LeaderLines: Striking Rocks and Other Leadership Sins

As a leader, have you ever lashed back at the critics? If so, Matthew 5:21-22 can lead you back to where you need to be.

Jesus begins by saying murderers will be judged. But then he drills down deeper, saying that “anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment.” In fact, he adds, “anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca’ is answerable to the Sanhedrin.” Even more, “anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.”

To call someone “Raca” was like calling someone “bonehead” today. How can simple anger or derision be as bad as murder?

Tim Keller thought through that question in a recent post:

This passage helps me understand Numbers 20. As in Exodus 17, the children of Israel are in the desert wilderness facing parching thirst. They charge Moses with being, at worst, evil or, at best, an incompetent leader. Again, God tells Moses to go to “that rock.” This time however he tells him to speak to it, and the rock will pour out water sufficient for everyone (v.8). Moses gathers everyone at the rock, but instead of speaking to the rock, he angrily upbraids the people. “Listen, you rebels!” he cries. “Must we bring you water out of this rock [again]?” (v.10) Striking the rock with his staff in his fury, the water comes out. God, however, tells Moses that he now would not enter the Promised Land, because Moses “did not trust me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites.” (v.12)

If we’ve ever read this passage, maybe we concluded that Moses’ sin was failure to follow instructions. Of course we should never veer off the course God sets out for us, even in the slightest way. But there’s more going on here. In the relentless pressure of leading a crowd of complainers, Moses had descended into contempt for them. Keller:

God was ready to be gracious, but Moses was in no mood for that. The relentless criticism had made him self-righteous. He held them in contempt. He had wrath but no compassion, and that is the mark of a man who is becoming less like God, not more. (See Isaiah 15-16 where God grieves even as he speaks in judgment.) Moses is a man who has forgotten grace, and the sign of it is a sanctimonious spirit along with words of denunciation without humility and compassion.

The popular New York City pastor applies this to our own leadership:

Leadership brings a steady drumbeat of criticism and misunderstanding, even when things are going well. When things go poorly, people vent their frustration and anger on those in charge. A newly ordained pastor once said to me, “I didn’t know that, once you become a leader, there’s always someone mad at you!”

John Newton (the pastor who wrote the lyrics to “Amazing Grace”) once cautioned that controversy can make us self-righteous. “Whatever it be that makes us trust in ourselves that we are comparatively wise or good, so as to treat those with contempt who do not subscribe to our doctrines, or follow our party,” he said, “is a proof and fruit of a self-righteous spirit.”

Keller reminds us of this quote and adds:

All leaders, and especially Christian leaders, must be on guard against this inevitable temptation and this terrible sin. It is natural, when under criticism, to shield your heart from pain by belittling the critics in your mind. “You stupid idiots.” Even if you don’t speak outwardly to people like Moses did, you do so inwardly. That will lead to self-absorption, self-pity, maybe even delusions of grandeur, but the great sin is that the growth of inner disdain leads to pride and a loss of humble reliance on God’s grace. Moses treated God with contempt when he became contemptuous toward his people.

Read that last line again: “Moses treated God with contempt when he became contemptuous toward his people.”

As leaders, let’s make sure that we’re patient with the critics. We’re often tempted to strike rocks and shout “Bonehead!” (“Raca!”) But there are serious consequences to our leadership, not to mention our very souls, if we take that route.

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Each Thursday I post my article from "LeaderLines," an e-newsletter for church leaders read by more than 350 subscribers. If you want to subscribe to "LeaderLines," sign up here.

Blogging Through "Lord Jesus Christ": The Four Gospels

The best sources for what the earliest Christians thought of Jesus are the four Gospels that begin the New Testament.

This would seem an obvious point, but not to all. Some believe that the Gospels were later developments of the Christian movement--late enough to incorporate new ideas of Jesus not held by the earliest Christians. New ideas regarding his pre-existence, his divinity, his virgin birth, his redemptive death, and his vindicating resurrection.

One very helpful resource to challenge this erroneous view of history is Larry Hurtado’s Lord Jesus Christ: Devotion to Jesus in Earliest Christianity. I’m committing several posts to blog through Hurtado’s 750-page book since the subject is so important for our conversations about Jesus in Austin. My first three installments can be found here, here, and here.

Hurtado contends that a virtual “big bang” of devotion to Jesus as divine erupted suddenly and quickly and widely, not gradually and late and in select locales.

His largest section of the book, at about 170 pages, is dedicated to introducing the picture of Jesus that emerges from the four New Testament Gospels.

The Gospels appeared anywhere from 30 to 65 years after the death of Jesus, but Hurtado contends that the four Gospels were not so much an innovation in theology as they were an innovation in literature. In other words, they did not present new views of Jesus but "literaturized" prior oral discourse and written expressions about Jesus. There was written material of at least some of Jesus' sayings and deeds prior to the four Gospels (Luke's statement that "many others" had written accounts of "the things that have been fulfilled among us" in Luke 1:1 says as much). And there were formulatic statements in earliest Christianity indicating that Jesus' words and deeds were passed along orally (For example, 1 Cor. 15:1-11). And, as we've already covered in Hurtado's overview of Paul's writings, we don't have to wait until the Gospels appeared in the mid first century to find the view of Jesus as fully divine and fully human whose death was redemptive. But organizing all this into a narration of Jesus' life and putting it down in written form was a new development. Hurtado:

These authors saw their writings as part of the larger early Christian activities of proclamation, consolidation of converts, defense of faith, and formation of group identity. These wider and prior activities are the immediate context and the particular impetus of the canonical Gospels.

Hurtado supplies an overview of each Gospel, with an eye to how the gospel writers presented Jesus as divine, and as the centerpiece of what God is doing in the world.

Next Up: Nonbiblical Jesus Books



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Winning Ways: Does God Find You Useful?

Last Sunday we began a new sermon series called Word! Changing Lives with Unchanging Truth. But is it our job or God's job to change lives?

Yes.

"I am sending you to open their eyes," the risen Christ said to Paul (Acts 26:17-18). Opening the eyes of the spiritually blind is God's work (2 Corinthians 4:6), but Jesus sends Paul to open their eyes.

"I have become all things to all people," Paul wrote, "that by all means I might save some" (1 Corinthians 9:22). He knew that God does the saving (Jeremiah 24:7), and yet Paul said he did whatever it took to "save" people.

"Whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering," James wrote, "will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins" (James 5:20). Isn't God the one who brings people back to himself (Jeremiah 31:18; Isaiah 57:18)? Yes, and yet the Bible calls us to bring people back from sin and death.

"He will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God," the angel said of John the Baptist, "and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just." (Luke 1:16-17). Again, though God works to turn hearts to himself (2 Thessalonians 3:5), John was commissioned to turn hearts to God.

"You have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God," Peter wrote, adding, "and this word is the good news that was preached to you" (1 Peter 1:23-25). So, the same Bible that says the Spirit of God causes new birth, blowing where he wills (John 3:8), also says that the new birth comes from someone preaching the gospel.

So, according to the texts above, we are to "open their eyes," "save some," "bring back" sinners from their wandering, "turn many" to the Lord, and see people born again through announcing the good news to them.

In a recent article, John Piper reviewed these texts and concluded: "God is the decisive, ultimate cause of conversion, but we are his agents, and he calls us to join him in this goal. Not to aim at it is to put ourselves out of step with his command and his Spirit."

So... are you in step?

Join us this Sunday as we re-commit to being useful instruments in God's hands.
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Each Wednesday I post my article from "Winning Ways," an e-newsletter that goes out to 1200 subscribers. If you want to subscribe to "Winning Ways," sign up here.

Links to Your World, Tuesday June 28

Whining May Be World’s Most Annoying Sound


Sixteen Ways of Eating a Cicada: The Fine Art of Insect Cuisine


Indian Man Hasn't Bathed in 37 Years. Upon getting married his priest told him his sacrifice would yield him a son. Seven daughters and 37 years later....


Britain's worst sheep dog chased by flock. There's sermon illustration in there somewhere....


"A woman in Kazan, Russia, has reportedly died of a heart attack after waking up at her own funeral. Fagilyu Mukhametzyanov, 49, had been declared dead from a heart attack after collapsing at her house. After waking up in an open coffin at the funeral, she had another heart attack and was rushed to the hospital, but died after 12 minutes there" (Story)


World's Scariest Job? How about building a 3-foot wide wooden road on a cliff face?






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Blogging Through "Lord Jesus Christ": The Q Materials

Anyone familiar with the first 3 Gospels in the New Testament can tell that they share a great deal of similar material. Many scholars believe that at least Matthew and Luke drew from a common source that academics call "Q" (short for quelle, the German word meaning "source"). Scholars who embrace the Q hypothesis believe that the Q material was a collection of Jesus' sayings that circulated in written form among the earliest Christians. The sayings would amount to about 225 verses in written form.

There is no actual document of this Q material, nor is there any reference in early Christian writing to a written source of Jesus' sayings that existed independent of the four New Testament Gospels.

As a result, conservatives have generally been cautious about making too much of the Q hypothesis, especially when we have seen the speculative hypothesis employed in the rewriting of early Christian beliefs. Some scholars have proposed that the remnants of Q in Matthew and Luke reveal that there was an earlier community of Jesus people who simply saw him as a teacher of this-worldly wisdom, and only later was the Q material adapted to weave the more elaborate stories of Jesus' redemptive death, resurrection, and promised return.

That's why I found Larry Hurtado's treatment of the Q hypothesis helpful. I've been blogging through his book, Lord Jesus Christ: Devotion to Jesus in Earliest Christianity. You can find my first two installments hereand here. Hurtado's book challenges the conventional belief among liberal academics that views of Jesus as divine were later, secondary developments. Instead, as he shows, devotion to Jesus as divine burst out among the earliest Christians within years (days) following Jesus' execution. Hurtado contends that the Q source that many scholars identify behind Matthew and Luke actually reinforce this view instead of undermine it.

So, grant that there is a prior written source of Jesus' sayings that Matthew and Luke depended on. And grant (for the moment) that these sayings did not contain reference to Jesus' crucifixion as redemptive or his resurrection or his promised return. "The question," Hurtado points out, "is what we are to make of this."

Liberal scholars make too much of the silence. In order words, it is too much to assume that the community who produced and circulated a written collection of Jesus' sayings had no other views of Jesus than those contained in the sayings. "Q was not intended to communicate all the Jesus tradition known and meaningful for redactors and readers," Hurtado writes.

Besides, what are we to make of the fact that Matthew and Luke chose to incorporate Q so fully? Most scholars, even those most speculative of what Q contains and what it means, agree that all of Q is found in the New Testament Gospels. Obviously the Gospel writers found nothing objectionable about the material, nor did they regard those who circulated the Q material as "competitors" with an alternate view of Jesus. As covered in my last post, Paul's writings give evidence that a body of earliest believers viewed Jesus as divine, and his death as redemptive, and his resurrection as real, and his return as anticipated. If those who composed Q were contemporaries of this earliest community of believers, and yet the "Q people" had radically different views than the traditional Christians, why were traditional Christians happy to incorporate all of the Q people's written material into their own books?

Instead, "it fits the actual reception history of Q better to suppose that it may have been prepared from the first for a wide readership, and may not (ever?) have been a document produced for one particular type or circle of the early Christian movement....I contend that the contents of Q align it with the beliefs, themes, and interests reflected in other Christian texts of the first century."

In addition to making too much of what Q does not contain, liberal scholars draw the wrong conclusions about what it does contain. "I must contend immediately that Q presents a clear and sustained emphasis on the importance of Jesus. I am unable, therefore, to consent to the notion that the focus in Q is not so much on Jesus, but more on the kingdom of God....The decision about Jesus' validity is the central question [in the Q material], for on it hangs the chance of one's participation in the kingdom of God."

Hurtado provides a helpful survey of the ways the acknowledged Q material presents a high view of Jesus. After this review, the case seems very weak for those who would claim that the Q material reveals a simpler, earlier community of Jesus people who regarded Jesus as merely a teacher of this-world wisdom.

Further, instead of being a random collection of this-world wisdom sayings without any interest in a narrative flow, the Q material has "an implicit narrative" that is "wholly concerned with Jesus."

What we have [in Q] is a text that presumes a narrative of Jesus that proceeds from an announcement of his appearance, through his introduction and activities, the formation of a following, opposition to him that includes his death by crucifixion, his postmortem vindication and continuing authority for the intended readers, and the promise of a future triumphant manifestation. I submit that those who composed Q fully expected readers to bring this 'story,' which we might term the 'enabling narrative,' to their reading of this text.

And, of course, eventually Matthew and Luke put this 'enabling narrative' into written form around the Q sayings. Hurtado says:

The alleged 'silence' of Q, I contend, has much more to do with the genre and purposes of its composer(s), and is far less an indication of their ignorance or the limits of their beliefs. Q is a remarkably important (even if hypothetical) text. The collecting and use of Jesus' sayings led to the production of this significant literary product that appears to have been widely circulated and appreciated in the first century. Then, through its incorporation into the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, it was bequeathed to all subsequent Christian tradition, serving to provide centuries of believers with some of their most familiar and treasured traditions of the teaching of their Master and Lord.

Next Up: The Gospels

Note: In my posts I refer to scholars as "liberal" or "radical." These are my own words and not the words Hurtado uses. He chooses to address his book as a scholar to scholars, avoiding polemical labels. This is admirable, and perhaps will gain his book a wider audience. I'm using the labels as a sort of short-hand in my posts. I grant the labels can generate more heat than light.



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Of Sonograms and Cigarette Warnings

George Will: Texas governor Rick Perry "signed a law requiring women seeking abortions to be shown sonograms of their babies. Do people objecting to this mandatory provision of information object to the new graphic warnings on cigarette packs?"

Well?




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Road Signs in their Proper Context

I love this. Clearly our road signs don’t provide enough space to understand the proper context for what the artist is trying to say:

"Fundamentalist" and Other F-Words

The philosopher Alvin Plantiga talks about the propaganda behind anyone who uses "fundamentalist" to describe a conservative in his book Warranted Christian Belief. Excuse the passing along of a mild profanity but this was too emotively powerful--and too true--to pass up. Terry Mattingly introduced me to this quote:

We must first look into the use of this term ‘fundamentalist’. On the most common contemporary academic use of the term, it is a term of abuse or disapprobation, rather like ‘son of a bitch’, more exactly ‘sonovabitch’, or perhaps still more exactly (at least according to those authorities who look to the Old West as normative on matters of pronunciation) ‘sumbitch’. When the term is used in this way, no definition of it is ordinarily given. (If you called someone a sumbitch, would you feel obliged first to define the term?) Still, there is a bit more to the meaning of ‘fundamentalist’ (in this widely current use): it isn’t simply a term of abuse. In addition to its emotive force, it does have some cognitive content, and ordinarily denotes relatively conservative theological views. That makes it more like ‘stupid sumbitch’ (or maybe ‘fascist sumbitch’?) than ‘sumbitch’ simpliciter. It isn’t exactly like that term either, however, because its cognitive content can expand and contract on demand; its content seems to depend on who is using it. In the mouths of certain liberal theologians, for example, it tends to denote any who accept traditional Christianity, including Augustine, Aquinas, Luther, Calvin, and Barth; in the mouths of devout secularists like Richard Dawkins or Daniel Dennett, it tends to denote anyone who believes there is such a person as God. The explanation is that the term has a certain indexical element: its cognitive content is given by the phrase ‘considerably to the right, theologically speaking, of me and my enlightened friends.’ The full meaning of the term, therefore (in this use), can be given by something like ‘stupid sumbitch whose theological opinions are considerably to the right of mine’.

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Sailing Alone Aound the World

On this day in 1898, Joshua Slocum completed the first solo journey sailing around the world. I read his book on the experience, free at this Amazon page. Entertaining and easy to follow, even for us landlubbers.


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Location:Sailing Alone Around the World

Blogging Through “Lord Jesus Christ”: Paul and Acts

Yesterday I began blogging through Larry Hurtado’s important book, Lord Jesus Christ: Devotion to Jesus in Earliest Christianity. His main point is that devotion to Jesus as divine was not a secondary development of Christianity. Instead, such devotion appears in history as “a virtual ‘big bang,’ erupting suddenly and quickly and widely, not gradually and late and in select locales. He suggests that what developed among the earliest Christians was a “variant” of Jewish monotheism—a redefinition following their experience with Jesus. Their monotheism became “binitarian”: the one God was known and worshipped as the Father and as the Son.

His book begins with the writings of the Apostle Paul because, though the Four Gospels describe events that preceded Paul, the letters of Paul were written first. Paul’s conversion was within a few years of the execution of Jesus. And, of course, Paul’s experience with Palestinian Jewish Christians was even earlier in his days as their persecutor. So:

Paul’s persecution of Jewish Christians, his conversion and subsequent participation in Christian circles, and the full pattern of faith and piety that he professes to have shared with Jewish Christians from the beginning (e.g., 1 Cor. 15:11) are all key data for any adequate account of the Christian movement in the first two decades.

The devotion to Jesus Paul expresses in his letters, and commends to others, was born out of a fervent Jewish monotheism. He regarded his converted understanding of Jesus as consonant with everything he knew of the Hebrew Scriptures. Thus, liberal scholars overstate their case when they attribute Paul’s view of a divine Jesus to pagan influences upon Paul. Paul’s reference to “sonship” is a case in point: Certainly there were pagan stories of gods siring sons (and daughters, too), but every reference to Jesus as God’s “son” in Paul’s letters is framed in Jewish categories rather than Greek.

What’s important to note about the view of Jesus we see in Paul’s letters: Paul seems to refer to ideas of Jesus already in place instead of introducing something new. “Paul seems to presuppose acquaintance with the Christological convictions that he affirms,” Hurtado writes, “and most often he expresses them in brief, somewhat formulaic terms.” What that means is that, even though Paul’s writings are quite early after Jesus’ execution, the views to which he refers are obviously earlier still, taking us to the very dawn of the Christian movement. So, references to Jesus as Messiah, Son, Lord (even quoting Old Testament verses about the Lord God as references to Jesus), his pre-existence, and the saving power of his death and resurrection—Paul did not introduce these references to the church but commented on concepts that were already well in place when he wrote. Hurtado:

In Pauline Christianity we see a remarkable ‘overlap’ in function between God and Jesus, and also in the honorific rhetoric use to refer to them both. This is all the more phenomenal when we note that Paul’s letters show that this was already rather well developed by the 50s, and could be taken for granted by Paul. Indeed, there is hardly any indication in Paul’s letters that he knew of any controversy or serious variance about this exalted place of Jesus among the various other Christian circles with which he was acquainted. In historical terms we may refer to a veritable ‘big bang,’ an explosively rapid and impressively substantial christological development in the earliest stages of the Christian movement….Though Christians struggled over the next few centuries to articulate in varying ways more completely a view of the relationship of God and Christ, the Pauline letters indicate that at an astonishingly early point basic convictions about Jesus that amount to treating him as divine had become widely shared in various Christian circles.

What is helpful in Hurtado’s contribution to this conversation about earliest Christianity is his coverage of the practices, not just the statements of belief, found in Paul’s letters. And so Hurtado reviews Paul’s description of prayers to Jesus, invocation of Jesus, baptism in his name, ritual observance of his “Supper” (in which Jesus was regarded as present), hymns in praise to Jesus, and prophecies attributed to Jesus speaking to someone. All of this, especially within a few years (days) of Jesus’ execution, is remarkable phenomena.

Certainly Paul’s work was a “departure” in one area: the invitation of Gentiles to come to God on the basis of their faith in Jesus rather than observance of Torah law. But Hurtado says that this reinforces the point: While Paul goes to great pains to explain his commission to the Gentiles, his references without defense or explanation to a devotion to a divine Jesus who died a saving death reinforces the fact that such views were prior to Paul. Indeed, as he writes in 1 Cor. 11:23-26, what he “received” he “passed on.”

Next Up: An examination of the “Q” source(s).

LeaderLines: Your Summer Reading Assignment

Last Sunday I challenged you to use the summertime to develop in your understanding of one aspect of Christian truth. At the start of summer season, newspapers and magazines always have recommendations for beach or poolside books. Here’s mine.

Most of these aren’t new books, but I’ve found them invaluable in developing my understanding of the faith. I challenge you to choose at least one to read this summer. For convenience the links will take you to Amazon, but you may be able to find some of these books in our church or community libraries.

The Case for the Real Jesus by Lee Strobel.

Area for Development: Reliability of Scripture

One of the biggest contemporary challenges in our conversations about Jesus center on the reliability of Scripture. Does the New Testament give us the earliest eyewitness testimony of Christ’s claims and deeds? Strobel uses his skills honed in his days as a Chicago journalist to find the answer.

The Cross of Christ by John R.W. Stott.

Area for Development: The Meaning of the Cross

I place this in my “Top 10” list of the most formative books I’ve ever read. Stott reminds us again of the high price God paid to bring us to himself.

Generous Justice by Timothy Keller.

Area for Development: Responsibility to the Poor

Of course, just about any Keller book would enrich you this summer. (Counterfeit Gods. One word: Wow.) In Generous Justice, Keller helps us think through how God expects us to use our resources in service to the poor. Craig Blomberg’s remarkable biblical survey on this subject is also helpful: Neither Poverty Nor Riches: A Biblical Theology of Possessions.

Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home by Richard Foster

Area for Development: Prayer

Nearly 20 years old now, this is one of the finest books on prayer I’ve read. I also recommend the classic book, Prayer, by Ole Hallesby.

Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God by J.I. Packer

Area for Development: Predestination; Election

Another classic. One of the most remarkable developments of the last 5-10 years is the resurgence of interest in sovereign grace, especially among young adults. Packer shows us how this conviction does not stifle evangelism but actually propels it. When I read the book nearly 30 years ago it was already old. It has weathered the years well. I read it again one afternoon this week and found myself on my knees in prayer for souls. You may also find it helpful to read the historical survey, Predestination: The American Career of a Contentious Doctrine, by Peter Thuesen.

Run to Win the Prize: Perseverance in the New Testament, by Thomas Schreiner.

Area for Development: Salvation; Eternal Security

If Baptists teach the doctrine of eternal security, what do we do with all the warnings in the New Testament against falling away from God? Schreiner does a fine job helping us take both truths seriously. I think one of the biggest weaknesses in Baptist theology, especially in its popular expression, is the failure to really understand the biblical teaching about perseverance. Run to Win the Prize is a shorter version of Schreiner’s more thorough treatment, The Race Set Before Us. For a brief introduction to his thoughts on this subject, you can read “Perseverance and Assurance: A Survey and a Proposal,” in the SBTS theological journal.

In addition to these books on specific topics, I recommend you have a copy of Millard Erickson’s Christian Theology on your shelf for reference. It was one of my most important resources as I started working out my theological understanding 25 years ago. At the risk of self-promotion, I’ll also suggest you have a copy of my book The Anchor Course: Exploring Christianity Together. This is a brief introduction to Christianity, especially with a view to explaining the faith to seekers. You can order a copy online or purchase it from the church office.

Tom

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Each Thursday I post my article from "LeaderLines," an e-newsletter for church leaders read by more than 350 subscribers. If you want to subscribe to "LeaderLines," sign up here.

“Love Wins” and What Is “Fitting, Proper, and Christian to Long For”

“Whatever objections a person might have to this story, and there are many, one has to admit that it is fitting, proper, and Christian to long for it.”

This, in the end, is Rob Bell’s strongest case for his dance with universalism known as Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lives.

It is also the book’s fatal flaw.

Yes, I’m late to the commentary party. In fact, enough time has passed for articles and blog posts to give way to book-length responses. (I’m looking forward to Mark Galli’s God Wins and Francis Chan’s Erasing Hell. Early reviews for each book here and here.) But sometimes it takes a while for a book to route through your public library system, and so here I am.

Bell’s contention is that God will continue to pursue people beyond the bounds of this life until all are won to him. (Or maybe just until all are won who want to be won to him, since Bell holds out the possibility that some may choose to resist God’s advances forever. Which sort of just pushes the point of no return from earthly death to somewhere in the next life, thus keeping love from quite winning after all, eh?)

He acknowledges that there are many objections to this story, but whatever they are, “one has to admit that it is fitting, proper, and Christian to long for it.”

Or, as he responded to a critic on a radio interview I heard: “Don’t you want it to be true?”

This is the book’s strongest emotional punch and also its most fatal flaw.

Oh, there are other critiques I could make of the book, but Kevin DeYoung has already performed that service admirably.

What struck me upon finishing this short book, though, is his assumption that it is “fitting, and proper, and Christian to long for” this version of reality. One “has to admit” this, he says.

No, one does not have to.

What is fitting, and proper, and Christian to long for is the way God has ordered things. If we do not long for this, then we repent, and we reflect on God’s Word until we long for it. Really, actually, long for it.

In other words, I want to want what God wants.

I don’t always want what God wants, but I want to want what God wants.

Bell invites us to imagine with him a different scenario for the universe than the one we’ve known in traditional Christianity. “Don’t you want it to be true?” he asks.

It is not enough for Bible readers to reply, “Sure it’d be nice for the universe to work that way, I’d like it to be that way, but Scripture says something different.” That reaction exposes how we acknowledge some aspect of God’s truth rationally but we are not aligned with it emotionally. In that case, we need to reflect on God’s truth until it is not just understandable but altogether compelling. In every aspect of God’s truth, we aren’t simply to submit to it but to be awestruck by it.

Blogging Through “Lord Jesus Christ”: Introduction

In the Western world it has become a common assumption that the Christian view of Jesus as divine was a development among later generations of believers—a pious elaboration on the actual Jesus, a remarkable but simply human figure who wandered Galilee and Judea teaching countercultural wisdom.

The common assumption is wrong.

One very helpful resource to challenge this erroneous view of history is Larry Hurtado’s Lord Jesus Christ: Devotion to Jesus in Earliest Christianity. I’m going to commit several posts to blog through Hurtado’s 750-page book since the subject is so important for our conversations about Jesus in Austin.

The fancy that the divinity of Jesus was a later development in Christianity is infused into nearly every contemporary discussion. You can hear it espoused—usually uncritically—in religion classes in state universities, and from authors being interviewed on The Daily Show, and, in its most simplistic and uninformed variety, in Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code.

History shows a very different picture: A virtual “big bang” of devotion to Jesus as divine erupted suddenly and quickly and widely, not gradually and late and in select locales.

Most accounts of what the earliest Christians really believed are theologically driven. That is, most authors, whether traditional or liberal, employ history in defense of what they want Jesus to be. Hurtado regards it as irrelevant for historical study as to whether Christianity ought to remain moored to the earliest understandings of Jesus or ought to evolve beyond those sentiments. But history shows that the earliest Christians regarded him as orthodox Christians regard him today: fully divine and fully human.

There’s one thing that orthodox Christians and liberal advocates have in common: we all agree that the real authority for our position lies in how accurately it reflects the earliest and original Christianity. History is very much in the traditional Christian’s corner.

Next up: Writings from very first years of Christianity.

Winning Ways: A Life Built By Busyness or Blueprints?

The Winchester Mystery House is the product of busyness instead of blueprints. Let’s make sure the house doesn’t illustrate our lives and our church.

Will Mancini wrote about this odd Victorian house in San Jose, California. From 1884 and for 38 years, the home underwent constant construction. It has 160 rooms, three elevators, forty staircases, and forty-seven fireplaces. But there’s no point to much of the work: Stairs lead into the ceiling; windows decorate the floor, and doors open into blank walls. “Random features reflect excessive creativity, energy, and expense,” Mancini writes, “from exquisite hand inlaid parquet floors to Tiffany art glass windows.”

The constant busyness was ordered by Sarah Winchester, widow and heiress to the Winchester rifle fortune. She became convinced that she was being plagued by the evil spirits of those killed by her husband’s famous invention, and that the only way to appease them was by continuous construction. And so today tourists can walk through her monument to 38 years of pointless busyness.

As I said, it’s a cautionary tale for our lives and our church. Are you just keeping in motion, or are you making something of your life?

This Sunday, we return to our series through the Acts of the Apostles, and our study will give us a blueprint for the building of our life and our church.

We pressed pause on the Acts series several months ago so I could prepare and lead the Beautiful Thing campaign. God willing, we’ll complete the Book of Acts across the next 10 weeks.

The summertime series is called Word! Changing Lives With Unchanging Truth. As I’ve studied through Acts 18-28, I can’t help but be struck by the Apostle Paul’s drive and energy and personal sacrifice to get the Word out to every corner of his culture. He was confident that the Word of God was the medicine that others needed. He was hard at work changing lives with unchanging truth.

If we can build our lives and our church on that blueprint, we won’t leave behind a Winchester Mystery House for people to gawk over. Instead, we’ll be filled with that satisfaction that can only come from being aligned with God’s purposes.

Join us this Sunday @ 10 as we begin this summertime series!

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Each Wednesday I post my article from "Winning Ways," an e-newsletter that goes out to 1200 subscribers. If you want to subscribe to "Winning Ways," sign up here.

Links to Your World, Tuesday June 21

Old Trees Around the World


"As an estimated 70.1 million fathers prepare to celebrate Father's Day in the U.S., recent research shows that their distinct style of parenting is particularly worth recognition: The way dads tend to interact has long-term benefits for kids, independent of those linked to good mothering." (Sue Shellenbarger explains why)


Gallup: “U.S. adults, on average, estimate that 25% of Americans are gay or lesbian. More specifically, over half of Americans (52%) estimate that at least one in five Americans are gay or lesbian, including 35% who estimate that more than one in four are. Thirty percent put the figure at less than 15%.” Actual percentage: Around 2 percent.


Read "The War Against Girls" and discover where sex-selection abortions are leading the culture in China and India, now overwhelmingly male after decades of aborting females. And discover the quandry this puts pro-choice feminists: They have no basis for arguing against the bias against baby girls because they have made "reproductive choice" the very definition of feminism. 


"I'm not saying you have to keep up. But at the moment you choose to stop growing, your world will begin to shrink. You'll be able to communicate with fewer people, especially the young. You will only see reruns. You will not understand how to pay for things. The outside world will become a frightening and unpredictable place" (Daniel Wilso for the WSJ, in an article about staying current with technology). 


"A new study suggests that when people don't think critically about their media consumption, they're in danger of assimilating some of the mental characteristics on display. Specifically, researchers found that if the main character in a screenplay was a total imbecile, and people weren't expressly asked to identify differences between themselves and that protagonist, the participants' own cognitive skills were compromised." (story)


Top 10 Myths About Introverts


Pray for Michael Glatze, whose opposition to gay identity is now as famous as his advocacy of it once was.  He'll take a lot of heat for this. 


This guy was so bothered by the wart on his finger that he decided to remove it--with a shotgun. He removed half his finger. 

LeaderLines: A Visit with Eileen Flynn, Faith Columnist for the Austin American-Statesman

I want to periodically use LeaderLines to introduce you to some community leaders and opinion makers in our area. As we move through this periodic series, we may not agree with every observation from every interview. Still, we can benefit from their insights about our city. I welcome your suggestions of community leaders and opinion makers you'd like me to interview. Our first interview was with Donna Houser, principal of Anderson High School. Today, I visit with Eileen Flynn, who writes a twice-monthly faith column for the Austin American-Statesman.

Joshunda Sanders also covers the “religion beat” for the Statesman, but since Eileen and I have corresponded for 5 years on various issues, I wanted to interview her for this LeaderLines series. Eileen has written about our church and me several times, including my take on The Da Vinci Code phenomenon, emergent Christianity, the young evangelical infatuation with Barak Obama’s candidacy, and most recently about our discussion nights with leaders of other religions. She is an exemplary journalist, especially for the often-contentious field of religion reporting. She blogs at The Grand Scheme.

Tom

Tell us a little about yourself: where you were raised, your family, and what you enjoy doing when you're not working as a journalist.

I grew up in North Adams, Mass., a small, economically-depressed though once-thriving mill city in the northwest corner of the state. My mother and father come from Chicago and Gary, Ind., respectively. Between 1958 and 1965, they had five children. Ten years later — surprise — I arrived on the scene.

I had a strong Irish Catholic identity growing up and was passionate about rock and roll and baseball. And religion. I loved meeting people from different spiritual and cultural backgrounds and would lug around a clunky tape recorder and conduct "interviews." And, in retrospect, I guess I was also interviewing my parents, especially my father, about Catholicism.

What do I enjoy doing when I'm not working as a journalist? That question might be better phrased as "What do you enjoy doing when you’re not working as a mom?” And the answer would be “trying to work as a journalist.” Ha. Seriously, my life is consumed by my daughters, ages 2 and 4 months. I try to keep up with my blog on religion and my twice monthly column for the Statesman. And occasionally, when I’ve met my deadlines and the girls are asleep, I will play the piano or read.

Where else have you served as a journalist before coming to Austin?

I started working at the Statesman in 2000, initially as the weekend cops reporter. I did a few other temporary gigs (county government, state politics) before landing the religion beat in March 2002.

Before Austin, I was a reporter in the Massachusetts State House bureau in Boston, writing for the MediaNews Group papers the Lowell Sun, Fitchburg Sentinel & Enterprise, the Berkshire Eagle and North Adams Transcript. Before that I was a reporter, columnist and weekend editor for the Transcript. I got my start there as a 17-year-old doing an unpaid internship. And I worked there all through college getting paid $25 a story.

What brings you the most joy in covering faith stories, and what are the biggest challenges?

Religion is often misunderstood. I get the greatest joy when I am able to shed light on something that readers didn’t know -- or thought they knew but were misinformed about. The greatest compliment is that I’m fair and accurate, especially when I’m writing about something controversial like the Catholic sex abuse scandal or the Southern Baptist Convention’s role in the presidential election. And when you can impress a Presbyterian with your understanding of church polity, you feel pretty good.

On a more personal level, though, it always makes me happy when I get to share the story of a truly inspiring person like Alan Graham, founder of Mobile Loaves & Fishes. These are the stories readers tell me change their lives.

The biggest challenges are the nasty emails, phone messages and online comments. One guy used to call me all the time to inform me I was a heretic. The topics that generated the most passionate responses tend to be homosexuality, Islam and Israel. I don’t get phone calls anymore since I don’t work in the newsroom, and if people want to write me an angry email, they have to go to the trouble of going to my blog and sending a comment. So it’s not nearly as bad as it used to be.

I want to ask you a couple of questions about how evangelicals are perceived in Austin. So, these questions aren’t meant to explore how you perceive evangelicals particularly. But I think you’re in a unique position to observe the city’s reaction to Christians of my stripe. So, first, what do you see as the biggest misunderstandings of evangelicals in Austin?

As I see it, evangelical as a word is fairly easy to define: someone who shares the Good News. But a lot of people tend to heap on all sorts of other descriptors when they hear the term. In a liberal-leaning city like Austin, I think people associate evangelicals with being aggressively pro-life, pro-war, anti-gay, Republican and judgmental. They (and I guess I should define the “they” here as a mix of theologically liberal Christians and politically liberal secularists) distrust evangelicals. They believe evangelicals are trying to knock down Jefferson’s wall of separation (between church and state). They believe evangelicals want to convert everyone. They believe evangelicals lack compassion for the poor and the disenfranchised, and if they are helping those people, they’re only doing it to win souls. They believe evangelicals don’t care about the environment.

Wow. That sort of reads like a creed, doesn’t it? Seriously, though, I’m generalizing of course. Not everyone thinks all of these things. But everything I list above has been expressed to me over the years.

I have written about tree-hugging evangelicals or peacenik evangelicals or card-carrying-Democrat evangelicals. I have written about evangelicals giving up well-paying church jobs to pursue their own ministry in poor neighborhoods. And even then, I’ve had liberal Christians and secularists tell me they don’t believe it.

What do you think evangelicals are doing right to overcome these misunderstandings, and where do you think we could do a better job?

A lot of evangelicals are doing their part quietly. They’re getting out of the church bubble and developing connections with people in their community. They’re going beyond the mission trip model and volunteering to help people in need in their own backyards. They’re initiating conversations with people of different backgrounds not to proselytize but to listen and learn. They’re recycling and composting and riding their bicycles to be eco-friendly.

As you know, there’s a great deal of controversy over if and how much evangelicals should embrace popular culture. It’s an important debate, and I don’t want to minimize the concerns that some evangelicals have about getting too comfortable with the culture. But I do believe that by becoming more connected, more plugged in to the culture, evangelicals have made great strides in the way they are perceived and in their ability to influence the world.

In terms of doing a better job, I think evangelicals should mingle more. Invite people to your space, as you did with the dialogue series with non-Christians. And try to increase your presence in interfaith events/discussions or non-religious events where evangelicals wouldn’t be expected. See what’s going on. See how you can contribute. And then do it on a smaller scale — in your neighborhood or at work.

The biggest problem is we don’t really know each other, but we think we do. We think we have “the other” figured out, but most of the time we’re basing our opinions on a caricature of that person or group.

______________________________

Each Thursday I post my article from "LeaderLines," an e-newsletter for church leaders read by more than 350 subscribers. If you want to subscribe to "LeaderLines," sign up here.

I Saw Three Ships...

Love this art piece made from packing materials and twist ties. The Möbius Ship:





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Winning Ways: A Solider in the Army of the Lord

We prefer to think of the church as a family where we find comfort and nurture and help. But that’s only one image of the church the Bible gives us. An equally important image is the church as a boot camp where we are molded together into a disciplined fighting force.

We read, “Fight the good fight of the faith” in one place and in another place we read, “Take your share of suffering as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.” In another place Paul asks, “What soldier on active service gets entangled in civilian pursuits?”

In fact, in nearly 20 places, the Bible pictures the church in militant terms. The old spiritual was right: You’re a soldier in the army of the Lord.

Now, if we’re soldiers, where’s the fight? Very simply: Wherever the rule of Christ is needed, that’s where soldiers are needed:

You may be a dad whose daughter is making heartbreaking choices. The rule of Christ is needed there, and so a soldier is needed there.

You may be a friend helping a friend overcome addiction. The rule of Christ is needed there, and so a soldier is needed there.

You may see injustice at work or in your community. The rule of Christ is needed there, and so a soldier is needed there.

You may attend a Sunday School class that has become ingrown, self-satisfied, with no heart for outreach. The rule of Christ is needed there, and so a soldier is needed there.

You may recognize within yourself a growing spirit of bitterness or cynicism. The rule of Christ is needed there, within you, and so you must work as a soldier against those attitudes.

Christ calls us to be good soldiers for his cause until Christ is loved and followed—within our hearts, our homes, our church, and our world.

Oh, we won’t foist our values upon others. That’s important to say because our neighbors and co-workers in Austin are really sensitive to this issue. Our aim is not to enforce but to persuade, to the end that Christ is loved and followed.

And if that’s our aim, we’ll need to develop five qualities according to 1 Corinthians 16:13-14: watchfulness, steadfastness, maturity, persistence, and love. This Sunday, June 19, we’ll look at how to develop these five characteristics of good soldiers. Join us @ 10 for this important Father’s Day message!

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Each Wednesday I post my article from "Winning Ways," an e-newsletter that goes out to 1200 subscribers. If you want to subscribe to "Winning Ways," sign up here.

"The sins and strengths of men have an outsize impact on others"

Arnold Schwarzenegger. Dominique Strauss-Kahn. Anthony Weiner. The summer's hardly started and its not shaping up as a season of good news for manhood.

That's why this Owen Strachan post was a refreshing challenge. Strachan says:

When men excel in righteousness, others flourish (see, in a general sense, Israel under David’s reign–1 and 2 Samuel). When men fall into gross sin, others suffer (see the book of Judges). The sins and strengths of men have an outsize impact on others.

Strachan says that Christian men have a unique opportunity in this culture to show what God can do with a man. And what can God do with a man?

When God saves a man, he looses him to destroy sin and bless his family, church, and society. Christian men are not normal men who sleep less on Sunday and wear Dockers with no creases. Christian men are transformed men, other-worldly men, residents of a new kingdom, servants of a great king...

We face all the same temptations as lost men. Our flesh pulls at us to compromise our marriages, to take our sacrificial wives lightly, to ignore our children in order to play golf or get more successful or have more fun, to flirt with the cute girl when traveling, to speak ill of marriage, to generally not live sacrificially in the image of Jesus Christ and spend ourselves for the betterment of those God has entrusted us (Ephesians 5). Our flesh encourages us to allow small temptations to grow into strong desires, then to usher those desires into daring actions, then to allow those actions to blossom into patterns of sin that will, when discovered, blow our families and churches apart.

But the gospel, praise God, is stronger. The power of God is inside us, enabling men to exchange the role of pleasure-driven narcissist for that of self-sacrificing pillar of strength. The power of God is at work in his local church, where sinful men find fellowship in the company of brothers who bear the same weaknesses but through the power of the Spirit stand as oaks of righteousness. Instead of comparing black book conquests and planning the next hedonistic plunge, these men link arms to kill sin, love their families, and propel the church’s witness....

We grieve the trajectory of modern men, and we feel special pain for the wives and children who are, through no fault of their own, deeply damaged by the sins of men. In a broken world, we pray to God to show the world a better way, a greater joy, and a magnificent Savior, who delights in taking sinful men and turning them into agents of his glory.

My friend, Keith Ferguson, has a good post on the subject of exemplary manhood today, too. Check it out.


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Links to Your World, Tuesday June 14

I agree with these 5 Reasons Why E-Books Aren’t There Yet

#WhyYourreSeeingHashtagsEverywhere

The 10 Most Spectacular Butterflies in the World

Top 10 Misused English Words

The Disconnect to Reconnect Campaign is an event is being promoted by author Phil Cooke, who is challenging dads across the country to disconnect your digital devices for 24 hours and reconnect with your family

"A majority of Americans says abortion is morally wrong, but a majority also says that it should be legal in all or most cases. Millennials also are conflicted: They are more likely than the general public to support the availability of abortion, but are not more likely to support the legality of abortion. But polls have consistently shown that Americans have contradictory views on the subject, said Karlyn Bowman, a polling analyst at the American Enterprise Institute. A majority will say abortion is murder, and a majority will say abortion should be a private choice for a woman and her doctor. “‘It’s murder; I’m for it’—think about that,” Bowman said." (World)

Six Things You Should Never Say to a Friend (or Relative or Colleague) Who’s Sick. And Four Things You Can Always Say. I disagree with #2 but the rest are sound.



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"The forgiveness is for me. It’s for me.”

Unforgiveness is like cancer,” Mary says. “It will eat you from the inside out. It’s not about that other person, me forgiving him does not diminish what he’s done. Yes, he murdered my son - but the forgiveness is for me. It’s for me.”

Read the CBS news piece, "Love thy neighbor: Son's killer moves next door."


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LeaderLines: 140 Characters of Inspiration

If your only knowledge of Twitter is through the recent scandalous postings by a congressman, let me broaden your horizons.

In the Twitterverse, a “tweet” is a 140-character commentary. Consider it a tiny blog post on a strict diet. The New York Times has a quick introduction to the phenomenon here.

I check my Twitter feeds two or three times a day for a quick shot of humor or inspiration or alerts to breaking news. I’ve found several accounts worth following, but since LeaderLines is an e-newsletter about church leadership, let me limit my introduction to a few that address that subject. Let me give you some sample tweets relevant to those of us in church leadership.

James Emery White, pastor at Mecklenberg Community Church:

If we are “minoring” in reaching people, then what are we “majoring” in?

Lie: God can’t use me until I’m spiritually strong and have it all together. Truth: “My power works best in your weakness” (II Cor.12:9, NLT).

Your spiritual gift tells you what to do for Christ; your passions tell you where to do it; your personality tells you how.

Rick Warren, pastor at Saddleback Community Church:

To know a man's true spiritual maturity just talk to his wife for an hour.

It's not what's around you, but who lives in you, that determines the direction & significance of your life.

Evil is Live backward. We die inside every time we disobey. "I've come that you may live"- Jesus.

John Piper, pastor at Bethlehem Baptist Church:

Yes, be appalled at political Weiner behavior. Then pray that all such pastoral darkness be exposed and the church purified.

When flawed preaching meets flawed hearing warranted and unwarranted blessing and warranted and unwarranted offense happen.

Both, both, both, both. “I dwell in a high and holy place, and also with those of a contrite and lowly spirit." (Isa. 57:15)

Keenly aware of two things at 65: Christ is my righteousness, and I am in need of much improvement.

Tim Keller, pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in NYC:

Tolerance isn't about not having beliefs. It's about how your beliefs lead you to treat people who disagree with you.

If we take our meaning in life from our family, our work, a cause, or some achievement other than God, they enslave us.

If Jesus is King, you cannot make him a means to your end.

It's popular nowadays to say you're searching but not so popular to say you've found.

This account posts quotes from C.S. Lewis, whose writings are still relevant even though he died in 1963:

Be found at one's post, living each day as though it were our last, but planning as though our world might last 100 years

You will certainly carry out God’s purpose, but it makes a difference to you whether you serve like Judas or like John

If He who in Himself can lack nothing, chooses to need us, it is because we need to be needed.

The next best thing to being wise oneself is to live in a circle of those who are.

If this little taste has intrigued you to join Twitter, or supplied you to add some feeds to your account, why not add my feed while you’re at it? A few samples:

"Even Thor has grown richer through acquaintance with Jesus." Want the context for that insight? http://ow.ly/1t3GlF

An offbeat preacher says (again) that the world's ending May 21? My take: http://ow.ly/4XQL1

"Our whole business in this life is to restore to health the eyes of the heart, whereby God may be seen" (Augustine, 4th Century)

"It is the theologian's hard and high fate to cast himself into the flame he tends, and be drawn into its consuming fire" (PT Forsyth, 1910)

“It all works out in the end. If it hasn’t worked out yet, then it’s not the end” (Max Lucado)

"When you hang your head in shame, the last thing you should be thinking about is whether the camera has caught your good side." C Trueman

Happy tweeting!

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Each Thursday I post my article from "LeaderLines," an e-newsletter for church leaders read by more than 350 subscribers. If you want to subscribe to "LeaderLines," sign up here.

“How is one to know which aspect of a person counts as that person’s true self?”

Mark Pierpont is a Christian who struggles with same-sex attraction. Joshua Knobe for the NYT:

One person might look at his predicament and say: “Deep down, he has always wanted to be with another man, but he somehow picked up from society the idea that this desire was immoral or forbidden.  If he could only escape the shackles of his religious beliefs, he would be able to fully express the person he really is.”

But then another person could look at exactly the same case and arrive at the very opposite conclusion: “Fundamentally, Pierpont is a Christian who is struggling to pursue a Christian life, but these desires he has make it difficult for him to live by his own values.  If he ever gives in to them and chooses to sleep with another man, he will be betraying what was is most essential to the person he really is.”

Each of these perspectives seems like a reasonable one, at least worthy of serious consideration.  So it seems that we are faced with a difficult philosophical question.  How is one to know which aspect of a person counts as that person’s true self?

If we look to the philosophical tradition, we find a relatively straightforward answer to this question.  This answer, endorsed by numerous different philosophers in different ways, says that what is most distinctive and essential to a human being is the capacity for rational reflection.  A person might find herself having various urges, whims or fleeting emotions, but these are not who she most fundamentally is.  If you want to know who she truly is, you would have to look to the moments when she stops to reflect and think about her deepest values.  Take the person fighting an addiction to heroin.  She might have a continual craving for another fix, but if she just gives in to this craving, it would be absurd to say that she is thereby “being true to herself” or “expressing the person she really is.” On the contrary, she is betraying herself and giving up what she values most. This sort of approach gives us a straightforward answer in a case like Mark Pierpont’s.  It says that his sexual desires are not the real him.  If he loses control and gives in to these desires, he will be betraying his true self.

But when I mention this view to people outside the world of philosophy, they often seem stunned that anyone could ever believe it.  They are immediately drawn to the very opposite view.  The true self, they suggest, lies precisely in our suppressed urges and unacknowledged emotions, while our ability to reflect is just a hindrance that gets in the way of this true self’s expression.

Knobe is doing research as to what leads us to identify what someone’s “true self” actually is. The study is based on the assumption that we tend to identify someone’s “true self” based upon our own liberal or conservative biases. Sounds like an interesting study.

Are we “being true to ourselves” when we throw off restraint or when we maintain restraint?

Winning Ways: Make the Most of Sunday’s Worship Service

If you’re a believer, you’re a singer. It doesn’t matter if you’re skilled or trained at it. As Bernice Johnson Reagon once put it, “You pass the audition when you walk in the door.”

The Bible mentions singing over 400 times; 50 of those references are direct commands to sing God’s praise. All God’s expectations are for our benefit, so what do we gain by singing? Specifically, what do we gain by singing together in Sunday worship? In an article for Boundless webzine, Bob Kauflin suggested three reasons to sing.

First, singing helps us remember God’s Word. In Colossians 3:16 we are told to “let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.” How? By singing “psalms, hymns and spiritual songs” to one another.

Second, singing helps us respond to God’s grace. Kauflin writes, “Singing allows us to combine intellect with emotion, objective truth with our emotional response to it.” In music, we celebrate the profoundest concepts with both our mind and our heart.

Third, singing helps us reflect God’s glory. Kauflin writes, “As we sing the same biblical truths together, express our gratefulness for the Gospel, and declare our commitment to follow our King, we’re bringing glory to the One who made it all possible.”

So, how can we use music as a tool for spiritual growth? I have a couple of suggestions for making the most of our congregational singing:

First, be a good student. Gene wants to teach you something with the songs he selects, so look for the lesson in each song. When a song is new to you, work hard to learn the tune and the lyrics. Do some “homework” if necessary by finding the song online and getting familiar with it.

Second, be an on-time student. If our kids were always late for class, we’d reprimand them. If you’re part of the 35 percent of our attendance that doesn’t enter the building until after the music begins, consider this your gentle reprimand. Music isn’t the “warm-up act” for the sermon! Class begins at 10 with the lessons taught through music. Be on time this Sunday!

The one who has redeemed us calls on us to sing, and it’s a simple thing to obey him in this matter. So, join your congregation this Sunday—on time!—and sing to the King!

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Each Wednesday I post my article from "Winning Ways," an e-newsletter that goes out to 1200 subscribers. If you want to subscribe to "Winning Ways," sign up here.

Awesome Video of the Milky Way

Watch this and say with the Psalmist, "What is man that Thou art mindful of him?"

Plains Milky Way from Randy Halverson on Vimeo.

From Wired:

Battling strong winds and clouds, Randy Halverson used a robotic camera rig to snap hundreds of still photos in about 20 three- to four-hour shoots. Back at his computer, he stitched together images from the best shoots. Each second of the video spans about 14 minutes of actual time.

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LeaderLines: “Fixin’ To”

You need regular times of escape for self-examination.  This is true for all of us, but especially those of us who are leaders.

Leadership and teaching can be exhausting responsibilities.  They both require high levels of creativity, energy, and confident enthusiasm.  I’ve found that I’m at my best when I can get away and regroup from time to time.  For years, I’ve used a few days in the summer for that purpose.  I get away from the church field with four items: last year’s calendar, next year’s calendar, a Bible, and a notepad.  With these things in hand, I try to accomplish five things:

I Relax.  I shut down the e-mail, unplug the phone, put away my pages-and-pages of reading material, turn off CNN, and just get silent before God.  I need this time to remember that I am a human being, not a human doing.

I Review.  I reflect on where my personal life is going, how I’m doing as a dad and a husband, a neighbor, a friend, and a pastor.  I give some thought to how our church is progressing and what areas need development.

I Repent.  Sometimes my review uncovers attitudes that need addressing, relationships that need strengthening, habits that need developing (or killing).  The Greek word we translate “repentance” is metanoia and it means “to change one’s mind.”  I need to change my mind on some things.

I Renew.  I renew my excitement for my call, and set goals that will propel me into the new year with fresh commitment.

I Recharge.  My annual review is a chance to ask for God’s Spirit to fill me again for the work ahead.

Those of us from the South have an advantage over the rest of the country.  Our unique vocabulary has a phrase for this process.  We say we’re fixin’ to do something.  Before I launch into a new church year, I need a time where I’m fixin’ to launch into the new church year!  Do you have an annual day to put your life and work through these five steps?  Pray for me in my annual planning . . .  and start your own yearly tradition!

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Each Thursday I post my article from "LeaderLines," an e-newsletter for church leaders read by more than 350 subscribers. If you want to subscribe to "LeaderLines," sign up here.

Winning Ways: Fit Your Story into the Bigger Story

You faith gets tested when the doctor’s report isn’t what you had hoped, or when you’re laid flat by unexpected cruelty, or a tragedy turns your world upside down. The only way to make sense of life’s pain is to fit your story into the Bigger Story that we find in the Bible.

You could outline the Bigger Story in three words: Creation, Cross, and Crown.

Creation: After God created our world, he didn’t say “oops” (Genesis 1). But when sin entered the picture, it fundamentally altered God’s good world. Now “the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth” under its “bondage to decay” (Romans 8). So, we’re going to experience the broken heart of life in a broken world. In fact, the more we see life from this perspective the more we’ll see any moments of joy as mercies and not rights (Psalm 145:9). And God has been so merciful!

Cross: Of all the world’s religions, only one describes God as experiencing the ruin of the world as a man. In The Cross of ChristJohn Stott wrote, “I could never myself believe in God, if it were not for the cross. In the real world of pain, how could one worship a God who was immune to it?” That means that whenever I pray about my problems, I’m praying to One who can say, “I know what you’re talking about.” But on the cross he was doing more than just identifying with the ruin of the world: he was carrying away the sin that ruined the world. That’s why to me the most beautiful line inThe Passion of the Christ was Jesus to Mary as he stumbled under the weight of the cross he carried: “See, mother, I make all things new.”

Crown: By carrying away the sin the ruined the world, Jesus ensured a rescue that will be completed at his glorious return. As the Bible says (Hebrews 2), “at present we do not see everything subject to him”—but that’s only “at present.” Just as D-Day was the decisive act of World War 2 that assured the eventual victory in Europe, Christ’s death and resurrection was the beginning of the end. We wait in hope for that end, assured that “our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us” at Christ’s return (Romans 8).

All our little stories only make sense in this Bigger Story. “Therefore encourage each other with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:18).

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Each Wednesday I post my article from "Winning Ways," an e-newsletter that goes out to over 950 subscribers. If you want to subscribe to "Winning Ways," sign up here.