A few years ago, I wrote a devotional for the season of Advent. It was a series of daily readings about love, joy, peace and hope. Each week was about one of those for things and how at Christmas, we celebrated that Jesus came to bring each of them to this world.
The devotional was called "THE COMING". Here is an excerpt::
Joy is not found in the circumstances of your life. Circumstances can
change; health can fade, the economy can fall apart, jobs can be lost.
If your joy is found in these things, it can fade, fall apart or be
lost. The joy that THE COMING of Jesus brought to this world is deeper
than that.
Scripture says in 1 Peter that the follower of
Christ has an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled and unfading.
That same passage says that we are strangers in this world and that we
were not meant to live in a broken and fallen world. It is a world with
death and disease and heartache. But God has given us a hope and a
peace that is the epicenter of our joy.
I have a friend named
Denny. Denny had a son named Jon who died in a tragic accident just
after his junior year of high school. The days and weeks following his
death were very difficult on Denny and the rest of his family. I do not
remember a father and son closer than Denny and Jon. They were best
friends.
As time went by, Denny began to talk about how
grateful he was that God gave him the 17 years with Jon and the great
memories that would never be lost. He was grateful for the fact they
were best friends. There is a lot that Denny likes to talk about in
regards to Jon, but this is the most profound for me. Denny doesn’t
simply mourn the loss of his son. Denny celebrates his son. Denny
celebrates the God who allowed him to spend 17 great years with Jon.
Denny’s joy was not and is not bound by his circumstances. In John
14:6, Jesus calls himself the truth. The definition of the type of
truth Jesus uses here is a truth that is unaffected by circumstances.
Think of a concrete pillar holding up a great bridge. The waves and
boats that pass by do not affect the pillar. This is Jesus. This is
the kind of joy THE COMING brought.
If the joy in your life is
bound to the circumstances in your life, I invite you to investigate
this Jesus that came to bring you real joy that is unaffected by
circumstances. Think on that joy – the joy brought by THE COMING of
Jesus.
I got a message from Denny's wife (Debbie) tonight saying that Denny had lost his job recently and asked for prayer about it. As she asked me, she found this reading from the devotional.
Take a second to reread the excerpt and thank God for the way he moves in beautiful ways.
May you be blessed tonight with the presence of God.
Thanks for reading.
Sex, Culture, Bible
I read a Tweet from Darrin Patrick the other day. "When tempted
to harshly judge others, remember that all of us violate our own convictions
with embarrassing regularity." I am not sure Darrin was tweeting about the homosexuality/gay marriage issue that is such a hot discussion point or not. But it connects in the conversation.
Starting this week at North Church we will take the next three weeks to tackle this issue. We will not say all that needs to be said on the matter. We probably will ask more question than we answer. We will be faithful to what the Bible says. Even if you are not a believer in the authority of the Bible, we invite you to come and hear an honest declaration of what it has to say on the matter.
The Bible is not about
ethics or morality. This series is not about sexual ethics, it is about a God
who loves us and has provided a means to know him and live life in a
relationship with him, the way we were created to be. This whole question that
culture is asking about sexuality and gay marriage and first amendment and
everything else can send us into the fray and get drawn into an argument about
sexual ethics.
For the Christian, I want to add this...God has called us to be salt and light in this world. As
such, I want to use this current debate to bring to the forefront the grand
meta-narrative that God is telling about his love for us and how he has overcome
our failures. God seeks to leave no one in the margins and alone.
Tim Keller Wisdom on Marriage
"...determine to see your own selfishness as a fundamental problem and to treat it more seriously that you do your spouse's. Why? You only have complete access to your own selfishness, and only you have complete responsibility for it. So each spouse should take the Bible seriously, should make a commitment to "give yourself up." You should stop making excuses for your selfishness, you should begin to root it out as it's being revealed to you, and you should do so regardless of what your spouse is doing. If tow spouses each say, 'I'm going to treat my self-centeredness as the main problem in the marriage,' you have the prospect of a great marriage."
Timothy Keller
Man, if we could also embrace this notion! Marriage, as God intended it, is the greatest tool to teach us about how we relate to Jesus and how Jesus relates to us. In Ephesians 5:32 Paul calls this a Mega Mystery.
It is my prayer for your the marriages of North Church.
Timothy Keller
Man, if we could also embrace this notion! Marriage, as God intended it, is the greatest tool to teach us about how we relate to Jesus and how Jesus relates to us. In Ephesians 5:32 Paul calls this a Mega Mystery.
It is my prayer for your the marriages of North Church.
Ephesians 5:21 tells us to be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ.
I know that I preached on this verse this morning. But my mind is stirred to think, pray and blog about it. It is so crucial for the Christian who is serious about his faith.
It appears in Ephesians when Paul is writing to a young church (in terms of the age of the church, not the people in the church). Paul is writing to tell them how to BE. In this particular part, he is warning his readers that they live in a evil time and that as such, the need to walk wisely. He goes on to tell us to be subject because of what Jesus has done.
This word that is translated as subject is the transliterated Greek word hupotasso. It is a compound word that is in part the preposition under and the word that means to place in order. If we were to place names in alphabetical order, we would be those named Allen in front of those named Baker. So in alphabetical order, Baker would be hupotasso to Allen by virtue of A coming before B.
This is scratching the surface of the beauty of this verse. We WILLINGLY place ourselves under one another. We do so because of Christ.
Jesus had every right and authority to demand worship at any time. He was and is God. But we know that Jesus did not cling to His rights as God but made Himself nothing. Instead He became obedient to the point of death even when we were rejecting Him.
More than that, Paul does not use the name Jesus, but instead uses the office that Jesus held. He uses Christ. Christ is not Jesus' name, it is the office that He held. Christ means the anointed one sent by God, as God, to empty Himself of His rights as God to die an awful death so that our inescapable predicament might be overcome.
In short, hupotasso. Because we have seen and experienced the hupotasso of Jesus. That is what informs, motivates and dictates our hupotasso.
My prayer for myself and for those God has given me charge to shepherd is that we would be daily reminded of this and seize moments to willing place ourselves under one another.
As always, thanks for reading.
I know that I preached on this verse this morning. But my mind is stirred to think, pray and blog about it. It is so crucial for the Christian who is serious about his faith.
It appears in Ephesians when Paul is writing to a young church (in terms of the age of the church, not the people in the church). Paul is writing to tell them how to BE. In this particular part, he is warning his readers that they live in a evil time and that as such, the need to walk wisely. He goes on to tell us to be subject because of what Jesus has done.
This word that is translated as subject is the transliterated Greek word hupotasso. It is a compound word that is in part the preposition under and the word that means to place in order. If we were to place names in alphabetical order, we would be those named Allen in front of those named Baker. So in alphabetical order, Baker would be hupotasso to Allen by virtue of A coming before B.
This is scratching the surface of the beauty of this verse. We WILLINGLY place ourselves under one another. We do so because of Christ.
Jesus had every right and authority to demand worship at any time. He was and is God. But we know that Jesus did not cling to His rights as God but made Himself nothing. Instead He became obedient to the point of death even when we were rejecting Him.
More than that, Paul does not use the name Jesus, but instead uses the office that Jesus held. He uses Christ. Christ is not Jesus' name, it is the office that He held. Christ means the anointed one sent by God, as God, to empty Himself of His rights as God to die an awful death so that our inescapable predicament might be overcome.
In short, hupotasso. Because we have seen and experienced the hupotasso of Jesus. That is what informs, motivates and dictates our hupotasso.
My prayer for myself and for those God has given me charge to shepherd is that we would be daily reminded of this and seize moments to willing place ourselves under one another.
As always, thanks for reading.
Gospel, gospel, gospel
The word "Gospel" has become a word crutch. What I mean is that when you can't think of something to say, you say "Gospel". I am guilty of this in my preaching many times and in my conversation about spiritual things even more.
We hear about gospel centered Bible studies, gospel centered mission, gospel center relationships. All of this leads to confusion and serves to move us away from the actual gospel.
That being said, my favorite teacher on the subject of the gospel is Matt Chandler and he came with a book recently called, "The Explicit Gospel". I picked up a copy with the above two paragraphs in mind and sort of fed up with our fascination and misuse of the term. But, it was Chandler, so I bought it and gave it a read.
This whole blog post is about me asking you to go get this book and read every word. Please, go here and get a copy. They are also on sale at Lifeway.
I have been reading this book in the park this week during my lunch hour. Every time, as I walk back to my office, I find myself thanking God for the gospel and for Matt Chandler.
Thanks for reading.
We hear about gospel centered Bible studies, gospel centered mission, gospel center relationships. All of this leads to confusion and serves to move us away from the actual gospel.
That being said, my favorite teacher on the subject of the gospel is Matt Chandler and he came with a book recently called, "The Explicit Gospel". I picked up a copy with the above two paragraphs in mind and sort of fed up with our fascination and misuse of the term. But, it was Chandler, so I bought it and gave it a read.
This whole blog post is about me asking you to go get this book and read every word. Please, go here and get a copy. They are also on sale at Lifeway.
I have been reading this book in the park this week during my lunch hour. Every time, as I walk back to my office, I find myself thanking God for the gospel and for Matt Chandler.
Thanks for reading.
Men, husbands and sacrifice
A recent post on Facebook got a bit of attention and I have had some men talk to me recently saying they desire to be a better husband. It is also a big purpose for my life to lead men to be better husbands and fathers.
With that in my consciousness, I read this excerpt from The Explicit Gospel today. "The hard-won lesson I've learned in marriage, something I'm very grateful for knowing now, is that there are some thing in my wife's heart and some struggles she faces in life that I cannot fix. It doesn't matter how romantic I am; it doesn't matter how loving I am; it doesn't matter how many flowers I send, or if I write her poetry, or if I clean the kitchen, or if I take the kids and let her go have girl time- I am powerless to fix Lauren (Matt's wife).
Doing all those things to minister to her are right and good, but there are things in my girl I just can't fix, things that are between her and the Lord. Just like there are things in me that she can't love me enough to overcome. But the only way I would ever have learned this is the try, try, try- try to fix her, let her try to fix me and then watch the escalating conflict that takes place when we try to do that."
This excerpt comes from a chapter where Chandler is talking about the Old Testament sacrificial system and manipulating God or earning something from Him. All of those things that he lists in this excerpt are things that I have told men to do, they are things that I strive to do for Jen on a consistent basis. But many times when we do these things we do them out of self centered motives. When they are rooted there, they are worthless. In fact, they are worse that worthless they are counter productive. These actions flow out of a desire that is birthed by the gospel. Don't quit reading now, this is the important part.
The spiritual well being and communion of her heart with God is the primary focus of our husbandhood. The spiritual well being of my bride and her pure communion with the Father is at the center of my ministry. What I mean is that there is nothing more important in what I do that the spiritual well being and pure communion with the Father. Preaching, parenting, vision casting for church, teaching Bible studies, leading men, blogging, and anything else I spend my time doing are secondary at best to that one thing. Because I know this and because I preach it to myself 20 times a day, it has become part of me.
So I spend my day in prayer for my bride. Prayer is not always, "Dear God...blah blah blah...Amen." Many times it is just carrying burdens, a thought directed to the Spirit of God or just thinking about her in a prayerful mindset. I also have a longing in me as a result to read scripture to her as we go to sleep each night. These things usually turn me into the sort of husband who does the things that Chandler listed in the excerpt above.
Take a moment now to pray for your wife and pray for God to put her on your heart to pray for without ceasing.
Thanks for reading.
With that in my consciousness, I read this excerpt from The Explicit Gospel today. "The hard-won lesson I've learned in marriage, something I'm very grateful for knowing now, is that there are some thing in my wife's heart and some struggles she faces in life that I cannot fix. It doesn't matter how romantic I am; it doesn't matter how loving I am; it doesn't matter how many flowers I send, or if I write her poetry, or if I clean the kitchen, or if I take the kids and let her go have girl time- I am powerless to fix Lauren (Matt's wife).
Doing all those things to minister to her are right and good, but there are things in my girl I just can't fix, things that are between her and the Lord. Just like there are things in me that she can't love me enough to overcome. But the only way I would ever have learned this is the try, try, try- try to fix her, let her try to fix me and then watch the escalating conflict that takes place when we try to do that."
This excerpt comes from a chapter where Chandler is talking about the Old Testament sacrificial system and manipulating God or earning something from Him. All of those things that he lists in this excerpt are things that I have told men to do, they are things that I strive to do for Jen on a consistent basis. But many times when we do these things we do them out of self centered motives. When they are rooted there, they are worthless. In fact, they are worse that worthless they are counter productive. These actions flow out of a desire that is birthed by the gospel. Don't quit reading now, this is the important part.
The spiritual well being and communion of her heart with God is the primary focus of our husbandhood. The spiritual well being of my bride and her pure communion with the Father is at the center of my ministry. What I mean is that there is nothing more important in what I do that the spiritual well being and pure communion with the Father. Preaching, parenting, vision casting for church, teaching Bible studies, leading men, blogging, and anything else I spend my time doing are secondary at best to that one thing. Because I know this and because I preach it to myself 20 times a day, it has become part of me.
So I spend my day in prayer for my bride. Prayer is not always, "Dear God...blah blah blah...Amen." Many times it is just carrying burdens, a thought directed to the Spirit of God or just thinking about her in a prayerful mindset. I also have a longing in me as a result to read scripture to her as we go to sleep each night. These things usually turn me into the sort of husband who does the things that Chandler listed in the excerpt above.
Take a moment now to pray for your wife and pray for God to put her on your heart to pray for without ceasing.
Thanks for reading.
Pulling Weeds
A couple of nights ago my wife and I got into a fight. I could tell you about the details of the fight, but I would rather tell you about the root of the fight and the lesson God taught me in it.
After the fight blew up, I went outside to our back patio to sit and be angry. The anger gave way to the Spirit of God nudging me to my failings as a husband and pastor in the midst of the fight. That gave way to prayers of repentance. That gave way to me seeking find a way to serve my wife.
In the midst of all that I read the Bible on my phone. I began reading James. Specifically James 1:12-20 with special emphasis on James 1:19-20. The anger of a man does not produce the righteousness of God. This leveled me. I talk to my wife and the people who God has given me to pastor about loving their wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her. I say this often. Yet here I was yelling in anger at her trying to get her to see things my way. The anger of a man does not produce the righteousness of God.
So after this leveling, I start looking for something to do to serve her. I am outside sitting on the patio. Many who read this know that my house was hit by a tornado about a year ago and we just moved back in about 2 months ago. That meant the flower beds that border our patio have had no attention in 12 months. So I start pulling weeds. Did I mention that it is midnight? I have my phone's flashlight rigged up to shine on the area and I start digging weeds.
As I do, my mind goes to this idea. I have enjoyed the fruit of my marriage for a long time with little to know work on pulling the weeds. So now instead of colorful flowers in the flower bed, there are weeds and glass from broken windows from the tornado scattered around the flower bed.
Scriptures calls men to be to their wives as Christ was the to the church. Scripture calls us to act as Christ did by not clinging to our rights but instead to take on the nature of a servant.
My lesson is this, I have to engage in the continual practice of repentance and removing sin from my heart. This is a tweet that sent out that night in the middle of the literal and spiritual weed pulling, "Simply enjoying the provision of God w/o engaging the pruning work of repentance will leave your soul filled with weeds. #firsthandknowledge"
Thanks for reading.
After the fight blew up, I went outside to our back patio to sit and be angry. The anger gave way to the Spirit of God nudging me to my failings as a husband and pastor in the midst of the fight. That gave way to prayers of repentance. That gave way to me seeking find a way to serve my wife.
In the midst of all that I read the Bible on my phone. I began reading James. Specifically James 1:12-20 with special emphasis on James 1:19-20. The anger of a man does not produce the righteousness of God. This leveled me. I talk to my wife and the people who God has given me to pastor about loving their wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her. I say this often. Yet here I was yelling in anger at her trying to get her to see things my way. The anger of a man does not produce the righteousness of God.
So after this leveling, I start looking for something to do to serve her. I am outside sitting on the patio. Many who read this know that my house was hit by a tornado about a year ago and we just moved back in about 2 months ago. That meant the flower beds that border our patio have had no attention in 12 months. So I start pulling weeds. Did I mention that it is midnight? I have my phone's flashlight rigged up to shine on the area and I start digging weeds.
As I do, my mind goes to this idea. I have enjoyed the fruit of my marriage for a long time with little to know work on pulling the weeds. So now instead of colorful flowers in the flower bed, there are weeds and glass from broken windows from the tornado scattered around the flower bed.
Scriptures calls men to be to their wives as Christ was the to the church. Scripture calls us to act as Christ did by not clinging to our rights but instead to take on the nature of a servant.
My lesson is this, I have to engage in the continual practice of repentance and removing sin from my heart. This is a tweet that sent out that night in the middle of the literal and spiritual weed pulling, "Simply enjoying the provision of God w/o engaging the pruning work of repentance will leave your soul filled with weeds. #firsthandknowledge"
Thanks for reading.
