Blogging and Broken Computers

My computer is in the local HP shop this week.  Nothing internal, however.  The hinge to close the screen is poorly designed and has been slowly deteriorating since I bought it in January.  It’s a Compaq…so I don’t need to say much more.

So blogging will be slow this week and through the weekend. In the meantime, here’s some random thoughts or things that have come up over the past day or so:

• Wedding planning is really fun, especially when you are less than four months away.  I like details.  I think they like me, too.  But I love my bride-to-be, and I know that she loves me too.  What a blessing she is to me.
• We are studying Nehemiah for our staff Bible study here in South Africa.  It might be the best book on leadership ever written.
• I just bought Leading on Empty by Wayne Cordeiro.  It’s about watching for, recovering from, and avoiding burnout in ministry.  I’m almost 25 so I’m hoping to apply the watching for and avoiding parts.  The first 30 pages are very good.
• Jesus’ voice will raise the dead — every single person who has ever lived — and judge them (John 5:28-29).  That has implications for your life.
• Jesus’ intercession for us is the thing that is keeping us saved (Luke 22:31-32).
• I’m glad that my hope is not in a bunch of college kids who play football.  Otherwise after Nebraska’s game against Virginia Tech this past weekend, my life would be ruined.
• My time here in SA is almost done.  In the past 2 months, we have seen more gospel vision, passion, and fruit than in the previous 7 months combined.
• I really have a craving for tortilla chips and chunky salsa.

Sunday Spurgeon

From Morning and Evening:

I will sing of steadfast love and justice; to you, O LORD, I will make music.
- Psalm 101:1 (ESV)

Faith triumphs in trial. When reason is thrust into the inner prison, with her feet made fast in the stocks, faith makes the dungeon walls ring with her merry notes as she cries, “I will sing of mercy and of judgment. Unto thee, O Lord, will I sing.” Faith pulls the black mask from the face of trouble, and discovers the angel beneath. Faith looks up at the cloud, and sees that

“‘Tis big with mercy and shall break
In blessings on her head.”

There is a subject for song even in the judgments of God towards us. For, first, the trial is not so heavy as it might have been; next, the trouble is not so severe as we deserved to have borne; and our affliction is not so crushing as the burden which others have to carry. Faith sees that in her worst sorrow there is nothing penal; there is not a drop of God’s wrath in it; it is all sent in love. Faith discerns love gleaming like a jewel on the breast of an angry God. Faith says of her grief, “This is a badge of honour, for the child must feel the rod”; and then she sings of the sweet result of her sorrows, because they work her spiritual good. Nay, more, says Faith, “These light afflictions, which are but for a moment, work out for me a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” So Faith rides forth on the black horse, conquering and to conquer, trampling down carnal reason and fleshly sense, and chanting notes of victory amid the thickest of the fray.

“All I meet I find assists me
In my path to heavenly joy:
Where, though trials now attend me,
Trials never more annoy.

“Blest there with a weight of glory,
Still the path I’ll ne’er forget,
But, exulting, cry, it led me
To my blessed Saviour’s seat.”

Without Change, We Won’t Last

I was listening to “Mona Lisa (When the World Comes Down)” by The All-American Rejects earlier tonight.  There’s a line that caught my attention in the first verse.  Tyson Ritter, the band’s frontman, sings:

Without a change
Our lives will never last
‘Cause we’re going fast

This is such a small line in the context of the song, but it shows the world’s desire for change.  You can see it all over the media.  From diets to cars to fashion to philosophy to education to political candidates.  Everything is always “new” and offers some kind of “transformation.”

What the world needs is the change that Christ offers.  He can provide it because in him we find the changeless One.  “[The earth and heavens] will perish, but you remain…like a garment they will be changed.  But you are the same, and your years will have no end” (Heb. 1:11).

This changeless One, doesn’t leave us changeless though.  We need it, or we are doomed.  He gives the greatest change we could ever have.  “We all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image [that is, the image of God that sin has ruined] from one degree of glory to another.  For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit” (2 Cor. 3:18).

Without change, we definitely won’t last.  But every change that doesn’t come from the Lord will give way to the next best thing.  In Christ we find the greatest thing this universe has to offer.  The searching stops with him.

Personal Reflections on the Balance of Love and Truth

The last few days I’ve been thinking about how Jesus lived out this thing we call “grace and truth” (John 1:14).  Here are some raw thoughts, as they come to mind about this command we are to follow:

• I know that personally I lean more toward truth than love.  But with certain people, I can tend to be too loving and I fail to speak truth into their lives.  So, I’m not always loving.  But, I’m not always truthful either.  I’m striving, by the Spirit, for a proper balance.  I want to live in this tension according to the biblical standard, not the American Christian standard.
• There is no good news of the gospel if there is no terribly bad news that I need to be saved.  We need to preach to people that Christ came to justify sinners.  Not justify sin.
  
• Jonathan Edwards wrote, “The same eye that discerns the transcendent beauty of holiness, necessarily therein sees the exceeding odiousness of sin.”   In other words, the more we come to see and experience the glory and holiness of God, we will become more truthful about our own sin, because we can be truthful about God’s acceptance of us in Christ, that he is our righteousness.  And if we are honest about ourselves, the truth about us is pretty bad.  But Jesus, hallelujah, offers us very good news.
• The Bible is the most brutally honest book ever written.  At the same time it is filled with more hope than any other book ever written.
• True love for people doesn’t mean we make much of them so that they feel accommodated and well-liked.  It does mean that we make much of Jesus and point them to his majesty and splendor and the righteousness he offers.
• Being too loving might look like this: overlooking sin, ignoring/speaking against a truth claim because you are offended by that truth, making sure everyone gets along while the elephant is in the room, not speaking up when someone has incorrectly interpreted Scripture, accommodating unrepentant sinful lifestyles among believers, ignoring key parts of the gospel, such as a pastor avoiding God’s wrath or anger, penalsubstitutionary atonement, hell, etc.  The joyful and loving aspect of these sermons is that they end with the glorious news that God’s anger and our sin have been removed because of Jesus’ person and work.
• Being too truthful might look like this: continually raising your voice in debates, ignoring an argument because you don’t believe the person has credibility, harboring bitterness and resentment, not having the proper tone for a particular person/gender/audience, not taking into account a person’s intention or motive, never forgiving, never granting mercy and grace.
• I think that the majority of Christians lean more toward love (particularly in America).  I think this is because Christians, at large, want to be liked, loved, and at peace with others and they do not want to create conflict in relationships or make people feel uncomfortable or convicted.
• In any conversation or discussion about theology, practical living, relationships, and morals or ethics, either man or God will be offended.  It’s inevitable.  The biggest fear in my life is that I would do something to offend God — and I fail at that daily.
• Some Christians think love always trumps truth.  Other Christians think truth always trumps love.  Instead, Paul wrote, “The aim of our charge is love, that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith” (1 Tim. 1:5).  John Piper has written, “Notice the order: ‘instruction’ [or 'charge' in the ESV] is the foundation and leads to ‘love’ through purity and faith. Or again consider the order in 1 Peter 1:22, ‘You have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren.’ Again, truth precedes and transforms the soul for the sake of love. Even in the spectacular revelation of 1 John 4:8 that ‘God is love,’ ‘God is‘ provides the foundation for ‘God is love.’”  Love is the overflow we experience from learning truth.  If you do not have truth, there will be no love.  If you do not have love, your truth is actually false.
• Disagreeing with someone or saying, “You’re wrong,” is not always unloving, though it can be depending on the motive and intention of the heart.  I feel that in the Church in America, disagreements have been made to incorrectly seem as unloving acts.
• Mark Driscoll has said, “Hard words produce soft people.  Soft words produce hard people.  I want you to be soft people.”  Proverbs 27:6 says, “Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy.”  Psalm 141:5a says, “Let a righteous man strike me — it is a kindness; let him rebuke me — it is oil for my head.”  The Bible seems to affirm this.  Your best friends are those who are able to lovingly wound your soul so that you might become more like Jesus.
• Being rebuked is not considered a “loving” thing, nor does it have a positive connotation, in our relativist, post-Christian culture.  Though, we must do it so that the man of God may be competent and well-equipped (2 Tim. 3:15).  By God’s grace, I’m learning how to accept rebuke, reproof, and correction.
• Jesus mocked the self-righteous “religious” people of his day, represented by the Pharisees (see, among others, Matthew 23 and Luke 11).  Jesus was frequently abrasive and harsh with these people who thought they didn’t need him.
• Jesus extended compassion to those who understood their total depravity and need for God’s righteousness and not their own (e.g.Zacchaeus in Luke 19; the woman at the well in John 4; the adulterous woman in John 8; the one grateful leper in Luke 17).  Jesus was not abrasive and harsh with these people who knew they needed him.
• Martin Luther said, “You can never be too gentle with the sheep, and never too harsh with the wolves.”  The sheep are all those who profess Christ and live a life of repentance.  The wolves are all those who live legalistic, self-righteous lives and profess their own righteousness before God while preaching the same to others (see Isa. 64:6 and Phil 3:1-11).
• God frequently disciplines his sheep in harsh ways.  Hebrews 12:5-6 says, “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him.  For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”  Sometimes this means cancer for your mom.  Sometimes this means a fatal car accident for your spouse.  Sometimes this means a tornado ripping through your town and destroying a neighborhood.  Sometimes this means losing your job or failing to find a new job.  People ask, “How can a loving God let (insert trial here) happen?”  The very short answer is: “Because he loves you and he wants you to grow through suffering.”  In the same way, parents discipline their children.  Spanking appeared as if it was the most unloving thing that my mother could have done to me.  As I cried and sat in my room and had to think about what I did, I knew that in the long run, it would turn out for my ultimate good.  I was rebuked and led to repentance.  God disciplines his children, very truthfully, but it is done with a Fatherly love.  It doesn’t always seem “nice” and appear “loving” to us, but that’s because God has a better plan and purpose and his highest pleasure is to glorify himself.  He does not operate according to our pleasures.  “Our God is in the heavens; he does whatever he pleases” (Ps. 115:3).  He makes much of himself, his glory, and his purpose, and in turn, it turns out for our good (Rom. 8:28).  In the same way, we reproof and correct our fellow believers, not as disciplinary parents, but as loving friends who may notice doctrinal errors, sinful patterns, self-righteous attitudes, relational problems, or other hindrances to living the abundant life that Jesus offered.
• In addition to this, Charles Spurgeon wrote, “Our heavenly Father often draws us with the cords of love; but ah! how backward we are to run toward Him…But it is a love which takes no denial.  If we obey not the gentle drawings of His love, He will send affliction to drive us into closer intimacy with Himself.  Have us nearer He will.”
• The gospel is not only about kind and loving words from Jesus toward sinners.   It is that.  But that’s not all it is.   C.S. Lewis said, “Love is something more splendid and stern than mere kindness.”  This gospel of love comes with hard demands of repentance and self-denial.  The gospel is about repentance.  Bonhoeffer says that grace without discipleship (i.e. repentance and self-denial) is cheap grace.  Cheap grace is grace that justifies sin and not the sinner.  It’s the attitude of Paul’s “questioner” in Romans 6:1-4.  This means we need to be honest with ourselves.  This means we need to be honest with others.  Christians both practice this and preach this.  In John 8 concerning the woman caught in adultery, Jesus spoke very gently and compassionately to her, because she didn’t believe herself to be self-righteous like the Pharisees.  Nevertheless, he gave her the hard command, “Go, and from now on sin no more” (v. 11).  There is grace and truth.  Forgiveness with the call to a lifestyle change.  That is not a command the American Church likes to heed.  Jesus told the disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Mark 8:35).  This is a call to a different mindset, worldview, and lifestyle.  Most churches do not teach discipleship this way.  We love the comfort of our den in America, not the long, cold nights on the battlefield.  Two verses before that, Jesus called Peter “Satan” when Peter tried to stop Jesus from suffering and dying (v. 33).  Instead of glossing over Peter’s giving in to Satan’s temptation, Jesus confronts him nose-to-nose.  I’m sure Peter was a little freaked out at this because calling someone “Satan” certainly doesn’t appear loving.  But Peter repented, after many other falls, and became one of the early church fathers.  Finally, Jesus lovingly rebuked the disciples, sometimes avoiding their questions to get to the deeper matter: sin.  This happened on many occasions because of their pride, immaturity, and failure to understand his teachings.
• Finally, let’s consider pastors.  Jesus is our Prophet, Priest, and King.  Pastors (“elders”) in the church reflect this.  Prophets shepherd the flock in that they teach sound doctrine, warn against false doctrine, call people to repentance both publicly and privately.  These pastors love doctrine, theology, apologetics, preaching, teaching, etc.  Priests shepherd the flock in that they comfort the hurting, give biblical counsel, and extend mercy and grace to those who are in need.  These pastors lead community groups, meet one-on-one with people, visit the sick in the hospital, etc.  Kings shepherd the flock in that they organize, select leaders, delegate, and create and oversee policies.  These pastors love administrative duties, job descriptions, performance reviews, handling finances, meetings, etc.  Some people may consider the prophets unloving because they point out sin and do it from the pulpit.  Some say the priests are not truthful enough because they give practical biblical wisdom over a cup of coffee.  Some argue that the kings are unloving because they focus too much on policies and finances instead of people.  Prophets want to protect the flock from error in belief and behavior.  Priests want to protect the flock from doubt and depression.  Kings want to protect the flock by making sure that the church is above reproach with finances, personnel, and policies.  Different pastors have different roles, and true pastors who follow Jesus, though not perfect, do what they do because they love God’s people.  It simply looks differently for different pastors in different roles.

That’s a lot.  Thanks for reading.  For more on this, and to hear from men who are older and wiser than I am, I would recommend this article by Piper as well as this conference message by Driscoll.

Weekly Spurgeon

From Morning and Evening

“Have faith in God.”
- Mark 11:22

Faith is the foot of the soul by which it can march along the road of the commandments. Love can make the feet move more swiftly; but faith is the foot which carries the soul. Faith is the oil enabling the wheels of holy devotion and of earnest piety to move well; and without faith the wheels are taken from the chariot, and we drag heavily. With faith I can do all things; without faith I shall neither have the inclination nor the power to do anything in the service of God. If you would find the men who serve God the best, you must look for the men of the most faith. Little faith will save a man, but little faith cannot do great things for God. Poor Little Faith could not have fought “Apollyon;” it needed “Christian” to do that. Poor Little Faith could not have slain “Giant Despair;” it required “Great Heart’s” arm to knock that monster down. Little faith will go to heaven most certainly, but it often has to hide itself in a nut shell, and it frequently loses all but its jewels. Little Faith says, “It is a rough road, beset with sharp thorns, and full of dangers; I am afraid to go;” but Great Faith remembers the promise, “Thy shoes shall be iron and brass; as thy days, so shall thy strength be:” and so she boldly ventures. Little Faith stands desponding, mingling her tears with the flood; but Great Faith sings, “When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee:” and she fords the stream at once. Would you be comfortable and happy? Would you enjoy religion? Would you have the religion of cheerfulness and not that of gloom? Then “have faith in God.” If you love darkness, and are satisfied to dwell in gloom and misery, then be content with little faith; but if you love the sunshine, and would sing songs of rejoicing, covet earnestly this best gift, “great faith.”

Weekly Spurgeon

From Morning and Evening:

“To him be glory both now and for ever.”
- 2 Peter 3:18

Heaven will be full of the ceaseless praises of Jesus. Eternity! thine unnumbered years shall speed their everlasting course, but for ever and for ever, “to him be glory.” Is he not a “Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek?” “To him be glory.” Is he not king for ever? –King of kings and Lord of lords, the everlasting Father? “To him be glory for ever.” Never shall his praises cease. That which was bought with blood deserves to last while immortality endures. The glory of the cross must never be eclipsed; the lustre of the grave and of the resurrection must never be dimmed. O Jesus! thou shalt be praised for ever. Long as immortal spirits live–long as the Father’s throne endures–for ever, for ever, unto thee shall be glory. Believer, you are anticipating the time when you shall join the saints above in ascribing all glory to Jesus; but are you glorifying him now? The apostle’s words are, “To him be glory both now and for ever.” Will you not this day make it your prayer? “Lord, help me to glorify thee; I am poor, help me to glorify thee by contentment; I am sick, help me to give thee honour by patience; I have talents, help me to extol thee by spending them for thee; I have time, Lord, help me to redeem it, that I may serve thee; I have a heart to feel, Lord, let that heart feel no love but thine, and glow with no flame but affection for thee; I have a head to think, Lord, help me to think of thee and for thee; thou hast put me in this world for something, Lord, show me what that is, and help me to work out my life purpose: I cannot do much, but as the widow put in her two mites, which were all her living, so, Lord, I cast my time and eternity too into thy treasury; I am all thine; take me, and enable me to glorify thee now, in all that I say, in all that I do, and with all that I have.”

Being a Debtor to Love

Today, I read Charles Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening devotional from the morning of February 3.  As I think about wrestling to desire God as I’m here in Africa, and honestly, feeling guilty for not enjoying doing ministry (I hate that phrase but can’t think of a better way to put it), this meditation has comforted my heart.

So often, I think, Christians can have a condescending tone or demeanor if another Christian isn’t enjoying “ministry” and thus give the implication that if we aren’t enjoying ministry we must be terrible Christians.  This hasn’t been my case with particular people, but I do think it’s a valid generalization.  The frustrating thing is that I already know I’m a terrible Christian so it’s not so much of a comfort to receive such “encouragement” from brothers or sisters.  I remember Mark Driscoll saying once, “There has been more than one time that I don’t want to go to work.”  Driscoll, as you know, is a pastor.  I’m sure people thought during that sermon, “Oh, that’s terrible.   He should want to go serve the Lord everyday.”  The truth is, we are sinful (and so are “ministers”) and we can’t escape it.  Every day we feel what Paul did when he wrote, “I do not understand my own actions.  For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate” (Rom. 7:15).  If that isn’t every Christian’s battle!

The way to not feel guilty is to cling to the truth that Jesus already paid the debt we could not pay.  He paid for the days we don’t enjoy serving him.  He paid for the bad attitudes and snide comments.  He paid for the cold heart toward the lost, poor, broken, homeless, and hungry.  He paid for the moments of anger and bitterness and resentment.  He paid for every hurtful word spoken and every malicious intention felt.  He paid for the days we don’t want to get out of bed.  He even paid for false confessions and repentances we make.  He paid for it all.

Paul says in Romans 8:12-13, “So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.  For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”  That is the verse Spurgeon meditates on in the devotional.  We aren’t debtors to our sin.  We aren’t debtors to God’s justice.  We do not owe God’s justice anything, if we are in Christ.  Jesus paid it all.

My favorite quote from Spurgeon in his meditation is: “Consider how much you owe to his forgiving grace, that after ten thousand affronts He loves you as infinitely as ever…Consider what you owe to His immutability.  Though you have changed a thousand times, He has not changed once.”

Because of God’s love, forgiveness, grace, and mercy, I should desire him, I should be motivated to work for him.  It won’t always be easy or fun.  But, if I am treasuring my Savior who died on the cross for every evil thought, word, and deed, life will be fulfilling and satisfying, because it will be grounded in him.  I will be a debtor, not to “Christian duty,” not to the slave-master flesh, but to loving and delighting in him because of what he did for me.

Distinguishing Between Love and Lust

Augustine of Hippo, the great Christian theologian of the 4th Century, struggled mightily with sexual addiction before his conversion to Jesus.  In his autobiography, Confessions, he writes about his problem between figuring out what was love and what was lust in his early life:

Bodily desire, like morass, and adolescent sex welling up within me exuded mists which clouded over and obscured my heart, so that I could not distinguish the clear light of true love from the murk of lust.

I doubt that this is uncommon for most people — especially for nonbelievers, but for Christians as well.  So often we “feel” with our bodies and seldom understand what true love is.

In Proverbs, Solomon says to his son, “For the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil, but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.  Her feet go down to death; her steps follow the path to Sheol; she does not ponder the path of life; her ways wander, and she does not know it” (5:3-6).  Obviously, this “love” is really love.  It’s lust.  It’s deceptive.  It’s adulterous (7:19).  This “love” gets you place in line to hell.  This “love” will lead to death, not an abundant life.  It seeks to steal, kill, and destroy true happiness.

I’m not a counselor, or a doctor, or a pastor  yet.  But I know that true romantic love is rooted in the gospel of Christ.  It is reflective of Ephesians 5:22-33.  True love is about service and sacrifice and joy and delight and rejoicing in Christ, not the person.  C.S. Lewis talked about gifts from the Lord being “the sunbeam” and God himself as the sun.  The beam from the sun is not to be delighted in, the sun is.  In the same way, God’s gifts are like sunbeams.  They lead us to the greater glory of God himself.  That is what true love should do.  Lust only distracts us from God and causes us to be idolaters.

Seek your satisfaction in Jesus above all things, and soon the murky fog of distinguishing between love and lust will clear into a bright summer day filled with heavenly delight and joy, not guilt and shame.

Weekly Spurgeon

From Morning and Evening

“And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king’s house.”
- 2 Samuel 11:2

At that hour David saw Bathsheba. We are never out of the reach of temptation. Both at home and abroad we are liable to meet with allurements to evil; the morning opens with peril, and the shades of evening find us still in jeopardy. They are well kept whom God keeps, but woe unto those who go forth into the world, or even dare to walk their own house unarmed. Those who think themselves secure are more exposed to danger than any others. The armour bearer of Sin is Self-confidence.

David should have been engaged in fighting the Lord’s battles, instead of which he tarried at Jerusalem, and gave himself up to luxurious repose, for he arose from his bed at eventide. Idleness and luxury are the devil’s jackals, and find him abundant prey. In stagnant waters noxious creatures swarm, and neglected soil soon yields a dense tangle of weeds and briars. O for the constraining love of Jesus to keep us active and useful! When I see the King of Israel sluggishly leaving his couch at the close of the day, and falling at once into temptation, let me take warning, and set holy watchfulness to guard the door.

Is it possible that the king had mounted his housetop for retirement and devotion? If so, what a caution is given us to count no place, however secret, a sanctuary from sin! While our hearts are so like a tinderbox, and sparks so plentiful, we had need use all diligence in all places to prevent a blaze. Satan can climb housetops, and enter closets, and even if we could shut out that foul fiend, our own corruptions are enough to work our ruin unless grace prevent. Reader, beware of evening temptations. Be not secure. The sun is down but sin is up. We need a watchman for the night as well as a guardian for the day. O blessed Spirit, keep us from all evil this night. Amen.

The Christian Life is All of Grace

In 1 Timothy 1:11-17, Paul uses some key vocabulary to make it unmistakeably plain to the reader that the Christian life, and its service, is all of grace and none of personal merit.  The gospel-centered life is all about Christ.  We decrease as we make Christ look great.  Listen to Paul.  He writes:

• That he has been entrusted with the gospel (v. 11).
• God has given him strength and appointed him to service (v. 12).
• That he has received mercy (vv. 13, 16)
• The grace of the Lord has overflowed for him (v. 14).
• He has faith and love in Christ (v. 14).
• That Jesus came to save helpless sinners (v. 15).
• That he received mercy so that Jesus might display perfect patience (v. 16).
• That all honor and glory belongs to “the king of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God” (v. 17).

The Christian life is all of grace.  Let us love and serve and teach and correct by God’s grace.  When this happens, we show Jesus to be the most supremely valuable treasure in the universe.