Sovereign Grace Ministries Mission Month at TFC

October is Sovereign Grace Ministries' (SGM) mission month. During the month in our church we will be viewing a series of short videos highlighting the mission of SGM in which our church shares. On October 25th we will be receiving a special offering to give to SGM to help our family of churches extend its gospel reach even further into the world.

To help us grasp the reasons why all of those connected to Trinity Fellowship Church should rejoice in SGM, and want to support it with all our might (and much of our money) I want to take a month of blog posts (or at least quite a few days) to share the blessings our church has gained in the past four years since we were adopted into this family of about 70 churches in this country and around the world.

I'm going to share excerpts from a public word of gratitude that I was privileged to give at a recent SGM pastors event. In doing this I hope to do a couple of things: boast in the kind grace of God in our church's life and give honor and gratitude to whom honor is due! Here's how my testimony began:

It is a huge pleasure to be able to share what becoming a part of the Sovereign Grace family has meant to my wife, Gayline, to my church family, and to me. I should probably give a bit of history first. I’ve been pastoring for nearly 27 years, with 24 of those years being in an independent, unsupported and unaccountable local church work.

I was blessed with very good and wonderful men at my side, guys whose life, character and leadership were (and still are) of immense personal value to me, and of priceless pastoral value to the church in which I serve. Without Tim, Bruce, Steve, and Scott, all members of TFC pastoral team during the years, I would have crashed and burned years ago. Whatever current and future blessing God may have in store for me in the ministry entrusted to me, I have determined never to forget or let others forget the role these guys have had in my life. I thank God for who they are and what they mean to me.

But I also know that while God was kind to keep me going for around 25 years of ministry with these guys as a primary means of persevering grace for me, I could not envision 25 more years without their continuing care, and without something even more by way of oversight and care going on in my life. I knew the spiritual challenges of pastoral ministry enough, as well as the leadership challenges of a growing church, to know that for me to be faithful to the end of my days I was going to need increased grace from God through a widening circle of care and accountability.

About a dozen years ago those of us in leadership at Trinity began a theological journey in new directions. We’d always been Reformed in our theology, being strongly committed to the doctrines of grace and the God-centered and God-entranced worship they produce. But we were also—to put it mildly—rather vocal, dogmatic, and deeply entrenched cessationists, being convinced for years that there were certain of the spiritual gifts talked about in the New Testament that had ceased. Our theological journey was from cessationism into continuationism, a journey now quite complete (for a statement of the reasons why we took this journey into a more complete embrace of all the spiritual gifts the reader can go to the TFC website and under "Resources" read the Cardiphonia paper about "Continuationism").

This journey was not without difficulty, especially as we were called to lead our people through a transition into a real openness and delight in things we once disbelieved, doubted, and even denounced. It was back in 1998 or 99, as we were shifting directions that we came upon Sovereign Grace in a way most unexpected. Someone...gave us a tape of SGM (then PDI) music, Love beyond Degree, on the back of which were written these significant words: “PDI is essentially reformed with a significant charismatic dimension”...

[T]hose words hit us with a certain measure of pleasant shock, for they reminded us of us—and we had yet to meet anyone quite like us! We had felt oddly different with our perspectives and it was reassuring to know that there were at least a few other unusual (shall I say, weird) ones around. We were amazed at what God had led us to stumble upon!

To abbreviate a story exciting to us but probably tedious for some, let me just say that we initiated conversations with SGM guys—mostly my wonderful friends Warren Boettcher and Dave Harvey--asking them for all the help they could give in guiding us during our transition into a biblical pursuit of the gifts in church life.

We had no thoughts initially of joining with Sovereign Grace, but as they overwhelmed us with their friendship, aid and wisdom, it wasn’t too long before we knew—at least as leaders—that we would love to be a part of this family. It became clear to us that their convictions and values were the same as ours.

The conversations developed into a kind of foster kid relationship with Sovereign Grace, with SGM allowing us to crash all their family parties, and go to nearly everything they were doing. Things then moved—in a process lasting 2-3 years—to full adoption, a relationship that was formalized in August of 2005 and which we now cherish beyond words.

More to come...

51 Years Old

On Thursday I'll be 51 years old. This age thing is happening and there's nothing I can do about it except enjoy the ride, be grateful for God's persevering grace, and, forgetting what lies behind press on for the prize!

The fun thing is that Gayline and I have the same birthday which makes Thursday something of a marriage holiday for us. So my dear wife of 31+ years and I are heading out of town for a few days of togetherness, just the two of us. I get to spend my birthday with my absolutely most favorite person on earth. Pretty cool.

Pray for me that in the middle of all that happens in the life of a church and the outreach of the gospel, that I will never lose sight of this point that I often make: God's glory in the church is God's greatest delight on earth which tells me that since I am to be like God--His glory in the church should be my greatest delight too.

And the part of the church in which I am most responsible to pursue His glory is my family--my wife and my children and grand-children.

The same is true for every married person.

Let us never forget the high priority of the church, and let us make sure to nurture and care for the church in our homes before we go venturing out too far and long nurturing the church outside. Otherwise we might gain some souls but lose those most entrusted to our care. That's part of the reason Gayline and are going away for a few days.

The other part is because I simply love my wife and love being with her.

Be Reasonable!

"There are only two classes of persons who can be called reasonable: those who serve God with all their hearts because they know him and those who seek him with all their hearts because they do not know him." (Blaise Pascal)

Sunday morning's preaching-- along with the opening video from John Piper, were strong reminders that unless I, like St. Paul, consider all that seems worthy in my life no more valuable than one big pile of stinking waste (next to knowing Jesus Christ), I cannot hope to live this life in a meaningful and rational way. My profession of faith, and my life, will not match.

I am forced to confront myself again with the question: "Do I know Jesus Christ, or do I only know about him? Do I cling to him as my only worthy possession? Or, are there still a number of "Christ substitutes" in my life that diminish my view of HIM. Do my words and actions indicate that he is supremely important in my life?

Thank you Tim, for putting the question before me again: Why do I still live for the moment, when eternity is before me? Why do I cave in to the crazy and insane ways of this world?

I need to get down to business and decide: will I live rationally, or will I continue making unreasonable and irrational compromises?

Do I know Christ (as St. Paul knew him), or do I know about him only? On the day of judgment many who thought they knew Jesus Christ will say: "But I know you Jesus!" And he will reply: "Depart from me, I never knew you."

Brothers and sisters, we'd best take yesterday's preaching seriously... the consequences of missing the point can be eternal.

Vehement Longings for God and Godliness

Some thoughts on the sweetness and joy of the pursuit of holiness from Jonathan Edwards and Sam Storms, and its absolute Biblical necessity:

Edwards spoke of "vehement longings of soul after God and Christ, and after more holiness." What is your reaction on hearing the word "holiness"? Is its sound sweet and precious to you? Or does it conjure up images of a stern and inflexible God and a strict and joyless life?

Jonathan Edwards' perspective on holiness is stunning. It shouldn't be. It says something about how far removed we are from the Biblical vision of holiness that we are surprised by his comments, that we find then so rare and unique and refreshing. Like the psalmist, he cherished the laws and precepts and commandments of God more than silver or gold (see Psalm 119). He speaks of a "longing" and "eager thirsting" and "earnest pressing after" the "blessed rules of the gospel."

Why do we find it odd that someone would feel such passion for authentic holiness? Edwards spoke of continual self-examination and "diligence" and "earnestness" in the pursuit of a holiness that he envisioned as "ravishingly lovely" and "amiable." Why? For one simple reason: he knew that God would never command or require anything that was harmful to his children. He knew that God's rules were the expression of a heart that sought nothing but good for those who fear him.

God's aim in all his commandments is our joy in Jesus. He prohibits nothing except what tends to diminish that joy. Biblical laws and requirements and warnings exist solely to protect us from what will ultimately undermine our satisfaction in God's Son. They have been given not to deprive us of joy but to deepen it, not to inhibit our souls from experiencing eternal pleasures but to intensify and expand our capacity to see and taste and feel and sense the beauty and splendor of Jesus" (Signs of the Spirit: An Interpretation of Jonathan Edwards' Religious Affections, Sam Storms, Crossway Books, 2007, pgs. 174-175).

"Strive for... the holiness without which no one will see the Lord" (Heb. 12:14).

Grieving Sons and A Word to Moms

This week I attended the funeral service of a mom of one of my good friends, John. I could feel his grief. This Wednesday I sat with my dear friend Tim as he wept over the dramatic "turn for the worse" in his mother's life. On December 1, I'll mark the third anniversary of my mother's death; an event I cannot give more than a few seconds thought to without filling up with tears.

Three men, all in the 50-60 age range, each weeping with deep affection for his mom. Note that: all in the 50-60 range. These are not boys, not mere children mourning the loss of their tender, affectionate, providing, nurturing, safety assuring moms. These are men who are themselves growing old, who in their advancing years are feeling the profound loss of their mothers. They are in some measure feeling orphaned in their 50's.

I think there is a deep and affecting word here to all moms. Consider this reality: these three men have families of their own; each with good marriages, each with multiple children, a couple with grand-children, each with God-blessed work and ministry, each with dear and cherished friendships. But each mourns the loss of mom with a grief beyond words.

What does this suggest about motherhood? It says that this distinct and noble role is unique in its honor and impact and worth. I cannot prove this for sure, but I'd offer it as a pretty strong theory: of all the griefs of life, the loss of mom would be for most people one of the very greatest griefs there is. I know that many have had moms who were not great moms, and so they may not have grieved much when their moms died. But I would guess that if they did not grieve much when their moms died it was because they had already grieved the loss of their mom much while she was still alive, but living distant and disengaged from their lives. I would suggest that the loss of mom--either through death or through mom's neglect and cruel abuse while still alive--is a grief for which humans shed more tears than perhaps any other.

You see dear mothers: there is simply no one like you. No one. Yours is a calling that is unsurpassed in its impact and worth and dignity. Perhaps this is what Paul meant in 1 Timothy 2:15 when he says that a woman will be saved through child-raising. He obviously does not mean that they will be saved from their sins or justified in God's sight by having and raising kids. What he must mean is something more like: she will be saved from second-rate status or meaninglessness or any sense of inferioirty or some other form of prejudice or dishonor that is all to common in a fallen world--and delivered up into one of the highest callings imaginable. A woman gets to bear and nurture and raise and feed love, nourishment, affection and the never-dying influence of her soul into sons and daughters who will rise up to call her blessed, and weep unmatched tears when she is gone.

There is simply no one like mom. No one. This is not to say that us men have no dignity or that women who are unmarried or are childless (despite their best efforts otherwise) somehow are inferior. No, God has His ways of calling all of us to the bearing and raising of children of another sort--spiritual children whom we give birth to through witness, and nurture through care.

But this is to say, that in a certain way, there is no one like mom. No one.

You moms have a calling that is as sacred as any other, and even more beloved. Never buy into the world's insanity that defames motherhood or denigrates the bearing and raising of children. The high-powered female CEO who chooses career over children may make lots of money and wield lots of power, but she will have no one like Tim or John or me who will mourn her passing with the tears of a child.

The CEO may move companies, but mom moves hearts. Tell me which is of greater worth.

There is simply no one like mom. Not one.

Keeping Focus

Well friends; I've been blog quiet for a few days. Strange how life can pull you along at times, being full of this and that, hardly giving one time to pause and think beyond the immediate pressing need to consider other things.

In recent days my life has included caring for the grieving, the diseased, the sin-wearied, the worn out parent. I've had to comfort the repentant and confront the resistant.

Time had been needed to plan, to prepare for pastoral care, to study, to teach, to preach, to visit, to email, to phone call, to pray.

There has been need for me to be a parent, a grand-parent, a pastor and leader of pastors, a mediator, an organizer, a motivator, a witness.

I've had to fix screens, clean yards, build woodsheds, collect firewood, mend fences (on which big branches have fallen), be a husband.

Pipes have broken, cars have clunked.

I've even spent time (hopefully in ways pleasing to God and in no way trusting in self or money) financial planning (that's ironic in light of the recent posts and comments; by the way--while one may not agree with every conclusion others have drawn in these discussions, one can and should learn from the others and see the very important truth that each has brought to the table).

Please know why I share all of this. It is not so you will feel pity for me or marvel over how busy or full my life is. Why should you? Yours is full too!

My point is that life is full for all of us, and in the middle of it we have to commit to a couple of things:
1. We must commit to pursue only what is most needful, refusing to be caught up in matters that have no abiding relevance or worth. Folks, my biblical call and commitment for years has been to be in the constant pursuit of less; to be relentlessly in the hunt for simplicity. If we do so we will be able to keep our balance even when the pace picks up as it inevitably will.
2. We must make sure in the midst of all we need to do to do that which is most needful--be with God. Keep your focus. Practice the RMMR plan that we are aiming at in our care groups this year (see the TFC website for more on that). Read. Meditate. Memorize. Repeat. And do it all with one single passion: to know more of God and of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Keep first things first.
3. Remember, only God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omni-competent. He alone can do all things; He alone knows all things; He alone has competence to get everything done that is on His task list. Neither you nor I is God. Rest easy when the list is longer at the end of the day than it was at the start. Only God gets everything done that He wants done. The rest of us do our best and then leave it with Him to cover for our deficiencies.

Just a few musings for us for what will probably be another busy day, musings that I hope will help us avoid finding our busyness turning to stress and distraction.

Go with God and know His grace.

Pensees

Pastor Tim began a discussion last week by writing a thoughtful piece on the pros and cons of insurance, and by asking us: "What do you think?" I wonder if he figured so many of us would have so much to say on the subject!

Later in the string of comments, Bruce challenged me to go back and re-read some of Tim's thoughts, asking again, "what do you think?" Bruce wondered if perhaps I was being selective in my use of scripture. It's a fair question.

And so, I have been mulling things over these last few days.

To try and tie all of my thoughts together would not be practical. So, can I give them to you without tying them together? Pascal collected his thoughts on scraps of paper, and later compiled "Pensees." (Thoughts)

Read as many or as few as you wish (it may get long!) This evening's exercise may be mostly for my sake-- to collect my thoughts and put them down on "paper." Many of them relate to how I have come to view the subject of money (and, I suppose by association, insurance).

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My wife has faith that her 9 children will not let her beg for bread if something happens to me. But there was a previous faith at work (in having the 9 children) which makes this present faith about her future security reasonable. Faith, is seems breeds more faith. (excuse the pun!)

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Widows, in scripture, are to be cared for by children and other family, or, if no family is available, by the body of Christ. Jesus is hard on the Pharisees for saying "Corban." They had rejected the law "honor your father and your mother" by allocating their monies in some other direction.

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How did Jesus feel about money? It's interesting, when it came time to pick one of the disciples to carry the purse, he chose the only thief in the group.

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When Jesus told Judas "what you do, do quickly." The others figured it was either to buy some immediate provisions, or to give something to the poor. A good insight into our Lord's use of money.

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Why do the scriptures contrast God and Mammon? Is it because money can be to us everything that God waits to be to us? Money can (seem to) provide: Comfort, pleasure, hope, security, confidence, and a future. How easy to transfer one's trust from what is not seen to what can be seen and handled, and counted! The rich fool of Jesus' parable discovered too late that he had misplaced his hope... "and so is everyone who lays up treasure for himslef, and is not rich toward God."

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World Magazine had a long running add that I found disturbing and inconsistent for a Christian based publication. The ad ran like this: "END WIDOW WORRY." How? By meditating on 1 Peter 5:7 "Casting all your care on Him, for He careth for you"? NO... no such suggestion was made. Instead, the ad went on, "widow worry" could be ended by paying $36.54 each month. And, if you weren't sold on the wisdom of this suggestion, then you were worse than an infidel!

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Forgive me, but can't help but wonder... How many times has "widow worry" been turned into "widow aspiration" when once the policy is in hand? The human heart is desperately wicked... a relationship begins to go sour... suddenly that half a million seems more attractive than the one who is currently bringing home the bacon and arguing with you every night? God forbid.

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An insurance policy can be used as a means to hoard one's possessions. The lack of a policy may be an excuse to waste even more of one's resources. In his "Divine Comedy: The Inferno" Dante places the hoarders and the wasters together in the 7th Circle of Hell. Some in that dreadful circle will have had insurance policies, and others will not have had them. And in heaven, some will have had insurance policies, and others will not have had them. As a very wise pastor recently pointed out in one of his blogs... it's a matter of the heart!

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Abraham passed up a fortune when he returned all of the plundered goods back to the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah. One may wonder: Did he have any second thoughts that evening? But then God speaks: "Abraham, I am your shield and your exceeding great reward." And so it is today, there is no reward, experience, or possession that is more worth having (or securing) than God Himself!

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One of the things said of the saints in Revelation (12) is that "they did not love their lives unto death." How does one live who is not afraid to die? What does a man or woman look like in this world who loves God more than life itself? What kinds of things does that man or woman spend money on? What kinds of things do they refuse to spend money on?

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"Seek first the kindgom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you." "I have never seen the seed of the righteous begging bread." It would seem that righteouness is perhaps the best "insurance policy" available! But it can't be purchased...

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I've already mentioned this, but... Jesus across the table from a financial planner? Yes, I know, it's a little unfair to invoke the image. But there is some humor, and some truth to be had in it. I guess if you can take 5 loaves and 2 fish, and turn them into enough food to feed 5,000 there isn't much the man in the suit and tie can sell you to help make your future secure. Well, last I knew, Jesus is still able to do that kind of thing!

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God is forever challenging the things we try to put our security in! Be it Gideon, who would have preferred 20,000 to 300; or the rich young ruler who really did want God, but couldn't open his hand and let his earthly possessions go. What am I holding on to? Watch out... God may ask me to let it go before I can see a victory (like Gideon), or possess treasure in heaven!

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One of the pastors, in his sermon today said "True faith in Christ will involve suffering." Why do we take so many measures then, to protect ourselves from suffering?

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God's people Israel, were judged for "walking in the customs of the nations whom the Lord drove out before them." I would think that whatever the custom of the secular culture surrounding us is, it ought to be looked at with some suspicion. Those who don't know God, don't trust God, don't look to God, have a way of securing their future. Is it the same way we ought to secure ours? Perhaps so... perhaps not. It may be neutral, in which case we are left to consider and decide before God what is the best course. But it should be examined in the light of Scripture. (Which, by the way, is what we are doing together.)

These, then, are some of my Pensees. (Where's JR!)

PETROS

The Book That Understands Me - Episode 2

In my previous post a week ago I shared with you part 1 of the story of Emile Cailliet, who searched and searched to no avail to find "the book that understands me." It is an amazing and wonderful and moving illustration of the supernatural nature of the Bible as the living and active word of God. And it is a wonderful story of a man--an unbelieving skeptic of the Christian faith--who, unbeknownst to him was being pursued by the gracious God of heaven for a rendezvous to meet Him in His word. I would encourage you to go back and re-read episode 1 to refresh your memory so that you may feel the full force of the power of God's word in this man's life. As I expressed previously, when I first read this I was moved to tears--literally.

Here is episode 2:

At that very moment his wife (who knew nothing of the project) came by with an interesting story. She had been walking in their tiny French village that afternoon and had stumbled upon a small Huguenot chapel. She had never seen it before, but she had gone in and had asked for a Bible, much to her own surprise. The elderly pastor had given her one. She began apologizing to her husband, for she knew his feelings about the Christian faith. But he was not listening to her apology. "A Bible, you say? Where is it? Show me," he said. "I have never seen one before." When she produced it he rushed to his study and began to read. In his own words,

I opened it and "chanced" upon the Beatitudes! I read, and read, and read--now aloud with an indescribable warmth surging within... I could not find words to express my awe and wonder. And suddenly the realization dawned upon me: This was the Book that would understand me! I needed it so much, yet, unaware, I had attempted to write my own--in vain. I continued to read deeply into the night, mostly from the gospels. And lo and behold, as I looked through them, the One of whom they spoke, the One who spoke and acted in them, became alive to me. This vivid experience marked the beginning of my understanding of prayer. It also proved to be my initiation to the notion of Presence which later would prove so crucial in my theological thinking.

The providential circumstances amid which the Book had found me now made it clear that while it seemed absurd to speak of a book understanding a man, this could be said of the Bible because its pages were animated by the Presence of the Living God and the Power of His mighty acts. To this God I prayed that night, and the God who answered was the same God of whom it was spoken in the Book (Foundations of the Christian Faith, by James Montgomery Boice, Inter Varsity Press, 1986, pg. 51).

Thank you, O God, You who are really there and are not silent, but who has truly spoken and continues to speak to us in the Bible, Your written voice. Thank you for that Sacred Word, which is "living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart" (Heb. 4:12). Thank you for the Book that understands me.

The Singing God

You may still be interested in the long and involved conversation that's gone on the past couple of days, so feel free to continue it.

But I want to send you a short word from my place of retreat. I read Sam Storms' book, The Singing God, today. And I want to let you all know that it's a rich and worthy read.

It connects to recent posts on joy, and is a valuable and affecting follow up. I heartily recommend getting it and reading. Find a quiet place where you can read and pause and express your affections and emotions and joy and wonder to God in response to what you read.

Expect to worship and weep.

Insurance: Responsible Stewardship or Reckless Gambling

Hello all. This will be my last post of the week as I retreat this evening to a secluded place for a couple of days of pastoral reflection, prayer, and planning.

Before I go, I want to pick up briefly on the thoughtful questions offered by you guys in commenting on my post yesterday. What are we to make of buying insurance? Is it a gamble or an act of love and stewardship? Not an easy question. I don't pretend to have complete or well-thought out answers. These are quick off the top of the head reflections thrown in your direction for a kind of group conversation. I'll be interested to hear from you all on it.

In favor of insurance I think some would argue that it is in line with biblcal commands to be like the ant, "storing up food in summer for the winter season" (Proverbs 6:6), and that it is a legitimate application of the call for parents to save up for children (2 Corinthians 12:14).

Some would argue that insurance is responsible planning for future needs. It could also be argued that house insurance or life insurance is similar to a poor man's means of providing an inheritance for his wife and children, if he should die prematurely.

Also in favor of insurance is the argument that those who do not have it may perhaps unwittingly, be assuming (some would think presuming) that others will foot the bill when need arises. If I do not have life insurance, who will provide for my family? Someone will have to. Insurance is a way for me to contribute to that now. If I don't have insurance for my home then who will foot the bill when a tornado hits? Someone always has to provide the money for everything. Is insurance a way for me to at least try to contribute my fair share in that responsibi;ity? Is insurance, in this light, a form of love for others who would otherwise have to pick up the pieces of my or my family's need?

Against the idea of insurance is that it leads away from daily reliance on God, and may violate the Matthew 6:25-34 call to be concerned with today only and to leave tomorrow to God. But is Jesus really prohibiting such things as planning for the future? Proverbs 6:6 and James 4:13-16 would both seem to encourage faith-based and God-submitted planning for the future.

Still, it is clearly a danger that people can put way too much focus on the future and become obsessed with their accounts, insurance policies and savings. In the end too much concern about this leads to a reliance on money, not on God; something God specifically forbids in 1 Timothy 6:17. Money-trust may well be the very essence of materialism.

Some would also say that present tense needs in the kingdom are often neglected because people are saving up for the future. I certainly have seen this on more than one occasion. This does seem to be a very real concern for Jesus since in MAtthew 6:33 He urges concern for the kingdom first and for future needs second.

This is a tough set of principles to balance. What do you think?

Joyful Austerity Report

I think at least a couple of you have wondered how my August joyful austerity experiment went (see my June 6 and August 4 posts). For those who don't know I went a month trying to live at a standard of living as close to need only as I could get. This involved bare necessity regarding food, lukewarm showers that lasted only as long as it took me to suds and rinse, no rental of videos or the like, no Ritas or similar fare, and a basic commitment to spend nothing on what I had no very, very, very good reason to buy. These additions to an already pretty simple way of life got me closer in mindset to need only than I'd ever been before.

It's hard to report on such a thing because everyone will define need a little differently based on family circumstances, work demands, and more. But I have to say that the experiment was a success from the following standpoints:
1. I lost about 12 pounds!
2. I saved about $30+ on food.
3. I saved another $5-10 dollars on hot and cold water.
4. I learned a fresh sense of how good things taste when eaten with gratitude for their simple food value without all the extras (butter, condiments, half-and-half, etc.) that add only needless calories and cost.
5. I had some extra to give.
6. I learned that our society makes bare necessity hard to define. Does it include insurance (life or health), an occasional dinner out (given how hard it is in the press of busyness to find quiet, undistracted time with one's spouse), entertainment (given how many demands are put on our minds and time, and the stress of everyday work and ministry), sports (for simialr reasons), etc.?
7. I enjoyed the basic lifestyle that I adopted for the month, and see no reason to leave all of it behind as I go into the future. It was healthy, focused, self-controlled, deliberate (rather than impulsive)in nearly every decision , and helpful in making me see what I really needed rather than merely craved.
8. I had to think about this question: why wouldn't I pursue such way of life as my regular way of life, given its benefits; at least why would I assume that I had any right to any other way of life than this?

Please know that I did not do this as any kind of special spiritual exercise; I'm neither an ascetic or especially self-denying. I mostly wanted to see how close I could come to a need only way of life, in the process wondering if maybe this was closer to what God wanted for some of us than the other way to which we are accostumed.

A few thoughts for your reflection. Feel free to ask any questions over this next couple of days.

Some News from last Friday

Jim Pouillon, a peaceful pro-life advocate, was shot to death outside of a Michigan high school on Friday. He regularly seated himself outside of the high school with a large photo of a baby to remind the teen-aged students that abortion is the taking of an innocent life. The man who shot him was irritated by his pro-life message.

When violence is aimed at abortion providers (who are in the business of shedding innocent blood), the abortion industry is quick to publicize, and then denounce the violence. What are these same people saying now? They say that Jim Pouillon is responsible for his own death because he dared to sit on a public corner with a bold pro-life message.

Moral depravity and twisted logic go hand in hand, and help support each other.

The Book That Understands Me - Episode 1

The Bible, as the living and active word of God, is a supernatural book. When it is faithfully believed, preached, taught, read, and studied, the God whose word it is will be at work supernaturally changing lives. In my preparation for leading our upcoming TruthWalk class on why we believe the Bible, I came across a true story about the Bible's power to change lives that literally moved me to tears as I read it. It is the story of Emile Cailliet. I share it with you in two episodes -------- here is part one:

When we begin to read the Bible and are spoken to by the Holy Spirit as we read it, several things happen. First, the reading affects us as no other reading does.

Dr. Emile Calliet was a French philosopher who eventually settled in America and became a professor at Princeton Theological Seminary in New Jersey. He had been brought up with a naturalistic education. He had never shown the slightest interest in spiritual things. He had never seen a Bible. But World War 1 came, and as he sat in the trenches he found himself reflecting on the inadequacy of his world-and-life view. He asked himself the same questions Levin had asked in Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, while sitting beside the bed of his dying brother: Where did life come from? What did it all mean, if anything? What value are scientific laws or theories in the face of reality? Calliet later wrote, "Like Levin, I too felt, not with my reason but with my whole being, that I was destined to perish miserably when the hour came."

During the long night watches Calliet began to long for what he came to call "a book that would understand me." He was highly educated, but he knew of no such book. Thus, when he was later wounded and released from the army and returned to his studies, he determined that he would prepare such a book secretly for his own use. As he read for his courses, he would file away passages that seemed to speak to his condition. Afterward, he would copy them over in a leather-bound book. He hoped that the quotations, which he carefully indexed and numbered, would lead him from fear and anguish to release and jubilation.

At last the day came when he had put the finishing touches to his book, "the book that would understand me." He went out and sat down under a tree and opened the anthology. He began to read, but instead of release and jubilation, a growing disappointment began to come over him as he recognized that instead of speaking to his condition, the various passages only reminded him of their context and of his own work in searching them out and recording them. Then he knew that the whole undertaking simply would not work, for the book was a book of his own making. It carried no strength of persuasion. Dejected, he returned it to his pocket (Foundations of the Christian Faith, James Montgomery Boice, Inter Varsity Press, 1986, pg.50).

Happily there is more to the story, but here is where I will leave it until next week's post. I am sorry, but to learn of the outcome you will just have to be a bit patient! And as I think about it, it seems appropriate in a way to leave things here. It may help us feel something of the emptiness and despair that Emile Cailliet experienced, and that we ought to feel if we are left only with man's word. Thankfully, we are not left only with man's word.

Why I Didn't Trade in My Clunker

I mentioned somewhere recently that a couple weeks back when the government run clunker program was going my mechanic called me and virtually begged me to participate. I can't imagine why...

I'm not sure that I could have said anything to make this good friend understand, since he and I don't come at life with entirely the same set of values, but maybe you will understand. I really had two reasons why I couldn't trade in my beat up car for a $4,000 gift start on a new one.

Reason one: in this particular case, the program seemed so much a money grab from the rich to give to others, that it felt--and I think it was--like theft. I simply felt I had no right to that money, that it was a pure political ploy to gain popularity among the masses at the expense of the better off in our society (i.e.-those who already pay a massively disproportionate amount of our taxes), and that participating in a political scheme of this sort would constitute stealing money not mine. The government was so brazenly taking $4,000 out of someone's pocket and putting it in mine, and that was so manifestly a matter of thievery that I couldn't stomach it.

Reason two: even with the $4,000 financial jump start, I would have been paying more in a year to get a new car than it costs me to run the old one. Others may think differently and with what seems like, and may be, good reason, but as for me, so long as I can keep my present car on the road less expensively than it costs to buy a new one (without imperiling anyone's well-being in the process), I'm sticking with the old.

It's not that I'm particularly special or penny-pinching in doing this; it's just that I have a car solely to get me from one place to another (it is neither status symbol nor toy to me), and so whatever can get me from one place to another safely and least expensively is what I'm going to drive. After all, I've got a few other treasures I'd like to accumulate and care for that are worth far more to me (and have dividends that last far longer!), than a new set of wheels.

I don't think my mechanic got this. Do you?

An Exact Imprint: Thinking about the Deity of Christ

I've had occasion of late to reflect a bit on the identity of Christ as truly Man and truly God. It's enough to humble and inspire awe in the soul.

The phrase that has captured me is that of Hebrews 1:3--Christ is the "exact imprint" of God's nature. The words exact imprint translate a Greek word meaning: "the exact expression (the image) of any person or thing, marked likeness, precise reproduction in every respect, i.e facsimile" (Strong). Nearly all the translations include either the word exact or express before the word imprint or image.

To be the exact imprint of something demands absolute equality with that thing; one cannot exactly reproduce or represent something without sharing in the very nature and existence of that thing. If the imprint is in any way less than the original, it is not exact; it is only very like, not just like.

Jesus is just like God, being that He is God the Son. I've never forgotten the impact of John Piper's reflections on this from his book, The Pleasures of God. I hope you'll read them and worship:

So the Son in whom the Father delights is the image of God and the radiance of the glory of God. He bears the very stamp of God’s nature and is the very form of God. He is equal with God and, as John says, is God.

For all eternity, before creation, the only reality that has always existed is God. This is a great mystery, because it is so hard for us to think of God having absolutely no beginning, and just being there forever and ever and ever, without anything or anyone making him be there – just absolute reality that everyone of us has to reckon with whether we like it or not. But this ever-living God has not been “alone.” He has not been a solitary center of consciousness. There has always been another, who has been one with God in essence and glory, and yet distinct in personhood so that they have had a personal relationship for all eternity.

The Bible teaches that this eternal God has always had a perfect image of himself (Colossians 1:15), a perfect radiance of his essence (Hebrews 1:3), a perfect stamp or imprint of his nature (Hebrews 1:3), a perfect form or expression of his glory (Philippians 2:6).

We are on the brink of the ineffable here, but perhaps we may dare to say this much: as long as God has been God (eternally) he has been conscious of himself; and the image that he has of himself is so perfect and so complete and so full as to be the living, personal reproduction (or begetting) of himself. And this living, personal image or radiance or form of God is God, namely God the Son. And therefore God the Son is coeternal with God the Father and equal in essence and glory.

"Veiled in flesh the godhead see,
Hail the incarnate deity,
Pleased as man with men to dwell,
Jesus our Immanuel"

O come let us adore Him.
Amen.

Great Amercian Literature? Hardly!

May I revisit the "culture wars" discussion today?

One of the 3 books on my son's summer reading list for American Lit. is The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger. Controversy had surrounded this book for decades. It is less so now, but this is one parent who is still concerned, and I share it with you because I'd like you to be troubled along with me for a moment--especially if you have children in public school.

In this book the Lord's name is used profanely about 300 times, there are multiple uses of the "F" word, along with references to casual sexuality and drunkenness. The 16-year-old main character (Salinger himself, really) has become the icon for teen-age rebellion and defiance.

When I asked for an alternate reading to The Catcher in the Rye I received this reply:

Hello Mr. Cardillo:

I understand your concern with the profanity. We have had extensive articulation regarding what each grade level needs to be exposed to regarding literature.

After much discussion with all of the high school teachers, as well as the Curriculum Supervisor, we decided The Catcher in the Rye was an essential element to the study of American Literature. If you would like, I could research an edited version for Matthew to use during the study of this novel.

What makes this "an essential element" to the study of American Lit? I guess if a couple of liberal magazines like Time and The New Yorker rave about your book and publicize it for you, and a curious public in the early 1950's begins to buy it, and it winds up on the New York Times best seller list--well, you are a great American novelist... and high school students are doomed to read your second rate work for at least the next 50 years.

I have thought about taking this book into a Board of Education meeting. I could read a few choice selections. I'm quite certain the board members would be squirming in their seats at the end of my 3 minute time allotment. But it's OK to ask our children to read it quietly in the privacy of our homes.

I don't think the educators are saying: "Here kids, read and understand--it's good to rebel; we encourage you to be defiant; it's OK to use profanity; it's fun to experiment with casual sex." And yet the reading itself is an affront to the innocence of youth, and that is worrisome. When I was in high school a parental permission slip was required to read this very same book... apparently it's not needed now, and it seems they may actually be unwilling to excuse our son from reading it!

One wonders what truly great pieces of America Lit are being left off the reading list to make room for The Catcher in the Rye. The book still sells 250,000 copies a year! Who, I wonder is doing all this buying and keeping the book alive? Well, Pineland's Regional High School is doing its part to keep the circulation up.

In his last sermon, Steve Cassarino referred to Satan as "a master strategist and corrupter of the human race..." Satan's strategies are flourishing in the public school, but then, as someone reminded me when I last whined about this, what was I expecting!

Gazing at God

Picking up Tim's last point in yesterday's blog entry regarding the joy producing result of gazing upon God, I thought of words once expressed by a young (only twenty years old at the time) C.H. Spurgeon over a century ago. J.I. Packer recounts them in the introductory chapter of his classic book Knowing God, a book that expounds what it means to gaze upon God with Biblical faithfulness.

On January 7, 1855, the minister of New Park Street Chapel, Southwark, England, opened his morning sermon as follows:

It has been said by someone that "the proper study of mankind is man." I will not oppose the idea, but I believe it is equally true that the proper study of God's elect is God; the proper study of a Christian is the Godhead. The highest science, the loftiest speculation, the mightiest philosophy, which can ever engage the attention of a child of God, is the name, the nature, the person, the work, the doings, and the existence of the great God whom he calls Father.

There is something exceedingly improving to the mind in a contemplation of the Divinity. It is a subject so vast, that all our thoughts are lost in its immensity; so deep, that our pride is drowned in its infinity. Other subjects we can compass and grapple with; in them we feel a kind of self-content, and go our way with the thought, "Behold I am wise". But when we come to this master science, finding that our plumbline cannot sound its depth, and that our eagle eye cannot see its height, we turn away with the thought that vain man would be wise, but he is like a wild ass's colt; and with solemn exclamation, "I am but of yesterday, and know nothing." No subject of contemplation will tend more to humble the mind, than thoughts of God....

But while the subject humbles the mind, it also expands it. He who often thinks of God, will have a larger mind than the man who simply plods around this narrow globe.... The most excellent study for expanding the soul, is the science of Christ, and Him crucified, and the knowledge of the Godhead of the glorious Trinity. Nothing will so enlarge the intellect, nothing so magnify the whole soul of man, as a devout, earnest, continued investigation of the great subject of the Deity.

And, whilst humbling and expanding, this subject is eminently consolatory. Oh, there is, in contemplating Christ, a balm for every wound; in musing on the Father, there is a quietus for every grief; and in the influence of the Holy Ghost, there is a balsam for every sore. Would you lose your sorrow? Would you drown your cares? Then go, plunge yourself in the Godhead's deepest sea; be lost in his immensity; and you shall come forth as from a couch of rest, refreshed and invigorated. I know nothing which can so comfort the soul; so calm the swelling billows of sorrow and grief; so speak peace to the winds of trial, as a devout musing upon the subject of the Godhead (Knowing God, J.I. Packer, pgs. 17-18).

And, as Tim expressed it yesterday, "Nothing so fills the soul with joy as a steady gazing at God."

"One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple" (Ps. 27:4).

Joy Increased (5): A Final Few Thoughts

Here are a few final thoughts on how to increase your joy:
1. See and celebrate the evidences of God's grace in yourself and in others (Acts 11:21-24). Barnabas rejoiced because he saw grace in others. Let's sharpen our vision to see the same, and then open our mouths to celebrate it. Never hold back your praise of God and gratitude to others for the evidence of God's saving and sanctifying grace in life. This will simply make you burst with joy.
2. Contemplate the promises of God. Be a promise-believer, and be filled with joy.
3. Anticipate the life to come. There is joy unspeakable in being a Christian whose eye is on the sky, and what lies beyond.
4. Gaze at God. When God wanted to comfort His people, relieve their sadness, and restore their joy in Isaiah 40:1, 2, He called them to "behold their God" (Isaiah 40:9). Nothing so fills the soul with joy as a steady gazing at God.

This by the way is the joy of heaven over which angels sing and saints dance. In Bible theology we speak of the beatific vision (the happy, joyful, blessed vision) of God in heaven. Seeing God in heaven will be what makes heaven heaven. Seeing God by faith here and now makes heaven touch down on planet earth, and gives us joy today.

I close this series with words from Jonathan Edwards:

The enjoyment of God is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied. To go to heaven, fully to enjoy God, is infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations here. Fathers and mothers, husbands, wives, or children, or the company of earthly friends, are but shadows; but God is the substance. These are but scattered beams, but God is the sun. These are but streams. But God is the ocean (Works, II, 244).

May grace, peace, and joy abound in us all, in the knowledge of God. Amen.

Joy Increased (4): An Advancing Kingdom

One of the major themes of Acts is the building and advancing of the kingdom through the conversion of souls. I've counted at least 23 church growth texts in the 24 chapters of Acts. I think Luke wants us to get it and feel it.

The early church was filled with joy because it was part of the expanding kingdom of God. People were getting saved, getting changed, getting transformed, leaving Satan's realm and entering God's (Acts 26:16-18). No wonder the church was alive with joy!

I have often said that in a local church's life there may well be no joy greater than a baptism. Baptisms represent the ongoing life-transforming, kingdom-expanding work of God's grace in the gospel. And believers can never tire of being a part of such spreading grace.

If you want joy to increase, think about your conversion in a fresh way, engage in evangelism to lead others to grace, actively reflect with wonder over every new believer that comes through the doors of your church, and do your best never to miss a baptism. These are fuel for the fires of your joy.

Be very, very happy, just as heaven is, every time a sinner repents.

Joy Increased (3): Living the Resurrection Centered Life

Read through Acts and notice all the references to the resurrection, and the fact that the early believers had witnessed that event and/or felt the power and hope of it. No wonder they were full of joy.

I've often thought that C.J. Mahaney's book, Living the Cross Centered Life, needs a companion, Living the Resurrection Centered Life. The early church was a fellowship of the cross and of the empty tomb! Remember that Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 that part of the main thing--that which is of first importance--which we need always to keep in focus is the resurrection of Christ.

The cross of Christ gives us peace; the peace of forgiveness. The resurrection of Christ gives us hope; the hope of power over sin, over death, over all! We would do well to fill our days with reflections on both, and to do so until they move our affections and fill us up with joy.

Have you meditated on the empty tomb, the triumph of the Crucified, and the death of death in the death and resurrection of Christ recently? "Christ the Lord is risen today; Hallelujah!"

Try thinking over this great triumph and all it means without at least having a moment when you're tempted to pump your fist in the air with a thrust of victorious joy and hope. That's one temptation I doubt you can avoid or resist.

Joy Increased (2): A Holy Smirk

Reconnecting to the book of Acts where we started in this series on joy, I note that the early believers sang while in prison (Acts 16:25) and rejoiced when they suffered (Acts 5:41). I've wondered why.

I'd guess that it's due in large part to what we read in Acts 4:24-28. The early believers had a strong confidence in the absolute sovereignty of God. They knew Who reigned, Who ruled and Who over-ruled in all the affairs of men. They had no reason to fear and every reason to rejoice, even in the hardest of times because they knew God was fully in control and working out all things for their good (Romans 8:28).

I heard a pastor say one time that God's-sovereignty-believing Christians are those who can walk around with a holy smirk on their faces--not in arrogance toward people, but in confidence toward circumstances. It's a smirk that says to all things that happen: "You cannot touch me, cannot harm me, cannot ruin me, cannot get to my soul. In fact you o trial, o suffering, o persecutor, o affliction are nothing more than a means of grace in the hands of God for the growth and gladness of my soul!"

Friends--hold firmly and deeply and unflinchingly to the reality that God is on the throne ruling over all, and over-ruling all, and you will be out of the reach of all harm and in the reach of all joy.

Take it from a man who's been through some very deep waters and tasted joy in it all.