Category: Christian Life Page 8 of 9

Nuggets on Renewal

On October 20, 2010

Here are some flavorful nuggets from a recent reading of Richard Lovelace, Dynamics of Spiritual Life, a book well worth reading.

On the lack of congregational prayer:

“Undoubtedly the small quantity of intelligent intercessory prayer in most twentieth-century congregations is part of the short-circuiting of missionary consciousness among the laity. The establishment of the kingdom of God is an elusive task; we cannot even see what it involves in our vicinity without specific prayer, and we certainly will have little urgency to carry it out unless we are praying.” (page 157)

On the misdirected focus of our prayers:

“In small prayer groups, often the concerns which are shared and prayed about are wholly personal, involved with healing, psychological adjustment and other immediate individual burdens. Larger issues which are closely related to the interests of the kingdom of God are ignored. Groups in which this occurs should make a determined effort to engage in kingdom-oriented prayer.” (pages 158-159)

Arguing against what he sees as the ‘monastic’ tendencies of many churches, the tendency to withdraw from the world and send evangelistic forays into it:

“Ultimately, however, [the church] loses by this approach: it erects too great a cultural gap between the believing community and the surrounding world, and it fails to see that converts are won more by the observable blessedness of a whole way of life than by the arguments of individuals.”

On the intersection of change and solidity in the church:

“The church ought to be like a mobile sculpture in which fixed forms of truth and fellowship are constantly shifting their relationship to harmonize with the decor of the social and cultural environment. Enculturation freezes the form of the mobile until it becomes a static monument, a reminder of the past which appears to have no relevance for the present.” (pages 197-198)

On the Reading Desk: Practice

By Randy

On September 22, 2010

In Books, Christian Life, Ministry

Yesterday, I outlined my goals for reading – the “whys” behind what I do. Below are the books which currently fill out that outline.

Personal:

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout, referred to already here.

The History of the Medieval World by Susan Wise Bauer.

Professional:

At this point I have tried to link several works which have been sitting on my shelf into something of a ‘Christian Life’ theme. Some will see the threads connecting these works. Thus far, this has been very fruitful.

Theology: The Doctrine of the Christian Life by John Frame.

Practical: Surprised by Hope and After You Believe, both by N. T. Wright.

Professional: God’s Empowering Presence by Gordon Fee and Dynamics of Spiritual Life by Richard Lovelace.

Historical: Calvin by Bruce Gordon.

My categories can be critiqued, but this is just a snapshot and a snapshot does not always catch things perfectly arrayed. I hope to be able to say something about each of these works as the days progress.

It is safe to say that I do not read enough. However, without the plan I have, I would read far less, and be that much more deprived. I’m grateful for then, the encouragement to set forth a plan.

Quiet Inspiration

By Randy

On September 21, 2010

In Biography, Christian Life

Barb and I were blessed in college to have as our model of pastor and wife Willard E. (Mike) and Betty Michael. Pastor Mike and Betty loved us and shepherded us in ways we did not even realize then. It was while listening to Pastor Mike preach that I first learned what preaching was to be. It was the open door to their home that taught us, a couple not yet married, what an open and safe home could be like.

One day Pastor Mike and Betty invited Barb and I, an engaged couple soon to be married, to their house for dinner. Joining us for dinner was a couple from Colorado, Dr. and Mrs. Vernon Grounds. Dr. Grounds had been Pastor Mike’s teacher and mentor. Why Pastor Mike felt that WE should meet this couple, I cannot say. What transpired during that dinner is a distant memory. What I do remember clearly is that I left there with a twist on Henry David Thoreau’s assessment that ‘all men lead lives of quiet desperation’. Here was a man who stunned me with what I called his life of ‘quiet inspiration’.

Perhaps that is what Pastor Mike wanted us to gain from that evening.

Shortly thereafter, Barb and I were married. Surprisingly, and thoughtfully, there was in the stack of gifts a book entitled quaintly The Bride’s Book of Ideas: A Guide to Christian Homemaking. Attached to the gift was a card, which we have saved, wishing us great blessing in our marriage.

It was signed by Vernon and Ann Grounds. Photo on 2010-09-21 at 17.13.jpg

Dr. Grounds passed away last week at the age of 96. As I read testimonies about him from men I greatly respect here and here, I’m humbled to think that God granted to me, a nobody with no Christian pedigree, no evangelical connections, no special promise, an evening with a person of such character. And in the short time we had together I sensed what these men knew from long experience. What privilege God granted Barb and I.

Let the following paragraph set the tone, and then read these testimonies for yourselves. Consider the men and women God has placed in your life and long, aspire, endeavor, to be like them.

Vernon Grounds earned his Ph.D. in psychology. He was a certified scholar. But he rarely felt the need to refer to himself as Dr. Grounds. I cannot remember seeing him write the letters Ph.D. after his name as so many scholars are wont to do. That was not where he wished to make his impression. How can it be better said than simply that he was just Vernon, LOP … lover of people.

[Note: for some helpful thoughts on the desire to ‘imitate another’, read here.]

On the Reading Desk: Theory

By Randy

On September 21, 2010

In Books, Christian Life, Ministry

In general I like to be reading several books at once. My reading can be broken up into two general groups, ‘personal’ and ‘professional,’ but being a pastor the two cannot be so easily divided as perhaps they might be if I were, say, a civil engineer. Often what I read on the personal side has profound implications for what I believe, preach, or teach, and what I read on the professional side moves me and effects how I live my personal life. It’s a wonderful place to be.

I think it important to separate what I’m calling here my professional reading from my labor to produce sermons and classes. They may overlap, but the reading I’m speaking of here is reading that is designed primarily to feed me spiritually and professionally. That sounds on the one hand a selfish thing. But for a church to have a pastor who himself is spiritually deprived and whose vision is limited by the trials and struggles of his own situation is never good. It is a wise church that encourages its pastor to invest time in his own growth and maturity.

The temptation will be for a pastor to read what is currently creating a stir. Sometimes the stir is so great that I give in, but generally I let the fads pass. Rather, I try to steer my reading in four directions, listed here in no order of priority:

1. Professional

2. Practical

3. Historical

4. Theological

There is much written that is designed to help pastors do the varied tasks that are before them. Topics may concern preaching or counseling or leadership or the nature of the church. One could be consumed and read nothing but these things. Or one could think one is above all of that and neglect what is helpful. Neither option is good.

Secondly, I am of a reflective and contemplative nature. It is important that I read works which direct my thinking toward the practical nature of the Christian life – books on marriage, on sanctification, on evangelism, on idolatry, or the like.

Thirdly, there is much to be learned from the saints who have come before us. General history or biography are important in keeping me grounded with a well rounded sense of where we have come from.

And fourthly, it can be too easy for a pastor to narrow his reading to his own area of theological interest. To counter that, I always have some work of general theology on the list to be worked through.

And I should add, I will now and then read something that just seems fun, or which seems aimed at a hole in my heart. Appetite can lead to wonderfully nourishing meals.

This is my thinking. Tomorrow, specifics.

I’m with My Daddy

By Randy

On August 12, 2010

In Christian Life

With my mind, I eschew the so-called prosperity ‘gospel’, that system of thought teaching that God wants his people to expect good health and financial prosperity, and that the sign of God’s blessing is fitness and riches.

But with my heart, I find I am a card carrying believer. When the script of my life goes contrary to my desires for comfort and safety, I am taken aback. I wonder about God’s love and question his goodness. In the darkness of my heart my assessment of the NORM for the Christian life is prosperity. When it does not come, it can only be that God has failed me.

Such thinking shows that I am a true blue believer in the prosperity ‘gospel’, not in that part of my mind which forms the words I speak and the convictions I articulate, but in that part that feeds my heart and my emotions and my desires and my faith.

This morning I was reading about Peter in Acts 12. Peter is imprisoned, and yet the church prays for him. As a result, an angel comes, leads him through miraculously swinging gates, and into the still night a free man. This is the kind of thing my prosperity trained faith would expect. It is a wonderful thing, and we praise God for it, and we look for similar experiences in our own lives.

Too bad that James did not get to see any of this.

James, the apostle, the brother of John, did not get to see or celebrate Peter’s miraculous release. Herod did not bother imprisoning James. He just flat out killed him.

So, Peter lived out a miracle, and James just died. Both faithful men. Both among Jesus’ inner circle. Both leaders in the church. Both according to my ‘prosperity’ thinking deserving of God’s best. One is simply slaughtered, the other delivered.

James, though, not Peter, is the norm. The norm in a world Jesus described as a place where his people ‘will have tribulation’ is not Peter being rescued, but rather the saints in Hebrews 11 losing meals, body parts, and loved ones. The norm is James.

When I make Peter’s deliverance the norm, then I grumble and question God over every problem in my life (currently: broken timing belt on daughter’s car) and am blind to the plethora of blessings around me (currently: I slept in a comfortable bed last night, with a full tummy, in reasonable health, with a loving family, and a wonderful church, and…).

When, on the other hand, I take Jesus seriously and believe that the world he has overcome is a world in which tribulation is the norm, I am not shocked by James’ death, though saddened, and I am thrilled by not only Peter’s deliverance, but deeply thankful for the smaller and seemingly mundane blessings of food on my plate and daughters who still call me ‘Daddy’.

When I retrieved my daughter from along I-4 on Tuesday as a tow truck hooked on to her dead car, she was talking with a friend on her phone telling her what had happened. “It’s okay now,” she said, “I’m with my daddy.”

That is the gospel we are to embrace, the gospel of a Father’s love displayed in the faithfulness of the cross. In this world there will be tribulation.

But it’s okay, now. We’re with our ‘Daddy’.

What Was, Is, and Always Will Be the True Priority for Every Human Being

By Randy

On June 27, 2010

In Christian Life, Theology

I am nothing, if not a hypocrite. I know that.

I can judge in my heart those who seem to be to be overly committed to sport or leisure, when I find myself consumed with technology and order. I puzzle over those over impassioned by politics, while I lose myself in a gluttonous consumption of cinema.

The list could be multiplied.

There are many good things which should command our attention, and there is much need for rest and leisure. I take no shots at those things, just at my ability to justify my own passions while questioning those of others.

So, it is good for me to be reminded of true priority. This is from the must read classic Knowing God by J. I. Packer. Good for a Sunday morning reflection:

“Finally: we have been brought to the point where we both can and must get our life’s priorities straight. From current Christian publications you might think that the most vital issue for any real or would-be Christian in the world today is church union, or social witness, or dialogue with other Christians and other faiths, or refuting this or that -ism, or developing a Christian philosophy and culture, or what have you. But our line of study makes the present-day concentration on these things look like a gigantic conspiracy of misdirection. Of course, it is not that; the issues themselves are real and must be dealt with in their place. But it is tragic that, in paying attention to them, so many in our day seem to have been distracted from what was, is, and always will be the true priority for every human being — that is, learning to know God in Christ.” (page 254)

These Inward Trials

By Randy

On February 2, 2010

In Christian Life, Sanctification

Good reflection by Geoff Henderson and John Newton.

Some Bible Reading Resources

By Randy

On December 31, 2009

In Christian Life, Prayer

Reading the Bible slowly is analogous to walking through the streets of a great city, taking in the sights, wandering in and out of its stores and gaining a knowledge of the city’s smells and sounds and colors and personality.

But sometimes, to know what the city looks like from the top of a 95 story building or from an airplane flying high above enables us to see how the various neighborhoods and streets and districts all meld into a coherent whole.

Sometimes it is important to get such a view of the Bible. How to do so can sometimes stump us. It is particularly helpful to have a means of pacing ourselves so that we do not get overwhelmed in this task.

I have posted two plans for reading through the bible in 2010 on the Hope Church website. One is designed to guide you through the whole bible. The other is a bit more ambitious, covering the Old Testament once and the New Testament and Psalms twice.

For those who want to make the journey at a less hurried pace, I’ve provided this.

I trust that some of you will find these helpful.

Some Prayer Resources

By Randy

On December 30, 2009

In Christian Life, Prayer

I have posted on the Hope Church website some resources which some of you might find helpful in nurturing the discipline of prayer in your life. Each are a bit idiosyncratic, but some of you might find some of these resources helpful. Clicking on the links below will download the files.

1. A simple prayer plan. This was shared by Tim Keller in a class a number of years ago. I modified it slightly, but it is in essence all his. (If anyone from Redeemer sees this and believes I have violated some copyright, please tell me!)

2. General prayer guidelines. These are some thoughts I put together some time ago to help me navigate my own prayer life.

3. A Simple Way to Pray. Martin Luther’s barber once asked Luther how to pray. Whether Master Peter the barber was serious or was simply making talk we may never know, but the result was a 20 page treatise on the matter. The whole is worth reading, and is widely available on the internet. For convenience I’ve uploaded this here.

4. Luther and Prayer. Perhaps Luther’s barber would have preferred a summary of the good Doctor’s helpful comments. That is posted here.

5. The Lord’s Prayer. Luther recommends praying through the Lord’s Prayer. But how do we do that? Luther’s comments are helpful, but so is the exposition of the Lord’s Prayer given by the framers of the Westminster Larger Catechism. This document simply takes their exposition and explodes it into various phrases to help us use it as a guide for prayer.

I hope someone finds these helpful!

Discipline

By Randy

On December 29, 2009

In Christian Life, Prayer

I quit piano lessons when I was in third grade. It wasn’t ‘cool’ when all my friends were into football.

I took up the piano again in seventh or eighth grade, motivated by a girl who had caught my fancy. I was starting to show promise, and then the teacher quit.

I never again pursued this with any seriousness, so that today I can play a butchered ‘Whinnie the Pooh’, most of Chicago’s ‘Color My World’, and a smattering of this and that.

And I so wish I could return to third grade and take up where I left off.

It’s a strange truth, but the greatest freedom belongs to those who for a time bound themselves to the taskmaster discipline. Those who play music with the greatest freedom are those who at some time in the past applied themselves to the discipline of practice when more obviously enjoyable things beckoned.

So, too, in the Christian life, the spiritual disciplines of bible reading and prayer and worship all seem to be so confining. They seem to demand a joyless labor which runs counter to the freedom we proclaim in the gospel.

And yet, there is to those who are trained by such discipline the eventual blossoming of freedom and delight. The disciplines of the Christian life put us in the way of God’s grace, in the place where he blesses. And as we battle off the lethargy of the flesh to put ourselves in worship or in the Scriptures or in prayer, we put ourselves in the places where perhaps slowly at first but more richly in time God reveals himself to us.

There are books that put this all so much more eloquently and practically than I. Richard Foster’s Celebration of Discipline and Donald Whitney’s Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life are two I commend.

But the encouragement here is to step up the discipline in your spiritual life just a notch. The mistake we all make is this time of year trying to correct every fault through a resolution or two that are so unreasonable that we cannot possibly keep them. Make little commitments and keep them rather than big ones which defeat us.

Such steps will bear good fruit. Over time. If we don’t quit.