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Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Romans 3- Exposing Our Little gods

"This righteousness comes by faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference" (Romans 3:22).

We had a killer staff meeting yesterday where we talked about this concept. I am very excited for this truth to get massaged into the heart of our Church and church people.

I don't know if you ever read Christian literature? If you do, you more than likely have picked up a copy of a book that promises some sort of help for some sort of problem. For instance, there are devotional books that claim to bolster your devotional life. There are small group books that promise help for leading discussions. There are church growth books that teach churches the appropriate steps to growth. There are preaching books that claim they have the answers to effective preaching.... the list goes on and on.

Do you see the implications of this literature on your heart? If you think that in order to be an effective Christian or an effective church you must 1) read a book, 2) understand the concepts, 3) then put into play the steps the author insists upon, well you are going to be a very self-righteous person. The reason is because all of your success rests on whether you read a book and make the right action steps.

In a Church it looks like this: if you use such and such a curriculum, or if you have such and such a program, or if you do this kind of service project, or this sort of meeting, or this new technology, or this kind of small group, or this kind of messages, or this conference, or etc..... then you will be a successful church. First off, let me point out, what we think is a successful church is hardly what Christ demands from us in Scripture. Our understanding of success is usually centered around our pride. Success for us is camouflaged in churchy terms like "healthy, transforming, growing, vibrant." But what we really mean is the church is, in the words of Ron Burgandy, "kind of a big deal." Our success usually rests on does it make me look good and part of a "successful" church? Because, at the end of the day, I want notoriety.

So we read books, we put together programs, we copy-cat other "successful" churches and worship them as if they are god and have all the answers. And all of this can be called self-righteousness.

In the life of the individual we see the same thing. We regularly have a quiet time, we read the One Year Bible, we join small groups, we attend worship, we have prayer meetings, we do all sorts of good Christian things. Which none of those things in itself is bad. They are actually all good things and each have their places. The problem is when we think that it is on the basis of those activities that God is happy or that God will bless us.

The reality as Paul reminds us is that "righteousness comes from faith in Jesus Christ." It doesn't matter if you are a Jew or Gentile. It doesn't matter if you read the right book, or pray daily. It doesn't matter if you are in a mega church or a congregation of 15 people. It doesn't matter if you attend the right conferences.

What truly matters is, do you put your faith in Jesus Christ alone? Or do you trust something else?

There is only one place where we find righteous people and righteous churches.... the foot of the cross covered in the blood of Christ. If you look anywhere else for your acceptance and significance, you are looking to another god. When we get acceptance from something, that thing is our god. We need to repent of our devotional gods. We need to repent of our trusting bible reading gods. We need to repent of worshiping our church growth gods.

The only confidence we have is in the Grace of God, namely Jesus Christ on the Cross. Anything less or more is false.

"Where then is boasting?"

"It is excluded" (Romans 3:27).

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

I'm Back In Action

All the experts say, "you must post consistently for your readership to remain interested in the blog" ... well, I think I broke that rule. Obviously, you are unusual readers. Maybe you are just checking in to see if some loved one hijacks the account to let others know, "I regret to inform you but there will be no more posts by user corywilliams. He is no more." Or, maybe you are very persistent. People probably compliment your persistence, so you have been returning to this page over and over again with no pay-off. You are a trooper.

Whatever the case may be for your reading, let me clear up any rumors rattling around in your head... I'm alive. I will admit to cyber death, if by cyber death we mean, I was cut off from my cyber life force for an unsustainable amount of time. Aka: not on a computer.

Enough rambling already! Let's get down to business... for the past two weeks I have been in the trenches of youth ministry. Two weeks ago we were in Anderson, Indiana for a Christ In Youth conference. This past week CSM students helped an organization called outdoor outreach conduct a summer camp for under-served Beloit youth. It has been a crazy awesome couple of weeks but I am glad to be back to normalcy. I promise that more posts will come more often.

Dear Reader, thank you for your patience and persistence. You will be rewarded with a righteous blogger crown some day. It may even have an inscription, "Most awesomely persistent blog-reader dude (dude-ette)."

I think time away from the office may have had ill effects on me. Come back for more crazy posts.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Sorrowful Yet Always Rejoicing...

Sorrowful yet always rejoicing is the note struck behind the song "Joy" by PageCXVI. The song writer recounts the birth of the song on the night her father passed away. She recalls, "So as I sat at the piano, the only place that felt safe that night to me, the weight of loss hit my chest. I remembered my eyes were blurred with tears and I literally began to play the now familiar progression of Joy." For a full account of the song please read Page's post here. Once you've read the post then come back to watch this video:

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Learning From The Wisdom of Wooden

There is a reason that the Bible is so adamant about imitating others (1 Cor 4:16, Hebrews 6:12, Hebrews 13:7, 3 John 1:11). We need role models like John Wooden who learned from his dad, and I am sure many others, how to be loyal and how to love. There is much for us to learn from him...



HT: Justin Taylor

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Romans 3- Righteous

"But now a righteousness from God, apart from the law, has been made known , to which the Law and the prophets testify" (Romans 3:21).

Let that verse press in on your soul. Praise God today for His provision! He has made a righteousness known apart from the law! He has made a way for you to be reconciled to Him without list keeping and morality as the means. He has made a way for you to stand unblemished. It is not by your moral efforts but by the efforts of our Savior Jesus Christ.

If your righteousness is your own you can never have peace. You will always be striving trying to make God happy. You can never sit down. You can never enjoy. You must work. You must make sure that your righteousness amounts to something. Although, it never does or can. Your righteousness is filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). But we do have a high priest that completed His work and sat down (Hebrews 10:12). 'It is finished' was His cry from a cross expressing the completion and finality of it all. The Law and the Prophets all point to Him and say, 'there it is.... this is your life. Satisfy your soul in the work of this God-man. This is where righteousness comes from.'

The more you understand and appreciate the work of Jesus for you, the more whole your life will be. This is what you were made for, experiencing the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

Faith in Jesus

This quote has been rattling around in my head for a bit and I want to get it down on paper:
"Every verse in the Bible is meant to build faith in Jesus Christ."

I've spent some time trying to track down who said it, but I cannot place my finger on its origin. Regardless of who said it, I agree. I know it seems overly simplistic but simplicity is sometimes a good thing. The aim of the Christian life is to allow faith in Jesus to permeate everything. The aim of the Word is to build that faith into us.

Earlier this week while I was reading the One Year Bible I noticed how quickly, and almost illogically, the apostles jumped to Jesus. It reminds me of the Sunday school answers that kids always give. When a teacher asks, "What do you think this is talking about?" A kid replies, "sounds a lot like a squirrel, but I am going to go with Jesus." One thing I have learned about studying the Bible is that it is not always appropriate to see Jesus under every rock. If you use words in their normal sense, then sometimes it is irresponsible to try to impute Jesus into the text. It is like looking at a cloud and going, 'wow that looks a lot like Jesus... yep, that means Jesus is watching over us.' When it comes to Bible reading sometimes we want Jesus to be present so badly that we make words and sentences point to Jesus. Is this appropriate or no?

I actually lean towards, yes it is appropriate, so long as it is logical. I do think we have a duty to point people to Jesus from any text. I do think that all of the Bible is meant to build faith in Jesus. So I agree with Spurgeon when he says;
Don't you know, young man, that from every town and every village and every hamlet in England, wherever it may be, there is a road to London? So from every text of Scripture there is a road to Christ. And my dear brother, your business is, when you get to a text, to say, now, what is the road to Christ? I have never found a text without a road to Christ in it... for the sermon cannot do any good unless there is a savor of Christ in it.

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Charles Simeon On Being a Pastor

These are Simeon's comments to a young man being ordained to the service of ministry:
My dearest friend,l most sincerely congratulate you, not on permission to receive 40 pounds or 50 pounds a year, nor on the title of Reverend,but on your accession to the most valuable, most honorable, most important, and most glorious office in the world-to that of an ambassador of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Basic | Fear God

There is a lot of good reasons to be excited about this new series. One of em', Chan gets it.

Hillsong Live | A Beautiful Exchange

This is Hillsong Live's forthcoming cd... It should drop in July.

A Beautiful Exchange Promo from Hillsong Church on Vimeo.

I am Grateful for Ray Ortlund

Christ is Deeper Still is a wonderful blog written by pastor Ray Ortlund. Today he wrote an earth shattering article on theology, sociology, spiritual pride, and divisiveness within the church. I recommend it to you! And I totally agree with one commenter that said, "If I weren't the only one in the house awake right now, I would stand up and clap!" Well I am in my office clapping. Well done Orlund. Thank you for your keen wisdom.

Here is an excerpt from the post, but I recommend you head over and read the whole thing:
Whatever divides us emotionally from other Bible-believing, Christ-honoring Christians is a “plus” we’re adding to the gospel. It is the Galatian impulse of self-exaltation. It can even become a club with which we bash other Christians, at least in our thoughts, to punish, to exclude and to force into line with us.

What unifies the church is the gospel. What defines the gospel is the Bible. What interprets the Bible correctly is a hermeneutic centered on Jesus Christ crucified, the all-sufficient Savior of sinners, who gives himself away on terms of radical grace to all alike. What proves that that gospel hermeneutic has captured our hearts is that we are not looking down on other believers but lifting them up, not seeing ourselves as better but grateful for their contribution to the cause, not standing aloof but embracing them freely, not wishing they would become like us but serving them in love (Galatians 5:13).

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

I am Jonah

When I watch the working of my own heart... this is what I am compelled to write: I am Jonah. In the matter of my own reputation as a preacher that is. For I used to say, Let me die first before I am eclipsed by another in my pulpit and among my people. I fought with a Jonah-like fierceness against the remotest thought of my reputation ever passing over, in my day at any rate, to another.
-Alexander Whyte in Bible Characters: Ahithophel to Nehemiah

Suffering

In a Sermon Series on Jonah that I recently listened to, Timothy Keller cited this beautiful quote:
I believe like a child that suffering will be healed and made up for, that all the humiliating absurdity of human contradictions will vanish like a pitiful mirage, like the despicable fabrication of the impotent and infinitely small Euclidian mind of man, that in the world’s finale, at the moment of eternal harmony, something so precious will come to pass that it will suffice for all hearts, for the comforting of all resentments, for the atonement of all the crimes of humanity, of all the blood they’ve shed; that it will make it not only possible to forgive but to justify all that has happened with men.
-Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

Preparing For Camp

Camp is just around the corner for us... Camp is one of my favorite times of year. I have seen first hand how a concentrated week of ministry can change a life. I am sure that camp has a big effect on the campers but what I am talking about is the way it has changed several of the volunteers lives, including mine. So there is some eager expectation surrounding this time of year.

One of my privileges at Camp is preparing and delivering the messages for staff devotionals and middle school. This year we've decided to do a series called "Reckless Pursuit" (we rotate themes every 4 years so this is a repeat). For this series we will be looking at how God pursues rebels like you and me... How appropriate that Tullian Tchividjian new book just came out called Surprised by Grace: God's Relentless Pursuit of Rebels

And here is the trailer for the book:

Surprised by Grace trailer from Crossway on Vimeo.



In addition to Tullian's book I am also reading Man Overboard by Sinclair Ferguson.








Let me just tell you how beneficial this is for me! I have studied Jonah pretty extensively now (I recently had a class project on Jonah) and I must say, the story of God's mercy and grace is ridiculous! God is absolutely unrivaled in His mercy and compassion. If we were treated as we deserved we would be in lots of trouble. Praise God for His grace.

Also, as I study I am reminded of how prideful I am. Jonah was quick to call himself, with a puffed up chest,a "Hebrew". He is spiritually prideful. But, the reality of story is that he is actually the one in desperate need of grace over and over again. Likewise, I am quick to swell with spiritual pride, but I think most days I am the one in greatest need of God's overwhelming compassion.

If you can't tell, I am very excited about what God might do in the coming weeks.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Think: The Life of the Mind and the Love of God

Desiring God's upcoming national conference:

Know Your Heart

External temptations would would not be nearly so dangerous were it not for the fact that they find an ally of desire right within our own breast" -Jerry Bridges, The Practice of Godliness, pg. 134
As Christ followers we must be aware that our biggest problem comes from within. Our residual sin is the major issue at hand when it comes to our struggles.
I propose that we pray preemptive-ly. What I mean is, it is a good idea to recognize your weakness before you are even tempted. It is a good idea to pray that God would help before you even get into a sticky situation.

Where are you prone to stumble?

Why are you waiting until you are in the weeds before you pray about it?

Why not pray now for the grace to overcome even before you are tempted?