Great Resource on the Holy Spirit

I just finished the first chapter of "Engaging with the Holy Spirit" by Graham Cole and it is dynamite. Some words to describe are; practical, helpful, sane, Biblical, calculated, studied, and clear.

The book aims at answering several questions regarding the Holy Spirit:
1. What is Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit?
2. How May We Resist the Holy Spirit?
3. Ought We to Pray to the Holy Spirit?
4. How Do We Quench the Holy Spirit?
5. How Do We Grieve the Holy Spirit?
6. How Does the Holy Spirit Fill Us?

Marriage Counsel Behind Bars

This Friday evening I get to join my bestfriend in one of the most incredible and sacred experiences ever... marriage.

What is staggering to me, is the amount of blessing that I get from an engaged man preaching a wedding ceremony in a prison cell. His name is Dietrich Bonhoeffer and he never experienced first-hand the realities of marriage that he preached on before his martyrdom. But, the man understands the beauty and majesty of marriage. You can read the whole thing here. Or the more expensive way to read it, which I did, was buy Letters and Papers From Prison.

First off, Bonhoeffer reminds me of the joy that should surround Friday as I get to participate in such an incredible indeavor:

It is right and proper for a bride and bridegroom to welcome and celebrate their wedding day with a unique sense of triumph. When all the difficulties, obstacles, hindrances, doubts, and misgivings have been, not made light of, but honestly faced and overcome - and it is certainly better not to take everything for granted – then both parties have indeed achieved the most important triumph of their lives. With the ‘Yes’ that they have said to each other, they have by their free choice given a new direction to their lives; they have cheerfully and confidently defied all the uncertainties and hesitations with which, as they know, a lifelong partnership between two people is faced; and by their own free and responsible action they have conquered a new land to live in. Every wedding must be an occasion of joy that human beings can do such great things, that they have been given such immense freedom and power to take the helm in their life’s journey. The children of the earth are rightly proud of being allowed to take a hand in shaping their own destinies, and something of this pride must contribute to the happiness of a bride and bridegroom.(Letters and Papers from Prison, pg. 41)

He also reminds me of the permanence of the commitment that rests neither on Ashley or I, and our ability to love, but instead on God's ability to join together:

It is not your love that sustains the marriage, but from now on, the marriage that sustains your love

because,

God makes your marriage indissoluble, and protects it from every danger that may threaten it from within or without; he wills to be the guarantor of its indissolubility.

Bonhoeffer also illustrates the beauty of God's order in marriage. He shows how the home can be a harbor when it is ruled by peace (when we fulfill our God given roles).

And finally, Bonhoeffer reminds us that Christ is our foundation in marriage. "In a word, live together in the forgiveness of your sins, for without it no human fellowship, least of all a marriage, can survive" (pg. 46).

What a joy it will be to proclaim Christ with our lives through the mirror of marriage.

A New Scorecard

An outreach to students with killer band and dynamic speakers to draw in a crowd= $2000
Equipping students to be inviters using the latest and greatest curriculem= $500
Ratcheting up weekly services to have appealing elements to newbies= $1000
A community of young people that will be celebrating Christ for eternity= priceless

How do we measure success in ministry? It is hard. Most of the real life change is priceless and difficult to quantify.

When I asked my mentor how he measures ministry success he said, "I mow my lawn." What he meant by that statement is that measuring ministry results is hard. If you want to see the fruit of your efforts, go mow a lawn.

Most of the time we measure ministry by attendance and activity. This doesn't give us a very accurate reading though. We may have a bunch of chairs filled up but that doesn't mean we are making disciples. A snap-shot of CSM may give you the impression that the ministry is unhealthily small... but, when you think through how solid the students are, it is hard to find another group that matches their spiritual maturity.

We need to rethink how we measure success. A new book called Transformational Church: A New Scorecard for Congregations aims to do just that. My hope is that lots of congregations will be equipped to better serve their congregations by measuring things that last.

I know I personally have a lot of room for growth, and our ministry does too. But, I pray that we would be guided by goals that are meaningful and not simply numerous as we pursue gospel-growth.

Romans 3-Getting Stripped

It's a fear most people have... the realization that you are naked. We have nightmares about this.

In junior high it was called "de-pants-ing." Which is the act of a junior high boy running up behind an unsuspecting fellow and pulling down their gym shorts and running away while laughing... humiliating.

The gospel, in a sense, de-pants us. Let me explain.

Every human being is clothing themselves in their behaviors, decisions, morality, and do-gooding. This can be called dressing ourselves in a right way. It's our ability to rightly align ourselves with the world. For instance, if you are a nice guy, you treat others with respect, you have some manors, open doors for people, leave good tips, compliment people, etc... then you are a good citizen of earth. You are right in the eyes of the world.

The opposite is to be out of wack. If you are selfish, and mean, and short-tempered, and rude, and cruel then the world calls you a bad person. You are out of line with the way the world should be. You have clothed yourself in unrighteousness.

So on the one hand, the good guy has put on an outfit of goodness. The bad guy, has put on an outfit of badness. We are dressed in either righteousness or wrong-ness.

The gospel comes along and depants us of our righteousness. "Where then is boasting" it asks (Romans 3:27)? You can not boast in your attire. You cannot brag in your own goodness. The gospel says that your best dress is inadequate. You will not be able to stand before God in all of your "Sunday best." They are filthy rags to Him. So, God is not impressed by your church attendance, your long prayers, your Bible memorization, your concern for social justice, your bible study, or your doctrinal precision, or any other "Christian" thing. He also is not impressed with your clean vocabulary, or your christian radio, or your movie and television watching rating system. He is not impressed with the way you dress your life up. That is stripped from you. The only dress that is impressive to God is the robe of righteousness. The only way to get the right attire is to borrow Christ's. He gives it to us freely by His grace.

We get stripped. We get rightly clothed. He gets worshiped.

In fact for eternity we will all stand around and boast about the grace of Jesus Christ. Nobody will talk about their "christian" performance in heaven. Nobody will talk about the size of their ministry, or the perfection of their behaviors that they achieved before they died. We will boast for eternity about the glorious Lamb that took our sin and gave His righteousness. We will boast about Christ. We are stripped of boasting about anything else.

Potent Lyrics and Killer Song

Death In His Grave (Performance Video) from john mark mcmillan on Vimeo.

John Mark McMillian Death in His Grave

HT: Justin Taylor; Z

Identity Confusion

A while back I was at Culver's with some students and I saw something troubling.

Here is how the tale goes: While sitting with some students (which will remain nameless), one student essentially started making fun of another young man that walked in to Culver's. They didn't know each other but it seemed quite natural for them to make this exchange of ridicule and the responsive contempt.

The one kid came in with, let's just say, many accessories; some sort of hat, sunglasses, popped collar, ect... He was trying to be noticed and noticed is what he got. The other guy was simply giving a negative knee-jerk reaction to this guys attire.

In this quick little exchange there are two identity errors that were made.

The guy that walked in was desperate for someone to affirm his identity from without. He dressed to get noticed. He was probably hoping that someone might compliment his style and uniqueness. His appearance tells a tale about his soul.... it is screaming out, "look at me! I matter!"

The second student was getting his identity from within. He was offering up ridicule. He was essentially saying, "you are ridiculous and I am not. I am better than you." The message his soul is screaming out is, "I do matter and I can prove it! I am not like him!"

Both, let me repeat, both are suffering from identity confusion. Both young men need to find their identity not from without, or within, but from above.

If your identity is in Christ, then your outward appearance becomes significantly less important. You do not need others to affirm you. If your identity is in Christ, then you are less likely to judge others because you know that your acceptance is not on your performance but on His grace. What we need to keep us from striving after the world's approval is Christ. What we need to silence our judgement is Christ.

We need Him. In Him we find our all and it gives us the proper lens to see ourselves and others.

This Works... and It is Actually Scary!

Yesterday I sat down with a student and simply spent some time finding out what is going on in his life. As I reflect on our conversation, I can remember several times where I consciously thought, 'this is something that he learned at CSM,' or, 'I remember teaching this!?' As the conversation unfolded I began to see how much of an influence CSM has had on him. His worldview has been shaped by our teachings. His reaction to situations sounds a lot like what I would do. He is being transformed into the Character of Christ that we as a ministry are presenting to him on a weekly basis. Holy smokes this thing actually works!?!

But, it also dawned on me that he has picked up some negative characteristics too. I see him struggling with the same things that I stumble over. I see sinful attitudes and tendencies, that I have, cropping up in his life too. And, the conversation was a brutal reminder that, with my life, I communicate not only the gospel that I hope to impart, but also the sins that I still carry.

So, would you join me in praying for our students? There is much to celebrate because I know we have emphasized some very important content at youth group. However, we also need to pray that the students would be guarded from our mistakes.

God, help our kids to be shielded from my sins. Help them to learn the glorious truths of the gospel without also learning my bad habits, my selfish tendencies, my critical attitude, my many sins. God you are able! Praise you that the Gospel is so much bigger and more transforming than me! Thank you that the power doesn't rest on me. Thank you that the power for real life change is only in Christ and only through the work of the Spirit. Do a mighty work in your kids. And thank you God for using dust like me. It is a spectacular and humbling thing that you call and use people like me to the glory of Christ. Amen.

Noteworthy

I love the joy of seeing God work in the lives of friends. My good friend Scott Zibell recently created this stellar video for a baptism service. Praise God for gifting Zibby with some incredible and creative talent. Check it out, powerful stuff.

TDTW from scott zibell on Vimeo.