6.30.2009
Preparing for Summer Vacation
Summer officially arrived this week, and families everywhere are loading luggage and beach toys into minivans and heading out for one of the 230 million summer vacations celebrated in this country each year. But how much time has been invested in preparing the hearts of the eager travelers?
Last year, C.J. Mahaney wrote a series of blog posts to address the spiritual challenges of vacationing. He encouraged fathers and husbands to begin preparing their hearts—and their schedules—to lead their families in a “God-glorifying, grace-filled, relationship-building, memory-making time together.”
The three-part series was posted here, here, and here. But the simplest way to read his series is by downloading it as a single, printable PDF file (download here).
Happy vacationing!
6.29.2009
50 Crucial Questions About Manhood and Womanhood
John Piper and Wayne Grudem address central concerns about manhood and womanhood from a Biblical perspective. read or download this book for free here.
John Piper says, This is the booklet I return to most often in dealing with the knotty issues of manhood and womanhood in ministry."
HT:Desiring God
John Piper says, This is the booklet I return to most often in dealing with the knotty issues of manhood and womanhood in ministry."
HT:Desiring God
6.28.2009
Looking for Evidences of Grace in Our Lives
Should we expect God to bless us? Then why do we get angry when we experience failure or just average success? CJ Mahaney, in a message he gave at a Acts 29 conference I attended at Mars Hill Church in Seattle, said that if we don’t recognize the evidences of God’s grace in our lives, then we are self-centered and thus we cannot be cross-centered.
CJ said, “Most people are more aware of the absence of God than the presence of God. Most people are more aware of the presence of sin than evidences of grace. What a privilege and joy it is in pastoral ministry…to turn one’s attention to ways in which God is at work, because so often people are unaware of God’s work. And much of God’s work in our lives is quiet; it’s not ‘spectacular.’ It’s rarely obvious to the individual, and normally it’s incremental and takes place over a lengthy period of time.”
CJ laid down this challenge, encouraging pastors to look for evidences of grace in their lives, but how do we do that?
So how do we identify evidences of grace?
Start by reflecting on the list of fruit of the Spirit. How has God demonstrated Himself through the fruit? How have others shown the gospel through demonstrations of the fruit of the Spirit? You may find the evidences of God’s grace in places you have never looked.
Love - "And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him" (1 John 4:16). Through Jesus Christ, our greatest goal is to do all things in love. "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails" (1 Corinthians 13:4-8).
Joy - "The joy of the Lord is your strength" (Nehemiah 8:10). "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God" (Hebrews 12:2).
Peace - "Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:1). "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit" (Romans 15:13).
Longsuffering (patience) -- We are "strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness" (Colossians 1:11). "With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love" (Ephesians 4:2).
Gentleness (kindness) -- We should live "in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left" (2 Corinthians 6:6-7).
Goodness - "Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power" (2 Thessalonians 1:11). "For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth" (Ephesians 5:9).
Faith (faithfulness) - "O Lord, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth" (Isaiah 25:1). "I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith" (Ephesians 3:16-17).
Meekness - "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted" (Galatians 6:1). "With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love" (Ephesians 4:2).
Temperance (self-control) - "But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love" (2 Peter 1:5-7).
HT: Acts 29
CJ said, “Most people are more aware of the absence of God than the presence of God. Most people are more aware of the presence of sin than evidences of grace. What a privilege and joy it is in pastoral ministry…to turn one’s attention to ways in which God is at work, because so often people are unaware of God’s work. And much of God’s work in our lives is quiet; it’s not ‘spectacular.’ It’s rarely obvious to the individual, and normally it’s incremental and takes place over a lengthy period of time.”
CJ laid down this challenge, encouraging pastors to look for evidences of grace in their lives, but how do we do that?
So how do we identify evidences of grace?
Start by reflecting on the list of fruit of the Spirit. How has God demonstrated Himself through the fruit? How have others shown the gospel through demonstrations of the fruit of the Spirit? You may find the evidences of God’s grace in places you have never looked.
Love - "And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him" (1 John 4:16). Through Jesus Christ, our greatest goal is to do all things in love. "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails" (1 Corinthians 13:4-8).
Joy - "The joy of the Lord is your strength" (Nehemiah 8:10). "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God" (Hebrews 12:2).
Peace - "Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:1). "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit" (Romans 15:13).
Longsuffering (patience) -- We are "strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness" (Colossians 1:11). "With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love" (Ephesians 4:2).
Gentleness (kindness) -- We should live "in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left" (2 Corinthians 6:6-7).
Goodness - "Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power" (2 Thessalonians 1:11). "For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth" (Ephesians 5:9).
Faith (faithfulness) - "O Lord, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth" (Isaiah 25:1). "I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith" (Ephesians 3:16-17).
Meekness - "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted" (Galatians 6:1). "With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love" (Ephesians 4:2).
Temperance (self-control) - "But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love" (2 Peter 1:5-7).
HT: Acts 29
6.26.2009
Small Churches Can Thrive
By Ed StetzerThe July/August issue of Outreach Magazine features my article on small churches. Yep, small churches - I love'em! Especially when they are thriving on gospel and mission.
As a speaker at a number of conferences each year, I continue to see pastors and leaders going from one workshop to another searching for "THE" answer. They show up and hear amazing stories about implausibly happy people who willingly follow a new vision for their lives and their church.
They have heard all the strategies and promises, but for many small-church leaders, the conferences, led by rock star celebrity pastors, are like "ministry pornography"-- an unrealistic depiction of an experience they'll never have that distracts them from the real and wonderful thing. In other words, the lust of the megachurch distracts them from the mission of their church. (I'm not anti-big church -- I preach at a megachurch every week -- but I am also pro-small church.)
The reality is that smaller churches can thrive, too. More than 65 percent of the churches that participated in the research survey for Comeback Churches (B&H)--the book I co-wrote with Mike Dodson-- had under 200 regular attendees. Smaller churches are not always unhealthy churches; it depends largely on their mindset. In our research, we found that the small churches which experienced revitalization often did so around prayer and outreach.
Passionate, Persistent Prayer
Small churches need to stop looking at megachurches and their pastors as role models. They can learn from them, but they must not copy them. In a world that devalues the small, listening to God in prayer and stepping out in obedience are much more important than the latest magic bullet that often misfires in smaller churches.
That attitudinal change can and does happen through intentional prayer for renewal. As we looked a little deeper at survey results, it was interesting to note that the comeback leaders of smaller churches highlighted the need for prayer even more than those at larger churches. When asked, "To what degree did the following [areas] change during your church's comeback?" leaders of the churches under 200 rated prayer as the area most changed.
Smaller comeback churches are often praying churches. Comeback leaders of smaller churches believed even more strongly that real, intentional, strategic prayer made a significant difference in their revitalization process. God can change attitudes in your church through passionate, persistent prayer for renewal.
An Outward Focus
Small churches are not exempt from the call to reach people because they are small. Too many churches of all sizes spend too much time moaning about what they don't have that other churches do have or about what they can't do that other churches are doing. No, you may not be able to do everything that other churches are doing. But that doesn't mean your church can't do something of purpose.
If smaller churches are going to thrive, they must focus their attention on reaching the lost in their communities. Again, delving deeper into our survey results reveals another important point. When asked the same question above, the leaders of churches under 200 rated evangelism as the second area that changed the most during the comeback.
Where From Here?
Prayer and outreach are not exactly revolutionary ideas, but they do change our focus. When small-church leaders have set their hearts on being like the large church, often the results are not positive. However, when they set their attention on God through prayer and on their community through outreach, the right focus produces small churches on God's mission in their context. And that's worth celebrating.
Would love to hear your thoughts on small churches.
What are the challenges and what are the answers to those challenges?
How have you served at a small church and what were the results?
HT: Ed Stetzer
Conversion — A Dirty Word?
By Brad Wheeler
Conversion is dirty word. It’s scandalous in today’s pluralistic and relativistic world to contend for one religious truth over and against another. It smacks of pride, arrogance, disrespect, perhaps hatred, maybe even violence.
This is the consensus among many of the secular elite. Popular television personality Bill Maher believes Christianity can only be explained as a "neurological disorder." Only the most unenlightened, uneducated, and uncouth Neanderthal would both believe and contend for a conversion to religious faith, especially Christianity. It's absolutely what the modern man does not need.
And Maher simply represents what secular humanism as a movement has been saying all along. To quote from their own manifesto, "traditional theism … and salvationism … based on mere affirmation is harmful, diverting people with false hopes of heaven hereafter. Reasonable minds look to other means for survival." Reasonable minds…you can hear the condescension dripping from the pen.
Some go further, of course. They say such attempts at diversion (i.e. conversion) actually breed violence. In a publicized letter to the Pope John Paul II, Hindu scholar Swami Dayananda Saraswati argued that "religious conversion destroys centuries-old communities and incites communal violence. It is violence and it breeds violence."
There is a sense in which I agree with Saraswati. Forced conversion at the edge of a sword--be it in modern day Islam or ninth-century "Christianity" under Charlemagne--will incite violence. But of course for Saraswati and the liberal academic establishment, it is no less violent, demeaning, and contemptible to simply say the words out loud, "hell does exist, and people will consciously suffer for eternity on account of their sins." Such is the confused world we live in.
Of course, a Christian should not be too surprised when the world scorns and derides his or her message (though neither should we erect needless opposition to the gospel and then glory in our persecution as a Christian badge of honor). We are promised that the message of the cross is nothing other than foolishness to those who are perishing (cf. 1 Cor 1:18). And yet there is a sense of embarrassment in some ostensibly Christian circles for "conversionist" theology. Ashamed of their heritage, these self-professed Christians attempt to blaze a new (i.e. better) and more respectable path forward.
[Even] the Vatican and World Council of Churches--which includes more than 350 mainline Protestant, Orthodox, and related churches--[has produced] a "common code for religious conversions." Input has also being solicited from Muslim leaders.
The fact that the various constituencies within this group hold to differing gospels ought to make us immediately suspect. Nonetheless, their hope is to "distinguish between witness and proselytism, making respect for freedom of thought, conscience and the religion of others a primary concern in any encounter between people of different faiths."
The specific findings and recommendations of this commission will not be complete for another few years, but a few things are patently clear. For starters, "respect" is cherished and prized above everything, including truth. And the way to show respect to others is to not proselytize them (seek their conversion), but to bear witness to one's own truth while appreciating their truth.
In short, what used to be understood as the radical need for regeneration and conversion has been eviscerated. We might say that this common code for religious conversion is really just a common code for non-conversion.
Yet it seems that conversion is even under attack among some professed evangelicals. This ought to strike us as nonsensical. Our English word "evangelical" comes from the Greek word for "good news." What is this good news? It is that we, who are at enmity with God in our sin, can now be reconciled to him on account of Christ’s death and resurrection, when we repent of our sin and believe upon Christ. Conversion from our former way of life and thinking to Christianity is required. This much should be blatantly obvious.
Nonetheless, Brian MacLaren, perhaps the most prominent leader within the emerging church movement, calls for a reconsideration of conversion, if not an outright rejection of it. He writes in A Generous Orthodoxy:
I must add, though, that I don't believe making disciples must equal making adherents to the Christian religion. It may be advisable in many (though not all) circumstances to help people become followers of Jesus and remain within their Buddhist, Hindu, or Jewish contexts. This will be hard, you say, and I agree. But frankly, it's not at all easy to be a follower of Jesus in many 'Christian' religious contexts, either.
We are told to embrace other faiths "willingly, not begrudgingly." To be fair, McLaren asserts the uniqueness of Christianity apart from other religions. And yet his belief in "a gospel that is universally efficacious for the whole earth," his unwillingness to "set limits on the saving power of God" in reference to the unevangelized, and his belief that we must continually expect to "rediscover the gospel" as we encounter other religious traditions, "leading to that new place where none of us has ever been before," raises significant and serious questions. Frankly, I have difficulty seeing how he is recommending anything Christian, let alone orthodox. In the end, his proposals are eerily similar to those being set forth by the Vatican and the WCC.
Conversion—A Biblical Idea?
Given how narrow-minded and bigoted conversion appears to the modern mind, must we contend for it as Christians? In other words, is a doctrine of conversion biblically required?
Absolutely. Although, the word is rare in the New Testament (cf. Matt 23:15; Acts 6:5; 15:3; 1 Tim 3:6), the idea of conversion is central to the storyline of Scripture.
The common words in Hebrew (shub) and Greek (epistrephô) that picture conversion are regularly translated "turn," "turn back," "return," or "restore" in our English text. We read in Ezekiel 33:11, "Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, O house of Israel?’"
Similarly in Isaiah 55:7: "Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon."
In the New Testament, Paul says that Christ sent him to the Gentiles in order to "open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me" (Acts 26:18). He also recounts how the church in Thessalonica "turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God" (1 Thes 1:9).
Luke says of John the Baptist, "Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God" (Luke 1:16).
This picture of conversion as "turning" or "returning" is also seen in Christ’s regular call to "follow me," as when he says, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me" (cf. Matt 16:24; Mk 8:34; Luke 9:23). Or, "anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me" (Matt 10:38). Following Christ is costly. Taking up one’s cross means forsaking everything. To the individual enslaved to his wealth, for instance, Jesus says, "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me" (Mark 10:21). To the disciple who wants to bury his father, Jesus commands, "Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead" (Matt 8:22).
Conversion — What It Is And What It Isn't
So what exactly is conversion? Can we sum it up?
Repentance and Faith
First, this picture of conversion as turning from self, and humbly following after God, can be captured in two words—repentance and faith. Conversion equals repentance and faith. In conversion, we turn our minds, emotions, and wills from the service of an idol (namely, self) to another (God). By faith we then trust in God and his word, believing like Abraham and all of God’s saints that he who promised is faithful. In this sense, conversion and repentance are inextricably linked. As one writer helpfully puts it,
Repentance, the forsaking of sin and the cultivating of a new hope, and faith, turning to Christ in belief and trust, are related to one another as two sides of a coin. The two are interdependent responses, each incomplete without the other. Thus conversion involves both a believing repentance and a penitent faith.
Radical and Costly
Second, the call to conversion is both radical and costly. It is costly because it necessitates the denial of self. To follow Christ is to subjugate all earthly pleasures and desires before his will. We ourselves, even our family, all take backstage before this unyielding commitment to our king.
It is radical because it exchanges darkness for light, dead idols for the living God, the passing wealth of this life for the enduring riches of heaven. The radical nature of conversion is also witnessed in some of the more extraordinary conversion accounts recorded in the book of Acts (cf. Paul in ch. 9; Cornelius in ch. 10; Philippian jailer in ch.16). Even if the process is slow and we can’t point to a moment in time when the Lord brought us out of the realm of darkness and into the realm of light, this doesn’t mean the change is any less dramatic and distinct. One is no longer a child of the devil, but has been adopted as a child of God (cf. 1 Jn 3:10).
Not Mere Dialogue
Third, conversion is not mere dialogue or conversation. Sadly, this is commonly misunderstood. Dialogue is often presented almost as an end itself. I share my Christian experiences, you share your Buddhist experiences, and we’re both the better for it, since "we’re all recipients of the same mercy, sharing in the same mystery."
But dialogue is not the end, conversion is. Of course, no conversion can take place without respectful dialogue, and no conversion is possible unless God initiates supernatural change in the heart. Nonetheless, we do not walk away from a dialogue happy if our friend still rejects Christ. Rather, like the prophets of the Old Testament, Christ, and Paul, we weep and mourn for those who remain in their sin and refuse to follow after God (cf. Matt 23:7).
Not Just a Journey
Fourth, conversion is not a journey. In a journey one may wander, but never arrive. He may learn, but never comes to any conclusion. Many today say that the journey (merely learning) is itself sufficient.
But journeying is not enough. We must enter into God’s kingdom. We must reach the final destination, for there will come a time when the bridegroom will come, and those that are not with him will be shut out of the wedding feast (Matt 25:10).
Not Optional
Fifth, the call to conversion is neither optional nor negotiable. The biblical writers do not merely encourage, but command in the most unequivocal terms that all must turn and follow after God in Christ. Notice how many of the commands above are accompanied with a corresponding warning. Failure to repent and turn to God is no minor matter. It forfeits life for death, judgment and hell.
And yet the call to conversion is never accompanied with physical force, manipulation, or coercion. Christians should persuade and reasons with words, no more (2 Cor 4:1-2). Their only "sword" is the word of God and the witness of their lives. Nothing could be sharper or more effective (cf. Heb 4:12).
So just how biblically necessary is conversion? When Paul and Barnabas were at Lystra and Derbe, the people witnessed their miracles and confused them for the Greek gods of Zeus and Hermes. Paul and Barnabas’ response is instructive:
But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of this, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd, shouting: "Men, why are you doing this? We too are only men, human like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them" (Ac 14:14-15).
There would be no syncretism, no amalgamation of the Christian gospel and Greek mythology (or Buddhism, or Hinduism, or anything else for that matter). Paul and Barnabas insisted that all turn from these worthless false gods to the living God. They insisted on nothing short of a wholehearted, radical conversion.
Benefits for Believers
Conversion lies at the very heart of Christianity. To sacrifice it is to sacrifice nothing other than the gospel and the good news it promises to all. This is surely reason enough to defend a clear and robust understanding of biblical conversion. Lord willing, we’ll think more about the theological doctrine and its implications in our next piece.
But do we need to say anything more? Here are just two reasons why a proper understanding of conversion is important not only to God and the unconverted in our midst, but to our own spiritual well-being as believers.
Humility
First, a proper understanding of conversion promotes humility and makes grace meaningful. Paul writes, "Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation" (Col 1:21-22ff).
Or consider Peter, "For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God" (1 Pet 3:18).
What were we? Before conversion, we were unrighteous, alienated, and enemies of God. And this is not figurative language or hyperbole. We concern ourselves with terror attacks, invest in costly alarm systems for our homes, and fret over whether our cars have side air bags—all in an attempt to feel safe and secure. But imagine for a moment what it would be like to have the God of the universe as your enemy. The Bible says we really were at enmity with God, and more to the point, he with us (cf. Ja 4:4)!
How else can we explain the pain, agony, and wrath of the cross, if not that God was propitiating his own anger towards us, enemies of his holiness and justice?
If conversion is not necessary, neither is the cross.
We must preach the gospel to ourselves again and again, remembering in all humility what we deserved, and then rejoicing at the tremendous grace God has shown in reconciling us through the cross of Christ.
Missions
Second, a proper understanding of conversion fuels our missionary endeavors. The world is in danger. There is a spiritual battle for the souls of men. Satan would like nothing more than to see today’s church lulled into complacency by suggesting that a radical conversion to Christianity isn’t finally necessary. "Sure," the voices of inclusivism or universalism say, "it might be preferable to call for conversion, but is it really necessary? A first-class airline seat may be preferable to a coach ticket, but both finally arrive at the same destination, right? So let people remain where they are." By definition, both inclusivism (which says that some "anonymous Christians" may be saved through Christ, even though they haven’t consciously repented and believed in him) and universalism (which says that all humanity will be saved) destroy the biblical witness and our impetus for world missions.
We do well to remember these words of Christ instead:
Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away. This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt 13:47-50).
Only in Christ are all made alive and reconciled to God (cf. 1 Cor 15:22). Thus, it is absolutely incumbent upon any Christian to preach this call to conversion, imploring all to be reconciled to God through Christ (cf. 2 Cor 5:17-21).
Conclusion: One of Those Christians?
I don’t enjoy being divisive any more than the next guy. And yet the gospel presents two dialectically opposed ways to live. We are either saved or unsaved, converted or unconverted, a sheep or a goat, a God-worshipper or an idolater, a son of God or a son of the devil, on the narrow path or on the broad path, in the realm of light or darkness, destined for heaven or condemned to hell. We neglect or reject this doctrine at our own peril.
Robert Duncan Culver said it well:
Conversion is as important to the experience and ministry of every minister of the Word and genuine Christian witness as birth to a baby or oxygen to a fire. Without it we are nothing in the kingdom of God and, Jesus said, destined to be cast out of it and, like weeds in the wheat field at harvest time, to be removed from the field and burned in the fire where ‘there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth’" (Mat 13:36-42).
Don’t be apologetic. Be one of those Christians. Conversion may be a dirty word, but if so it is the one dirty word the Christian must preach with all boldness and passion.
Besides, what’s the alternative? Telling people that this world is enough? That their selfish, vain, addiction-ridden, and futile lives are just fine the way they are? That being renewed in the image of God is not all that its cracked up to be?
I can’t imagine anything more discouraging—and damning!
HT: 9Marks
This is the consensus among many of the secular elite. Popular television personality Bill Maher believes Christianity can only be explained as a "neurological disorder." Only the most unenlightened, uneducated, and uncouth Neanderthal would both believe and contend for a conversion to religious faith, especially Christianity. It's absolutely what the modern man does not need.
And Maher simply represents what secular humanism as a movement has been saying all along. To quote from their own manifesto, "traditional theism … and salvationism … based on mere affirmation is harmful, diverting people with false hopes of heaven hereafter. Reasonable minds look to other means for survival." Reasonable minds…you can hear the condescension dripping from the pen.
Some go further, of course. They say such attempts at diversion (i.e. conversion) actually breed violence. In a publicized letter to the Pope John Paul II, Hindu scholar Swami Dayananda Saraswati argued that "religious conversion destroys centuries-old communities and incites communal violence. It is violence and it breeds violence."
There is a sense in which I agree with Saraswati. Forced conversion at the edge of a sword--be it in modern day Islam or ninth-century "Christianity" under Charlemagne--will incite violence. But of course for Saraswati and the liberal academic establishment, it is no less violent, demeaning, and contemptible to simply say the words out loud, "hell does exist, and people will consciously suffer for eternity on account of their sins." Such is the confused world we live in.
Of course, a Christian should not be too surprised when the world scorns and derides his or her message (though neither should we erect needless opposition to the gospel and then glory in our persecution as a Christian badge of honor). We are promised that the message of the cross is nothing other than foolishness to those who are perishing (cf. 1 Cor 1:18). And yet there is a sense of embarrassment in some ostensibly Christian circles for "conversionist" theology. Ashamed of their heritage, these self-professed Christians attempt to blaze a new (i.e. better) and more respectable path forward.
[Even] the Vatican and World Council of Churches--which includes more than 350 mainline Protestant, Orthodox, and related churches--[has produced] a "common code for religious conversions." Input has also being solicited from Muslim leaders.
The fact that the various constituencies within this group hold to differing gospels ought to make us immediately suspect. Nonetheless, their hope is to "distinguish between witness and proselytism, making respect for freedom of thought, conscience and the religion of others a primary concern in any encounter between people of different faiths."
The specific findings and recommendations of this commission will not be complete for another few years, but a few things are patently clear. For starters, "respect" is cherished and prized above everything, including truth. And the way to show respect to others is to not proselytize them (seek their conversion), but to bear witness to one's own truth while appreciating their truth.
In short, what used to be understood as the radical need for regeneration and conversion has been eviscerated. We might say that this common code for religious conversion is really just a common code for non-conversion.
Yet it seems that conversion is even under attack among some professed evangelicals. This ought to strike us as nonsensical. Our English word "evangelical" comes from the Greek word for "good news." What is this good news? It is that we, who are at enmity with God in our sin, can now be reconciled to him on account of Christ’s death and resurrection, when we repent of our sin and believe upon Christ. Conversion from our former way of life and thinking to Christianity is required. This much should be blatantly obvious.
Nonetheless, Brian MacLaren, perhaps the most prominent leader within the emerging church movement, calls for a reconsideration of conversion, if not an outright rejection of it. He writes in A Generous Orthodoxy:
I must add, though, that I don't believe making disciples must equal making adherents to the Christian religion. It may be advisable in many (though not all) circumstances to help people become followers of Jesus and remain within their Buddhist, Hindu, or Jewish contexts. This will be hard, you say, and I agree. But frankly, it's not at all easy to be a follower of Jesus in many 'Christian' religious contexts, either.
We are told to embrace other faiths "willingly, not begrudgingly." To be fair, McLaren asserts the uniqueness of Christianity apart from other religions. And yet his belief in "a gospel that is universally efficacious for the whole earth," his unwillingness to "set limits on the saving power of God" in reference to the unevangelized, and his belief that we must continually expect to "rediscover the gospel" as we encounter other religious traditions, "leading to that new place where none of us has ever been before," raises significant and serious questions. Frankly, I have difficulty seeing how he is recommending anything Christian, let alone orthodox. In the end, his proposals are eerily similar to those being set forth by the Vatican and the WCC.
Conversion—A Biblical Idea?
Given how narrow-minded and bigoted conversion appears to the modern mind, must we contend for it as Christians? In other words, is a doctrine of conversion biblically required?
Absolutely. Although, the word is rare in the New Testament (cf. Matt 23:15; Acts 6:5; 15:3; 1 Tim 3:6), the idea of conversion is central to the storyline of Scripture.
The common words in Hebrew (shub) and Greek (epistrephô) that picture conversion are regularly translated "turn," "turn back," "return," or "restore" in our English text. We read in Ezekiel 33:11, "Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, O house of Israel?’"
Similarly in Isaiah 55:7: "Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon."
In the New Testament, Paul says that Christ sent him to the Gentiles in order to "open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me" (Acts 26:18). He also recounts how the church in Thessalonica "turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God" (1 Thes 1:9).
Luke says of John the Baptist, "Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God" (Luke 1:16).
This picture of conversion as "turning" or "returning" is also seen in Christ’s regular call to "follow me," as when he says, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me" (cf. Matt 16:24; Mk 8:34; Luke 9:23). Or, "anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me" (Matt 10:38). Following Christ is costly. Taking up one’s cross means forsaking everything. To the individual enslaved to his wealth, for instance, Jesus says, "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me" (Mark 10:21). To the disciple who wants to bury his father, Jesus commands, "Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead" (Matt 8:22).
Conversion — What It Is And What It Isn't
So what exactly is conversion? Can we sum it up?
Repentance and Faith
First, this picture of conversion as turning from self, and humbly following after God, can be captured in two words—repentance and faith. Conversion equals repentance and faith. In conversion, we turn our minds, emotions, and wills from the service of an idol (namely, self) to another (God). By faith we then trust in God and his word, believing like Abraham and all of God’s saints that he who promised is faithful. In this sense, conversion and repentance are inextricably linked. As one writer helpfully puts it,
Repentance, the forsaking of sin and the cultivating of a new hope, and faith, turning to Christ in belief and trust, are related to one another as two sides of a coin. The two are interdependent responses, each incomplete without the other. Thus conversion involves both a believing repentance and a penitent faith.
Radical and Costly
Second, the call to conversion is both radical and costly. It is costly because it necessitates the denial of self. To follow Christ is to subjugate all earthly pleasures and desires before his will. We ourselves, even our family, all take backstage before this unyielding commitment to our king.
It is radical because it exchanges darkness for light, dead idols for the living God, the passing wealth of this life for the enduring riches of heaven. The radical nature of conversion is also witnessed in some of the more extraordinary conversion accounts recorded in the book of Acts (cf. Paul in ch. 9; Cornelius in ch. 10; Philippian jailer in ch.16). Even if the process is slow and we can’t point to a moment in time when the Lord brought us out of the realm of darkness and into the realm of light, this doesn’t mean the change is any less dramatic and distinct. One is no longer a child of the devil, but has been adopted as a child of God (cf. 1 Jn 3:10).
Not Mere Dialogue
Third, conversion is not mere dialogue or conversation. Sadly, this is commonly misunderstood. Dialogue is often presented almost as an end itself. I share my Christian experiences, you share your Buddhist experiences, and we’re both the better for it, since "we’re all recipients of the same mercy, sharing in the same mystery."
But dialogue is not the end, conversion is. Of course, no conversion can take place without respectful dialogue, and no conversion is possible unless God initiates supernatural change in the heart. Nonetheless, we do not walk away from a dialogue happy if our friend still rejects Christ. Rather, like the prophets of the Old Testament, Christ, and Paul, we weep and mourn for those who remain in their sin and refuse to follow after God (cf. Matt 23:7).
Not Just a Journey
Fourth, conversion is not a journey. In a journey one may wander, but never arrive. He may learn, but never comes to any conclusion. Many today say that the journey (merely learning) is itself sufficient.
But journeying is not enough. We must enter into God’s kingdom. We must reach the final destination, for there will come a time when the bridegroom will come, and those that are not with him will be shut out of the wedding feast (Matt 25:10).
Not Optional
Fifth, the call to conversion is neither optional nor negotiable. The biblical writers do not merely encourage, but command in the most unequivocal terms that all must turn and follow after God in Christ. Notice how many of the commands above are accompanied with a corresponding warning. Failure to repent and turn to God is no minor matter. It forfeits life for death, judgment and hell.
And yet the call to conversion is never accompanied with physical force, manipulation, or coercion. Christians should persuade and reasons with words, no more (2 Cor 4:1-2). Their only "sword" is the word of God and the witness of their lives. Nothing could be sharper or more effective (cf. Heb 4:12).
So just how biblically necessary is conversion? When Paul and Barnabas were at Lystra and Derbe, the people witnessed their miracles and confused them for the Greek gods of Zeus and Hermes. Paul and Barnabas’ response is instructive:
But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of this, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd, shouting: "Men, why are you doing this? We too are only men, human like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them" (Ac 14:14-15).
There would be no syncretism, no amalgamation of the Christian gospel and Greek mythology (or Buddhism, or Hinduism, or anything else for that matter). Paul and Barnabas insisted that all turn from these worthless false gods to the living God. They insisted on nothing short of a wholehearted, radical conversion.
Benefits for Believers
Conversion lies at the very heart of Christianity. To sacrifice it is to sacrifice nothing other than the gospel and the good news it promises to all. This is surely reason enough to defend a clear and robust understanding of biblical conversion. Lord willing, we’ll think more about the theological doctrine and its implications in our next piece.
But do we need to say anything more? Here are just two reasons why a proper understanding of conversion is important not only to God and the unconverted in our midst, but to our own spiritual well-being as believers.
Humility
First, a proper understanding of conversion promotes humility and makes grace meaningful. Paul writes, "Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation" (Col 1:21-22ff).
Or consider Peter, "For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God" (1 Pet 3:18).
What were we? Before conversion, we were unrighteous, alienated, and enemies of God. And this is not figurative language or hyperbole. We concern ourselves with terror attacks, invest in costly alarm systems for our homes, and fret over whether our cars have side air bags—all in an attempt to feel safe and secure. But imagine for a moment what it would be like to have the God of the universe as your enemy. The Bible says we really were at enmity with God, and more to the point, he with us (cf. Ja 4:4)!
How else can we explain the pain, agony, and wrath of the cross, if not that God was propitiating his own anger towards us, enemies of his holiness and justice?
If conversion is not necessary, neither is the cross.
We must preach the gospel to ourselves again and again, remembering in all humility what we deserved, and then rejoicing at the tremendous grace God has shown in reconciling us through the cross of Christ.
Missions
Second, a proper understanding of conversion fuels our missionary endeavors. The world is in danger. There is a spiritual battle for the souls of men. Satan would like nothing more than to see today’s church lulled into complacency by suggesting that a radical conversion to Christianity isn’t finally necessary. "Sure," the voices of inclusivism or universalism say, "it might be preferable to call for conversion, but is it really necessary? A first-class airline seat may be preferable to a coach ticket, but both finally arrive at the same destination, right? So let people remain where they are." By definition, both inclusivism (which says that some "anonymous Christians" may be saved through Christ, even though they haven’t consciously repented and believed in him) and universalism (which says that all humanity will be saved) destroy the biblical witness and our impetus for world missions.
We do well to remember these words of Christ instead:
Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away. This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt 13:47-50).
Only in Christ are all made alive and reconciled to God (cf. 1 Cor 15:22). Thus, it is absolutely incumbent upon any Christian to preach this call to conversion, imploring all to be reconciled to God through Christ (cf. 2 Cor 5:17-21).
Conclusion: One of Those Christians?
I don’t enjoy being divisive any more than the next guy. And yet the gospel presents two dialectically opposed ways to live. We are either saved or unsaved, converted or unconverted, a sheep or a goat, a God-worshipper or an idolater, a son of God or a son of the devil, on the narrow path or on the broad path, in the realm of light or darkness, destined for heaven or condemned to hell. We neglect or reject this doctrine at our own peril.
Robert Duncan Culver said it well:
Conversion is as important to the experience and ministry of every minister of the Word and genuine Christian witness as birth to a baby or oxygen to a fire. Without it we are nothing in the kingdom of God and, Jesus said, destined to be cast out of it and, like weeds in the wheat field at harvest time, to be removed from the field and burned in the fire where ‘there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth’" (Mat 13:36-42).
Don’t be apologetic. Be one of those Christians. Conversion may be a dirty word, but if so it is the one dirty word the Christian must preach with all boldness and passion.
Besides, what’s the alternative? Telling people that this world is enough? That their selfish, vain, addiction-ridden, and futile lives are just fine the way they are? That being renewed in the image of God is not all that its cracked up to be?
I can’t imagine anything more discouraging—and damning!
HT: 9Marks
How You Live Matters
The deaths of pop culture icons Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett have certainly captured the attention of millions throughout the U.S. and the rest of the world. Michael Jackson's death in particular, maybe because of his vast cross-cultural appeal, seems to have many people reflecting on his life and on his music. As I watched the media coverage recognizing the lives of Michael and Farrah, I couldn't help thinking of Acts 20:24, "But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God." There's no denying that the lives Michael and Farrah lived on earth touched millions of people, but according to this verse the only accomplishments that they achieved during their lives are those that were pursued and won for the sake of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Nothing else, not movies or #1 hit songs, will have any lasting value if the purpose those efforts were pursued was not rooted in the gospel.
Tonight Michael and Farrah are no longer living by faith - they know for certain what lies beyond the grave. I do not know what Michael or Farrah believed about Jesus. I do not know if the Holy Spirit delivered within them the gift of faith. But I do know that neither of them are currently in possession of any of the many earthly awards they achieved, nor do they have a single penny of the fortunes they amassed during their lives. Tonight all that matters is whether or not they lived their lives for Christ.
Tonight I pray for the families, friends, and fans of Michael and Farrah - that they may, as they mourn, realize that how they live their lives matters.
Tonight Michael and Farrah are no longer living by faith - they know for certain what lies beyond the grave. I do not know what Michael or Farrah believed about Jesus. I do not know if the Holy Spirit delivered within them the gift of faith. But I do know that neither of them are currently in possession of any of the many earthly awards they achieved, nor do they have a single penny of the fortunes they amassed during their lives. Tonight all that matters is whether or not they lived their lives for Christ.
Tonight I pray for the families, friends, and fans of Michael and Farrah - that they may, as they mourn, realize that how they live their lives matters.
6.25.2009
Hope for Sexual Strugglers
By David MathisDavid fell in 2 Samuel 11. He saw that Bathsheba was “very beautiful,” and he followed his lusts down the slope to adultery—and then even to having her husband killed.
But by 1 Kings 1, David is able to be attended to by Abishag the Shunammite, who the text also says was “very beautiful,” and yet “the king knew her not” (verse 4).
Maybe aging was a factor, but my guess is that there’s much more going on here than merely getting old. Such a change sure seems like God’s purifying hand in some regard—if not mostly. It’s a real-life example of victory.
There’s no need to be captive for the rest of your life, if God would so move. Be hopeful and lean on him for help.
Read or download (for free) Mark Driscoll's book, Porn Again Christian, here for help dealing with an addiction to pornography.
HT: Desiring God
Titus' Milestones to Maturity: Gaining My Own Zeal
By PJ Smyth
This is the big one. On the journey to maturity and leadership, many pass Milestones 1 and 2, yet find Milestone 3 elusive. Milestone 3 is the place of gaining your own zeal.
Take a look at what Paul says of Titus: "But thanks be to God, who put into the heart of Titus the same earnest care I have for you. For he not only accepted our appeal, but being himself very earnest he is going to you of his own accord. As for Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker for your benefit." (2 Corinthians 8:16-17, 23)
What a jump! Titus goes from being the tag-on servant-hearted guy to a leader in his own right whom Paul now speaks of as "my partner and fellow worker." How did this radical promotion happen? Answer: Titus gained his own zeal.
[When we develop our own zeal] We begin to do things not primarily because we are told to or asked to, but because God's zeal is welling up inside us and becoming our own zeal. The things that God and Paul were passionate about had now also become Titus' passion. He owned the mission for himself. At Milestone 3 our fire is stoked from within us by God more than by a "Paul" outside of us.
Read a series of blog posts entitled Titus' Milestones to Maturity By JP Smyth here.
This is the big one. On the journey to maturity and leadership, many pass Milestones 1 and 2, yet find Milestone 3 elusive. Milestone 3 is the place of gaining your own zeal.
Take a look at what Paul says of Titus: "But thanks be to God, who put into the heart of Titus the same earnest care I have for you. For he not only accepted our appeal, but being himself very earnest he is going to you of his own accord. As for Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker for your benefit." (2 Corinthians 8:16-17, 23)
What a jump! Titus goes from being the tag-on servant-hearted guy to a leader in his own right whom Paul now speaks of as "my partner and fellow worker." How did this radical promotion happen? Answer: Titus gained his own zeal.
[When we develop our own zeal] We begin to do things not primarily because we are told to or asked to, but because God's zeal is welling up inside us and becoming our own zeal. The things that God and Paul were passionate about had now also become Titus' passion. He owned the mission for himself. At Milestone 3 our fire is stoked from within us by God more than by a "Paul" outside of us.
Read a series of blog posts entitled Titus' Milestones to Maturity By JP Smyth here.
6.24.2009
What is Christian Happiness?
"The pleasures of loving and obeying, loving and adoring, blessing and praising the Infinite Being, the Best of Beings, the Eternal Jehovah; the pleasures of trusting in Jesus Christ, in contemplating his beauties, excellencies, and glories; in contemplating his love to mankind and to us, in contemplating his infinite goodness and astonishing loving-kindness; the pleasures of [the] communion of the Holy Ghost in conversing with God, the maker and governor of the world; the pleasure that results from the doing of our duty, in acting worthily and excellently; . . . these are the pleasures that are worthy of so noble a creature as a man is" ("Christian Happiness" in Sermons and Discourses 1720-1723, The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Volume 10. Edited by Wilson H. Kimnach [New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992], pp. 305-06).6.23.2009
Cloned Christians
This photo is great, I laugh more each time I look at it (and for some reason it conjures up thoughts of my experiences teaching junior high Sunday School); and the post by the author of the Old Red Hat blog is right on. We are called to be different; not different as in wearing bath robes and the same alarmingly bright white sneakers, waiting for the mothership to pick us up, but different as in Christ-like. There are alot of guys out there today who criticize those in the Emergent crowd (myself included) for not remaining true to the Jesus of the Bible, but who at the sametime are all about creating "cool Jesus" in order to be relevenat and hip. I like what Matt Chandler says, "The gospel is always going to smell like death to someone, so don't worry about offending people and stay true to the gospel" (I paraphrased a little there). In other words, stay true to the gospel - don't make Jesus something that He didn't make himself out to be.Here's the post from Old Red Hat:
One of the fun things people do with photography is what is called “clone” pictures.
There is a similar Christian connection to clone photography: The ever-present problem of Christians looking like, acting like, thinking like, and talking like the world.
It makes very creative photography. But spiritually it makes our Lord look bad.
1 Thessalonians 5:6
Click to see photo BIGGER.
HT: Old Red Hat
6.22.2009
Investing in China, Investing in the Kingdom
Thanks to a recent blog post at Desiring God, I became aware of a book distribution company called Baojiayin in China that legally distributes Christ-centered books all over China at an amazingly low cost.Four simple ways you can help this ministry in China:
Pray for them and their ministry.
Pray that the Holy Spirit will use these books encourage these orphans to live for Christ.
Pray for the people of China.
Contribute money to this publisher.
"And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.'" - Matthew 25:40
HT:Desiring God
Spurgeon on Repentance
"Remember that the man who truly repents is never satisfied with his own repentance. We can no more repent perfectly than we can live perfectly. However pure our tears, there will always be some dirt in them; there will be something to be repented of even in our best repentance. But listen! To repent is to change your mind about sin, and Christ, and all the great things of God. There is sorrow implied in this; but the main point is the turning of the heart from sin to Christ. If there be this turning, you have the essence of true repentance, even though no alarm and no despair should ever cast their shadow upon your mind."
C. H. Spurgeon, All Of Grace, page 70.
6.21.2009
Pastor Dad By Mark Driscoll
Click on the image above to read or download (for free) an e-book by Mark Driscoll for fathers.
HT: The Resurgence
6.19.2009
Father's Who Give Hope
Listen | Download
Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged. - Colossians 3:21
Our text is straightforward and simple this morning: "Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged." It divides naturally into three parts:
1. First, there is the address, "Fathers."
2. Second, there is the command, "Do not provoke your children."
3. Third, there is the purpose of the command, "Lest they become discouraged."
We will look at these three parts of the text one at a time in reverse order. First, we will direct our attention to the goal of Christian fathers, namely, rearing children who are not discouraged. Second, we will look at the duty of Christian fathers, namely, not to do those things that discourage children. And finally, we will focus on the leader in Christian parenthood, namely, fathers.
But first a word about the fatherhood of God.
The Fatherhood of God
In the Lord's Prayer Jesus taught his disciples to call God Father: "Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name." He taught that God is not everyone's Father. In John 8:42, 44 he said to those who refused to follow him, "If God were your Father, you would love me, for I proceeded and came forth from God . . . You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires."
God is the Father only of those who are led by the Spirit of his Son. In Romans 8:9, 14-15 Paul says,
Any one who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him . . . All who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of sonship. When we cry, "Abba! Father!" it is the Spirit himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God.
Not every one can lay claim to the privilege of knowing God as Father. Only those who are born of God (John 1:13), who receive Christ (John 1:12), and who are led by the Spirit (Romans 8:14) have the right to receive the inheritance of the children—promises like Matthew 7:11, "If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!" The privilege of prayer and the promise that God will work all things together for your good is part of the inheritance of sonship. That is what it means to have God as your Father.
There are two reasons I begin with this word about the fatherhood of God. One is that I believe all human fatherhood should be patterned on the divine fatherhood. The overarching guide for every father should be to live in such a way that his children can see what God the Father is like. They 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 the Father in heaven.
The other reason I begin with the fatherhood of God is to give this message relevance for everyone in this room whether you are a father or not; and whether you had a Christian father or not. I want to make clear from the outset that the sadness many may feel at never having had a father like the father I will describe, and the sadness others may feel at never having been a father like the father I will describe—that sadness can be swallowed up and overcome with joy this morning because God offers his fatherhood to anyone who will accept the gift of adoption by trusting Christ and yielding to be led by the Holy Spirit.
There are two ways to listen to this message this morning. One is to take it as a straightforward exhortation from the Word of God to fathers on how to rear their children. The other is to take it as a parable pointing to the way the Father in heaven loves those who believe and follow his Son. Frankly, I hope all of you hear it in both senses.
1. "Lest They Become Discouraged"
Let's go to the text and begin with the last phrase of Colossians 3:21, "Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged."
The goal of a good father is to rear children who are not discouraged. The word implies losing heart, being listless, spiritless, disinterested, moody, sullen, with a kind of blank resignation toward life. Don't be the kind of father who rears that kind of person. Instead develop a style of fatherhood that produces the opposite of discouragement.
The Opposite of Discouragement
Now what is that? I would sum it up in three characteristics.
1. The opposite of being discouraged is being hopeful.
2. The opposite of being discouraged is being happy.
3. The opposite of being discouraged is being confident and courageous.
So I would say that the negative form of verse 21 really implies a positive command as well. It says, "Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged." But it means not only avoid one kind of fatherhood; it also means pursue another kind, namely, the kind of fatherhood which gives hope instead of discouragement; and gives happiness instead of discouragement; and gives confidence and courage.
Distinctly Christian Teaching
If we stopped right here, we would not have said anything distinctly Christian. There is not one parent in ten thousand who thinks that the aim of parenthood should be to discourage children. But the apostle Paul would be distressed if all I did were to use his words here simply to express some everyday common sense, or some natural wisdom. He was not inspired by the Holy Spirit to confirm the insights of Dr. Spock. He was inspired to teach parents things that no natural eye has seen and no natural ear has heard (1 Corinthians 2:9-13).
Here is what I mean. Paul's teaching makes it clear that when he says we should be fathers who give hope instead of discouragement, he means hope in GOD, not hope in money or hope in popularity or hope in education or hope in a spouse or hope in professional success. If you had asked Paul, or Jesus, "What kind of freedom from discouragement do you want our children to have?" he would not have said, "I want your children to be freed from discouragement by being filled with hope that they will become wealthy . . . or well-known, or intellectual, or married, or successful." We know that is not what he means. He means, be the kind of fathers who do not discourage your children but rather fill them with hope in God.
Happiness That Kills and Happiness in God
And when we consider happiness as the opposite of discouragement, Paul would not be content if a father simply made his child feel good by giving him whatever he wanted. There is a happiness that kills. To some kinds of happiness the Scripture says, "Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to dejection" (James 4:9). There is a happiness that has nothing to do with God, and therefore has no value in the sight of God. It comes from the creation alone and not from the Creator. That isn't what Paul wants fathers to put in the place of discouragement.
But there is another joy that comes to expression, for example, in Psalm 4:7-8,
Thou hast put more joy in my heart
than they have when their grain and wine abound.
In peace I will both lie down and sleep;
for thou alone, O lord, makest me dwell in safety.
Fathers, don't discourage your children, but fill them with joy in God! Teach them early on—and show them earlier yet—that through many sufferings they must enter the kingdom (Acts 14:22), but that they can rejoice in sufferings, knowing that "suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope"—IN GOD (Romans 5:3-4). Don't discourage them. Make them happy in God by helping them to hope in God.
Self-Confidence and God-Confidence
And when we consider confidence as the opposite of discouragement, the message of Scripture takes a dramatic turn away from the common sense natural wisdom of the world.
The world says: Don't discourage a child; build up his self-confidence. The Scripture says: Don't discourage a child; build up his God-confidence. In fact the Scripture is more precise than that; it teaches: Don't discourage a child, but do your best to root out his self-confidence and replace it with a confidence in God. And when it teaches us to root out self-confidence, it means root out the desire to be and to appear self-confident.
The Scripture knows that most people don't succeed in being self-confident. Most people are quite unhappy about their inability to appear self-reliant and self-assured and cool and in control. So when the Scripture teaches us to root out self-confidence, it means go for the root, not the half-withered branches. Go for the DESIRE to be self-confident, not the meager manifestations of it that make their way into peoples' actions.
Self-Confidence Being Rooted Out of Paul
One vivid illustration of how Paul's heavenly Father was patiently working to root out Paul's self-confidence is given in 2 Corinthians 1:8-9. Here is a description of how God the Father was working on Paul twenty years after his conversion, which means this is a very deeply rooted sin in all of us. He writes,
We do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of the affliction we experienced in Asia; for we were so utterly, unbearably crushed that we despaired of life itself. Why, we felt that we had received the sentence of death; but that was to make us rely [or: be confident] not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.
In other words, the divine purpose of Paul's affliction was (as it is the purpose of all good fatherly discipline) to root out the remaining self-confidence of Paul's heart and to cast him on God alone. Why? Because God didn't want him to be confident? Because he wanted him to be listless, spiritless, moody, sullen, weak, fearful? No! It was God who came to Paul in Corinth and said, "Do NOT be afraid, but speak and do NOT be silent; for I am with you." So the confidence that we are to build into our children is not self-confidence, but confidence in the grace and power of God. "Do not be afraid . . . I AM WITH YOU."
The Goal of Biblical Fathers
Andrew Bonar, the 19th century Scottish pastor, said concerning the teaching of children, "We tell them, 'You are sinners, exposed to God's wrath and curse, and you cannot save yourselves; but God's own Son can save you, by Himself bearing that wrath and curse.'" In other words you teach a child to despair of all self-confidence and direct his desire for confidence to the grace of God. The goal of biblical fathers is to have children who say (with Psalm 60:11-12):
O grant us help against the foe,
for vain is the help of man!
With God we shall do valiantly;
it is he who will tread down our foes.
A good father will ponder: How can I be like my own heavenly Father? How can I banish self-reliance from the heart of my children and fill them with confidence and courage and zeal and boldness that are rooted in the grace and power of God and not in themselves? How can I be the kind of father whose children do not lose heart or become spiritless or listless or sullen or discouraged, but are filled with hope in God and happiness in God and confidence in God and courage to attempt great things for the glory of God?
That question leads us to turn now to the second part of our text, namely, the duty of Christian parents not to provoke their children.
2. "Do Not Provoke Your Children"
"Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged." Again we notice that the commandment is negative—something to be avoided. It is a warning against the misuse of legitimate authority. Paul has just said in verse 20, "Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord." That gives to parents tremendous authority and responsibility under God. Children are to do what parents say.
Ruining a Child's Confidence in God
Now in verse 21 he cautions fathers against a misuse of this God-given authority. The misuse he has in mind is that fathers might treat their children in such a way that their spirit is broken and they become hopelessly discouraged. Paul calls this misuse "provoking" them: "Do not provoke your children."
In Ephesians 6:4 a different word is used that specifically means, "Do not provoke to anger." But this is a very general word here in Colossians 3:21. It can even be used positively in 2 Corinthians 9:2 where it says that the Christians in Achaia provoked the Christians in Macedonia to be more generous. In other words, they "stirred them up," or "motivated" them.
In choosing the broad and general word I think Paul would have us teach that parents should avoid everything that ruins a child's confidence in God and leaves him hopeless and discouraged. This requires tremendous wisdom from fathers, because not all short term discouragements result in long term hopelessness. On the contrary, our heavenly Father clearly brings short term frustrations and discouragements into our lives precisely to put us on a new footing of faith. Great wisdom is needed here.
So let's ask, then, What do fathers do that provoke children to long-term discouragement and hopelessness? I'll mention two things.
Failing to Be Happy and Hopeful in God
First, some fathers fail to BE happy and hopeful and confident in God. Fathers, what you ARE in relation to God is far more important than any particular parenting technique you try to employ. Will your children hope in God if you hope in money? Will your children be happy in God if they see that fishing is a happier experience for you than worship? Will your children be confident in God if your whole demeanor communicates the desire to be seen as a self-confident?
The most important work that a father can do for the sake of his children is to be converted. The most important strategy for rearing children is to become a new man in Christ—whose hope and happiness and confidence are in God and not in himself.
We know this is true from Scripture because there we are taught to imitate our heavenly Father. We are told to be holy as he IS holy (1 Peter 1:16). We are told to be merciful as he IS merciful (Luke 6:36). To be a good child is to copy daddy. It honors a father to be imitated, and we are commanded to honor our fathers. And so the most important question a father can ask is not what shall I teach my children, but rather who am I before the living God and before my children?
That is the first thing that fathers can do to provoke their children to long-term discouragement and hopelessness—they can fail to BE hopeful, happy, and confident in God.
Disciplining in an Impulsive, Erratic, and Inconsistent Way
The second thing that fathers do which provokes children to long term discouragement and hopelessness is to discipline them in an impulsive, erratic and inconsistent way.
Unpredictable, impulsive, hostile discipline makes children fearful, bitter, deceitful, and discouraged. They don't know where or why the explosion will come next. They say to themselves, "What's the use! How can I hope that being good is any better than being bad?" And so the spirit of moral hope is broken, and in its place comes calculated, deceitful, discouraged maneuvering.
On the other hand, when discipline is controlled and appropriate and consistent and based on clear rules and principles of justice in the home, an atmosphere is created where children flourish in freedom. They know the limits and they feel secure and free to dream and play and plan and work inside those limits of righteousness.
They gain confidence that this is the way God is. He is not a capricious God. He is not impulsive or erratic or inconsistent. There is order. There is justice tempered with mercy. There is hope and encouragement. Why, I might even be able to accomplish something of value or even greatness if I fit into this order and depend on the goodness of the Father who loves me like this.
So fathers, don't provoke your children by being impulsive, erratic, or inconsistent in your discipline. Be like your Father in heaven, so that your children can know him and become hopeful and happy and confident in him.
Much more could be said about the kinds of things that provoke long-term, discouragement and hopelessness in children. But time is out.
3. "Fathers . . . "
We can only briefly refer to the third part of the text, namely, the address: "Fathers . . . " Verse 20 said, "Children, obey your parents." This clearly teaches that mothers as well as fathers are to be obeyed. Mothers and fathers have a shared authority over the children. But in verse 21 fathers are addressed in particular.
Why this is so is the issue we will take up tonight. There is a peculiar role that the Scripture gives to husbands and fathers. Fathers bear a special responsibility for the moral life of the family. So I urge you to take that responsibility, fathers, and that you be the kind of man who gives hope and happiness and confidence to your children because you yourself have found your hope and your happiness and your confidence in God.
HT: Desiring God
Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged. - Colossians 3:21
Our text is straightforward and simple this morning: "Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged." It divides naturally into three parts:
1. First, there is the address, "Fathers."
2. Second, there is the command, "Do not provoke your children."
3. Third, there is the purpose of the command, "Lest they become discouraged."
We will look at these three parts of the text one at a time in reverse order. First, we will direct our attention to the goal of Christian fathers, namely, rearing children who are not discouraged. Second, we will look at the duty of Christian fathers, namely, not to do those things that discourage children. And finally, we will focus on the leader in Christian parenthood, namely, fathers.
But first a word about the fatherhood of God.
The Fatherhood of God
In the Lord's Prayer Jesus taught his disciples to call God Father: "Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name." He taught that God is not everyone's Father. In John 8:42, 44 he said to those who refused to follow him, "If God were your Father, you would love me, for I proceeded and came forth from God . . . You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires."
God is the Father only of those who are led by the Spirit of his Son. In Romans 8:9, 14-15 Paul says,
Any one who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him . . . All who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of sonship. When we cry, "Abba! Father!" it is the Spirit himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God.
Not every one can lay claim to the privilege of knowing God as Father. Only those who are born of God (John 1:13), who receive Christ (John 1:12), and who are led by the Spirit (Romans 8:14) have the right to receive the inheritance of the children—promises like Matthew 7:11, "If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!" The privilege of prayer and the promise that God will work all things together for your good is part of the inheritance of sonship. That is what it means to have God as your Father.
There are two reasons I begin with this word about the fatherhood of God. One is that I believe all human fatherhood should be patterned on the divine fatherhood. The overarching guide for every father should be to live in such a way that his children can see what God the Father is like. They 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 the Father in heaven.
The other reason I begin with the fatherhood of God is to give this message relevance for everyone in this room whether you are a father or not; and whether you had a Christian father or not. I want to make clear from the outset that the sadness many may feel at never having had a father like the father I will describe, and the sadness others may feel at never having been a father like the father I will describe—that sadness can be swallowed up and overcome with joy this morning because God offers his fatherhood to anyone who will accept the gift of adoption by trusting Christ and yielding to be led by the Holy Spirit.
There are two ways to listen to this message this morning. One is to take it as a straightforward exhortation from the Word of God to fathers on how to rear their children. The other is to take it as a parable pointing to the way the Father in heaven loves those who believe and follow his Son. Frankly, I hope all of you hear it in both senses.
1. "Lest They Become Discouraged"
Let's go to the text and begin with the last phrase of Colossians 3:21, "Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged."
The goal of a good father is to rear children who are not discouraged. The word implies losing heart, being listless, spiritless, disinterested, moody, sullen, with a kind of blank resignation toward life. Don't be the kind of father who rears that kind of person. Instead develop a style of fatherhood that produces the opposite of discouragement.
The Opposite of Discouragement
Now what is that? I would sum it up in three characteristics.
1. The opposite of being discouraged is being hopeful.
2. The opposite of being discouraged is being happy.
3. The opposite of being discouraged is being confident and courageous.
So I would say that the negative form of verse 21 really implies a positive command as well. It says, "Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged." But it means not only avoid one kind of fatherhood; it also means pursue another kind, namely, the kind of fatherhood which gives hope instead of discouragement; and gives happiness instead of discouragement; and gives confidence and courage.
Distinctly Christian Teaching
If we stopped right here, we would not have said anything distinctly Christian. There is not one parent in ten thousand who thinks that the aim of parenthood should be to discourage children. But the apostle Paul would be distressed if all I did were to use his words here simply to express some everyday common sense, or some natural wisdom. He was not inspired by the Holy Spirit to confirm the insights of Dr. Spock. He was inspired to teach parents things that no natural eye has seen and no natural ear has heard (1 Corinthians 2:9-13).
Here is what I mean. Paul's teaching makes it clear that when he says we should be fathers who give hope instead of discouragement, he means hope in GOD, not hope in money or hope in popularity or hope in education or hope in a spouse or hope in professional success. If you had asked Paul, or Jesus, "What kind of freedom from discouragement do you want our children to have?" he would not have said, "I want your children to be freed from discouragement by being filled with hope that they will become wealthy . . . or well-known, or intellectual, or married, or successful." We know that is not what he means. He means, be the kind of fathers who do not discourage your children but rather fill them with hope in God.
Happiness That Kills and Happiness in God
And when we consider happiness as the opposite of discouragement, Paul would not be content if a father simply made his child feel good by giving him whatever he wanted. There is a happiness that kills. To some kinds of happiness the Scripture says, "Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to dejection" (James 4:9). There is a happiness that has nothing to do with God, and therefore has no value in the sight of God. It comes from the creation alone and not from the Creator. That isn't what Paul wants fathers to put in the place of discouragement.
But there is another joy that comes to expression, for example, in Psalm 4:7-8,
Thou hast put more joy in my heart
than they have when their grain and wine abound.
In peace I will both lie down and sleep;
for thou alone, O lord, makest me dwell in safety.
Fathers, don't discourage your children, but fill them with joy in God! Teach them early on—and show them earlier yet—that through many sufferings they must enter the kingdom (Acts 14:22), but that they can rejoice in sufferings, knowing that "suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope"—IN GOD (Romans 5:3-4). Don't discourage them. Make them happy in God by helping them to hope in God.
Self-Confidence and God-Confidence
And when we consider confidence as the opposite of discouragement, the message of Scripture takes a dramatic turn away from the common sense natural wisdom of the world.
The world says: Don't discourage a child; build up his self-confidence. The Scripture says: Don't discourage a child; build up his God-confidence. In fact the Scripture is more precise than that; it teaches: Don't discourage a child, but do your best to root out his self-confidence and replace it with a confidence in God. And when it teaches us to root out self-confidence, it means root out the desire to be and to appear self-confident.
The Scripture knows that most people don't succeed in being self-confident. Most people are quite unhappy about their inability to appear self-reliant and self-assured and cool and in control. So when the Scripture teaches us to root out self-confidence, it means go for the root, not the half-withered branches. Go for the DESIRE to be self-confident, not the meager manifestations of it that make their way into peoples' actions.
Self-Confidence Being Rooted Out of Paul
One vivid illustration of how Paul's heavenly Father was patiently working to root out Paul's self-confidence is given in 2 Corinthians 1:8-9. Here is a description of how God the Father was working on Paul twenty years after his conversion, which means this is a very deeply rooted sin in all of us. He writes,
We do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of the affliction we experienced in Asia; for we were so utterly, unbearably crushed that we despaired of life itself. Why, we felt that we had received the sentence of death; but that was to make us rely [or: be confident] not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.
In other words, the divine purpose of Paul's affliction was (as it is the purpose of all good fatherly discipline) to root out the remaining self-confidence of Paul's heart and to cast him on God alone. Why? Because God didn't want him to be confident? Because he wanted him to be listless, spiritless, moody, sullen, weak, fearful? No! It was God who came to Paul in Corinth and said, "Do NOT be afraid, but speak and do NOT be silent; for I am with you." So the confidence that we are to build into our children is not self-confidence, but confidence in the grace and power of God. "Do not be afraid . . . I AM WITH YOU."
The Goal of Biblical Fathers
Andrew Bonar, the 19th century Scottish pastor, said concerning the teaching of children, "We tell them, 'You are sinners, exposed to God's wrath and curse, and you cannot save yourselves; but God's own Son can save you, by Himself bearing that wrath and curse.'" In other words you teach a child to despair of all self-confidence and direct his desire for confidence to the grace of God. The goal of biblical fathers is to have children who say (with Psalm 60:11-12):
O grant us help against the foe,
for vain is the help of man!
With God we shall do valiantly;
it is he who will tread down our foes.
A good father will ponder: How can I be like my own heavenly Father? How can I banish self-reliance from the heart of my children and fill them with confidence and courage and zeal and boldness that are rooted in the grace and power of God and not in themselves? How can I be the kind of father whose children do not lose heart or become spiritless or listless or sullen or discouraged, but are filled with hope in God and happiness in God and confidence in God and courage to attempt great things for the glory of God?
That question leads us to turn now to the second part of our text, namely, the duty of Christian parents not to provoke their children.
2. "Do Not Provoke Your Children"
"Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged." Again we notice that the commandment is negative—something to be avoided. It is a warning against the misuse of legitimate authority. Paul has just said in verse 20, "Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord." That gives to parents tremendous authority and responsibility under God. Children are to do what parents say.
Ruining a Child's Confidence in God
Now in verse 21 he cautions fathers against a misuse of this God-given authority. The misuse he has in mind is that fathers might treat their children in such a way that their spirit is broken and they become hopelessly discouraged. Paul calls this misuse "provoking" them: "Do not provoke your children."
In Ephesians 6:4 a different word is used that specifically means, "Do not provoke to anger." But this is a very general word here in Colossians 3:21. It can even be used positively in 2 Corinthians 9:2 where it says that the Christians in Achaia provoked the Christians in Macedonia to be more generous. In other words, they "stirred them up," or "motivated" them.
In choosing the broad and general word I think Paul would have us teach that parents should avoid everything that ruins a child's confidence in God and leaves him hopeless and discouraged. This requires tremendous wisdom from fathers, because not all short term discouragements result in long term hopelessness. On the contrary, our heavenly Father clearly brings short term frustrations and discouragements into our lives precisely to put us on a new footing of faith. Great wisdom is needed here.
So let's ask, then, What do fathers do that provoke children to long-term discouragement and hopelessness? I'll mention two things.
Failing to Be Happy and Hopeful in God
First, some fathers fail to BE happy and hopeful and confident in God. Fathers, what you ARE in relation to God is far more important than any particular parenting technique you try to employ. Will your children hope in God if you hope in money? Will your children be happy in God if they see that fishing is a happier experience for you than worship? Will your children be confident in God if your whole demeanor communicates the desire to be seen as a self-confident?
The most important work that a father can do for the sake of his children is to be converted. The most important strategy for rearing children is to become a new man in Christ—whose hope and happiness and confidence are in God and not in himself.
We know this is true from Scripture because there we are taught to imitate our heavenly Father. We are told to be holy as he IS holy (1 Peter 1:16). We are told to be merciful as he IS merciful (Luke 6:36). To be a good child is to copy daddy. It honors a father to be imitated, and we are commanded to honor our fathers. And so the most important question a father can ask is not what shall I teach my children, but rather who am I before the living God and before my children?
That is the first thing that fathers can do to provoke their children to long-term discouragement and hopelessness—they can fail to BE hopeful, happy, and confident in God.
Disciplining in an Impulsive, Erratic, and Inconsistent Way
The second thing that fathers do which provokes children to long term discouragement and hopelessness is to discipline them in an impulsive, erratic and inconsistent way.
Unpredictable, impulsive, hostile discipline makes children fearful, bitter, deceitful, and discouraged. They don't know where or why the explosion will come next. They say to themselves, "What's the use! How can I hope that being good is any better than being bad?" And so the spirit of moral hope is broken, and in its place comes calculated, deceitful, discouraged maneuvering.
On the other hand, when discipline is controlled and appropriate and consistent and based on clear rules and principles of justice in the home, an atmosphere is created where children flourish in freedom. They know the limits and they feel secure and free to dream and play and plan and work inside those limits of righteousness.
They gain confidence that this is the way God is. He is not a capricious God. He is not impulsive or erratic or inconsistent. There is order. There is justice tempered with mercy. There is hope and encouragement. Why, I might even be able to accomplish something of value or even greatness if I fit into this order and depend on the goodness of the Father who loves me like this.
So fathers, don't provoke your children by being impulsive, erratic, or inconsistent in your discipline. Be like your Father in heaven, so that your children can know him and become hopeful and happy and confident in him.
Much more could be said about the kinds of things that provoke long-term, discouragement and hopelessness in children. But time is out.
3. "Fathers . . . "
We can only briefly refer to the third part of the text, namely, the address: "Fathers . . . " Verse 20 said, "Children, obey your parents." This clearly teaches that mothers as well as fathers are to be obeyed. Mothers and fathers have a shared authority over the children. But in verse 21 fathers are addressed in particular.
Why this is so is the issue we will take up tonight. There is a peculiar role that the Scripture gives to husbands and fathers. Fathers bear a special responsibility for the moral life of the family. So I urge you to take that responsibility, fathers, and that you be the kind of man who gives hope and happiness and confidence to your children because you yourself have found your hope and your happiness and your confidence in God.
HT: Desiring God
6.18.2009
Doing Family Devotions
Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. - Ephesians 6:4
The Scripture is pretty clear on the fact that we have a responsibility to be training our children in the truth. Christian fathers in particular have a responsibility to be leading and training their families in the Revelation of God.
Many men struggle in the area of family devotions. It is kind of like evangelism, we know we have to do it but it is the doing it that is the problem.
Because I have echoed the Scriptures command for you and me to act like men and because some folks have requested that I talk about it, this is a quick guide to doing family devotions.
What follows is not an exhaustive how-to manual but rather some things that we do in trying to “teach them diligently” (Duet. 6.4) as God has commanded. Most of these things are things that we do, I am not saying that everyone has to do them, but rather supply suggestions in effort to be helpful.
#1 Be in the Word yourself
If you are going to teach your family to love the Word of God you better love the Word of God yourself. God’s design in commanding men to lead their families in the truth is to be preserving faithfulness throughout generations not modeling self-dependence and hypocrisy.
If you have not gone to the well of truth to draw fresh water from heaven than do not pretend to have something to say to your family. Instead, retire to a place where you can open up the Bible and drink from the fountain of grace that you might be fueled to speak of how impressed you are with Christ. You must know the Jesus you speak of, and not just know him but love him; this love is birthed by divine grace through the word of God and sustained by the same means.
#2 Choosing a Topic
In our family we usually go through books or sections of books of the Bible. We have been most recently going through Mark’s gospel, but I felt the need to work on teaching my family to pray more biblically, so we have been working on the Lord’s prayer in Matt. 6.
I have found that narratives are great for our family due to their ages. This also forces me to continually explain the context and themes of the book. I am learning too!!
You may have something that needs to be dealt with in your family. Family devotions are a great place to do this. Study as the leader and communicate what the Bible says and apply it to specific circumstances.
#3 Open the Bible
This is always a good thing! When you as the leader open the Bible you show your submission to what God says and you are modeling faithfulness to the Word. You may have the text memorized, it doesn’t matter, open the book and read it. Show your family you love the Bible.
Your own handling of the Scriptures expresses your view of the Scripture. Is it authoritative? Then you must open it up, interact with it and submit to it as you endeavor to apply it.
#4 Have a set time
It is good to set a routine for when you will read together. We like to read in the evening after dinner or before bed. I have brought the Bible out to eat with us to read and talk while we wait for the food. This encourages your family not to fear man and shows them that their Dad/husband loves the Bible.
#5 Talk about the Word all the time
As a family we may not sit down every single night and do a devotion, however, there is not a day that goes by that I do not speak to my kids about God. I want to make sure that the climate in my home is Christ centered therefore everything is a sign to point to Jesus. With little children their discipline is within the context of the gospel, for we are not trying to teach morality but Christianity! Their framework for obedience must be a holy and righteous creator and an accountable humanity. The only way to have this work right is within the context of the gospel.
My wife is a great help here. She talks about the Bible all the time with our kids during the day and we talk about it at night. It is important to create a climate that supports the sufficiency of Scripture and our dependence upon God.
#6 Make it fun
Family devotions should not be like doing chores. We don’t want to be all cantankerous and mean hitting our kids with a 45 minute running commentary on the book. Instead I have found it helpful to use a lot of illustrations that apply to my children’s lives. I have used action figures to explain a narrative, made up rhymes about “Elijah who likes to play with fy-ahh!” And “Ehud was a tough dude” …kids remember stuff like this.
I have also found it helpful to pause a lot and ask question of individuals. My 11 year old son could sit and listen to a sermon but my 4 year old girl will listen for 4 minutes and then start day-dreaming about a pink Pegasus. I have to reel here in frequently and ask her a question. Sometimes it is as simple as, “What did Jesus say to the woman?” Other times I’ll make a statement like, “Jesus heals people to show that he is the King, he is God, and he has power” then I’ll ask Alaynah (4), “why does Jesus heal people?” It is good to keep asking questions.
#7 Make application
After teaching the passage to your own heart make specific applications to your family’s. You may ask them questions like, “What can we do tonight, tomorrow or this week to live this scripture out?” and then being sure to follow up on that.
The time you spend in the word will serve to be a great resource for instruction in the days and years ahead.
#8 Addressing your wife
Your wife is your helpmate but she is also your responsibility as the husband. You are to lead her and teach her as well (Eph. 5.25-29). Sometimes the tendency is to spend so much time on the kids that you forget about your wife. It is good to involve your wife by asking her questions. The kids get to see that Mom knows and loves the Word too.
One thing to consider is that simply being a leader is a huge edifying factor for your wife. During devotions your wife gets to see first hand that her husband is a man! It shows that you love God and your family.
Something else to consider: more than likely, your wife rarely gets to sit down during the day. So, to sit with the kids and rub their hair or scratch their back while you do a devotion has several effects: your wife gets to hear God’s word, to learn something, to get time to be with the kids, to rest and to see you lead. How edifying is that?
#9 Teaching Prayer
Devotions are a great time to teach prayer. You as the leader can model biblical prayer. However, this is not the only time. I try to pray whenever I feel compelled to. This may be driving or some odd time during the day. It is good to teach your kids dependence upon God throughout the day not just during “quiet time”.
This is also a great opportunity to teach. Sometimes one of our kids will get loose with an unbiblical prayer and I often stop them and instruct them biblically and help them to think and pray in a way that God has prescribed. What do you do if your 5 year old prays for Satan to be saved? This is a great time to make personal application based upon what God has prescribed. Our recent study in Matt. 6 has really helped this.
#10 Gospelize your family
Remember that the whole point in doing this is to point your family to Jesus. Therefore, it is right to continue to explain and apply the gospel. Talk about the gospel all the time. Remember that your kids are young, they have not been dwelling upon the gospel for years, they probably don’t understand it like you do and they need to hear it! For we learn in Romans that “faith comes by hearing and hearing from the word of Christ” (Rom. 10.17). So since the gospel “is the power of God for salvation” (Rom. 1.15) and we want our kids to be saved, then what should we be telling them?
#11 Remember that this is a command
God does not ask us to lead and teach our families, he commands it. This is a regal decree from the King of heaven to us as his followers and leaders of our families. Therefore we must be good stewards of our time, pouring into our kid’s hearts and lives the unsearchable riches of Christ.
HT: The Irish Calvinist
The Scripture is pretty clear on the fact that we have a responsibility to be training our children in the truth. Christian fathers in particular have a responsibility to be leading and training their families in the Revelation of God.
Many men struggle in the area of family devotions. It is kind of like evangelism, we know we have to do it but it is the doing it that is the problem.
Because I have echoed the Scriptures command for you and me to act like men and because some folks have requested that I talk about it, this is a quick guide to doing family devotions.
What follows is not an exhaustive how-to manual but rather some things that we do in trying to “teach them diligently” (Duet. 6.4) as God has commanded. Most of these things are things that we do, I am not saying that everyone has to do them, but rather supply suggestions in effort to be helpful.
#1 Be in the Word yourself
If you are going to teach your family to love the Word of God you better love the Word of God yourself. God’s design in commanding men to lead their families in the truth is to be preserving faithfulness throughout generations not modeling self-dependence and hypocrisy.
If you have not gone to the well of truth to draw fresh water from heaven than do not pretend to have something to say to your family. Instead, retire to a place where you can open up the Bible and drink from the fountain of grace that you might be fueled to speak of how impressed you are with Christ. You must know the Jesus you speak of, and not just know him but love him; this love is birthed by divine grace through the word of God and sustained by the same means.
#2 Choosing a Topic
In our family we usually go through books or sections of books of the Bible. We have been most recently going through Mark’s gospel, but I felt the need to work on teaching my family to pray more biblically, so we have been working on the Lord’s prayer in Matt. 6.
I have found that narratives are great for our family due to their ages. This also forces me to continually explain the context and themes of the book. I am learning too!!
You may have something that needs to be dealt with in your family. Family devotions are a great place to do this. Study as the leader and communicate what the Bible says and apply it to specific circumstances.
#3 Open the Bible
This is always a good thing! When you as the leader open the Bible you show your submission to what God says and you are modeling faithfulness to the Word. You may have the text memorized, it doesn’t matter, open the book and read it. Show your family you love the Bible.
Your own handling of the Scriptures expresses your view of the Scripture. Is it authoritative? Then you must open it up, interact with it and submit to it as you endeavor to apply it.
#4 Have a set time
It is good to set a routine for when you will read together. We like to read in the evening after dinner or before bed. I have brought the Bible out to eat with us to read and talk while we wait for the food. This encourages your family not to fear man and shows them that their Dad/husband loves the Bible.
#5 Talk about the Word all the time
As a family we may not sit down every single night and do a devotion, however, there is not a day that goes by that I do not speak to my kids about God. I want to make sure that the climate in my home is Christ centered therefore everything is a sign to point to Jesus. With little children their discipline is within the context of the gospel, for we are not trying to teach morality but Christianity! Their framework for obedience must be a holy and righteous creator and an accountable humanity. The only way to have this work right is within the context of the gospel.
My wife is a great help here. She talks about the Bible all the time with our kids during the day and we talk about it at night. It is important to create a climate that supports the sufficiency of Scripture and our dependence upon God.
#6 Make it fun
Family devotions should not be like doing chores. We don’t want to be all cantankerous and mean hitting our kids with a 45 minute running commentary on the book. Instead I have found it helpful to use a lot of illustrations that apply to my children’s lives. I have used action figures to explain a narrative, made up rhymes about “Elijah who likes to play with fy-ahh!” And “Ehud was a tough dude” …kids remember stuff like this.
I have also found it helpful to pause a lot and ask question of individuals. My 11 year old son could sit and listen to a sermon but my 4 year old girl will listen for 4 minutes and then start day-dreaming about a pink Pegasus. I have to reel here in frequently and ask her a question. Sometimes it is as simple as, “What did Jesus say to the woman?” Other times I’ll make a statement like, “Jesus heals people to show that he is the King, he is God, and he has power” then I’ll ask Alaynah (4), “why does Jesus heal people?” It is good to keep asking questions.
#7 Make application
After teaching the passage to your own heart make specific applications to your family’s. You may ask them questions like, “What can we do tonight, tomorrow or this week to live this scripture out?” and then being sure to follow up on that.
The time you spend in the word will serve to be a great resource for instruction in the days and years ahead.
#8 Addressing your wife
Your wife is your helpmate but she is also your responsibility as the husband. You are to lead her and teach her as well (Eph. 5.25-29). Sometimes the tendency is to spend so much time on the kids that you forget about your wife. It is good to involve your wife by asking her questions. The kids get to see that Mom knows and loves the Word too.
One thing to consider is that simply being a leader is a huge edifying factor for your wife. During devotions your wife gets to see first hand that her husband is a man! It shows that you love God and your family.
Something else to consider: more than likely, your wife rarely gets to sit down during the day. So, to sit with the kids and rub their hair or scratch their back while you do a devotion has several effects: your wife gets to hear God’s word, to learn something, to get time to be with the kids, to rest and to see you lead. How edifying is that?
#9 Teaching Prayer
Devotions are a great time to teach prayer. You as the leader can model biblical prayer. However, this is not the only time. I try to pray whenever I feel compelled to. This may be driving or some odd time during the day. It is good to teach your kids dependence upon God throughout the day not just during “quiet time”.
This is also a great opportunity to teach. Sometimes one of our kids will get loose with an unbiblical prayer and I often stop them and instruct them biblically and help them to think and pray in a way that God has prescribed. What do you do if your 5 year old prays for Satan to be saved? This is a great time to make personal application based upon what God has prescribed. Our recent study in Matt. 6 has really helped this.
#10 Gospelize your family
Remember that the whole point in doing this is to point your family to Jesus. Therefore, it is right to continue to explain and apply the gospel. Talk about the gospel all the time. Remember that your kids are young, they have not been dwelling upon the gospel for years, they probably don’t understand it like you do and they need to hear it! For we learn in Romans that “faith comes by hearing and hearing from the word of Christ” (Rom. 10.17). So since the gospel “is the power of God for salvation” (Rom. 1.15) and we want our kids to be saved, then what should we be telling them?
#11 Remember that this is a command
God does not ask us to lead and teach our families, he commands it. This is a regal decree from the King of heaven to us as his followers and leaders of our families. Therefore we must be good stewards of our time, pouring into our kid’s hearts and lives the unsearchable riches of Christ.
HT: The Irish Calvinist
Portrait of Calvin Now Available
By David Mathis
It was T. H. L. Parker who introduced John Piper to John Calvin. In Piper's foreword to Desiring God’s new reprint of Parker’s Portrait of Calvin, he writes,
Desiring God is publishing T. H. L. Parker’s Portrait of Calvin out of theologically and historically informed nostalgia—and a sense of mission. The mission is to make much of the majesty of God. And the nostalgia is that this book was my first serious exposure to Calvin. I paid fifty cents for the book in a used rack. That was four decades ago.
Parker’s Portrait was first published in 1954. But it’s not the kind of book that goes out of date, because it’s only trying to be current with the sixteenth century. If you get it right, it stays right. When I saw the 500th anniversary of Calvin’s birth coming (July 10, 2009), I thought that maybe others would enjoy the same introduction to Calvin I enjoyed.
Watch some more thoughts from John Piper on this book:
This biography is now available exclusively through Desiring God.You can buy it or download it for free.
With Calvin’s 500th birthday just weeks away, reading Parker’s Portrait would be a fine way to mark the historic date.
HT: Desiring God
It was T. H. L. Parker who introduced John Piper to John Calvin. In Piper's foreword to Desiring God’s new reprint of Parker’s Portrait of Calvin, he writes,Desiring God is publishing T. H. L. Parker’s Portrait of Calvin out of theologically and historically informed nostalgia—and a sense of mission. The mission is to make much of the majesty of God. And the nostalgia is that this book was my first serious exposure to Calvin. I paid fifty cents for the book in a used rack. That was four decades ago.
Parker’s Portrait was first published in 1954. But it’s not the kind of book that goes out of date, because it’s only trying to be current with the sixteenth century. If you get it right, it stays right. When I saw the 500th anniversary of Calvin’s birth coming (July 10, 2009), I thought that maybe others would enjoy the same introduction to Calvin I enjoyed.
Watch some more thoughts from John Piper on this book:
This biography is now available exclusively through Desiring God.You can buy it or download it for free.
With Calvin’s 500th birthday just weeks away, reading Parker’s Portrait would be a fine way to mark the historic date.
HT: Desiring God
6.17.2009
Ten Questions to Assess Your Spiritual Health
#1 Do you thirst for God?
Psalm 42
#2 Are you governed increasingly by God’s Word?
2 Timothy 3
#3 Are you more loving?
John 13:34-35; 1 Corinthians 13
#4 Are you more sensitive to God’s Presence?
Genesis 28:16
#5 Do you have a growing concern for the spiritual and temporal needs of others?
James 2:15-16
#6 Do you love being with other followers of Christ?
1 John 3:14
#7 Are the spiritual disciplines increasingly important to you?
Hebrews 12:14; 1 Timothy 4:7
#8 Do you still grieve over sin?
2 Corinthians 7:8-11
#9 Are you a quicker forgiver?
Mark 11:25
#10 Do you yearn for heaven and to be with Jesus?
Philippians 1:21-24; Colossians 3:2
HT: Terra Nova
Psalm 42
#2 Are you governed increasingly by God’s Word?
2 Timothy 3
#3 Are you more loving?
John 13:34-35; 1 Corinthians 13
#4 Are you more sensitive to God’s Presence?
Genesis 28:16
#5 Do you have a growing concern for the spiritual and temporal needs of others?
James 2:15-16
#6 Do you love being with other followers of Christ?
1 John 3:14
#7 Are the spiritual disciplines increasingly important to you?
Hebrews 12:14; 1 Timothy 4:7
#8 Do you still grieve over sin?
2 Corinthians 7:8-11
#9 Are you a quicker forgiver?
Mark 11:25
#10 Do you yearn for heaven and to be with Jesus?
Philippians 1:21-24; Colossians 3:2
HT: Terra Nova
6.15.2009
6.12.2009
The Gospel: The Best Story in Every Story
The Gospel for the Non-Christian
To the non-Christian, it is the warning of judgment and the offer of forgiveness and eternal life.
The Gospel for the Christian
To the Christian, it is a reminder of the depths of God's love shown for them. It is a call to worship the One who has loved them so deeply; to live and love well in light of what He has done for them; and, to set their eyes on the hope of everlasting joy in His presence one day.
The Gospel in Every Story
That's why there is always a gospel presentation in every Praise Factory story--either woven into the actual story, or at the end as a response to the story.. Below are two versions of the gospel--a longer and shorter version--that we keep in mind as we teach our children. Perhaps they will be helpful to you, too.
The Gospel: A Fuller Version
God is the perfectly good and holy Creator-King of everything. He made us to know Him, love Him and obey Him.
But even though we should all love God and obey Him, we have all rebelled against Him. We have all chosen to live life our own way rather than His good and perfect way. This is what the Bible calls sin.
God hates sin. Sin ruins the world. It breaks our friendship, our fellowship, with God. Sin is terrible and it must be punished by our holy Creator-King. The punishment for sin is death: separation from God and everything good. How great is the punishment for sin? It is so great that we can never earn God's forgiveness by what we do! It is so great that it goes on forever!
God would be perfectly right and just to let all people receive this forever punishment for sin. Yet in His great love and mercy, God chose to send His Son Jesus to take the punishment for sin. Jesus came to earth--the Son of God became a man! He lived a perfect life--without any sin--and offered it up as He suffered and died on the cross, as the perfect sacrifice for the sins of all who would ever turn from their sins and trust in Him as their own Savior. Then on the third day, God raised Jesus from the dead in victory over sin and death. God's people were saved once and for all time!
Now all who turn away from their sins and trust in Jesus as their Savior are forgiven their sins. God adopts them as His very own people, filling them with His Holy Spirit and giving them the delight of knowing Him as their Heavenly Father, Savior and King. He works in their hearts and prepares them for the delight of living with Him forever in heaven.
The Gospel: A Shorter Version
God is the perfectly good and holy Creator-King of everything. He made us to know Him, love Him and obey Him. We are all sinners, who have rebelled against Him. We deserve His forever punishment for our sins.
God would be just and right to punish all people for their sins. Yet in His great mercy and love, God sent His Son Jesus to become a man. Jesus lived a perfect life and offered it up on the cross as the perfect sacrifice for the sins of all who would ever turn and trust in Him as their Savior.
Then on the third day, God raised Jesus from the dead, in victory over sin and death. God's people were saved, once and for all time!
God calls us now to turn from our sins and trust in Jesus as our own Savior, that we might be forgiven our sins and have the delight of knowing Him as our Heavenly Father, Savior and King, both now and forevermore.
Different Truths Highlight Different Gospel Beauties
Am I saying that every time we present the gospel it must be worded just like one of these? Absolutely not! The beauty of God's Word is that different truths emphasize different facets of the gospel.
Example 1: God's Power in the Gospel
For example, a story on God's power can be used as a chance to particularly stress how powerless we are to pay for our sins, yet how God sent Jesus to do what we could not (and did not want) to do, by dying on the cross and taking the punishment for His people's sins. It is a chance to reflect on God being so powerful that He broke the power of sin and death on the cross, and raised Jesus from the dead on the third day. He is powerful enough to save us!
Example 2: God's Holiness and Mercy in the Gospel
Yet, a story on God's holiness and our sinfulness can be used to highlight the vast gulf between sinful people and the Holy God. It can be a wonderful reflection upon how great is God's mercy in offering and providing salvation to sinners who turn to Him through Jesus.
Yes, every story is a gospel story. Just like every day is a gospel day: another offer of forgiveness, another show of God's love and mercy; and another chance to worship Him with our lives and our hearts. Best of all, it is another day closer to fullness of joy in His presence forevermore.
HT: Capital Hill Baptist Church
To the non-Christian, it is the warning of judgment and the offer of forgiveness and eternal life.
The Gospel for the Christian
To the Christian, it is a reminder of the depths of God's love shown for them. It is a call to worship the One who has loved them so deeply; to live and love well in light of what He has done for them; and, to set their eyes on the hope of everlasting joy in His presence one day.
The Gospel in Every Story
That's why there is always a gospel presentation in every Praise Factory story--either woven into the actual story, or at the end as a response to the story.. Below are two versions of the gospel--a longer and shorter version--that we keep in mind as we teach our children. Perhaps they will be helpful to you, too.
The Gospel: A Fuller Version
God is the perfectly good and holy Creator-King of everything. He made us to know Him, love Him and obey Him.
But even though we should all love God and obey Him, we have all rebelled against Him. We have all chosen to live life our own way rather than His good and perfect way. This is what the Bible calls sin.
God hates sin. Sin ruins the world. It breaks our friendship, our fellowship, with God. Sin is terrible and it must be punished by our holy Creator-King. The punishment for sin is death: separation from God and everything good. How great is the punishment for sin? It is so great that we can never earn God's forgiveness by what we do! It is so great that it goes on forever!
God would be perfectly right and just to let all people receive this forever punishment for sin. Yet in His great love and mercy, God chose to send His Son Jesus to take the punishment for sin. Jesus came to earth--the Son of God became a man! He lived a perfect life--without any sin--and offered it up as He suffered and died on the cross, as the perfect sacrifice for the sins of all who would ever turn from their sins and trust in Him as their own Savior. Then on the third day, God raised Jesus from the dead in victory over sin and death. God's people were saved once and for all time!
Now all who turn away from their sins and trust in Jesus as their Savior are forgiven their sins. God adopts them as His very own people, filling them with His Holy Spirit and giving them the delight of knowing Him as their Heavenly Father, Savior and King. He works in their hearts and prepares them for the delight of living with Him forever in heaven.
The Gospel: A Shorter Version
God is the perfectly good and holy Creator-King of everything. He made us to know Him, love Him and obey Him. We are all sinners, who have rebelled against Him. We deserve His forever punishment for our sins.
God would be just and right to punish all people for their sins. Yet in His great mercy and love, God sent His Son Jesus to become a man. Jesus lived a perfect life and offered it up on the cross as the perfect sacrifice for the sins of all who would ever turn and trust in Him as their Savior.
Then on the third day, God raised Jesus from the dead, in victory over sin and death. God's people were saved, once and for all time!
God calls us now to turn from our sins and trust in Jesus as our own Savior, that we might be forgiven our sins and have the delight of knowing Him as our Heavenly Father, Savior and King, both now and forevermore.
Different Truths Highlight Different Gospel Beauties
Am I saying that every time we present the gospel it must be worded just like one of these? Absolutely not! The beauty of God's Word is that different truths emphasize different facets of the gospel.
Example 1: God's Power in the Gospel
For example, a story on God's power can be used as a chance to particularly stress how powerless we are to pay for our sins, yet how God sent Jesus to do what we could not (and did not want) to do, by dying on the cross and taking the punishment for His people's sins. It is a chance to reflect on God being so powerful that He broke the power of sin and death on the cross, and raised Jesus from the dead on the third day. He is powerful enough to save us!
Example 2: God's Holiness and Mercy in the Gospel
Yet, a story on God's holiness and our sinfulness can be used to highlight the vast gulf between sinful people and the Holy God. It can be a wonderful reflection upon how great is God's mercy in offering and providing salvation to sinners who turn to Him through Jesus.
Yes, every story is a gospel story. Just like every day is a gospel day: another offer of forgiveness, another show of God's love and mercy; and another chance to worship Him with our lives and our hearts. Best of all, it is another day closer to fullness of joy in His presence forevermore.
HT: Capital Hill Baptist Church
Suffering Well by Arming Yourself (1 Peter 4:1-6, 12-19)
The majority of Americans spend enormous energy on isolating themselves from suffering and by pursuing a low-maintenance, hassle-free life. In the sermon below, Darrin Patrick challenges us to learn to repent of our Americanism.
Scripture: 1 Peter 4
Preacher: Darrin Patrick
Date: Jun 7, 2009
Series: Exposed
Download
HT: The Journey
Scripture: 1 Peter 4
Preacher: Darrin Patrick
Date: Jun 7, 2009
Series: Exposed
Download
HT: The Journey
6.11.2009
Treasuring Him - DWYL Sermon Jam Video
Seth Johnson has completed an internship this year with Desiring God's media department and what a blessing to the ministry he's been. His final project is now online.
We partnered with 1031sermonjams and produced a sermon jam video. The Don't Waste Your Life Tour is using it this summer to kick off each concert.
And speaking of the Don't Waste Your Life Tour, LeCrae's music video for the song "Don't Waste Your Life" is now available for purchase in iTunes.
HT: Desiring God
We partnered with 1031sermonjams and produced a sermon jam video. The Don't Waste Your Life Tour is using it this summer to kick off each concert.
And speaking of the Don't Waste Your Life Tour, LeCrae's music video for the song "Don't Waste Your Life" is now available for purchase in iTunes.
HT: Desiring God
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)