Martin Luther

November 4 is a momentous day for United States citizens.  With the touch of our fingers on a computer screen, we will cast votes that will impact the leadership and policy at all levels of our government for decades to come.

Today, October 31, is also a significant day.  Not because of costumes, candy corn, and cauldrons, but because of what happened on this day nearly 500 years ago.  On October 31, 1517, an Augustinian monk and professor of theology named Martin Luther posted 95 grievances against the teachings and practices of the Roman Catholic Church on the door of the Church of Wittenberg.  This common occurrence of posting debate challenges on the town bulletin board yielded a very abnormal result.  It proved to be the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back in sparking the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century.  Thus, October 31 is remembered by Christians (at least some) not as Halloween, but as Reformation Day.

The major tenets of the reformation movement were the re-estabilishment of the Scriptures as the only infallible source of authority for the church and the clarification that salvation was by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.  As reform swept across Europe, others were used by God to help fuel the fire set ablaze by Luther.  Zwingli, Calvin, Knox, and others devoted themselves to the task of preaching the gospel and challenging the established church at its core doctrines.  Were it not for God’s use of these mighty men’s preaching, writings, and lives, we might still be groveling under the shroud of a man-centered, hopeless, works-based religion.

So what then is the relationship between these two important dates:  October 31, 1517 and November 4, 2008?  As all history is interwoven and grafted together, the significance of this event from history past has enormous implications on this election.  As the awakening that started with Luther’s posting of the 95 theses spread to England, the reformers there were faced with immense and growing persecution from the monarchy which would not tolerate the notion that the Bible had greater authority than the king.  So several Christian Puritans left England and came to the New World on the Mayflower in 1620 and compacted to establish a new colony for the glory of God and the advancement of Christianity.  They committed themselves to enacting laws for the general public good and to forsaking selfish interests.

How far we have come since the pilgrim’s arrival on the beaches of the Massachusetts Bay!  They desired freedom of religion; we have mutated that wish into godless secularism.  They humbly submitted themselves to the “external word” of God (the Bible) that is eternally true and authoritative.; we proudly herald that there is no objective authority–each generation is free to decide what is “right” for them.  They believed in social good for all people; we have traded love for self-indulgence and laziness.  They cherished piety; we flaunt immorality.

We should thank God for those who have gone before us to secure the freedom we live in.  But let us take seriously the task of voting lest with the touch of our finger, we drift further away from the moorings of Christian liberty and find ourselves shipwrecked on the rocks of a godless society.

p.s. – thanks for spurring us on to think and write, Tim.

The following paragraph is an excerpt from a weekly update that my wife’s sister and her husband sent as missionaries serving in South Asia.  Their children are already learning of the offense of the gospel (1 Cor. 1:23) and that those “who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Tim. 3:12).

“While playing the other day, one of our kids accidently stepped on one of the local kids’ chalk drawing of one of their religion’s gods.  The kids apparently tried to tell them that JC was the one true Gd - and that didn’t help!  And then their friends got offended, and all of a sudden it seemed to turn into a small free-for-all against the little light-skinned foreigners and their ‘religion.’  Some strong words.  One of our kids got slapped.  Another one’s arm twisted.  After they came in from playing and told Mommy about it, one thing they kept saying was, ‘We were only trying to tell them the truth!’  It was a dose of reality, but still hard for the younger ones to understand why others don’t care about JC.”

I wanted to send my nieces and nephews an e-mail response in view of this recent incident, but that is not always easy to do because of the need to “clean-up” e-mails before they’re sent.  So instead I’m using this blog (which hasn’t been used for anything else in almost a year – actually, tomorrow will be a year) to communicate my thoughts to them.

Here is my encouragement to them::

To my much-loved nieces and nephews,

 

I read this week’s update with a heavy heart but also with great delight.  To hear about bruises, scratches, and ouches on those I love naturally concerns me.  But your stand for the truth fills my soul with joy to know that you are confessing Jesus before the kids (friends and foes) in your neighborhood.  Jesus said, “Everyone who confesses Me before men (or women or children), I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven” (Mat. 10:32). 

                        

I have been studying and preaching through the gospel of Matthew at our church in Georgia.  In Matthew 10, before He sends the apostles out as missionaries, Jesus explains to them what it means to be a disciple of His.  He tells them that following Him will not be easy.  It will even be very painful at times.  Some of those difficulties and costs include:  (1) being attacked by people (v. 16-18); (2) being betrayed by family members (v. 21)—I thank God that your mommy and daddy love Jesus too, but as you are no doubt learning, there are some children who are rejected by their parents for following Jesus; (3) being hated because of Jesus’ name (v. 22); (4) being forced to move because of persecution (v. 23); (5) being called names and mocked (v. 25); (6) being hurt and even killed (v. 28).

 

But Jesus also gives comforting words of encouragement to these missionaries.  Every Christian can know and experience these blessings in some measure, but frontier missionaries realize these promises in deeper and fuller ways.  These pleasures include:  (1) Knowing that you are sent by Jesus (v. 16); being able to give  testimony of Christ through your sufferings (v. 17-18); (3) being given the right words by the Holy Spirit when you don’t know what to say (v. 19-20); (4) experiencing God’s fatherly care (v. 20); (5) enjoying heaven at the end of it all (v. 22); (6) seeing firsthand, the gospel spread like wildfire (v. 23a); (7) knowing that you are part of Jesus’ family (v. 25); (8) being assured that the truth will win in the end—that truth that you were so bold to proclaim – “Jesus is the one true God” (v. 26-27); (9) knowing that all people can do is hurt your body—they can’t touch your soul (v. 28); and (10) having confidence that you are valued by God (v. 31).

 

Even numerically, the pleasures of following Jesus as missionaries beat out the pains (10-6).  But this is not a mathematical formula.  The blessings don’t just slightly edge out the costs.  The joys of following Jesus are immeasurably greater and will last for eternity.  Jesus said, “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.  Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great” (Mat. 5:11-12).

 

I know this recent incident is rather small in the grand scheme of the gospel’s advance and the persecution of the church, but I pray that God will use it (and others that may come) to make deep impressions on your hearts—that Jesus is more valuable than anything.  More than popularity, more than money, more than safety, even more than family; Jesus is worth more than anything.  I pray for you kids often.  I certainly pray for your safety and protection, but much more than that, I pray that you will be faithful, compassionate, bold, humble, passionate, and Truth-filled lovers, followers, and proclaimers of Jesus.  I know there will be times when you are afraid, but when those fears come, cling to Jesus and say, “When I am afraid, I will trust in You.  In God, whose word I praise, In God I have put my trust; I shall not be afraid.  What can mere man do to me?” (Ps. 56:3-4).

 

There may be people who think your mommy and daddy are crazy or even cruel for taking you kids out of America and into an “unsafe” place.  But I thank God for your parents’ willingness to “go” and their desire to see Jesus’ proclaimed where He is not yet named.  They have counted the cost and are faithfully following their Lord and Savior.  Their work (and yours) is an honorable one for the sake of the Kingdom.

 

I hold each of you very close to my heart and I hold you up in prayer to the Father who cares deeply for you.  Thank you for encouraging me by standing up for Jesus in your neighborhood.  May God use each one of you to “shake the gates of hell” through the progress of the gospel in South Asia!

 

With much love,

 

Your Proud Uncle Justin

 

“Give me one hundred men (or, ‘5 nieces and nephews’) who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God . . . and they alone will shake the gates of Hell and set up the kingdom of Heaven upon the earth.”  (John Wesley)

 

 While I really did like the “clever commercial“, it was not so clever to deserve a headline position for 6 weeks.  So to get it off of the top of my site and for your own edification, here are a few quotes from my current reading, Personal Declension and Revival of Religion in the Soul by Octavius Winslow (1808-1878).  I know that sounds like a ridiculously long title and may lead you to think, “Boring!”  But such a judgment would be way too hasty.  The forty pages I have read so far are packed full of heart-wrenching words for this follower of Christ with an ever-present evil tendency to forsake my first love, Jesus Christ.

The first paragraph of the book exposes the problem he is addressing in this work:

“If there is one consideration more humbling than another to a spiritually-minded believer, it is, that, after all God has done for him–after all the rich displays of his grace, the patience and tenderness of his instructions, the repeated discipline of his covenant, the tokens of love received, and the lessons of experience learned, there should still exist in the heart a principle, the tendency of which is to secret, perpetual, and alarming departure from God.”

And . . .

“The state of secret departure from God may exist in connection with an outward and rigid observance of the means of grace; and yet there shall be no spiritual use of or enjoyment in, the means.  And this, it may be, is the great lullaby of his soul.  Rocked to sleep by a mere formal religion, the believer is beguiled into the delusion that his heart is right, and his soul prosperous in the sight of God.  Even more than this, a declining believer may have sunk so deeply into a state of formality, as to substitute the outward and the public means of grace for a close and secret walk with God.”

One more . . .

“The loss of spiritual enjoyment, not of a spiritual perceptionof the loveliness and harmony of the truth, shall be the symptom that betrays the true condition of the soul.  The judgment shall lose none of its light, but the heart much of its fervour; the truths of revelation, especially the doctrines of grace, shall occupy the same prominent position as to their value and beauty, and yet the influence of these truths may be scarcely felt.”

I have been preaching through Matthew’s gospel for several months now.  This past Sunday I was in 5:27-30, that portion of the sermon on the mount where Jesus goes after the narrow, accepted standard of sexual morality.  It was easy for me to apply the text to the men, knowing from experience the temptations that relentlessly come to us.  But I needed some help in understanding the struggles women face in this area.  My wife then stepped up and wrote an article for our church bulletin on one such temptation that women face–modesty.  Below is her article for your education (men) and exhortation (women).

Summer is officially here!  Our sweaters are put away and our shorts are out.  In these hot Georgia summers, how do we as Christian women choose to adorn ourselves?  Are we attempting to look like and fit in with the world or are we setting ourselves apart for godliness?  Fashion magazines, clothing stores, television, peers, and our own desires to fit in or stand out all tell us and show us what we “need” to wear.  In our culture it is becoming more and more difficult to find stylish yet modest clothing.  You might ask, “Why is modesty really so important”?  We all have heard teaching on modesty numerous times, but it becomes a bit more obvious every summer that we need to be more diligent in applying God’s word in this area.  If modesty was an idea from man only, we could call it legalism.  However, instruction for being modest and chaste is God-given, so we must pay attention.  We will begin by going to the heart of modesty–our hearts!!

Modesty is the fruit of a well kept heart. In 1 Timothy 2:9 Paul states that “women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel” and the attitude in so doing is “with modesty and self-control”.  Practically speaking, “respectable attire” would be that which is not extravagant, showy, revealing or sexually enticing.  Paul’s appeal to Timothy was not a legalistic claim for women to dress in only a certain type of clothes.  In the contrary, it was an appeal for those “women making a claim to godliness” (1 Tim. 2:10) to appear as such.  The dress and appearance of women in the church is one way in which the church may distinguish itself from godlessness.  Our hearts are the center of our being, our minds, our wills, and our desires.  We have studied much in the past year about keeping our hearts with all diligence (Prov. 4:23) for “out of them spring the issues of life.”  The way we choose to adorn ourselves says much about the attitude and allegiance of our hearts.  Do our wardrobes communicate that we are God-fearers?  Modesty as defined in the Webster’s dictionary is “freedom from vanity or conceit” and “propriety in dress, speech, or conduct”. We can say then that immodesty is the fruit of a prideful heart.  Self-control is defined as “restraint over one’s impulses, emotions and desires.”  Here we can apply this teaching of modesty by being self-controlled and deliberate with our attire.  Even as I write this, I am praying and asking God to reveal any area of my heart or wardrobe that needs attention.  We are all about this heart work together. 

Modesty in our dress flows from a humble heart. Immodesty is an attempt to draw attention to myself instead of bringing glory to God.  This can simply be called arrogance or pride, a matter of the heart we must consider.  CJ Mahaney in his book Humility: True Greatness says, “The proud person seeks to glorify himself and not God, thereby attempting in effect to deprive God of something only He is worthy to receive.”  What is my motivation, then, when I am out shopping for new clothes or at my closet door choosing what to where?  Is it what will draw the most attention to me and my figure today?  Is it what will turn the eyes of men?  Or am I choosing modest yet attractive apparel to honor God?  Our prideful hearts say our preferences are better than God’s way.  Dethroning ourselves and our desires, and humbly submitting to God may require reassessing our wardrobes.  Be it casual or formal wear or swimwear, and whether church friends are around or not, this is an opportunity to be intentionally counter-cultural in expressing the fear of the Lord.  A wedding is an example of one such opportunity.  Brides and young ladies who will one day be brides, guard your hearts in your pursuit for the perfect dress.  Your wedding is a time to demonstrate the glory of God in the covenant of marriage.  For the Christian bride, this is one of the holiest times of your lives as you make vows before God and the church.  You are a display of the body of Christ being presented to the Groom.  This day should not be one to wear the most revealing thing you’ve ever worn.  You will be the center of attention.  A modest, yet beautiful dress should accentuate the face and heart of a bride who loves her Lord and her husband.  The same can be said for dress on Sunday mornings for worship as we gather to praise God, not one another. 

Modesty is one manner in which we serve others in the body of Christ. God has created men and women very differently with tendencies towards different types of sin.  As this morning’s message shows, Christian men must be constantly on their guard against the sin of lust.  How women dress can effect men and cause them to sin.  Even to those who are on guard and do not sin, it can be a great distraction.  We, as Christian women, can show care for our brothers in Christ by dressing modestly.  Church should be one place where they are protected from the sensual dress of women.  In this sense, we see modesty as being a matter of responsibility not just preference.  Al Mohler has this to say of men, “If it’s a male and he’s still breathing, he’s going to be struggling with visual stimulation that will lead him to sin.  And you need to care for your brothers, to serve them by not allowing that to happen.” 

Lastly, modesty assists in the furtherance of the gospel. As believers we are to be holy as Christ is holy.  We must live in a way that is consistent with our faith.  May there be no contradiction between our appearance before the world and the gospel message we proclaim.  It is the glory of God at stake and the world is watching!  As we live authentically, may we not tend towards self-righteousness.  We must love the lost, no matter how they are dressed.  Our ultimate goal is not to get them fully-dressed but to share the gospel that will save their souls. 

The exhortation given to women through Paul to Timothy is to all Christian women, young and old.  Even for our very young girls we have to search for modest clothing.  To the older women, your instruction to younger women, daughters and granddaughters is most effective when you model modesty as well.  Young women and girls, listen to the instruction of your fathers, mothers and older women in this area.  Their wisdom can provide great protection. 

God is the giver of all things beautiful!!  The call to modesty is not a call to be unattractive or to wear only burlap sacks.  We are to display the beauty and grace of womanhood that comes from a heart that finds ultimate pleasure in God.  Let’s assist one another in the high calling of well-kept, humble hearts that seek to exalt Christ.

If you are interested in reading or hearing more on modesty, here are a few helpful resources:

Modesty Survey – by the rebelutionaries

The Soul of Modesty – audio message by C.J. Mahaney

Modesty Heart Check - by the Girl Talk crew

“If God is totally sovereign over people’s salvation, why bother with evangelism?  I mean if God has chosen who will be saved, then it doesn’t matter whether or not we share the gospel with others, right?  If Calvin was right, can’t God just bring them to salvation without us?”

Questions like these are quickly brought forward as arguments against the doctrine of divine election.  A reformed understanding of the doctrines of grace (a.k.a. predestination, Calvinism, etc.) is regularly charged with deflating efforts in evangelism.  Is this necessarily true?  Certainly a hyper-calvinistic belief system which thinks real human responsibility is pure fiction would lead to an anemic or non-existent passion for evangelism.  But biblically, historically, and experientially, I can say with full confidence that a firm belief in God’s sovereign saving grace will actually bolster one’s tenacity for calling sinners to Christ.  The biblical arguments for this position are carefully laid out by J. I. Packer in his classic work, Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God.

Clearly less convincing than Scripture but still significant, the history of missions and evangelism is also filled with the stories of soteriologically reformed men who had a tenacious zeal for gospel-telling.  One such man was Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the “Prince of Preachers.”  He was certainly one of the church’s greatest evangelists – a Baptist/evangelist extraordinaire – and he was (gasp!) a “Calvinist.”

Did Spurgeon believe in the reformed doctrine of election (i.e. Calvinism)?  Hear his own words:

“There is no soul living who holds more firmly to the doctrines of grace than I do, and if any man asks me whether I am ashamed to be called a Calvinist, I answer–I wish to be called nothing but a Christian; but if you ask me, do I hold the doctrinal views which were held by John Calvin, I reply, I do in the main hold them, and rejoice to avow it.  But far be it from me even to imagine that Zion contains none but Calvinistic Christians within her walls, or that there are none saved who do not hold our views” (A Defense of Calvinism, C.H. Spurgeon).

But doesn’t belief in the doctrines of grace lead to passivity in evangelism?  Again, hear Spurgeon:

“If sinners will be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies.  And if they perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees, imploring them to stay.  If hell must be filled, at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go there unwarned and unprayed for” (Spurgeon At His Best, compiled by Tom Carter, (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1991 reprinted edition, first published 1988), 67).

So the rock-solid belief that God must sovereignly work to bring men and women and children to salvation does not stifle evangelism, but rather fuels it.  It gives us hope that the gospel’s heralding WILL be fruitful. 

The big issue, however,  is not how we “feel” about evangelism, but are we “doing” evangelism?  Are we actively and rightly telling others the only way to the Father through the Son?  We have been commanded by God to preach the gospel.  We have been commissioned to make disciples.  Am I obeying my Lord by ordering my life (time, resources, and energies) around these commands?

For very practical encouragement and help in evangelism, Jesse Johnson, outreach pastor at Grace Community Church, has a few new and helpful posts on evangelism over at Pulpit Magazine.

post 1; post 2

One of the more disturbing battlefronts of sin in my life is that of anger towards my children.  Those whom I love the dearest can at times be on the receiving end of my worst outbursts.  God knows this special temptation for fathers and their children.  Through the apostle Paul, we are commanded, “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Eph. 6:4).  He has given instruction about children and parents (plural) in verses 1-3.  But he narrows in with this specific challenge to dads (not moms) regarding anger in verse 4.  Why does anger so quickly flare up between dads and their kids? 

John Piper offers some sound instruction on this:

“In Ephesians 6:4, Paul begins by saying that fathers should not do something. “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger.” Of all the things Paul could have encouraged fathers not to do, he chooses this one. Amazing. Why this one? Why not, Don’t discourage them? Or pamper them? Or tempt them to covet or lie or steal? Or why not, Don’t abuse them? Or neglect them? Or set a bad example for them? Or manipulate them? Of all the things he could have warned fathers against, why this: “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger”?

He doesn’t tell us why. So let me guess from what I know of Scripture and life. I’ll suggest two reasons. First, he warns against provoking anger because anger is the most common emotion of the sinful heart in when it confronts authority. Dad embodies authority. Apart from Christ, the child embodies self-will. And when the two meet, anger flares. A two-year-old throws a tantrum and a teenager slams the door—or worse.

So I think Paul is saying, there is going to be plenty of anger with the best of parenting, so make every effort, without compromising your authority or truth or holiness, to avoid provoking anger. Consciously be there for the child with authority and truth and holiness in ways that try to minimize the response of anger. We’ll come back to how.

The second reason, Paul may focus on not provoking anger in our children is because this emotion devours almost all other good emotions. It deadens the soul. It numbs the heart to joy and gratitude and hope and tenderness and compassion and kindness. So Paul knows that if a dad can help a child not be overcome by anger, he may unlock his heart to a dozen other precious emotions that make worship possible and make relationships sweet.”

He goes on:

“The point I am stressing is this: When Paul says in Ephesians 6:4, “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger,” don’t just stop doing things that provoke anger; start doing things that remove anger—overcome anger. Start doing things that awaken in the heart of a child other wonderful emotions so that they are not devoured by anger—the great emotion eater.

The main task in all this is that you overcome your own anger and replace it with tenderhearted joy. Joy that spills over onto your children. When the mouth of dad is mainly angry, the tender emotions of a child are consumed. In other words, being the kind of father God calls us to be means being the kind of Christian and the kind of husband God calls us to be.”

My pastor, Howard Dial, also wrote some challenging words on anger in his weekly bulletin article.

“A father’s love for his children is to be supernatural and expressed in hundreds of ways. Fathers, God can make it possible for you to be patient beyond yourself by not giving up when your children disappoint you. You won’t reject them or yell at them when they embarrass you in front of others. You will tirelessly answer questions. Fathers with four and five year olds have some special opportunities to show their love toward sons and daughters whose imagination is at its height, who are meeting the challenges of learning to get along with others, and who have boundless energy.

A father’s love is not arrogant. It doesn’t attempt to bully his children into submission by brute force, threats, and the refusal to say I am or “I was wrong, will you forgive me?” Men, we do have a struggle with our pride don’t we? How easily it can get a choke hold on us and keep us from humbling ourselves in repentance and forgiveness.”

I so desperately want to be a kind, tender-hearted, joy-filled, and holy father to Cali, Carson, and Katie.  But unfortunately, I just don’t have it in me.  I can’t do it . . . alone.  By the grace of God at work through the Holy Spirit’s application of the gospel to my life, I can shepherd the hearts of my children in such a way that does not unnecessarily provoke them to anger.  Please pray for me, that “all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander” would be put away from me, “along with all malice.”  That I would be kind to my children, “tender-hearted, forgiving” them, “just as God in Christ also has forgiven” me (Eph. 4:31-32).  May our home be a happy one because Christ is there and His love is experienced and displayed in extraordinary measure through the ordinary happenings of everyday life!

This year, June 17 has 3 significant meanings for me–none of which have anything to do with Icelandic National Day.  Most obviously for us Americans, today is Father’s Day.

So, first, I can’t help but be especially grateful to God for my dad on this day.  He has been a rock in our family these three decades of my life.  For better or worse (though 90% of the time better), I see him in myself more all the time.  After I make up a silly song for my kids or say some jokingly sarcastic remark, Brook often says, “Okay, Chuck.”  Many of the greatest memories of my life have taken place with my dad.  I pray that God will give us many more wonderful memories together–outings, conversations, and even trials.

Second, this Father’s Day is special to me because it is my 5th one as a dad.  While my kids don’t really recognize the difference of this day over another, today does cause me to think about my children with great joy and proper intrepidation.  The happiness my kids bring me is unmatched.  However, the sobering responsibility I have as a father to bear the image of God to them in a unique way is also very weighty.  As John Piper says, “[Children] ought to see in their human father a reflection—albeit imperfect—of the heavenly Father in his strength and tenderness, in his wrath and mercy, in his exaltation and condescension, in his surpassing wisdom and patient guidance. The task of every human father is to be for his children an image of the Father in heaven.”  Cali, Carson, and Katie, your goofy dad loves you more than you’ll ever know.

Today is also significant for a third reason.  On June 17, 1997, after Brook followed a trail of carefully placed clues and gifts, I knelt down on one knee and asked my best friend to marry me.  10 years ago today, I happily offered the rest of my life to the love of my life.  Four days from now will mark the anniversary of when she actually said yes . . . just kidding.  For some reason she didn’t even hesitate.  What a journey the Lord has brought us on in this decade of life together.  So Happy Engagement Anniversary, babe.  I love you very much and never get tired of saying it.

Several years ago my wife and I made a trip to Chad, Africa with some friends of ours from our time in California.  Our friends, Rob and Vicki Anthony, had served as missionaries in Chad for many years before having to return to the States on account of health issues.  Soon after we met them, God opened the door for them to return to Africa.  In preparation for a move back, they needed to travel to Chad short-term to arrange for housing and do some preparatory logistical work.  So at their invitation, Brook and I decided to join them and explore what missionary life was like in a place like Africa.

The Anthony’s are a very fun couple to travel with.  We had many hilarious happenings during our long travels to and from Chad.  One such humorous memory occurred on our trip back home.  We were on an Air France flight from Paris to LA.  Right from the beginning, I knew this was going to be a miserably long flight (yeah, yeah, I know it still beats traveling by boat like they used to).  We were seated in the very last row of the airplane in the middle section.  At my preference, I had taken an aisle seat (easy escape to toilet). 

Shortly after takeoff we became aware that they were having power difficulties with about a 15-row section of seats on the airplane, which included our row.  So the TV, radio, and lights were in non-working condition.  I thought, “I don’t really want to watch a movie in subtitles anyways.  I’ll read instead.”  But as they started the movie, the announcement came through the PA system asking people in window seats to shut their shades to keep the glare off the television screens.  So I had to put my book away since it caused great eye-strain to read in the low light.  “Fine, I’ll just sleep.”  Not long after trying to doze off, a group of Germans began to congregate at the back of the plane in the aisle next to me.  It was immediately obvious that they had put down several beers before they ever boarded the airplane.  They were smelly, loud, and smelly.  This was in the middle of summer, so sleeveless shirts and sweaty armpits were in order.  The deodorant-less, hairy armpits of my German flight-buddies were right next to my head–men and women mind you.  

As they continued to drink and laugh, they became less stable on their feet.  The lady attempting to stand immediately next to me kept unapologetically falling on me.  Finally, she gave up and just sat slouching on my armrest.  I kept pushing against her with increasing force, but to no avail.  So I sat in 2/3 of my tiny seat leaned over toward my snoozing wife.  Now I can’t watch a movie because the TV doesn’t work; I can’t listen to the radio because it doesn’t work (and this was before the days of the ipod); I can’t read because the light is out of order and the window shades are pulled; I can’t sleep because of the stinky drunk people next to me; and I don’t have anyone who is awake and English-speaking to talk to.  So I basically just sat there, stared, and moaned about how miserable I was.  I know I should have been redeeming the time by praying, singing, meditating on Scripture, or using this minute “trial” as an opportunity to think hard about the REAL sufferings that many Christians are enduring for the gospel’s sake.  Instead, I just threw myself a wicked little self-pity party.

Okay–none of that really has to do with the purpose of this article.  I only give you this background to show why my “funny” memory is actually funny to me.  When you are that tired and everything seems to be going wrong, circumstances that are not normally funny become quite hilarious.

Apparently, there was a Frenchman who could not put the cigarettes away for that length of flight.  In spite of the pre-flight announcement that smoking in the lavatories was “strictly forbidden by law,” somebody was doing it anyway.  So about halfway across the Atlantic, the following announcement began to be repeated continually in French first, and then “translated” into English:  “Please remember that there is to be no smoking in airplane lavatories; Violators will be persecuted.”  I told you, it’s really not that funny; just a French flight attendant mistakenly saying “persecuted” instead of “prosecuted.”  But it was very funny to me at the time.  And whoever was smoking in there apparently wasn’t getting the message, because they kept repeating the message over and over for about an hour.  I just had this picture of some guy exiting the tiny toilet in a cloud of smoke and being faced with people hurling anti-smoking insults at him, spitting on him, spilling their little 6 oz drinks on his smoke-saturated shirt, and tossing rock-hard airplane rolls at his head.

The flight attendants knew there was somebody smoking in the lavatory because a smoke alarm had been set off.  After walking through the CDG airport, I’m pretty sure just the smell off of any passenger’s clothes might set the alarm off.  But smoke alarms work like this I guess:  at a certain level of smoke, something triggers the detector mechanism and the alarm sounds.  There is an acceptable level of smoke, but when that level is exceeded, the alarm goes off.

The Bible says that “all those who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Timothy 3:12).  There is an acceptable level of religion in the world.  Religious people are tolerated to a certain degree.  Humanity can peacefully co-exist with a certain measure of Christianity.  They reason, “It is okay for you to go to your church and read your Bible and pray over your food.  What’s good for you is just not what’s good for me.”  But there is a threshold of tolerance–that accepted level of devotion to Christ.  When we cross that accepted level of zeal for Christ and truly lay down our lives in devotion to Him, walk in obedience to His commands, and live with hearts transformed into His likeness, then alarms begin to sound.  And for those who trigger the alarms, the Air France translation holds true:  “Violators will be persecuted!”

So the question I ask in self-evaluation is this:  Does my life emit enough fumes, smoke, and heat to trigger any alarms in the coach cabin of this world?  Is my “Christian life” lived at or below or even well under the acceptable level of zeal for the Lord?  Am I so engrafted into this world and its ways and its thinking that I am no real threat to the pagan culture?  Is my life smelly enough to even be persecutable?

Our church is using Kent Hughes’ book, Set Apart:  Calling a Worldly Church to a Godly Life, for the summer care group study.  The author is calling the church to reclaim Her distinctiveness in the world and accept the painful costs of that commitment as well as enjoy the lasting fruit.  On the book’s jacket, he writes, “Evangelical Christianity is becoming increasingly worldly.  Materialism, hedonism, violence, sexual misconduct, pluralism, and divorce are becoming as common within the church as without.  As a result the church is losing its distinct identity as a people set apart to reach the world.”  He clearly makes the biblical case that a worldly church cannot impact the world.  We must be distinct.  That distinction, which is salt to a decaying society and light to a dark world, will also bring with it hostility.  The truly and visibly righteous will be persecuted (Matt. 5:10-12). 

So again I ask myself, “Am I persecutable?”  Do my unsaved friends, neighbors, and family members find total comfort and ease around me?  Or is there a right level of animosity, not because of my abrasive personality, but because of the offense of the gospel and its visible display through my good deeds?  May we who love Christ live in such a way as to far surpass the accepted level of devotion to Christ that the culture has established!  When we do, be sure that “violators will be persecuted.”

Living on a busy road in semi-rural Georgia like we do, it is pretty common for the lives of white-tailed deer to be snuffed out on our street by the bumpers of fast-moving cars and trucks.  The drivers are left with some costly body damage and the deer are left with fatal body damage.  A few days after the deer have met their end, the decaying processes set in.  Then later as the stench begins to rise into the air, the vultures show up.  I used to complain about these nasty little scavengers.  But with just a little thought about the design and function of these birds, my tune quickly changed. 

My “inspiration” (that’s a stretch) for writing about vultures came from an all-too-typical deer death on Corinth Road.  A nice sized Bambi was hit three days ago a mile down from our house.  Its lifeless body lay there for probably 48 hours before the vultures picked up the putrid scent.  When our family went out for a pizza dinner yesterday evening, 8-10 dirty birds were just beginning their own smorgasbord of venison.  Then not but about 20 hours later, I drove by the crime scene again.  The vultures were still there working on a few scraps, but there were absolutely no visible remnants of that deer.  That is truly amazing to me.  I guarantee our county workers do not dispose of road kill deer that quickly.

God knew what He was doing when He made the vulture.  Their ability to live the grotesque lifestyle they do screams of divine design.  Their entire diet consists of the decaying, disease-filled carcasses of road kill.  What would sicken and possibly kill us by just touching it, these birds eat for their survival and to their satisfaction.  God made the vulture with a stomach that can tolerate the deadly germs and bacteria they ingest.  They kill bacteria like anthrax, cholera, and botulism during the digestion process, eliminating those threats to us.  God made their heads featherless so they are more easily cleaned from the disease-filled blood that gets on them.  He made them to frequently stand on the ground with wings spread out so as to bake the bacteria off their wings and sanitize them with the heat of the sun.  God made the vulture with a very unique sanitation system for its feet called urohydrosis.  Basically, the vulture defecates on its own legs, with the uric acid killing the bacteria it picks up while resting on its rotten food. 

My intention with this is not to gross you out–though I likely have accomplished that for many, including my wife.  I draw attention to the ugly vulture as an example of the intentionality that is evident in God’s creation.  No creature is an accident or the product of chance plus time, but the unique and purpose-filled creation of a God who made all things, great and small, to declare His glory.  So the next time I run by a venue of vultures gorging themselves on a dead deer, I will remember to worship the Lord for His wisdom in creating this bird that protects me from deadly diseases and makes this world a better place.  So please join me in thanking God for vultures.

I don’t know why I haven’t seen this until now since over 4 million people have already viewed it.  This is pretty amazing.  And don’t worry, no animals were harmed (fatally) in the making of this movie.  If you are a big fan of water buffalos, keep watching for the happy ending.  Thanks, JK, for the head’s up on this.

In my last post, I discussed the criteria I use when evaluating potential songs for corporate worship.  Today I want to disclose some of the ministries that most consistently produce music that falls within these criteria.  While I may not be in total agreement on every fine point of doctrine with these folks, they each have a high view of God, the Scriptures, and the Gospel which is seen clearly in the music they write.

•Sovereign Grace Music.  The music division of Sovereign Grace Ministries (formerly PDI) is constantly producing gospel-rich, biblically-solid, and culturally relevant music for churches.  Their stated mission is as follows:

“We are committed to developing a biblical understanding of worship, and to producing songs that exalt God’s Word, works, and worthiness.  Because God’s glory is too great to be confined to any one style or culture, we seek to draw from the rich heritage of the past while utilizing the best musical ideas and technology of the present.  Moreover, each song we release is designed to be faithful to Scripture and musically suitable for use within the local church.”

Sovereign Grace Ministries was founded by pastor and author, C.J. Mahaney.  His long-time ministry partner, Bob Kauflin, is the primary worship leader and songwriter featured in their music.  They have done a great service to the church by producing a plethora of rich, Christ-centered music over the last two decades.  Some of their songs that we have used include:  “Not to Us,” “The Gospel Song,” “Before the Throne of God Above,” “Be Praised in All the Earth,” “I Will Glory in My Redeemer,” “Your Great Renown,” as well as re-written versions of “Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise” and “Fairest Lord Jesus.”

On their website they have many CDs available for purchase and sheet music offered for free download.

•Getty Music.  This is the ministry of Irish composers, Keith and Kristyn Getty.  Their mission is “to revive the art of hymnody for a new generation.”  From their website:

“There are two reasons we write modern hymns.  First, it is to help teach the faith.  What we sing affects how we think, how we feel and ultimately how we live, so it’s so important that we sing the whole scope of truth the Bible has given us.  The second reason is to try and create a more timeless musical style that every generation can sing, a style that relates to the past and the future.”

The 100+ “modern hymns” they have written are a real gift to the church today.  These are the types of songs the church will likely be singing until the Lord returns.  Their music provides that rare combination of well-crafted lyrics and simplicity of melody that gives them their enduring quality.  Some of the songs we have sung include:  “In Christ Alone,” “How Deep the Father’s Love for Us,” “Speak, O Lord,” “See What a Morning,” “Father, We Have Sinned,” and “Let the Earth Resound.”

Their website has CDs, songbooks, and down-loadable sheet music available for purchase.  Their latest CD, “In Christ Alone,” has been recently made available in many Christian bookstores in the U.S.

•Indelible Grace Music.  This is the worship ministry that grew out of Reformed University Fellowship (RUF), a college ministry connected to the PCA.  Their main emphasis is on writing contemporary melodies to old hymns.

“Our hope is to help the church recover the tradition of putting old hymns to new music for each generation, and to enrich our worship with a huge view of God and His indelible grace . . . We want to be a voice calling our generation back to something rich and solid and beyond the fluff and the trendy.  We want to remind God’s people that thinking and worship are not mutually exclusive, and that not everything worth knowing happened in the last three years.  We want to invite the Church to appreciate her heritage without idolizing it.  We want to open up a world of passion and truth and make it more than just an archaic curiosity for the religiously sentimental.”

Songs we use include modern versions of:  “Sovereign Grace O’er Sin Abounding,” “A Debtor to Mercy Alone,” “Whate’re My God Ordains Is Right,” “From the Depths of Woe,” “Jesus, I, My Cross Have Taken,”  “Come Ye Sinners,” and “I Sing the Mighty Power of God.”

Their website has some great articles on worship as well as their free downloadable hymnbook.  They also have CDs available for purchase.

Other Resources:

cyberhymnal.org – an extensive online database of hymns.  It is searchable by title, tune, topic, composer, or meter.  The audio samples are quite annoying, but there is no comparable “one-stop-shopping” place for hymns out there.  We have found a number of great texts here that we have written updated tunes for.

grassrootsmusic.com – helpful online store to find new and indie artists.  They have many mp3 samples available to hear new groups.

worshipmatters.com – Bob Kauflin’s weblog on worship.  Great resource for insight and discussion on worship-related issues.

songselect.com – a resource from CCLI for churches and worship leaders.  You can search the massive database of registered songs, hear samples, see lyrics, and get chord sheets and lead sheets in the key of your choosing.  This site is comprehensive, and therefore a mixed bag.  Some songs that pop up in searches are ridiculously flawed theologically.  But I have found a number of great tunes here as well.

Grace Hymns - topically arranged hymnal of older, biblically-rich texts.  There are no musical scores provided for the hymns, only the meters.  We generally just use a more familiar tune with the same meter or write our own melody for the unknown texts.

Worship Leader Magazine/Song Discovery – valuable resource to know what is going on in worship leading and song-writing.  Sort of the “Christianity Today” or worship leading.  You won’t agree with too much of what you read, but you at least know what trends are out there.  The Song Discovery CDs contain new worship songs from a variety of sources.  Most don’t fit well within my criteria, but there are those occasional gems on there that pleasantly surprise me.

I certainly don’t limit my song-searching to these resources, they have just proven to be the most consistent suppliers of good congregational worship music.  If you have any other good resources for worship leading I would be very interested to hear of them.

*UPDATE – Reformed Praise is another great modern hymn-writing group.  I became familiar with this ministry a few years ago while the founder, David Ward, was a student at SBTS.  They have since overhauled the website and have made their music more easily accesible.  I had kind of forgotten about Reformed Praise and lost it from my favorites menu when my computer crashed last year.  So thanks for the reminder, Stomps. 

This past Saturday, our church hosted the 2nd annual Bosnia Brze (Bosnian word for “fast”).  This is a 5k race that raises money for the summer short-term missions team going to Gorazde, Bosnia.  This year I managed to shave just over 9 minutes off of last year’s time.  I still got beat by a girl, though.  The big news this year, however, was the Mrs.’ fine showing.  My speedy little wife, who started running for the first time in her life early this year, was the 3rd place female finisher and got around the challenging off-road course in a brze 28:35 for her first race ever.  If the race had been a 10k, she would have caught me and blown by me.  She has been doing weekly long runs of 8-10 miles, a distance I couldn’t touch right now.  Anyways, here are the results and some photos.  Thanks to all who organized this excellent and fun event.

After last year’s race, I was inspired to begin running regularly.  I started to train consistently and worked toward running a 10k last September.  I ended up running three 10k’s last fall with my best time at 49:23.  Then I got lazy as the weather turned cold.  And I have been sitting on my duff since November of last year until about two weeks before the Bosnia Brze.  My plan is to let this event be the kick to my pants needed to get me back in decent fitness.  I’ll keep you posted . . . as if you cared.

Please do pray for the team going to Bosnia as they prepare for a June 24 departure.  The 2-week trip will consist of teaching English to children with the hopes of seeing doors opened into their homes for the gospel.  We have 5 folks going this year and they will need much strength, patience, and boldness as they go as ambasaddors for Christ in a spiritually dark, Muslim place that is very suspicious of Christians.

Between comments about the guitar being too loud and words being misspelled on the screen, I occasionally get questions like, “Where did you find that song?”, “Where can I get the music for that hymn?”, “Why don’t we ever sing                        song?”, and “Why don’t you keep your blog site updated anymore?”  The last question will not be answered here.  But for those that might benefit from a “behind the scenes” look into worship music selection, here is my disclosure of the music resources I often draw upon for our congregational worship music and the criteria I use for judging which music to employ and which music to exclude.  I will examine the criteria in this post and give the resources in the next.

The search for quality worship songs is both enjoyable and exhausting.  Large doses of diligence and discernment are required to listen through the overabundance of new music out there that falls into the nebulous genre of “Christian worship music” and find those few nuggets of lyrical gold that are well-suited for congregational singing in our context.  With the advances in technology (especially the Internet), the amount of Christian music out there can be overwhelming.  So how do we begin to sort the musical wheat from the chaff?  What do we look for when evaluating potential congregational worship songs?  The answer is pretty obvious:  lyrics and music.

The lyrics need to be:  (1) Biblically sound.  We want to sing words that make us think God’s unchanging thoughts.  The words of the song must be theologically accurate.  We remember what we sing (for better or worse), so we want to sing truth.  (2) Godward.  Worship is not just an activity for us; it is a service to Another–to God.  So we want there to be a distinct God-centeredness in the songs we sing.  Even if they are songs of confession, the general tenor of the lyrics must direct our thoughts toward the Divine.  (3) Artistically fresh.  Words should not be boring or dull, but communicate age-old and unchanging truth in fresh and thought-provoking ways.  Songs are poems set to music.  We intuitively know there is a difference between good poetry and bad poetry.  So just because the words rhyme and are true does not make them well-suited for worship.  They must be excellently written.

The music is evaluated by:  (1) Singability.  The melody should be logical and simple for the congregation to follow.  Some songs are great for personal listening, but not suited for congregational singing because of the complexity or irregularity of the melody.  (2) Appropriateness.  The tune should fit the text.  Words of jubilation should not be sung in a minor dirge.  And songs of contrition should not be sung to the tune, “Ode to Joy.”  (3) Compatibility.  The style of our worship music must cross the cultural and generational gaps in our congregation.  We want diversity of musical “style” that ministers to the entire flock.

While we may occasionally find great worship songs from a broad range of the more popular sources, there are a few lesser-known ministries that more consistently provide worship music for the church that falls within these parameters.  In my next post, I will provide information for and links to three of the main resources we use at BBC for finding worship music.

My kids’ pre-school had a “Donuts with Dad” day a couple of weeks ago.  In Cali’s class, each student “wrote” (audibly with some penmanship help from their teacher) about his or her father.  There were some pretty hilarious thoughts that came out of those 4 and 5 year-old little brains.  Over at Three Little Monkeys, my wife has posted Cali’s description of me.  What is so interesting to me is that there is an element of truth to everything she says.  But her perception of reality makes it very (that’s for you, Fargus) funny.

I am in sunny and warm southern California right now to attend the Shepherd’s conference with my good friend and fellow elder, Van Edwards.  We’re sitting in a “hot spot” with the smell of shoe polish in the air (shoe-shine station next to us) and the sound of happy shepherds all around.  There is something special about being here.  Everyone is a friend.  There is no searching for common interests.  We all (at least I hope) care deeply for God’s church and are giving our lives to shepherd His flock.

It is good to be back in the place where Brook and I lived three fast and wonderful years of our lives.  The week promises to be a spiritual feast for a hungry pastor.  Christ-centered preaching, encouraging conversations with fellow pastors, rekindling friendships from the past, buying new books, consuming In-and-Out burgers and fries–what more could you ask for?  For one thing, I might ask that my wife be here to enjoy these things with me.  Instead, she is graciously sitting this one out and taking care of our munchkins.  In fact, she has had an exciting time already.  Read and laugh about one of those experiences at Three Little Monkeys.  Thank you, Brook.  And keep Carson away from Cali’s hair.

I am also grateful to our church for the opportunity to be here.  I am thankful to God that they see my training and spiritual growth as important enough to pay for me to come to these conferences.  May I not squander this blessing but take advantage of every session and conversation, and come home filled with renewed vigor for Christ’s Bride.   

Tonight the Berachah Bible Church men’s basketball team attempts to remain undefeated in the Fayette County rec league.  Even with the new tithing cap in place, we have managed to be successful during off-season recruiting due to sure-fire evangelistic techniques and more aggressive “sheep stealing,”  and have assembled our first well-rounded and winning team.  If you can pull yourself away from American Idol tonight, come see the boys in action at 8:00 pm in the old Fayette County high school gym.

I also refuse to make any boastful predictions about our team’s potential success, particularly during the post-season tournament.  I have learned my lesson since last time . . . and the time before that.

Add this to the list of things that Jesus and I disagree with Mr. Money about–our evaluation of John the Baptist.  Go ahead and disagree with me, but I wouldn’t question Christ, who said, “among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist!” (Mat. 11:11).  The preacher from just down the road thinks that it was John’s fault he was beheaded because he “lost his head” in anger and unbelief about Jesus (Mat. 11:1-6).  I have been preaching through Matthew and am in chapter 3 right now.  In my “research” on this passage, I came across this video.  Here is a great example of how NOT to handle the Scriptures.

*BTW, this is the first video I have ever posted.  I have tried before and failed.  I’m quite puffed up with pride at this moment.