A Few Quotes to Think About

I am reading through David Wells' latest book, The Courage to be Protestant. It is one of those books that is a must read for anyone who loves the church, and offers penetrating insight into our American culture and its affect upon evangelical church culture. I am going to quote several lines from this book that I think are worthy of giving some thought.

"By speaking about faith in terms that are familiar in our world of self-fulfillment, self-esteem, and the whole many-sided self movement, the gospel suddenly is on the cutting edge of where-we-are. By assuming access to God that is as swift and certain as the swipe of a credit card, a spiritual purchase without waiting, the gospel makes itself appealing to consumers. They are getting it when they want and how they want it. By speaking of the gospel in terms not of truth but of feelings, evangelicals of this stripe guarantee for them selves instant success. Feelings are easy to arouse while thought is hard and slow."

"The self-movement is all about feeling good about ourselves, not about being good. It is therapeutic, not moral."

"Evangelical faith, which has lamely followed along this cultural path, has lost its integrity in the world."

"The problem is that study after study over the last four decades has been unable to show any correlation between low self-esteem and all the social maladies that have supposedly followed it."

"The language of sin is not a part of the way people think of themselves."

"The majesty of God's forgiveness is lost entirely when we lose what has to be forgiven."

"When we miss the biblical teaching, we also miss the nature of God's grace in all its height and depth."

"The glory of Christian faith is the grace that has bridged the chasm sin has created, the heights and depths of God's saving love expressed in the person of Christ."

These are some good things to think about as we consider the state of the church in our land.

Milestone

We passed a milestone this last weekend. In the eternal scheme of things it probably wouldn't even be a blip on the radar, but it is a milestone for us none the less. This last Sunday we finished our first year as a church as we began Grace Covenant Church on the third Sunday of June 2007. There are many things that have gone through my mind over the last couple of days, but foremost would be the gratitude I have to the Lord for calling me and giving me the privilege of serving Him in this way. Along with the gratitude is also a sense of awe that people came, and are still coming, in spite of me also leading the singing for most of this last year. The Lord has brought some great people to be a part of this and I am blessed to be their pastor.

I wrestled with the Lord for almost a year before I finally accepted the fact that He was calling me to become a pastor. What were my excuses? 1. My age, as I was 55 at that time. 2. I am divorced and remarried. 3. No seminary degree or training. 4. Me? Why would the Lord be calling me? 5. I did not trust myself and wanted assurance that this was truly from the Lord. 6. I have been on the ground floor of two other church plants and never desired to be the pastor, and in both instances I knew my place was to be a teacher. But I could not deny the burden in my spirit and the desire of my heart. In fact, it was the change in my heart from not wanting to ever be a pastor, because of all the stuff that goes along with it, to having it be such a fervent desire that has been one of the confirmations that this indeed is a calling from the Lord; but it was the encouragement and admonishment from my wife, Angie, that finally got me off of high center and stepping out in faith.

In the four months leading up to us starting the church Angie and I talked often about the things involved with starting a church, and one of my comments to her was that we would be surprised at who would come and who would not, and I was right. We talked specifically to about 30 couples about what we felt the Lord was leading us to do, what the philosphy of ministry would be, and what the mission and purpose of the church would be. Some of them told us they were interested, some were non-commital, some were not interested, but when the first Sunday came only two couples that we had specifically talked to came and one of them had their nose in the air and left as soon as they could. However, we had others come that we did not specifically talk to and they have continued to come. We had a family join in October and another join last month, and the one who joined last month was an answer to everyone's prayer as he can play the guitar and has volunteered to lead the singing. We now have 14 adults, two teenagers, and seven children. Angie is teaching the children in the front bedroom and we are holding the worship service in our living room.

Where is the Lord leading us? Honestly, I am not sure. We are meeting in our home, but I don't consider us a house church nor want to be one. We have just incorporated and I will be applying for our tax exempt status soon. We are considering the pros and cons of affiliation or remaining independent. I did not start this with a vision or a grand plan, but with the desire to be obedient to what I knew the Lord was calling me to do and the prayer to the Lord to keep me faithful to the task He has assigned me; and Angie as my helpmate has accepted my calling as her calling.

The Lord is having us take it a week at a time, so my answer to several who have asked me what my vision is for this church has been, "The service this coming Sunday." We are working our way through Colossians. We started in Colossians last June and I will be preaching on Colossians 3:16-17 this coming Sunday.

Along the way, and even this last week, the Lord has been gracious to give me confirmations that this is what He has called and is continuing to call me to do. Along with the change of heart that I mentioned earlier has been a firm conviction in my own spirit that I am right where He wants me to be, a conviction that has never left even through the few times of disappointment. All the ways He has given me confirmation have reminded me of the Lord dealing with Elijah in I Kings 19:11-13 So He said, "Go forth and stand on the mountain before the Lord." And behold, the Lord was passing by! And a great and strong wind was rending the mountains and breaking in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of a gentle blowing. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. And behold, a voice came to him and said, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" God is indeed faithful and we are looking forward to the weeks and months ahead as He guides us, not through spectacular events, but through the gentle breeze of His Spirit and the confirmation of His word.

IRREVERENCE Part III

This irreverence in the American church is not just in the worship service, but pervades every area of Christian life. Recently my family and I were at Jason's Deli one evening when another family sat down next to us. One of the men was wearing a "religious" tee shirt, and thought, I'm quite sure, that he was providing a cool witness of his Christianity with its catchy wording, as if it is the catchy wording that provides the witness. I sat there with a mouth full of turkey croissant sandwich thinking, "This guy's not serious," and slowly shaking my head at the irreverence he was projecting, all the while he was probably thinking how cool his tee shirt is because of its hip phrasing that will witness to the unchurched, for why else would he wear it. The tee shirt said, "GETTING DOWN WITH THE MOST HIGH," and went on to quote Psalm 91:1 He who dwells in the shadow of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. And of course it had all the fancy graphics most of these tee shirts have. Can anyone seriously think for one minute that they or anyone one else can "get down" with God, the Most High? This tee shirt pictures God as some home boy you can hang out with, dance with, crack jokes and cruise the hood with. The irony of this is that because God is the Almighty, the One and only God, the Creator of Sustainer of all that exists, the One who holds our life breath and our ways in His hand, the One to whom the angels constantly cry, 'Holy, Holy, Holy,' He is not going to be getting down with us...at any time. This, to me was the same attitude that Nadab and Abihu had, and, as we have seen, God did not get down with them, but struck them down. Look at the reverence Jesus, His own Son and fully God as well, showed to Him during His life upon this earth. This tee shirt is indicative of the irreverent attitude towards God that if rife in the American church today. Where is the respect for God as God, and all that He is as God, in the church in our land today?

Another area in Christianity that smacks of irreverence is in the books and music. I am not going to get into all the issues with the music because that should be another post series, but just listen to the lyrics, compare them with the Scriptures, and see how much of what is passing off as worship and praise is veiled irreverence. The same can be said about books, and there are way too many to mention, but I will single out one because it is such a good example. It is John Eldredge's "Wild At Heart." It is one of the biggest pieces of heresy I have ever come across, and the heresy involves the very person of God and how He is presented in this book, and the presentation of God in this book is the height of irreverence as it portrays Him as just like sinful man.

Worship is not limited to our gathering on Sunday, but is to be lived out every day as we see in Romans 12:1 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living an holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. So we see that our lives, therefore our lifestyle, should be one of worship. How does God say that we should worship Him? Psalm 2:11 Worship the Lord with reverence and rejoice with trembling. So our lifestyle, yes, our very life, should be one of reverence, filled with rejoicing and trembling. To revere is to honor, to show respect, to pay homage all because it is what is due. This is the kind of life we are to live before Him, Coram Deo, before His face. Our lifestyle should not spit in His face, ridicule Him, or present Him as less than He is or other than He is. In Romans Paul tells us to give honor to whom honor is due. Well, who is due more honor than our heavenly Father, our Great Redeemer, and our Friend. Read John 17 and see the honor, the respect, the homage the Son pays to the Father. Should we not do the same in every area of our life?

Judgement begins with the household of God. Let us examine ourselves and our own households for attitudes or displays of irreverence towards our God. Let us look at our own lifestyle, thoughts and attitudes. Let us come before God with reverence and awe and let all that we do reflect the high regard and esteem we hold for our wonderful Savior and our God.

IRREVERENCE Part II

You might be thinking to yourself, "Wait a minute, you are picking on the contemporary church crowd. What about the coat and tie traditional crowd?" Honestly, they can be just as guilty. Let's look at Isaiah 29:13 "Because this people draw near with their words and honor Me with their lip service, But they remove their hearts far from Me, and their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote." Wearing your Sunday best, repeating the liturgy, praying out of a prayer book, and singing three hymns accompanied by an organ does not make you reverent. Much of the contemporary movement was a reaction to the lifeless, heartless, traditional service where the reverence was ritualized, not internalized. Reverence begins in the heart and its attitude towards God, and at the heart of true worship is reverence towards God. Part of why we are to gather together is to corporately revere God; and in that corporate reverence is a testimony to the greatness of this God who commands such honor and respect.

You may think that this was really an Old Testament issue, and the New Testament God of grace and love is not so harsh and demanding. Read I Corinthians 11:17-34 about the Corinthians attitude and handling of the Lord's supper. Check out verses 27-32, "Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgement to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep. But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world." What was God's discipline upon members of this church (which so resembles the American church of today)? Many were weak, many were sick, and a number (obviously more than one) slept (were dead). Go read Acts five about God's dealings with Ananias and Sapphira. Would God do this today? Well, you might be familiar with the Waco pastor who, two years ago, was electrocuted in the baptistry in front of his congregation after leading them in a prayer saying, "Surprise me, Lord. "Let not many of you become teachers, for as such, you will incur a stricter judgement."

If you noticed in the section above where I quoted from I Corinthians, the Corinthians were so spiritually dull that Paul had to tell them that the reason some were sick, or weak, or dead was because of God's hand of discipline among them. They could not see it themselves. Take a step back and take a good look at your church. Could the same thing be happening there? Has it been happening and no one has been able to see it because of the spiritual shallowness of the congregation? Could this be going on in American churches and no one is noticing?

To be continued.

IRREVERENCE

We live in an irreverent society. In fact, it is in vogue to be irreverent, and in many cases the more irreverent, the better. What does it mean to be irreverent? Well, the dictionary defines the word irreverent as having or showing a lack of respect, and the thesaurus gives the word disrespectful as its synonym. We live in a time when it is hip, cool, and popular to be irreverent. However, if you examine irreverence closely, you will find at its heart is rebellion, and that is exactly what the heart of man is, rebellious. Unfortunately, like so many other things, this irreverence has made its way into the church bringing its rebellious heart along with it.

One of the culprits that has allowed this societal irreverence to make its way into the church has been the paradigm shift that has taken place over the last couple of decades in the place and purpose of the church. Where once the church was the place where believers gathered to corporately express their mutual praise, adoration, and thanksgiving, it has now become a place where unbelievers are enticed, entreated, and entertained. Where once the purpose of the church was to honor God, glorify God, and give witness to His majesty, its purpose now is to attract as many people as possible, by any means possible. Where once the focus was on God, His glory, and His holiness, the focus now is on the individual and his felt needs. In short, people no longer come to church for God, they come to church for themselves. The church has ceased to honor God and has chosen to honor man. It reminds me of Malachi 1:6 A son honors his father, and a servant his master. Then if I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is My respect? says the Lord of hosts to you, O priests who despise my name."

Think about it, be honest, and ask yourself these questions. Why do I go to church? For whom am I going to church? What is my motivation for going to church? Do I get disappointed if I don't get anything out of the music or the sermon? Am I focused on blessing God, being a blessing to others, or getting a blessing for myself? Am I disappointed if the music is not how I like it? Do I only like and appreciate the sermons if they make me feel better about myself or cover an area of self-improvement? Am I here to extol God, if not, then why am I here.? The church has become like Romans 1:21 where they know God, but do not honor Him as God.

Another area of irreverence in the church can be seen in the casual attitude and dress. You get the sense that people are telling God that He should, He must, and He will accept them as they are. Is this how you feel in your heart of hearts, that God should accept you like you are, without any concern of whether you are acceptable to God, whether your attitude is acceptable to God, whether your dress is acceptable to God, or whether your lifestyle is acceptable to God? Would you wear what you wear to church to a state dinner with the President? If not, why not? Would you tell the President he must accept you just like you are? So you hold the President in greater esteem than you do the God who gave His Son to secure your eternal salvation? What does this say about your attitude towards God? Listen to the words of God in Leviticus 10:3 after He slew Aaron's sons, Nadab and Abihu, for approaching Him in a disrespectful way, "By those who come near Me I will be treated as holy, and before all the people I will be honored." And what was Aaron's response to this as verse three ends? "And Aaron, therefore, kept silent."

When women wear tops to church that reveal their breasts or midriffs are they treating the Lord as holy? When they wear tops or pants that look like they are either sprayed on or shrink wrapped so that the whole contour of their front or backside is entirely visible leaving little to the imagination, are they doing so to honor the Lord, or to say, "Hey, look at me!" When husbands and fathers allow their wives and daughters to go to church dressed in such a manner are they honoring the Lord, or are they fearing their wives and daughters more than they fear the Lord? Isaiah 8:13 tells us, "It is the Lord of hosts whom you shall regard as holy. And He shall be your fear, and He shall be your dread." Men, what are you saying to the Lord when you come in to appear before Him dressed for the beach or the golf course? In the presence of the Lord is not a place to be "hot" or a place to chill out. By your demeanor, your attitude, or your dress are you regarding the Lord as holy? Are you showing Him the respect that is due Him, the Almighty God?

To be continued

A Prayer for May 12, 2008

Blessed be the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ; and God the Father--the God Most High--as Your throne is standing in the heavens and the train of Your robe fills the temple. Majestic in holiness, there is none like You. You, who have declared the end from the beginning, who dwells in unapproachable light, who is unmovable and unchangeable, and who knows all the stars by name. Before You all the nations are nothing in Your sight and are less than meaningless; yet, You humble Yourself to behold the things that are in heaven and in the earth; and choose to dwell with the contrite and lowly of Spirit, and incline Your ear to the prayers of Your children. Hear us this day, O Lord, give heed to our supplications, grant our requests, and attend our prayers for we do not know how to pray as we should; but in our weakness strengthen us, in our blindness give us sight, in our ignorance give us knowledge, and in our sin forgive us and grant us repentance and restore to us the joy of our salvation. Blessed be the Lord, now and forever more. Amen

Are You an Almost Christian

Bill Lawless has posted one of George Whitfields greatest sermons, "An Almost Christian" over at his blog, Reformed Lawless. You can link to it from here http://billsbible.blogspot.com

This is well worth reading.

Alone with God

Prayer is something in which we turn our backs upon everything else, excluding everything else, while, for the time being, we find ourselves face to face with God alone.

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Alone with God and face to face with God. Maybe that is why we don't pray as often or as much as we should. Are you avoiding prayer because it is just you and God and it makes you uncomfortable or makes you feel vulnerable? Are you uncomfortable in the presence of God because you know you aren't walking in the light, as He Himself is in the light, and that the darkness of your sinful ways and thoughts will be exposed? Are you afraid of exposing the dark corners of your heart, or are you harboring a sin that you don't want to let go? Are you afraid of coming into the holiness of His presence and being confronted by His righteousness? Are you ashamed to come before Him because you know you should be spending time in prayer and you are not? Or is it a matter of rebellion because praying to God requires our acknowledgment of His superiority, our submission to His authority, and our subjection to His sovereignty? Is it that it is hard to justify taking time out of your busy schedule? Is it that you take your relationship with Him for granted until you need Him for something? Or, somehow, is it a little of all of the above.

Brethren, don't let your heart become hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. The nearness of our God, your God and my God, is our good (Psalm 73:28). His promise is that if we draw near to Him, He will draw near to us, and that if we seek Him, He will let us find Him (James 4:8, Jeremiah 29:13); and His command is for us to seek His face (Amos 5:4, Psalm 27:8). Whatever you are holding on to that is hindering you from fully coming into His presence, let it go. Come as Jacob did, to wrestle with God until he received the blessing, and you will leave His presence changed and marked by God.

The Delusion of Pleasing Self

In listening to all the cries that the church must be relevant, new, cutting edge, abreast of all things modern to reach the current age, I wonder if those making such claims have bothered to look at the heart of man to see if it has changed in lo these many ages since the fall. From all the cries to contextualize you would think that somehow the heart has morphed, or been subjected to some evolutionary influence so that we must approach it differently than ever before. No, the heart has always been the same, wicked and desperately sick. Its main goal has always been to please itself at the expense of all else.

I ran across a poem by Charles Wesley written in the early 1700's that reveals the timeless self-absorption of the heart with all its vices. This poem is based upon I Timothy 5:6 "But she who gives herself to wanton pleasure is dead, even while she lives."

How hapless is th'applauded virgin's lot,

Her God forgetting, by her God forgot!

Stranger to truth, unknowing to obey,

In error nurs'd and disciplin'd to stray;

Swoln with self-will, and principled with pride,

Sense all her good, and passion all her guide:

Pleasure its tide, and flatt'ry lends it breath,

And smoothly waft her to eternal death!

A goddess here she sees her vot'ries meet,

Crowd to her shrine, and tremble at her feet;

She hears their vows, believes their life and death

Hangs on the wrath and mercy of her breath;

Supreme in fancied state she reigns her hour,

And glories in her plenitude of power.

Herself the only object worth her care,

Since all the kneeling world was made for her.

For her creation all its stores displays;

The silkworm's labour, and the diamond's blaze;

Air, earth, and sea conspire to tempt her taste,

And ransack'd Nature furnishes the feast.

Life's gaudiest pride attracts her willing eyes,

And balls, and theatres, and courts arise:

Italian songsters pant her ear to please,

Bid the first cries of infant reason cease,

Save her from thought, and lull her soul to peace.

Deep sunk the imprison'd soul remains,

Nor knows its fall from God, nor feels its chains;

Unconscious still, sleeps on in error's night,

Nor strives to rise, nor struggles into light:

Heaven-born in vain, degen'rate cleaves to earth,

(No pangs experienc'd of the second birth)

She only fallen, yet unwaken'd found,

While all th'enthrall'd creation groans around!

Father, deliver us from ourselves!

A Prayer for Today

Dearest Redeemer, make me humble, prepare me for Thy future mercies; and whenever Thou see me in danger of being exalted above measure, graciously send me a thorn in the flesh, so that Thy blessings may not prove my ruin.

It takes a humble person to pray a prayer like this, one who knows his own heart, his own sin, and his own proclivity to pride. No wonder God used him to fan the Great Awakening in America and England.

George Whitefield
From his journal, Thursday, November 29, 1739, at age 24.
Wilmington, Pa

A Thought for Today

"To live without a sense of God's particular Providence, is in effect, to live without God in the world."

George Whitefield
Monday, November 5, 1739
Philadelphia, Pa

Devotional Reading

My favorite form of devotional reading is just studying and meditating on a passage of Scripture. Many people enjoy and benefit from reading and meditating on the Psalms. However, there are times when it is good to have some variety in your devotionals and there are many books that would serve that purpose. Let me recommend a few in no particular order.

1. Tabletalk magazine. It is a monthly devotional magazine published by Ligonier Ministries. It gives an expositional treatise on a certain topic or section of Scripture. It also has articles that deal with the topic of the month. The articles are excellent and educational, and cover a good breadth of topics.

2. Awake my Heart. Written by J. Sidlow Baxter. It was originally published in 1960 and was republished in 1994. It is devotional readings for a year, and really it is more like a years worth of mini-sermons as it is expositional in nature. It offers wisdom, insight, and application.

3. George Whitefield's Journals. Published by Banner of Truth. This may seem like a strange book for devotional reading, but it is very personal, and reveals Whitefield's heart for Christ and his allegiance to the Word of God. It also reveals the working of God during the time of the Great awakening in England and America. It also is an inspiring example of faithfulness and trust; and most modern preachers should read it and be ashamed at how little we preach and at the shallowness of our knowledge of the Scriptures.

4. Gems from Martyn Lloyd-Jones. Written by Tony Sargent. It is a collection of quotations from the sermons of one of the great biblical minds and preachers of the twentieth century. It is arranged topically and covers a plethora of topics. It is robust, full of wisdom, and prompts you to think.

5. Pulpit Magazine. This is the online magazine of John MacArthur's ministry. It has daily articles, which are usually excerpts from John's sermons, but occasionally they have guest authors contribute articles. Of course, since these are excerpts from John's sermons they are expositional, but they are arranged around different topics. The comments are usually interesting and it is a way you can interact with the article.

The key thing about devotional time is that you need to take the time to think about and pray about what you are reading. Don't approach it as something to be done or as a task to be accomplished, but consider how what you are reading applies to your life and take it to heart.

An additional thought...three of the above books were written by English "chaps". There are two countries that I have had a particular burden for, and that is England and the former Soviet bloc. I have been blessed to preach and teach twelve times in the Ukraine, and once in Siberia. I have asked the Lord to let me do the same in England. Who knows how He will answer that prayer.

A Prayer for the Day

O Lord, It is not just that apart from You I can do nothing, it is apart from You I have nothing, apart from You I have no life, apart from You I am dead. You are life-inYou is life-the life that is the light of all men. I am undone without You. It is You that is my Rock, my Shield, my Fortress, my Deliverer, my Strong Tower, my Stronghold, my Very Present Help, my Dread Champion, my Shepherd, my soul's Guardian, my Intecessor, my Advocate, my Savior, my Wisdom, my Sanctifier, my Redeemer, my Reconciler, my Propitator, my Hope, my Standard, my Goal, my High Priest, my Expiator, my Ruler, my King, my Lord, my Encourager, my Comforter, my Consoler, my Joy, my Security, my Sustainer, my Great Reward, my Life, my Song, my Peace, and my God. May Your name be exalted in me today. May Your name be exalted in Your church today. This day may Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, starting with me. Come Lord Jesus and subdue Your enemies under Your feet, and rule and reign forever. AMEN

A Final Word to a Common Word

Bill Lawless from Impact Midland interviewed Brian Fairchild and me at the Shepherd's Conference last week. The interview was our response to A Common Word. You can listen at http://www.impactmidland.com/

Audio

A couple of months ago I was interviewed by Bill Lawless at Impact Midland, and then last week we had a discussion concerning worship in the church. You can listen to both at
http://www.impactmidland.com.

Irrelevant Preaching

To be relevant or having relevancy means having a signifcant and demonstrable bearing on the matter at hand. So being culturally relevant is really no more that staying current with the times. This is what so many pastors are striving for in their preaching....to be relevant. They are seeking to stay current with what is going on in our American culture, and the topics they preach on reflect this. Take, for example, the Atlanta pastor who is currently preaching a two month series of Green sermons. That's right, two months on Christian responsiblity and the enviroment. With all of the buzz about global warming you can't get more current, more relevant than that, or can you? Look at other sermon series that are being preached such as marriage and the family, handling stress, how to be a good friend, how to stay positive in a negative world, how to handle your finances, how to raise your children, sex and sexuality, how to handle conflict, forgiveness, depression, and the list goes on. I wish I were exaggerating on these topics, but unforturnately, I am not.

You might say, but, Morris, all of theses topics are current, they are today, they are relevant to the world in which we live. Isn't it therefore good for the people to hear what the Bible says about them? Can't we use them to draw those who need to hear the gospel? Well, think about it for a second....maybe longer. Is the Gospel about your sex life, is it about your marriage and your family, is it about enabling you to handle stress? I admit that the topics I have mentioned are issues that we all encounter, and the Bible does get around to addressing them. But what is the point of Scripture? Is the point of Scripture our being a better dad or mom, a better husband or wife, a better person, our feeling better about ourselves, or our responsibility as stewards of the planet God gave us to rule over? Is it about the gratification of our fleshy desires or our infatuation with the immediate? Or is it about God in Christ reconciling the world to Himself through the cross, and then about us becoming more like Christ, being conformed to His image?

If you really think about it and give it some thoughtful meditation, to what, ultimately, must the church be relevant? Isn't it eternity? The current culture is temporal and fleeting, and even though our bodies will eventually wear out, our inner man, the real us, is eternal, is being renewed day by day, and will exist long after this world and all it contains is burned up. Did we not step into eternity the moment we were conceived? Is not our eternal state the real matter at hand? So then if we are preaching to be relevant to today's culture, to be current with the times, and are ignoring the preparation of souls for eternity, which is the real time in which we shall always live, isn't that the height of irrelevant preaching?

The great pastor, who is still a pastor to pastors, the apostle Paul, distills for us the essentials of an eternally relevant ministry in Colossians 1:28-29. Listen to his words, "We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we might present every man complete in Christ. For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me." When we proclaim Christ and are admonishing and teaching every man so that they will become more like Christ, that is the epitome of relevant preaching. Why? Because it is Christ against whom we will ultimately be measured. He is the standard because He is the one who fulfilled all righteousness, He perfectly kept the law, He was absolute in His obedience. He is the one by which we are measured when we stand before God in preparation for our eternal state.

If we are becoming more like Christ then we will automatically be a better person, a better spouse, a better parent; and be more patient, kind, joyful, self-disciplined, loving, faithful, and good because He is all of these and more. So relevant preaching will always seek to lead the hearer to greater Christlikeness by having Christ at the center and Christ as the goal.

So, my friends, are you preaching to be culturally relevant or are you preaching to be eternally relevant? Are you sitting under preaching that puts a band-aid on your itch, or are you sitting under preaching that heals and prepares your soul for eternity? Let's recognize the true time in which we live, and move, and have our existence....eternity, and let us seek to be relevant to the eternal culture, God's culture.

The Deep Love of Jesus

In looking for some music to play for the time prior to the start of our church service I ran across a CD on Rhapsody that really blessed me. It is Sacred Space-The Songs of Penny Rodriguez. Many of the arrangements are modernized, but without taking away the classical richness of these great songs. I have included a link to one of my favorite songs, The Deep Deep Love of Jesus. It was written in 1890 by Samuel Francis and was recently popularized by Selah on their Hiding Place CD. Sacred Space has great arrangement of this song and captures all of its richness. Let the words speak to your mind and wash over your soul as it takes you before His throne.

The Deep Love of Jesus: "1. The Deep Love of Jesus - Penny Rodriguez "

Joining the Church

In late May of 2001 I was in Kiev, Ukraine teaching at St. James Bible College. I had taught at the school numerous times since 1994 and had developed a close friendship with one of my former students, Igor Lemischuk, who was now a pastor in Kiev. When I was in Kiev Igor always asked me to preach at his church and this time was no exception. Before the service started Igor took me aside and pointed to a group of young men, probably early twenties to early thirties, and explained that they had been coming for some time and that he had met with them on several occasions and explained the gospel and Christianity to them. He then asked me to finish my sermon with a strong call to repentance as he felt that is what they needed to hear. This fit in well with the sermon I had planned as I was preaching on I Thessalonians chapter one, and verses nine and ten paint a great picture of the turning from, the turning to, and the serving that encompasses the fullness of repenting. So I did just as Igor asked and finished up the sermon with a call to repentance following the pattern laid out in those verses. As I finished the sermon I handed the microphone to Igor.

Even though I had preached at his church several times I don't remember ever having seen him do an altar call. When he grasped the microphone he immediately asked for those who wished to repent in the manner I had described to come forward and meet with him. Four young men came to meet with him. As we sang songs for the next ten minutes or so I could see him talking to each of the young men. Now here is where it gets interesting! When the music ended he had the four young men stand and face the audience and told us that they had come down to repent and turn their lives over to God. Then for the next ten to fifteen minutes he proceeded to address these young men about what it meant to become a Christian, what it cost to become a Christian, what was required of them in coming to Christ, what they would be giving up, the sacrifices and sufferings that would be theirs because of their new found faith. He went on to tell them that true repentance meant that their lifestyle would change and they would not be living the same way any longer if their faith was genuine. He told them that their new found faith would be put to the test to see if it was genuine. He explained to them that their friends and even family would ridicule them and ostracize them because of their faith. He told them that they were not just joining a church, but were joining themselves to Christ. He said that true repentance was not just a decision, but entailed a commitment, and was about seeking to please God and not themselves any longer. He finished with asking them individually if they understood what he had said, and then told them if they were not ready to make this commitment or were unsure about it to say so now and return to the audience. All four young men stayed there and affirmed their commitment for all to see and hear.

Thanksgiving of 2005 Igor stayed with us for five days and I was delighted to share the hospitiality with him that he given me on so many occasions. I asked him if those four young men were still attending his church and how they were doing spiritually. He told me that all four were still attending and serving the Lord.

What would happen in the churches in our country if we handled people who want to join the church the way Igor did these young men? When someone makes a profession of faith or wants to know how to become a Christian are we telling them what it really takes? In our rush to get people to make a decision, to get them to join the church are we leaving something out? Are we adequately explaining to people the cost of discipleship? Are we telling people it is not just a decision, but a commitment; not something tried on like a shoe, or tried out like a test ride? Is the church in America too scared of running people off that it has watered down or left out the cost of discipleship?

In fact, I believe the American church's obsession with numbers and growth prevent it from telling people anything that will upset them or turn them away. In John 6:41-69 we see Jesus explaining the commitment required to be a true disciple of His. At this many of the disciples said, "This is a difficult (hard) statement; who can listen to it?" To which Jesus replied, "Does this cause you to stumble?" And we see that as a result of this many of His disciples were not walking with Him anymore. In Mark 10:17-27 we have the story of the rich young man who asked Jesus what he needed to do to inherit eternal life. Even though Jesus felt a love for this man He told him what he must give up to have eternal life. The young man was saddened and went away grieving. In both instances Jesus spoke the truth, not harshly, but plainly, and let the people walk away who would not accept the truth. In Luke 14:25-35 we see Jesus explaining the heavy cost it will take to be His disciple, and then uses two examples of counting the cost before making the committment. Is this not the pattern we should be following?

I am afraid that the church in America has bought into and is preaching a false gospel. It is a gospel without a cross. In the American gospel both the cross that Christ bore, and the cross that his true disciples are to daily bear is missing. Without the cross of Christ the gospel is emptied of its saving power. Without the cross we are to bear the gospel is denied its claim on our life. Would it be that more preachers would be like my friend Igor and not be afraid to tell people the cost of becoming a true disciple of the Lord.

Fact Collectors

Are you a collector? Do you collect antiques, dolls, comic books, depression glass, animal trophies, or.....you name it? Do you set your collectables up on a shelf, or do you have a display case, or a special storage unit to house them? Do you show your collection off to friends and family? Is your collection something you take pride in? Have you become informed or developed a level of expertise regarding what you collect, and can you talk about it until the cows come home? Is what is on display not just your collection, but your knowledge of it as well? Is this how you treat the Bible, the Sacred Scriputres, the living Word of the living God? Are you a fact collector, a Biblical fact collector?

You may say, "But, Morris, aren't we all? Isn't that why we study the Bible, listen to the pastor, read blogs, go to conferences, etc.?" To which I would answer, "No, not really." For the goal for us in our learning of the Scriptures ought not to be knowledge for the sake of accumulation, but knowledge for the sake of assimilation. We should want what we know about the Scriptures to become part of the fabric of our person, to be a part of who we are and what we are, not a collection of facts gathering dust in the shelf of our minds.

Many people are just like the Athenians in Acts seventeen...always in search of something new. New truth, new knowledge, instead of becoming a morsel to be looked at, chewed on, and ingested, becomes a nugget to hoard and stash away, so that hearer can go and find another new fact to add to the collection. These people are also like the ones we see in II Timothy 4:3 who accumulate teachers in a heap. As soon as they are through milking all the new nuggets of knowledge from the current one he is thrown on the heap and they are off to the next.

What is your view toward Biblical knowledge? Is it something to be accumulated or something to be assimilated? Is knowledge for the sake of knowledge what you are pursuing, or are you pursuing knowledge because you are pursuing Him? In Hosea 4:6 God says His people are destroyed for lack of knowledge, but then tells us in 6:3 to press on, to press on to know the Lord. So it wasn't religious facts that they needed, but knowledge of the Holy One, Himself. Peter tells us in II Peter 1:3 "His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence." So we really shouldn't even seek knowledge for the sake of transformation, but seek knowledge for the purpose of growing and deepening our relationship with Him, out of which our transformation occurs.

So, let us not be fact collectors, but seekers of Him who promises to reward those who diligently seek to know Him with the knowledge of Himself, which then becomes something in which we truly have a reason to boast.

Between Two Worlds: Timothy George on John Owen's "Communion with the Triune God"

Between Two Worlds: Timothy George on John Owen's "Communion with the Triune God"