Idolatry and the glory of God in the suffering of Matt Chandler
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Honesty: Key to being missional in Nolensville, TN
Have you every had one of those thoughts that creeps deep in your soul and it says something like this: "Your mom and dad were right!" How about I have become my mom and dad. Looking at some pictures from earlier this year, I am relunctant to admit that I am look more and more like my dad. As a father of two sons, those thoughts have crept into my head numerous times over the past couple years. There are many things that I love from my childhood such as driving up Bent Mountain to Floyd, VA to see my grandparents for Christmas and seeing all the snow capped mountains and covered fields. It was absolutely gorgeous! As a boy, we used to go with my Grandad Giles to mow the family cemetary on Giles Mountain. (Yes my family owns a mountain..how cool is that?) I also remember the painful relationship my mom and dad had and watching them treat each other terribly in their special way. In spite of all that, I also remember my parents placing a priority on their faith as well as passing it down to my brother and I.
Looking back though, outside of a few brief conversations about Christ and the church, my parents did little to shape us spiritually other than express the importance of going to church. What I remember was that Christianity and our solidarity to it directly corresponded to our activity within the four walls of the church. Christian spirituality was rarely taken out of that context. The definition of church I am operating under here is those building and existing programs that funnel people into "doing" church rather than being the community of believers "called" the church. Should be parents be liable for this lack of spiritual emphasis? In some ways yes, but in others no. They were simply operating on the a priori that was handed down to them through the church. The message was "you come and go to your class/group and we will take your kids to their class/group and will specialize all our ministries to cater to you and your children personally." In essence its "one stop shopping." You can get all your "spiritual stuff" done on Sunday morning, Sunday nights and Wednesday nights. Sadly, the church has done little raise up missional believers because we have used a "come and see" philosophy to "do" church rather than a "go and tell" philosophy of "being" the church.
Marks of Genuine Faith
The guiding vision I had for this blog was that it would be a teaching tool for students and families. In keeping with this vision, we will be starting a new series for our Wednesday nights at the park. It is a vision for the family. Studies show us that parents are the greatest transmitter of genuine faith. This is rather humbling for me since I am man who has committed his life to vocational ministry. As we start this series, I want to say up front, this is not an attempt to question anyone's faith experience, rather it is an attempt to evaluate the the depths of the faith that is transmitted. It could be that you find that your child may not have a genuine trust and devotion to Jesus Christ. To that I say, don't panic...just love. Second, you may find that you may not possess genunie faith. If this is true, then don't wait a second before publically confessing Christ. It could make the difference of another's faith journey...namely your children.
In preparing for this, John MacAuthor has a great article that I want to submit to your care. Below reflects a series of marks of cultural faith verses genuine faith. For the remainder of this summer, we will exam the 'proofs' of genuine faith together as families. After we spend some time in the Word, we will let you pray with your children and begin to ask "how can we "transmit" these values into our kids?"
Check out MacAuthor's link at http://www.biblebb.com/files/macqa/IA-genuinefaith.htm for some futher reading.
Grace and Peace!
In preparing for this, John MacAuthor has a great article that I want to submit to your care. Below reflects a series of marks of cultural faith verses genuine faith. For the remainder of this summer, we will exam the 'proofs' of genuine faith together as families. After we spend some time in the Word, we will let you pray with your children and begin to ask "how can we "transmit" these values into our kids?"
Check out MacAuthor's link at http://www.biblebb.com/files/macqa/IA-genuinefaith.htm for some futher reading.
Grace and Peace!
Discouragement: God knows what we need
I know it has been a while since I have added to this blog, but today seemed like a good day add a quick thought. Discouragement is a funny thing. It can be the most grueling thing to go through at the time but turns out to be some of the sweetest moments of refreshing I personally experience. Let me try to explain.
Serving as one of the pastors a new church, I get my fair share of discouragement. Why are people not getting the vision? Why are some people not committing? How about people who just refuse to hear and be led? Why was our giving down? Why was our attendance down? Why can't I get more kids to camp? You get the picture. It is a day in and day out grind! If I am not careful, I will allow myself to get down and start taking my focus off of what God is doing that is truly remarkable such the numerous baptisms the few students who are truly getting the Gospel right, and the adults who are hook line and sinker committed to what God wants to do. I can also find myself focusing on my abilities or lack of abillities that I sometimes feel contribute to the lack of movement that I want to witness in my church and student ministry.
Here is the beautiful thing! God is always there to show me the error in my thinking and reconnect me to His heart for His glory and for His mission on earth. I think that is the benefit of being a Gospel centered, neocalvinist, bed wetting reformed noncessionist who believes that plurality of elders/pastors is better than believing that one personality has all that we need to lead a church in a Biblical way. At the end of the day, my theology tells me two things. First, God is in charge of it all! I mean really in charge of it all. He does not need me or my gifts to accomplish His plan. Second, the belief that Scripture alone allows me to free myself from the narcicism of this world and actually believe that a goofy, slightly chubby and balding white boy from Southwest Virginia can accomplish anything. It is very humbling don't you think?
Lastly, if you are offended by some the terminology listed above...GET OVER IT! It comes from honest reflection from God Word.
I'M BACK BABY!
Dogs, Chidren, Miss California and the Cultural Elite...
My guess is that most of you have heard about the story about Miss California's stand for marriage. As well, you probably know about Perez Hilton's comment stating that she lost the pageant because of her views. The idea that comes out of popular culture is that you are out of touch with reality if you hold on to these values. At the same time, they (the culture makers)must not believe in their own values too much either? Recently, I read a statistic that reported that there are more dogs per household in Seattle, Washington than there are children. In other words, many couples are choosing not to have children at all. I started to ask myself why is this?
Why is it that people don't want to have children in a world
I deduced the possibility for one of two reasons. Do not hear me say that these are the only factors, there are no doubt other factors that play out the childbearing debate. First, young couples are just too selfish. That's right, I said it! We are so caught up in our vocations and education and the limited recreation time that is afforded from them, that my generation and younger are choosing not to have children. The popular culture says that family life can be delayed or can even be foregone. This is a sad truth because all to often I see this trend happening in the church. The bible calls us, if possible, to multiply and fill the earth. This is not just a physical command, it is spiritual command. To multiply and fill the earth is a command to spread the fame of our great God! In fifty years, Islam will be the dominate cultural force. Why? Because the current cultural elite have developed a self centered attitude and convinced their generations that children don't matter that much. Muslims are the only people have children...and they are having alot of them! The same will happen in America is evangelicals don't just say they believe in family values rather live it out.
There is positive side to this though and it coincides with my second thought on the childlessness of our culture. I asked a friend who was unbeliever about why he and his wife didn't want kids. His answer was interesting. They are scared! They are scared of the world they will leave their children. WOW! In other words, the evolved world in which we are so confident is becoming a better place is not actually becoming a better place. Since the Enlightenment, a period at which man was sure of his ability to bring about world transformation and rid himself of pain and evil, more people have died as a result of war, famine, and disease. If you believe that your values are producing a better future, then populate it!
So why am I encouraged. It is because even though many evangelical couples have been dooped by the popular culture, evangelicals as a whole are still have larger families. Its only a matter of time when a tipping point will occur and move culture back in the other direction.
What is the moral of this story? Christians need to get their heads out of the sand. We need to see the cultural landscape and take courage. We need to have more children and stop worrying about the American dream. We need to see the call of parenting to be a call for the Gospel. It is a mission trip...for eighteen years! Raising children is more than getting them through high school and getting the right opportunities in front of them so they can succeed in life. No, the PRIMARY call of a parent to raise children of Godly distinction. Love God and Love People for the glory of God! Chew on that.
Grace and Peace.
A preview of Sunday
Sometimes a message so transforms a person's life that it has to be shared. This weekend we will be studying through the letter from Jude. If you want a preview take a look and ask yourselves, will God find us soft selling the Gospel? I have a deep conviction in my soul. Are we handling the Gospel rightly or are we "converting" people to a half Gospel. By "we" I mean the American church. Alistar Begg says it better than anyone I know. He says, "half a Gospel is no Gospel at all!" When we share the "Gospel", are we just getting them to church and changing their behavior or are we seeing their hearts transformed which is what the Gospel really does! I had a conversation with a mom in our church because she overheard me talking about teaching my son the hymn "Holy, Holy, Holy." She was fascinated that I wanted to teach my two year old a hymn. I told her that this song gives us a picture of purity....God's purity. In turn, it shows our scars from sin. I don't want to simply teach him how to be a "good person", I want to teach him to be passionate for the holiness of God. I want my son's affections to grow for God. That is the essence of the Gospel. Admittedly, this idea is not new with me. My brother and co-laborer in Christ, Joe Stegall, has been teaching his daughters this song for the same reason. I just stole it from him. There is truly nothing new under the sun. All the more reason to tap into the timeless truths often depicted in theologically rich hymns and let them nourish the soul! See ya sunday!
The Church needs a new cause!
It is amazing to me how much of Christianity's identity has been skewed from its spiritual agenda and been focused on a lesser political or social agenda. I read a great article in Newsweek regarding the decline of Christianity in America (www.newsweek.com/id/192583 ). No matter how you slice it up, this is a regrettable situation we find ourselves in as evangelicals. Nonetheless, every Christian should be quick to listen to much of the article's points regarding Christianity's place with in our American culture. While not agreeing with every point mentioned in the article, I do believe their is much insight for evangelicals today as we continue to fight the good fight!
With the political shift that has taken place in the past six months, you would think that election was the cause of the decline is Christianity in America. Might I suggest another more logical reason. Jesus always had a suspicion of the governing authority. They had the ability to corrupt even the most naive of associates, but in the past thirty years, evangelicals have put almost their entire stock into the political system that now seems to have chewed us up and spit us out. What a surprise! Maybe one party, (not to name one) used us in some way to aid their political aspirations? Sure, there have been some strides in our "Christian" interests in Washington, but largely our "agenda" has been left untouched. Does this mean that Christians individuals should not participate and vote their values? By no means, that is beauty of our political machine, but beware when we associate divine authority with one political party or another! Power has the uncanny ability to corrupt!
But there is a larger problem I want to put my finger on. It has to do with our goals. Certainly, we want to see our culture maintain moral stability, but is the political system the way to do it? Which came first, the chicken or the egg? In other words, maybe we have gotten it backwards. Legislating morality for a society does not have a lasting effect, evidenced in the rescinding of the Stem Cell research ban. Maybe the church needs a new cause...or maybe reclaim a very old cause. Biblically, mankind is on a path to complete corruption. Though this corruption is presently realized in each individual heart, it is further realized in time through the cultural values as it is lived out in individuals. In other words, changing peoples morality is a band aid. It is a quick fix, rather a temporary fix. The church is charged with displaying the glory and majesty of God and bringing people back into their original creative focus. Only reckoning people to Jesus Christ who will change their hearts will in turn change a people's behavior. Even then it takes time. The problem in our country is not a behavoral problem, it is a heart problem and it is as old as the world.
The church needs a new cause...A Gospel cause. We need to raise up parishioners who will be missionaries for the this great cause. As we change the heart of people with the Gospel, we will change the behavior of the people thus change the values of the people. So why are we putting so much stock into politics? Maybe the politcal shift will allow (or free up) Christians to be the church rather than just "do" church. Who needs it anyway, we have a better plan. Read your Bible!
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