Violaters Will Be Persecuted

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.”

Thank God for Vultures!

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.

Battle in the Bush

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.

Meandering through the Musical Maze, chapter 2

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. 

24:24

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.

Meandering through the Musical Maze

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 Daughter . . . Cali

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.

Sweet Home California!

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.   

4-0?

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.

Creflo the Dollar versus John the Baptist.

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.