Bible Reading Plans for the New Year

The New Year is almost upon us! You may be thinking about starting up a Bible reading plan, which is a great idea. Though I sometimes chafe at a scheduled reading plan, I do know that I read more, and more often, when I have a plan of some kind.

I've written about Bible reading plans before (here and here), but these are a couple of quick links to get you started:

Bible Reading Plans at Discipleship Journal

Bible Reading Plans at ESV Online (see "devotions tab)

For the Love of God (an excellent devotional to go along with a Reading Plan)

Stephen Witmer gives some tips along with his Two-Year Plan:

If at all possible, read through the Bible using this plan together with other people. The fruit of reading through the Bible together as a church over the last couple years has been immense.

There will be some passages that you find boring and difficult. Remember 2 Timothy 3.16-17 as you read these passages: “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be equipped for every good work.” Ask yourself why God breathed out this particular passage, and how it is profitable for you.

Do the whole reading for each day, but look for a “best thought” for each day—something you can meditate on throughout the rest of the day, perhaps a verse you can memorize, something that is particularly memorable. This way, you are left with more than a vague feeling of what you read in the morning.

As you come to the Word each morning, ask God to open your eyes to its splendor. Psalm 119.18: “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.” Psalm 119.36: “Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain!” Psalm 90.14: “Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.”

Let your prayers for others emerge out of what you read. Don’t choose between praying and reading Scripture—do both! After you read a passage, pray that passage for yourself and for those you love.

Some readings will be longer and others will be shorter. Take advantage of the shorter readings. Read them more carefully and meditatively. Don’t just read; reflect, ask questions, pray for answers, engage. In Psalm 119.48, the psalmist says that he meditates on the Lord’s statutes.

Look for ways in which you can practically live out what you’re reading. James 1.22: “But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.”

Because God Is God

Leon Morris:

In the last resort forgiveness is always due to God’s being what he is, and not to anything that man may do. Because God is God, he must react in the strongest manner to man’s sin, and thus we reach the concept of the divine wrath. But because God is God, wrath cannot be the last word. ‘The Lord is good; his mercy endureth forever’ (Ps. 100:5).

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Eagerly Waiting

Did you notice this from this past Sunday’s closing hymn “Angels from the Realms of Glory”?

Saints before the altar bending,

Watching long in hope and fear,

Suddenly the Lord, descending

In His temple shall appear:

Come and worship, Come and worship;

Worship Christ, the newborn King.

I asked Lance to sing this because it’s the only carol I know that references Simeon and Anna directly (though “Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus” which I quoted at the end, is also deeply connected to their stories/words). But stop and think of what’s going on here. We hear lines 1 and 2 and can be comfortably located entirely within Luke 2, but though lines 3 and 4 speaks of his appearance in the temple, it uses words (“suddenly” and “descending”) that yank us out of Luke 2 and into Jesus’ second coming. Furthermore, it would not be incorrect to say that Jesus “appeared” to Simeon and Anna (remember the emphasis on seeing in 2:26, 30), but “appear” has so much greater eschatological resonance. For example:

Titus 2:13
waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,

2 Timothy 4:8
Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.

Hebrews 9:28
so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

Were not Simeon and Anna and their “tribe”(“she began… to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem”) showing us what eagerly waiting for his appearing looks like? This song compels us to place ourselves in lines 1 and 2 of this carol’s verse, because we are to be like Simeon and Anna in this respect. Does the Bible ever tell us explicitly to emulate Simeon and Anna? Some would say no. We would say yes: not only because Luke and the Holy Spirit meant the narrative to be taken that way, but that this is corroborated by the fact that the rest of the NT tells us to be eager, faithful waiters, the kind of people who could sing/pray “Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus.”

We are more familiar with connections to the second coming being made with another “first arrival” to the temple—Jesus’ triumphal entry—but this carol brilliantly bookends his very first arrival in the temple with his last.

Christmas Isn't Ever Over

Elyse Fitzpatrick:

The incarnation tells us that Christmas isn’t ever over. When we’ve packed up all the decorations and taken back all the mistaken gifts, he’ll still be the God/Man, interceding for us, bearing our flesh. Christmas will never end for Jesus: He’s eternally transformed.

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In the First Light

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Sad News

Please pray for the president of Trinity International University, our denomination's college and seminary (Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) in Deerfield, Illinois.

Update from the TIU communications team:

Trinity International University President Craig Williford and his wife Carolyn are grieving the death of their son Robb, who died unexpectedly from a rare and deadly strain of the flu on the morning of December 23, 2010. He was 35. Please join the Trinity community in prayer for the entire family, including Robb’s wife Tricia and their two young sons, Tucker (5) and Tyler (3). Craig and Carolyn are with their family in Colorado as they grieve this tragedy.

A memorial service will be held Thursday, December 30, 2010 at 6:30 p.m. at South Fellowship Church, 6560 South Broadway, Littleton, Colorado 80121

Christmas and Easter

John Wilson, editor of Books & Culture, writing in the Wall Street Journal:

Christmas brings us face-to-face with the mystery of the Incarnation—the preposterous claim that the creator of the universe sent his son (but how could he have a "son"?) to be born of a virgin (what?), both fully man and fully God: "Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness," as we read in Paul's letter to the Philippians.

This claim we call the Incarnation—and celebrate at Christmas—can't be separated from "the paschal mystery of death and resurrection." The babe in swaddling clothes comes with a mission to fulfill. And as we sing carols for his birth, we see him taken down from the cross, wrapped in "a clean linen cloth," and laid in the tomb of a friend. That's the cloth that is left behind in the empty tomb on Resurrection morning.

Easter is implicit in Christmas, and Christmas is implicit in Easter. When we celebrate the one, we celebrate the other, looking forward to the restoration of all things.

Total Commitment

Revelation 3:15-16

¹⁵ I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! ¹⁶ So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.

John Stott:

The idea of being on fire for Christ will strike some people as dangerous emotionalism. ‘Surely,’ they will say, ‘we are not meant to go to extremes? You are not asking us to become hot-gospel fanatics?’ Well, wait a minute. It depends what you mean. If by ‘fanaticism’ you really mean ‘wholeheartedness,’ then Christianity is a fanatical religion and every Christian should be a fanatic. But fanaticism is not wholeheartedness, nor is wholeheartedness fanaticism. Fanaticism is an unreasoning and unintelligent wholeheartedness. It is the running away of the heart with the head. At the end of a statement prepared for a conference on science, philosophy and religion at Princeton University in 1940 came these words: ‘Commitment without reflection is fanaticism in action; but reflection without commitment is the paralysis of all action.’ What Jesus Christ desires and deserves is the reflection which leads to commitment and the commitment which is born of reflection. This is the meaning of wholeheartedness, of being aflame for God.

One longs today to see robust and virile men and women bringing to Jesus Christ their thoughtful and their total commitment. Jesus Christ asks for this. He even says that if we will not be hot, he would prefer us cold to lukewarm. Better be frigid than tepid, he implies. His meaning is not far to seek. If he is true, if he is the Son of God who died for the sins of men, if Christmas Day, Good Friday and Easter Day are more than meaningless anniversaries, then nothing less than our wholehearted commitment to Christ will do. I must put him first in my private and public life, seeking his glory and obeying his will. Better be icy in my indifference or go into active opposition to him than insult him with an insipid compromise which nauseates him!

Source

Upgrading Your Christianity?

Colin Smith:

In our time, the Gospel has widely been repackaged and redefined as simply a decision to accept Jesus as Savior, but somehow it is disconnected from any meaningful change in a person’s life…

Rush Hour from The Orchard Evangelical Free Chu on Vimeo.

Music: Gift or God?

Bob Kauflin:

Music turns from a gift to a god when we look to it for the joy, comfort, power & satisfaction only God can give. Here are 5 indicators that might be happening.

1. We choose to attend a church or a meeting based on the music rather than the preaching of the gospel and God’s word.
Nowhere in the Bible are we told that the church is to gather around music. We gather around the crucified and risen Savior, Jesus Christ. We gather to hear God’s Word in the Spirit’s power. Eph. 2:13-14 says the blood of Christ unites us, not music.

2. We can’t worship in song apart from a particular song, style, leader, or sound.
Anytime I say, I can’t worship unless X happens, or X is present, unless X is the death of our Savior on the cross for our sins or the power of his Spirit, we are engaging in idolatry. At that moment, X is more important to us than God’s command to love Him with our whole heart, soul, mind and strength. That doesn’t mean that there are no bad songs, lousy leaders, or inappropriate styles. But being discerning is different from being unable to worship God at all.

3. We think music leads us into or brings God’s presence.
Here’s what music can do. It can affect us emotionally. Create a mood. Soften our hearts so that we listen more intently. Help us hear words differently. Distract us from what’s going on. Help us focus on what’s going on. Help us remember words. And more.

Here’s what music can’t do. Make God more present. Bring God’s presence down. Bring us into God’s presence. Manipulate God. (Heb. 10:19-22; 1 Tim. 2:5). There is only one mediator, and it’s not a song, style, leader, or sound. It’s Jesus Christ.

4. Poor musical performance leads us to sin against other band members or the musicians leading us.
We’re hardly representing God’s heart when we get angry, frustrated, or impatient with musicians who don’t play up to our standards. God’s standards are perfection, and they’ve been met in Jesus Christ who lived a perfect life in our place and died as our substitute, enduring the wrath of God in our place. ALL our offerings, no matter how well or poorly offered, are perfected through the once and for all offering of the Savior. We can strive for excellence to serve others, while extended to others the same grace we’ve received.

5. A love for music has replaced a love for the things of God.
It’s possible to listen to music that’s destroying your soul and be completely dull to it. To become enslaved by an idol and you feel like you’re breaking free. In his confessions, Augustine said “For he loves thee too little who loves along with thee anything else that he does not love for thy sake.” I have no doubt we love music. But do we love music for God’s sake or for ours?

To sum up:
Music is useful, but not necessary.
Music is good. But Jesus is better.
Music is a gift, but not a god.
Music isn’t my life. Christ is.

The gifts of God are meant to deepen our relationship with God and create fresh affection for him. Not replace him.

May we enjoy and make music to the fullest of our abilities, all for the glory of the one who gave it to us to enjoy in the first place.

The Wonder of All Wonders

Dietrich Bonhoeffer:

No priest, no theologian stood at the manger of Bethlehem. And yet all Christian theology has its origin in the wonder of all wonders: that God became human. Holy theology arises from knees bent before the mystery of the divine child in the stable.

Without the holy night, there is no theology. "God is revealed in flesh," the God-human Jesus Christ—that is the holy mystery that theology came into being to protect and preserve. How we fail to understand when we think that the task of theology is to solve the mystery of God, to drag it down to the flat, ordinary wisdom of human experience and reason! Its sole office is to preserve the miracle as miracle, to comprehend, defend, and glorify God's mystery precisely as mystery. This and nothing else, therefore, is what the early church meant when, with never flagging zeal, it dealt with the mystery of the Trinity and the person of Jesus Christ … . If Christmas time cannot ignite within us again something like a love for holy theology, so that we—captured and compelled by the wonder of the manger of the Son of God—must reverently reflect on the mysteries of God, then it must be that the glow of the divine mysteries has also been extinguished in our heart and has died out.

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Christmas Isn't Just for the Healthy and Happy

In this past Sunday's sermon on Mary's song in Luke 1:46-55, I made the point that Christmas is for those who, like Mary, are servants of God in humble circumstances. It's not a holiday only for the prominent and prosperous.

Here's an article that makes the same point at greater length. Here's a portion, but you can click through the link to read it all.

Matt Redmond:

Not too long ago, I heard from someone about how difficult Christmas would be because of some heartbreak in their family. There was utter hopelessness and devastation. Christmas would be impossible to enjoy because of the freshness of this pain. It’s been a story very hard to forget.

I get it. I mean, it makes sense on the level of Christmas being a time in which there is a lot of heavily concentrated family time. The holidays can be tense in even the best of circumstances. Maneuvering through the landmines of various personalities can be hard even if there is no cancer, divorce or empty seat at the table. What makes it the most wonderful time of the year is also what makes it the most brutal time of the year. My own family has not been immune to this phenomenon.

But allow me to push back against this idea a little. Gently. I think we have it all backwards. We have it sunk deep into our collective cultural consciousness that Christmas is for the happy people. You know, those with idyllic family situations enjoyed around stocking-strewn hearth dreams. Christmas is for healthy people who laugh easily and at all the right times, right? The successful and the beautiful, who live in suburban bliss, can easily enjoy the holidays. They have not gotten lost on the way because of the GPS they got last year. They are beaming after watching a Christmas classic curled up on the couch as a family in front of their ginormous flat-screen. We live and act as if this is who should be enjoying Christmas.

But this is backwards. Christmas—the great story of the incarnation of the Rescuer—is for everyone, especially those who need a rescue. Jesus was born as a baby to know the pain and sympathize with our weaknesses. Jesus was made to be like us so that in his resurrection we can be made like him; free from the fear of death and the pain of loss.

Not Just Shoeboxes

We participate in the Operation Christmas Child project through Samaritan's Purse, but did you know that it's about much more than gifts? There is a significant dimension of evangelism and discipleship in this ministry. You can read more here, and watch the video below.

A Different Nativity Scene

Tomorrow our church will take part in a "Living Nativity" in our town square during its second annual Christmas festival.

Here's a thought-provoking alternative:

The baby Jesus is in the manger to the left, but everyone else is huddled to the right-- around a TV. This was done by a Christian, not to mock the biblical story, but to make a point about how eagerly we ignore Jesus Christ at this time of year (or any other, for that matter).

I think we'll stick with the original, but I like the message here.

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A Gift Idea

C. J. Mahaney:

By using words that are carefully and skillfully chosen, we can give the gift of grace to others. And Christmas provides us with many opportunities for conversations with a variety of friends and family. But are you prepared?

The Apostle Paul writes, “let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear” (Ephesians 4:29).

This promise is stunning! By carefully choosing my words I can give grace to those I care for.

*****

So what words fit a particular occasion? Consideration for one we are conversing with must inform our words. So before I speak I must observe and listen. I must ask questions. I must take an interest in them.

• If they are Christians, are there evidences of grace I can draw their attention to?
• If they are not Christians, are there evidences of common grace in their life?
• Is this person experiencing prosperity?
• Or is this person experiencing adversity?
• If they are suffering I want to give them comforting grace through my words.
• If they are weary, I want to give them sustaining grace through my words.
• And to all, when and where appropriate, I want to share the gospel, for that is the most effective way to give grace through my words.

So here is my point. Buying the appropriate Christmas gift for someone requires that we know and study them. But this is no less true of our conversations.

So as you consider certain individuals, and seek to buy meaningful gifts for them, also consider how you can give them grace through your words.

Preparing the Soil, Preparing the Soul

2 Corinthians 4:16-18

¹⁶ So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. ¹⁷ For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, ¹⁸ as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

Richard Sibbes:

Glory follows afflictions, not as the day follows the night but as the spring follows the winter; for the winter prepares the earth for the spring, so do afflictions sanctified prepare the soul for glory.

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Affliction

I spent some time in Psalm 119 this morning, and it was interesting to me to put together the verses that talk about affliction. I’ve assembled them in a sort of chronology of suffering.

In the middle of suffering, a cry for help

¹⁰⁷ I am severely afflicted;

give me life, O Lord, according to your word!

Our instinctive appeal for deliverance

¹⁵³ Look on my affliction and deliver me,

for I do not forget your law.

Reflecting on the sovereign goodness of God

⁷⁵ I know, O Lord, that your rules are righteous,

and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.

Finding comfort even as suffering continues

⁵⁰ This is my comfort in my affliction,

that your promise gives me life.

Looking back at how God’s Word kept you going

⁹² If your law had not been my delight,

I would have perished in my affliction.

In hindsight, a learning experience

⁷¹ It is good for me that I was afflicted,

that I might learn your statutes.

Going forward, a new level of obedience and devotion

⁶⁷ Before I was afflicted I went astray,

but now I keep your word.

An Irreconcilable War

William Gurnall:

The Christian is to proclaim and initiate an irreconcilable war against his choice sins. Those nearest his heart must now be trampled under his feet. This takes great courage and resolution. O how a lust will plead for itself! Satan pleads: ‘Is it not just a little one, O spare it!’ He will flatter the soul with the secrecy of it: ‘You can have it, and your honour also.’ If this does not work, Satan will try to get you to wait just a little while for its execution. Do not be deceived by this strategy. Most lusts that have received a delay in execution will eventually obtain a full pardon and regain full favor with your soul. It takes great resolution to break through such violent pleading and bring your lust to full execution. We must walk with a single purpose, without an eye on the world’s glitter. We must stand fixed to heaven’s principles and so prove our citizenship in heaven by our faithfulness to the truth.

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You Can Change #37 (Chapter 4)

From page 69 of You Can Change:

Human beings are always interpreters and always worshipers. We're interpreters who form explanations for what's happening to us. And we were made by God to worship him; so worship is hard-wired into our being.

There is a two-fold problem in the heart: what we think or trust and what we desire or worship. Sin happens when we don't trust God above everything (when we interpret in the wrong way) and when we don't desire God above everything (when we worship the wrong thing). Sin happens when we believe lies about God instead of God's Word and when we worship idols instead of worshiping God.

I love it when you can cover this much territory with a just a couple of simple categories. This really gets at a lot of what goes on in our heads and hearts that ends up as sin in our lives.

This can become a helpful diagnostic for when we are confused, perplexed, or even angry with God. How am I interpreting my circumstances? Am I making assumptions or jumping to conclusions about God and his purposes that are inconsistent with what he has revealed and promised in Scripture?

Or try this when you are fighting a particular temptation or struggling with contentment. What am I desiring here? What is it that I really want? The friction is probably the result of God's holy standard going against the grain of my sinful desires.

As Tim Chester concludes the chapter, he says the answer to the problem of bad interpretation is faith, and the answer to bad worship is repentance. Though he is going to elaborate on these in coming chapters, I think it will be practical for us to apply these right away.

Can you give an example of when you interpreted your circumstances poorly (not according to God's Word, his promises)?

Can you give an example of identifying an idols in your life by tracing in through your desires?

How can we help each other be better interpreters and worshipers?

Note: I'll be taking a break from blogging on You Can Change until mid-January, since our last small group meeting for this calendar year is this Sunday, December 5, with our next meeting with discussion on You Can Change being on January 30.

In the meantime the blog itself will continue with its regular irregularity.

Repentance Is Worship

Graham Kendrick:

We do not always think of repentance as worship, but it can be much easier to sing a rousing hymn than to turn away from our favorite sin. A sinful act involves worship of the wrong kind, submitting ourselves at that moment to serve the appetites of our pride or lust, and so repentance is literally a transfer of our worship back to the One who rightfully owns it. . . . . Worship has been misunderstood as something that arises from a feeling which “comes upon you,” but it is vital that we understand that it is rooted in a conscious act of the will, to serve and obey the Lord Jesus Christ. The feelings, the joy of having been forgiven, follow on as a consequence of our reunion with him.

Note that Kendrick is not saying that love is a merely rational choice. When he says worship is "rooted in a conscious act of the will, to serve and obey the Lord Jesus Christ," he is saying that worship is deeply connected to discipleship. We cannot say we adore him if we have ignored his call to leave everything else to come and follow him.

Source

You Can Change #36 (Chapter 4)

Tim Chester, in You Can Change:

I used to think of myself as that calm, gentle person-- the 7:30 [devotional time] me-- and concluded I was pretty godly! If I'm provoked to sin, then the problem must be whatever provoked me. But I've come to realize that the real me is the person who is revealed when the sinful desires of my heart are exposed by trying circumstances and annoying people. The real me is revealed when I'm too tired to keep up the pretense. (68)

This section of chapter four is called "My Circumstances Trigger My Heart." That's a good way to put it. We need to recognize the factors that lead us into sin, but the bottom line is whether or not we respond in obedience and faith, or in disobedience and disbelief.

We'd much rather point to the external factors ("The woman you gave me..."), than point to our own responsibility and failure. We even convince ourselves that person who is a sinner is not the real me.

What are we afraid of? Facing the ugliness of our own hearts? The sad reality of our daily sins and shortcomings? Why should this be daunting if we have the gospel?

Ignoring the facts will not help us grow. Committing to daily habits of confession, repentance, and faith, all grounded in the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ-- that makes it possible for us to be honest with ourselves and not go crazy.

What are the circumstances or times of day that reveal the best and worst of your heart?

Are there certain people that bring out the worst in you?

Can you identify what's wrong with you, not just with them?

Are these attitudes and responses the kinds of things that Jesus died for?

Bridge to Nowhere

From The Big Picture:

A partially illuminated bridge to nowhere sits in the middle of the the Yalu River, which separates the North Korean border town of Siniuju (opposite bank, in darkness) from Dandong in northeast China's Liaoning province on November 24, 2010 in Dandong. The Yalu River bridge, also known as the no-name bridge, remains standing reaching only halfway across the river after it was bombed by the U.S. in 1950 during the Korean War and eventually dismantled from its own side by North Korea shortly after the Korean War armistice.

What an illustration of broken relationships! One party damages the relationship in a fight, and then the other party just detaches themselves, leaving a partial structure that goes nowhere. The marriage, the family, the congregation is in ruins. Nice lights, though.

Matthew 5:23-24

²³ So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, ²⁴ leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.

You Can Change #35 (Chapter 4)

We're continuing in chapter 4 of You Can Change, called "When Do You Struggle?" The point is to consider how our circumstances affect us in as we try to live like Christ.

Before we go any further, Tim Chester wants to make sure that we understand that the root of all our actions is our own hearts, not outside circumstances. Thus, the next two sections (pp. 65-66) are "Our Struggles Reveal Our Hearts" and "My Behavior Comes from My Heart."

Chester:

Heart is shorthand for our thinking and desires. The root cause of my behavior is always my heart. What we see is behavior and emotions, and it's easy to focus on changing behavior and emotions. But lasting change is achieved only by tackling their source-- the heart. (66)

Now, if I had a problem yelling at my wife, it might do some good to work on my volume. I could come up with some techniques for moderating my response (count to 10, take a deep breath, etc.), but the noise level is only a symptom of the sickness in my heart.

In fact, if I were to figure out how to sweeten my tone of voice while remaining argumentative and/or manipulative, I'm not sure that I haven't taken a step backward.

I need to recognize what my thoughts and desires are that make me respond so violently. I need to own up to my selfishness and stubbornness. Later on, we'll talk about redirecting those desires.

How are you tempted to focus on behavior and emotions rather than thoughts and desires?

Can you give an example of trying to change the outward instead of the inward?

Explosion of Joy

Lesslie Newbigin:

There has been a long tradition which sees the mission of the Church primarily as obedience to a command. It has been customary to speak of ‘the missionary mandate.’ This way of putting the matter is certainly not without justification, and yet it seems to me that it misses the point. It tends to make mission a burden rather than a joy, to make it part of the law rather than part of the gospel. If one looks at the New Testament evidence one gets another impression. Mission begins with a kind of explosion of joy. The news that the rejected and crucified Jesus is alive is something that cannot possibly be suppressed. It must be told. Who could be silent about such a fact? The mission of the Church in the pages of the New Testament is more like the fallout from a vast explosion, a radioactive fallout which is not lethal but life-giving.

From The Gospel in a Pluralist Society

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"God Is Working Here"

From one of our missionaries, Todd Hiltibran:

About 1% of youth in Sweden have any contact with a church or youth group.

God is working here.

Would you like to know how that makes sense? Stop by Todd's blog to read about how God is using immigration and a growing international church to bring Christianity (and a church-planting movement) back to Sweden. There are these two posts and more to come.

If you give through EFCMM, you have a part in this!

Resurrection, Not Refinement

Dane Ortlund:

It is fantastically easy to smooth over a rotten heart with niceness. The world is filled with nice people who have not been born again—nice, evil people. Niceness and wickedness are not mutually exclusive. They can even be mutually reinforcing (2 Tim 3:1-5).

A converted Christian is not the same person who is now really, really nice. They are not an improved version of the same person but a new person fundamentally re-wired. The new birth does not give us a new way to satisfy our old desires. It gives us new desires.

A believer does not differ from an unbeliever like an NFL linebacker differs from an All-American college linebacker—the same innate ability, only ratcheted up to the next level. A believer differs from an unbeliever as any football player differs from a corpse (Eph 2:1, 5). A true Christian has been granted resurrection, not refinement (Eph 2:6; Col 3:1).

You Can Change #34 (Chapter 4)

In the previous section of this chapter in You Can Change, Tim Chester reminded us that God knows and cares about our struggles, with the chief example being Jesus' life among us as fully divine, yet fully human, with all the experiences that go along with being human.

Now we move on to "God Does Something About Our Struggles." Chester:

But God does so much more than just put an arm around our shoulders. First, he uses our struggles. [...] We can rejoice in suffering when we make the connection between suffering and growth. [...] Second, God not only uses our struggles, he promises to bring them to an end. (64-65)

Each one of these moves is essential. We need to know that God cares, but at the end of the day, we need more than sympathy. It helps to know that he has a purpose for the trials we face, so our pain is not meaningless. Our perspective changes when we understand he is doing something good in us through it. Yet, we can become jaded if we think pain is just a tool that he uses, with no recognition that the bad things we go through really are bad.

Usually, we get off track when we try to out-reason God. "Since God is using this for my good, then it must be good." No, the mystery/miracle is that God can take all things, good or bad in themselves, and use them for his good purpose. Or this, "If God is using it for my good, then I should be happy when I'm suffering." Well, the Bible does tell us to rejoice in our trials (Chester cites three passages along this line), but that doesn't mean that we have to deny that bad things are really painful.

It's a delicate balance, but try to hold these things together. God can use even bad things for my good and his glory, but he promises to take away all bad things one day, when sin is gone, the curse is lifted, tears are wiped away, and death is no more.

Until then, let's see what God's up to.

How have you seen God use your struggles to bring about growth in your life?

Food as God or Gift?

Mike Anderson:

This Thursday you’re probably either going to commit gluttony, or celebrate a feast of thankfulness. It all depends on your heart.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard the word gluttony thrown around in a joking way—mostly by people who are clinically overweight like myself. It almost feels like an imaginary sin. But it's real. The Bible tells us that our stomach can be our god (Phil. 3:19). Please take the time to reflect on where food stands in your heart. Is it a god or a gift?

Gluttony is eating more than you need with a greedy heart:

• A heart that is seeking satisfaction and fulfillment in the food.
• A heart that just wants more and more.
• A heart that isn’t satisfied.
• A heart that thinks you deserve it.
• A heart that is focused inward on yourself instead of outward on God and others.

Feasting is enjoying a meal with people you love & thanks for God’s provision:

• Enjoying the people that God has brought into your life—even the weird ones.
• Thanking God for providing.
• Experiencing the common grace of delicious food.
• Remembering that God tells us to taste and see that the Lord is good (Ps. 34:8).
• Anticipating the meal that we’ll eat with Jesus at the wedding supper of the Lamb (Rev. 19:9).

Food as God

Food, like money, sex, and power, is often used as a substitute for something only God can give. It can bring satisfaction, comfort, escape, and even a source of identity. It’s a false savior.

Food as Gift

My hope and prayer is that you, and all of the people that you pass this on to, would not feel guilt about food. That would be falling right into Satan’s trap. What I hope you do is go to Jesus, tell him what’s in your heart, and ask for the Spirit to make your heart feel what your head knows—that God is God and food is just a gift.

You Can Change #33 (Chapter 4)

God cares about our struggles.

That's the heading for this section of chapter four in You Can Change. Before we go any further in a discussion of the challenges we face, we need to establish this in our minds and reaffirm our faith.

Tim Chester cites Exodus 3:7-8, but I'm partial to Exodus 2:23-25 myself:

²³ During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. ²⁴ And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. ²⁵ God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.

Of course, in the chapters that follow, it shows that God was not just aware of their plight, but he most certainly came to their rescue.

Jesus, God the Son, came to our rescue, but it's good for us to reflect on the fact that he did more than descend to earth, die on the cross, then return to heaven. He took on flesh so that he could die (yes!), but he also walked among us, living in our messed-up world with all the temptation and pain that goes with it.

Jesus is a remarkable Savior! He is not so strong that he could not identify with weakness, yet he did not become like us to the point that he could no longer save us.

It's too easy to think about our problems and start to get angry or defensive. When we are convinced that God knows, really knows, our struggles, then we can think more objectively about our difficulties and their temptations.

Can you think of a story of Jesus from Scripture that would show that he knows your kind of temptation or pain?

The Three Most Disturbing Words on TV

Mike Cosper:

There are other terrors that lurk in primetime slots of our national networks. Few Christians would openly defend viewing a show like Rock of Love, but who doesn’t get teary-eyed watching the final moments of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition? Never mind that it’s a spinoff of a show about radical plastic surgery, EMHE pulls together a whole community to give a deserving family a new, grandiose home. Who could argue with that?

Which brings me to the three most disturbing words on television: “Move that bus.”

Again, there’s no arguing with the warmth and altruistic sentiments of the show. The families who have been profiled always seem to be wonderful people, I don’t impugn them or the show’s creators with secret evil intentions. But a disturbing thing happens in the final moments of the show. After profiling the family’s suffering, after talking about hardship and perseverance, after recruiting an army of volunteers, the family is brought in front of the new home, which is hidden from view by a large touring bus. They count down and call out those three words, and the reaction can only be described as worship. There are tears and shouting while people fall to their knees, hands raised in the air.

Here it is on bold display: the ultimate hope of most Americans. It’s as though a phantom voice is responding to their suffering with the words, Well done, good and faithful servant. Here is your reward: dreamy bedrooms, big-screen TVs, privacy fencing, and wireless internet. We watch. We weep. And we hope for ourselves. It’s yet another gospel alternative, this one packaged as a heart-warming vision of the way life is “supposed to be.”

Instead of just asking yourself about lust when you watch a film, ask yourself about hope. What’s the hope being proclaimed? What other desires are being stirred? Does it feed your sense of self-righteousness? Does it give you cause for contempt? Or does it give you a call to worship at the feet of the American dream?

You Can Change #32 (Chapter 4)

We have come to chapter four of You Can Change, titled "When Do You Struggle?"

Our circumstances and situations have a significant effect on our lives. As Chester says at the end of the introduction to this chapter, "We are messed-up people living in a messed-up world."

There's a lot of truth in that statement. It recognizes the reality that there is a lot of wrong that is in me, and a lot of wrong that is coming at me. I am both responsible for sin and suffering, and I am the victim of sin and suffering-- occasionally both at the same time.

This can make it complicated as we try to understand our sin and try to grow in holiness. Without ignoring our responsibility for our actions and even our responses to the wrongs done to us, it is wise to think through the ways we are led into sin by our circumstances.

Rather than getting us off the hook ("It's those stupid people's fault that I'm angry!"), this should help us examine our hearts and pursue God's work in our lives.

When, how, or with whom are you most often tempted?

Are you putting yourself in situations where you are more likely to give in?

Built with Wisdom from God

Other ancient civilizations had flood stories that still survive today, but they are much different than the biblical account.

Bruce Waltke:

The hero of the Babylonian account of the flood is Utnapishtim. It says he was given another name meaning something like “Super-genius.” The Bible says Noah was righteous and walked with God (Genesis 6:9; 7:1). But who was really smart? Utnapishtim built his boat as a giant cube, 180 feet in length, width and height, with a displacement of over 200,000 tons. It would have sunk to the bottom like a stone. Noah built something like a modern battleship, 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, 45 feet high, with a displacement of around 43,300 tons. The Bible never says Noah was a super-genius. But he did walk with God. And guess what? It worked out for him.

Source

Q&A about Noah's Ark

This morning, we looked at Noah and the story of the Great Flood in Genesis 6-7. While we focused on certain key points in the text related to sin, judgment, and salvation, it's natural for us to have other "practical" questions. Here are some answers to common questions related to Noah and the ark.

How Could this Small Ark Hold Hundreds of Thousands of Species?

But assuming the flood was universal, the question remains as to how Noah could get all those animals in the ark. Engineers, computer programmers, and wildlife experts have all taken a look at the problem, and their consensus is that the ark was sufficient to the task.

The ark was actually a huge structure – the size of a modern ocean liner, with three levels of deck (Gen. 6.13), which tripled its space to over 1.5 million cubic feet. This equals 569 railroad box cars.

Second, the modern concept of “species” is not the same as a “kind” in the Bible. But even if it were, there are probably only some 72,000 different kinds of land animals which t ark would have needed to contain. Since the average size of land animals is smaller than a cat, less than half of the ark would be needed to store 150,000 animals – more than there probably were. Insects take only a very small space. The sea animals stayed in the sea, and many species could have survived in egg form. There would have been plenty of room left over for eight people and food storage.

Third, Noah could have take younger or smaller varieties of some larger animals. Given all these factors, there was plenty of room for all the animals, food for the trip, and the eight humans aboard.

How Could a Wooden Ship Stay Afloat in Such a Violent Storm?

The ark was made of a strong and flexible material (gopher wood). Gopher wood “gives” without breaking. The heavy load gave the ark stability. Also, naval architects report that a long box-shaped, floating boxcar, such as the ark, is the most stable kind of craft in turbulent waters. One former naval architect concluded: “Noah’s Ark was extremely stable, more stable in fact, than modern shipping” (see D. Collins, “Was Noah’s Ark Stable?” CRSQ).

Indeed, modern ocean liners follow the same basic proportions. However, their stability is lessened by the need to slice through the water with as little drag as possible. There is no reason Noah’s ark could not have survived a gigantic even world-wide flood. Modern stability tests have shown that such a vessel could take up to 20-foot-high waves and could tip as much as 90 degrees and still right itself.

How Could Noah’s Family and the Animals Survive so Long in the Ark?

Another answer is that living things can do almost anything they must to survive, as long as they have enough food and water. Many of the animals may have gone into hibernation or semi-hibernation. And Noah had plenty of room for food on the inside an abundant water on the outside to draw on.

From The Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics by Norman Geisler

Source

Responding to Those Who Leave the Church

Drew Dyck, on young adults who leave the church:

The reasons that 20- and 30-somethings are leaving are complex. A significant part of leaving has to do with the new culture we live in, and there is only so much to be done about that. But we in the church have control over at least one part of the equation: how we respond.

While we feel rightly perplexed, if not devastated, when loved ones leave, we should not let grief carry us away. I talked with one parent who was despondent over his grown son's loss of faith. He said his son was "into satanic stuff." After a little probing, I found that the son was really a garden variety pluralist. He loved Jesus but saw him as one figure in a pantheon of spiritual luminaries. This is a far cry from his father's assessment. I cringed inwardly when I imagined them discussing matters of faith.

Christians often have one of two opposite and equally harmful reactions when they talk with someone who has left the faith: they go on the offensive, delivering a homespun, judgmental sermon, or they freeze in a defensive crouch and fail to engage at all.

Another unsettling pattern emerged during my interviews. Almost to a person, the leavers with whom I spoke recalled that, before leaving the faith, they were regularly shut down when they expressed doubts. Some were ridiculed in front of peers for asking "insolent questions." Others reported receiving trite answers to vexing questions and being scolded for not accepting them. One was slapped across the face, literally.

At the 2008 American Sociological Association meeting, scholars from the University of Connecticut and Oregon State University reported that "the most frequently mentioned role of Christians in de-conversion was in amplifying existing doubt." De-converts reported "sharing their burgeoning doubts with a Christian friend or family member only to receive trite, unhelpful answers."

Churches often lack the appropriate resources. We have programs geared for gender- and age-groups and for those struggling with addictions or exploring the faith. But there's precious little for Christians struggling with the faith. [...]

The answer, of course, lies in more than offering another program. Nor should we overestimate the efficacy of slicker services or edgy outreach. Only with prayer and thoughtful engagement will at least some of the current exodus be stemmed.

One place to begin is by rethinking how we minister to those from youth to old age. There's nothing wrong with pizza and video games, nor with seeker-sensitive services, nor with low-commitment small groups that introduce people to the Christian faith. But these cannot replace serious programs of discipleship and catechism. The temptation to wander from the faith is not a new one. The apostle Paul exhorted the church at Ephesus to strive to mature every believer, so that "we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes" (Eph. 4:14, ESV).

Ultimately we will have to undertake the slow but fruitful work of building relationships with those who have left the faith. This means viewing their skepticism for what it often is: the tortured language of spiritual longing. And once we've listened long and hard to their stories, and built bridges of trust, we will be ready to light the way back home.

You Can Change #31 (Chapter 3)

Tim Chester, in You Can Change:

Sometimes people say conversion is all God's work, but sanctification is a cooperation between us and God. Neither statement is entirely true. Conversion is all God's work, but we have a responsibility to respond with faith and repentance. But it turns out that faith and repentance are also God's work in us, his gift to us. God opens blind eyes. God grants repentance (Mark 8:18-30; 2 Corinthians 4:4-6; 2 Timothy 2:25). That's why conversion is entirely an act of God's grace. But, at God's initiative and with God's help, we're involved. And it's the same with sanctification. Sanctification is God's work. But we're not passive. We have to respond wit faith and repentance. And again it turns out that faith and repentance are God's work in us. So salvation from start to finish is God's work, in which we are active participants through faith and repentance by the grace of God. (55)

This section might seem a little dense, but let me see if I can help. Justification, specifically (being made right before God) is something only God can do in Christ because I am unrighteous and only Jesus is righteous. I can't "get righteous" any other way-- it's only from God. However, as Chester notes, conversion (turning from sin to Christ in faith), does involve me, my thoughts, my heart, my actions. It is still by God's grace, in God's power, but I am involved. It's both a human decision and a divine miracle.

This is no more or less true of my ongoing life as a disciple of Christ. I must think, pray, decide, learn, choose, and so on, yet these too are by God's grace. This means I must have the basic stance of faith: depending on God for what I need and how I grow, even though I am to be active, not passive. It's not easy to maintain this balance, but it is true and the only way to grow.

Tomorrow's sermon is on Noah from Genesis 6 and 7. Listen for the combination and interaction of grace, faith, obedience, righteousness, and salvation in this story.

Learning from the Mistakes of Others

Are you familiar with the people of Westboro Baptist Church?

Kevin DeYoung explains:

Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) is well known for protesting funerals, desecrating American flags, and promoting its signature message that “God Hates Fags.”

He asks:

But might there be something conservative evangelicals can learn from Westboro? Not any positive lessons mind you, but anything we can glean from their monumentally misguided example?

He answers:

1. Any truth promoted to the exclusion of other truths can become an untruth.

2. It matters how we’re heard.

3. We must refuse to play into the binary stereotype which says the opposite of unconditional affirmation is fuming hatred.

Go here for his elaboration on each point.

You Can Change #30 (Chapter 3)

Tim Chester, in You Can Change:

Without Jesus we can never break free from sin's grip. But Jesus came to set us free from sin and destroy Satan's power. he's begun a process in us that will end with our becoming like God: "we are God's children now... we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is" (1 John 3:2). That process isn't yet complete, so we still fall into sin. But we're no longer enslaved by sin. We can change.

More than that, John says holiness has now been written into our DNA! "No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God (1 John 3:9). That's the negative: not sinning is in our DNA. Later John states the positive: "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God" (1 John 4:7). Love is in our DNA. (54)

Chester acknowledges earlier in this section that these verses can make us question whether or not we are a believer. But just as surely as they challenge us to consider whether we really are born again, they should be an encouragement that if we are indeed born again, God's life is in us in a way that will undoubtedly, unfailingly produce change-- growth in godliness.

So, as you examine yourself, do look for sin. But don't be discouraged when you find it, because you will always find some. Just be quick to confess and receive the forgiveness that comes through Jesus Christ. This is how these verses hold together:

1 John 1:7-10
⁷ But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. ⁸ If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. ⁹ If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰ If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

And when you examine yourself, do also look for love. Look for good deeds. Look for love for Christian brothers and sisters. And when you see these things, be glad and be thankful to God! He has given you life, and he is making you more like himself.

Is there someone you can encourage by telling them how you've seen God changing them?