Body of Christ

THE GRACES OF GOSPEL-SHAPED COMMUNITY

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The Grace of Waiting for One Another at the Lord’s Table

I have written elsewhere about various what I call graces of gospel-shaped community. In this post I want to consider another lesser-known one another text of the New Testament in 1 Corinthians 11:33: So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another.

The Biblical Setting

The Corinthian church struggled with multiple problems. Paul wrote the letter to address them one-by-one. When we come to chapter 11, he turns his attention for the next couple of chapters to abuses in their corporate worship—especially the most serious of all—their practice related to taking the Lord’s Supper. Serious doesn’t even begin to express the degree of alarm sounded here. Their abuses in this regard made God so sick, as it were, that He brought severe physical judgment upon the people (1 Cor. 11:30). The Table is not something with which to trifle!

The Historical Background

Commentator William Barclay explains:

The ancient world was in many ways much more social than ours is. It was the regular custom for groups of people to meet together for meals. There was, in particular, a certain kind of feast called an eranos to which each participant brought his own share of the food, and in which all the contributions were pooled to make a common meal. The early Church had such a custom, a feast called the Agape or Love Feast. To it all the Christians came, bringing what they could, the resources were pooled and they sat down to a common meal. It was a lovely custom; and it is our loss that the custom has vanished. It was a way of producing and nourishing real Christian fellowship.

Indeed, it is. We find biblical evidence of those kinds of love feasts among the churches in two other places: 2 Pet. 2:13—concerning false teachers plaguing the church—They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, while they feast with you. And Jude 12: [regarding false teachers] These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves. Frequently those Christian feasts would culminate in the eating of the Lord’s Supper. They combined the Supper with their community meal—unlike the way we typically separate it on Sundays. OK, so far so good. But look what happened in Corinth with this whole deal in 11:20-21: When you come together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat. For in eating each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk. More on this disgraceful behavior in a bit.

Understand a couple things about first century Corinth. Class distinctions abounded, rich and poor especially. The current famine (Paul speaks of it as the present distress in 1 Cor. 7:26) exacerbated the situation in that the slaves who normally went without anyway, suffered even greater want given the circumstances. In fact, the weekly common meal where the rich and poor would eat together in the church, sharing as each one had means, might amount to the only decent meal a poor person or family would get in any given week. The poor depended upon those with greater means to share from their abundance. But that was not happening in Corinth and Paul made sure here in chapter 11 that they would get nothing in the way of commendation for their astonishing behavior. He scolds them at the end of v. 22: Shall I commend you in this? No, I will not. He was ticked. He blistered them with godly reproof. For what?

Hurrying! He rebuked them for not waiting for the poor who couldn’t get to the feast as soon as they in their wealth and leisure could. No, instead they would wolf down the food, stuff themselves, and even drink to excess according to v. 21, with the result that some of them got drunk while the poor went hungry! A good bit of research into the first century as well suggests that the well-off may have taken up the prime spots in the household’s dining room leaving the poor to stand and/or congregate in ancillary rooms of the dwelling. Good grief!

Do you see the picture? Do you get the result? The calloused, selfish, insensitive, grab-game behavior in Corinth brought yet another form of division and separation into the assembly, based on the haves and the have nots, the rich and the poor! Before Paul hammered anything else in the letter, he took on the problem of factions in 1 Cor. 1:10-13:

[10] I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. [11] For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. [12] What I mean is that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.” [13] Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?

So, in chapter 11, Paul returns to the poison of division in the body but comes at it from a different direction—the abuses of the Lord’s Supper. That’s why in vv. 23-26 he chooses to teach them again the true nature and proper observance of the Supper as a spiritual event of the highest order—not a cause of gorging the physical appetites! Indeed not, as he rails with rapid-fire rhetorical questions in v. 22: What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? In other words, you have homes for satisfying your appetites. Your sinful behavior despises the cross of Jesus which obliterated class distinctions of every kind, made abundantly clear in 1 Cor 10:17: Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. And your behavior humiliates the poor for whom God takes up offense. Proverbs 17:5: Whoever mocks the poor insults his Maker.

Now we have a basis for understanding his loving, (note that though steamed at them, in v. 33 he calls them brothers, a term of affection) practical admonition at the conclusion of this section: when you come together to eat, wait for one another. The Greek word for wait can mean that or expect. I think the ESV gets it right given a text like Acts 17:16: Now while Paul was waiting for them in Athens and this immediate context previously reviewed. The ESV includes a marginal note with an alternate rendering of share with, I suspect, because waiting for the poor to show up implies the expectation of sharing with them and not hoarding. Do this waiting with a view to sharing, Paul says, (and if you can’t, eat at home to take the edge off) why in v. 34? So that when you come together it will not be for judgment. Judgment of the worst kind.

Now we’re finally ready for the main idea for this post: The gospel shapes community by empowering us to manifest the grace of practicing selfless, loving, and sensitive courtesy toward all, particularly with taking the Lord’s Supper in view. How do we make the jump then to our context before we partake? In some ways, the takeaways are not as closely connected, since we normally practice separation between the Lord’s Supper and our fellowship meals. I suggest three applications related to Communion.

One, acknowledge the priority of the Supper as supremely important in the worship of the church and as a means of grace for your spiritual life. We should not think too lightly of this ordinance of Christ.

Two, take extraordinary care in the way you participate in the Supper with particular attention to discerning the body (11:29). The church is one body where unity, peace, and equality should excel like nowhere else. It should matter greatly how we deal with one another and that we do nothing to separate or divide the church. Practice peacemaking when necessary.

Three, examine your heart for any exclusivist prejudices that rear their ugly heads in the form of racist feelings, sexist feelings, classist feelings, cliquish feelings, or insensitive, dismissive-of-others feelings that negate the true meaning of the Supper and despise the church of Jesus Christ where all stand equal as fellow heirs of the grace of life.

If you find such ugliness in your heart, admit it to Jesus and believe the gospel again for grace and forgiveness. Then come eat and drink at the Lord’s Table with a heart’s prayer to so thoroughly delight in the sacrifice of Christ on the cross for you that it elevates you to a still more excellent way, the way of love (1 Cor. 13), and the grace of “waiting,” no matter how different a class the object of your love.

HE WHO HAS AN EAR, LET HIM HEAR

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Four Practical Applications for Overcoming Lovelessness

My recent posts focused on Christ’s letter to the church at Ephesus in Revelation 2:1-7.

“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands. 2 “‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. 3 I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary. 4 But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. 5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. 6 Yet this you have: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. 7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.’”

Jesus holds his churches accountable for practicing fervent love. We must make every effort to comply with his demands to that end. We need ears to hear his complaint against lovelessness. Embrace his remedy for lovelessness. Heed his warning about lovelessness. What will it look like if we have ears to hear what the Spirit says and overcome with conquering love? Here are some ideas for application.

Audit Your Love

What better, more obvious way to be a doer of the word and no hearer only from this text, than to continually audit yourself individually and your church corporately about how loving you are. If we don’t do this, we run the risk of hearing Jesus say, I have this against you. Please take this seriously. Regularly subject yourself to the blazing light of the attributes of love in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 and remember and repent accordingly.

Study Biblical Love

Alexander Strauch’s little book Love or Die: Christ’s Wake Up Call to the Church (Lewis & Roth, 2008) is a profitable resource to this end. He points to nearly 1,000 references to love in one form or another in God’s word. Do you want to pursue love more diligently? Then you must read and study what God says about love in his word. Strauch’s appendix B contains 50 Key Texts on Love. That will get you started. Prefer learning by listening? Consider streaming John Piper’s sermon series (15 messages) entitled The Greatest of These Is Love.

Pray for Love

If Jesus reported on an audit of your church, would it include a commendation like this? I know your works how you earnestly pray for one another—especially that you grow in love and even overflow in love? Let’s take our cue from Paul in 1 Thessalonians 3:12. May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you. The Thessalonian church was a prime example of first love according to 1 Thessalonians 4:9-10:

“Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more.”

Practice Genuine Love

First John 3:16 says this: Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. Here’s my challenge. Conduct a self-audit in Romans 12:9-21 soon, and ask the Lord to focus you on just one tangible love practice in which you want to grow. Choose from among honoring, praying, giving, serving, showing hospitality, blessing, rejoicing, weeping, peacemaking, associating with the lowly, and more. You can do this! The Holy Spirit will help you (Gal. 5:22). 

There is evidence in the writings of the church fathers of the 2nd century that the Ephesian church did repent. A letter by Ignatius to the church praised them as “characterized by faith in and love of Christ”—their pastor “a man of inexpressible love.” 

May we too have ears to hear what Jesus says about the serious sin of lovelessness. To the one who conquers he will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.

I WILL COME & REMOVE YOUR LAMPSTAND

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What Jesus Threatens If a Church Persists in Seriousness Lovelessness

I can only imagine one thing worse than my church getting a letter from Jesus containing his personal complaint about our fellowship–the consequences should we fail to comply with his demands. Both happened to the church of Ephesus back in the 1st century. The text is recorded for us in Revelation 2:1-7.

“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands. 2 “‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. 3 I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary. 4 But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. 5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. 6 Yet this you have: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. 7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.’”

In my first post in this series, The Serious Sin of Lovelessness, I introduced the letter with its complaint. In the second post, I Have This Against You, I unpacked the grievous complaint about their lovelessness. In this post, I want to consider Jesus’s prescription for change and consequences for failure.

A Continuous Remedy (v. 5a)

Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first.

Note the two-pronged cure for lovelessness which Jesus prescribes: remember and repent. Remember is a present tense command. It conveys a continual calling to mind the fervent culture of love they enjoyed in the past. Apparently at one time these people practiced a Romans 12:10-like brotherly affection outdoing one another in showing honor. They knew some good old days of Philippians 1:9-like love abounding more and more with knowledge and discernment. A good memory can be a good thing in the Christian life.

But somewhere along the way something broke. They fell. They abandoned the fierce love they had practiced earlier. And so, he commands them to repent. That’s a different verb tense suggesting a decisive, immediate break with present actions in favor of an altogether different direction—do the works you did at first. And work it is. Love is labor and toil in all kinds of forms. Martin Luther said our life is to be a constant and ceaseless repentance. Nowhere is that more important—think 1 Corinthians 13—than in the practice of love. To lack it makes us nothing. 

An Ominous Warning (v. 5b)

What happens if we fail to conquer (v. 7), by his grace, in the matter of ongoing fervent love as a church? If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. Jesus was dead serious, literally, with this church over its sin of lovelessness. Don’t be deceived. If we excel in championing doctrinal purity only to suffer a loss of ever-increasing love for one another, we face utterly devastating consequences. A failing grade in love invites Jesus’s sternest of judgments. I will come and remove your lampstand. Scholar D. A Carson explains:

“The removal of the lampstand from its place can signify nothing less than the end of Christ’s recognition of the church as a church of his. It will become as devoid of Christ as the temple of Jerusalem became empty of God prior to its destruction. So grave is the sin of lovelessness in a Christian church.”

An ominous warning indeed. May God spare us such a terrifying judgment.

In my final post in this series, I will offer four practical applications from the letter to help our churches thrive in love which keeps the lampstand burning brightly.

I HAVE THIS AGAINST YOU

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Jesus Takes Personal Offense to Lovelessness in the Church

You’ve been served.

Have you ever heard those words spoken to you? I have, thankfully only once. Years ago, I caused a car accident involving two other vehicles on one of our busy Orlando highways. Fortunately, no one was seriously hurt–or so I thought. Months later the doorbell rang one morning. Upon answering, I was handed a manila envelope giving me notice of a lawsuit against me for $100K in damages resulting from that wreck. Weeks later my insurance company settled for considerably less than that amount. But it’s hard to describe the sinking feeling which comes with hearing someone say, “You’ve been served.”

Imagine something quite similar happening to you and your church, only the One serving the papers is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. The first-century Ephesian church experienced that very thing in Revelation 2:1-7.

“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands. 2 “‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. 3 I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary. 4 But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. 5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. 6 Yet this you have: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. 7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.’”

The Main Idea

In my last post, The Serious Sin of Lovelessness, I summarized the thrust of the letter this way:

Because Jesus holds us accountable for practicing fervent love, we should make every effort to comply with his demands to that end.

There are three things in the text related to this accountability: from Jesus there is a grievous complaint, there is a continuous remedy, and there is an ominous warning. In this post I want to address the nature of the lawsuit.

Jesus’s Grievous Complaint

But I have this against you.

Before dealing with the charge, notice the context of this blistering accusation. It’s signaled by the strong contrast “but” at the start of v. 4. The previous two verses could hardly be different in tone and content:

“‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary.”

The High Priestly audit does not overlook the good. Toil. Perseverance. Hatred of evil. Calling out false teachers. Suffering for the name. Yet more commendation comes in v. 6. Yet this you have: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. That’s probably a reference to libertinism—cheap grace—do what you want because it’s all forgiven anyway. Upshot? They hated false doctrine and ungodliness just as Jesus does, and he credited them for it. High praise indeed. Well done, good and faithful servants.

All well and good, but … back to v. 4. I have this against you. That’s highly personal language. Jesus takes personally this flagrant flaw among this otherwise first-rate church of his: you have abandoned the love you had at first. I suspect most are more familiar with a different translation: you have left your first love. The original literally reads: you have abandoned the love of you the first. The word “first” comes at the end of the sentence for emphasis. Either approach has merit. But I lean with the ESV in light of the word “fallen” in v. 5. We’re talking serious failure here.

My principal objection to the idea of abandoning their first love, Jesus, is that the praises heaped upon them don’t seem worthy of a lack of love for Christ in the midst of such a wicked culture. They strike me as far too strong. Unless of course a lack of love among one another in the assembly amounts to a lack of ultimate love for Christ. In truth, the two are never far apart, as in 1 John 4:7-8: “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.”

Professor Dennis Johnson of Westminster West Seminary hit the target here in a Table Talk article for Ligonier Ministries:

“Keeping a firm grip on both poles — truth and love — is a constant challenge for redeemed sinners who swing like pendulums from one extreme to another. Too often, churches and their leaders either stand for biblical truth vigorously but lovelessly or else they preserve apparent unity and love at the expense of truth. Of course, when the truth of the gospel truly grasps our hearts, love for others must result; and, by the same token, the love that delights Jesus grows only in the rich soil of fidelity to God’s truth.”

Jesus holds us accountable for practicing fervent love. We should make every effort to comply with his demands to that end. This is a grievous complaint. A loss of love is no minor defect. No amount of religious orthodoxy and doctrinal fidelity can make up for lovelessness. How should we respond?

Audit Your Love

What better, more obvious way to be a doer of the word and no hearer only from this text, than to continually audit yourself individually and your church corporately about how loving you are. If we don’t do this, we run the risk of hearing Jesus say, I have this against you. Please take this seriously. Regularly subject yourself particularly to the blazing light of the attributes of love in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 and take stock accordingly of any hurtful way within you (Psalm 139:24).

Self-auditing must precede embracing Jesus’s remedy in the text–the subject of my next post.

Why Family Night Matters To Me

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This Sunday evening, June 14, at 5 PM, OGC will have its second Family Night Member’s Meeting. I wouldn’t dream of missing it. And not just because I’m one of the shepherds of the flock. I’m pretty certain I would make this a priority, if I were a “mere” regular sheep of the fold.

Why? Because I made promises before God and His church about being in covenant community with the rest of the membership at OGC. And that means commitments of love spelled out in a place like 1 Corinthians 13.

I love how Jonathan Leeman, in his book The Surprising Offense of God’s Love, grabs back the pretty lyrics of that passage from weddings (not that it doesn’t fit there, of course) and reads it to the local church:

Do you want to exercise, practice, embody, and define the glorious love of heaven, he asks us? Then do it in a local church, a church where factions are pitted against one another (1 Cor. 1:12-13), where people have big heads (4:8), where Surprising Offensemembers are sleeping with their fathers’ wives (5:2), where members are suing and defrauding one another (6:1-8), where members are getting drunk on the communion wine and not leaving enough for others (11:21-22), where spiritual gift one-upmanship is rife (chaps. 12 and 14), where the meetings are threatened by disorder (14:40), and where some are saying there is no resurrection from the dead (15:12). Bind and submit yourself and your gifts to these kinds of people. Love them with patience and kindness, without envy or boasting, without arrogance or rudeness, not insisting on our own way, not irritably or resentfully, not rejoicing at wrongdoing but rejoicing at the truth. 

People often complain about the sinners they find in the local church, and with good reason. It’s filled with sinners, which is why Paul calls Christians to love one another by bearing all things, believing all things, hoping all things, enduring all things. If you won’t love such backstabbers and defrauders like this, don’t talk about your spiritual gifts, your vast biblical knowledge, or all the things you do for the poor. You’re just a noisy gong. Don’t talk about your love for all Christians everywhere; you are just a clanging cymbal. But if you do practice loving a specific, concrete people, all of whose names you don’t get to choose, then you will participate in defining love for the world, the love which will characterize the church on the last day perfectly because it images the self-sacrificing and merciful love of Christ perfectly.”   

Family Night gives us one of the many ways to grow in love for those with whom He has called us into covenant commitments of membership. Here we learn to grow in that which is greatest and put the glorious gospel of the Lord Jesus on display.

 

 

Ride or Shove

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I read this today from Oswald Chamber’s Baffled to Fight Better: Job and the Problem of Suffering:

The majority of us prefer to get up and ride rather than to “get out and shove.” It is only the people who “get out and shove” who really make things go. The men who are up against things just now and who are determined to get at reality at all costs, and will not accept a thing on the religious line unless that line states reality–these are the men who are paying the price for the next generation.

Tomorrow at 9:30 AM in the auditorium, the covenant members of OGC get to do Q&A with a man prepared “to get out and shove” as a new elder in our church. I am extremely thankful to God for raising up James Harvey to join our team. Here are twenty questions I hope our people will pose to him (or at least some of them):

  1. Why do you aspire to the office of overseer in Christ’s church?
  2. Where have you served in the past and how did God confirm your ministry in those contexts?
  3. What are your spiritual gifts?
  4. When the Bible says that elders must be “able to teach,” what does that look like in terms of the way you do ministry?
  5. How do you assess your personal strengths?
  6. How do you assess your personal weaknesses?
  7. What does your family think of you becoming an elder, especially your wife?
  8. What are the four “Gs” of biblical peacemaking? Note: he’d better know these!
  9. How is your reputation with those outside the Christian community, particularly in your vocation?
  10. What exceptions, if any, do you take to our confession of faith and why?
  11. Where would you like to see OGC grow and improve in its ministry in the future?
  12. What, if anything, gives you pause about becoming an elder?
  13. Just how “Reformed” are you?
  14. What do you believe are among the greatest threats to the church in our times?
  15. Who are your personal heroes?
  16. What two or three books other than the Bible have made the greatest impact on you and why?
  17. Why did you think God wanted you and your family at OGC in the first place?
  18. How do you do personal evangelism?
  19. How are you involved in disciple-making?
  20. What unique contribution might you make to the leadership team at OGC?

I can hardly think of a more important task for covenant members to embrace than the constructive scrutinizing of a potential addition to the elder team. He will pay the price for the next generation. I trust as many of you as possible will join us for the congregational meeting tomorrow. Non-members are welcome to observe, but again, we would ask that you leave the question asking to our covenant members only. See you soon, Lord willing!

Top Ten List for Teaching a New Member Class

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membership class

Not sure how many times I’ve taught Discover OGC over the years, but I get to do it again starting April 26. My excitement for the task never lessens. Here’s my own version of a top ten list as to why I look forward to teaching the same stuff every time.

Number Ten: I know the content cold so there’s no additional preparation I have to do!

Number Nine: I get to meet a bunch of people who are new to the church and begin to forge pastoral relationships with them. One of the highlights of the class, a recent innovation, is a luncheon one Sunday after church where we hang out and get to know each other.

Number Eight: I get to practice my vision casting as a pastor. This is a perennial weakness for which I need all the help I can get.

Number Seven: I make a case for why church membership matters. I’ve blogged about a theology of church membership here, in case anyone is interested.

Number Six: I unpack our church’s core values starting with the one that matters the most in my mind–passion for God at the core. I exist as a pastor to labor for my sheep’s joy (2 Cor. 1:24)!

Number Five: I expose people to the rich tradition of the Protestant Reformation and the God-glorifying Solas and Doctrines of Grace that it gifted to Christ’s church.

Number Four: I argue for the necessity of the baptism of disciples alone (credo-baptism) as the only appropriate application of the sign of the New Covenant.

Number Three: I teach biblical peacemaking to prospective new members so they are prepared to eagerly preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Eph. 4:3), if they choose to covenant with OGC, or not for that matter.

Number Two: I exegete each and every word of our treasured mission statement: engaging peoples everywhere for pursuing ultimate satisfaction in Jesus.

And the number one reason I delight to teach Discover OGC each and every time?

IT’S A BLAST!

CT Highlights for April 2015

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CT April 2015

CT stands for Christianity Today magazine. I try to read it cover-to-cover each month. Though my views bend more toward the conservative end of the spectrum than its editors, I find it keeps me in touch with the state of the faith in many ways. Seems to me a pastor should make it his business to stay informed this way to some degree. For that, I am grateful for the publicati0n.

Here at the ten most interesting things to come out of the current edition, at least from my perspective.

  1. Kevin DeYoung has written a new book published by Crossway—What Does the Bible Really Teach About Homosexuality (p. 1). I suspect this resource will help a lot of us better navigate the cultural waters of this challenging issue from a biblical perspective.isis
  2. The Bible Society of Egypt transformed the ISS propaganda video’s “two rows by the seas” (beheading of 21 Coptic Christians) into its largest outreach in 130 years. In 1.65 million tracts on God’s promise of blessing amid suffering, it asked: “Who fears the other? The row in orange, watching paradise open? Or the row in black, with minds evil and broken”, (p. 15)?
  3. Last year, 2.6 million Twitter users shared Bible verses 43 million times. The number one tweeter (including retweets)? Desiring God’s John Piper–105,836. The number one verse tweeted? Philippians 4:13 (p. 16).lecrae
  4. Christian hip-hop artist Lecrae won four top spots in gospel categories last year, including No. 1 gospel artist of the year (p. 17).
  5. When five Christian pastors in Laos prayed for a sick woman who later died, a Laotian provincial court imprisoned and fined them for being “illegal doctors” (p. 17).
  6. Nearly one year after Jews for Jesus launched one of its most successful and controversial evangelism campaigns, more than 1.3 milli0n people worldwide have watched That Jew Died for You. The three-minute YouTube video depicts Jesus carrying the cross to a gas chamber (p. 19).
  7. Today, an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 Ukrainian Jews worship Jesus as Messiah. This makes Ukraine, a nation of 45 million, the region’s fulcrum of the Messianic Jewish movement (p. 20). (By comparison, Ukraine has about 1.7 million evangelical Christians and more than 23 million Orthodox Christians, who constitute about half the country’s population.)
  8. A new breed of apologists defend the faith now and they are female (see image above). CT calls them “the unexpected defenders.” I was familiar with Nancy Pearcey, but not Holly Ordway, Mary Jo Sharp, Kristen Davis, Melissa Cain Travis, and Amy Orr Ewing. Empathetic AND rationalistic apologetics. Excellent! Ladies, check it out (p. 35ff).
  9. In England, 38 percent of youth now say they don’t believe in God (p. 46).
  10. Up to 1 in 3 Swedes claim atheism, and only 18 percent say ‘I believe there is a God’ (p. 65).

My gift to those who may not have the bandwidth or inclination to read CT but can still profit from the highlights.

No Comparison, No Way, No How

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I enjoy Fridays. Unlike a lot of pastors who take Mondays off, I work that day. Keeps me out of trouble. I started taking Fridays off years ago.  I never looked back.

One of the things I look forward to that day of the week, among others, is reading the paper with more leisure than the other days afford. Something dawned on me this past Friday as I perused the Calendar section of the Orlando Sentinel. I have no sense of loss that my delight in Jesus keeps me from certain pleasures, if you want to call them that, in this world. I don’t feel that I am missing a thing in choosing not to view “Fifty Shades of Grey,” though I must admit a day when I would not have thought that way. Thank you, Lord, for delivering me from bondage to lust. I don’t feel cheated that the club scene doesn’t make its way on to our weekend calendar, especially on Saturday nights.

Why is that? Because I want to be able to get up and go to church the next day. And that’s not just because church is what I do for a living. I have spent more Sundays that I would like to admit without a pulpit charge and I still went to church on those days. I agree wholeheartedly with the Psalmist in Psalm 84:10.

For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.

Talk about a comparison! The poet of Israel wouldn’t trade one day in God’s courts for a thousand some place else. I can think of a lot of places and things I thoroughly enjoy, but nothing, no way, no how trumps the pleasure I have in Sunday worship.  I can think of several reasons why that is true even over sleeping in, watching TV, going to the beach, eating brunch out, or whatever.

First, and the best of all reasons, God shows up at church. At least He does for me. Psalm 63:2 happens for me all the time.

Second, I hear the word of God preached. Well, in my case, I get to do the preaching. Double bonus. I get built up in my most holy faith as a result (Acts 20:32).

Third, I get to hang out with saints. That’s what the Bible calls every believer. And they are the excellent ones in whom is all my delight (Psalm 16:3). I even get to eat with them tomorrow evening when we gather for family night!

I could go on. I wonder sometimes if we take for granted just how much the Lord has done for us in redeeming us from tents of wickedness and transporting us to His very own courts, even if we are only keepers at the door?

No comparison. No way. No how.

The Flourishing Life

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It was a delight to climb back into the pulpit at OGC this morning after our sabbatical. To get to preach again, particularly on a passage in Psalm 92 that so thoroughly expresses my desires for this next season in my life and ministry, gave me great pleasure. If you care to, you can access the audio here.

I blew through the the eight takeaways at the conclusion of the message. Someone in the body asked me for them. Decided it would make for an easy blog post. Here they are:

  1. One, offer praise to God as the tenor of your life.
  2. Two, gather with God’s people on the “Sabbath” and more. Be a fixture in God’s church. No fellowshipping, no flourishing. Be a churchman and churchwoman.
  3. Three, reject the lie of our materialistic culture and its flourishing-only-for-a-brief-while ways and invest in life-long flourishing commitments that will serve you well to the end of your days.
  4. Four, beware the American retirement dream in terms of having earned endless days in front of the TV or on the golf course. Have a robust theology of leisure to be sure but believe in “rehirement” not retirement. My thanks to David Sims for that play on words.
  5. Five, treasure a church body with multiple generations not just a bunch of folks your own age.
  6. Six, if you are young, badger some old saint until they own you in a mentoring, discipling kind of way. If you are old like me, give yourself away. Invest in the next generation. Declare that he is your Rock to all who come.
  7. Seven, speak up and announce the praise of God when given the chance. Regularly testify to His faithfulness.
  8. Eight, pray this text for me and the rest of our elders as long as you are a part of OGC. I beg of you.