I have a new article on the site “Going to Seminary”. This is a little different than the others I’ve written so I’d love some feedback. Here’s the article:
http://www.goingtoseminary.com/hobby-or-passion/
For all my past articles on the site you can visit this link below:
For lent, it was suggested that I give up Facebook.At first, I was very hesitant.Then I wondered, “why am I so hesitant?”I had been saying for a while that I would go a week or so off Facebook, but had yet to do so.Why?
This hesitancy revealed a very strong hold Facebook had on me.Whenever I got on the internet, I would check it.I would check it numerous times an hour, being disappointed every time that little red flag didn’t appear on the bottom right-hand corner of my screen.I would spend embarrassing amounts of time clicking through pictures, checking up on old friends, or reading notes.now these things are okay, but it had become a conditioned response to me getting on the internet.It wasted way too much time that I should have been doing work.
There’s this great booklet from CCEF on Procrastination.That is a topic I deal with greatly.I still do.I would rather do anything but my work.In this book, though, there is this great quote form the author, Walter Henegar.He talks about this peculiar thing that happened on the cross.When Jesus is about to die he cries out “it is finished!”, but here’s the thing: the majority of Jesus’ active redemptive work was yet to be done.He had so much of the world that was yet to be saved and brought to himself.Henegar writes concerning this:
Jesus could say this only because he had done “all the work the Father gave him to do.”The connection to my own [Henegar’s] sin was clear: Unless I’m doing what God has called me to do, I’m doing someone else’s work.When I procrastinate, I’m meddling in things that are “none of my business”—like a busy-body.
I struggle with needing to be God in my life.I need to control things.I need to be the one that determines what works I am doing.The second my passions are mandated to me, I suddenly will do anything I can not to do them.I have seen this in seminary.Facebook became my mechanism of controlling what things I spend my life doing and not doing.
So, I gave up Facebook for lent.
And I haven’t missed it, amazingly.(And for those wondering, yes I did take off the facebook-messages-to-my-phone thing)
When lent is over will I go back to Facebook?Yes, but I feel more equipped than ever to see it for what is: an ultimately unnecessary thing that can be used for good things in moderation.I do love Facebook, but just like anything, it can be made an idol.Lent is serving its purpose, I suppose.
Those Catholics are on to something . . .
p.s. – I still have Facebook set up to import the posts from my personal blog onto Facebook as notes.So, for those that see this on Facebook, know that I didn’t have to log in to get this on there.For those that get this far in the post, please pray for me.
This is a snippet from an Easter Service by Erwin McManus of Mosaic Church in Los Angeles. His coffee story pretty much sums up my life. I love it. The rest is a freebie. Enjoy!
Let me know if the audio doesn’t work. It’s about 9 minutes long, so if you have a few minutes to spare, take full advantage of it.
“Beauty: Easter Service” by Erwin McManus (click here for download)
Semester 1 Stats:
Less than 4 months (Sept-Dec)Total pages written: 268 (I produced just over 13% of what I consumed)
Ending GPA: 3.2
Wow. This semester. Tomorrow begins semester 2 and I’m both excited and hesitant. This past semester gave me wrestlings and questions I never knew were there. It showed me depths and complexities of my own sin I never knew resided in my heart. I never knew just how undisciplined I am. It seems that the greater the work load, the more things I use to distract myself from doing it. The TV website hulu (that had that great Super Bowl commercial) consumed more hours of my life than did Greek or reading. I think I tripled how many shows I kept up with. It’s embarrassing and difficult for me to admit that, but it’s true. My Bible reading withered down to a few chapters a week. I didn’t get to spend time with anyone from my church. I questioned my place at the church, attempting to leave a few times before God exposed my pride and youthful arrogance and called me to submit to the place he had called me to. I realized I am self-willed, addicted to control and self-pleasure, and unwilling to properly steward the relationships and opportunities God places in my life.
In short: this semester was the most amazing 4 months of my life.
I just want to use the rest of this post to list out the main take-aways I got from this semester. If this is what just one semester does to me, I have no idea what 6 or 7 more will do. This is going to be an incredible experience. So I hope these lessons and wrestlings find a place in all your hearts as just one sojourner’s path down this bloody, uphill, broken, tear-stained, cross-bearing road called the Christian stumble.
Semester 2 approaches tomorrow with me not as prepared for Greek as I should be, but with a fire in my bones and a grace upon my heart to find the discipline and time management to fully take advantage of all this semester has to offer. If you get this far down this post, please pray for me, that I might remain conscious of my finitude and weakness, trusting alone in all my Savior has accomplished on my behalf that I might freely enjoy Him and every nuance of who He is.
Grace and peace. (oh the beauty of those words!)
I made a kid cry at work the other day.
Currently, I work as a tutor in an after school program. It’s sort of like a program I did in Richmond, except this one isn’t a Christian organization. It’s government funded so the thrust of the program is not personal growth or real learning, but rather results results results. I hate it. Nevertheless, anyone that knows me knows I would find some way to actually try and mentor these kids and not just tutor them.
Well this past week, these two fourth graders were teasing eachother. She kept calling him gay and he kept calling her a lesbian. Yeah, fourth grade. I immediately stood behind the boy (who was seated in the corner) and placed my hands on either side of him on the table he was seated at and leaned in to talk directly in his ear from behind him (did I explain that posture well enough? It is relevant to the rest of the story.) Anyway, I spoke very firmly and directly to the boy. Here was the exchange:
P: “You do not call a girl that!”
M: “Why? She called me a name first!”
P: “That doesn’t matter!”
M: “Why not? I get it at home, and then I come here and get it here too!”
P: “That’s not the point, Mike. Mike, what she says does not change who you are or effect you in any way. Mike, I’m telling you, if you don’t get over this whole hypersensitivity to other people, it will affect the rest of your life.”
M: “No it won’t . . .”
P: “Mike, you can’t do this. This shows that you’re putting all of your security and identity in what other people say. You have to rest your security and who you are in something other than the approval of others. If you don’t, it will kill you later on in life. You will face more heartache, failed relationships, and insecurity than you can possibly fathom now. You can’t just react to what others say. You’re putting too much stock in the words of others and it will ended up hurting both you and other people in ways you can’t see right now. So please, just stop talking and get your work done.”
Yes, I talk to the kids like that. They get a whole lot more than you think. He pulled his folder of work to himself and at least looked like he started to work. Finally, I had some peace to work with my other students. He looked self-sufficient, so I went on doing my job. About 20 minutes later, I look over to his table and ask, “Mike, how are you doing?” He doesn’t answer. He’s just sitting there leaning forward over his work, staring it at. I get up, only slightly frustrated and angry. I assume my previous position, staring at the back of his head as I stood over him. I said slowly and sternly: “Mike, you need to do your work! You haven’t even done anything! Mike, I-“
I was cut short as I saw over his shoulder tears falling on his folder. I asked if he was okay. He said no and I asked why. He told me it was because of what I said. Ouch. I apologized to him for having not been sensitive to the way he was or what he was going through and just blindly going the stern, rough, “bad cop” routine. I thanked him for once more reminding me that there wasn’t just one singular formula to dealing with kids, but we have to wisely play off of who they are. I told him that he had helped teach me a lesson that would make me a better father someday. Later I found out that he actually is gay. God only knows the ridicule and frustration he goes through that I had just added to. We got him some tissues, I asked for his forgiveness, he gave it, and that was it.
But it wasn’t. Thinking about it later, I realized something: I had been giving him the bad news of the Gospel. On account of being sinful humans, we all so crave relief from the abiding sense of guilt and shame inherent to us. We do this by finding our approval and security in things and people we can see and measure. This is just psychological language for idol worship. We worship and make idols out of things less than God because we think those things can give us what we feel God cannot. Mike had placed his security and identity in what others said about him. So whenever that is challenged by a passing word or name, he feels like this is a challenge to the very system he has placed his faith in. He cannot let that “sin against him” pass without responding in “just” and “righteous” wrath against the transgressor. We can’t judge Mike too harshly. I hope we see the more “mature” ways we do this as adults.
But there is truth in what Mike was doing. Transgressions are first relational. We feel personally hurt and impacted when people act in a negative way towards whatever it is we have put our faith in. Secondly, transgression always demands a response. Sin does not just exist in a vacuum. It exists in a system – a relational system – that doesn’t “feel right” when there is no just response for evil. That’s why Mike couldn’t just let those words of ridicule go. So here’s the essence of the bad news I was giving Mike: you have placed your security, identity, and – ultimately – your trust and faith in something so far lesser than what they were intended to be placed in. Your every thought, motive, desire, and act is geared towards everything else but God, namely your own security and affirmation. At some level, I think Mike’s soul heard this, and it broke and felt the pain and hurt of true accusations at his wicked heart. The bad news really is bad news.
But it’s not the only news. If this same thing had happened at the tutoring program in Richmond, I would have been able to tell Mike the flip-side: Yes, you are that bad. Yes, you should cry – you should hurt. And what’s even worse, you can’t change yourself from doing this. But, God has found it to be his pleasure – His delight – to do for you what you could not do for yourself: to live that life that places it’s whole trust, security, and identity in Who God is. That life that could let anyone say or do anything to him because he knew that those transgressions spoken and done against him would in fact receive a just retribution. The life that was free to obey, free to worship, free to love God in joy and peace. The life of Jesus Christ. And what’s more, he died the death that you deserve to die for your improper worship of things and people rather than God. And when you believe that yes, you really are that evil; and trust that yes, He really is that good; then both that life and death are credited to you, so you can experience and taste a growing degree of that life of Christ lived out in your own while heading towards a climax only to be known and fully enjoyed in ages to come. A consummation he has promised to get you to.
But, unfortunately, Mike doesn’t live in Richmond, and he isn’t a part of the Youth Life Foundation, so I couldn’t tell him this, no matter how much I wanted to. If you’re inspired to, pray for Mike. Ultimately his salvation doesn’t rest in my words of rebuke or encouragement, but in the Sovereign God I love and serve, who reveals Himself even in the most mundane of interactions.
I was grabbing an amazing beer at the amazing Lancaster Brewing Company in beautiful Amish-country Lancaster, Pennsylvania with one of my best friends, David Schrott this past was weekend. Randomly, he turns to me and says something along the lines of “do you think we’ve sacrificed worship for the sake of relationship?” Brilliant. This got my wheels turning . . .
Surely we’ve all heard that wonderful phrase “Christianity’s not a religion, it’s a relationship.” A brief survey of various facebook “Religious Views” statements can find many rearticulations of this principle. But, I think we’re just now starting to see where this principle has perhaps been misleading the church a bit. Now, I have to fight two well-known urges in addressing this. First, an urge in church history to ride a giant philosophical pendulum from one extreme to another. I don’t just want to criticize this because the cycle has run its course and now its time to move back to the other extreme. The other urge is in myself. It is the tendency I have always had to rebel against the current cultural trends of the day just to be novel. Ten years ago, we really needed to hear that phrase, and it would be too typical of an up-and-coming twenty-something theologian as myself to try and cast the whole thing off. All that being said, let’s get going.
I’m in the process of writing this up as a sermon so some feedback would be wonderfully helpful. Here’s my current thought process. Posed David’s question, I think most of us would say something that involved the phrase “both/and”; attempting to merge these two principles (worship and relationship) into the same idea. May I suggest that one of the damning effects of post-modernity has been this love affair in the past ten to fifteen years with the “both/and” in all things. The first person to throw that out in conversation feels both wise and perceptive, and is generally treated as such. Thinking about this, I was reminded that God works and reveals not so much through philosophical exposé but through narrative. This means that things work progressively. Elements used or expressed earlier in the narrative don’t exist later in the story in the same way they existed before. Let me use the current conversation as an example.
I’m wondering if preaching relationship, relationship, relationship has been putting the cart before the horse and has contributed to the shallow and impotent culture we see far too often in the American church. We seem to preach relationship first, expecting (or hoping) worship to flow from it. I don’t see the beauty or the truth in this. It looks like relationship should flow from worship. Is this not the Gospel? The message that there is a huge God through whom and from whom all things receive life, and that this God not merely desires or demands worship, but deserves it. We have not given it, and so the full wrath if this huge God is prepared to be poured out upon us. In view of this, we then feel the weight of our inadequacy to change our estate before this God that deserves our honor and worship. We look up to to feel the indiscriminate fog of anger hanging so perilously above our heads . . .
but . . .
from this fog extends a hand. The hand of that King we have offended, offering clemency and pardon in the name of His Son for the treason we have so callously pursued. It is against the backdrop of all that makes Him worthy of that worship we don’t/can’t give him that this offer for relationship becomes real, beautiful, and romantic.
“Religion” comes from the Latin words “re” meaning “again” and “ligo” meaning “to unite” (as in “ligament”). Religion, then simply means something that unites once more that which was connected, but now is broken. (I know, I know, we’ve turned “religion” into something more than this, but I’m just trying to say that the word itself is not bad, so let’s not stop using it. Just try to use it rightly.) Jesus really did die to establish religion. The Gospel is religion. It is a means outside of ourselves by which God reunites us to Himself. But it starts with who He is which then overflows into what He’s done to join us to Him once more. We need to see and preach a God worth worshiping before our relationship with Him can mean anything of any sort of significance.
As I write all this, I’m starting to wonder if our stress of relationship over reverence has actually caused the problem to worsen. We started doing it because of how people were abusing the beauty of the religion Christ died for, but I wonder if we remove all the weight of this religion under the banner of relationship does it really change anything? Or will people just have new reasons to take this Christianity thing lightly now that they “have the relationship” that apparently this whole thing centers around? Will this not continue to create people that do not understand the standard of holiness, reverence, and awe we really are called and commanded to strive for? Will this not then force us to create more clever cliches to explain why those people don’t act like the Christians they claim to be?
Maybe. I don’t know. But ultimately, I hope we can see the Gospel for what it is: a God-centered means by which God can proclaim His worthiness and still redeem us for Himself. It begins with His worship, then our inability, then His redemption, then our salvation, and it culminates finally in our worship of Him for now and eternity, proclaiming the Glorious perfections and beauties of God, His Son, His Spirit, and His Gospel.
Happy worshipping.
“Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love, that he may deliver their soul from death and keep them alive in famine. Our soul waits for the Lord; he is our help and our shield. For our heart is glad in him, because we trust his holy name. Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us, even as we hope in you.”
— Psalm 33:18-22
Our hope is only in your steadfast love O Lord. I can be in nothing else, O God. This is about you and me – you and me. I need your Gospel I need your Gospel. In this Psalm, famine comes after deliverance. Help me through the famine, through the weakness. So I may further trust and hope only in You, Your love, Your faithfulness, and not my own! My spirit is so willing, but my flesh is so weak!! So weak. Strengthen my spirit Lord. Take all of me. It’s yours already, I know. Exert Your rightful reign and authority in me to Your Glory. Oh, Your Glory. It is so sweet to my lips to say. Glory. Glory. Glory. I need You. Help me survive in the famine. You will. You’ve promised it, so it must be so. My faith must be in that which is the only guarantee of it’s occurrence in Your Word. My salvation, redemption, regeneration, and glorification – ALL things I do not wrought upon myself. That’s how my faith must be in You. Help me wait for You, because I am glad in You, because I trust You, because Your love is upon me. David’s last plea is that Your effectual love would make this be. It is mine as well. Come.
I knew I’d be proven wrong. I ended up meeting and seeing perhaps my biggest living hero this past weekend. Matt Chandler, of the Village Church in Dallas, TX was the means by which God stirred it in me to go to seminary; he was the means by which God started forming my preaching style; he was the means by which a bulk of my ministry philosophy was formed. In short, much of my life as it is now is because of this man’s faithfulness and how God has formed me to resonate with it. I’m in Dallas for a week to see family, so I went to a service at the Village Church this morning.
Being one of the fastest growing churches in America, I thought it wise to get there as early as possible. The service was at 9am, and I ended up getting there at about 8:15. My brother and I were the first ones there to the church, save for a few people setting up Communion. We actually got to the building the same time Chandler did. We walked up to the doors from the parking lot with Chandler, coffee in hand, and made some small talk. I told him I was from Westminster, had met their Counseling pastor at the CCEF Conference last month, and that I went to Eric Mason’s church. He apparently has a great relationship with my Philadelphia pastor, so he continued some of our brief conversation – now having made our way into the sanctuary – about Philly and Pastor Mason (or E-Mase, as Chandler called him). I thanked him for how the Church has ministered to me (trying not to seem like “that guy” though I’m sure I sort of did). He appreciated it, but then a congregant intercepted him for sound check business. Our “meeting” was over.
One of the overarching refrains of his sermon was: “you are not as smart as you think you are.” This was evident this morning as I realized that the sanctification I observed in my previous post is still in progress. For those that missed it (or just don’t feel like reading it), I talked about how I have historically idealized my heroes so much that it influences way more about me than it should. I wrote how in recent weeks, God has been disillusioning me about these men, so that I am “becoming my own man” as it seems.
Well, it wasn’t until halfway through the second song of the worship service I realized just how frustrated I was that I wasn’t able to get a good picture of both the worship set and Chandler praying! I wasn’t able to pay attention in any sort of capacity, much less actually meditate and see God’s beauty and sufficiency. I was restless at heart determined to find the images that would build myself up in others’ eyes and so put my security once more in people. As the blinders were rudely pulled off my eyes to my own immaturity and wrong worship, I was brought to one of those moments of self reflection where you’re almost ashamed to be in our Father’s presence. Where the sin in the deepest recesses of your heart is exposed to the light and it hurts. At the same time, though, Michael Bleeker started an original song about how our joy and security is in the wrath of God being poured out on Christ. I was then free. At least for the moment, my sin was plunged into the glorious wrath-consuming righteousness-imputing grace of God. Oh, the worship that comes from the heart that sees its own weakness and sin held as the backdrop against the display of the cross!
The rest of the service was amazing. No more pictures, no more video, no more angst about being able to “prove” that I have more “connections” than others. For those few moments at least, the grace of God so allowed me to be divorced from my lust for human esteem, my addiction to have others see me as someone worth being around. And I was able to worship God with all of myself in singing, prayer, and meditation on the clear communication and faithful preaching of His Word. In short, this morning was amazing. I’m really starting to wonder if God’s ultimately calling me to Dallas.
I love this church, I love its ministry, and I love my God.
So, please, I beg of all of you. Everyone that knows me. Everyone that reads this disjointed post. As often as the grace of God inspires you to remember. Always remind me: I am definitely not as smart as I think I am, but the cross of Christ is wholly gracious and sufficient in spite of that. It is in that gospel statement my greatest sin and greatest hope are held before my gaze both for His Glory and my joy.
Ah, what a good day . . .
[Here in the next couple of days I will hopefully write a summary of my first semester in seminary, but first I wanted to drop this note.]
I’ve been experiencing something strange in the past month. Historically I’ve fallen into that temptation to try and mimic my heroes. Anyone that knows me well knows this. I always have some new author, preacher, teacher, or friend that I very much enjoy sitting under the influence of. This has in turn influenced so much about me. Too much. I have often daydreamed about speaking like this guy or writing like that guy, comparing my every thought and action to the way they would do things. This happens more than I let on, and it’s something I deal with a lot. The Chandlers, Driscolls, Pipers, Mahaneys, Edwards’, Kellers, Owens’, Calvins, Greenes, Goodletts, DeRocos, Masons, Carlins, Powlisons, and Sinclairs (haha) of the world have had such an impact on me. They have affected the phrases I use (I say “unpack” way too much now because of Chandler), the material I write (Owens/Powlison in the heart, Edwards in the head), the thoughts I muse (Greene and Goodlett get this award), and sometimes even my motions (I caught myself doing a Josh Soto hand move the other day. I call it the “discus throw”). At times I have to be careful because many people in the circles I run in know of some if not all these people and can (and do) call me out on it when I’m just being a clone. It almost happens unconsciously at this point.
The problem with this is obvious. I’m forced to wonder where my voice is; where my thoughts are; where my style is. I fear so much that I would just copy someone else. But something strange (yet wonderful – in a strange way) has been happening. In the past month, it seems like so many of those people (especially those that hold the highest pedestals in my mind) have been slowly but surely, one by one, unidealized for me. Through different books, interviews, messages, and exposures I have found myself thinking Oh, I don’t want his marriage; I don’t want his ministry; I don’t want to have to say all that; I don’t want that burden, so and so forth. Now, when I say “I don’t want” it’s not that what they have is bad or wrong per se; it’s just not my style. I have begun to see that I can’t just place myself into someone else’s narrative. God has a particular calling for me that will look very different from those guys and I should both rest and rejoice in that.
As I’ve become disillusioned to these men to a certain extent, I have found their walls of distinction dissolving in my mind as a synthesis begins to take place. I feel a voice of my own emerging from this. I have more ideas for writing and more motivation to do so. I’m finding my own articulations and approaches to things. I feel like I’m coming into my own and it’s exciting. Exciting enough to post this wholly inconsequential post on the blog just to get it out there. These are wondrous times indeed and I look forward to enjoying them to the full.
Onward, life!
This song has been my obsession this past couple of weeks as I round out my first semester in seminary. I hope it stirs you as well.
The Cut by Jason Gray
My heart is laid
Under Your blade
As you carve out Your image in me
You cut to the core
But still you want more
As you carefully, tenderly ravage me
And You peel back the bark
And tear me apart
To get to the heart
Of what matters most
I’m cold and I’m scared
As your love lays me bare
But in the shaping of my soul
They say the cut makes me whole
Mingling here
Your blood and my tears
As You whittle my kingdom away
But I see that you suffer, too
In making me new
For the blade of Love, it cuts both ways
And You peel back the bark
And tear me apart
To get to the heart
Of what matters most
I’m cold and I’m scared
As your love lays me bare
But in the shaping of my soul
They say the cut makes me whole
Hidden inside the grain
Beneath the pride and pain
Is the shape of the man
You meant me to be
Who with every cut now you try to set free
CHORUS…
…With everyday
You strip more away
And You peel back the bark
And tear me apart
To get to the heart
Of what matters most
I’m cold and I’m scared
As your love lays me bare
But in the shaping of my soul
The blade must take it’s toll
So God give me strength to know
That the cut makes me whole
My hero, Matt Chandler, just put up a new blog post. It so stirred me, that I left this comment on the blog, which you can find here: dwelldeep.net
As a young single man in seminary whose father struggled and miserably failed at fighting the sins of his father and grandfather, I wrestle with this often. As I grow older, I see more and more in me that which I hate in my father. From a young age, I began hoping against hope that the Grace of God would be upon me such that this curse would end with me- that I would be the first real man of God my bloodline has seen in generations; that my mother’s sacrifice to stay with my father and endure hell at his hands for the sake of her children would not be in vain; and most importantly, that my God would be seen and shown as worthy, lovely, more beautiful, and more desirable than the curse and sin of passivity, anger, and pain so inflicted upon us.
So yes, this makes sense and resonates in me as I hope to maintain this heart towards my True Father long enough to have the same mind as you with the love of my life and my children to come. Thank you for this.
–paul
I fight with pride a lot.As I was telling a friend today: if you take a guy that is fairly smart, can put disparate concepts together, can talk well, and you make him a Christian, you get something very dangerous.He starts believing the press others say about him and begins to think he is much more mature than he actually is.This is me.My entire life people have set me apart for “something big for God.”Being able to understand and communicate even the deepest truths of God and His Word doesn’t equal maturity one bit.Seminary has certainly been showing me just how independent I try to be from God.
But nevertheless, something does resonate within me when I think about my place on the national/world stage.I feel like I’m being tailored by God for big, visible things out there in the world.I don’t know for sure what this means, and I’m fine with it not coming to pass, but I feel like I’m being prepared for a weight I could not bear apart from prior work by God.
But that’s not the point of this post.Now, like I said, I was grabbing coffee with that friend of mine – a friend who is quite visible on the national and international stage.But he’s been struggling with something recently that really struck me.He pointed out that no person ever used by God for really big things ever did it apart from great levels and displays of suffering.His problem was that he shirks from suffering while seeking comfort – the very thing that is antithetical to what he’s called to.I have a similar problem.
I’m only 22 and I feel like I haven’t suffered much.Some really dark family stuff, spiritual dark months of the soul, and severe emotional pains (loneliness and heartache, mainly), but really no classic forms of real suffering.Yet, in spite of this, God has given me a very developed theology of suffering and God’s Sovereignty within it.This terrifies me.I can not get away from this haunting sense deep in the recesses of my mind that severe trials lie ahead of me.So severe that God needs to prepare me now to survive the pains to come.
In one sense this reaffirms my desire to be well-known, influential, and in front of many people.On the other it sobers me, realizing (perhaps for the first time) what it means to “count the cost.”So perhaps all those that have been praising and building me up for big things in the future have actually been painting a target on my soul for the refining pains and trials of God.
So for those of you out there seeking renown, fame, and exposure.Know that if you really are doing it to God’s Glory, then no servant is greater than his Master, and you should expect nothing less than fulfilling in the body the sufferings of Christ, that His life might be seen through your death for your good and God’s Glory.
They who strive to build up firm faith in Scripture through disputation are doing things backwards . . . Since for unbelieving men religion seems to stand by opinion alone, they, in order not to believe anything foolishly or lightly, both wish and demand rational proof that Moses and the prophets spoke divinely. But I reply: the testimony of the Spirit is more excellent than all reason. Some good folk are annoyed that a clear proof is not ready at hand when the impious, unpunished, murmur against God’s Word. As if the Spirit were not called both “seal” and “guarantee” for confirming the faith of the godly; because until he illumines their minds, they ever waver among many doubts!
Therefore, Scripture bears its own authentication. Let this point therefore stand: that those whom the Holy Spirit has inwardly taught truly rest upon Scripture, and that Scripture indeed is self-authenticated [by the Spirit]. Therefore, illumined by his power, we believe neither by our own nor by anyone else’s judgment that Scripture is from God; but above human judgment we affirm with utter certainty that it has flowed to us from the very mouth of God by the ministry of men.
Therefore we seek no proofs, no marks of genuineness upon which our judgment may lean; but we subject our judgment and wit to it as a thing far beyond any guesswork! If God has willed this treasure of understanding to be hidden from his children [to necessitate revelation for us to know Him], it is no wonder or absurdity that the multitude of men are so ignorant and stupid! Whenever, then, the fewness of believers disturbs us, let the converse come to mind, that only those whom it is given can comprehend the mysteries of God.
— selections from John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion, Ch. 7
God is a strange dude.
He is working something so deep within me, and it hurts so much, but I can’t see what He’s doing. I’ve never experienced this before, be it directly, or vicariously through someone else. It’s like a churning and burning deep deep within me and I can only see the fruits of it occasionally blip up into the natural world. I kinda see one’s relationship with God as a series of stairsteps; as you mature spiritually, you ascend the steps. I feel like right now, God has brought me to a step that is very tall and not as tall as any I have encountered before. In short, God is putting me through a spiritual maturation process that is so vital and so extensive, he has had to take it into His own hands. Does that make sense? (I’m sure it does to all of you good ol’ Charismatic Calvinists out there)
In any case, whenever God is doing something like this in one’s life, Satan takes this as a chance to bring upon someone His greatest attacks. Thus, this has resulted in making me once more what I seem to be more often than I would like to be: broken, weak, attacked, and (in a word) “unspiritual.” Now, don’t worry, I am not falling into that victim mindset that so many of us fall into. After that night at Church hill (see May 30, 2005 post “just read”), I don’t think I could ever feel so victimized by God and/or Satan as way too many Christians usually do. The American church seems to live in a world that thinks Satan is sovereign and God is fighting a losing battle! Most Christians wouldn’t actually say they believe this, but their actions (and their eschatology) scream this. There is NO condemnation in Christ. One truth that is very comforting but hard to accept that I’ve been dealing with a lot recently is the truth that upon accepting Christ into your life, you are both as close to and far away from God as you will ever be. If our “closeness” to God was based at all upon our actions, it would remove the necessity for his grace at all. I’ve said this before, but we as Christians no linger preach salvation by works, but we are obsessed by sanctification by works. Both are lies of the devil. They are BOTH workings of Christ and Christ alone, not contingent upon our actions, positive OR negative. I see so many people falling into this vicious cycle over and over again of condemnation, stumbling, failure, condemnation, stumbling, and so on and so forth. The issue is we still think it’s a work of our own. Sure we have a responsibility, but the power and ability to make us into Christ’s image falls on God, not us. He “molds us,” and “purges us,” and “causes us to walk in His statutes.”
The issue is Lordship; how much we accept the sovereignty, power, and authority of God in our lives so that He can mold us as he pleases. All we need to do is submit, and allow Him to work by staying in the Word, in worship, and in fellowship with other believers. If we focus on GOD, not our sin, HE does everything else. As stated above, the real issue is Lordship. In that case, I have arrived at my small little platform for the evening. I am convinced the primary reason we struggle with Lordship is that we think we began the process of it. A couple of unfortunate cliches show this:
“I made Jesus Lord of my life”
— Really? I am sure He appreciates YOU making HIM Lord over something as if it wasn’t His in the first place.
“I found Jesus”
— Really? He was lost?
“Make a decision for Jesus Christ today”
— 1 Corinthians 2:14; “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.”
We (before salvation) are not ABLE to choose to accept the things of God, including salvation. There must be an effectual change by God in our very wills that causes us to draw near to Him and accept His word which will then build faith within us. If you followed what I said, then you will see the great mystery of this: HE affects our wills to give us the ability to choose that which we could not choose before, but the very work that he does to give us the ability to choose compels us in such a way to choose Him, there is no way a human being can not choose him if He has worked upon them in this way.
On my last little note, This one truth, though I only spent a short time backing it up and explaining it is the foundation to all things in Scripture. Upon being asked his name, God said that his name was “Yahweh, the Lord” (Exodus 3). Of all his attributes, that which he chose to present as His proper personal name was that of LORD. This should not discourage but rather encourage us. The very fact that He is in Lordship over all things should be the one rock upon we which we build all other things. When we realize salvation, sanctification, evangelism, discipleship, worship, spiritual disciplines, etc. are all nothing more than the natural outflow of our extended realization of Christ’s Lordship in our lives, it makes the Christian life so much more confident, stable, and victorious. So here is my advice to all of broken, bereaved, downtrodden, weak brothers and sisters out there:
Focus on God, not your sin, and He will take care of the rest. We have the victory over every kind of sin and evil power on this earth, we just need to realize and take a hold of it. The fact that “all authority in heaven and earth has been given to [Jesus]” (Matthew 28:18) is the realization that will set us free to do his will and finally get out minds and focuses off of ourselves and on where Christ commissioned them to be: on the world and the nations therein. So, let’s come together, body of Christ, in unity and power to set the nations free and stop worrying about our own little bit of sanctification, because we are as close to God now as we will ever be.
“Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming our Lord Jesus Christ. he who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24
“Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.” – Jude 24-25
God Bless as always,
–Paul<
p.s. – I will expound on the events that transpired this evening that brought about these musings at a later time, for neither the length of this post nor the time allow me to do so at this time.
p.p.s. – I must say, squeezable jelly is one of the greatest inventions ever, but the grape is too runny, and the strawberry is not runny enough.
p.p.p.s. – “Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:26. hey, you can’t argue with the word of God.
this was the quick word from Proverbs 28 I wanted to give at Paedeia, but was not able to:
“When the righteous triumph, there is great glory, but when the wicked rise, people hide themselves.”
— Proverbs 28:12
This is what has happened to our country, our culture, and our campus. The last couple of generations of Christians, as a reaction to the “Great ‘Intellectual’ Awakening” of humans, withdrew themselves from the influential spots of society and culture. Used to, the brilliant thinkers, scientists, philosophers, politicians, and influencers of society were all God-fearing men. Brilliance is what faith is meant to evoke in us. We as a church withdrew from culture and allowed the wicked to rise as we hid ourselves in the woodwork, afraid of defending that which we are meant to defend. The Holy Spirit has been paving the road for this school year though. All last year and summer he has shown himself strong and true and prepared to work on this campus in a mighty way. God’s desire and plan for this year has been made clear. This is found later in Proverbs 28:28. he says:
“When the wicked arise, people hide themselves, but when they persih, the righteous increase.”
— Proverbs 28:28
He wants the righteous to increase and the wickedness to perish. Hoe must we as Christians go about doing this? The answer is in verse 1 of Proverbs 28:
“The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion.”
–Proverbs 28:1
This one verse hold many many impications:
– The wicked do NOT flee as a result from any pursuit, be it an intellectual one, spiritual one, moral one, or political one.
– The righteous, to make the wicked flee, need not DO anything, but rather BE something: that which God has called them to be. (One hearkens back to Ephesians where Paul says just to stand with the armor of God, not go fight.)
– What makes the wicked flee? Our boldness.
– Lastly, notice that it says “bold as a lion”. “A” lion, singular. not “bold as lions.” We are called to be unified in our purpose, demeanor, attitude, and boldness in this world.
In short, wickedness has taken this campus over, God has said that this is to end this year. How? Wickedness is directly related to how much the people of God are unified in being who God purposes them to be. We haven’t been. Wickedness will decreases, as unification and righteousness increase. So the campus ministries at VCU (namely Every Nation Campus Ministries) serve the singular purpose of creating new Christians and equipping Christians new and old to be the people God desires them to be. It is only when an entire culture of Chirstians have been established as being who they are meant to be in God as one new man bodl as a lion, that the wickedness will decrease.
the long way home 