Checking In, Checking Up, Checking Out

Since I'm going to be taking a few days off to rest and to attend the Sovereign Grace Leadership Conference, and then be blog-inaccessible for a few more days after that, I thought I'd check in, check up, and then check out before I go.

First on the check in matter; I hope you are walking in the Word and ways of the Lord. I read the story of Elijah this morning (1 Kings 17ff), and was struck by how much of a Word-Driven Life his was. Whenever God spoke he moved, he acted, he spoke. Read the few chapters recounting his life and you'll see that the Word of the Lord was the driving force of his life.

Are our lives Word driven like his? Just checking in.

As for the checking up part of this, I've got a little favor to ask of each of those who read this blog: would you please click comments, then in the box simply type your first name, then if you don't have your own account, just click anonymous and then send. That's all I ask: your first name!

I'm just checking up on whether any/many are reading the blog so I can have a bit of a sense of how many it's connecting to. Would you please do me that small 15-second favor? Thanks.

And now for the checking out part: I'll be in touch in a few days. In the meantime, I might have one or two blogs stored up to have them sent along to you. Also I might have a couple of my friends post in my absence. That way we'll stay connected, even though I've checked out.

God bless you folks--and again please send me your first name, so I can know if any/many are out there reading!

Thanks.

Fighting the Culture War by Hearing the Word

As we fight in the cause of God and truth in our generation, one of the places to start is in a recovery of Truth; Truth revealed (in the Bible) and Truth heard (through preaching) and Truth obeyed (in faith and love and obedience).

In my sermon yesterday I called for the church to recover a right view of the Word preached and heard. Really it was a preached version of blog entries from a couple of weeks ago. You can review those if you'd like. For today though--for those who heard my message or for those who heard their own pastor preach can I make one application suggestion? Why don't you schedule time in the next day or two to listen to that message again?

Go online or get the CD and listen carefully. What I'm going to do with my family--and I think this will become a weekly practice--is schedule a 1 to 1 1/2 hour block of time weekly to sit with the family and re-listen to the Sunday AM sermon. During that time we will listen, and stop and discuss various points to make sure that important truth is being understood. This really is not that hard of a thing to do, other than in the fact that it has to break through the routine of lazy sermon listening that has too often marked my life, and of which I am repenting.

Following this we'll finish the time by asking: "What is one application of this sermon that each of us can make to our lives this week?" Thus the process of right listening will begin, and at the same time I as the head of my home will be leading my family deeper into the things of God.

On top of that I'll be equipping them to become life and culture warriors who stand in, and stand for, God's truth.

What do you think? Might it be a place to start?

Fighting the Culture Within

So how do we confront the culture in which we live? I think first we need to confront the culture in us that lives.

As I see it our times are marked by:
1. Perverse Materialism: Has any culture ever been marked at every level by such a raw love of money and the things money buys, and then had the perverse gall to think of it as an entitlement?
2. Uninhibited Hedonism: Has any culture ever had so much sensual pleasure easily at hand, with so little moral conscience to feel guilty about any of it, so few social stigmas to restrain it, and such a focused greed to make sure that not one of those pleasures goes unexperienced?
3. Unblushing Narcissism: Has any culture ever had so many mirrors, so much make-up, and such radical makeovers; or has any culture ever been so self-absorbed, self-confident, and self-preening, and actually been proud of it, turning all this vanity into a virtue?
4. Mind-numbing Decibalism: Has any culture ever created so much noise and turned it up so loudly to blare away all silence, and with it nearly all capacity to think, to reflect, to feel the deeper things?
5. Unvarnished Secularism: Has any culture ever been so brazenly and boastfully secular as ours, making agnosticism a mark of humility, and banishing the sacred to the realm of the closet and the cathedral?
6. Rampant Relativism: Has any culture ever intoned the "what's true for me may not be true for you" mantra more mindlessly than ours, leaving a whole generation or two almost really believing that anything goes?
7. Pervasive Nihilism: Has any culture ever embraced Hemingway's "life is a short day's journey from nothingness to nothingness" pessimism more enthusiastically than ours, and then lived like they meant it by feeling no sense of the transcendant, and by creating an abortion friendly, euthanasia open, suicide embracing, and violence craving culture of death?

These are the signs of our times; the charactristics by which future generations will remember us, if in fact we survive long enough for there to be any future generations.

The question for us culture-war minded Christians is this: "To what degree are we losing the war in the territory of our own hearts?" How much culture has already invaded my inner self? Where does the "spirit of the age" already rule my life?

We'd do well to review all the above and discern how much each of these soul-diseases has infected us. To win the war out there, I'm convinced we need to recapture the territory within.

Not only do we need this recovery of the soul for our soul's sake; we need it for our witness' sake. For when Christians speak out against a world gone mad when it's clear to the world that the church is both in and of the very same world she condemns, our witness sounds shrill and phony.

And it is.

Life in the Shire and Flying Under the Radar

The hobbits loved their shire. It was a quiet place in which living and letting live was the life-style of choice. Hobbits wanted no part of the bigger world of wraiths and orcs and demons. And they hoped that whatever was going on out there would never quite reach them or affect their cozy way of life.

But the problem with evil is that it never rests. It always assaults, always prowls, always seeks to devour. What Frodo and the others had to face is that there is a dark evil in the cosmos, and the darkness always spreads.

I know a lot of Christians who are hobbit-like. I'm one of them. I like my shire, my home, my family, my church, my sphere of ministry. I'd like to keep my life under the radar so no one out there will notice (unless they're wanting to be a part of my world). I'd like to speak truth to my folks, and maybe speak out against error and sin at a safe distance from the world of evil around me, but not really get noticed for that stand against sin and for righteousness. If I get noticed then the risks of hostility increase.

Martin Luther rebukes me in his famous wake-up to the church and her leaders:

"If I profess with the loudest voice and the clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at the moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I maybe professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved; and to be steady on all the battle field besides, is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point."

Friends: evil is happening. Clouds of darkness are forming. A culture of death and malice and self is squeezing us in. Freedom is waning, and the cost of speaking clearly for Christ is going up. It is not a time to flinch or fly under the radar. It's a time to stand up, speak up, and give it all up, for Christ.

I'm still processing what that has to look like, but one thing I know: we need real men and strong women (both as biblically rather than culturally defined) who will take a stand for God, truth, life, and love--in both word and deed--and in so doing confess Christ where the battle rages in our times.

O Lord keep us from flight and disgrace.

A Path Chosen

One of my favorite parts of the Lord of the Rings is a conversation between Frodo and Gandalf. A dark evil is filling the land. Wraiths and orcs--demonic forces of darkness--are on the move. Powers of malice are threatening the whole earth. And, as you probably know, the only way to stop the evil is to destroy a powerful ring that will otherwise control the future by its hellish magical force.

The task to destroy this ring falls to Frodo, an average hobbit with a monumental challenge accompanied by perilous terrors. As the young hobbit carries the weight of the ring through one life-threatening crisis after another, the burden becomes almost more than he can bear. And in a moment of near despair as Frodo speaks with the powerful and good Gandalf, he cries: “I wish the ring has never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.”

We've all known such moments: moments we wished had not come our way; burdens we wished we did not have to carry; challenges we wished we did not have to face; circumstances we wished were not our lot to endure; risks we wished were not ours to confront; threats and impending dangers we wished were never a part of our lives.

Gandalf's response to Frodo has inspired me numerous times. In fact, sometimes I'll re-watch the movies or re-read the book, just to get to this moment of Gandalfian wisdom: “ So do all [wish none of this had ever happened] who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.”

Very often in life, we do not choose our path; it chooses us. More precisely, it is chosen for us by God. What's left for us is to decide what we will do with the time and the path chosen.

Alert Christians in our moment of American history are aware that we are in perilous times; times of economic peril, moral degradation, social meltdown, freedom loss, global disdain for Christian values, and a wholesale unraveling of anything like a fundamental commitment to basic morality and the sanctitiy of life.

These are perilous times which are only going to worsen in the days to come. We wish that such times would not happen, but they do. And these times are our times. What is for us to decide is what we are going to do with the times we are given.

In recent days I've felt the call of God to do more than pastor my flock. There is a call upon men and women of God to be a conscience for society, a defender of the helpless, a beacon of truth and guardian of all things sacred. The church is not supposed to be hidden, but out in the open. It's not to be slinking off into the shadows hoping for the "safety" of anonymity, but stepping out onto the hill side in the power of love and with a bull horn for truth and right. This is the moment and the path chosen for us.

Right now I'm trying to discern what that path is to look like for me. How do I become a voice for righteousness as the darkness gathers? And what about us all? What is the self-denying perilous path of obedience and courage to which God is calling you and me in this our time, our moment, our battle with evil?

We have no choice but to ponder our place and moment and calling in this hour. Are we willing?

To Live Is Christ

Since our church has been thinking about Philippians 1:21 the last couple of Sundays, someone asked me the really good question: "How do I get closer to living Christ than I am right now? I want to be there but it seems like I'm so far away."

Excellent question. It's a question that could lead to lengthy responses, but I want to keep it simple this time around--"brief and brilliant" as my friend C.J. would say. Well brief anyway.

I'd suggest two sincere steps that will draw you closer to this healthy Christian way of life. First, confess your sins and idols--the things that fill in the blank for you: "For to me to live is ______________." Discern what you are serving and giving more time, thought, money and energy to than you are to Christ. Then grieve and confess them to the Lover of your soul.

Next, take a purposeful step toward repentance today by actively opposing one or two of those idols. What is one thing you can do today that will choose Christ over a Christ replacement? Do that today with a conscious, devoted prayer to your Savior like: "Jesus I love you more than this other love of my life, and I want You more than all else."

You will find that as you restore Jesus to His rightful place over one or two idols, you will be given grace to overcome others. When you experience grace in one area of life it spills over into the rest of your life.

So pick one way today that you can live Christ more than you did yesterday. Then continue to do this day by day, and you will find yourself moving ever closer to the joyful place where you can say from experience: "For to me to live is Christ."

God bless you in your every step of faith today.

Getting Ready

As the week winds down and another Lord's Day nearly dawns on us, I'm reminded of 1 Corinthians 11:27-32 and Matthew 5:23, 24. In these texts God calls believers to prepare for worship by clearing their relationship slates beforehand. God wants His people coming into His presence with relationships going well, not going badly.

Conscious as I always am of how badly fellowship can be broken by my sin and others', I'm pretty confident that without having any one or two specific people in mind I can send out this last-minute-before-worship reminder to all my friends, believing that it'll connect to not just a few.

Can I encourage you in these remaining hours before you gather with the people of God, to make sure that you've done all you can to be at peace with those very people? Let's approach worship with our hearts free of bitterness, rancor, evil thoughts, malice, gossip and the rest.

Confess things to God. Then call a brother or sister and ask forgiveness (or give it); then watch God bless you sweetly in His house on His Day.

May the love and peace of Christ dwell in us all.
Amen.

Cutting Hair and Cutting Slack

Gayline cut my hair last evening. As she did, I multi-tasked by training Heidi (our dog) to stay in one place.

Heidi's confiscated one of our hassocks as her "resting" place, typically for about 33 seconds at a shot. We'd prefer her to stay there longer (something closer to 33 hours per shot) so she's not getting into mischief and driving us nuts.

After getting Heidi into place my training consisted of uttering a loud gutteral "Eh!!" every time she began to get up. "Eh!!" is master-speak for a serious sounding "no". When uttered quick and really, really loud, it works.

So while Gayline is snipping my hair I'm hawk-eyeing Heidi to "Eh!!" her every time she shows a hint of relocating. After a couple of early miscues, Heidi got it, and stayed there for about 20 minutes while I kept a vigilant eye. This meant that two things were going on at once: Gayline was focusing on cutting my hair; I was focusing on "Ehing" Heidi. Both required attention, and therefore 20 minutes of nearly complete silence.

We probably should have seen it coming. When Heidi eventually made a quick move and I erupted with a quick really, really loud "Eh!!!", Gayline, much to the surprise of us both, displayed greater veritical abilities than I ever did on a basketball court. My silence shattering "Eh!!" nearly separated my wife from her skin.

Only then did we realize the perilous spot into which I had been placed: she with both sharp scissors (with easy skin piercing capacity) and with electric able-to-shave-off-a-whole-section-of-hair-in-a-second clippers in hand, and me with voice poised to let out a loud piercing attention seizing and silence shattering command to my dog. It never occured to us that we might be headed for either blood or blunder. Thankfully I was spared a major head or hair disaster.

But it all made me think. Gayline could easily have done some damage that folks would have seen behind a pulpit for a month of Sundays. What if she had? How would I have responded? I think that I would have laughed it off, but I'm not sure I want to try it out to see.

What I do know is this: Gayline was not in the least bit angry with me for scaring her out of her skin. Why not? Because she had the grace to know that in the moment I was not acting sinfully or selfishly, but was doing something for the family, for her, for our son, for the betterment of our home.

She overlooked the unpleasantness of having her nerves go "boiiiing" because she saw the bigger picture of my intentions and efforts. I'm grateful for her grace.

There's a lesson there for life: Friends, we often bump up against each other unintentionally while we're doing or intending good things. We just don't see it coming. We're trying to serve. We're thinking of the good of others or of the church. We're pitching in. We're even committed to PEGI (see the 3/1/09 entry), but we're unaware of how this might create a tension or problem with someone else equally committed to service and love. It happens because we're on two very good but very different about-to-collide wavelengths at the same time.

There are times when we're all working toward the same ends, but get in each other's way in the process. These are times for forbearance, for cutting each other a lot of slack, for being grateful instead of angry, full of mercy rather than full of wrath.

So when good efforts meet up with tense moments, let's let love prevail.

Beware: Don't Compare!

Recently conversations have revealed how often people compare themselves with others thereby drawing conclusions that only do harm. Three texts come to mind as I think about this comparison instinct.

One is Luke 18:11, 12 where Jesus takes on our favorable comparisons of self up against others with pretty strong words. Another is 2 Corinthians 10:12, where Paul says that those who are always making such comparisons lack understanding. When I compare myself favorably to others I'm most often guilty of self-delusion and self-righteousness; sins not to be taken lightly.

But at the moment the kind of comparing I'm concerned about is when people compare themselves unfavorably to others. This leads often to self-pity or guilt or shame or paralysis. That's what happens when I think that I just don't measure up to others in the church. This kind of comparing, while it appears humble, often leads to discouragment which in turn leads to unbelief which can in turn give birth to spiritual laziness and apathy. "Hey, I don't measure up to him or her and never will, so why even bother trying?"

Paul addresses this kind of spiritually dangerous comparison in 1 Corinthians 12:14-20. Brothers and sisters: don't compare your gifts unfavorably to those of others or negatively judge where you are at spiritually in contrast to them. This leads either to self-defeating discouragement or to self-pitying laziness.

Every believer's journey is different. Every one of us is in a different stage of faith. Comparisons simply don't work because we can't take into account all the things God is doing behind the scenes and under the surface. People are never doing exactly as they seem. It may seem strange to say, but they are always doing better and worse than they appear. Keep in mind that most often they don't even have a good read on how they're doing! So stay away from unfavorable comparisons of yourself to them; such can lead only to harm.

There is one comparison worth making: compare yourself today to yourself six months ago. That's an evaluation that reaps benefits. Can you see progress? Can you see growth? Can you see a greater energy or joy in the gospel today than you had months ago?

This kind of comparison can produce great good. It'll produce either a sober awareness that you've fallen from where you once were (see Revelation 2:4) which can lead to repentance and restoration. And it can also lead to a joyful awareness that you are not the person you once were! Grace is changing you for the better!

In any and every case let us always remember that God sees us, not as we are or as we once were or even as we're going to be. And He certainly does not see us as we are as compared to others. He sees us first in the spotless and unchanging righteousness of Christ. He sees us as perfect in His sight because we are in the One who is perfect in His sight. And while lots of other things change for the better or for the worse, that One never does!

Keep the focus friends.

Doing What We Hear (4)

In our hearing of the Word I've suggested that we need to: prepare (our bodies), pray (for illuminating grace), preview (the text to be preached), posture (our hearts in teachable humility), prove (what has been preached), and possess (making what we've heard our own through note-taking and thoughtful conclusions).

To all these I add a seventh step: personalize or practice (pick your personal p-word preference). God insists that what we hear be applied and obeyed personally. Check out how insistent God is about this: James 1:19-25; Matthew 7:24; 1 Samuel 15:22 (where through Hebrew poetic parallelism, obeying and listening are seen as synonymous). Folks, we have not really heard God unless we are obeying what He says.

There's real danger in hearing preaching, particularly goodpreaching. We can enjoy the preacher's skills and even appreciate the truth-content of his sermon without really being changed by it. This is a very common issue in churches that feel pretty good about themselves for their "faithful" and "sound" preaching.

But it is a profound concern to God as is clear from His words through the prophet Ezekiel:

“As for you, son of man, your people who talk together about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses, say to one another, each to his brother, ‘Come, and hear what the word is that comes from the Lord.’ And they come to you as people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear what you say but they will not do it; for with lustful talk in their mouths they act; their heart is set on their gain. And behold, you are to them like one who sings lustful songs with a beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument, for they hear what you say, but they will not do it"(Ezekiel 33:30-32).

Sermons are not like performances to be critiqued or good music to be enjoyed or fine food merely to be tasted. They are God's provision for the soul that needs to be ingested, digested, and then transformed into soul-nourishment for actual faith, real life, and obedient and cheerful godliness.

In 2 Timothy 3:16, 17 God tells us what His Word is profitable for (check it out), and then in 2 Timothy 4: 1-4 He tells pastors to preach that Word faithfully no matter whether their people want to hear it or not.

This 2 Timothy 3 list of benefits to be gained by good preaching of God's Word can be a guide for our personalizing of the Word heard. After you've taken the steps we've mapped out in recent days, conclude your hearing of God's Word by asking yourself these questions:

1. What teaching about God or the gospel or Christ or myself or this world has this sermon presented to me? That is: what have I learned or relearned from this message from God's Word?

2. What reproof has this word from God through preaching brought to me? How has it rebuked or confronted my sin? What conviction over sin has been stirred?

3. What correction has this word brought me? How has the Word preached adjusted my thinking and guided me to a better way of living? How has the Word preached given me a better way to feel or act or live or serve?

4. What training in righteousness has the Word brought to me through this message? How am I now better equipped to worship or rejoice in God or serve or help others or build up the church or share my faith or mortify sin or vivify holiness?

And then to make sure that it doesn't stay theoretical, ask yourself: "What specifically am I going to change (in attitude or action or worship or obedience or service or joy...) this week as a result of what I have heard?

That my friends is true hearing; until we get all the way to change today and this week as a result of the Word preached, we're simply listening to a performance and kidding ourselves.

May God make His Word gloriously transforming for your progress and joy in the faith (Philippians 1:25).

All for now. God bless you.

Hearing the Word: Applications (3)

If you've been following along with our entries of late you know that we've been laying out some reasons for, and some steps to improve in, the hearing of God's Word preached. Tomorrow is Sunday so whoever you are and whatever your church family, I'd encourage some review and application before going into the Lord's Day. Don't keep this theoretical folks; let's make it real.

As you review, let me add just one pointer for today, our 6th overall:

6. Possess. By possess I mean that we need to take steps to make the preaching and the truth of a text our own. This happens of course as we study it, and review and prove it; things we've talked about already. But another way to own or possess what is being taught is to take notes. Record your thoughts, questions, observations, conclusions, joys, and convictions as you hear and then prove what you've heard. While you're listening take some notes, and then when you've finished your proving step, try to put the truths you've learned into your own words.

This process will move you ever closer to an "Aha! I see!" experience of the truth, rather than a hearsay experience of the truth. First-hand experience is always more powerful than second-hand. To hear and see the truth is always better than to hear it only. And writing out your conclusions and the truth learned in your own words helps you to see it for yourself.

Enough for today. Go back and review. Then apply. Then arrive at your place of worship tomorrow expecting to hear the voice of God!

Hearing the Word: Practical Applications (2)

I'm back with a couple more application points for the right hearing of the Word of God. One thing to add as I continue: Friend, the matter at hand is as important as about any we can discuss. Life-long practice of these things will determine the growth, sanctification, joy, and consistent revivings of your soul.

God has ordained that the preaching of the Word be the power of God for salvation and godliness (1 Corinthians 1:18-24; James 1:19-21; 1 Timothy 4:13-16). I urge you to read those texts to notice the importance given to preaching. When we come to hear God's Word preached each Lord's Day, we are coming to a means of grace that is "the power of God" which "saves the souls" of those who hear.


With that in view I offer two more how-to-rightly-hear-the-Word application ideas:

4. Posture. Take that as a verb. We need to posture our hearts rightly if we're going to hear God's Word rightly. We're to cultivate teachable and submissive hearing. We ought always to hear God's Word humbly, no matter who is preaching, because the Word faithfully preached is not the word of man but an oracle of God (1 Peter 4:11). Every faithful and accurately preached word is God talking. And (let me just say it because it is true) we must listen with even greater humility as we hear our pastors, since they are in a place of spiritual authority in our lives (Hebrews 13:7, 17).

Look again at James 1:19-21 to see how you should approach preaching, and make sure that as preaching starts you have consciously so postured your heart. James is clear; we are to guard our hearts from hasty, angry, critical reactions to preaching. We're not to argue with the preacher. We're not to come as self-appointed and self-assured critics; we're to come with conscious humility. I'm to do this every time I hear preaching. I'm to do it especially, every time one of my fellow pastors or one of my spiritual leaders is preaching. All of us are. Such humiltiy guarantees God's grace (James 4:6).

5. Prove. This point balances the previous one. Acts 17:11 is one of my favorite Bible verses. True listening involves a testing and proving of what we hear. It requires that we receive and search the Word to see if what we've heard is true. If we are members of a church in which the pastors exhibit proven carefulness in how they handle the Word, there should be a consistent teachable and humble trust when they speak. However, this should never be blind trust, for pastors err. God's Word is inerrant but His messengers are not.

Here are a few hints for the testing and proving of what you hear (BTW--as you practice these, expect to be blessed!):
a. Pray for illumination from the Holy Spirit--to understand what you've been taught.
b. Re-listen. In today's hi-tech world messages can be listened to more than once. There's always more in a Sunday sermon than you can take in in one hearing. Plus people almost always mishear the first time through. A second hearing can help you get what the speaker was really trying to say.
c. Double-check all texts cited. Read each text and its context to make sure it says what the preacher says it says. If you don't see it, ask him about it humbly the next time you see him!
d. Think about the main points of a message in light of what you already know to be true from God's Word to make sure that it agrees with what God has already taught you. At the same time be willing to learn something new so long as it passes the test of God's Word.
e. Embrace the hard work of discernment; it doesn't come easily as Hebrews 5:11-14says.

(By the way: this testing and proving process should sound an important alarm. Beware of listening to or reading more than what you can test and prove. We're better off listening to and testing a few proven messages/messengers (including your pastors and those recommended by them) than to listen to and read more broadly and indiscriminately. As one in my church has put it: she's come to realize that it is better to learn than it is to just listen. Better is one message per week heard, tested and proven than several messages or studies merely heard.)

Enough for today. I'm still very much interested in the hearing helps you all have gained along the way; send in your comments.

Hearing the Word: Practical Applications (1)

With the theological pointers of the past couple of days guiding us, I want to offer ideas on the practical matter of application.

I'm assuming that we're agreed that the Bible is the Word of God which should be heard with all diligence and joy, and that many of us have a sincere desire to hear it with eager, believing, submissive ears. So let's think about the right hearing of the Word as it is preached. These thoughts certainly have relevance for hearing God's Word through your reading and study as well, but we'll concentrate on how to get the most out of preaching.

Since I'm going to use six "P" words over the next couple of days, I'd better borrow J.I. Packer's alliteration apology. "Alliteration", he once wrote, is a "preacher’s ploy for pointedness, precision, and perspecuity. Pardonable? Perhaps." Whether or not my appalling alliteration activity is absolutely absolvable I'll allow all you to adjudicate.

To get us started, here are a few thoughts on the right hearing of the Word preached:

1. Preparation. I'm thinking here of preparation of the body. To hear God's Word preached is a physical as well as spiritual challenge. It requires immense powers of concentration and effort. For this reason I'd suggest that as a general rule, we all get to bed early Saturday evenings. I'd also recommend that to bring body and mind to full alert status on Sunday AMs, we eat just enough food and (if we like the stuff) drink just enough coffee to nourish strength and awaken the grey cells. Good rest and a careful amount of healthy food and drink before we worship (for a few reasons we'd prefer this not happen during our worship)can prepare the body to rightly receive the Word.

What other helps have you found for getting your body prepared for worship and hearing God's Word? Please comment!

2. Preview. Since we normally preach through a book of the Bible it's possible to know the next text that is going to be preached ahead of time. And even when a special topic is going to be taught it usually is posted on our website before each Sunday. I'd encourage that hearers read that text and its surrounding context prior to their arrival. Preview can also include a quick review of what was preached the Sunday before to make sure that your mind is up to speed. Previous week's review notes are usually available on the site.

3. Pray. Don't treat this as empty cliche. Treat it as necessary heart prep and a God-moving exercise of grace. Before you leave for worship Sunday morning pray either alone or with your family and ask God to come and bless His church by sending His Spirit to work in power and grace through His Word. And if you can make it to the 9:00AM prayer time that would be wonderful too. In these ways ask God to show you through His Word preached, more of His glory, the gospel, and the true nature of faith and obedience in Jesus. Pray your way into a state of expectation so that as you arrive you are confident that God is going to meet with us and speak to us with the power of His truth.

So there you have a couple of starter ideas. I really am interested to know what you have found helpful for the right hearing of the Word preached? Go ahead and comment so we can carry on a conversation here.

Watersheds, Life Direction, and Hearing the Word

On the highest peak of the highest mountain a narrow less-than-an-inch ridge can set the course of rivers. It's called a watershed. If a drop of rain falls to the east of that ridge, it'll flow eastward. If another falls just an inch away on the west side it'll flow westward. In the end they will be thousands of miles apart.

Life is full of watershed moments; moments in which decisive direction determining conclusions and/or choices are made.

How you answer the question "Has God spoken and is the Bible His final Word?" is a watershed. If the Bible is God’s final Word (i.e.-His ultimate authoritative revelation from which all saving truth is to be gained, and by which all truth-claims and opinion/preferences are to be tested), then the course of life is fixed.

If you are convinced by the Spirit of God that the Bible is the Word of God, life can only flow along a path marked by two further life-consuming questions: "What has God said?" and "How then do I need to believe and live?" Life will move irresistibly toward a course of study (to know God's Truth) and submission (to believe and obey God's truth). Life will be marked by a persevering impassioned quest to learn and to do; to hear and to obey.

If one lands on the other side of this watershed, doubting or denying that the Bible is God's Word, then life will flow along an entirely different path. It will not be impassioned to hear or obey His voice. At best it'll be mildly religious, respectably broad-thinking, philosophically undecided, spiritually double-minded.

I think I detect in today's church this fundamental double-mindedness. Too many debates rage over gender roles, the nature of God's sovereignty and the perfection of His knowledge, the existence of an eternal hell, emergent perspectives (and a host of other matters), which when you listen carefully are being argued, not over the text and meaning of Scripture, but over the integrity and authority of Scripture.

In other words, people's arguments against historic Christian doctrines often seem to reveal a lack of conviction that the Bible is God's Word and the final authority for faith and practice. As they recount their journey away from biblical orthodoxy they admit that it began with personal philosophical or emotional struggle rather than Biblical data.

At a more personal level, when people say: "I know that's what the Bible says, but...", unbelief that the Bible is God's authoritative voice is exposed. People “but” their way out of obedience to God’s Word because at least in the moment they do not really believe that that’s what it is. Similarly, the fact that many Christians do not read their Bibles consistently or give themselves to a life of learning God's truth reveals the same foundational flaw in their faith. Logically such neglect can only mean that one's confidence that God has spoken and that the Bible is His final Word is weak at best.

I know that we all (myself included) battle the flesh and the busyness of life, and this makes Bible disciplines hard to practice. But don't you think that there must be something fundamentally askew in our thinking about the Bible (whether or not it is God's Word) if we are not making it our relentless habit and impassioned commitment to read it and hear it and obey it?

Here's the watershed: what will you decide about the Bible? Land on one side of the question and you'll move toward a life determined by personally preferred opinions. Land on the other side and you'll live life in a perpetual posture of an eager and humble submission: "Lord, speak. Your servant will believe and obey."

Where have you landed?

Has God Really Spoken--and Is the Bible His Final Word?

One reason many don't rightly hear the Word of God is because they have nagging doubts that it is the Word of God. Like the boy Samuel of old (1 Samuel 3:1-10), they fail to hear/read God's words as the words of God, because they think them instead to be the words of man. Their heart need is for faith: an evidence-grounded and Spirit-produced confidence that the Bible is the very Word of the true God. Settle that matter and the urgency of right hearing becomes clear.

But has God really spoken and is the Bible His final Word? Can I offer five broad reasons why I believe the answer to both these questions is yes?

1. Prediction. If you read a book in which there are hundreds of specific predictions of historical events--including dozens about the coming Messiah--all of which have come true, wouldn't you agree that there is reason to think that that book might have a Divine origin? Such is the case with the Bible.

2. Perfection. If you read a book written by 40+ men spanning 1,500 years, the major teachings of which address the most controversial topics known to man, and if you find that its message is perfectly consistent, and without contradiction, wouldn't you at least consider that it had a single, unifying, inspiring Mind behind it?

3. Corroboration (verification). If you read a book that presents thousands of historical details about towns, cities, people, rulers, and events, multiplied hundreds of which have been verified by archeological science, would you not begin to trust in its integrity?

And if you read the message of the Bible--what it says about God, about human nature, about sin, about life, about history, about death--and then see that all of these are corroborated both by nature and human experience, would you not think that this is more than coincidence?

What nature reveals about the Creator--that He is powerful, intelligent, wise, loving and yes, even angry-- and what Scripture reveals about that Creator are in perfect harmony. This fact drives me to believe that that God is real, and that the Bible is His Word.

4. Incarnation. If abundant historical evidence exists that Someone once lived who did amazing things like healing the sick and raising the dead (including himself), who even claimed to be God in the flesh, wouldn't you pay attention to His words? And if this Man claims that the Bible is God's Word, wouldn't you find that good reason to believe that it is?

That Jesus worked miracles and did wondrous things, including predicting and causing His own resurrection is one of the more verifiable claims of ancient history. So when He as the most authenticated miracle-worker and most celebrated teacher of all time claims that the Bible is the inspired, infallible, authoritative Word of God,that's good enough for me. I love Andy Stanley's take on it:

"My high school teacher once told me that much in Genesis is false. But since my high school teacher did not prove that he was God by rising from the dead, I'm going to believe Jesus instead." (Cited by Geisler and Turek in I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be An Atheist)

5. Self-authentication. And finally if you read a book that is simply alive and powerful, that by its own truth, beauty, and glory has changed everything about you and not only you but countless millions of others like you, would you not credit it with being something more than human?

This is what I mean by self-authentication. The Bible proves itself by it's own inherent worth, beauty, and power. It's like the sun. No one has to argue that the sun is bright; all they have to do is see it and its effects. So it is with the Bible, once it is read and learned in truth. It proves its own Divine origin. It is simply too powerful, too beautiful, too intrinisically good to be anything other than Divine.

Based on these facts, God has convinced me that He has spoken, and that the Bible is His final Word. In doing that, He also has set the direction of my life. Once I knew that God has spoken and that the Bible is His final Word, all I've been able to do ever since is approach the Bible echoing the boy Samuel: "Speak Lord, your servant is listening."

How about you?

Tuning in to Hear God's Word

My dear friend Steve Cassarino gave our church an exceptionally powerful and important word yesterday, preaching about the right hearing of the Word of God.

As I have long reflected on the right preaching and hearing of God's Word I have learned that while the preacher's study, life, and presentation are all very important, at least equally important is the life and present tense heart condition of the hearer. The hearer has to be spiritually tuned in.

The hearer of the Word must be as spiritually prepared and diligent in the experience of preaching as is the preacher of the Word. This is clearly the implication of James 1:19-25; Luke 8:11-21 and other texts.

This biblical perspective is supported by a report from the well-known preacher, Dr. David Jeremiah. As I heard the story, years ago Dr. Jeremiah had a battle with cancer. During his treatments he took his radio program off the air. Once his treatments were over he returned to the air and the public tuned in and was blessed again.

Only now the blessing seemed to be increased. Soon he began to receive many letters thanking him for his preaching and commenting on how his preaching had a distinctly different quality about it since his bout with cancer. I'm guessing that people felt it was more sensitive, more pastoral, more effective--perhaps because it was coming to them now from a man who had been through the fires of affliction. People were very grateful for the marked growth of effectiveness in his post-cancer radio ministry.

But here's the deal: the post-cancer radio ministry was nothing more than recorded messages of Dr. Jeremiah's pre-cancer preaching! He hadn't broadcasted any of his post-cancer sermons yet. Think about that. What it means is that the post-cancer hearers were the ones who had changed, not Dr. Jeremiah.

They were the same people listening to the same preacher, but their hearts had changed toward the preacher. His preaching was the same, but their listening wasn't. They thought they were listening to a cancer victim. They thought they were listening to a man made humble and sensitive by affliction. And as a result they were the ones who had changed. They were more open, more humble, more receptive, more inclined to listen, less inclined to find fault. And as a result, the Word came with greater power and effect to their lives.

This explains the experience I have had more times than can be counted, when people have responded in completely opposite ways to the very same sermon that I have preached. Of course I realize that the effect of preaching is a matter of the Sovereign Spirit blowing where He will and God giving the increase (John 3:8; 1 Corinthians 3:6). And I realize that God is omnipotent in grace so that He can transform a heart through preaching.

But the Bible is also clear that the effect of preaching is often determined by the heart condition of the hearer. This is why one is unmoved by a sermon while another is profoundly changed. One feels a sermon to be hard or harsh while another finds it sweet. One finds it heart-breaking while another finds it soul-thrilling. One is exhilerated while another is bored to tears. It's all about the condition of the hearer's heart.

Unless the Spirit works in ways to overcome the condition of the heart (and praise be to God that He often does!), whatever the heart condition going into the hearing the Word will affect the heart condition and reponse once the Word has been heard. The effect of the Word is more about having good reception than it is about making a good presentation.

So it's important that we think even more about how to prepare to rightly hear the Word. Over the next few days I think we'll explore this vital component of Christian growth in grace.

I hope you'll tune in.

Charitable Judgments and Embarrassment Countdown (4)

Matthew 7:1-5 comes to mind as I think about the final embarrassing moment I'm going to share in this series. Be careful how you judge others. Notice that Jesus does not prohibit all judging in the text. He just forbids wrong judging; judging that overlooks sins (and what may well be worse sins) in self, while glaring at the perceived sins in others. Romans 2:1, 2 issues a similar warning.

I have had a history of self-righteous anger toward those whose cell phones go off at inappropriate times--like when I'm preaching for example. How inconsiderate can people be! Mind-boggling thoughtlessness!

But let me tell you a story. The occasion was the memorial service for my dear father. What can I say about my dad? A soldier who loved his country. A first generation Christian who became a faithful husband for 55+ years until death took him home. At enormous sacrifice dad served in missionary and pastoral work for 55+ years, until strength could carry him no longer. He raised six children, had 32 grandchildren, and touched the lives of many hundreds and thousands through his life, and ministry, and family.

And dad and mom asked me to lead the memorial service for this great and beloved man. What an honor! What a joy! What a sacred and holy privilege!

There was one point during the service that was particularly moving. One of my nephews, dressed in his Marine finest and with taps playing, solemnly marched up the aisle with a folded flag in arm, saluted in my dad's honor, laid the flag beside my dad's picture, and then turned to salute my mom in honor for both of his grandparents. No dry eyes. Mine fill up even as I type.

But right in the middle of it, an unexpected sound suddenly blared; a cell phone. And what do you think my dismay when I realized that it was mine, in my pocket, with me standing up on the platform, leading my father's memorial service?

Of all the thoughtless, stupid, careless, insensitive things one can do with a cell phone--I'd done it! My own dad's funeral, with me leading a most sacred and solemn event, and I forget to turn off my cell phone. I was mortified.

Later as I recovered from my embarrassment and reflected on the moment, I thought of something. I remembered how many times I'd judged others for their cell-phone insensitiviy, and I realized that I had just been guilty of the worst form of it.

I realized then that my judgment of others was really nothing more than self-righteousness ("I would never be so careless"), arrogance ("I'm smart enough to always remember to turn off my cell phone."), and a lack of grace and love ("That person's cell phone blunder makes me mad!").

From then on, whenever a cell phone goes off at unfortuante moments, I remember my blunder, and I try to move immediately into grace mode. It helps in forming charitable judgments toward others to keep in mind that each of us either has done or would have done (were it not for God's restraining grace)every sin imaginable that others might be committing.

Something to think about and then factor in the next time your judgment juices begin to flow.

Forgiveness: Lessons from a Five Year Old

It appears that readers may want to know about the incident my dear wife alluded to in yesterday's comments.

This is one of my favorite David stories because of what it says about him. He was five at the time. It was a Saturday morning and like most Saturdays in the Shorey household, one full of life, appointments, church events, and family. Gayline was heading out early to an evangelism event, and I was left at home to fulfill appointments on the home front; a bit of an unusual reversal of the normal pattern. The kids still at home at the time had either gone with Gayline (so I vaguely sensed) or had gone off to work.

A 7:30AM appointment called at about 7:20 and told me he couldn't come to the house but would I meet him at Friendly's. In the rush of the moment, and with that vague sense that the house was empty, I said sure. A third party came to pick me up and we hurried out the door to meet for breakfast.

An hour and a half later as my ride is driving me home I gasped in a horrified moment of memory clarity: my five year old son was home alone! My vague sense that the house was empty when I left was terribly mistaken! I'd forgotten that Gayline had not taken David with her on this occasion--and all the others were in fact gone from home.

I cell phoned the house deperately hoping that David wouldn't answer--which would give me hope that he was still asleep and oblivious to his aloneness. But no, on the third or fourth ring, he answered the phone with somewhat pitiful voice. I asked him if he was alone and he said yes--and my grief and guilt overwhelmed!

I talked to him all the way home and then ran into the house to grab hold of him and smother him with hugs and dozens of repeated pleas for him to forgive me for what I had done, drowning him all the while in my many tears. He said he really was ok. Trouble was: I wasn't.

That evening as we shared a meal with friends, I rehearsed what had happened, expressing again how sorry I was. After several minutes of reflection, I heard David begin to speak. Here's what he said: "My dad kept saying he was sorry and he kept asking me forgiveness, saying it was his fault. But I'd like to think that it wasn't really anyone's fault. It just happened."

I'm not lying. That was what my five year old said, and pretty much verbatim how he said it. What grace! What charitable judgment! What kindness!

I wept again. He was ok--and now because of his words--to a large degree, I was ok too.

I'm not sure how a five year old manages to show such grace, but I'm sure of this: I'm a debtor to grace--God's, my wife's, my kids, and everyone else's that I know and have sinned against.

Long before David had any real and deep sense of how much grace he has received from God through Christ, he showed grace to his dad. How much more should all of us who have received "grace unmeasured, boundless, free", show it to others?

Lessons from a five year old.

The One Who Doesn't Forget and Embarrassment Countdown (3)

In the embarrassment countdown series I started last week, which I'm going to shorten to four instead of five (not because I'm trying to spare my ego, but because other topics press in), I'd have to list as one of my more embarrassing moments one that I've actually had a few times. I refer to the times--yes there have been more than one--when I have forgotten my children, and left them behind.

As a parent, this is almost as embarrassing, not to say horrifying, as it gets. But what can I say. There was the time Gayline and I left a meeting at church and drove all the way home (at the time a ten mile drive) before we remembered that we'd left Alina in child care. Try to explain that as a pastor to a child care worker! And there was the time I left Elliot behind at a basketball game I was coaching for his older brother. There were other times too, but I'd like to suppress at least some of this if you don't mind.

My children seem to have survived these episodes without permanent psychological damage, but I'm not sure I have! Man, such moments are humbling and guilt producing!

O to grace (God's and my kids') how great a debtor!

Aren't you glad God doesn't forget His children. Here's what He doesn't forget:
1. His covenant promises (Genesis 9:15, 16; Exodus 6:5; Titus 1:2).
2. His children's whereabouts (Psalm 139:1-18) and perils (Numbers 10:9).
3. His Son's work in our behalf (this is what the Bible doctrine of the intercession of Christ as our Mediator is all about; Christ's presence before the Father reminds the Father of the sacrifice He offered for our sins).
4. His children's deeds of service (Hebrews 6:10; "overlook" is translated "forget" in another translation; Nehemiah 13:14, 22, 31).
5. His children's needs (Matthew 6:31, 32).
6. His children's frailty (Psalm 103:14).
7. His mercy and love (Psalm 25:6).

O I should mention that there is one thing that God does forget: our sins (Jeremiah 31:33, 34; Hebrews 8:12; 10:17; Psalm 25:7; Isaiah 64:9). God simply refuses to hold our sins against us. He treats us as if we've never sinned.

But everything else is on His mind all the time, for our good. So the next tme you forget your kid somewhere (if you ever could do such a horrifying thing!), or simply forget something else that your children need, pause and say a huge thank you to the Father who never forgets.

And love Him all the more.

Initiative and Intentionality

Someone asked me recently for more blogged thoughts on husband leadership in the home.

It occurs to me that while PEGI (see yesterday's reading) is for everyone to pursue, anyone in leadership must pursue it. That means husbands, dads, pastors, care group leaders, moms, children's ministry workers--everyone who leads anyone needs PEGI in their lives.

And as I said yesterday, PEGI begins with being proactive: a "commitment to foresee problems and possibilities and to take initiative to address them with energy."

I don't go a week in my life without applying John Piper's definition of leadership to my varying roles:

"Spiritual leadership is knowing where God wants people to be and taking the initiative to get them there by God's means in reliance on God's power."

This morning--which happens to be my day off--I've been reviewing my leadership roles. This is a common Monday morning exercise for me; it's when I review what needs my followers have, and what I need to do for them and with them the coming week.

Today I've been thinking about one person I'm called to lead: my 13 year old son. He's half way through the eighth grade, which means we have 3 1/2 years of homeschooling left. We've got a 3 1/2 year window of opportunity to build into his life and his mind as many good things as we can.

In evaluating this today, Gayline and I sensed that we have some hard work to do to seize the moment for David. We have to plan, to reorient life a bit, to schedule more time for me to be with him to inspire the young man to nourish not only his body (which he's really good at), but also his mind (which he's not so good at).

So today, we talked over the first steps of a plan, a schedule, an approach (all of which, hopefully, are consistent with "God's means"). We now will continue to pray over it (that's showing our "reliance on God's power"). Next we have to take initiative to get it done (that's leadership).

In fact that's life. Almost nothing good ever happens without this kind of initiatve and intentionality.

All of us lead at least someone. I know some people who don't like the words initiative and intentionality. But folks you're not going to lead that one or two or ten or one hundred people you're called to lead unless you take time to think about what they need and how to serve them better to help them "get to where God wants them to be".

So whoever you are, you need to identify those whom God has called you to serve through leadership. Then think about what they need and take steps to get it done.

And then watch God give you power and grace to lead and live better than you imagined possible!

Pursuing PEGI

This morning I spoke about four principles of Christian service which the Bible is pretty clear about (1 Peter 4:7-11), but too often I (we?) fall short in. I borrowed someone else's acrostic to hook these in people's minds:

P-roactivity: a commitment to foresee problems and possibilities, and to take intitiative as good stewards of God's gifts to address them with energy.
E-xcellence: a commitment to serve in all we do with the highest quality and skill which our available resources of time, energy, and money will allow.
G-ratitude: a commitment to serve with a spirit of thankfulness: to God for His abounding grace in our lives; to others for how they serve the church; to others for the privilege we have in serving them.
I-ntegrity: a commitment to keep the serving promises we make, to fulfill all our responsibilities with persevering grace, to be dependable in all ways.

If you'd like a more complete look at the PEGI way of life, click to listen and learn.

Now I should warn you that pursuing PEGI will require a lot of discernment and wisdom. Since PEGI isn't for slackers, and cannot be applied evenly to every single role and responsibility we have, we need to pick our involvements and set our priorities carefully.

Here are a few rules of thumb:
1. Don't overcommit. While many Christians need to be involved in more ministry, some need to be involved in less. People spread too thin cannot practice PEGI well. Learn to say "no". (Caveat: Don't be too quick to say "no" just because a commitment involves challenge and sacrifice. If your commitments to Christ in His church are not involving great sacrifice, you're shortchanging His call on your life. My point is: just be ready to say "no" if your present level of sacrifice will preclude you from applying PEGI in any kind of meaningful way, to an additional responsibility.)

2. Ask your spouse, parents, care group leader, pastor, trusted mature Christian advisor for input on whether you should take on another ministry. TFC pastors have often challenged people to do less, so that they might avoid family or personal burn-out, and so that they might do what they do, better.

3. Once you've settled on your role (having received input from spiritual leaders)sit down with the PEGI principles in hand and go to work on applying them. Check out the evaluation and application questions we've provided and start pursuing PEGI today. Remember the very essence of PEGI-guided ministry begins with being proactive. That means you have to initiate, and take action. Do something today that applies PEGI today to the responsibilities you have today.

And remember as you do, that you can only pursue PEGI by the strength which God supplies. That way, when you capture her you'll make sure to give Him all the glory (1 Peter 4:7-11)!

Any comments or questions?