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A Pride-Killing Prayer

By
Jason
– April 24, 2012Posted in: Devotional, Mission

One of the great privileges of having Scripture is that we get to enter into the prayer life of King David. We get to hear, from his heart, the struggles and pain and joys he experienced. It’s sometimes raw and emotional, sometimes poetic, but always honest. As we read the Psalms we can often link his petitions to events that are recorded in 1 and 2 Samuel and elsewhere.

For instance, Psalm 51 is David’s prayer to God after having been confronted by Nathan about his relationship with Bathsheba. David pleads for God’s mercy, forgiveness, and restoration.

Similarly, back in Psalm 39, David is praying to God after losing the son that he had sinfully conceived with Bathsheba. It is in the midst of this pain and sorrow that we hear these words in verse 4, “O Lord, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am.”

It seems that this tragedy in his life, the death of his son, was making David contemplate his own death. Not in some suicidal way but in a way that brings humility and trust in God. Much of David’s problems arose out of pride. Pride in being king, thinking that he was untouchable. Thinking that he would not get caught. Thinking that he was above the commands of God. Now David asks God to remind him of the shortness of life, his in particular.

This is a needed reminder for us. With doctors, diets, and drugs we are tempted to believe that we control the longevity of our lives. And, when we truly begin to believe this, it causes us to live with pride and laziness. No longer is the mission of God in our lives urgent. We become lazy with the command to go and make disciples, whether in our own homes, in our city or around the world.

There is nothing like a tragedy of death to remind us of the brevity of life. God often uses the death of those around us to teach us that. But he has also given us Scripture. He has given us the words of David so that maybe we will pray, “let me know how fleeting I am.” David says our life is a mere shadow, a breath.

Those words are humbling. They are pride-killing. They help us fight our laziness for the mission of God. As we are humbled and reminded of the shortness of life, may we be filled with an urgency to take the gospel to the ends of the earth.

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Life at the Margins: A review of Everyday Church

By
Jason
– March 28, 2012Posted in: Book Reviews, church


Can we effectively be the church once a week?

That is the question that Everyday Church seeks to answer. By walking through 1 Peter, Tim Chester and Steve Timmis challenge our thinking on church. And it is a challenge worth hearing.

Their framework, which comes from 1 Peter 1:1, is that Christians need to consider themselves exiles. Chester and Timmis talk at length about how we are living in a ‘post-Christian era.’ Yet, many Christians and churches continue to operate as if we are living in a Christian culture. They write, “We can no longer assume that if people want to find God or discover meaning or cope with a personal crisis they will go to church.”(19) Their argument is that despite the reality of our culture, we continue to operate as if we can continue to reach it by doing church ‘the way we always have.’ Obviously, we cannot.

So, what is their solution? Everyday church. Doing community, pastoral care, mission, and evangelism as if we are group of people living on the margins, because we are. They argue that a once a week church service is insufficient to take the gospel to our culture. We need to live intentional lives of everyday gospel community. That is, they argue, how we are going to take the gospel to a world that does not want to hear it.

Some might be uncomfortable with Chester and Timmis’ low view of institutionalized church (see pgs. 183-184). They do take time to address these concerns. They state that most churches make primary the Sunday or once a week gathering which naturally makes the everyday community of Christians a secondary and lesser concern. They want to see a flip flop of priorities; make the everyday community of believers primary and the once a week gathering secondary, though not unimportant.

While most of the book stays away from over simplified how to’s and steps, the last chapter and conclusion do have some helpful practical ways of moving to an everyday church mindset.

The most helpful part of this book for me was the mind shift they discuss in the beginning. That is, understanding that we no longer live in a Christianized culture and adjusting our ‘strategies’ accordingly. Abilene, Texas may appear to be a Christianized city, but in reality true Christians are the minority. We are exiles and we live life on the margins.

If we begin to view ourselves as such we can make great strides in our evangelism and mission to take the gospel to the ends of the earth.

 

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Winslow on God’s Love

By
Jason
– October 18, 2011Posted in: Devotional, Love

From Morning Thoughts by Octavius Winslow

October 18

Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. – John 11:3

THIS is the truth, dear invalid reader, upon which the Lord would pillow and sustain your soul-that you are the sick one whom He loves. Doubtless the enemy, ever on the watch to distress the saints of God, eager to avail himself of every circumstance in their history favorable to the accomplishment of His malignant designs, has taken advantage of your illness to suggest hard and distrustful thoughts of the Lord’s love to you. “Does He love you? Can He love you, and afflict you thus? What! this hectic fever, these night-sweats, these faintings and swoonings, these insufferable tortures, this long wasting, this low insidious disease-and yet loved by God! Impossible!”

Such has been the false reasoning of Satan, and such the echo of unbelief. But Lazarus was loved of Jesus, and so are you! That darkened room, that curtained bed, contains one for whom the Son of God came down to earth-to live, to labor, and to die! That room is often radiant with His presence, and that bed is often made with His hands. Jesus is never absent from that spot! The affectionate husband, the tender wife, the fond parent, the devoted sister, the faithful nurse, are not in more constant attendance at that solemn post of observation than is Jesus. They must be absent; He never is, for one moment, away from that couch. Sleep must overcome them; but He who guards that suffering patient “neither slumbers nor sleeps.” Long-continued watching must exhaust the prostrate them; but He, the Divine watcher, “faints not, neither is weary.”

Yes, Jesus loves you, nor loves you the less, no, but loves you the more, now that you are prostrate upon that bed of languishing, a weak one hanging upon Him. Again I repeat, this is the only truth that will now soothe and sustain your soul. Not the thought of our love to Jesus, but of Jesus’ love to you, is the truth upon which your agitated mind is to rest. In the multitude of your thoughts within you, this is the comfort that will delight your soul-”Jesus loves me.”

Your love to Christ affords you now no plea, no encouragement, no hope. You can extract no sweetness from the thought of your affection to the Savior. It has been so feeble and fluctuating a feeling, an emotion so irregular and fickle in its expression, the spark so often obscured, and to appearance lost, that the recollection and the review of it now only tends to depress and perplex you. But oh, the thought of the Lord’s love! to fix the mind upon His eternal, unpurchased, and deathless affection to you-to be enabled to resolve this painful illness, this protracted suffering this “pining sickness,” into love-divine, tender, unwearied, inextinguishable love-will renew the inward man, while the outward is decaying day by day, and will strengthen the soul in its heavenly soarings, while its tenement of dust is crumbling and falling from around it.

All is love in the heart of God towards you. This sickness may indeed be a correction-and correction always supposes sin-but it is a loving correction, and designed to “increase your greatness.” Not one thought dwells in the mind of God, nor one feeling throbs in His heart, but is love. And your sickness is sent to testify that God is love, and that you, afflicted though you are, are one of its favored objects. The depression of sickness may throw a shade of obscurity over this truth, but the very obscuration may result in your good, and unfold God’s love, by bringing you to a more simple reliance of faith. Oh, trace your present sickness, dear invalid reader, to His love who “Himself took our infirmities, and carried our sickness.” If He could have accomplished the important end for which it is sent by exempting you from its infliction, you then had not known one sleepless hour, nor a solitary day; not a drop of sweat had moistened your brow, nor one moment’s fever had flushed your cheek.

He, your loving Savior, your tender Friend, the redeeming God, had borne it all for you Himself, even as He bore its tremendous curse-your curse and sin in His own body on the tree. Yield your depressed heart to the soothing, healing influence of this precious truth, and it will light up the pallid hue of sickness with a radiance and a glow-the reflection of the soul’s health-heavenly and divine. “Lord, behold, he whom You loves is sick.”

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Mormons and the Gospel

By
Jason
– October 12, 2011Posted in: gospel, truth

This past weekend Robert Jeffress, Pastor of First Baptist Church Dallas, ignited a firestorm when he referred to Mormonism as a cult and suggested that Mitt Romney was not a Christian. Jeffress made these comments at the same time he was endorsing Rick Perry for president.

There are many things to consider in this story. Like, is it wise for a pastor to endorse a candidate for president? Or any office for that matter? That’s a discussion for another day.

Here is what struck me. Later at the same event where Jeffress made those comments, Bill Bennett, a radio talk show host and Catholic, responded to Jeffress’ statements. “Do not give voice to bigotry.”

I have listened to Bennett before and appreciate that he is generally honest, intelligent, and fair. But he is wrong and is words should give gospel-believing Christians pause. And really, this is less about Bennett and more about what Christians must be prepared for in the months to come.

Is it wrong to say that “Mormons are not Christians?” Without going into the details of LDS beliefs (others have surely done that elsewhere) let’s just ask a simple question. What do Mormons believe about Jesus? Just this morning I heard an elected official who is also a Mormon say, “We believe in Jesus. He is our personal savior.” Okay. But do they believe in the substitutionary atoning work of Christ on the cross? Do they believe that salvation is by faith in Christ alone? Sadly, the answer to those questions is “No.” So, there really is no reason to go further (and we could). Belief in Christ as the only way to salvation and his atoning work on the cross are central beliefs of the Christian faith. To deny that is to be outside of the realm of Orthodox Christianity.

Mormons can believe what they want. I am not mad at them. I am thankful that we live in a free country where there is no religious litmus test for holding office. I would fight tooth and nail to protect their right to religious liberty.

However, they do not have the right to redefine the term ‘Christian’ and then call it bigotry if I don’t agree with their definition. Wasn’t that the premise behind LDS support for Proposition 8 inCalifornia? Homosexuals, it was argued, do not have the right to redefine marriage. So, why do Mormons have the right to redefine ‘Christian?’

LDS beliefs are not Christian. Mormons are not Christians. Those are not popular statements. Gospel-believing Christians must be clear on what the gospel is and what it is not especially as this conversation grows. Yet, we must be prepared for the charge of bigot, etc. as we stand for the truth. We must love Mormons, we must pray for them, we must share the gospel with them, but we must not call them Christians.

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New Position

By
Jason
– October 11, 2011Posted in: church

I am excited to share about my new position withElmcrestBaptistChurchinAbilene,Texaswhere I will be serving as Pastor of Education and Missions. This is a new position for Elmcrest so in the beginning I will have my hands in many areas but the focus will be discipleship, missions, and evangelism. I am really looking forward to coming along side the pastor and church to be on mission making disciples for God’s glory.

 

It has been a difficult time leaving Hamby, but we are thankful for the time we had there and the lives we were able to invest in for God’s glory. We trust in God’s sovereignty and his timing, even if we don’t fully understand. Wherever we are called and whatever task we are called to, we simply want to be found faithful and bring him glory.

 

We appreciate your prayers during the time of transition and as we begin this new journey!

 

For more info on Elmcrest check out www.elmcrestbaptist.org

 

Grace and Peace

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Paul, Parenting, and Eternity

By
Jason
– August 4, 2011Posted in: Devotional, Mission

If you read the Apostle Paul much you will soon realize that he was very focused. It seemed that no matter what Paul was facing he took the long view. He knew what his mission was and no circumstance could shake him from taking an eternal perspective.

One of my favorite examples of this is found in Acts 20. Paul, while making one of his stops en route to Jerusalem, takes time to meet with the elders of the Ephesian church. In this very emotional exchange, Paul is speaking to these elders as if he will never see them again. He is on his way to Jerusalem and there have been many warnings that things could go badly for him there. Yet, that doesn’t stop him. That doesn’t even slow him down, because he has one goal, one mission. Life nor death could distract him from that mission.

What was that mission? What was the thing that kept Paul so focused even in the midst of such circumstances? “…Testify to the gospel of the grace of God.” Regardless of what happened in life. Regardless if there was threat of death. Paul took an eternal view. He kept focused on one thing: testifying to the gospel!

I want to be like Paul. I want to, in the midst of distracting circumstances (sickness, pain, financial uncertainty, doubt, affluence, comfort, apathy, etc) keep focused on the mission. I want to have an eternal view. I want to understand, like Paul did that, “this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.” (2 Cor. 4:17) As a follower of Christ, my life is not all about the here and now. I need to live my life in view of eternity.

I have been thinking recently about the implications of this on parenting. Sometimes, disciplining my son can be hard. Okay, all of the time it’s hard. I don’t think any parent enjoys watching their children cry and protest discipline. But as a parent I know that I need to have the long view. I need to realize that, though my son may be in distress now, it is preparing him for days ahead. Sure, it would be easier to avoid those moments when he protests discipline. But I know that in the end, in the long run, it will be worth it. Someday he is not going to be two years old. Someday not everything he does will be ‘cute.’ Someday he will be an adult. Someday he will be a husband, a father, an employee, and what I do now matters in each of those. Ultimately, I want to raise him up to cherish Christ above all else. It’s going to take work and effort now, but nothing matters more in the scope of eternity.

So, I want to begin to evaluate my own life by that view, the long view. I want to ask the question, Will the things that I spend my time doing matter in the end? Do they contribute to the mission of God? Sure, things like brushing your teeth may have no eternal impact (though your spouse, and dentist, will appreciate it). But there are many more things that I spend my time, money, energy, resources on. Will those things matter in the end?  It’s a difficult, but worthwhile evaluation to make. By God’s grace I want to be able to say, in the end, that what I spent my life doing was all about testifying to the gospel of the grace of God.

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Can Christians Get Depressed?

By
Jason
– August 2, 2011Posted in: Book Reviews, Books, Counseling

Christians Get Depressed Too, by David Murray

This short, helpful book deals with a topic not often mentioned in churches: depression. For several reasons, this book makes an accessible guide for anyone who is depressed (Christian or not) or for anyone who knows someone who is depressed.

1.) Clarity

Murray takes a great deal of time explaining how widespread depression is in our country and in our churches and thus its need to be considered. Despite its pervasiveness, most Christians know little about it. This book helps both those who suffer from depression and the ‘caregiver’ to clearly understand what they are dealing with. Murray points to Scripture to show that there are people who at least “manifested many of the symptoms of depression and anxiety.” (2) If you know little or nothing about depression besides the stereotypical notions, this book serves as a great first step in bringing clarity to the issue.

2.) Balance

Is the cause of depression all physical? Spiritual? Murray explains well the differences in opinion among Christians about the appropriate use for secular pyschological theories and articulates a balance. Some argue that depression is all physical thus all that is needed is physical treatment. Others argue that it is (almost) always a spiritual issue and thus what is needed is a serious look of spiritual issues in the person’s life. Murray states that neither extreme is right. Rather, he argues, we must understand that depression, like heart disease or cancer, is usually a physical issue that sometimes has a spiritual component. Both need to be addressed. I found Murray’s balance to be generally helpful. When helping a person walk through depression it is absolutely necessary to not make assumptions about why the person is experiencing such darkness. They may need guidance through real spiritual issues and matters of sin, or they may need to see a medical professional who can advise them further. Or both. Murray encourages us to walk slowly and not make assumptions.

3.) Practical

Without oversimplifying, Murray offers some common causes and helpful cures for depression. I will definitely use these two chapters for future reference when helping walk someone through this. There are mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual issues that must be addressed when dealing with depression. Murray provides some practical questions and thoughts to understand the cause and hopefully arrive at a cure.

 

In the end I would recommend this book to anyone who is seeking to help someone they know through depression. (The last chapter provides some great exhortations for the caregiver.) It is short enough to not be overwhelming but long enough to provide a sufficient foundation for understanding depression. I would most likely give this book to a person struggling with depression but would want to walk through it with them.

Sometimes God calls us to walk through the darkness and this book serves as a great tool in that struggle. Murray points the reader to Scripture and ultimately to Christ, who is the Great Healer.

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Jonah Resources

By
Jason
– June 16, 2011Posted in: Books, Commentaries, Jonah

I just finished preaching through the book of Jonah and here are some of the commentaries, books, and sermons that I found most helpful.

Commentaries

Word Biblical Commentary Hosea-Jonah (Douglas Stuart)

This commentary came highly recommended from several sources and it did not disappoint. It maintains the historicity of Jonah and has great application.

 

New American Commentary, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah (Frank Page and Billy Smith

This was another helpful commentary and it too considers Jonah to be an authentic account. It is less technical than the WBC but offers some great application.

Jonah: A Commentary (Mark D. Futato)

Unfortunately, this short commentary is not published. I received a copy while taking Dr. Futato’s Hebrew class. It engages the Hebrew text in a helpful and understandable way. Futato does a great job of pointing out all of the Hebrew word-plays which drive the meaning of the book. I’m not sure if he has plans to publish it or not, but if he does I highly recommend it.

Books


Surprised by Grace (Tullian Tchividjian)

This book is packed full of gospel nuggets. This is a book version of a sermon series he did on Jonah soon after he became pastor of Coral Ridge. It is very pastoral but some great background information is given. I plan to do a full review of this book soon.

 

Salvation through Judgment and Mercy (Bryan D. Estelle)

This is another helpful book/commentary that helps show the gospel of Christ in this OT prophecy. It gets bogged down at times in unnecessary discussions but offers good background and historical information.

Sermons

Tullian Tchividjian at Coral Ridge Presbyterian

This is the sermon series that led to the book discussed above.

Tim Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian

This is a sermon series Keller started right before 9/11 and continued with after. It is very interesting how Keller interacts with the thoughts and feelings of New Yorkers as he teaches through Jonah. As usual, it is full of gospel applications.

 

So, there you have it. There are certainly other resources on Jonah out there, but these were most helpful to me in studying for our own sermon series. If you are interested, here is the link.

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Counterfeit Gods – A Review

By
Jason
– June 7, 2011Posted in: Book Reviews

I’ve had this book for a while now but just recently made the time to read it. And, I am glad I did.

If you have not read or listened to Tim Keller before, you will quickly catch on to his style of writing. Keller ministers in New York City and so there is no room for ‘fluff’ in his preaching and that clarity carries over into his writing. Counterfeit Gods is a book dealing with idols and it is a convicting read.

Keller begins by defining just what an idol is and reminding us that just because we don’t have gods made from gold doesn’t mean we don’t have idols. Here’s how he describes a counterfeit god:

A counterfeit god is anything so central and essential to your life that, should you lose it, your life would feel hardly worth living. An idol has such controlling position in your heart that you can spend most of your passion and energy, your emotional and financial resources, on it without a second thought. (xviii)

An idol is whatever you look at and say, in your heart of hearts, “If I have that, then I’ll feel my life has meaning, then I’ll know I have value, then I’ll feel significant and secure.” (xviii)

Keller reminds us that our counterfeit gods are often good things in life that we have made ultimate things. The book then is filled with Keller considering some of those good things and how we tend to make them ultimate things.

He considers love, money, success, and power, and how easily and powerfully these can become counterfeit gods. Keller has an amazing ability to get to the heart of why we tend to make these things ultimate. Few people, that I am aware of, are as good at critiquing culture as Keller is. In each chapter he unpacks an historical event or person and shows how a particular idol controlled them.

Keller then draws in a biblical story that demonstrates the power of a particular idol. These are not just thrown in as an afterthought, rather, Keller takes time to explain the text and draw the meaning out.

Each chapter ends with Keller showing that our greatest need in destroying our idols is the gospel. He writes at the end of the chapter on money, “Andrew Carnegie knew that money was an idol in his heart, but he didn’t know how to root it out. It can’t be removed, only replaced. It must be supplanted by the one who, though rich, became poor, so that we might truly be rich.” (71)

Each of these chapters is powerful and convicting, but the last two chapters were the most clarifying for me. In, The End of Counterfeit Gods, Keller takes time to show that idols cannot simply be removed; they must be replaced by Christ. This is not always easy and, “It often takes an experience of crippling weakness for us to finally discover it.” (164)

The Epilogue is a very practical help on discovering what our idols are and how to replace them with Christ. This is, Keller reminds us, a lifetime process. Mature Christians, then, are not those who have completely gotten rid of idols. No, mature Christians are those who know that they must be continually looking for idols and replacing them with the only one who is worthy of ultimate devotion and affection.

Counterfeit Gods is a book I would give to a believer at any maturity level. It is also a book that is appropriate for skeptics and seekers. We were designed to make something ultimate, whether Christian or not, so we all struggle with counterfeit gods.

In the end, however much we believe we have it figured out, idols can be subtle and rob God of the glory that he alone is worthy of.

 

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Counting Blessings for a Purpose

By
Jason
– May 31, 2011Posted in: Devotional, Jonah

Count your blessings, name them one by one,

Count your blessings, see what God hath done!

This song, published in 1897, rightly encourages us to consider the many ways in which God has blessed us. In fact, we are told to count them one by one. This is a worthy task. But what is the end goal? The purpose?

I was once asked at Thanksgiving time to literally write down all the things that I was thankful for. The list was long; there were dozens of things that I put on my list. I would dare say that most Americans could make quite a long list if we were asked to write down (and count) all of the blessings in our lives. There is certainly nothing wrong with this, so long as we don’t sit around always counting our blessings, never considering what God wants us to do with those blessings.

God has not given us blessings (spiritual, physical, etc.) for our own purposes and glory. Rather, God has given us those blessings so that he might receive the glory. Jesus said to his disciples, “Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required.” If we are going to count our blessings we better be willing to consider this powerful statement.

So then, God does not desire that we sit around and count our blessings, and then count them again, and then count them again. Sure, we should always consider what God has given to us and respond in worship and praise. But let us not stop there. Let us go on and ask the question, “Why has God given me this blessing?”

There is example after example of this in Scripture. God’s people were given a blessing, they were saved, they were delivered, for a purpose. And the purpose never revolved around them, but around God and his glory.

Consider Jonah, whom God saved from drowning by appointing a great fish to swallow him up. Why did God save Jonah? Why did God give Jonah a second chance? It was not because Jonah deserved it. It’s because God is merciful and wanted Jonah to fulfill his purpose, to preach the word of the Lord to Nineveh. In the end, it was not about Jonah, it was (and is) about God and his glory.

So yes, let’s count our blessings. Most importantly that God sent Christ to redeem his people though they were undeserving. Let’s also count the physical blessings we have and enjoy.

But let us do so for a purpose. Let us do so asking the question, “Why has God given me this blessing, and how can I use it for his glory?”

 

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