Season Of Shaking
There is no doubt that during this digital age there is a new expediency when it comes to news and response to news via the social mediums at our fingertips. The dynamic this has placed on the Church and its efforts to have a nationwide and worldwide effect somewhat resembles popular news and tabloid reactions we see outside of the Church. My first reaction on hearing the news of C.J. Mahaney choosing to take a leave of absence (his blog post here) was to think of it as unfortunate and to be somewhat curious of the reasons. I just had the opportunity to listen to a message preached by Joshua Harris at Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg, MD, sharing their church’s reaction to the now public events that have been rocking the Sovereign Grace Ministry leaders and family of churches. Here is a link to that message.
I was very encouraged to here Harris’ heart (and representatively the church’s) regarding the recent events. To step back and acknowledge attack, trials, accusations, the revealing of sin and slander as a process of God shaking their ministry, their leaders and their church is nothing but encouraging. Harris even reveals the tendency for himself to have an elitest view when considering other churches compared to their own. What a common temptation for us all! The thing is, and Harris points this out through Hebrews 12, God is being faithful and loving to not let the sin that has so easily entangled them to continue to bind them. He has brought them into a season of shaking that may be painful for a time but they can be confident in God’s promise to them as sons and daughters.
As an outsider regarding their family of churches and ministry and yet as a brother in Christ I am not only encouraged but thankful for their example. No matter what the final outcome is when God is done shaking one thing is certain,
For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. -Hebrews 12:11
For those of us in Christ watching things unfold for Sovereign Grace, its leaders and family of churches, we need to remember that God loves them and even though it hurts, they (and we at some point) must be trained by His discipline. Our hearts go out to our brothers and sisters of the Sovereign Grace family.
The Fatal Fear Of Man
When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them. and although they were seeking to arrest him, they feared the crowds, because they held him to be a prophet.
This verse from Matthew 21:45-46 is the conclusion of The Parable Of The Tenants where Jesus challenges the chief priests and Pharisees in Jerusalem to recognize who He is and how even the Scriptures spoke of Him in Psalm 118:22,23 when it says,
The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes.
What convicts me from this passage is that when the chief priests and Pharisees heard Jesus’ parable, they recognized that it was probably about them but their reaction was not brokenness. They didn’t have an overwhelming fear and began begging Jesus on how they could be saved from their plight. Matthew doesn’t even record that they stopped to ponder the implications of what this could mean for their souls. Instead, I read the reality of how their hardness of their hearts and their hatred for Jesus was so solid and set in their seeking to arrest him. What stopped them? Not conviction. Not contemplation. Not the piercing words of Truth. No, it was the fear of men that kept them from revealing their true colors.
I don’t hate Jesus. By the grace of God He has loved me and has revealed that love to me – therefore I love Him. But I know there are attitudes that are hiding deep in my heart that are hidden and remain hidden due to my own selfish fear. Whether it is a fear of men or a fear of consequences I know that there are things that I don’t deal with to save my own neck. The Pharisees held back because they feared the possibility of being hated, attacked or held accountable by a crowd for their hatred of Jesus. What is sad and ironic is their blindness to where a true fear should have resided in their hearts. Jesus even spelled it out in verses 43-44,
Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits. And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.
I pray that my selfish fears, my desire to preserve my own life or my own reputation would cause me to miss the big picture. What a reminder that I need God’s help to see the true dangers to my soul!
Rocking The Church Boat
It seems like a lot of what I’m stumbling upon in blogs, evangelical news, christian books and the like has really been challenging the modern day form of the local church. I recognize that in some ways it has always been subject to scrutiny. As a child, I remember families (that were vaguely connected to our church) that were big on having their own personal family churches rather than setting an importance on meeting once a week in a building with other families who claimed Christ. While in college, we watched the rise of the Emergent Church (who knows what that means now?) and it really rocked some of our boats. I remember being asked some provocative questions about church liturgy and really having to stop and almost reboot my thinking just to remember what I believed about the church and why.
There was instance in particular that I remember from the early days of our marriage in Northern California. My wife, Bekah, and I were visiting a church of a close friend that was hosting a worship night. I remember walking in and immediately being critical of the aesthetics and lighting, thinking, “Here we go again, another church trying to be….” whatever it is churches are trying to be these days. You know. Dark. Candles. Mellowed out songs. Emotional. It was. I remember being drawn into the emotion. Then, at one point, they announced we would be participating in communion after a short video shown for contemplation and reflection.
The video took everything that my local church experience had been like up until that point (26 years old) and very smoothly, and deliberately, made it look like the most empty and worthless form of gathering for worship I could have ever drummed up. It was like, “You’ve been doing this, but don’t you think Jesus doesn’t like that? Let me back that up with a vague Scripture reference that might be out of context but you don’t know the difference because you can’t look at it right now because you’re watching a video in a dark room (no iPhone at that point) plus, that’s being critical.” Now let’s take communion. What!? I couldn’t. Bekah couldn’t. We felt weird. I felt like I needed to take a sabbatical from life just to make sure I was a part of the church God wants me to be. This has been going on for a LONG time…rocking the church boat.
The Trellis And The Vine has been a good balance to what is going on out there. The church is always going to be under some sort of examination and we know that’s a good thing. It keeps things in check. The question is what is the standard in which we hold the current church up to in order to make sure we are following God’s plan? Chapter 4, “Is Every Christian A Vine-Worker?” was a great challenge to the local church to look at how people are perceived in their roles as part of a local body:
Even since the Reformation, with its insistence on the priesthood of all believers, Christians have adopted different models and traditions of ministry–some in which the leader or pastor is so central and dominant that the congregation are little more than spectators, and others in which anti-clericalism has gone so far as to abolish the role of ‘pastor’ or ‘overseer’ altogether.
The authors then ask, “what does the Bible say?” That’s what we need to know. The rest of the chapter really builds on the fact that, “the goal of all this ministry (whoever is doing it) is the building of the body of Christ to unified, doctrinally sound maturity,” and that happens when we speak the truth in love to one another in our homes, churches and communities.
As Christians (and unfortunately, culture) continue to wrestle with what the local church should really look like and be doing with itself, it is important for us to always be careful. We need to be testing everything against Scripture. As my generation begins to grab hold of the wheel of the church, we must be convinced and firm about what we are here to do. That’s where the boat starts rocking. That’s the question everyone keeps trying to answer, “What are we (the church) doing here?” What do you think? Why? Where’d you get that from?
Happy Birthday, Dr. Boys
It seems that God has been bringing to my mind, more than ever before, the great blessing godly parents are to children. Placed in the leadership role of that blessing is the dad. Let me say that my brother and I have been, and truly are, blessed. Our dad has been a model of grace and truth in my life. His devotion to honor His Creator by seeking to know and explain God’s Word in the most effective and accurate way through his life ministry (and the fact that he has been doing it faithfully since I was a child) tops all “my dad is bigger than your dad” arguments. His example of patient, loving grace as a father and husband does nothing short of calling my brother and I to desire the same for our own lives and homes. I don’t take lightly the immense gift my Heavenly Father has giving to me in my dad.
Happy Birthday, Dr. Boys.
Grace Has Been Given
I think it’s hard for me to grasp the idea of grace. It’s a huge concept with multiple facets (and could never be explained in one blog post). As a church boy, I know that grace is a gift given that is unmerited or undeserved. Pretty easy to say. Where I am being challenged right now is do I look at that gift as just freedom from a penalty? Do I really understand all that is wrapped up in grace?
The grace I speak of has been given by God (Eph. 2:1-10). It is no doubt the gift of being saved through faith in Jesus Christ. Because of my sin, I was dead but I have been raised to life. I was a slave to wrong ways (unrighteousness) but I was bought and set free from that bondage. Yet, I wasn’t just pardoned from a penalty. I wasn’t just raised to live. I wasn’t just saved from bondage. These aspects of salvation are more on the side of mercy and yet it seems like the common perceptions of salvation stop at the fact that God has set us free to live life eternal…but there is so much more to it! The penalty, death and slavery were taken from me and put on Christ.
He broke the chains of slavery by living a perfect life and fulfilling a Law that I never could. The penalty for breaking that Law was taken off of me and placed on Him. He then conquered the death I brought upon myself by taking it, dying my death and conquering it by rising from that death. All of these things He did so that His amazing grace would not nullify His justice. And then…
He has taken the blessing (see Desiring God interview with Tim Keller) that Christ deserves and has placed it on me. He has imputed (given, ascribed) His righteousness to me. I wasn’t just saved from something. I was given something. Grace has been given. I was made right, I was justified before God through Christ. I have been given eternal life and that is more than I can fathom but the truth is, the grace that I have been given is Jesus Christ.
This Is Not America
if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
2 Chronicles 7:14 (ESV) is not about the United States of America. As our country watches the events of Saturday’s masacre in Arizona unfold involving 6 fatalities as well as 14 other victims, we see people coming out of the woodwork to make meaning out of what has happened. One group in particular has not only gained the reputation of being infuriatingly obnoxious and offensive but they claim to be representing a message from God.
Members from Westboro Baptist Church show a perfect example of what it means to take God’s Word out of context. Their basic bent is that the sin of our land (and its inhabitants) has brought punishment and judgement in the form of all tragic losses whether it be the death of a soldier or the victims in Tucson. Where they are mistaken is that such a claim would make them either prophets or somehow ‘in’ on the council of God.
This is frustrating to me, as a Christian, because as one who bears the name of Christ my desire is for the world hear HIS words from His Word and to see HIS love through His people. I think picketing a funeral of a little girl who was a victim of a senseless crime is not only cowardice, insensitive and unthoughtful…it’s just lame. Speak the Truth, but speak it in love and don’t take it out of context while causing a ruckus in the presence of a mourning family. In their case, the question needs to be asked, “What is true?”
The truth is that our nation is full of corruption and sinful people (all Americans included). We all need to be humbled. We all need to be reconciled to God. We all need Christ to be our great Mediator. We all need to tap in to the Truth found in God’s Word. Are there principles that America (or any other nation) can take away from what God intended for Israel? Of course! Is it not wise for people to humble themselves? To pray? To seek the face of God? To turn from their wicked ways? All of these things may not be wise to all of the world but according to the economy of the Lord they are obviously valuable to Him. The point is, in 2 Chronicles 7 God is telling His people, Israel, during the time of Solomon, that if they do these things then He will, “hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
What does God want from America? In one sense, we’ll see. In another sense, we know God desires for all people to humble themselves and turn from their wicked ways for the purpose of turning to Him through Christ! From there, we love God and love people according to His Word….put the picket signs down and give some mourning parents a hug.
I’ve Been Thinking…
