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Oct 31
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The Speaker

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Tara Barthel  

Tara Klena Barthel formerly served as the Director of the Institute for Christian Conciliation, a division of Peacemaker Ministries. As such, she oversaw the delivery of all conciliation services and advanced conciliator training. Currently, she serves her family as a homemaker while regularly mediating, writing, and speaking at conferences and retreats.

Prior to moving to Billings, Montana to join the staff of Peacemaker Ministries, she worked as an attorney and business consultant in Chicago. Tara earned her law degree and M.B.A. from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and her B.A. in psychology from Augustana College (Illinois). Baker Books published Tara’s first two books: Peacemaking Women—Biblical Hope for Resolving Conflict and Redeeming Church Conflicts, and Peacemaker Ministries released her video series: The Peacemaking Church Women’s Study—Living the Gospel in Relationships. Tara also serves as an Adjunct Instructor and Certified Christian Conciliator™ with Peacemaker Ministries, and a consultant to businesses and Christian ministries.

Tara has served on three short-term missions projects (Estonia, Slovenija, and Outer Mongolia) and she enjoys SCUBA diving with her husband, Frederick. Tara, Fred, and their daughters Sophia and Ella are members of Rocky Mountain Community Church (PCA) where Fred serves as a deacon.

More information on the teaching ministry of Tara Barthel can be found on her site.

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Oct 29
Love0

“Fear Not, Little Flock”: The King’s Promise that Presidents Can’t Match

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If our hopes indicate what we value most—what keeps us going, then our fears reveal the same in reverse. What do we need (or think we need) so much that we would be unable to go without it? And what do we believe in so much that if it doesn’t come through for us we’re totally disillusioned?

Even the most casual observer of these final days in the countdown to the general election is aware of the enormous largess being spent on fear. Tragically, some of the most extreme examples of fear-mongering hail from churches, on the left and the right. Earlier in the campaign, some evangelicals expressed alarm that a Mormon might become the high priest of the nation’s soul, while reviving the rumor that Barack Obama is a Muslim. (“After all, he’s not quite like us, is he?”) Yet many conservatives now think that Mitt Romney is just right for the job. In fact, maybe we’ve been too hard on Mormonism. It’s a God-fearing faith of family values. Isn’t that what matters most?

Let’s face it: Mr. Romney belongs to a religious community that officially rejects the Christian creed and Mr. Obama is a member of a liberal Protestant denomination that has largely abandoned it. Since George Washington we’ve been electing presidents with dubious confessional credentials, including a string of deists, Unitarians, and agnostics who nevertheless invoked the Unknown God for the American cause. The real question is not whether Americans generally will elect a non-Christian, but whether churches will redefine Christianity as a surrogate of civil religion. Judging at least by public profession, our next president will once again not be an orthodox Christian. That’s not a tragedy. The real tragedy is quasi-apocalyptic and eschatological claims that are made in churches on the left and the right that create a cycle of false hopes and false fears. The official name for this is idolatry. Who is Lord, Christ or Caesar? Churches and Christian leaders often send mixed signals on that one, especially at election time.

Responsibility versus Fear

Now, there is fear and there is responsible concern. Christians are called to be faithful in caring about and acting for their neighbors’ welfare. Our temporal good is wrapped up in the common good of our nation. We are right to be concerned about the value of human life and marriage, as well as “justice for all,” including our weaker and less privileged neighbors. We are faced with complex crises, foreign and domestic. Some wonder if they’ll ever find employment. Others fear that the economy will hit yet another, perhaps more catastrophic, dip. While the Arab Spring has become a scorching Islamist summer and dictatorships are replaced in some cases with jihadist sects, tensions continue to build between Israel and Iran. North Korea continues its threats, relations with China grow increasingly strained, and many feel a sense of vertigo about the future role of the U. S. in the world. These are not unimportant matters; they demand our attention.

Yet all of these anxieties get whipped up into a virtual frenzy at election time. It’s easy for opinions and strategies—even deeply-held political convictions—to morph into deified ideologies. Unrealistic hopes typically end in disillusionment and cynicism, if not something worse.

 

This post was written by Michael Horton and can be found here.

Oct 29
Love0

Kill Anger Before It Kills You or Your Marriage

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In marriage, anger rivals lust as a killer. My guess is that anger is a worse enemy than lust. It also destroys other kinds of camaraderie. Some people have more anger than they think, because it has disguises. When willpower hinders rage, anger smolders beneath the surface, and the teeth of the soul grind with frustration. It can come out in tears that look more like hurt. But the heart has learned that this may be the only way to hurt back. It may come out as silence because we have resolved not to fight. It may show up in picky criticism and relentless correction. It may strike out at persons that have nothing to do with its origin. It will often feel warranted by the wrongness of the cause. After all, Jesus got angry (Mark 3:5), and Paul says, “Be angry and do not sin” (Ephesians 4:26).

 However, good anger among fallen people is rare. That’s why James says, “Be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God” (James 1:19-20). And Paul says, “Men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling” (1 Timothy 2:8). “Let all bitterness and wrath and angerand clamor and slander be put away from you” (Ephesians 4:31).

Therefore, one of the greatest battles of life is the battle to “put away anger,” not just control its expressions. To help you fight this battle, here are nine biblical weapons.

1. Ponder the rights of Christ to be angry, but how he endured the cross, as an example of long-suffering.

For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. (1 Peter 2:21)

2. Ponder how much you have been forgiven, and how much mercy you have been shown.

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. (Ephesians 4:32)

3. Ponder your own sinfulness and take the beam out of your own eye.

Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, “Let me take the speck out of your eye,” when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. (Matthew 7:3-5)

4. Think about how you do not want to give place to the devil, because harbored anger is the one thing the Bible explicitly says opens a door and invites him in.

Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. (Ephesians 4:26-27)

5. Ponder the folly of your own self-immolation, that is, numerous detrimental effects of anger to the one who is angry – some spiritual, some mental, some physical, and some relational.

Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones. (Proverbs 3:7-8)

6. Confess your sin of anger to some trusted friend as well and as possible with the offender. This is a great healing act.

Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. (James 5:16)

7. Let your anger be the key to unlock the dungeons of pride and self-pity in your heart and replace them with love.

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (1 Corinthians 13:4-7)

8. Remember that God is going to work it all for your good as you trust in his future grace. Your offender is even doing you good, if you will respond with love.

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (James 1:2-4)

9. Remember that God will vindicate your just cause and settle all accounts better than you could. Either your offender will pay in hell, or Christ has paid for him. Your payback would be double jeopardy or an offence to the cross.

Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” (Romans 12:19)

When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting [his cause] to him who judges justly. (1 Peter 2:23)

Fighting for joy and love with you,

Pastor John

©2012 Desiring God Foundation. Used by Permission. 

 

Oct 29
Love0

Sex, God, and the Gospel

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A life-with-porn versus a life-without-porn is a poor choice. If you set it up in these terms then you won’t produce lasting change. We need to set it up (as it truly is) as a choice between life-with-porn versus life-with-God. We need to show how God always offers more than porn.

This begins with exposing the lie of porn. We sin because we have “exchanged the truth of God for a lie” (Rom. 1:23-25). Porn is no different. Porn makes false promises.

For some porn offers respect: a fantasy world in which I’m potent or admired by others. For others porn offers intimacy: substitute relationships without the risks. For others it offers escape: when life is daunting or boring we turn to porn for quick satisfaction. For some porn may offer revenge: a way of getting back at our spouse who hasn’t delivered the sex we want or at God who hasn’t delivered the life we want.

But it’s all lies. Porn is a performance—carefully cut and edited to create the illusion of power or pleasure. We need to look beyond the frame of the camera. Porn sex is never real sex. It distorts our expectations of relationships, marriage, and sex.

And porn never delivers. It’s a cheap fantasy that only leaves us wanting more. People move from softcore to hardcore looking for what porn cannot deliver until they’re enslaved.

We need to expose these lies. Then we need to show how God promises more.

If porn offers respect, then the good news is that you don’t need to be controlled by the opinion of others. Compare those whose approval you want with God. Who matters most? Whose affirmation really counts?

If porn offers risk-free intimacy, then the good news is that God is in control. Relationships are risky, but God promises to care for those who trust him. He may not provide a spouse, but he will provide himself—a chance to know the Creator.

If porn offers escape from the pressures of life, then the good news is that God is in control. The Bible describes God as a “rock” and “refuge” to his people (Ps. 18:1-3). “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you” (1 Pet. 5:7).

If porn offers you escape from the boredom of life, then the good news is that God is the source of true and lasting joy. Of course, porn is immediate, quick, easy. But its pleasures are short-lived and empty. We’re always left wanting more.

If porn offers revenge, then the good news is that God is gracious. We think we’re not getting what we deserve—from our spouse or from God. In fact, we’re getting far more than the judgment we deserve. God welcomes us into his family. Thinking of yourself as a son or daughter of God will set you free from resentment and bitterness.

At its root porn is about worship. I want to be worshiped. I can click between women, all of whom offer themselves to me. Or I can think of myself as the stud sending women into an ecstasy of desire. Or I can think of myself as the romantic heroine, relentlessly pursued by my admirer. I enter a world in which people worship me.

Freedom begins when I stop trying to be at the center and let God be at the center. It begins when I stop serving myself and start loving other people.

Talk About Good News

At the moment biblical sexual ethics seem like bad news in our culture. I believe the day is coming when people will again want to hear what the Bible has to say about sex. Sex is everywhere and everything in our culture. As a result it’s losing value. The Bible’s restrictions on sex are like the banks that constrain the Niagara River so that it gushes forth in the Niagara Falls. Remove those restrictions and you’re left with something more like the Mississippi Delta—wide, shallow, and muddy. A biblical approach to sex is good news for married people.

A biblical approach to sex is also good news for single people. Sex has become a substitute god in our culture. It is the source to which we look for meaning, fulfillment, value, identity. People feel lost without it. They feel worthless unless they have the admiration of a lover. It’s their savior. But it’s a poor savior. When we find sex, we feel loved, potent, justified in the moment. But it doesn’t last. Sex is not God, and we’re left empty, wanting more. And then when we don’t measure up, failed sex leaves us crushed.

Consider the approach of Jesus with the woman at the well in John 4. He knows she had five husbands and the man she is now with is not her husband. He could have told her to stop her sexual sin. Instead, he offers her living water. She has been looking for meaning, satisfaction, identity in sexual intimacy and not finding it. The math tells the story: five husbands plus one. She has made sex her savior, and it has not delivered. Jesus gives her good news by offering meaning, satisfaction, identity in himself. He offers true satisfaction (“living water”) and lasting satisfaction (“welling up to eternal life”). Legalism says, “You should not move from man to man, and you should not use porn.” The gospel says, “You need not move from man to man, and you need not use porn, because Jesus offers something bigger and better—he offers living water.”

“This is a profound mystery, but I am talking about Christ and the church” (Eph. 5:32). So says Paul after talking about marriage. We’re talking about marriage and sex, but it turns out we’re talking about Christ and his bride. God gave us sexuality to help understand his covenant love. The passions we feel around sex point to God’s passionate, jealous love for his people. Every conversation about sex is really a conversation about Christ who “loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy” (Eph. 5:25-26).

Let’s talk about sex. Our message is good news.

 

This excerpt is adapted from the new e-book, Porn-Free Church: Raising Up Gospel Communities to Destroy Secret Sins (Covenant Eyes, 2012). Download it for free here.

Tim Chester is a church planter with The Crowded House in Sheffield, UK, and co-director ofThe Porterbrook Network, which seeks to train people for church planting. He’s the author of more than a dozen books including The Message of Prayer, Good News to the Poor, You Can Change, and Total Church, co-written with Steve Timmis. Tim blogs here.

Oct 29
Love0

Answering Skeptics Without a Word

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The late Christopher Hitchens was fond of saying that “religion poisons everything,” and, in a sense, this may be true. The God-given religious impulse can be twisted into a destructive force.

But Hitchens didn’t mean that religion—an inherently good thing—can be twisted into a monstrous evil, but that religion, by its very nature, is a monstrous evil. And unlike some critics of faith, Hitchens was consistent, training his rhetorical fire even on Jesus of Nazareth. If Jesus could heal a blind person he happened to meet, then why not heal blindness? What was so wonderful about his casting out devils, so that the devils would enter a herd of pigs instead? That seemed sinister, more like black magic.

Jesus, Hitchens seemed to be saying, was nothing special, perhaps a mere conjurer, certainly not the God-Man who came to deliver us from our sins. Christian faith, Hitchens maintained, has opened a Pandora’s Box of ill on the world.

The Challenge

Challenges from the New Atheists, such as the late Christopher Hitchens, can seem daunting. Far too many of us are intimidated by their in-your-face approach. We fret that they’ll bowl us over or present an unanswerable objection. We think they’ll make us—or worse, our faith—look foolish.

I’ll be the first to stand up for the need for intellectual rigor and biblical faithfulness to answer the objections of skeptics. Jesus told us to love God with our minds, and Peter prepared us to give a credible answer for the hope within us. The particular approach we take, however, will look different depending upon our particular personality and calling.

As the Word teaches us, the Spirit distributes different gifts in the church. Some Christians may be called and equipped to defend the faith publicly. Others, however, demonstrate that faith through a variety of ministries aimed at those in physical need.

Changed Lives

A church where I previously served on staff has a marvelous commitment to global missions. But the senior pastor often said that he suspected that the church’s most significant ministry, from God’s perspective, might well be its service to those with developmental disabilities and their over-stressed parents. It’s hard to disagree.

Ministries aimed at life change—especially mercy ministries—put flesh and blood on the arguments of able Christian apologists. They fulfill Jesus’ command in Matthew 5:16: “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” Something about Christ’s body visibly manifesting divine life leads onlookers to lift their eyes above the horizon in search of its source.

What an opportunity, and what a profound need. At this moment when, for instance, Harvard Divinity professor Karen King casts aspersions upon Jesus’ deity with her Mrs. Messiah papyrus and scoffers sing their Ode to Skepticism, Jesus continues to advance his kingdom. And how humbling to think that we followers of Christ, in our feeble attempts to love God and serve others, are in fact the means by which divine love touches the world.

 

This post was written by Chris Castaldo  who serves as director of the Ministry of Gospel Renewal for the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College. He is the author of Holy Ground: Walking with Jesus as a Former Catholic and a main contributor to Journeys of Faith: Evangelicalism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Catholicism, Anglicanism. He blogs at www.chriscastaldo.com. The original article can be found here.

Oct 29
Love0

Boys, Bragging, and Brides

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Men like to brag, but why don’t they brag about their wives more?

What might be wrong with this message?

I’ve heard men brag about sports they play or sports they watch. I’ve heard them praise the teams they love. They praise cars and scars. Sometimes they even boast about the girl they’re dating. But when it comes to their wives I notice a strange silence.

I don’t doubt that most Christian men sincerely value their wives, and esteem them deeply. I hope so. But the struggle Christians (in general) face daily, whether we realize it or not, is this: to praise what we prize most. For some reason we spend a lot of time in many small conversations praising what we prize little. We have a thousand micro-interactions, praising movies and music, TV shows and parks, weather and games, youtube videos and books. We “like” many things on Facebook. These little conversations accumulate to the point of dominating most of our time and energy.

But if someone asked us, What do you value supremely? We would say, without hesitation, “Jesus Christ.” So why don’t we spend much time spontaneously recommending and praising Him to others?  Why don’t we brag about Him?

This is one of ways you know that you are a sinner: when you fail to brag about what is supremely worth bragging about in the universe.

Most Christian men value their wives as their supreme earthly blessing. Right after Jesus Christ, husbands love their wives most, and rightly so. That’s why they married them. But the problem is similar—in my experience, husbands rarely brag about their wives.

There are many reasons for this, but there are two main roots. The first is lack of intentionality.  Christians must live, speak, and act intentionally for the glory of Christ and the honor of marriage, or they will stay in the rut of the world. The second root is: taking their wives for granted. Christians do the same with God all the time. We tend to assumethat Christ is the supreme value, so we don’t talk about Him too much. Likewise, husbands get together and assume that everyone loves, cherishes, and prizes their wife. So they skip talking about that and focus on the “exciting” events at work.

You praise what you love. And you don’t just direct it to the object of your love. The wife in the Song of Songs gives a good example of this. The “Others” ask her, “What is your beloved more than another beloved, O most beautiful among women? What is your beloved more than another beloved, that you thus adjure us?” (5:9).

She brags hard, My beloved is radiant and ruddy, distinguished among ten thousand. His head is the finest gold; his locks are wavy, black as a raven. His eyes are like doves beside streams of water, bathed in milk, sitting beside a full pool. His cheeks are like beds of spices, mounds of sweet-smelling herbs. His lips are lilies, dripping liquid myrrh. His arms are rods of gold, set with jewels. His body is polished ivory, bedecked with sapphires. His legs are alabaster columns, set on bases of gold. His appearance is like Lebanon, choice as the cedars. His mouth is most sweet, and he is altogether desirable. This is my beloved and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem. (Song 5:10-16)

The husband also brags a bit.

As a lily among brambles, so is my love among the young women (Songs 2:2).

My dove, my perfect one, is the only one, the only one of her mother, pure to her who bore her. The young women saw her and called her blessed; the queens and concubines also, and they praised her. “Who is this who looks down like the dawn, beautiful as the moon, bright as the sun, awesome as an army with banners?” (Songs 6:9-10)

When is the last time you spoke words like that to others about your spouse? I’m speaking to men here, but the example of the wife in the Song is striking. She waxes eloquent about his body to this group of people.  She doesn’t just say, “He’s a hunk”; she elaborates. May God give us the grace to be husbands who are praiseworthy like this, both physically and spiritually, and who lead by praiseworthy praise.

There is a time for everything, including bragging about your wife. My prayer is that God would grant us wisdom as we seek to deliberately acclaim what we admire most both on earth and in heaven.

 

This post was written by Andrew Case and originally posted here.

Oct 29
Love0

A Possible Marriage Saver in Nine Steps

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The grace of God is patient and works both instantaneously and over time. A mistake we sometimes make is thinking too idealistically, as though if we blow our first apology, there is no chance for a second.

The way to think about this marriage saver biblically is that it is an effort to see Colossians 3:13 fleshed out in real life: “Bear with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgive each other.” There is both “bearing with” and there is “forgiving.” How do they mingle in marriage?

Here’s one way I have in mind. I will describe nine steps to reconciliation with your wife (or husband, or friend, or colleague). Something like this is needed when you are too sinful to apologize sincerely the first time. This is real experience more often than I would like to admit, and, in another sense, not often enough. (Wives and husbands, hear these steps with yourself in both roles.)

Step 1. Your wife points out something you said or did that is wrong or that she doesn’t like.

 

Step 2. You get angry. (For five or six reasons that seem good to you at the moment).

 

Step 3. You have the grace to know in your head that this anger is ungodly and that a heartfelt apology, both for what she pointed out and for the anger, is in order.

 

Step 4. You are able to say the words of apology but not able to feel sorry because the anger has made your heart hard toward her. You don’t feel tender, you don’t feel broken, you don’t feel sorry. But you know you should, so you say, “I’m sorry.” This is better than silence. It is a partial grace.

 

Step 5. She feels that you are angry and is, understandably, not satisfied with words that do not carry heartfelt contrition.

 

Step 6. Time goes by. Twenty-four hours? Two days? The Holy Spirit, ever patient, and relentlessly holy, will not let you go. He works against the anger (James 1:19–20). He stirs up gospel truths (Ephesians 4:32). He softens the heart (Ezekiel 36:26). This may be through Bible reading, the word of a friend, reading a book, attending a worship service. Meanwhile she is waiting, wondering, praying, hoping.

 

Step 7. Anger subsides. Sweetness rises. Tenderness is awakened. Sorrow for sin grows.

 

Step 8. You take her aside and you tell her that the first apology was the best you could do at the time because of your sin. You admit it was insufficient. You tell her with tenderness how you feel toward her, and you apologize with heart, and ask for forgiveness.

 

Step 9. In mercy, she forgives and things are better.

What I hope you do with this is talk it over with your spouse to see if it fits your experience. One of the values of building this possible pattern into your set of expectations is that you can cut each other some slack (called mercy), so that step 6 doesn’t feel hopeless for either partner.

(This post was written by Pastor John Piper and orginally published on the Desiring God blog.)

Oct 29
Love0

Twelve lessons on biblical manhood I learned from my father

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The young paratrooper stood at the open door of the C-47 transport plane. Wave after wave of angry wind currents battered his army fatigues with the ferocity of a category five hurricane. He paused momentarily, double-checked his static line and then leaped into the darkness below. Instantly, the darkness wasn’t so dark any more. As he plummeted toward the earth, shells from anti-aircraft canons whizzed near him, burning up like a thousand falling stars slithering across the nighttime sky, shells that German soldiers propelled into the atmosphere with deadly intent. Explosions illumined the approaching earth below. Drifting intentionally toward the hostilities defied common sense and he was deeply fearful, but the young soldier was on a mission far greater than even he understood in that moment of moments. That young soldier was my father. It was 2 a.m., June 6, 1944, and he was in harm’s way, big-time. The hedge-infested landscape of northern France, largely flooded with water by Germany’s paranoid Fuhrer, waited as dad and his colleagues in the 101st Airborne descended to join the cataclysmic battle known to posterity simply as “D-Day.”

My father, who died in 1991 when a leaky blood vessel burst in his chest, would tell you that God’s mercy alone carried him through D-Day alive. Sovereign grace saw him through the Allies’ Operation Market Garden (which didn’t turn out to be the Allies’ proudest moment). It preserved him through the Battle of the Bulge, where American troops won despite being grossly outnumbered, completely surrounded (it is the Airborne’s job to be surrounded, my father once told me) and deep-frozen in one of the coldest European winters on record. Divine mercy, dad always said, kept him alive to V-J Day and spirited him back to Georgia to marry my mom. And it was mercy all, immense and free, that converted my dad to Christ shortly after they exchanged nuptials. Charles M. Robinson the soldier became an excellent husband and father, faithfully raising three boys to be faithful husbands, fathers and churchmen.

Over the years as I have read God’s Word and reflected back upon his quiet testimony to God’s grace in our home, I have been increasingly thankful for the Godward values he instilled in us. Unfortunately, godly, committed fathers are the exception in today’s culture rather than the rule, but I was blessed by God’s mercy to be raised by one. Though he was far from a perfect man, my father exemplified biblical manhood in many respects and taught me many lessons by example. Following is 12 things that my father’s example taught me about biblical manhood:

  • The right thing is not always the easy thing. Ask any of my father’s friends and they will tell you that humble courage, above all other attributes, typified my father. If he feared anything other than the Lord, our family never knew it. Dad was particularly adamant about doing the right thing, even, or perhaps especially, when it was a difficult thing. But courage should always display itself in a manner befitting the humility of Christ, I think he would be quick to say. My father did not believe he was courageous. When I asked him if he was scared the night he jumped into Normandy, his replay was an incredulous “Of course.” So what made you do it? “Because there was something at stake that was far larger and far more important than my safety,” he said. That’s humility wed to courage. That’s like Christ and I want to be like that.
  • The right thing is not always the popular thing. Like following Christ, making the right decisions will not always win the applause of others, even some who profess undying devotion to you.
  • Greatness is found in humility, not in touting one’s own greatness. I will never forget my father, in the context of teaching me how to play the great game of baseball (the national pastime seems to be imbedded somewhere in my family’s DNA), said, “When you make a great play, hit a home run (I was a singles hitter, so this particular play wasn’t much of an issue) or do something to help your team in an obvious way, act like you’ve been there before.” My father wanted God, not me, to be glorified, even in sports.  Dad was appalled at the strutting of professional athletes and was always put off by those who strutted in life, particularly in the church.
  • Men are called to do hard things. Men are called to make difficult decisions in the home, workplace and church. Men are called to do hard things like taking a wife and raising children. My father saw a tendency among young men toward delayed adolescence in my generation and was deeply concerned.  That God makes men a bit rough around the edges is suggestive, he believed.
  • Husbands are called to protect their wives. Physically, emotionally and spiritually, a man must be willing to lay down his life for his wife.
  • Fathers are called to protect their children. Physically, emotionally and spiritually, a man must be willing to lay down his life for his children.
  • Be good at what you do. That 1 Corinthians 10:31 is such an oft-quoted Scripture verse in my home is probably attributable to my father. Whether you were going to be a plumber, professor, athlete, student, doctor, pastor or custodian, you must never stop striving to grow in your ability to do it with great skill and integrity with a sense of stewardship.  My father was a master builder and approached every project as if it were his last. Every sphere of life belongs to God and all must be done to His glory.
  • Talk is cheap, especially in the Christian life. “There are men who are talkers and there are men who are doers,” he told me. Dad was a “doer,” which is a North Georgia way of saying, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35).
  • Father/husband, if there is a financial crisis in the home, you are the solution, not your wife. My father took seriously the husband/father’s role as the chief provider for the family. He would have found the modern-day “stay at home dad” ungodly, effeminate and repugnant. If your lifestyle requires her to take on a career and pushes the children to the babysitter where they are being raised by someone else, adjust your lifestyle to fit the man’s wages. If extenuating circumstances make this impossible, the man should take on additional work so his wife can be faithful to her divine calling as a full-time mother. Dad always said, “You are the solution.”
  • There is no substitute for “being there.” My dad never had to learn such words as “quality time” and “quantity time.” I do not recall a single baseball game (and I played in hundreds growing up) or important church or school event without my dad (and mom) in the audience. We went to church Sunday morning, Sunday evening and Wednesday night as a family, no questions asked. That we were being raised as churchmen was an assumption. At home we spent hours talking about everything from God’s Word to sports, the news, good books and the merits/demerits of country/rock/pop/gospel music. In short, his was a huge presence on the landscape of my life and my time with him continues to bear fruit, even as I arrive upon the borders of middle age.
  • Treasuring Christ, not material things, will give you ultimate satisfaction. The Lord blessed my father with material means, but I have no doubt it was never an idol. Whatever wealth he had, it never had him. One of my fondest memories growing up in our household was my parents, under my father’s leadership, providing food, Christmas toys, rent/mortgage money and thousands of dollars in other provisions for the poor of our community, which were numerous. “God has blessed us to be a blessing to others,” he once told me. “We must lay up treasure in heaven, not here.” That’s the biblical prosperity gospel.
  • Authentic manhood is proven by serving others, not by the deployment of bare knuckles. In the mountains of North Georgia where I grew up, a rite of passage into manhood seemed to be participating in and winning at least one fist fight. This was a huge problem for a runty boy like me, who didn’t tip the scales at 100 pounds until the ninth grade. In high school, I used to joke with my friends, “I’m a lover, not a fighter.” My father, who was as physically tough a man as I have ever met, warned me against confusing real manhood with such boorishness. Real manhood is found in sacrificing your needs, wants and desires in service of others as Christ did on Calvary. The real man is the Christ-picturing servant, not the Rocky Balboa wanna-be.

I am following in giant footsteps and I pray that the Lord will give me grace to set an example that points my children to Christ and His Gospel in a compelling and fruitful way.

 

This post was written by Jeff Robinson and originally posted here.

Oct 27
Love0

Why are you so wedded to the world?

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George_Whitefield_preaching

Did it ever prove faithful or satisfactory to any of its votaries? Has not Solomon reckoned up the sum total of worldly happiness? And what does it amount to? ‘Vanity, vanity, saith the preacher, all is vanity,’ nay he adds, ‘and vexation of spirit.’ And has not a greater than Solomon informed us, that a man’s life, the happiness of a man’s life, doth not consist in the things which he possesseth? Besides, ‘know ye not that the friendship of this world is enmity with God; so that whosoever will be a friend to the world (to the corrupt customs and vices of it) is an enemy of God?’

What better reasons can you give for being wedded to your lusts? Might not the poor slaves in the galleys as reasonably be wedded to their chains? For do not your lusts fetter down your souls from God? Do they not lord it and have they not dominion over you? Do not they say, Come and ye come; Go and ye go; Do this and ye do it? And is not he or she that liveth in pleasure, dead, whilst he liveth?

And above all, how can ye bear the thoughts of being wedded to the devil, as every natural man is. For thus speaks the scripture, ‘He now ruleth in the children of disobedience.’ And how can ye bear to be ruled by one, who is such a professed open enemy to the most high and holy God? Who will make a drudge of you, whilst you live and be your companion in endless and extreme torment, after you are dead? For thus will our Lord say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.’

George Whitefield, “Christ the Believer’s Husband,” The Sermons of George Whitefield (Kindle Edition)

 

Originally posted by Aaron Armstrong here on  October 21, 2012
Oct 27
Love0

The Story of Ian and Larissa

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Recently, Pastor Rocky showed me this video. It has wrecked us, so it was clear we needed to pass it along to you. How are we serving our spouses?

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Let all of us love our spouses more because of this example.

Oct 26
Love0

Mission Agencies: How Do I Choose One?

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There are more than 700 Protestant missionary-sending agencies in North America. They range from huge to tiny, well-established to new, and excellent to not-so-excellent. Most of them have impressive publicity and representatives. How can one choose? Here are some areas you might want to explore, and questions to ask.

How will you decide?

Church Ties

The first place to look is with agencies that are closely linked with your local church. If you don’t know who these are, ask your pastor. If you go with an agency that is closely lined with your local church, you are likely to find similar theology and background and you are likely to receive more financial support from your local church. There are, however, some additional considerations – especially if your church cooperates with a wide range of agencies. As an alternative to setting out fleeces, flipping coins, or reading tea leaves, here is a basic check list of criteria for choosing an agency.

 

Statement of Faith

Although most non-denominational agencies are conservative, they are not highly detailed in their doctrinal statements. Because of this you will have little trouble agreeing with them on the basics if your theology is conservative. Further, you may be surprised to find that some denominations with liberal membership have a missionary force that is quite conservative.

 

Countries

Most missionary candidates have some feelings of preference for a certain area or type of subculture. But try not to be overly rigid, because many agencies will want to make strong suggestions concerning your location. Long experience shows that God often speaks to a candidate through an agency!

 

Track Record

How well is the agency doing? What has been its impact on the field? Has the work grown, especially in the last two years? Even though work is very slow in some countries, an agency should have something to point to.

 

Size

On the positive side, a small agency has the advantages of a friendly, informal family. A large agency has the fringe benefits of a solid, sophisticated organization. On the negative side, the sloppy methods of some small agencies have helped to keep them small for decades. And the bureaucratic efficiency of some large agencies could give you that lost feeling of being merely a cog in a big machine.

 

Importance

How needed is the agency? What would happen to the progress of world evangelization if it disappeared? Just how much is riding on its success? Remember that some of the less dramatic types of work, such as teaching missionary children, may be in the background, but are nonetheless essential.

 

Management

Is the agency moving in a clear direction? Do the directors actually help their people? It’s difficult to tell from publicity material alone. A dedicated field staff with all eyes on the Lord may stumble and flounder from one huge success to another for years, even though supervisory support is erratic.

 

Type of Work

Does the ministry actually need you? If you feel you should get into one particular type of work, make sure they want people in that line now! If you’re more flexible, no problem.

 

Leadership

Who are the leaders, the guiding lights? How long have they been with the organization? What is their reputation in the church? Don’t be bashful about asking people from other organizations about their leadership; you aren’t digging up dirt, you’re doing your homework wisely.

 

Organization

Is the organizational leadership appointed? Elected? Is the whole show run by one man? Is it run as an oligarchy by one family? Some small agencies are. And are they authoritarian, democratic, or somewhere in-between? Is the individual missionary’s voice heard in policy discussions? What is their attitude toward women?

 

Origin

How and when did they get their start? As a natural outgrowth of the ministry of one person or small group? As a splinter from another agency? As a new outreach from an established organization?

 

Standards

What qualities and qualifications must you have as a candidate? Does the ministry provide or require special training? The best thing is to seek an agency in which you meet all their qualifications without being overly qualified.

 

Turnover

How many years does the average missionary stay on? And where do they go after they leave – into some other notable work or into thin air? Why did they leave? Ask agencies what the common reasons are for leaving their particular agency.

 

Personnel Sources

Where do the candidates come from? One denomination? Several countries? The white collar culture? If you were raised in the Oakland ghetto, you may be broadened by working alongside ex-farmhands from Missouri, but be prepared for a few adjustments.

 

Finances

What if you’re in the upper Amazon valley and your support drops off one month? Or if you get 100% of your support this month and your co-worker down the river gets only 50%, in your pay checks do you both receive 75% or do you each get what came in specifically for each? Is this agency’s financial policy sound? Is it open to the public? Are their contributions solidly behind them with a high per-person support figure? How much of your personal support will go toward the agency’s overhead? If their overhead expense is greater than a quarter of the total budget, find out why.

 

Style

Finally, there is that indefinable business of feel. Are these your kind of people? If not, do you like them anyway? Are you comfortable with them? Find out about the styles of relating among the agencies’ staff members. How are their missionaries on the field or on furlough cared for? Are they cared for, and if so, how well? Talk to the missionaries on furlough. Write to one of their missionaries in your country of interest. Visit the field if you can. It’s worth the effort; it’s like picking out a new family.

Don’t ever let yourself get bogged down in the details of choosing an organization. Remember, if God has clearly led you to go overseas as a missionary, then someone is waiting for you. God will show you where you are to serve Him.

James Rutz served on the staff of Caleb Project in the 1980s.

Used with permission

www.Pioneers.org

 

Oct 26
Love0

The Next Step: Disciple a Few

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Maybe you attended a missions conference. Or read a book or article. Or heard a life-altering message. Or perhaps best of all, you were turned upside down by personal interaction with a fellow Christian. For the first time, you’re seeing that we are all “sent.” Every Christian is called to live on gospel mission. Whether God is lighting a new fire in you for “living sent” where you already are, or he’s calling you to cross a culture in missions, what’t next? Where do you go from here?

Here’s the guidance David Platt has for us in his book Radical:

I am concerned about a general vagueness that has existed in contemporary Christianity regarding the next step. We have seen that God blesses us so that his glory might be made known in all nations. But an all-important questions remains. How do we make God’s glory known in all nations? If God has given us his grace so that we might take his gospel to the ends of the earth, then how do we do that? Do we walk out into the streets and just start proclaiming the glory of God somehow? Should we all go to other nations? If we go, what do we do when we get there? What does all this look like in our day-to-day lives?

Jesus has much to teach us here. If we were left to ourselves with the task of taking the gospel to the world, we would immediately begin planning innovative strategies and plotting elaborate schemes. We would organize conventions, develop programs, and create foundations. We would get the biggest names to draw the biggest crowds to the biggest events. We would start megachurches and host megaconferences. We would do . . . well, we would do what we are doing today.

But Jesus is so different from us. With the task of taking the gospel to the world, he wandered through the streets and byways of Israel looking for a few men. Don’t misunderstand me — Jesus was anything but casual about his mission. He was initiating a revolution, but his revolution would not revolve around the masses or the multitudes. Instead it would revolve around a few men. It would not revolving around garnering a certain position. Instead it would revolve around choosing a few people. He would intentionally shun titles, labels, plaudits, and popularity in his plan to turn the course of history upside down. All he wanted was a few men who would think as he did, love as he did, see as he did, teach as he did, and serve as he did. All he needed was to revolutionize the hearts of a few, and they would impact the world.

(Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream, [Colorado Springs: Multnomah, 2010], 87-88)

________

This article was written by David Mathis by September 28, 2011

David Mathis (@davidcmathis) is executive editor for John Piper and Desiring God, and elder at Bethlehem Baptist Church in the Twin Cities of Minnesota. He and his wife Megan have twin sons (Carson and Coleman) and live in Minneapolis. David is editor of Thinking, Loving, Doing and Finish the Mission (most recently).

Oct 26
Love0

The Word and Women

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I spend a lot of time with women. On most days a parade of women’s faces and voices is moving through my mind—reminders and echoes from various conferences and Bible study groups. Having recently visited a number of women’s groups in England, I’m currently hearing echoes of strong words, articulated with that invigorating British combination of joviality and definiteness. It was a joy to be among various evangelical groups, and to witness both the hunger for God’s Word and also the training up of women to meet that hunger. They’re in a context where women’s issues are hotly debated, and where their complementarian position is generally scorned.  They’re studying and teaching and sharing the Bible with all their hearts. They’re doing it with the encouragement of pastoral leadership committed to biblical instruction of all God’s people. I learned a great deal from my sisters in England.

It’s interesting to return from that context into our ongoing American conversation over gender roles. What strikes me is that we women (just like all human beings everywhere) do best when we focus on taking in and giving out the comprehensive revelation of God’s Word. If it’s really true that the Bible is made up of God’s breathed-out, living and active words, then there’s nothing more important, during this short span of time before we meet God face to face, than hearing and believing and sharing and delighting in his words of life to us.

Any time we pull out one strand of Scripture and concentrate on it, apart from God’s full revelation, we can so easily get into trouble. Women love to talk and think about women. And we should! We must! However, if we focus too exclusively on that theme, it tends to grow into the overarching one that interprets everything else we read and think. We might do better, all of us, to aim for a consistent focus on Scripture’s main theme. I don’t have that theme in a nutshell, but it might be something like: God redeeming a people for himself, through Jesus Christ his Son. However we summarize it, surely we Christians would put Jesus Christ and his redemption at the center of the Bible’s whole revelation. The question I must ask myself is whether that theme is at the center of my thinking.

Environmentalists . . . parents . . . artists . . . women . . . all of us, whatever our specific concerns, tend to look for the strand of the Scriptures that relates to us. The danger comes any time I go after making my own story (or women’s stories) central, as opposed to making sense of my story (or women’s stories) within the larger story of God’s redemption in Christ. Take the scriptural word submission, for example. If I focus on that word and that principle itself, I can get in all kinds of trouble. I can blow up the word into all sorts of rules and scenarios that Scripture itself never addresses. Or I can diminish the word into a shriveled-up relic, ignoring Scripture’s plain command. The word is given to us and explained to us in the context of Christ and his church. The principle is shown to shine throughout the Scriptures from the very first woman onward, as the story of the first man and woman keeps appearing, a reference point never left behind. I believe we women can learn about submission in the best way by studying the whole Scriptures, and by learning to love Christ as he is revealed to us and speaks to us through the inspired Word.

Spirit-Filled Power and Clarity

Christ’s love is revealed to us in a book. I don’t mean to trespass into the territory of bibliolatry, but I do mean to affirm the Spirit-filled power and clarity of the God-breathed Word. The principle of Scripture’s perspicuity (clarity, or understandability), for which the Reformers fought and died, is crucial. God’s Word is neither too vague nor too complicated to be understood clearly by God’s people. In Nehemiah 8, all the “men and women and all who could understand what they heard” stood for hours listening and learning from the Levites, who “helped the people to understand the Law” and “gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.” The people went away rejoicing, “because they had understood the words that were declared to them” (Neh. 8:1, 3, 7-8, 12).

I love it that the women are mentioned in that magnificent scene from Nehemiah, where the remnant of God’s people who’ve returned from exile to a broken-down city recommit themselves to being a people of God’s Word. They are holding on to God’s promises when all the visible signs of those promises have been cut away; they’re left with the promises themselves, the words. And so in that scene they listen really carefully, for hours. They study the words to understand what God is saying to them.

That’s what we need to do, isn’t it? Women, like all of God’s people, need to listen really carefully to all of God’s Word, book by book, from beginning to end. We need to learn how to read it, so that we can rightly evaluate the voices around us that would tell us what it says or doesn’t say. We need to seek and live under the leadership of godly preachers and teachers who love and reverence God’s Word—not just “out there” in cyberspace but in local, biblically committed congregations. Within the community of God’s people we need to study the Word book by book, learning how to grasp the main point of a book and how that main point shapes everything in that book from beginning to end. What’s the main point of the book of Titus, and how does each passage within that book fit into the whole? What is the book of Judges all about, and what do we learn from it about the Bible’s unfolding story of redemption? We need to read the stories of various women, like Sarah, or Ruth, or Jephtha’s daughter, in light of the whole books in which they are found and in light of the Bible’s overarching theme. We need to teach and model for the younger women around us how to read and study the Word. We need to share with other women not just a message of encouragement for women, but a message of redeemed life in Christ for every person who believes in him, according to his Word.

It’s all about the Word. It’s our God-given lamp to light our paths. I’m still hearing those English women’s sturdy voices in my mind, talking about studying the Bible. They reminded me again that, until we get to see Jesus face to face, we get to live on his Word.

 

This article was written by Kathleen Nielson and originally posted at www.thegospelcoalition.org. It can be found here.

Oct 26
Love0

What’s the Last Thing You’ve Done to Surprise Your Wife?

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Knowing how high a priority C.J. Mahaney places on surprising his wife Carolyn, Southern Seminary’s interviewer asked him this question in an interview published in the new issue of the Seminary’s magazine, Towers (April 11, 2011; page 16).

Before answering the question with specific examples, C.J. set the context:

Let me say that I have a wife whom I don’t deserve. No one has influenced me more than she has. There’s no one I respect more than her. There’s no one I love more than her. I am devoted to building as many romantic memories with her and spending as much time with her as possible. And I want Carolyn to live aware that I am always planning or working on a new surprise as an expression of my love for her.

Then he talked specifics:

The most recent surprise was a trip to sunny and warm Florida in the midst of a very cold winter at home.

Normally trips will be planned well in advance to coordinate schedules. By planning in advance you can build anticipation and in some ways something planned in the future has a way of serving your soul in the present. But the trip to Florida didn’t receive a great deal of planning and this spontaneous trip was great fun. And the largest snowstorm of the year hit the D.C. area while we were in Florida so that made it even sweeter.

Before that, in December, I surprised her with an overnight trip to the W Hotel in downtown D.C. At any given time, there are actual multiple surprises in the planning stage ranging from the small expressions to more significant ones. Surprises don’t have to be expensive to be meaningful. Something as simple as bringing home her favorite candy at the end of the day is another way to say, “I love you.”

Why all the surprises? If you met her, you’d understand why. I have been the object of her affection and support for 36 years now. I want to do all that I can to communicate my gratefulness. I don’t deserve my wife.

As C.J. writes elsewhere, meaningful surprises are normally the result of thoughtful and diligent study and planning by the husband. But many husbands are thickheaded and don’t study their wives or plan surprises very well. So where can we start?

To find specific help and suggestions on how to study your wife and her particular interests (with the goal of eventually surprising her), C.J. has written a few resources that may prove helpful for husbands. First, see his free ebook Biblical Productivitywhere he further explains how his role as husband motivates him to study, serve, and surprise Carolyn. And also consider reading “Learning, Leading, and Loving,” chapter three in his book Sex, Romance, and the Glory of God: What Every Christian Husband Needs to Know (Crossway, 2004). “As a romancer of my wife, I know that my essential role is that of a student and a planner,” he writes (32). Behind the meaningful surprises for a wife is this intentional study and careful planning of a thoughtful husband.

April 26, 2011 by Tony Reinke

Oct 26
Love0

Key to a Father’s Courage

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John G. Paton was a missionary to the New Hebrides, today called Vanuatu, in the South Seas. He was born in Scotland in 1824. I gave my Pastors’ Conference message about him because of the courage he showed throughout his 82 years of life. When I dug for the reasons he was so courageous, one reason I found was the deep love he had for his father.

The tribute Paton pays to his godly father is, by itself, worth the price of his Autobiography, which is still in print. Maybe it’s because I have four sons (and Talitha), but I wept as I read this section. It filled me with such longing to be a father like this.

There was a “closet” where his father would go for prayer as a rule after each meal. The eleven children knew it and they reverenced the spot and learned something profound about God. The impact on John Paton was immense.

Though everything else in religion were by some unthinkable catastrophe to be swept out of memory, were blotted from my understanding, my soul would wander back to those early scenes, and shut itself up once again in that Sanctuary Closet, and, hearing still the echoes of those cries to God, would hurl back all doubt with the victorious appeal, “He walked with God, why may not I?” (Autobiography, p. 8)

How much my father’s prayers at this time impressed me I can never explain, nor could any stranger understand. When, on his knees and all of us kneeling around him in Family Worship, he poured out his whole soul with tears for the conversion of the Heathen world to the service of Jesus, and for every personal and domestic need, we all felt as if in the presence of the living Savior, and learned to know and love him as our Divine friend.” (Autobiography, p. 21)

One scene best captures the depth of love between John and his father, and the power of the impact on John’s life of uncompromising courage and purity. The time came for the young Paton to leave home and go to Glasgow to attend divinity school and become a city missionary in his early twenties. From his hometown of Torthorwald to the train station at Kilmarnock was a 40-mile walk. Forty years later, Paton wrote,

My dear father walked with me the first six miles of the way. His counsels and tears and heavenly conversation on that parting journey are fresh in my heart as if it had been but yesterday; and tears are on my cheeks as freely now as then, whenever memory steals me away to the scene. For the last half mile or so we walked on together in almost unbroken silence – my father, as was often his custom, carrying hat in hand, while his long flowing yellow hair (then yellow, but in later years white as snow) streamed like a girl’s down his shoulders. His lips kept moving in silent prayers for me; and his tears fell fast when our eyes met each other in looks for which all speech was vain! We halted on reaching the appointed parting place; he grasped my hand firmly for a minute in silence, and then solemnly and affectionately said: “God bless you, my son! Your father’s God prosper you, and keep you from all evil!”

Unable to say more, his lips kept moving in silent prayer; in tears we embraced, and parted. I ran off as fast as I could; and, when about to turn a corner in the road where he would lose sight of me, I looked back and saw him still standing with head uncovered where I had left him – gazing after me. Waving my hat in adieu, I rounded the corner and out of sight in instant. But my heart was too full and sore to carry me further, so I darted into the side of the road and wept for time. Then, rising up cautiously, I climbed the dike to see if he yet stood where I had left him; and just at that moment I caught a glimpse of him climbing the dike and looking out for me! He did not see me, and after he gazed eagerly in my direction for a while he got down, set his face toward home, and began to return – his head still uncovered, and his heart, I felt sure, still rising in prayers for me. I watched through blinding tears, till his form faded from my gaze; and then, hastening on my way, vowed deeply and oft, by the help of God, to live and act so as never to grieve or dishonor such a father and mother as he had given me. (pp. 25-26)

The impact of his father’s faith and prayer and love and discipline was immeasurable. O fathers, read and be filled with longing.

With you in the battle,

Pastor John

 

©2012 Desiring God Foundation. Used by Permission.

By John Piper. ©2012 Desiring God Foundation. Website: desiringGod.org

 

Oct 25
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Lord’s Prayer (Pt.4)

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The following is the fourth part of a series written by one of our members, David Carrico. Previous parts can be found at the links below:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

“Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.  Thy kingdom come.” Matthew 6:9

Stepping through a meditation of the Model Prayer, our next pause to consider is at “Thy kingdom come.”  This is a phrase that has so much depth and so many layers of meaning that I could probably write at least a half-dozen blogs on it, or write twenty or thirty pages in this one, and still not cover everything that it contains.  I’m not going to do so.  But I am going to cover one aspect of it that I haven’t heard discussed much, and the article is still going to be a bit longer than the previous articles in the series.

When you think of kingdoms, what is the one common element that every kingdom has to have?  A king.

Have you ever thought about what the purpose of a king is?  What function does he serve?

In the grand scheme of things, there seem to be two reasons why societies have created kings and kept them around.  First, to govern:  to make laws, establish rules, and enforce them.  This is the ruling function.  The second reason is to serve as the visible embodiment of the kingdom; to be the representation of the kingdom as a whole.  This is the reigning function.

In human kingdoms those two functions were not always united in the same person.  In the Empire of Japan, for example, there was an extended period of history where the Emperor reigned, but the Shogun (warlord) ruled.  And in England, a struggle began during the reign of King John in the 1200s that after a few hundred years eventually culminated with the ruling function passing to Parliament and the ministers, so that today Queen Elizabeth II reigns but does not rule.

So sometimes the king rules, sometimes the king reigns, and sometimes he does both.

But the Matthew passage isn’t talking about a human kingdom, is it?  When it says “Thy kingdom”, it’s referring to a kingdom that is God’s.  Is it an earthly kingdom?  When you dig out your Rand McNally World Atlas, or fire up Google Maps, do you find a Kingdom of God located somewhere on Earth?  No.  So what is the Matthew passage referring to?  We’ll get to that in a moment.

I find it interesting that the idea of God having a kingdom is not something that is presented in the Bible beginning on page 1.  I mean, with the very first words of Genesis we are immediately presented with a God who is omnipotent and omniscient and creator.  But we don’t encounter the idea that God is king until after a lot of human history has passed.  In fact, the first mention of God being a king doesn’t occur until the beginning of the kingdom of Israel itself.

Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah; and they said to him, “Behold, you have grown old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint a king for us to judge us like all the nations.”  But the thing was displeasing in the sight of Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” And Samuel prayed to the Lord.  And the Lord said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in regard to all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being king over them.”  1 Samuel 8:4-7 

So from the very lips of God we see that as part of being the God of Israel, He was also the king of Israel.  And again:

When you saw that Nahash the king of the sons of Ammon came against you, you said to me, ‘No, but a king shall reign over us,’ although the Lord your God was your king.  1 Samuel 12:12

That’s the beginning.  That’s the first place where it is revealed to us that God is a king.  This would seem to imply that He has a kingdom, but we don’t see that clearly stated for a while; not until late in the book of Psalms, actually.  There are several references to God as king in the book of Psalms, but the only passage that refers to God’s kingdom is the following:

All Thy works shall give thanks to Thee, O Lord,

And Thy godly ones shall bless Thee.

They shall speak of the glory of Thy kingdom,

And talk of Thy power;

To make known to the sons of men Thy mighty acts,

And the glory of the majesty of Thy kingdom.

Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,

And Thy dominion endures throughout all generations. 

Psalms 145:10-13

And God’s kingdom also appears in Isaiah and Jeremiah as well.  But those references are all relatively light.  God’s kingdom doesn’t really appear as a major theme until the New Testament.  I’m not going to discuss all the instances of the theme there, but a good concordance will take you to them.

But what is this idea of God’s kingdom trying to tell us?  Well, I believe there is one aspect of the idea of God’s kingdom that is paramount, and it’s one that the people of Jesus’ time understood intuitively because of their cultural and societal background that we usually don’t grasp well because of the differences between us in culture and society.

You see, a king is a sovereign.  The dictionary definition of a sovereign is “one who has supreme authority”.  That’s a good description of God, isn’t it?  After all, He created the universe, He sustains the universe, and He will at the end of days destroy the universe.  Moreover, we have the following from the Apostle Paul:

“I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate, that you keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which He will bring about at the proper time —  He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords…”  1 Timothy 6:13-15

God is sovereign of all and over all.  (And that’s certainly an important doctrine, but that’s also a discussion for another time.)  So does that mean that His kingdom is the universe?  Well, yes and no.  There are actually two kingdoms in play here:  the kingdom of the universe, and the kingdom of those who belong to Him.  God is sovereign over both, and people can be in both, but there is a difference.

Let’s use the following for a metaphor of what I’m trying to describe:  let’s say I work for a company who in the course of business assigns me to a position in London, England.  I relocate there, and I spend the next several years living in the kingdom of England.  All the time I am there I am subject to English laws and rules, but I am still an American citizen, holding a US passport.

Now let’s say that one day I get an invitation to come before Queen Elizabeth.  I appear at the appropriate palace, hopefully a little early, clean shaven, teeth brushed, dressed in my best suit.  One of the Royal Guards escorts me to the throne room.  I stand in the doorway and see the queen seated on her royal throne, dressed in her royal regalia.  She bids me come forward, and I walk down the length of the throne room with some nervousness, hoping that my shoes won’t squeak.  In a moment, I stand directly before the queen, the sovereign of all England.  In her mannered voice she tells me that she knows all about me, and she desires that I become a subject and citizen of the kingdom of England.  I drop to my knees, place my hands between hers, and swear allegiance, faithfulness, and obedience to her.  At the conclusion, she takes from me my blue US passport and hands to me a brand new maroon United Kingdom passport, which will mark me as a citizen of her kingdom to everyone in the world.

When I walk out of the palace afterward, I’m still me.  I’m still in the kingdom of England.  I still live in the same place.  I still work at the same job for the same boss and employer.  I still get the same paycheck.  I’m still just as subject to the laws and regulations of England as I was before I walked into the palace.  But I’m not the same.  What’s changed?

What has changed is my relationship with the queen.  Before this event, I lived in her kingdom and was subject to her laws, but to me she was the queen.  Now she is my queen.  She has established a personal relationship with me, and I am bound to her as her subject.

In the same way, before I was saved I lived in God’s universe, His kingdom, but He was the God.  But after the Holy Spirit entered my life and brought me to a saving knowledge of Jesus, my relationship with God changed.  Now He is my God.  We have a personal relationship which can be described many different ways.  But one of the ways it can be described is a personal relationship between a subject and a king.  And to a great extent, as much as we can understand of God’s will, that is what history is all about:  the drawing of residents of God’s kingdom to become subjects and citizens of that kingdom.  God in His sovereignty not only created a plan of salvation, but draws some people to it.

Americans really have trouble understanding everything contained in that relationship, because that kind of thing hasn’t been a part of our culture and society for over 200 years.  But it is a very deep relationship, one that has obligations on both sides of it, and it would take another entire blog to discuss those.

So when Jesus holds up “Thy kingdom come” to us as a model, what should it mean to us?

That we should pray that God will continue to build His personal kingdom, one life and soul at a time, and that He will allow us the privilege of participating in it.

Grace and peace to you.

David

 

Oct 23
Love0

How SHOULD we be praying

By Uncategorized

20121023-151346.jpgHeritage is a place with a lot of “going”. At any given moment there is likely to be someone going somewhere to tell others about Christ. This may be across the street or often around the world. So how should we be praying? I want to give an outline of a God-centered approach to praying for those “goings”.

1) Pray for God to DO what only He can… Let this be our starting point. “God, we are asking You to work in hearts in ways we will never be able.” Let’s ask God to go before us. We believe He will. And what’s more, He has told us to ask.

2) Pray for God to give OPPORTUNITIES… We are asking for God to be working in hearts and now we are asking Him to lead us to these people. “Lord, lead us to those You are working on and give us eyes to see Your hand at work.”

3) Pray for God to give us BOLDNESS and CLARITY… It can be scary sharing in a place opposed to the Gospel. It can be scary sharing in the Bible Belt. Let us plead with God for courage and boldness to speak up and share the truth of what He has done. With this message we need to be clear. A confusing message is rarely helpful. Let us be praying for clear presentations of the Gospel. “Oh lord we ask you to give those going courage and clarity. Let them recognize the opportunities given them and boldly proclaim this wonderful message in ways that can be understood by all who hear.”

And finally, after those things have been lifted up, we pray for those going.

4) Pray God will be GLORIFIED by those going… Notice the focus is not on their safety, their health, or their comfort. The emphasis is on God’s glory. By all means pray for all of those things, but our top priority is God being glorified. “Father, we pray you will work in the lives of those going that they may bring You the most glory. Because we love them we ask for You to keep them safe. Because they are dear to us we ask You to bring them back in one piece. Because we care we ask You to keep them from sickness and help them through all difficulties. And because You are worth everything we pray for Your Name to be glorified above all. Help us to entrust them to You.”

It is my sincere belief this is how we can and should be praying for those going to share with their neighbors or even the nations. Are you faithfully praying? Are you faithfully going?

 

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