Blueprints for Gospel People

Over the past couple weeks I have personally been rocked by this one... It is amazing what the bible does to you when you let it.

Why Does God Feel Distant?

I want to encourage you with a quote from J.I. Packer's Rediscovering Holiness this morning. It is for those of us that feel like God is distant and would love an answer to why he allows that. Here it is:

God brings on dryness, with resultant restlessness of heart, in order to induce a new depth of humble, hopeful openness to Himself, which He then crowns with a liberating and animating reassurance of His love--one that goes beyond anything that was sensed before. As Christ's humiliation and grief on the cross preceded His exaltation to the joy of His throne, so over and over again humbling experiences of impotence and frustration precede inward renewing, with a sense of triumph and glory, in the believer's heart. Thus, with wisdom adapted to each Christian's temperament, circumstances, and needs, our heavenly Father draws and binds His children closer to Himself. (Rediscovering Holiness, page 93).

Thoughts from Saturday Night

I am reading a phenomenal book right now on how people change. It's called Rediscovering Holiness by J.I. Packer. On Saturday night I read a chapter and it caused me to literally lose sleep. I was faced with the question: Do I really preach the full gospel and show how it works itself into the fabric of every area of our lives? I couldn't stop thinking about specific students who are crippled by their sins and the sins of others. They deserve to have the gospel applied to every area. Here are my thoughts that I scribbled in my notebook at 2am.

"The gospel is restoring humanity... it is salvation from personal destruction (sin), it is re-creation (restoration to rightness), and total transformation to the community of God.

• When we sin it is ugly and evil, we hurt ourselves and others
• Divorce destroys families
• Negative behavior patterns play out in relationships
• Selfishness destroys friendships
• Pride distance people from one another as it carries out its self-centered purposes

The gospel when rightly applied (salvation: past, present, and future tense) fixes our brokenness. Families and friendships can be restored (maybe not totally as not all members are gospeled, but at least from our end there should be restoration). Forgiveness leads to reconciliation, leads to restoration, leads to healing, leads to wholeness, leads to the new-humanity. At least in those who have the gospel."

What's Hindering Your Growth?

If I could apply half of the books and teachings that I expose myself too, I would look quite a bit more godly... the problem is application. I want to share with you maybe the most convicting truths I have come across lately. They are from a textbook that I am reading for a current course at Moody Bible Institute. The title of the textbook is Living by the Book by Howard and William Hendricks. I will give the headings and a quote from each of these topics in chapter 39:

"We substitute interpretation for application

How easy it is to settle for knowledge rather than experience...To know and not to do is not to know at all. Knowledge without obedience is sin."

This is a huge one for me... I want to know a lot about the passage. I want to hear different takes on it. I want to be able to fully comprehend the passage... but, don't let it change me. That's too hard.

"We substitute superficial obedience for substantive life change

Here, we apply biblical truth to areas where we're already applying it, not to new areas where we're not applying it. Result: no noticeable change in our lives."

Have you ever done this before? I have. I love to think of areas that I am already doing well in. That sounds much more pleasant than exposing my weaknesses.

"We substitute rationalization for repentance

Most of us have a built-in early-warning system against spiritual change. The moment truth gets too close, too convicting, an alarm goes off, and we start to defend ourselves. Our favorite strategy is to rationalize sin instead of repenting of it."

We love to justify ourselves. It is as natural as breathing and I can say that this is my routine when scripture challenges me to change.

"We substitute an emotional experience for a volitional decision

That is to say, we study the Word of God, we emote under impact- but we make no real change. There's nothing wrong with responding emotionally to spiritual truth. In fact, believers could stand a lot more of it today. But if that's our only response- if all we do is water our handkerchiefs and sob a few mournful prayers, then go merrily on our way without altering our behavior in the slightest- then our spirituality boils down to nothing more than a vapid emotional experience."

"We substitute communication for transformation

We talk the talk, but we don't walk the walk. We think that if we can speak eloquently or convincingly about a point of Scripture, we're covered. We're off the hook. We've caused others to believe that we've got that biblical truth down. But God is not fooled."

Well, needless to say this chapter called me out. I found it so telling that I had to share it with others. Hopefully we can avoid these 5 pitfalls that are hindering our growth and growing our religion. Be blessed.

More Thoughts on Worry

In light of the increasing stress levels of our group I want to make sure that we are very clear and practical about how to handle worry. First off, to catch anyone up, this week at youth group we talked about stress. All of us have expectations placed on us and limitations of what we are capable of doing. We each have things that we need to accomplish and achieve and when they pile up one on the other eventually we get to the point where we are stressed. Most of our groups' stress comes from schoolwork, family pressures, sports schedules, and lack of time.

What does Jesus say to us? As we looked at Matthew 6 we saw that Jesus tells us, "Do not worry." Great.... How do we accomplish this? First of all, don't multiply worry. When we worry about something tomorrow we actually have to worry about it twice. Today has enough troubles of its own (Matthew 6:34). So, focus on what you are doing in the moment. If you are doing homework, then do your homework. If you are spending time with family, then spend time with family. If you are at practice, then focus on practice. There is an old saying that goes like this, "work hard and play hard, but don't confuse the two." Whatever the task is before you focus on that. Which leads me to say, divvy out your time. Have a planner and schedule what you are going to do. If you add up all the things in your day that you need to accomplish and you are only left with 4 hrs to sleep, then you need to punt a few things. We can't do it all. Be honest, you are human and you have limitations. Plan your time. Don't forget to plan to play! Make sure you have some fun time in there.

Here is where the message might have stung a bit. In light of all that Jesus says in the text, I think it is safe to say that when we worry it's because Jesus isn't occupying our heart's throne... something else is. That sucks to hear but I think it is true. When I was stressed this past weekend it was because my school work was on the throne of my heart. If only I could have finished all of my homework and gotten good grades then I would have entered into my heaven. Jesus wasn't central, Bible college was. If you are stressed then do a little introspection right now. What is your God? Is it work? Is it school? Is it the approval of others? What would make you happiest? Would it be if you got an A in your AP courses? Would it be if the girl you like went on a date with? How about if you had an easy day at work? Or if your parents would cut you some slack? If any of those things make you happiest then you need to wrestle with the idea that they might have replaced Jesus as your god. You might have someone or something other than Jesus occupying the throne of your heart.

When Jesus is priority in your life and you seek first His kingdom and His righteousness... then it follows that He gives peace and joy, even in the midst of busyness. Think about how bold the statement is, "Sorrowful yet always rejoicing." That is what Paul was able to say the Corinthian church(2 Cor 6:10) and he also told them earlier that, "up to this point we have become the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world" (1 Cor 4:13). If you think your life is rough check out Paul's. He had it bad yet he had a joy because he was seeking Christ's ways, His kingdom. That is where we fail. We have allowed our worries to become our gods and they never satisfy.

Here is what we need to do: Repent. We need to confess to Jesus that He has not been central in our lives. That schoolwork and sports and busyness have crowded Him out. We need to confess that to Him in repentance. Then we need to cling to Him and His forgiveness. He is gracious and kind, abounding in love. Finally, we need to allow Him to be priority number one. Chill with Him at the start of your day before you are even allowed to be overwhelmed with everything else. Let Him remind you of His infinite ability to get things done. Seek Him first and all these things will be given to you also (Matthew 6:33).

Place your worries at the cross. He will forgive. He is enough. Reap the benefits of the promise that when Jesus is on the throne of your life, He gives peace and joy.

Quote for the Day

I wanted to share this quote that I stumbled across this morning... It's from a new book that is coming out called, "A Lover's Quarrel with the Evangelical Church" by Warren Cole Smith. For a review of the title click here.

"As we pursue these industrial models of ministry, industry thrives, but ministry is weakened. One of the ironies we're beginning to see is that … even the world wants the church to be the church. It is the church that doesn't want to be the church. That's the core problem."

That quote stings a little. "Even the world wants the church to be the church" we should probably listen.

Should We Preach Someone Else's Sermon?

This little title has haunted me ever since I saw it. Plagiarism is a real problem and I think I have taken it too lightly in the past. I think I have been rather flippant in writing and saying other's ideas without giving credit.

The main thrust of the book is to do the exegetical work yourself. Do not go to commentaries or sermons before you wrestle with God over the message. Good point.

Simple Church

The "Simple Church" book is something that our staff is reading right now. It is a clarion call to have a single focus of making disciples and to unify and simplify the strategy.

So far so good.

Gospel-Centered Student Ministry

If you are a leader or you want to know more of why we do what we do at CSM, then check out this video from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary by Dr. Alvin Reid. Much of what is said in this address perfectly matches our vision for student ministry. Very cool to be a part of something much bigger than just our ministry.

The video is around 27 minutes long and well worth your time.