Cross Point Bible Fellowship

Would you rather be perfect or forgiven?

2010-06-04T11:26:00.002-04:00

I've asked this question to myself and to my kids: Would you rather be perfect or forgiven? My natural instinct is to prefer to be perfect. I feel better about myself when I am perfect - when I don't make any mistakes (at least not any that people know about). But I am not perfect. And my failures frustrate me. But I realized a while back that my failures bring me an opportunity to experience something better than being perfect - being forgiven. You see, if I was perfect, people would probably always treat me okay - just because they'd have no reason not to. But when people treat me well when they have a reason not to - when they forgive me - then I know I am loved. And, when I stop and think about it, I would rather be loved and know it than be perfect and wonder if anyone really loves me. Would I rather be perfect or forgiven? I thank God that, in His wisdom, He did not make me perfect. Because as an imperfect person I have the opportunity to know that I am loved - by other people, and most of all by God.

Although he might not say it the way I say it here, perhaps umpire Jim Joyce would also say that he'd rather be forgiven than perfect, after the response to his mistake Wednesday night, and to his admirable confession of his mistake. (Note especially Joyce's comment that "I've probably been at an all-time low, and steadily climbing to, I guess, an all-time high, I guess.")

Romans 11:32 "For God has shut up all in disobedience so that He may show mercy to all."

To you it has been granted...

2010-05-26T09:27:00.002-04:00

Philippians 1:29 - "For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake."

Is the idea that God would grant us "to suffer for His sake" foreign to us? Do we not think that suffering is a sign that something is wrong and needs to be fixed? It is as clear as can be here: Suffering for Jesus' sake is a gift from God. We must think about the Christian life in ways that include this idea. And we must be prepared for future suffering, so that when it comes, we can see it as a gift from God, and we can rejoice the way Paul did. How can we prepare for suffering? One way is to read the Bible and to take it seriously - especially the promises that God has made about the future and the benefits that will come to those who suffer for Jesus' sake. Perhaps then we will be able to believe that it really is a blessing to be able "to suffer for His sake."

Our proud confidence

2010-05-04T09:53:00.002-04:00

2 Corinthians 1:12 - "For our proud confidence is this: the testimony of our conscience, that in holiness and godly sincerity, not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God, we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially toward you."

Often, my confidence - or lack of it - comes from my perception of what other people think of me or of what I have done. But Paul's example shows us that our confidence ought to come from our own conscience. Can we say that we have conducted ourselves in holiness and godly sincerity? Even though those things (holiness and godly sincerity) do not guarantee that we won't make mistakes or that people won't misunderstand us, they should give us confidence.

What if we hope in Christ in this life only?

2010-04-28T09:29:00.003-04:00

A comment from today's Bible reading blog:

1 Corinthians 15:19 - Have you ever heard someone say that even if our belief in Jesus isn't true, it still makes our life better and is worth believing? But what does Paul say? "If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied?" Why? Because hope in Christ involves self-denial and suffering. What would be the point of those things if Christ has not been raised? How would we be "better off" in that case? Doesn't this prove that the main way that we benefit from believing in Christ is in eternity, rather than in this life?

A Powerful Quote

2010-04-14T13:45:00.002-04:00

"The question, brothers, is not whether we will die, but whether we will die in a way that bears much fruit."

This is from John Piper's biographical message about Adoniram Judson, who died 160 years ago this past Monday. The blog post caught my eye because Judson, the first American foreign missionary, gave his life to take the Gospel to Myanmar (Burma), a place that, Lord willing, I will be teaching in the not too distant future. Many of the ABTS students in Myanmar come from the result of Judson's work.

Great Deals on Great Marriage Books

2010-04-14T12:18:00.002-04:00

The Westminster Bookstore is offering some great deals on some excellent books on marriage. They are offering Paul Tripp's "What Did You Expect? Redeeming the Realities of Marriage" for $8.99 instead of $21.99 and John Piper's "This Momentary Marriage" for $5.00 instead of $17.99. You can access these deals here. The deals are only good until Friday, April 16th at 3pm.

Why?

2010-03-29T09:07:00.001-04:00

From today's entries on Cross Point's Bible Reading Blog.

Matthew 27:46 - This also tells us that something more was going on than the physical suffering that eyewitnesses could have seen. Jesus was suffering the wrath of His Father, which included being forsaken by the One with whom He had enjoyed perfect fellowship from eternity past. Imagine a child calling for help from his father, only to have his father turn and walk the other way. His cry, "Why have your forsaken me?" would not be a noble, symbolic statement, but a cry of desperation and rejection. This, I am convinced, is how we should hear Jesus' cry here.

Who was St. Patrick?

2010-03-17T13:11:00.003-04:00

Who was St. Patrick that he should have his own holiday? This article by Mark Driscoll gives us an answer. St. Patrick was "one of the greatest missionaries who ever lived."

"Patrick gave his life to the people who had enslaved him until he died at 77 years of age. He had seen untold thousands of people convert as between 30-40 of the 150 tribes had become substantially Christian. He had trained 1000 pastors, planted 700 churches, and was the first noted person in history to take a strong public stand against slavery."

You can read the whole thing here.

"O Sovereign Lord"

2010-03-16T10:12:00.002-04:00

Last night, I read with my kids David's prayer in the second half of 2 Samuel chapter 7. Over and over, David calls God "Sovereign Lord." To be sovereign is to have absolute authority. No one has authority over someone who is sovereign. If God is the Sovereign Lord, then no one in the universe can make Him do what He doesn't want to do, or keep Him from doing what He wants to do. When we think about what God is like, is His sovereignty one of the first things we think of? Perhaps it should be.

Psalm 51:1

2010-03-05T09:57:00.000-05:00

From my Bible reading this morning...

Psalm 51:1 - On what basis do we ask God for forgiveness? Not on the basis of our other good works, but on the basis of the greatness of His compassion. This is surely good news. We don't have to ask, "Have I done enough to be forgiven?" We only need to ask, "Is God compassionate enough to forgive?" And the answer is always, "Yes!"

Free Audio Books

2010-03-02T14:44:00.002-05:00

Each month, ChristianAudio.com offers free audio books. This month, there are two free options (you can get both) - Dietrich Bonhoeffer's classic, The Cost of Discipleship, on John Piper's more recent excellent little book, Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die. You can go straight to the free download page by clicking here.

An Unhindered Prisoner

2010-03-01T10:39:00.001-05:00

Here is one of my comments from this morning on our church's Bible reading blog.

Acts 28:30-31 - Could Acts possibly end on a better note? Paul was being held as a prisoner. So what? He was able to welcome (receive) all who came to him. He was preaching "the kingdom of God" (there it is again) and was "teaching concerning the Lord Jesus Christ". He was doing this "with all openness." He didn't have to hide what he was doing. And then there is the beautiful final word of the book - unhindered. Paul was a prisoner. But nothing was hindering his proclamation of the Gospel of the kingdom.

Our Big News

2010-02-24T08:27:00.004-05:00

On February 7th, I announced to our church that our family has become convinced that God wants us to pursue an opportunity for me to teach at Asia Baptist Theological Seminary, which is based in Chiang Mai, Thailand. This seminary provides a US accredited Master's level education to national pastors, missionaries, Bible translators, and other in locations throughout Asia. We would be living in Chiang Mai, where the seminary's office is, and I would travel multiple times a year to teach two-week seminar classes in countries like the Philippines, Singapore, Myanmar, Thailand, Hong Kong, Papua New Guinea, South Korea, etc.

This decision was difficult, since we are part of a great church and it is an exciting time in the life of our church. Our decision really is a matter of obedience to what God seems to be making clear to us - that it is time to pursue something that has been in our hearts for a long time, something which seemed impossible in the past, but which now seems possible. It feels to us like if we tried to justify any other course of action, we would be demonstrating a lack of faith in what we've been learning - and what I've been preaching - and that we would be disobedient to God.

For now, I will remain on as pastor until the elders release me to begin our financial support raising. We expect this release to occur when we have brought in our next pastor. Between searching for a new pastor and raising financial support, we expect to be about two years away from moving to Thailand (Lord willing!).

Below is (a somewhat lengthy) portion of the message I gave when I announced and explained this decision...

First of all, the consideration of full-time missions is not a new thing for us. When I came to faith in Jesus in college, it was through Campus Crusade for Christ, one of the largest mission agencies in the world. I became friends with people who had been on mission trips and went on some myself. I had a growing excitement about being involved in God’s work in different parts of the world and thought that He wanted me to go be involved in that work.

In fact, as I was getting to know Beth, I was pretty sure that God wanted me to be a missionary. I knew that if I was going to marry someone, they would need to be willing to be a missionary too. Before I would ever ask Beth on a date, I needed to be sure that she could go along with whatever missionary calling God might have for me. And I clearly remember asking her in the cafeteria on campus one day if she had ever thought of being a missionary. And I learned, to my pleasure, that she was very much open to being a missionary. I thought I was being kind of sly, not letting on that I wanted to ask her out if the answer was yes. But I found out later that she knew exactly what I was doing. Apparently, slyness is not my gift.

Early in our marriage, we were planning on being full-time missionaries in a Muslim country. But God sent us in another direction at the time (to Canada), although we never completely dismissed the possibility of missions. In seminary, we were again considering full-time missions, especially opportunities to be training pastors in other parts of the world – something that we both felt was extremely important and that might be something I would be effective at. It was something we would have really liked to do. But it just didn’t seem possible, so we once again pursued something else. And that something else led us here, something for we which we are extremely grateful.

As I reflect on why it didn’t seem possible for us to pursue full-time missions at that time, I can think of three reasons why it didn’t seem possible. (I want to mention these so you can see how God removed those obstacles.)

- We had very young children, which, as you know, makes day-to-day life very challenging. And this made it seem impossible for us – and especially for Beth – to manage to do much more than survive if we lived in another part of the world.

- My dad was alone. I have a really close relationship with my dad. And almost 11 years ago, my parents’ marriage ended. So my dad lived alone. And the thought of moving so far away from him seemed impossible.

- We had no real opportunity to pursue the kind of ministry we were interested in. We liked the idea of training pastors overseas, but didn’t know where we would or could do that. We didn’t know anybody who could open that door for us. And, on top of that, I had no experience as a pastor that would give me any credibility in training pastors.

So it didn’t seem possible for us to go into full-time missions. And we were beginning to think that it would never happen. And that was okay – because God gave us an opportunity to serve with you – first at Walnut Creek, and now at Cross Point (Walnut Creek and Vienna Baptist Church merged to form Cross Point last year). And I had every intention of staying here for decades. Some of you heard me say things like that and I meant it. I didn’t want to move on to another church. And while teaching pastors overseas still sounded like the coolest job in the world, it didn’t seem like something that was possible. And we didn’t expect that to change.

But then God began to do some things that did change things for us, taking what seemed impossible and making it seem not only possible, but really, quite honestly, like something we must do – at the risk of being disobedient.

So what did God do to open doors that had seemed closed to us in the past?

1. I have to be honest that getting to know the Miskimen family had a big impact on us.

a. Not only were they good friends to us, but

b. Their preparation to teach at ABTS made us aware of a real place where people were doing the kind of thing that I already thought was the coolest job in the world.

c. We watched them actually do some very difficult things – like completing the process of raising financial support, and saying goodbye to familiar things and to their families. And when you see other people do hard things to follow and serve Jesus, it gets a little bit easier to imagine yourself doing those same hard things.

d. And we’ve kept in touch with them and learned that people like us – even Charlene who doesn’t even like Americanized Chinese food – can make it in Thailand – house geckoes and all.

e. But this still didn’t seem to be a real possibility until a few other things began to happen last year.

i. My dad remarried. God brought a wonderful lady named Nancy into my dad’s life and they got married last March. All of a sudden, the dad that I didn’t want to leave alone by going overseas, would not be alone.

ii. I began to learn about the plans of ABTS to expand their degree offerings, meaning that more professors were needed.

iii. I had a “real” opportunity to teach in a more academic situation than normal (in Sierra Leone), and I received very good feedback on my teaching, both from the pastor/students, and from a long-time friend who knows the difference between good and bad professors. So I began to realize that maybe teaching wasn’t just something that I wished I was good enough at to be used by God in an academic setting, but something that I am good enough at for.

iv. Beth began to feel much more capable of managing life in a foreign country. I’m not sure why – perhaps it was some combination of increased faith in God, hearing how the Miskimens were doing, our kids being older, and our family managing well without me for almost three weeks this fall. But my precious wife, who before couldn’t imagine doing more than surviving on the mission field, could now trust that God could help her do better than that.

v. And one of the biggest things that happened to me last year that changed things for us was…preaching through the Gospel of Matthew (okay, through about half of it).

We’ve been going through Matthew together. So you’ve learned a lot of the same things that I’ve been learning. Jesus demands a lot from His disciples. But He also promises a lot. And I began to find myself asking myself this question: “If I really believed what Jesus says, how would I live my life differently?”

Jesus is not a Jerk

2010-02-15T08:52:00.003-05:00

This wasn't the title for my sermon yesterday. But it perhaps could have been, since this incident makes it look like Jesus doesn't care about this Canaanite woman and her daughter, and that He wouldn't help her until she sort of outsmarted Him.

Matthew 15:21-28

21 Jesus went away from there, and withdrew into the district of Tyre and Sidon.
“There” – the place Jesus went from, appears to be the land of Genessaret, a plain on the NW shore of the Sea of Galilee. So after having a minor confrontation with the Pharisees and scribes (that we talked about two Sundays ago), in which Jesus condemned them for following the traditions of the elders instead of God’s commands, Jesus went from Jewish territory to the district of Tyre and Sidon. That district was NOT Jewish territory. Most of the people who lived there were descendants of the tribes of people that were driven out of the Promised Land when God gave the land to His people after the Exodus from Egypt. So most of the people living in that district were not Jews, but…Gentiles. And that will be important for us to remember.

22 And a Canaanite woman from that region came out and began to cry out, saying, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is cruelly demon-possessed.”

We’re not surprised that the woman who came to Jesus was a Canaanite, since that’s mostly who lived there. What we should be surprised about is what this Gentile, Canaanite woman called Jesus, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David.” Calling Jesus “Lord” could have meant that she believed that Jesus was divine. But it also could have just been a sign of respect. But “Son of David” was clear. This woman somehow learned what the OT taught, that a particular descendant of King David would one day come and bring restoration to God’s people and kingdom. The healing miracles that Jesus did were evidence that He was that Son of David. And this woman must have heard about those miracles – since she was asking for one for her daughter.

So this woman is crying out to Jesus on behalf of her daughter. It says that she “began to cry out,” but the kind of word there usually refers to an action that is repeated, which seems to have been the case, judging from the disciples’ reaction in the next verse.

23 But He (Jesus) did not answer her a word. And His disciples came and implored Him, saying, “Send her away, because she keeps shouting at us.”

So this lady keeps crying out to Jesus for help. And Jesus…ignores her. That wasn’t very nice. And it’s not the way Jesus typically treated people, was it? So was He ignoring her because she was a Gentile and not a Jew and, therefore, He had no desire or intention to help her? Or…was He ignoring her at first in order to teach a lesson to His disciples – and to us? We’ll see.

So Jesus ignored the lady at first. But the disciples couldn’t ignore her. They were getting annoyed. So they asked Jesus to send her away.

Now…this is not so simple. If you’re like me, when you first read this, you think that the disciples just want Jesus to get rid of her. “Jesus, tell her to get lost. Send her away without getting what she’s asking for.” But some scholars think that the disciples meant, “Give her what she wants so she’ll go away and leave us alone.” It’s not perfectly clear whether the disciples wanted Jesus to send her away with or without healing her daughter as she was requesting. So while it’s interesting to try to figure this out, we don’t need to know the answer in order to get the point.

24 But He (Jesus) answered and said, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

Whether the disciples were asking Jesus to heal the woman’s daughter or not, the reason that Jesus didn’t immediately do it is because of what His mission was. “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

Now…this could sound like Jesus came only for the Jews, and so we Gentiles were and are out of luck. But there are plenty of other things in the Gospels – and even in the Gospel of Matthew – that keep us from arriving at a conclusion like that. The first people recorded in Matthew who worship Jesus are Gentile wise men. Jesus is said to be a “light to the Gentiles.” He healed the servant of a Gentile, Roman centurion and commended that Gentile for his great faith. In Mt 24, Jesus says that before the end comes, the Good News of the kingdom of heaven will be preached to all the nations – and “nations” and “Gentiles” is the same word. And the Gospel ends with Jesus giving the great commission – to make disciples of all nations – of all the Gentiles. So there is no way that Jesus means that He’s only here to help the Jews, but that we Gentiles are out of luck.

But…there is still a matter of priority. It’s not that the Jews are more important than the Gentiles. But…the mission to the Jews was to be first chronologically – in time. The Jews were the descendants of those to whom God had made promises that led up to the arrival of Jesus – people like Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. And because of that, it was important for the Jews to see and hear this Good News first, before it was the Gentiles’ “turn.”

So there is a good chance that when Jesus says, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel,” what He means is, “Although my death and resurrection will result in the salvation of people – Gentiles – from every nation, my personal ministry of preaching and teaching and healing – during my earthly life – is meant for the Jews. It is my disciples who will take that ministry to the Gentiles.”

So you see that Jesus could have been explaining that His personal ministry – during those three or three-and-a-half years – was a mission to the Jews that He had been sent on, even though it would eventually bless all the nations. In other words, if Jesus never spoke to, preached to, or healed a Gentile, He would have still fulfilled the purpose for which He had been sent. This is why the book of Romans repeats the phrase “to the Jew first, and also to the Greek” (1:16; 2:9,10).

It’s tough to tell whether Jesus said this only to the disciple, or also to the Canaanite woman. But whether she what Jesus said or not, she wasn’t giving up…

25 But she came and began to bow down before Him, saying, “Lord, help me!”

So not only did this lady call Jesus “Lord” and “Son of David,” now she was bowing down on her face to plead for Jesus’ help. And Jesus decided it was time to speak directly to her.

26 And He answered and said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”

Now this doesn’t sound very nice, does it? Is Jesus really calling this lady and her daughter dogs? The Jews were in the habit of calling Gentiles dogs. So it’s not impossible.

But it seems that Jesus is really just making the point that things should be used as they are intended to be used. When parents buy bread for their children (notice that it’s the children’s bread referred to here) – when parents buy bread for their children, it would be wrong to take that bread and throw it to the dogs instead of to the children. The dogs would be satisfied at the children’s expense. The children would go hungry. They would go without what they needed and what was meant for them.

We get a little bit of help from the Gospel of Mark here. There are a number of true stories in the Gospels that are told in more than one of the Gospels. And because space was limited and because each of the Gospel writers had a specific purpose in writing under the Holy Spirit’s inspiration, sometimes one of them would include details that another didn’t. Here is how Mark (7:27) records what Jesus said at this point. “Let the children be satisfied first, for it not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”

What do we see from Mark? That Jesus’ point was not about Jews being children and Gentiles being dogs, so that Jews matter and Gentiles don’t. His point was that there is a proper order that must be followed. Jesus’ earthly ministry was for the Jews. But, as Eph 2:13 says, those “who formerly were far off (Gentiles) have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” The death of Jesus would forever change things for the Gentiles. Before the death of Jesus, their only hope of being one of God’s people was to become Jewish, which they could do. But once Jesus died, the door was open for them to receive forgiveness and eternal life without becoming Jewish.

But when Jesus and this woman had this conversation, they were still living in the time of “let the children be satisfied first.” So Jesus wasn’t telling her that God didn’t care about her. But He was telling her that the personal ministry that He had been sent to perform was meant for the Jews. And…He seems to have been setting her up for an expression of great faith – (1) because we and the disciples need to know what “great faith” is, and (2) because the object of her great faith points to the amazing quality of God’s grace.

Listen to what she said in response to Jesus…

27 But she said, “Yes, Lord; but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.”

Now…it’s important to notice how the woman might have responded to Jesus. If you were asking someone for help, and they said something to you like Jesus said to this woman – (It’s not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs) – you might get a little upset – especially if you felt that, at some level, you had a right to expect them to help you.

You might say, “What? Am I a dog? Am I worthless? Don’t I matter too?”

But what does this woman say? First of all, she agrees with Jesus. “Yes, Lord,” she says. “You’re right. What was meant for the children should not be taken away from the children and given to someone or something it was NOT meant for. You’re right.”

She doesn’t act like Jesus has any kind of obligation to help her. She doesn’t ask Jesus to adjust his mission or to make an exception. But she does believe that if she, like the little house dogs that ate the table scraps that fell on the floor, could just get a little bit of the leftovers – the overflow – of God’s grace through Jesus, that it would be enough…to heal her daughter.

“Lord, I’m not asking you to give me what belongs to someone else. Surely the grace that you give to the lost sheep of the house of Israel is so great, so huge, that even when you take care of them, there would be crumbs left over for me. Lord, could I just have a crumb of your grace, even though it wasn’t meant for me?”

And points are made about God’s grace and about what it means to have “great faith” – points we’ll come back to. So Jesus heals the woman’s daughter of the demonization that she was suffering from.

28 Then Jesus said to her, “O woman, your faith is great; it shall be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed at once.

Some observations made on the basis of this passage:

What about God's grace should amaze us?

1. As Gentiles, we have no right to expect God’s grace

2. Even God’s leftovers are powerful.

3. If Gentiles are outsiders who have no right to expect to receive or experience God’s grace…and if even the leftovers of God’s grace that Jesus was free to give to outsiders was enough to heal a demonized girl…then just what can we Gentiles expect from God now that (1) by faith in Jesus we’ve been incorporated among God’s people so that we are no longer outsiders, and (2) we are now the rightful recipients of grace of God that is intended for the children and we don’t have to settle for the leftovers?

What does it mean to have “great faith”?

1. Great faith is faith that Jesus cares even for those He has not obligated Himself to care for.

2. Great faith is faith that Jesus has enough grace to fulfill His obligations and still have leftovers.

3. Great faith is faith that doesn’t give up when our prayers aren’t immediately answered.

4. Great faith is the faith of someone who knows they don’t deserve what they are asking for.

Ultimately, great faith is faith that God's grace is great.

Can you smile at the future?

2010-02-03T10:59:00.003-05:00

I was reading Proverbs 31 to prepare for tonight's small group. And one particular phrase that describes the "excellent wife" caught my eye. It's in v.25: "And she smiles at the future." We often fear the future, so that we frown at it. If we smile, it's often wishful thinking - as though we were smiling at a wished-for future, rather than the real future. But the excellent wife smiles at the future. I would like to smile at the future, too. What would that take? Here is the start of my answer: (1) Trust in the Lord (Prov 3:5-6), so that you don't have to fear the future. (2) Fear the Lord (1:7, and many other places in Proverbs), taking His word seriously and obeying it, so that you can be confident that you will not do things that bring unnecessary difficulty into your life. (3) Put your hope in God's eternal plan. Even if the more immediate future may involve challenges and suffering, the eventual and never-ending future will surpass our wildest dreams. (4) Train your children to fear the Lord, and not just to behave in certain ways. Many of our fears of the future are related to the well-being of our children. But if we teach our children to do numbers 1,2, and 3, above, we can look forward to their futures with confidence and optimism.

It's not too late

2010-02-01T09:21:00.003-05:00

Yesterday, I mentioned to the folks in our church that, since January is over, it might feel too late to start trying to read through the Bible this year. But how about taking a one-year plan to read through the Bible or through the New Testament and just pretend that January starts today. I'm positive that reading through the Bible or part of it from February 2010 through January 2011 will be just as beneficial as reading through it from January 2010 through December 2010. So it's not too late. Get started today! And if you'd like, you can use our church's Bible reading blog as an encouragement as you go.

A pretty cool thought

2010-01-28T14:52:00.002-05:00

As I was thinking and praying today during my sermon preparation, I was trying to figure out why Jesus said what He said in a certain passage. And as I prayed about it, I realized that I was able to ask Jesus why He said what He said. What a joy and a privilege it is to be able to ask the One who said it why He said it and what it means!

Praying with faith

2010-01-26T10:13:00.001-05:00

This is an excerpt from my post this morning on the Cross Point Bible Reading Blog, where we are reading through the Bible together this year using the Discipleship Journal Bible Reading Plan.

Acts 12:15-16 Apparently, fervent prayer (verse 5) is not necessarily prayer that is full of faith, since the people who had gathered to pray for Peter had an easier time believing that Peter's angel was outside their door than that Peter himself was there. Fortunately, God does not wait until we are full of faith to answer our prayers. There are times when we pray mostly because we know we should pray, rather than because we really expect God to answer our prayers. But let's start praying with the kind of faith that isn't so surprised when God grants what we have asked for.

Before it gets much later in January...

2010-01-06T15:39:00.002-05:00

Before we get any further into January, I want to make one last effort to encourage you to use a Bible reading plan to read through all or part of the Bible this year. I am using the Discipleship Journal Bible reading plan, which has me reading in four parts of the Bible every day (well, 25 days a month). That may sound like a lot – 4-7 chapters a day, depending on the length of the chapters. But I can honestly say that it’s a joy to have several different ideas from God’s word put into my mind each morning.

Now…you may not think that you have time to read that much of the Bible every day. But I am surprised how little time it is taking me. This morning, it took less than half an hour. And because I’m a nerd, I was checking the Greek a few times, and then writing some things about these readings on the church’s new Bible reading blog. So it should take you even less time, even if you are reading thoughtfully (and I hope you are!), rather than just to “get through” it.

If that still sounds like a lot of time to spend reading the Bible, then we should take a look at 1 Timothy 4:6-8 to put things into perspective.

“6 In pointing out these things to the brethren, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine which you have been following. 7 But have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old women. On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness; 8 for bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come."

There are two concepts that we should take note of here. The first is in verse 8. “Bodily discipline” (or training) is somewhat profitable. It helps us a little. But godliness is profitable for all things. Somehow, we find it easy to take care of the health of our bodies. Even if we aren’t as good about diet and exercise as we should be, we don’t completely neglect our bodies. We want to keep them in decent working order. But those efforts aren’t nearly as important – as profitable – as training for godliness. And when we train ourselves for godliness – which includes the discipline (something we make ourselves do) of regular Bible reading – we do something that isn’t just a little bit helpful, but helpful for all things. In fact, it is helpful for both the present life and the life to come!

The second thing we should notice is in verse 6. It’s the word “nourished.” Even if we don’t exercise much, we do make sure that our bodies are nourished – usually three times a day. We actually devote a lot of time to the nourishment of our bodies – not only the preparing and eating of the food, but the work to make money to buy the food too. Well, if physical training isn’t as profitable as training for godliness, do we think that physical nourishment is more profitable than spiritual nourishment? This must be why Paul spoke of being “nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine…” Do we think in terms of being nourished by words? Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, sure did.

So as we consider what we think we do and don’t have time for, I want to suggest (and this challenges me too!) that if we are in the habit of being sure that our bodies our nourished by food, then we should be even more sure that our souls are nourished by God’s Word. Feeding your soul is too important to not make time for it. What will it take for you to make sure that your soul is adequately fed?

**By the way, another interesting article might be about how our bodies tell us that they are hungry so we don’t forget to feed them. But our souls don’t do this, so we might forget to feed them. Or do our souls tell us that they are hungry? Perhaps our short tempers, feelings of sadness or anxiety, lustful thoughts, etc. are the hunger pangs of souls that have not been adequately nourished. That’s something for all of us to think about.

A Note on Taking Notes

2010-01-05T09:57:00.001-05:00

I want to strongly encourage anyone who regularly reads the Bible (which I also strongly encourage you to do) to keep a notebook and pen or pencil handy as they read. You may not write down anything incredibly profound, or anything that nobody has ever thought of before. But something changes when you read with the intention of writing things down. You pay closer attention to what you are reading. All of us, at one time or another, have been reading and then had to go back and reread it because we were looking at the words without really paying attention. One way that I have been helped to do this less often is to read while intending to write.

You can write down all kinds of things - verses that seem important, observations that you make, questions that come to mind, and things that you learn that you should do. Let's not just read the Bible. Let's read the Bible thoughtfully. Taking notes as you read can help that to happen.

Cross Point Bible Reading Project

2010-01-01T10:29:00.003-05:00

Happy New Year! Today, we start our project of reading through the Bible in 2010. Using the Bible reading plan from the Discipleship Journal, this will require reading only about 4 chapters of the Bible each day, which should only take 15-20 minutes - less if you don't read thoughtfully, but we don't want that to happen. So please consider joining us. Each day (25 readings a month, so not every day, Sundays will normally be off), at crosspointbiblereading.blogspot.com, I will post the references to what I read, along with some observations or question. You are invited to comment there or to ask you own questions as you read too.

How do you respond to reproof?

2009-12-02T09:20:00.002-05:00

"Reproof" and "reprove" are not words that we use a lot. But they are things that should happen between disciples of Jesus who love each other. To reprove someone is to scold or correct them, to rebuke them. While most of us would rather be on the giving, rather than the receiving, end of reproof, the Bible tells us that the way we respond to reproof says a lot about what kind of a person we are.

Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you.

Reprove a wise man and he will love you.

- Proverbs 9:8

When someone reproves you, how do you respond? Do you get angry? Do you hate them for it? If so, it shows that you are a scoffer, rather than a wise person. Do you love a person for reproving you? If so, it shows that you are a wise person. May God grant us the wisdom - and the humility - to love those who love us through their very important, reproving work.

Global Leadership Institute featured on Crossway blog

2009-11-20T12:29:00.002-05:00

In October, Cross Point Bible Fellowship helped to carry out the first Global Leadership Institute in Bo, Sierra Leone. They helped by raising funds for some of the pastors from Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Ivory Coast to attend the Institute, as well as by sending our pastor, Brian Main, to serve as one of the three instructors. Since Crossway had donated ESV Study Bibles for each of the pastors who attended the Institute, they recently featured the Institute on their blog. You can see the article here.

Why would Jesus not be willing to heal me (or my loved one)?

2009-11-03T15:41:00.001-05:00

There is real sense of joy and peace that can come from knowing and believing what we learned this past Sunday – that Jesus has authority over bodies and diseases and demons and the weather and, most importantly, authority to forgive our sins. But there is a nagging question that can come up when we recognize Jesus’ authority: If Jesus has authority over every disease, then why doesn’t he heal me?

The idea that Jesus could heal us all, but chooses not to, is not simply a misguided inference drawn from reading about his miraculous healings. It is a point that is actually made in the text itself, in Matthew 8. In verse 2, a leper falls down (in honor) before Jesus and says, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” In other words, it was not Jesus’ ability to heal leprosy that was in doubt; it was Jesus’ willingness to use that ability in that particular situation. Jesus was able to heal the man. But was He willing to heal him?

In that case, Jesus was willing. “Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, ‘I am willing; be cleansed.’ And immediately his leprosy was cleansed” (Matt 8:3). Jesus was willing to heal the man, so he was immediately healed. As we continued through Matthew 8-9, we saw that Jesus has authority over every kind of disease and sickness, over demons, and even over the weather. There is no question about Jesus’ authority. If He wants to heal someone, He doesn’t have to ask anyone’s permission and nobody can overrule Him.

So…this means that if we – you or I or a loved one – go unhealed, it is never because Jesus can’t heal them. It is always because Jesus won’t heal them – because Jesus chooses not to. And this is where the big question comes up: If Jesus can heal me, why would He not heal me?

Let me begin by saying that I will share a number of possible answers to this question. But in a particular situation, we must be very slow to settle on a particular answer. God’s ways are beyond our understanding. So even if we think we understand why He chooses leave someone unhealed, we cannot be sure. With that being said, here are some possible answers.

1. For good. Romans 8:28 tells us that “God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” This is a pretty general statement. But it does make it clear that if God leaves someone unhealed, it is for their good – in some way. God’s idea of good and ours may be very different. When a disciple of Jesus dies, we may think of it as bad. But Paul, who had a more Biblical view of things than we sometimes have, said that “to depart and be with Christ” is “very much better” than remaining on earth to work for God’s kingdom (Philippians 1:23). So would it not ultimately be “good” for a Christian when God doesn’t heal them, but allows them to depart and be with Christ?

2. For punishment. This is a possibility (not an absolute) when a non-Christian is not healed by Jesus. Sickness and death were not part of God’s original creation. And they won’t be part of the new heavens and the new earth. So sickness and death are properly understood as part of God’s punishment for our sin. For a Christian (a true disciple of Jesus), Jesus has taken our whole punishment and any suffering we do is not punishment, but could be discipline. But for someone whose punishment has not been placed on Jesus, their sickness could be part of their punishment. But we would hope that rather than punishment, it would be the next reason (#3).

3. To lead us to repentance and dependence on Him. I was struck by the number of pastors in Sierra Leone who came to faith in Jesus as the result of some sickness that they had experienced. There isn’t anything quite like facing the reality of our own death to get us to take seriously our need for forgiveness. Some people, if they are always healthy, will never feel the need to prepare themselves for death.

4. To lead others to repentance and dependence on Him. In some cases, it is not a person’s own sickness, but that of someone else, that causes them to face the prospect of their own death. This may not sound fair to the sick person who remains unhealed. But since Jesus has suffered so that salvation might come to you, would you not count it a privilege to suffer in order that salvation might come to someone else?

5. To direct our circumstances so that His purposes and plans will be carried out. This is related to the previous possible answer. Sometimes, we wouldn’t end up being where God wants us to be or doing what God wants us to do, except that He allows us to experience some kind of sickness. Sickness is a powerful way to direct our paths. In fact, the apostle Paul first preached the Gospel in Galatia “because of a bodily illness” (Galatians 4:13). Some missionaries I talked to recently ended up changing mission fields due to an illness. Jesus could have healed the sickness. But He allowed it to continue and directed their paths elsewhere.

6. To allow someone else to demonstrate God’s grace as they care for us. Robertson McQuilken is a well-known Christian leader who “had” to step down from leading Columbia International University in order to care for his wife who has Alzheimer ’s disease. (You can listen to a two-minute clip of him explaining his decision here.) There is something very powerful about his love for his wife – and about anyone’s love when they sacrifice to care for a loved one – that can open a hardened heart to consider the love of God. I’m willing to bet that Christians who have cared for loved ones in this way have been a significant reason that some people have believed the Gospel and been saved from their sins. (If this doesn’t seem fair, see number 4 above.)

7. To help us know that God’s grace is enough for us. The apostle Paul, after seeing a glorious vision, was given what he called a “thorn in the flesh” to keep him from exalting himself (2 Corinthians 12:7). This “thorn” was some kind of bodily illness, possibly a vision problem. He prayed that God would remove it, but God did not. Instead, God told him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness” (2 Cor 12:9). I need to spend more time meditating on this statement. But I can at least say that God allowed Paul to remain weakened by this illness so that neither Paul, nor anyone else, would make the mistake of thinking that Paul was adequate for the task God had called him to or that he could perform that task on his own. When we are strong, we may not feel that we need God. We may think that the strength God gives us is our own strength. So God may leave us weak, so that we depend on Him and learn that even when we are weak, He is strong. He will work in and through us to accomplish His purposes. His grace is enough.

8. To help us put our hope in the future, in God’s eternal kingdom, rather than in this life. Even though we “know” that eternity is a very long time and that this life is incredibly short by comparison, we still tend to put our hope in this life – in maximizing our comfort and pleasure in this life. This is a terrible mistake – one that can keep people out of the kingdom of God – since the kind of faith that Jesus calls His disciples to live out requires that they believe that the kingdom of heaven is far more valuable than the best that this life has to offer (see the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5-7). If everything is going well, it becomes even easier to focus on this life, rather than the next one – the eternal one. So Jesus may sometimes choose to leave us unhealed so that we don’t make the mistake of putting our hope in the enjoyment of this life. When we suffer, we are reminded that “the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Romans 8:18), so that we rejoice more in forgiveness than in healing.

This may not be the most complete list of possible answers to the question: Why would Jesus be unwilling to heal me? But it is a start. If you have been praying for Jesus to heal you or someone you love, but He has not chosen to answer that prayer, please know that there are good reasons – reasons that are good for you and for others – why He has chosen to give this answer at this time. Keep praying. But don’t let your hope be simply for this life. Instead, “fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:13).

Mini-quiz on the Gospels

2009-09-18T16:10:00.002-04:00

I discovered something quite intriguing as I was working today to prepare a lecture on Christology (the study of Jesus Christ).

How many times does the word "savior" appear in the four Gospels?

How many times does the word "teacher" appear in the four Gospels?

Jesus is called "Savior" twice in the Gospel, while He is called "Teacher" more than 40 times. Jesus is indeed our Savior. But do we, who are happy to be saved from our sins and from hell, equally think of Him as our Teacher? He is both.

Be Like David...Not Like Mike (from Voddie Baucham)

2009-09-17T13:13:00.002-04:00

Last week, as the Basketball Hall of Fame inductions neared, I had read a little bit about the different ways that Michael Jordan and David Robinson had ended their careers. While Jordan was likely the best ever, Robinson showed the kind of character that led me to recommend to my athlete son that David Robinson be one of his very few heroes from the world of sports.

I have even more confidence in that recommendation after reading Voddie Baucham's reflections on the speeches these two men gave at the induction ceremony. And if you are in search of a hero - for yourself or for your kids - consider David Robinson - not a perfect man, but a man who gets a lot of things right.

Why it's a miracle that any American will enter the kingdom of heaven

2009-09-08T09:48:00.002-04:00

I was reading through the Gospel of Mark the past couple of days and here is something that really caught my eye.

In Mark 10:23-25, Jesus amazed his disciples by saying that it is hard for the wealthy to enter the kingdom of God. Verse 24 points out that it is hard for anyone to enter the kingdom of God. But then verse 25 tells just how hard it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." How hard is it? It's impossible.

Some of you have probably heard speculation that there was a narrow spot near Jerusalem nicknamed "the eye of the needle" where it was very difficult for a camel to pass through. But, for two reasons, we should not assume that's what Jesus was talking about. (1) There has never been any evidence that such a place existed. (2) More importantly, in verse 27, Jesus makes it clear that he was talking about something impossible. Getting a camel through that narrow spot would not have been impossible. Getting an actual camel through the actual eye of an actual needle? Now that's impossible.

And yet that would be easier than getting a rich person into the kingdom of heaven. And let's not forget that, in comparison to the rest of the world, nearly every American is rich. For just a minute, imagine what it would look like for God to cause a camel to pass through the eye of a needle. It would look strange. I assume that God would make the camel very skinny at the part passing through - or maybe just really long and skinny.

The point is that we would be amazed. We would be convinced that we had just seen a miracle. We would have witnessed something otherwise impossible. AND THIS IS THE KIND OF AMAZEMENT THAT WE SHOULD HAVE AT OUR SALVATION. Making a camel pass through the eye of a needle is easier than getting a rich person into the kingdom of heaven. It's impossible for us to do on our own (I'd say it's because we naturally think that our "stuff" is too precious to risk losing for the sake of Jesus). But God blesses some by miraculously enabling them to treasure Jesus and eternal life and the kingdom of God more than their "stuff."

And if you are anywhere close to average in America (or anything other than the absolute poorest of the poor), then you ought to be more amazed that God has rescued you from your sin, granting you the ability to believe the Good News, than if you watched him stretch a camel out a mile long and a millimeter in diameter and stuck it right through the eye of a needle. This is how hard it is for us to enter God's kingdom - and how amazing it is that some of us will.

The Gospel for Busy People

2009-08-26T14:35:00.001-04:00

If this one line grabs your attention, then consider reading the entire post from Kevin DeYoung here.

"Because the secret of the gospel is that we actually do more when we hear less about all we need to do for God and hear more about all that God has already done for us."

Heavenly Rewards

2009-08-24T08:53:00.004-04:00

This spring, while teaching a theology class for people from our church and another church, the topic of heavenly rewards came up. While we could be certain that there are such rewards and that we are encouraged to seek them, it was difficult for us to come to a firm conclusion as to the precise nature of these heavenly rewards. Well

, on our vacation in Florida, at a Family Dollar store, my wife and I disovered exactly what these heavenly rewards are. Here is a picture.

Apparently, Heavenly Rewards are generic Girl Scout cookies. They come in the pictured flavor, as well as thin mint. While it was exciting to find an answer to to a perplexing theological question, I have to admit, after eating most of the box of Heavenly Rewards myself, that they were a bit disappointing.

However, I still hold out hope that naming these cookies Heavenly Rewards was just a lame attempt to sell more low quality cookies - and that the true heavenly rewards are infinitely better, making the sacrifices and the suffering that Jesus calls us to more than worth while (Romans 8:18).

Why bother visiting a nursing home?

2009-08-19T15:23:00.000-04:00

There are lots of books and blogs that talk about how to grow your church quickly. I don't think I've seen any of them recommend visiting people in nursing homes. It just doesn't sound like the way to quickly add people to our church, does it?

But that's okay, becuase there is a more important book that DOES recommend visiting people in nursing homes. It's not a book like "How Not to Grow Your Church." It's actually...the Bible. Have you ever read what it says right at the end of the first chapter of James? Verse 26 points out one extreme - worthless religion, which is when someone "thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart."

That's worthless religion. That's as worthless as it gets, as far as religious acts go. So what's the other end of the spectrum? What is the best you could do? The answer might surprise you. James 1:27 says, "Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep onself unstained by the world."

What is the purest form of religion in God's eyes? Visiting orhpans and widows. There are lots of good things that we should all be doing - Bible reading and study, prayer, encouraging other Christians, sharing the Gospel with non-Christians, giving to help the poor, etc. And we shouldn't neglect these things and only visit orphans and widows.

But, for some reason, visiting orphans and widows is an especially pure religious act - at least from God's perspective (what other perspective matters). Maybe it's because visiting orphans and widows is something that we can't get anything material out of. We don't walk away with more money. Maybe it's because visiting orphans and widows shows that we value people simply for being people made in the image of God (therefore valuing the image of God!) even if they can't do anything for us.

God doesn't have James tell us WHY visiting orphans and widows is pure and undefiled religion. But He does have him tell us THAT this is the case. So...do we have to understand WHY in order to do what God teaches us? Or do we just have to understand WHAT he teaches us?

Seeking first God's kingdom...

2009-08-08T13:59:00.002-04:00

Between being quite busy and having some vacation time (two extremes!), I haven't posted much here lately. But here is something I read last week while on vacation. I knew I would be preaching this Sunday on Matthew 6:25-34 (Don't worry...seek first God's kingdom and His righteousness and all these things - the necessities of life - will be added to you...). So I was thinking about whether I am really doing that - seeking God's kingdom FIRST. I was challenged by the following quote from John Calvin, which I found in John Piper's book, Legacy of Sovereign Joy. It's the kind of thing that I want to be able to say about myself.

When he was thirty years old, he described an imaginary scene of himself at the end of his life, giving an account to God, and said, “The thing [O God] at which I chiefly aimed, and for which I most diligently labored, was, that the glory of thy goodness and justice . . . might shine forth conspicuous, that the virtue and blessings of thy Christ . . .might be fully displayed.”

Executed for Distributing the Bible

2009-07-24T14:12:00.002-04:00

Foxnews.com has a story about a North Korean woman who was publicly executed last month for distributing the Bible. We ought to pray that God would protect those who face similar threats, be grateful for the courage that she and others show in the face of persecution, and have the courage to use our freedom to spread the same Good News to those around us.

Our Need of Prayer

2009-07-22T16:01:00.001-04:00

I was just reading a chapter about prayer in a book for pastors. I was preparing to discuss that chapter tomorrow morning with a small group of other pastors. I'm used to talking about prayer and hearing about the importance of praying - even if I'm not as good a pray-er as I ought to be. There were sections on private prayer for ourselves, praying for those in our churches, praying as part of pastoral visitation or counseling, and public prayer. But it was the final section of the chapter (just two paragraphs) that really caught my attention. The section was titled "Our Own Need of the Prayers of Others."

Quite often, the apostle Paul asked others to pray for him. Here is a sampling:

Romans 15:30-32 - "Now I urge you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God for me, that I may be rescued from those who are disobedient in Judea, and that my service for Jerusalem may prove acceptable to the saints; so that I may come to you in joy by the will of God and find refreshing rest in your company."

Ephesians 6:19 - "Pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak."

Colossians 4:3 - "...praying at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned."

If Paul needed people to pray for him, then we need the prayers of other at least as much. We are pretty good at asking others to pray for others who are in need. And we aren't to bad at asking them to pray for us when we are in a crisis - financial, health, marital, etc. But most of the time, are we seeking to have others pray for us? Do others know how we would like them to pray for us? Sure, when we ask others to pray for us, we can no longer hide the fact that we are not self-sufficient. We reveal our need in general, which is humbling enough, and we may be further humbled by particular needs that we reveal. But wouldn't we rather have people praying for the needs that we actually have, rather than keeping those needs to ourselves?

The closing line in this chapter on prayer is this: "No Christian knows how much he owes to God for the prayers of others, and not least shepherds (meaning pastors) and teachers." So...how do you want people to pray for you? And who are you going to ask to pray for you?

Why does God make us pray?

2009-07-15T08:54:00.002-04:00

One question that might have come to mind this Sunday as we talked about how disciples pray and what they pray for, taken from the Lord's Prayer (Matthew 6:7-15), is this: If God knows what we need even before we ask Him (Matthew 6:8), then what is the point of praying? Why does God wait for us to ask Him instead of just giving us what He knows we need?

That's a good question. And here is my attempt at a brief answer. The most important thing for us is not to simply have the things that we need, but to know and trust and love God. What could happen if God constantly gave us the things that we need without us ever having to pray for them? The Bible suggests some answers.

Deuteronomy 6:10-12 - “Then it shall come about when the Lord your God brings you into the land which He swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you, great and splendid cities which you did not build, and houses full of all good things which you did not fill, and hewn cisterns which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant, and you eat and are satisfied, then watch yourself, that you do not forget the Lord who brought you from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.”

Proverbs 30:8-9 - “Give me neither poverty nor riches; Feed me with the food that is my portion, that I not be full and deny You and say, “Who is the Lord?” Or that I not be in want and steal, And profane the name of my God.”

What do these scriptures seem to suggest? When things are going well for us, we are prone to forget God, which is about the worst thing that we could ever do. When things go well, we can begin to think that we are the reason that things are going well, or that there is just some law in the universe that makes things go well. But what does prayer do? It keeps us from forgetting God by reminding us that whatever good things we receive are given to us by God.

When God knows what we need before we ask him, but he often waits to give what we need until we ask him, he helps to keep us from forgetting him. At first, making us pray may seem stingy. But when we realize why God makes us pray, we realize that making us pray is one of the kindest things that God could do because it keeps us form one of the biggest mistakes we could ever make - forgetting God.

Why I'm Proud of My Son

2009-07-07T23:56:00.002-04:00

This weekend, my eight year-old son played in his first All-Star baseball tournament. Now, it's a lot of fun to watch him and his friends play ball. They're pretty good too. They played nine games in two days and, after losing their very first game, played all the way back through the loser's bracket to win the tournament. What made it more fun is that my son was hitting the ball better than he has all year. Because I want him to have fun, I was pretty happy that he was playing so well.

But there was something else I wanted him to know made me really proud of him. It's that he only played eight games instead of nine - because he was in church with us during the first game on Sunday. You see, we've tried to teach our kids that following Jesus is more important than baseball or school or anything else. We felt strongly that missing baseball to be in church would allow us reinforce, rather than undermine, what we've tried to teach them.

But I wondered how my son would react. And do you know what? He never once complained. And he never once asked if he could go to the game instead of to church. He did ask if he could leave his class early that day - to return to the main service to celebrate the Lord's Supper with the rest of the church. My son has a long way to go as he grows up. But I am really proud of him because he seems to "get" what really matters - something that a lot of adults (even his dad, sometimes) don't get. And if he continues to "get" this, I pretty sure that the other things he needs to learn won't be nearly so hard for him to learn.

On Modesty (from the "Boundless" blog)

2009-07-03T14:11:00.002-04:00

On of the blogs that I read directed my attention to another blog post, where the author reflects on her reaction to seeing a young lady at an amusement park in a pink, tight-fitting shirt that said, "Virginity Rocks." You can read the post here. Does what we wear support, or contradict, what we say?

Something to Think About (Divorce and Remarriage)

2009-06-30T15:19:00.002-04:00

A month or so ago, my preaching through the Sermon on the Mount led me to Matthew 5:31-32, where Jesus gives His disciples a somewhat unexpected reason to not get divorced. The reason is this: Husband, if you divorce your wife, you will force her into adultery, along with the man she will marry. As common as second (etc.) marriages are today, our society does make it easier for women to get by without being married. In Jesus' day, about the only way a divorced woman could survive would be to remarry. Even so, Jesus says that such a remarriage is adultery.

I know that in other places, there seem to be some exception made to this rule. Not everyone agrees with these exceptions. And I am not sure yet myself. But that's not the point of my post here.

My point here is this. Jesus seems to forbid most (if not all) remarriage after divorce. This is a hard teaching, especially for someone who finds himself or herself divorced at a young age. Another thing that makes it hard is this: Many who are divorced have children. It's not hard to understand the woman with young children who wants there to be a man in the house to help care for her children as they grow up - even if that man is a stepfather, rather than a natural father.

Somehow, this is what I got to thinking about this afternoon. If Jesus is right (and I believe He is), then he is saying that a single mom should not remarry (discussion of exceptions aside for now), even though she thinks it would help her children. Would Jesus really command something that would be less than the best for children who are not to blame for the situation they find themselves in.

I think that Jesus' command is still best for those children. And here is why: When a child has a mom who has been abandoned by her husband and she chooses not to remarry, her whole life communicates something to her children about the sacredness and permanence of marriage. If she were to remarry, her kids would have a man around. But they would not understand that marriage is a special and important as it is.

It seems to me that the commands of Jesus present us with this implication: It is more important for children to learn that marriage is sacred and permanent than it is to have a man in their household.

Of course, this doesn't mean there can't be a man in the lives of those children. Even if their natural father is not around, other men can play an important part in the lives of those children - even if they don't sleep or live with their mom.

ApParent Privilege (a book by Steve Wright)

2009-06-17T13:00:00.002-04:00

I've started reading an excellent book on parenting. It's not about how to get your kids to behave. It's about how to obey God's command to be the primary spiritual influence in the lives of our children. It's called ApParent Privilege and is written by Steve Wright with Chris Graves. Wright has been influenced by the writings of a 19th century preacher named John Angell James. Here is a quote that I just read - something that Wright quoted from James on p.55 of ApParent Privilege.

"Here fix your center; here direct your aim; here concentrate your efforts, your energies, and your prayers. Remember, their religious instruction is your business. Whatever aids you may call in from ministers or teachers, you never must, you never can, you never should, delegate this work. God will hold you responsible for the religion of your children."

Don't Be Afraid, Just Fear God

2009-06-09T11:32:00.002-04:00

I read a strange verse today. In, Exodus 20:20, right after the giving of the Ten Commandments, during which God descended on Mount Sinai in a terrifying way, we read, "Moses said to the people, 'Do not be afraid; for God has come in order to test you, and in order that the fear of Him may remain with you, so that you may not sin.'"

Don't be afraid. God came so that you would fear Him. It doesn't seem to make sense. But God had come so that they would know that He is real and that He is so powerful and glorious that they would be utterly foolish to rebel against Him. If God could make that mountain shake, what could he do to a person!

But because this is who God is and what He is like, and because He loves those Israelites, He showed them something of His power and glory, so that they would know that they need to take Him and His commands seriously - by not disobeying them. If God had not shown them that they needed to take Him seriously, they would have had a reason to be afraid.

So how do we interpret "Don't be afraid. Fear God." I think it means, "Don't be afraid of what you are seeing. You are only seeing it so that you know who it is that is giving you commands. You need to take Him seriously. Understand that He could and would destroy you if you rebel against Him. But you don't need to be afraid as long as you obey Him. If you choose to disobey, then you'll have a reason to be afraid."

A Valuable Sacrifice

2009-06-08T11:48:00.002-04:00

I have begun reading through the book of Leviticus. Why? Because it's one of the last places from which I expect to derive some devotional value. But since "all Scripture is inspired by God and profitable..." (2 Timothy 3:16), I thought I'd try to find to find devotional value in Leviticus.

Here is what struck me today as I read Leviticus 3.

According to verses 1 and 6, peace offerings are to be male or female animals "without defect." Consider just how valuable such an animal would be. First of all, it would be the best the worshiper had to offer. If he was going to sell an animal to get top price, this would be his best bet. But it goes well beyond that. Such an animal, if it were to be kept alive, could be used to breed more high-quality animals. So the worshiper doesn't just lose one unblemished animal, he gives up the generations of future animals that could have carried the same superior genes. This is no small sacrifice.

Worship of God is not cheap. It is costly. If it is not costly, then our worship says very little about the value of God. In fact, it instead declares the value of our money, of what our money can buy, of our leisure time, or of our lesiure activities. Worship is costly. But God is worth it.

Farewell to USA Cinema

2009-06-06T22:07:00.003-04:00

Tomorrow morning (June 7th), Walnut Creek Community Church will meet for the last time (Lord willing) at the USA Cinema in Niles, Ohio. Beginning next Sunday, we will be Cross Point Bible Fellowship, having merged with Vienna Baptist Church, in whose building we will begin to meet. Although, for a number of reasons, we are pleased to be moving from the theater, it really has been a blessing to meet in the theater for the past 4.5 years.

Here are some reasons why it's been a blessing (taken from the sermon I have prepared for tomorrow):

1. In 4.5 years, the USA Cinema owners never once raised our rent.

2. When the church met at Lakeview High School, our equipment had to be brought in a trailer every Sunday. But here in the theater, we’ve been able to store most of our equipment.

3. Meeting in the theater hasn’t killed our church. While we wonder if some of the new people who visited couldn’t quite wrap their minds around having church in a theater every Sunday, many of the new people did.

"Is the Lord among us or not?"

2009-06-02T16:02:00.004-04:00

This is what the Israelites were saying not long after God had delivered them from Egypt (Exodus 17:7). They had seen God do the incredible. They had cowered in fear at the edge of the sea, thinking that they were about to be killed by the Egyptians. Then they watched as God parted the sea, allowing them to walk through on dry ground, before causing the sea to fall back onto the Egyptian army. Then, only a month and a half into their journey, they complained about their lack of food. And God provided what they needed - plenty of meat every evening, and bread every morning.

But those Israelites must have had short memories. Even as they were eating the bread that God miraculously provided for them every day, when they came to a place without water, they started to grumble. They thought that Moses had brought them into the desert to die. What were they thinking? Could God part the sea, destroy the Egyptian army, and send bread every morning, and yet NOT be able to provide water for them?

I think that there are at least two lessons for us in this.

1. God's people must not have short memories. How often have we seen God come through for us, providing just what we needed? Most of us could say that we have seen this many times. But aren't we often just like those Israelites - quickly forgetting what God has done in the past when our present need is not taken care of as quickly as we'd like?

2. God's people must not use present circumstances to draw conclusions about God's love. The Israelites were asking, "Is God among us or not?" They didn't have any water to drink. So they concluded that God must not be among them. It was as if they had said, "If God was among us, we would have water to drink right now!" But what was true? God was among them. They had plenty of examples of God's past provision and plenty of promises about the future. That should have been enough for them to not question God. But it wasn't. Maybe they were paying more attention to their circumstances than to God's track record and His promises. Whether that was the case or not, we can be sure that present difficulties are no indication that God is not with us.

Marriage and Expectations (Family Life Today)

2009-05-29T12:38:00.002-04:00

While driving this morning, I caught a few minutes of the radio broadcast of Family Life Today. On the show, they were discussing the fact that we bring certain expectations into our marriages - often unrealistic expectations - which can make for frequent disappointment in our marriages. I think that they are on to something. You can click here to go to today's broadcast, where you can also find links to the other broadcasts from this week - all on the topic of expectations.

Be a Dad Your Kids Want to be Around (Steve Wright/Lasting Divergence Blog)

2009-05-28T15:39:00.002-04:00

I've really enjoyed learning from and about Steve Wright over the last several months. Two other guys and I drove to Raleigh, NC recently for the conference that he and his church put on. Steve wants to equip parents to parent their children in such a way that they teach their children to live as disciples of Jesus. Today, he added this helpful post for dads to his blog.

Pleasing God or Man?

2009-05-28T09:07:00.003-04:00

This morning I was reading Galatians chapter one, where I read this, in verse 10: "For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ."

Typically, when I think about deciding whether I will please God or man, I think about my actions - whether I will do things that please people (and I struggle with my tendency to be a "people pleaser") or God. But I noticed that the context in which Paul brings this up is not our actions, but our words - specifically our preaching of the Gospel.

This got me thinking about how we preach the Gospel. It seems that in Paul's day, there were people who preached what amounted to a different gospel than the one that Paul (and the other apostles) preached. And Paul suggests that at least part of the reason they did this was that such other gospels (not capitalized on purpose) were more pleasing to the people who listened to the preaching.

Now, I am all for not offending people any more than we have to. But we must not go too far in trying to make sure that our "preaching" (what I do on Sundays or what we all ought to do all week) pleases people. I fear that some churches and some preachers have tried so hard, with good intentions, to see people gladly receive the Gospel, that they have left out some of the parts that make it less pleasing. Have they begun to preach "another gospel"?

Whatever words we use to explain the Gospel, when we mention the concepts of sin, God's wrath, judgment, repentance, submission, self-denial, etc., many people will not be pleased. But God will. And when we please God by preaching the true, sometimes offensive Gospel, we prove to be genuine servants of Christ.

D.A. Carson's Poem on the Incarnation

2009-05-27T14:10:00.003-04:00

D.A. Carson is one of the foremost Biblical scholars in the world. He teaches at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and has written dozens of books, many of which were required reading at my seminary. His recent message on the incarnation given at a conference for young adults included a poem that he wrote. I'll give you the first stanza, along with a link to the entire poem.

The Prologue

Before there was a universe,

Before a star or planet,

When time had still not yet begun --

I scarcely understand it --

Th' eternal Word was with his God,

God's very Self-Expression;

Th' eternal Word was God himself --

And God had planned redemption.

Read the whole thing at Justin Taylor's Blog.

Turn the other cheek...

2009-05-27T12:49:00.001-04:00

This week I am studying to preach on Matthew 5:38-42. As I work on preaching through Matthew, I have been enjoying the new commentary on Matthew by David L. Turner (who happens to be my supervising professor for the ThM program at Grand Rapids Theological Seminary). Here is what he says near the end of his comments on this section:

“One may never need to literally turn the other cheek, give up one’s coat, or go the extra mile, but one must be willing to selflessly suffer personal loss with faith that the loving heavenly Father will meet one’s needs and deal with the injustice in his own time" (p.175).

Other Blogs Will Show Up Here

2009-05-27T12:20:00.001-04:00

I use Google Reader to follow a number of blogs for my own interest and edification. From time to time, in this new blog, I will try to point any readers to some of the more helpful posts that I read. (I also recommend Google Reader as an easy way to keep up with several blogs.)

A New Blog for a New Church

2009-05-27T08:50:00.000-04:00

As our church, Walnut Creek Community Church, prepares to join with Vienna Baptist Church to form one new church - Cross Point Bible Fellowship - I'm starting a blog in a new space that I hope will be more suitable than my previous one on xanga.com.