shopping with Big Eyes

2007-03-16T19:27:00.000-04:00

Samantha and I went shopping today. I hate food shopping. I'd rather read a book. Or go for a walk. Or beat my head repeatedly against the wall.

My loving wife knows this, so when she wants me to go shopping with her, she waits until it's nearing dinner time. I'm not a big eater, but even I get hungry. So, we go shopping.

Then, when we get to the store, she walks through at a slow, deliberate pace. She takes the cart and picks up the things we need. Meat, vegetables, fruit, milk, juice, and a couple of her favorite snacks.

Meanwhile, I wander around aimlessly and pick up anything that strikes my fancy. Cheeze-its, chips, pop, coffee, hot dogs, etc. Oh, and of course chocolate syrup!

See, I tend to shop with my eyes. If I'm not hungry, I don't buy anything (this includes the essentials, which is why living alone is a bad idea for me). If I'm hungry, though, I'm a lot like the kid holding a hammer, to whom everything is a nail. EVERY snack looks good when you're starving for any snack!

So, that was my afternoon. It's a good thing my wife is wise... I get my snacks, she gets her shopping trip, and I never have much reason to complain.

Peace and Unity in the Church

2007-03-15T06:18:00.000-04:00

Here's a paper I wrote up to present to my Shepherding Group.

"Whether the fiery trial of contention or of persecution is greater is hard to determine. God has wrought to free us from the one; we have brought upon ourselves the other. Every man is angry that others are not of his mind."

-Jeremiah Burroughs

"We are… concerned that God’s glorious purpose for Christ’s church is often eclipsed in concern by so many other issues, programs, technologies, and priorities. Furthermore, confusion over crucial questions concerning the authority of the Bible, the meaning of the Gospel, and the nature of truth itself have gravely weakened the church in terms of its witness, its work, and its identity.

We stand together for the Gospel- and for a full and gladdening recovery of the Gospel in the church. We are convinced that such a recovery will be evident in the form of faithful Gospel churches, each bearing faithful witness to the glory of God and power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ."

-T4G Statement

"I therefore, a prisoner of the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."

-Ephesians 4:1-3

Peace in the church is a tough issue. What does it even mean? How do you know that it’s there, or that it has ended? When should a pastor sacrifice theological preference for unity, and vice versa? When is it ok to make a decision that you know will split a church? Perhaps most important, how do you seek peace and unity without losing hold of the truth?

These and a million other questions with varying degrees of importance come up in the life of most any churchman, especially local leaders. How should they be dealt with?

My own understanding of disagreement in the church began in my Plymouth Brethren church back home. There, disagreement in the church regarded things like whether women can speak in the worship service. It was strong and peaceful in most ways, but we had our share of people leave fellowship because they couldn’t handle certain changes.

Later in life, I was part of an American Baptist Church. Here the issues became tougher, because the church had disagreement in a variety of areas. Egalitarianism vs. Complementarianism, what to do with the missions budget, how church governance should be structured, what should be taught in Sunday School, things like that. I learned to hammer out compromises. We also learned what it was to love each other in the midst of disagreement. I enjoyed attending the Together for the Gospel Conference during this time, but the theological agreement there seemed pretty distant from my local church.

Finally, I came here to Louisville. I assumed churches full of seminary students would easily agree on most things. But sure enough I’ve seen churches struggling through the same questions regarding degree of discipline, strength in the statement of faith, and disagreement on church direction.

There are many ways we could discuss this issue, many avenues we could explore. From a personal standpoint, I have done a lot of reading and discussing with friends and mentors as I try to work the various perspectives out in my mind. However, today I want to focus on one in particular.

How can we, as future pastors and leaders, prepare ourselves for the disagreements that are inherent to almost every local church?

First, here are a couple Bible passages that I found to be helpful:

Philippians 2:1-7
So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

Romans 15:1-3
We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.”

Colossians 3:12-15
Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.

As we can see here, Paul views the problem of maintaining unity as one that begins within ourselves. The answer is a constant humbling of ourselves, by considering others better than us, by not causing others to stumble, by being an example, and by promoting a culture of gentleness and forbearance.

You can see a unity-loving attitude of the heart in the work of Jeremiah Burroughs. Burroughs was a Puritan pastor who wrote many great books and sermons. As he neared the end of his life, he wrote a sermon series that became a book called Irenicum, which I have been reading of late. In that book, he gives 5 rules for knowing in what areas we should bear with our brethren. They are a tad wordy, so I’ve put them into my own words.

Burroughs Rules to Know in What Things We Are to Bear With Our Brethren

1.) Do not use overly restrictive rules to highlight differences in non-essential theological convictions. If a man is willing to hold his area of small difference quietly and in submissive peace, don’t attempt to force him to chose between the church and his conscience.

2.) Do not spend your time and focus on stamping out non-essential errors. Focus instead on preaching the whole counsel of God.

Consider these things:

-God chooses to reveal some things, “darkly,” and we should not seek to prosecute our perspective on those things more harshly than Christ ever did.

-Sinful men have no right to strain justice to the limits of uncharitable perfectionism.

-We should be more forbearing in the things we enforce than in our personal practice. Remember, you are responsible for those you lead in a particular direction!

-We should not take and use more power over men than the Apostles did.

-Perfectionism tends to stifle discussion and growth in faith and practice.

-Perfectionism encourages idleness and pride in a congregation and its leaders.

-Perfectionism encourages ignorance.

-This spirit in a church encourages rejection of new insights.

3.) Do not cast a person out of the church but for something ALL churches should cast them out for.

4.) Do not hinder great goods for the sake of opposing small evils.

5.) Do not seek to fight evils that can only be removed by God.

With these and other authors and situations, I am slowly learning what it means to love both truth and peace, and to pursue them simultaneously.

So today, based on the things God has been teaching me, I leave you with three exhortations:

First, develop your theological triage while you are here in seminary. Dr. Mohler likes to use this metaphor, where nurses in a hospital are able to determine which are the most important injuries vs. the least important. As a pastor or elder, it will be up to you to know which issues are of theological necessity, like the gospel or Christ’s divinity, which issues separate churches, like credo- vs. paedo- baptism, and which issues can be dealt with through humble forbearance together in the church, like eschatology. Now is the time to start fleshing out your understanding of which categories these issues fall into.

Second, use your time here to cultivate personal discernment. This means that we should take every opportunity to learn from our professors, pastors, elders, and other students. We should share ourselves with them, so that they can better give us wise advice and the knowledge that comes from experience. Your future churches will be thankful that you cared enough about their welfare to learn as much as you could about peace and unity in the church without fudging on the Truth.

Third, look for opportunities, as a member or leader in your local church, to promote godly unity. As Ephesians points out, this sort of mature, gospel-centered unity is the purpose of the church and a reflection of God’s glory.

Brothers, joining hand to hand
Brothers, joining hand to hand,
In one bond united,
Pressing onward to that land
Where all wrongs are righted:
Let your words and actions be
Worthy your vocation;
Chosen of the Lord, and free,
Heirs of Christ’s salvation.

Thinking About: Membership

2007-03-04T23:56:00.000-05:00

This week, Lord willing, Samantha and I will have an interview regarding becoming members at Third Avenue Baptist Church. Hopefully, we will later be voted into membership by the congregation.

The process has given me cause for reflection. I have only been a member of two churches before this; one Plymouth Brethren, and one American Baptist. Third Avenue does a good job of laying out answers for why a Christian should be a member of a local church, but I really have no struggle with why membership at a local church is important. My question for myself is this- why do I choose to be a member of a particular local church? In other words, what tends to drive my decisions regarding the church I tend to serve? And more importantly, what are some of the principles that can be replicated in other times and places?

The questions may seem simple, but the answers get sticky very quickly. For instance, it can be uncomfortable telling my seminary friends that even though there was a gospel-centered, complementarian, theologically solid church (besides the paedo-baptism) just up the road, I chose to attend an egalitarian, theologically questionable church. Worse yet, I dragged Samantha away from the first church toward the second church when we got engaged! How do I come to these decisions?

I'm sure this isn't comprehensive, but here are a few things that I ask myself when I'm preparing to join a church in a new situation. After each question, I'll "answer" it in two different ways- first from my perspective in joining a less theologically solid church in college (UBC), then from my perspective here at seminary.

Q1: Where am I at in my spiritual walk? Am I in need of clear teaching about the basics of the faith? Will I need lots of guidance on issues of discernment? Am I seeking to help develop the church, or be guided by it?

A1: In college, I was constantly learning from reading theological books. No pastor in the world would have had the time to answer my questions as fast as I had them, so my primary source of learning was to find the answers in books and articles. Instead, I was looking for a place where I could build close relationships with people of a variety of ages. I knew that it was easy for me to relate to kids my own age, and that I needed the discipline of struggling through different types of relationships. I also believed that I should be learning to teach, and needed a church that would give me opportunities to do that.

A1b: Here at seminary, I don't have the amount of time I would need to teach as consistently as I did back in Lansing. Further, I know that some of Louisville's churches are blessed with intelligent and godly leaders. Samantha and I view our time here as one of learning, and we felt a church should assist that process. At the same time, I am someone who learns more from discipleship than from lectures. We wanted a church where we could grow in knowledge and understanding, but still have close relationships and godly discipleship.

Q2: What is my purpose? How do I view this time period in my life? Am I settling in at this church for the rest of my life, or for the short term? How does this church fit my understanding of what God is doing in my life?

A2: This was a huge part of my decision in college. I knew I would only be in Lansing temporarily, and that was very freeing. Further, I knew that I would not be likely to have kids during my time there. When I chose a church, I did not need to worry that bad theology would hurt my family or confuse them. Instead, I could focus on using my time there to prepare for whatever God had next for me. I looked for a church that could facilitate relationships, teaching opportunities, and situations that would prepare me for the next stage of life.

A2b: Here at seminary, our purposes are once again temporary. We will likely be moving on eventually, so we seek a church that will complement the seminary experience. We still want to serve and be involved, but in less of a teaching and more of a serving role. At the same time, we want to develop our ability to teach through discipleship and friendships.

Q3: How do I intend to serve?

A3: In Lansing I was able to serve by leading the college ministry, serving as a deacon, leading a small group, and teaching Sunday School for two and a half years. This proactive type of service could best be carried out in a smaller, tired church where few people are willing to "take the reigns." Further, a lower knowledge level allows greater interaction when you teach new ideas or concepts, because people had not considered the implications of the teaching before.

A3b: In Louisville, I won't have the same amount of preparation time for a teaching ministry. However, discipleship can be carried out without much preparation. I'm excited to serve the church through relationships and fellowship. Further, I'll look to find ways to help move various ministries forward, whether through helping out those who lead them or through sharing ideas and experiences I've had.

Q4: What is my time here preparing me for? How is it changing or developing my spiritual walk?

A4: In Lansing, I needed time with people of various ages, and opportunities to serve. In many ways, it was like an internship, because I experienced many of the ups and downs a church leader must deal with in a church setting. UBC was great at giving me all those opportunities. Also, the pastor was extremely kind in teaching me about every area of ministry. Though he and I didn't agree on some things, he was a great mentor for me in church leadership service.

A4b: At Third, Samantha and I are looking to learn more developed theology, from a Reformed perspective that we tend to have more trust for. We see this as a time of learning, in greater detail, how to correctly divide and teach the Word of God. Further, I hope to learn from the lives of so many men who are godlier than I how to work through various areas of theology and discernment.

Q5: How can I best glorify God right now? This is the ultimate question, and one that involves all the others.

A5: In Lansing, I really believe God called me to prepare for full-time ministry by leading, teaching, and being actively involved in a small and theologically weak church. We saw him work through that service, as many came to understand conservative Reformed theology in an egalitarian American Baptist Church! I have no doubt that our desire to be faithful glorified him even in a theologically weaker church.

A5b: In Louisville, we are once again seeking to be faithful. We decided against two other churches (both wonderful, faithful churches) because we are trying to honor the context God has placed us in as best we can. If the Lord wills, we will soon be a part of a church where we can participate in a strong discipleship culture, bring a unique perspective as non-Southern Baptist northerners, and learn from minds much more gifted than our own.

I hope you've seen here (despite my oft-awkward way of communicating myself) that church membership is not about going to whichever church clings most tightly to the most accurate statement of faith (though that is one valuable thing churches should strive for). Instead, it's about trying to honor God with the context, gifting, and life pursuit He has given you. For Samantha and I, this means Third Avenue Baptist, and we could not be more excited!

An Excellent Wife and a Gracious God

2007-03-02T01:14:00.000-05:00

Recently, in my New Testament class, we were discussing Paul’s comment that it is, “better,” to be single, as he was. The professor affirmed that some are called to singleness, and can be more effective as a result. However, he also pointed out that he was much more effective in his service to God, “in every way,” thanks to his wife. In other words, a person’s most effective service to God comes by following His will for their life, be it single or married.

That has been so true for me today. I am working really hard to be excellent in all my classes, but today I realized I had forgotten to do an assignment, and as a result will have some points docked when I turn it in. I came home extremely annoyed, which quickly spiraled into a depressed frustration. I hated my forgetfulness, my weakness, and my inability to process information as quickly as my peers. I didn’t want to eat, or talk, or even apply myself to finishing the assignment.

Thankfully, Samantha patiently waited out my bad mood. She suggested that we call our friends Dave and Lindsay, knowing that talking to them always makes me feel happy. I had a soothing talk with Dave, which calmed me and reminded me how much I enjoy seeing people grow in faith. Samantha also made me chocolate-covered strawberries, which would make anyone happy!

Later, she shared her thoughts with me regarding one of our favorite books, The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment. If you’re a longtime reader, you might remember that this book helped be greatly just after my mom died about a year ago. You can see that post here. Samantha’s post is better, though. You can find it here. You’ll see that the book helped continue to transfer her worldview from one of worrying and needing to be, "the provider," to one of recognizing her God-given role in our family. It was a deeply humbling and yet exciting blessing of God to watch Him do this work, which I have desired to see for a while now.

Conversations about this topic kick-started my excitement and vision for the local church. Samantha has been encouraging me to write about my vision for a local church. I’m not sure if I’ll do a paper on it (when I have the time) or put it into a series of blog posts, but I think she’s right that I should start putting my heart on paper, as it were.

Anyway, the result of all this is that I’m back to work, trying to supplement the heart God has given me for His work with the knowledge that will make it more effective. I’m so thankful to God for my wife’s love and encouragement, for the opportunity to be at a seminary where I can learn so much from so many godly mentors, and for his constant love and teaching and discipline. What a failure I would be without a loving Heavenly Father!

Once again, I must call upon my friends, the Puritans, to dignify with words those emotions I cannot fully express.

A wife when she marries a husband gives up her will to him; so does every Christian when he is married to Christ; he gives up his will and all that he has to Him, and says, "Lord, I have nothing, but if Thou callest for it, Thou shalt have it again."
-Richard Sibbes

Good Morning, Lord.

2007-02-23T06:36:00.000-05:00

It's 6:30am right now, and I've been up since 4 studying Greek. I'll keep at it until 8:30 (when I leave for class).

Days like today are frustrating. I'm not a natural linguist, and I don't like getting up early to prepare for quizzes. Mornings are my natural enemy.

Worse, I often feel like I'm failing God. A minister should WANT to study Greek, right? He should be holy and excited and tireless in understanding the Word?

I fail so miserably when it comes to honoring God. Thankfully, I took a few minutes this morning to remember that God isn't glorified by me not being weak... he's glorified by working through me even though I AM weak. I was greatly encouraged (to the point of tears) by this prayer from The Valley of Vision this morning, and thought I'd share it.

OH LORD OF GRACE,
The world is before me this day,
and I am weak and fearful,
but I look to thee for strength;

If I venture forth alone I stumble and fall,
but on the beloved's arms I am firm as the eternal hills;

If left to the treachery of my heart I shall shame thy name,
but if enlightened, guided, upheld by thy spirit,
I shall bring thee glory.

Be thou my arm to support,
my strength to stand, my light to see,
my feet to run, my shield to protect,
my sword to repel, my sun to warm.

To enrich me will not diminish thy fullness;

All thy lovingkindness is in thy Son,

I bring him to thee in the arms of faith,

I urge his saving name as the one who died for me.

I plead his blood to pay my debts of wrong.

Accept his worthiness for my unworthiness,
his sinlessness for my transgressions,
his purity for my uncleanness,
his sincerity for my guile,
his truth for my deceits,
his meekness for my pride,
his constancy for my backslidings,
his love for my enmity,
his fullness for my emptiness,
his faithfulness for my treachery,
his obediance for my lawlessness,
his glory for my shame,
his devotedness for my waywardness,
his holy life for my unchaste ways,
his righteousness for my dead works,
his death for my life.

Amen.

Humiliated

2007-02-13T11:55:00.000-05:00

Ben never freezes, right? Always has something to say?

Please.

Today in Greek, I hit the wall. We're only beginning our third week, and already I've embarrassed myself. The professor asked me to translate a sentence. I got the first word correct... except that I didn't, because in reading further we saw that I had translated an article too soon.

Then I got the second word wrong. Not a little thing, either... I translated "God" as "Lord."

Then I got the next two words right... specifically, "of the."

Then I got the fifth word wrong. For some reason I couldn't come up with the word, "heavens."

Everyone waited patiently as I basically mangled a fairly simple sentence, something several people had done before me without mistake. Finally, the professor let someone else translate the second half of the sentence. I was humiliated.

It was especially frustrating, too, because if I WRITE the translation, I get it perfectly. For some reason I lose all confidence when I'm trying to speak.

Also, this professor is the leader of my accountability group, and now he pretty much thinks I'm either a) an idiot (possible) or b) too much of a slacker to study my lesson (actually, not true!).

Greek stinks.

I just feel absolutely awful right now.

One Day at Seminary...

2007-02-02T08:09:00.000-05:00

Yesterday reminded me of all the things that are good about being here at seminary (well, several of them at least).

I woke up in the morning, and we had two inches of snow! It almost felt like home, except that snow has this weird effect on Southerners where they all slow down on the road. Strange.

I hiked across campus, steaming tea in my hand and a song in my heart (just kidding, it was morning and I was barely awake. But I appreciated it later). I went down into the basement -which I like to call The Bowels- of the seminary for greek class. I managed to make it through that, then it was off to chapel.

Chapel here is terrific. First of all, the place is BIG, so even hymns that are normally dumpy in church because nobody can reach the notes sound awesome at SBTS. Also, they have all kinds of great instruments and special music pieces, because SBTS has a renowned music school.

To top all this off, the chapel has a massive organ that they use for all the hymns. Every time we sing a hymn, we go through the first few verses. Just before we sing the last verse, though, we have what my friend Daniel and I call, "The Windup." We all pause from the flow of the song while the organist plays a grandoise intro. Fun stuff! When I first came I thought I would feel like they're being pretentious, but it really does give you a powerful sense of worshipping God with all your might.

Also, of course, the preaching is excellent. The simultaneous commitment of the school to solid preaching (in chapel) and yet still promoting excellent scholarship (through inviting people of various backgrounds to lecture) is a terrific environment to learn in.

As icing on the cake of my good day, I saw this guy who I was sure I'd seen before... somewhere. I couldn't place him at first, but then I realized that I'd seen him leading a URC college group meeting when I was a freshman in college! I remembered them mentioning at SCF that he was going to seminary... could this have been the one?

The last time I saw someone I thought I recognized (Tigers first baseman Chris Shelton...or not) I was dead wrong and felt like an idiot. Still, I decided to go up and say hello. And sure enough, it was him! Not only that, for some reason God caused me to remember his name (Jim Rarik) from all those years ago (6, by my count!). For anyone who knows me, this is a real miracle. Jim was extremely gracious, and I'm excited to sit down and chat with him at some point in the future.

Oh! I also had my first quiz last night, which I did well on, and I have my first greek quiz this morning. Thankfully, God blessed me with plenty of time and will to study! Again, a miracle.

So, I'm off. Hope you enjoyed hearing about my good day... I'll probably post about some bad ones once Greek vocab starts to kick in. See you soon!

If we were all to drop dead...

2007-01-26T18:43:00.000-05:00

Orientation was today. I got to meet my fellow "seminarians" (there were a couple hundred, even though spring is a much more popular time to start!). I also got to chat with some of the professors and listen to a LONG litany of information I already know (the results of a geeky obsession with figuring everything out for the past couple years). It was impressive to see so many people wanting to serve God with their whole lives.

The most interesting part of a somewhat boring session was when Dr. Ware was reminding us that we don't NEED to rush through seminary as fast as possible and get out into the world.

As he put it, "Everyone in this room could drop dead right now... and it wouldn't slow the Kingdom of God one bit."

How's that for a first day rallying cry?

Just a quick run...

2007-01-25T14:15:00.000-05:00

Heh, I'm such a lazy bum. When I tell people about Southern Seminary, one of the many features I always mention is the wonderful athletic area. They have a weight room, pool, sauna, basketball court, ping pong tables, fooseball, track, racqetball courts, and organized intramural sports. And its all free for Samantha and I!

So naturally, today Samantha asked if I wanted to "work out." I don't believe in weight machines, so for me this means "run a mile on the track." And you know what? I tried to talk her out of it! What a bum.

My orientation is tomorrow... and then class on Monday! I'm getting excited. However, I'm getting nervous. I completely bombed the tests that you take to get out of the basic classes. Half the questions were on textual criticism and stuff like that. Trivia, if you ask me. Oh well. I'm here to learn, right?

We miss everyone!

Upon Arrival

2007-01-19T01:35:00.000-05:00

Some thoughts going in…

So, we’re finally here!

About three years ago, I was sitting in a Sunday School class at my home church of Lake Pointe Bible Chapel. The visiting pastor was talking about how God had called him to the pastorate; how he had been given a love for people, a love for teaching, and most importantly a love for God and his Word. At that moment, I broke down in tears as an overwhelming wave of emotion came over me. I had been called to ministry.

Since then, I’ve been seeking God’s timing to fulfill his call. I finished my undergraduate degree (though just barely!), found gainful employment, and began studying and preparing. Most importantly, I married God’s greatest gift to me, Samantha.

I immersed myself in the church; studying it, teaching Sunday School, preaching occasionally, leading small groups, serving as a deacon. I enjoyed a close relationship with my wise and caring pastor. I built focused accountability relationships with my two closest friends. The purpose in all these things (aside from the value they held in and of themselves) was preparation.

Of course, it’s hard to be a pastor without credentials. I needed to go to seminary. So Samantha and I have waited for the right time. Now it’s here.

Samantha and I are pretty much fully moved into our apartment here in Louisville, Kentucky as we begin our time at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. I’m not a particularly emotional person (well, usually not, anyways), so I’m not bubbling over with enthusiasm or wallowing in uncertainty. However, there is a certain fear that weighs on your heart as you begin an endeavor that you have looked forward to with such hope.

It’s also impressive to walk around the campus and realize just how audacious of a statement you are making. I am literally going to go to men who are ten times as intelligent and twenty times as godly as I could hope to be, and I will be saying, “The God of the Universe has asked me to teach the meaning of His Word to His sheep. Can you teach me how to better fulfill that mission?” For me, “intimidated” is rarely the right word, but in this situation that may well be the case.

So, for all of our dear friends and loved ones, here are the first things that you can pray for;

-First, for a serious approach to life here. This is not the fun of college, nor is it the enjoyment of having an excellent job and plenty of money. Samantha and I need to be focused and purposeful in our choices. I especially need prayer for discipline in study. I want to honor God with the way I handle this opportunity.

-Next, for God’s continued provision. Samantha already has an excellent job prospect, which we’re very thankful for. Still, we would appreciate your prayers as we try to figure out how to pay bills and all that during our time here.

-To find our everyday purpose. Samantha and I both know why we are here; to prepare for ministry. However, we know God also has a temporary purpose for our lives while I am a student, and we want to be sensitive to his desires.

-To serve the right church. There are so many great churches in the area, we want to find one that we can contribute to without jeopardizing our ministry preparation. This will be a key focus for us in coming weeks, so we appreciate prayer!

-For continued growth in our marriage. We don’t want to let the key things fall by the wayside just because some seminary places all kinds of demands on our time!

-Finally, for continued growth in our spiritual lives. Because knowing and honoring God is always the most important thing.

So thank you again to all our friends and family who have shown so much love and support. We love you dearly, and look forward to sharing our journey with you all.

p.s. In looking over this blog, I realize it’s pretty somber. Don’t worry, we’re as nutty as ever! Come visit us, and we’ll show you the best restaurants around here. And yes, I already have the Ultimate Frisbee Intramurals on my calendar!

Class

2006-10-22T04:08:00.000-04:00

Three more weeks to go...

Not enough

2006-10-22T03:45:00.000-04:00

I was looking around the blogosphere today, and came across a little church that has deep connections to Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and Capitol Hill Baptist Church. Sounds like my cup of tea, right? Wrong.

These guys are amazing. They’re my age, but are already preaching and teaching with authority. They are smarter than me, more knowledgeable than me, more mature than me. To top it all off, they clearly love God more than I do.

This has been harder for me to accept than I want to admit. In the past, I always thought I had an advantage on others… I had read a few more books, and understood history a little bit better. Older folk were always impressed by how much I knew at such a young age.

But in these circles, I’m behind. By a lot. I got over it, but in the back of my mind always hoped that my passion and love for God would distinguish me among my peers. I wanted to offer God something unique and special… something that couldn’t be found elsewhere. Sorry, Charlie- I’m behind there too.

More and more I’m learning to admit to myself how much of a failure I am. I am weak, and my sin is great. Too often I’m passionate for God in the moment, but forget him in the ensuing hour. I’ll fight for truth, but forget faithfulness. I’m not only less intelligent and less well-read than other guys my age, I’m also less passionate. I don’t have much to offer.

I got some nice compliments today from some pastors I met at an ordination council. It felt good for about 5 minutes. But then I realized that it was a bit of a “big fish in a small pond,” situation. I thought I was unique because I travel in circles of people to whom this theological stuff is complex and distant, or at least rare. However, it’s kinda like a Chinese man in Michigan thinking he’s a great cook because his restaurant does good business; you can’t really say that until you’ve gone up against people who care about the same thing you care about. It’s then that you find out you’re mediocre at best.

Sometimes I wish God had a policy of telling us what would happen ahead of time. On days like today, I’m already embarrassed of how sub-par whatever future I offer to God will probably be.

Oh well. Trust and obey. God knows what he’s doing, and that needs to be enough.

We're in!

2006-10-14T23:52:00.000-04:00

Well, it happened! I've been accepted to Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Samantha and I will be moving down in January.

We're excited and sad at the same time. On the one hand, there's a lot we wish we could be here for; seeing how my family develops, spending time with Samantha's family, seeing Dave and Lindsay's baby, etc. I really do like my job, and we have grown to love our little church.

However, this is the direction God has called us to. We're just trying to be faithful. Of course, you could all see me again around June when I can't hack it in Greek! Hopefully, though, seminary will be a success. We love you all!

Ben

Building with many hands

2006-09-05T23:53:00.000-04:00

Studying politics can be frustrating.

First, you spend all kinds of time learning what government is SUPPOSED to do. You learn about the needs of populations, including things like money, shelter, protection, and the like.

Next, you learn about the amazing things governors (in the general sense: those who govern) CAN do. You study documents like the Declaration of Independence and the Federalist Papers. Then you follow the exploits of Alexander the Great or Julius Caesar, paying special attention to the way they build their empires. You take in the philosophies of Plato, Machiavelli, and Sun Tzu.

Third, you start to study what ACTUALLY happens. It's here that things get ugly.

You quickly find out that voters are fickle and childish. Government officials are often corrupt and self seeking. Much of so-called "political discourse" is actually a giant whine-fest between large organizations consumed by their own self-centeredness. True statesmenship is extremely rare.

Finally, if you're really tough, you go and work for a political organization. It's here you find that most of the stuff in the FIRST two steps is basically gone, and the third step rules. You thought voters were, "fickle," but they're actually just selfish and not thoughtful (I would almost use the word stupid, but in fairness that only applies to maybe 60% of voters). You thought government officials were corrupt and self seeking, but you find that not only are they both of those, but they're pretty thick to boot. You think large groups are whiners who have unreasonable demands, but then you find out that they are whiners who KNOW their demands are unreasonable, and insist on them anyways.

What am I trying to say? Just this; it's enough to drive a smart person who wants good things to become dictator of their own little circle. I struggle not to have this happen to me. I have a hard time believing anyone is as competant as me, so I grab the power and do things my way.

However, CCF and UBC have really helped me change that policy. I was studying 1 Thessalonians today, and was impressed by Paul's perspective. He suggests that even though the church is very loving and faithful, they can do even MORE to honor God. How should they do it? By respecting their leaders, by encouraging and exhorting and admonishing and correcting each other, and by pushing each other toward holiness as much as possible.

My small group did that today. It means a lot to me to see them helping each other challenge the sin we all struggle with. If you are a Christian, you need to be SEEKING a church community that will place wise leaders over you, and that will encourage and admonish and push you in your faith. Everyone needs it; even the loving and faithful Thessalonians. What makes you think you're any different?

My prayer is that God would teach me to trust loving and honest interactive relationships within the church, rather than making myself dictator of my own personal domain. Only then will I be on the correct and God-ordained road to holiness.

A bit of nostalgia

2006-08-28T01:48:00.000-04:00

I'm feeling a bit nostalgic tonight. Samantha and I watched one of those cheesy-but-sweet TV movies about a teacher who sets the bar high, overcomes the odds, and gets their kids to learn. It even had the dorky guy from "Friends" (I can never remember their names).

For whatever reason, the movie made me miss CCF days. We would run around like crazy, ignoring schoolwork for the sake of relationships. We had jobs, and friendships, and roles to play. We screwed up a lot. We tried to teach and learn. When one person cried, we tried to be there to cry with them. When one person celebrated, they were cheered for. When one person made a fool of themselves by singing Disney songs in the middle of the cafeteria... well, you get the idea.

I really miss that stuff. I miss feeling like I can be there when someone I love is hurting. I miss being able to solve problems. UBC is great, but people still tend to keep to themselves.

In CCF, we could pile 16 people into a dorm room to watch a movie on a 12 inch screen. We went to campus events together (in fact, it was basically impossible to do things without being in a group). We drove each other nuts, and fought like cats and dogs... or siblings, even!

I hope that wherever I go, I remember that time and try to recreate it. Not the SAME way, mind you... nothing can ever be quite the same. But it's important to me to understand HOW we came to love each other so much, and to try to show the people I come into contact with what a joy that type of life can be.

I also hope I never lose touch with the people whom I loved and was loved by. CCF changed me, and that goes deep. I hope, too, that the passion I felt for CCF will also be a passion for Christ's Body, the Church.

I'm afraid that I'm a woefully inadequate shepherd. I try, but as time goes on I see more and more clearly what an amazing failure I am in so many areas. But maybe, if I keep promoting the Kingdom of God as clearly as possible, He will continue to give me communities that forgive my hard-charging ways, that forgive my impatience and procrastination and lack of sympathy, and that forgive my weakness.

My prayer for you and I is that we will learn to care for each other with the desperate love that comes from knowing your own weakness, and being accepted anyways. May God bless our searching hearts.

First Shot...

2006-08-26T16:31:00.000-04:00

This is my first shot at a "spiritual autobiography" for my seminary application. My wife (quite rightly) thinks it needs some changes. I'll work on those, but I thought I'd put this out there so people can get to know my story better. It's pretty long! Good luck.

My name is Benjamin Bartlett.

As a child, this was a source of amusement for my peers. “Ben Fart-lett!” they would shout, impressed by their own creativity. I never minded. My name brought pride and comfort. It was given to me by my parents, Mark and Carolyn Bartlett. My story and spiritual autobiography begins with them.

My father is a businessman, and quite influential. My mom was a simple farm girl from Canada. My dad was hard, sarcastic, and extremely smart, but he was patient and loving with his kids and an excellent teacher. My mom was a feeler, and could barely get through a book, but she had fire and passion for God oozing from every pore of her body.

As a young man, I once asked my mom why she married my dad when so many people perceived him as being hard to love and impossible to live with. Her reply was enlightening.
“Submission.” she said. “I knew that he was submitted to God, and as long as that was in place I knew I could trust him in marriage.”

That became their theme for children as well. My mom constantly battled to cause her children to submit their wills, not merely to her, but to godly principles. She had strong rules. She challenged me in everything. She forced me to attend church activities from the day I was born until the day I left for college. She rarely let us quit any sport or activity. She challenged our attitudes when we were victorious. She challenged our frustration when we lost. She attacked complaints, teasing, discontent, irreverence, and any other perceivable sin of the heart with almost reckless abandon. When a teacher or parent would yell or raise their voice, it never fazed me the way it did other kids, because it never compared to my mom’s unique version of loving us by screaming at the top of her lungs.

My dad was often the peacemaker. He was careful not to contradict my mom, but was thoughtful in helping us understand her loving and passionate heart. Though I thought her overreactions were horrible, he helped show that they came from the overflow of powerful emotions, not spite or dislike. He was also an excellent example in almost all areas; he spent plenty of time with all his kids, he was a leader in our church, he provided everything we ever needed and more, and he loved our family.

This environment shaped me as a child. In most ways, it was quite positive. I was trained to understand the Christian faith. I was excellent at Bible trivia, and had little problem understanding Bible study lessons or sermons. I was respectful toward adults, and never got into any major trouble. When my dad became an elder, I was no hindrance to the biblical standards. I was heavily involved in youth activities, including mission trips to Venezuela, Scotland, and New Mexico. I also worked and counseled for a Bible camp in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

Most importantly, the truth of the gospel was made clear and modeled well. God’s saving action in my heart came at the ripe old age of seven- and like so many church kids, this was followed by several recommitments to “make sure,” over the next few years. I was baptized, and at that point was allowed by my parents to take part in communion.

At the same time, my environment created some natural struggles. I was not as smart or disciplined as my dad, and spent much time attempting to impress him and be like him. However, I was also lazy, and experienced many disappointing failures (or close shaves!) as a result. I was also scared of my mom’s anger, and became a liar and deceiver to “protect” myself. Many times I would fail to do what I had been asked, and would have to scramble later to hide or make up for it. Other times I would develop airtight alibis or excuses for wrong actions, making it hard for my mom to justifiably punish me even when she was in the right. When she punished me wrongly, I was angry and resentful, never hesitating to express to friends how unfair she was to me.

When I entered college, my sin and self-centeredness came back to bite me. It began simply enough. I was lazy, and my grades suffered as a result. For some classes, I did not bother studying. For others, I barely attended. Generally, the only classes I worked hard in were on political theory.

Politics and church activities were the only things that interested me. My mind was that of a lawyer, able to deconstruct and pick apart arguments with ease. I loved politics and found that I was a natural leader in both church and secular activities. I planned to finish college and work my way up through the ranks of party politics or lobbyist circles.

In the meantime, I was admired in church circles. My Bible knowledge and speaking ability caused peers and leaders to trust me. I truly believed the truth of the Bible and wanted to do the right thing, but it was mostly intellectual. I looked for a fellowship group where I could quickly become a leader.

For some reason, God caused me to choose a small Intervarsity chapter called the Chinese Christian Fellowship. In my mind I was choosing it to help their weakness in the area of Bible knowledge. In retrospect, I can see God knew I desperately needed the molding intimacy of a small community. This group became my focus, where I tried to build friendships and teach the Bible with increasing effectiveness. I burned with anger toward sin and a desire to see the Truth upheld.

However, my emotionally bankrupt faith caught up with me. I was lonely and depressed. I fell into sin, looking to a non-Christian girl to fulfill me. Though the adultery of my heart was never fully consummated, it was evil in God’s eyes. My desire was to be happy, not to glorify my Redeemer.

Patiently, a good friend showed me my sin. His calm challenges, along with my recognition of how far I had fallen, caused me to change. I experienced a time of challenge and self-examination. I saw my life and hated it, and began the process of repenting and coming back to a place of obedience to God.

By my junior year, God had driven the deep sin from my life and brought me back to a healthy pursuit of Him. I had been humbled, but still lacked real knowledge of the Bible. I knew trivia, but needed to know theology if I was to become who God wanted me to be.

I went to Washington DC to complete a semester-long internship. I questioned God, because I had begun building truly intimate relationships with the other people in CCF, (most notably, my eventual best friend Jared and a young lady named Samantha) and did not see how this previously planned trip fit into his plans. When I arrived, I had no idea where I would go to church or what I would do.

As we know, though, God’s plans are always the right plans. My first night in DC was a Friday, and at an MSU alumni dinner I met a girl who was a Christian. She told me that her church was just a block or two away from where I lived. That Sunday, I attended church with her. I never saw her again, but God’s purpose for her in my life was clear. The church was Capitol Hill Baptist Church.

There, I met the leader of the college ministry. He introduced me to James Santos, an intern at CHBC. We set up a weekly mentoring/accountability meeting. All of this happened my first Sunday there!

It began a time period of learning and growth. In my time with James, we read and discussed John Piper’s, “The Pleasures of God,” and J.I. Packer’s, “Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God.” I was also learning from Dr. Dever’s thoughtful expository preaching, and from articles in dozens of helpful websites.

When I went home, I was quite different. My knowledge of the faith was no longer merely technical… it was a knowledge of the soul, coming from a heart that had been humbled and then guided in wiser paths. My faith went beyond a commitment to the truth, and became a commitment to the person of God as my King, my Savior, and my Guide. I did not just believe in God; I loved Him.

I believed that was the end of the surprises. I felt God would now help me develop as a Christian politician, one able to defend the faith and speak for the Truth. However, such was not to be.

One Sunday during my senior year, I was home from college for Christmas break. A pastor from another church taught the Sunday school, and he talked about his passion for God’s people, for God’s truth, and for the Church. As he was sharing, I broke down in tears. For no apparent reason, I sobbed with a mixture of fear, relief, and joy. I knew; knew, that I was being called to the ministry. Later, my pastor and church would agree.

Since that day at the end of 2003, I have been preparing to fulfill this call. I have involved myself heavily in my local church, serving as a Sunday school teacher, deacon, and occasional preacher. I married Samantha Quan in the summer of 2005, and began experiencing all the pains and joys of being in love. I have been reading and studying constantly. I have involved myself in several mentoring and accountability relationships. I have tried to focus on glorifying God both in my efforts now and in preparing for whatever He has for me down the road.

On December 20, 2005, my mom died from cancer. She was 44. Her death brought the opportunity to look back over what God has done in my life. Though she was as imperfect as the rest of us, I have been able to better appreciate the passion she had for God. I have also come to appreciate my father’s loving and faithful leadership even more than before, without comparing myself or feeling inferior.

The process of working through the grief and discontent that followed my mom’s death has made me even more certain of God’s call. He has wonderfully prepared me with excellent parents, a solid education, a good mind, a godly wife, humbling experiences, and a burning passion to see His kingdom established in the world. I am still a weak and sinful person. However, my hope and prayer is that God will use seminary to continue molding me into a person able to express the glory of the gospel to a needy world, and able to help bring the church to a place of complete worship and obedience to Him.

College students back in town!

2006-08-24T22:17:00.000-04:00

So, the college students are back! How exciting. Next thing you know, footballs will be flying, the leaves will be turning, and... that's right... Sunday School class starts again!

Hm. Maybe that's not that exciting. I'm excited, though; that counts for something, right?

Anyways, since the college folks are back in town and some of them check blogs once per day (maybe that will motivate me to post more often), I'll let you know the schedule.

Starting this Sunday (April 27) and not counting Labor Day Sunday, I'll be teaching a 5 week class on Membership, Governance, and the Purpose of the Church. The first week we'll talk about why God created the church, and in the following weeks we'll talk about how the church is organized and run. My hope is that everyone will both be more understanding of an more committed to their local church. Don't forget, class starts at 9:30!

On September 17, I'll be preaching. Don't know what the topic will be yet! Oh well. We'll see what God brings to mind. Anyways, thought I'd give you a heads up on that too.

Finally, after the 5 week session, new sessions will be starting up. My good friend Dave Cheng will be teaching on worship, a topic he is an expert on. In the meantime, I'll be teaching a class on the Principles of Personal Hermeneutics, or more simply, "Bible Intake." My purpose here will be to talk about some of the most important presuppositions we should have when we approach a passage of Scripture.

Also, it looks as though Dave will be starting a small groups at his house, especially for UBC college students! I'm certainly planning on going to that, though Dave will be teaching.

There are also a couple other small groups going on at UBC right now, and we'd love to have people join up.

That's all for now, but I'm looking forward to seeing everyone!

A Personal Hermeneutic

2006-06-14T00:54:00.000-04:00

A Personal Hermeneutic

Like anyone else, I make a series of decisions when I approach the Bible. Some decisions begin before I open it. What version will I use? In what atmosphere will I read? Am I studying or merely looking for encouragement? What is my motivation for reading the Bible?

Others surface when I open the book. Where will I read? How much should I read? Am I willing to let it teach and affect me?

One of the most important questions, though, is this; how will I interpret what I read? The Bible’s size and diversity discourage well-meaning seekers and Christians alike. Many times they find themselves uncomfortable and affronted by the bold or seemingly cruel perspectives expressed in the Bible. How do we deal with those questions?

Of course, we must first acknowledge that many will turn away, and there is nothing we can do about it. God does not draw every person’s heart, and we should never water down the truth for the sake of wider acceptance. That said, we can certainly explain and teach how God’s Word may be understood, so that His glory may be more fully displayed and the greatness of His Word more readily grasped.

To that end, I want to share my personal approach to hermeneutics. I am certain this is neither perfect in its theological nuance nor comprehensive in its scope. However, it is a good expression of how my mind thinks about the Bible as I study it and try to extract and apply its meaning. These are the six presuppositions I use when trying to understand the purpose and place of the teachings in the Bible.

Think of this hermeneutic as a pyramid. Each piece is essential, and each piece is built on the others. Together, they form a way of thinking about Scripture that is designed to accurately extract God’s intended meaning from each Biblical passage.

1. The Bible is Inerrant
The first thing we must presuppose is that the Bible is inerrant. This means it is without error, and carries no deficiencies or weaknesses. If a Christian does not understand and agree with this concept, their entire faith is questionable.

Scripture is inerrant because God is sovereign. In essence, his eternal power and control protect the integrity of the Bible. If God desires to express or reveal Himself to us, and is all powerful, why would He allow His Word to be corrupted?

It should be noted that this does not prevent all controversy. Of course there will be differences in interpretation, which require thoughtfulness and faithfulness to work through carefully. There are also areas in which God has chosen not to express a particular preference, or has allowed room for differences of opinion. However, those areas are non-essential to the teachings of the Bible.

It should also be noted that mistakes can be made in translating or transcribing Scripture. Again, these errors are usually non-essential and easily fixed. In cases where the translators have been unfaithful or biased in their translation, the fault lies not with Scripture, but with the translators, and they should be held accountable.

Every piece of the Bible contributes to His expression of Himself to mankind. As such, every piece is also an accurate communication from God to us. When all these pieces work together, they form the full expression of the heart of God- His very Word.

2. The Bible is Self-Interpreting and Self-Moderating
At times, the Bible can seem extreme. Why is God willing to wipe out women and children? Why did Christ say that his mission was to the Jews, and not Gentiles? How can the Bible extol Jacob when he did so many sneaky and self-serving things?

Recognizing Biblical inerrancy is important to answering these questions. All Scripture can be compared with the rest, so a passage is incomplete without understanding how it relates to the rest of the Bible. For instance, it may be true that God exhibits seemingly “extreme” justice, but this is easily understood when one also understands His holiness, His hatred of sin, man’s responsibility for sin, and the amazing grace of God’s mercy.

True Bible study will then realize that the Bible is self-interpreting and self-moderating.
It is self-interpreting because only the Bible can explain itself. The number of books and words is necessarily limited, and it would be easy for a single passage -written from one perspective to a particular audience- to be misinterpreted. However, the Bible speaks about God from many perspectives and in a perfectly consistent manner, and as a result passages can be compared to each other to reach consensus about doctrine.

If, for instance, a person were to see a verse that says, “God is love,” they might rightly conclude that God is the source of all love, and is more loving than any other entity. However, they might also wrongly conclude that he would never challenge, never hurt, never discipline, and never punish. By studying the Bible as a whole, they would understand that a correct interpretation of “love” would recognize that love takes the form of justice and of discipline just as often as comfort and reward.

Systematic theologies, then, which explain key doctrines of the faith, are entirely dependent on Scripture’s self-interpretation. They form a consensus from all the Scripture passages written on a topic, and then explain how they work together to form a consistent whole.

The Bible is also self-moderating. It is easy for critics to read a single passage and create an extreme picture of God and the Christians who follow Him. However, expressing the fullness of an entity, especially one as vast and complex as God, requires more than one passage. Therefore, if we desire to know God we MUST accept that the Bible moderates itself. The various passages on a topic make clear the fact that the “extreme” passages seek to make a theological point, but do not by themselves sum up the character of God.

This is also true of doctrines. For instance, it IS true that God can become quite angry, enacting severe punishment on those who displease him. This might cause some to live in a state of spiritual paralysis, afraid of what God might do to them if they fail. However, by reading the rest of Scripture, they would find that even God’s anger is completely right and justified, and that in the end he works all things for good.

As a side note, this concept has led to the dialectical method of Bible teaching. This approach to studying and teaching the Bible is focused on finding the ways in which the Bible teaches the poles, or furthest extremes, of a concept. By doing so, the teacher or student maintains the balanced tension inherent in a particular doctrine and is prevented from going too far to one side or the other.

3. The Bible has a Redemptive-Historical Structure
One of the problems in accepting Scripture’s teachings is that God and His desires for His people seem to change. In some areas of scripture, He seems to suggest that adherence to the law will result in national blessing and prosperity. In others, Christ clearly teaches that the blessed ones are those who are beaten, persecuted, and killed. At some points in scripture, people are considered unclean for eating non-kosher foods. In others, God says His followers are free to eat whatever they choose. If the Bible is entirely consistent, what is to be done with these teachings?

The fact is that God chooses to reveal Himself to the world over time. Through a series of covenants and stages, God allows mankind to see more and more of Himself. This self-revelation was most fully expressed in the person of Jesus Christ, who was and is the fullness of God in human form. The self-revelation will be fully completed in the last day, when Satan is defeated and creation is restored to the perfection it had before sin entered the world.
We must therefore acknowledge that the Bible has a redemptive-historical structure.

When we understand this redemptive-historical structure, we can study the Bible in a healthier way. Instead of feeling the Bible contradicts itself, we can see that in context, God is entirely consistent. Man can only respond in faith and trust, because to do anything else is to deny God’s Lordship and Kingship over our lives.

Therefore, when we approach a passage, we must ask where in the timeline of God’s self-revelation the passage occurs. That done, we can extract the principles God is teaching, and more accurately apply them in our lives. For instance, when God tells the Israelite exiles to Babylon that He will “prosper and not harm” them, giving them “a hope and a future,” it would be folly for us to assume this means we too will be physically prospered. However, the passage does display for us God’s absolute sovereignty and involvement in our lives. We may not know God’s purposes for our next steps, but we do know that those purposes will undoubtedly be accomplished.

The redemptive-historical model is important, but should not cause people to think the Bible is not unified. The whole structure is built around one central idea, one central truth. That truth is the truth of the gospel.

4. The Bible is Viewed through the Lens of the Gospel
The most important factor in understanding the redemptive-historical model and in moderating and interpreting Scripture is knowing the Bible should be viewed through the lens of the gospel.
This means whenever we approach a passage, it can only be understood as it relates to the saving work of Jesus Christ on the cross, exercising simultaneous justice and mercy. In one action, God completely affirms His holiness and justice, but also expresses the depth of His mercy and grace. This balance is key to understanding the biblical message.

So often, churches take things taught in Scripture to extremes. Because they are taught not to sin, they begin to hate and reject sinners. Others are so in love with mercy that they lose sight of truth and water down the gospel. Both of these (and many other) extremes are incorrect.
Truly honoring God requires that people allow themselves to be taught by Scripture as it relates to the gospel. When we receive teaching about the dangers of sin, we must of course recognize how truly deep and awful our sin is. At the same time, though, we must learn to show mercy and grace and love to the struggling sinner.

When we view those who suffer and hurt, we must know what it is to show them mercy and kindness, providing help where we can. However, we must also make clear the wrongness of sin, and the absolute need for God’s forgiveness. The Bible clearly teaches both things, and so we must display both things.

If we do not maintain the tension inherent in the gospel, we will quickly lose much of its power, and thereby become weak tools in the Master’s hands.

5. The Bible is Christ-Centered
At the heart of the gospel lies Jesus. There is nothing more important to God’s work in the world than Christ’s life, death, and resurrection. Without His sacrifice, we would still be desperately trying to cover our sins with the blood of lambs and bulls. Ultimately, we would have little hope in the world.

However, Christ brings hope. He was the hope of the Old Testament, and prophets and godly people looked forward with longing to the arrival of the Messiah. Their salvation came from trusting in this Savior who would come, a Savior who would free all from sin, their greatest oppressor.

He is also the hope of all who follow Him. Christians look back to Christ, recognizing that He is the only Way, Truth, and Life. Nothing else can save us from complete separation from God. Only His work on the Cross, His act of receiving full punishment for sins He did not commit, can be offered in our place. Only His salvation is enough.

For this reason, Scripture is centered on Christ. It looks to Him, cries out for Him, prophesies about Him, spreads the news about Him, and rejoices in Him. When we study the Bible, we must see this centeredness, and study with His work in view. Only then will we truly understand the place God desires to bring us to, a place of grateful obedience under the headship of our Savior and Only Hope.

6. The Bible Glorifies God
Ultimately, all things are for God’s glory. Every piece of the Bible, from creation to consummation, is an expression of God’s greatness. As time moves along, God reveals His glory piece by piece.

His power to create, to guide, and to design glorifies Him. His choice of Israel, a choice they did not deserve, glorifies Him. His saving acts glorify Him. His work on the cross glorifies Him. His movement in establishing His kingdom in the world glorifies Him. His return and cleansing of the world will glorify Him.

If we are to correctly interpret the Bible, we must appreciate that the story is not about us- it is about glorifying God. Our good is not the final goal of all things- God’s glory is. Now, it is true that the greatest joy and blessing comes to the Christian when they are most focused on God. However, we are not needed. Our involvement in God’s glory is a completely free gift He has given for no reason other than that He loves us and chooses to do so.

Conclusion
When I sit down to study a passage, I force myself to think through these things. When exposition of a Biblical passage is built on these presuppositions, the teaching that results will honor God by having these characteristics;

1. It will be trustworthy, because the Bible is inerrant.

2. It will be correctly nuanced and entirely consistent, because the Bible is self-interpreting and self-moderating.

3. It will be understood in correct context, because the Bible has a redemptive-historical structure.

4. It will maintain the correct tension of justice and mercy, because the Bible is viewed through the lens of the gospel.

5. It will speak of the amazing work of Christ, because the Bible is Christ-centered.

6. It will glorify God, because all things in the Bible are for His glory.

My hope and prayer is that hermeneutics of this kind and the preaching and teaching that results will be obediently faithful to God’s desires for our lives. Soli Deo Gloria.

Missing My Mommy

2006-05-28T02:01:00.000-04:00

I really miss my mom tonight.

One of the harder parts about grief is the unexpectedness. I can walk past pictures of my mom, tell stories about her, miss certain aspects of my relationship with her... all without incident.

Then, for whatever reason, something small hits home.

When it does, you sorta see a "highlight reel" of things you remember. You think about certain images, or the way hugging your mom was different from hugging everyone else. You remember little chats or jokes.

Strangely enough, you also continue to struggle with the things you always struggled with.

One of the things that I could never get over with my mom was the fact that she could never relax (I have no idea why this is making me cry so much, even as I write this). She was always angry or frustrated or speeding along to the next thing. Oh, of course there were times when she laughed and talked with everyone, but she always felt a little uptight. I wish I understood that part of her better.

I can still remember trying, time and time again, to get her to calm down a bit. "Mom, just RELAX." It happened over and over. She never did.

To this day, I'm not sure I ever entirely understood her point of view. I suppose I may have to wait to have kids of my own, or to see what Samantha is like when she has kids. I hope so. I think it will be easier to feel like I made my mom proud when I can identify with her perspective.

This may all sound like rambling to you, but you'll understand at some point. In some ways, it's really hard to understand the way you feel about a person for whom you have a fierce love but whom you never fully understood. I wish my mom were here so I could keep trying.

On Being Mission Minded

2006-05-27T02:16:00.000-04:00

Louisville was terrific. The SBTS campus is beautiful, the professors are incredibly nice, the classes are challenging without being out of reach, and the students are focused and generous. I really feel this is God's place for Samantha and I to prepare for ministry. Now we'll just have to see whether I can get in there!

In the meantime, I've been thinking a lot lately about what it is to be mission-minded. I'm starting to work my way through Acts as I finish up 1 Peter, and I'm impressed in both by how important the call to spread the good news is. Quite simply, God has called us to reach out to the surrounding culture. Why don't we respond more obediently?

I imagine that a big part of it is fear of hardship or uncertainty. I struggle in trying to connect with non-Christians, because I feel like I speak a different language. I also tend to get too uptight about the lifestyles of people who don't know any better.

If I want to be a true minister, though, I ought to be a leader in formulating ways of stretching out to draw people toward Christ. Our call is to preach the good news to all people, baptising them and teaching them to obey God... and then doing it again. I find that I tend to lose site of this concept and instead focus my time on teaching people who are already Christians. That's a good thing, which I intend to continue, but I also should be recognizing that the call to minister to the unsaved is a continual call, not one that ended when we established a financially stable church community.

My hope is that studying Acts will teach me things about how the early church built itself without losing site of its mission. I want to be a servant of Christ committed to obedience in all areas, not just areas of training and discipleship. If my desire is to truly see the kingdom of God established by the growth of His authority in the hearts of people, I should be more committed to bringing those who have not heard to a knowledge of Him.

Off to Louisville!

2006-04-20T04:17:00.000-04:00

Well, I'm off to Louisville. I'll be previewing what I hope is the seminary I'll be attending in a year or so, seeing an old friend, and attending the "Together for the Gospel" conference. All in a week and a half! Please pray for me. I've been struggling with worry about the future, and it's just not the right attitude.

Also, pray for my darling wife! I'm so excited for her... she'll be graduating in just a couple weeks! That will be a relief, but now we need to know what she should be doing next.

Finally, all you UBC people out there should be praying for the development of small groups in our church. It'll be interesting to see what happens this summer.

Thanks!

On Mirrors and Messangers

2006-04-09T01:12:00.000-04:00

The other day, Samantha was hanging out with some school friends when one made a comment that the Bible is just a fictional story anyways. Well, she couldn’t just let that pass, could she? So, she challenged the comment, and it started a spirited debate about the validity and truth of Christianity, as well as the idea of relativism vs. absolutism (not in so many words, of course- it was more of one girl suggesting that Christianity can be true for one person but not for another, which of course is completely illogical).

I was really proud of Samantha for standing up for her beliefs, but she expressed frustration at the same time. When you come away from a discussion like that, you almost inevitably feel a sense of frustration and loss, as though you have lost a fight and aren’t sure why.

This was my experience growing up as well. In high school and early college, I thought that I would be able to debate people into realizing that Christianity is at least intellectually viable. Each time I got involved in an argument, though, I found that I came away feeling bad. This would push me to know apologetics even better. Eventually, I became good enough that most people would acknowledge that I tended to “win” the debates I fought in. However, I still felt awful for some reason.

This is a big problem in day-to-day evangelism. We all have a natural tendency to be “strategic” in our relationships. We focus on saying the right things and acting the right way so that over time, we will build friendships where people feel comfortable because they are never challenged. This natural tendency causes us to feel a lot of discomfort and embarrassment when we evangelize. We just need to get over this tendency, right?

Well… perhaps. I AM proud of Samantha, and I do think there is a good time (and way) to stand up for your faith and clearly state your beliefs. She did the right thing. At the same time, neither she nor I should think that is all there is to evangelism. In fact, I’d even say arguing about philosophy or the Bible is at best a very small part of evangelism. So then, what IS our evangelistic calling?

Well, I think it is two things:

-First, we are called to be MIRRORS of God. He made us in his image, and in many ways we destroy that image through sin. As Christians, we should be seeking holiness, trying to become more and more like Christ each day. This process of sanctification causes us to reflect God and His attributes to the world. He shines on us, and we in turn mirror that image toward the world. Through our lives, they should see God’s love, grace, mercy, compassion, justice, wrath against sin, and faithfulness. The people around us should clearly see that we are different in how we live our lives and in what we value… can you say that your friends see you all that differently?

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. -2 Corinthians 3:18

-Second, we are called to be MESSANGERS of God. He has given us His glorious Gospel. This message of good news is the only thing that can save the world from its sins. As Christians, it HAS saved us from our sins. Out of gratitude to God, out of love for our friends and neighbors, and out of fear for the eternal state of our peers, how can we not spread this message? If we want to do the best service we can to those we meet, we must present the gospel in all its fullness, as clearly and accurately as possible. Only then are we being the true faithful messengers that God has called us to be. Only then can we be sure that those we care about have truly heard the Word of the Lord. We must not create some false gospel of our own- we must be faithful messengers.

Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. -2 Timothy 1:8-10

Let this be our standard; to love God, to reflect his image, and to carry his message. When this is our definition of success, how radically will it change our lives?

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart."
Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. -1 Corinthians 1:18-21