deTheos

A compelling interview

Here is a real picture of a man who considers himself a real sinner, who’s identity is found in Jesus, and who has relied upon Him for decades.

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A weekend apart, doing the same thing

This weekend Kari and I are privileged to be able to preach God’s Word. She is heading down south to teach the womens retreat for Calvary Chapel of Corvallis . She has (as usual!) poured over God’s Word and prayed and studied diligently. The four session titles — centered around the theme of "Expectancy without Expectations" came out as:

1. The God of Disappointment, Identifying Expectations (Friday night)
2. Processing Pain, Identifying Fear (Saturday morning)
3. True Hope, Unearthing Expectancy (Saturday mid-day)
4. Enjoying Fulfillment, Worshiping God (Saturday night)

Her notes are close to 40 pages single-spaced, and I look forward to going through them at the same time she teaches many miles away. They will provide specifics to pray for and about. She will probably have some reflections to blog about when she gets home and rested again.

On this end, I’ll be flying solo with the Dutcher (with family help), and having good discussions with our boy about how wonderful his Mommy is. Privileged again for the opportunity to preach in Wilsonville another time at Canyon Creek Church . This time the text is Philippians 3:1-11 , and the title will be "Worthless Doing and Priceless Knowing ."

It is amazing how difficult it is to distill a whole message on a couple paragraphs down to that length, just a paragraph or two. I was asked to give a little synopsis for the church bulletin; this is what I wrote:

We have natural bent towards religion. That is, we tend to find our identity by what we do, rather than in Who God is. It is easy to think we have done so much on our own, for our "gains" are clearly seen by looking at our own religious resumes and feeble good works — especially by comparison with others. Yet, in the Gospel, the ground has become level for everyone, from the talented and motivated to the least gifted. The common thread is God’s grace in Christ, and our response in humility (looking out to Him, not into ourselves).

The Gospel of God’s glorious grace is the only means God has designed to set us free from empty religion. We no longer come to our Creator as ones holding our great accomplishments in our hands. Instead, we along with the Apostle Paul, can rightly say, "whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ" ( Phil. 3:7 ). Our empty doing is traded for priceless knowing. We now can know, love and enjoy Jesus our Savior as the supreme object of our affections and the true desire of our hearts. Does that describe your trajectory?

Hoping to help us all discover grace-renewal in the God of all grace, and be people who "worship in the Spirit" ( Phil. 3:3 ), knowing, loving and enjoying our Savior above all else.

Pray for us, and for our hearers.

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What size is right for a local church? And how can we structure care for God’s people?

Tim Keller has a new article out in the latest edition of the Vineyard’s Cutting Edge magazine.  It’s called "Process Managing Church Growth ." I have seen it before, but the dynamics of my current church life and leadership made me more attuned to what he has to say this time.

A couple excerpts:

"Every church has a ’size culture’ that goes with its size that has to be accepted. Most people probably have a size-culture that they prefer. However, many people ‘moralize’ their favorite size culture and treat other size-categories as spiritually and morally inferior. They may insist that the only Biblical way to do church is to practice a differ size-culture despite the fact that the church itself is much bigger or smaller than they desire it to be."

"Generally, in small churches, policy is decided by many and ministry is done by a few while in the large church, ministry is done by many, and policy is decided by a few."

(HT: Jonathan Dodson + Steve McCoy ).

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Erasing biblical aliteracy?

Aliterate people lack the desire to read. They can read (and thus are not illiterate ), but they just don’t.

Not sure what the statistics are on reading habits after high school but I doubt they are very encouraging in our society. People do many things enthusiastically, but not many people are readers as they get older. The exact opposite happened to me. I read a handful of books to get through high school, and then Christ arrested my heart and I quickly developed a voracious appetite for reading. (Still slowly though.)

At least 4/5 homes in America have a Bible, yet a small fraction of people actually dust off one of their many copies and read it. Why? We prioritize what we value. True knowledge of God is not valued. We tend to enamored with the latest and greatest fad, looking for a quick fix, while God’s timeless truth would bring the satisfaction and depth our souls crave (and were created to enjoy). We must fight, swim upstream, and with Him develop a love of Christ and His Word.

Last night our class kicked off — Enjoying the Bible for All Its Worth . I was deeply encouraged by the appetite of the 50 or so adults who came. They ate it up; we covered everything I hoped, and had more interaction than expected. It was a thoroughly enjoyable time for me as their teacher.

In fact, joy was the first thing we discussed: Enjoyment is not optional . Enjoying God. Enjoying the Bible. These are commands sustained by God’s good pleasure in fulfilling them in us. All of the Scripture points us to see Jesus the Christ as the most compelling and worthy Person in all the Universe — to value Him through delight. And it makes sense, since He created us to do just that.

At the start of the second hour I opened the floor, asking "What challenges do we face in reading and understanding the Bible?" Some candid answers from the class:

• not knowing where to start
• no pictures! (actually, most words in the original languages are in fact word pictures!)
• how does it all fit together — why is it not organized chronologically (specifically the OT)?
• pronouncing names (genealogies) and dealing with strange geography
• I fall asleep face down in my Bible at night
• psyche up myself to commit to reading, only to fail in consistency
• it’s boring

I added a few of my own:

• we don’t understand it
• the Bible says things we don’t like
• it takes time + work — we’re lazy!

Then I kindly pronounced all of these bogus . That is, each can be overcome, and God wills that we work with Him in valuing Him and His Word above all else. Have you specifically asked Him to conquer these tiny obstacles in you?

Speaking of joy, their assignment for next Tuesday night is to read Philippians (a letter all about joy) and first seek to grasp the "big idea" of Paul’s inspired epistle. We talked about how this course will help us develop in us the science and art of understanding Scripture and bringing it into our daily lives. It is hard work. We must sit and think and pray. But doesn’t anything worth doing take hard work? We are not alone in the process. God’s Spirit meets with us, shining the light of truth and significance on the passage.

So, fear not, we can make some early mistakes in our hermeneutics, seeking to correct one another gently. We can learn by diligence and humility how to rightly find out what the texts says and means, and how it applies to us today. That way we will all enjoy the Bible together, for all its worth.

For God’s glory and our joy, we get to work at erasing biblical aliteracy one God-loving believer at a time. Fifty of us are catching on.

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three-oh

Thank you to all who wished me a happy 30th. Finally my age matches these graying hairs, and perhaps the big three-oh will have some built-in credibility to match. (Somehow being only 29 is way different than being a mature 30 in some people’s eyes when it comes to pastoring — the difference between being in one’s twenties and thirties.)

The life of one of my heroes, the late Robert Murray McCheyne, was cut short at only 29 years. (Well, he’s more alive than any of us these days, in the presence of Jesus.) At my age, I think about him and others like Henry Scougal quite a bit (he died at 28 years young). They accomplished so much for Christ in such a little time, yet did not find their identity in what they did. Here’s one of McCheyne’s most classic quotes:

"I trust you will have a pleasant and profitable time in Germany. I know you will apply hard to German; but do not forget the culture of the inner man — I mean of the heart . How diligently the cavalry officer keeps his sabre clean and sharp; every stain he rubs off with the greatest care. Remember you are God’s sword, His instrument — I trust a chosen vessel unto Him to bear His name. In a great measure, according to the purity and perfections of the instrument, will be the success. It is not great talents God blesses so much as great likeness to Jesus. A holy minister is an awful weapon in the hand of God. "
– Robert Murray McCheyne, letter to Rev. Dan Edwards on holiness and success, October 2, 1840. Memoirs of McCheyne , edited by Andrew A. Bonar (Chicago: Moody, 1947), p. 95. (Many thanks to my pastor friend Gene who gave me this treasured book four years ago for my birthday.)

He also had some advice for seminary students like me:

"Do get on with your studies. Remember you are now forming the character of your future ministry in great measure, if God spare you. If you acquire slovenly or sleepy habits of study now, you will never get the better of it. Do everything in its own time. Do everything in earnest; if it is worth doing, then do it with all your might. Above all, keep much in the presence of God. Never see the face of man until you have seen His face who is our light, our all . Pray for others; pray for your teachers and fellow students." (Letter from 1840, Memoirs of McCheyne , p. xvi)

We’ll take that to heart. Thank you Jesus for thirty years of earthly faithfulness to me, and an eternal relationship, unconditional, unchanging, which cannot be broken.

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Listening takes time

Reminders for church leaders:

• While we can talk in a hurry, we cannot listen in a hurry.

• "Do not give direct report leadership to more people than you can listen to." — John Ortberg

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Adam Poole, friend, pastor and now seminary graduate

This morning Kari and I were able to attend the Baccalaureate Chapel at Multnomah Biblical Seminary to honor our fellow students who have finished their studies and reached graduation. Congratulations to all Multnomah graduates! Tonight they will get their diplomas; this morning some of the seminary students received aways.

One fellow student, a dear friend of ours, Adam Poole received the John G. Mitchell Award, given to the student who best embodies the grace and truth of the gospel (the specific description was a bit longer). While none of us ‘deserves’ anything, Adam is about as close as you can get to deserving recognition. Lets give honor where honor is due.

Adam has labored for three-and-a-half years towards earning an MDiv, all while serving full-time as director, teacher and pastor in Corvallis with Cornerstone School of Ministry . The real hero behind the man is Grace, the embodiment of her name who works tirelessly raising their four boys. (Funny story is that Kari and Grace were very close friends in college while Adam and I hardly knew each other, and conversed only sparingly. Only in the last 3 years of seminary, even while Kari and I no longer live in Corvallis, Adam and I have come to be extremely close friends — "of one soul," like Paul said of Timothy in Phil. 2:20.)

Theirs has not been an easy journey. More importantly, their marriage is a continual example of reciprocal love, being faithful and true to one another, and available to their kids, leading them well.

Congratulations Adam and Grace . Our prayers are with you. May God’s sweet grace shine brightly on you this Summer and provide opportunities to display the beauty of Jesus in all things.

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The Lord’s Supper: The Real Presence of Christ

"The Real Presence of Christ "
By Wayne Grudem

The Lord’s Supper is not simply an ordinary meal among human beings — it is a fellowship with Christ, in his presence and at his table. We must avoid the idea that any automatic or magical benefit comes from sharing in the Lord’s Supper, whether a person participates in faith or not. But when a person participates in faith, renewing and strengthening his or her own trust in Christ for salvation, and believing that the Holy Spirit will bring spiritual blessing through such participation, then certainly additional blessing may be expected.

We must be careful here to avoid the mistake of overreacting to Roman Catholic teaching and maintaining that the Lord’s Supper is merely symbolic and not a means of grace. Paul says, “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation (Gk. koinonia , “sharing,” “fellowship”) in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a participation [koinonia] in the body of Christ?” (1 Cor. 10:16 ).

Because there is such a sharing in the body and blood of Christ (apparently meaning a
sharing in the benefits of Christ’s body and blood given for us), the unity of believers is beautifully exhibited at the time of the Lord’s Supper. “Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread” (1 Cor. 10:17 ). And since we are participants at “the table of the Lord” (1 Cor. 10:21 ), Paul warns the Corinthians that they cannot participate in the Lord’s table and also participate in idol worship: “You cannot partake in the table of the Lord and the table of demons” (1 Cor. 10:21 ). There is a spiritual union among believers and with the Lord that is strengthened and solidified at the Lord’s Supper, and it is not to be taken lightly.

This is why the Corinthians were experiencing judgment for their abuse of the Lord’s Supper (1 Cor. 11:29-30 ). But if Paul says there will be judgment for wrong participation in
the Lord’s Supper, then certainly we should expect blessing for right participation in the
Lord’s Supper.

When we obey Jesus’ command , “Take, eat” (Matthew 26:26 ), and go through the physical activity of eating and drinking at the Lord’s table, our physical action pictures a corresponding spiritual nourishment, a nourishment of our soul that will occur when we participate in obedience and faith. Jesus says, “For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him” (John 6:55-56 ).

Certainly Jesus is not speaking of a literal eating of his flesh and blood . But if he is not speaking of a literal eating and drinking, then he must have in mind a spiritual participation in the benefits of the redemption he earns. The spiritual nourishment, so necessary for our souls, is both symbolized and experienced in our participation in the Lord’s Supper.

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God is concerned not only for the salvation of souls but also for the relief of poverty, hunger, and injustice

“God created both soul and body, and the resurrection of Jesus shows that he is going to redeem both the spiritual and the material. Therefore God is concerned not only for the salvation of souls but also for the relief of poverty, hunger, and injustice.

The gospel opens our eyes to the fact that all our wealth (even wealth for which we worked hard) is ultimately an unmerited gift from God. Therefore the person who does not generously give away his or her wealth to others is not merely lacking in compassion, but is unjust.

Christ wins our salvation through losing, achieves power through weakness and service, and comes to wealth through giving all away. Those who receive his salvation are not the strong and accomplished but those who admit they are weak and lost. We cannot look at the poor and the oppressed and callously call them to pull themselves out of their own difficulty. Jesus did not treat us that way.”

- The Gospel Coalition’s “Theological Vision for Ministry” (2007), Section 5e

[HT: Of First Importance ]

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Text + Context audio available

The audio from the Resurgence Text + Context conference is now available [as well as the sessions from the concurrent Acts29 boot camp].

I’m looking forward to being able to listen to whole messages I only caught glimpses of parts. Stirring Gospel-centered pastoral stuff.

Posted in Blog, Ekklesia, God-centered, Gospel, Ministry, Theology, missional | 1 Comment »