Why Boast? jeremiah NINE 23-twentyfour

Apple - the new pro life argument?

2011-10-07T12:07:00.000-07:00

This week, the world lost a genius - Steve Jobs. If you follow twitter or have facebook, no doubt you saw countless updates and tweets about the unbelievable impact this man had on the modern world.

And then I noticed a new trend with my Christian friends. I began to see status updates about how Steve Jobs was adopted and a few statements about the circumstances into which he was born. These statements were tied into a "Imagine if Steve Jobs had been aborted. What would this world have missed out on" sort of claim.

Now, before I go on, allow me to say for the record that anyone that knows me knows that I am about as Pro-Life as they come.

But I began to wonder...after that I wrote a quick status update about it...and then I thought I'd write a few thoughts.

What if someone HAD in fact been allowed to abort Steve Jobs? How much would your life had changed? I don't doubt that Jobs had a major impact on our current world - just think of the ipod, iphone, and ipad for starters.

However, think for a moment, on how illogical this reasoning is. How could anyone make a decision on whether or not to abort someone based on their life's accomplishments? If that were the case you would consider letting the 'Steve Jobs' of the world live while possibly aborting the "Adolph Hitlers".

But there is a more important point. Abortion is not wrong based on whether or not someone will invent the macbook. Ones contributions in life, and more to the point, ones quality of life, cannot be the basis for whether or not someone has a right to be born. If that WERE the case, wouldn't the opposite be true? That IS in fact where the discussion is heading.

It's a good thing Steve Jobs was allowed to be born but not because, as a result, you can now get 3g service just about anywhere in the world. It's a good thing he was born because it was a moral good....because he was human.

People are created in the image of God - that is enough by itself. The quadriplegic in the wheelchair is as precious to God as Jobs or Edison.

Leadership & the oft-mishandled 'feedback'

2011-09-23T05:29:00.000-07:00

I teach a course on leadership here at Liberty and one of the textbooks is called The Truth About Managing People. Suffice it to say - it's a great read. Chapters are very abbreviated which makes me feel very accomplished when I can say "I just read 5 chapters of Robbins" (aka 10 pages).

Let's just say, I could write all day about almost everything in this book but one chapter presented itself as particularly profound. It's about giving feedback as a leader.

The primary idea behind the brief statement on the topic is that, as leaders, we should be criticizing behavior, not people. Now, while this seems so intuitive, I would ask you to think about how often you are tempted to criticize someone personally when their performance doesn't measure up.

There are two primary ideas behind this:

1. As leaders, we need to avoid making personal what is not actually personal. This will help us not feel attacked, should lessen the chance of an anger provocation, and generally prevent the paranoia that some leaders feel.
2. When we address someone with a general statement such as "you have a bad attitude", we have been too vague, not giving enough specific information to help a willing staff member make the change.

The same holds true for compliments, by the way. Saying "You did a great job" is something everybody wants to hear. However, if part of the aim of the compliment is to see that kind of performance repeated, we need to be specific about what we think is so great.

Lastly, there is a final point in the "chapter" that I love so much that it must be quoted verbatim.

"If [the behavior is] negative, make sure the behavior is controllable by the recipient. There's little constructive value in reminding a person of some shortcoming over which he has no control."

I think we all know how it feels to bear the guilt of something gone wrong that we literally could not prevent. When we do this to people who we are managing, it puts them in a negative situation in which there really is possible way to correct it. This will frustrate anyone on your team who desperately wants tasks to be done right.

Our job as leaders is to accomplish a task and in order to do that we need to empower and equip those who work on our teams. Be careful not to (overtly or even subtly) make someone feel guilty over situations that are unavoidable. Otherwise, you will cripple them in the area of self-confidence and make them completely dependent on you for every single decision - something that no good leader wants.

Catching Up....

2011-08-27T13:33:00.000-07:00

So, it appears that (like many who aspired to blog) mine has fallen quite a bit behind.

I think I'll pick it back up again. Here's a quick rundown of what has happened since my last entry:

1. We did indeed move to Lynchburg in Dec. '09 (renting).
2. We bought a house in Forest last April.
3. We found out we were expecting number 4 but then lost that baby to a miscarriage last fall.
4. We are expecting again - due date is mid December - that will be 4 and no more. :-)
5. I started at LU as a 'faculty support coordinator' for LU online.
6. Last August I moved over to the residential school of religion to be the assistant dean.
7. Last spring I got to teach my first courses at Liberty (a big moment for me).
8. This summer, the University officially made me a faculty member (in addition to being the assistant dean).
9. We are currently underway with the fall semester.
10. I am currently preparing for my doctorate program (although not much preparing is really happening at the moment). I'm planning to get a Doctorate of Education at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
11. Life is good....God is great....I love my wife and kids.

So what have I learned in the last year and a half? It really doesn't matter where you are or what you are doing....you can be miserable or you can be content, you can be faithful or you can wallow in unfaithfulness. You can be selfish or you can see God's glory in all things. What really matters - more than anything else really - is that I am worshiping God....that He is on the throne of my heart; not self. When that is the case, I know what He wants me to do each and every situation....in big decisions and in small ones. When I replace worship of God with the idol of self, I am doomed. No amount of education, ministry experience, or being fluent in Christianese will save me when I am the god of my own life.

When you live for God's glory - it is the ultimate satisfaction because it is the purpose for which you were created.

When you live for your own glory - it is an adventure without a destination - it is drinking from a cup that has no bottom....there is no satisfaction.

Cartwright Family - BIG NEWS

2009-11-18T07:01:00.000-08:00

I want to let you all know about some big news for our family, news of which many of you are already aware.

We are moving (December 18th) to Lynchburg, VA. I am taking an administrative job at Liberty University primarily to pursue further education (PhD).

Though this news may seem sudden, the decision is really a culmination of several years of thought & prayer. Over the past three years (as a few dear folks can affirm), I have been struggling over whether or not my current role is the best long term fit for who God has made me to be. Despite my thorough enjoyment in my current ministry, I have felt a stirring in my own heart to ask big questions.

To make a long story short, I have settled in my own heart the desire to be a teacher full time which is something for which I have a great passion. Once this awareness was settled in my heart, I knew of the inevitability of stepping back into the universe of higher education to pursue my doctorate...then it was a matter of 'when?'.

Well, 'when?', is now. God has opened an undeniable opportunity for me and my family to relocate and to pursue what we believe to be God's calling.

I have had few moments of absolute clarity in my life...I can literally count those moments on one hand. (Thankfully, marrying my beauty of a wife is one of them!) We are in a very bitter/sweet time right now; sweet, because we are confident that this is the Lord's leading; bitter, because we truly LOVE the people we have been so privileged to work and minister with for these 6+ years. I can say that our decision has been met only with loving support from the Word of Life community and my prayer is that ours is a relationship that can continue for many years.

Some ask "why?". Some ask "why now?". I can only answer those questions with the only reason that any child of God should doing anything as crazy as this "Because it is what God wants us to do." It really is as simple as that!

Please pray for us...there is MUCH to be done. The next month (!!!) will be filled with the primary tasks of packing and working hard to ensure as smooth as a transition as possible.

With Sincere Love,

John & Kristen (and family: Olivia, Chase, Ethan and Bear)

Christ, my example in resisting temptation ~ Part 3 & Conclusion

2009-05-04T09:19:00.001-07:00

Temptation #3 Serve God or Self? Matthew 4:8-10

“8 Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory; 9 and he said to Him, “All these things I will give You, if You fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Go, Satan! For it is written, ‘YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND SERVE HIM ONLY.’” 11 Then the devil left Him; and behold, angels came and began to minister to Him.”

A. Satan’s offer: “I will give you the world if you worship me.”

-The Word of God itself describes Satan as the ruler of this world (Jn. 12:31) as well as the god of this world (2 Cor. 4:4).
-We also know that there will be a time, where this is no longer the case. We know from Matt. 28:18, that Christ then declares that all authority has now been given to him in Heaven and earth.

“And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.”

-Hebrews 2:10 makes a similar statement as does Colossians about all things existing because of and through Christ.
-Part of God’s future plans is the redemption of ALL of His creation.
-The appeal (and again there had to be an appeal for this to be a temptation) may very well have been for Christ to see His own creation and desire to wrest it back from Satan’s hands apart from the timing of the will of the Father.
-Christ does not, however, even make a direct reference to Satan’s offer here, but quotes once again, Deuteronomy.

B. Christ’s response: Christ quoted Deut. 6:13,14
-Rather than address the offer, Christ addresses the condition of the offer “prostrate yourself in obeisance and worship me….acknowledge me as your superior.”
-It is worth reading Moses’ address in context Deut. 6:4-14.
“4 “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! 5 “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 “These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. 7 “You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. 8 “You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. 9 “You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

10 “Then it shall come about when the LORD your God brings you into the land which He swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you, great and splendid cities which you did not build, 11 and houses full of all good things which you did not fill, and hewn cisterns which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant, and you eat and are satisfied, 12 then watch yourself, that you do not forget the LORD who brought you from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 13 “You shall fear only the LORD your God; and you shall worship Him and swear by His name. 14 “You shall not follow other gods, any of the gods of the peoples who surround you, 15 for the LORD your God in the midst of you is a jealous God; otherwise the anger of the LORD your God will be kindled against you, and He will wipe you off the face of the earth.”

-Moses challenged the people with this thought: “Because it is the One true God that has done all of this for you, you should not forget Him, but should worship/reverence only Him. You shouldn’t worship other gods simply because only YaHWeH is responsible for all that has been done for you. To worship other gods not only is to do so at your own peril, but moronic!”
-Satan offered Christ the created world and its authority under the condition that he would worship him as god (little g).
-For what reason would Christ worship Him? If he had, it would have been simply to chase after the pleasure of his own eyes….seeing the world.
-However, Christ quotes Moses that He would worship the only one who could deliver on that promise of that authority!
-Christ did not give into this temptation, but instead, If you read Philippians 2,
“…emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
-Once again, Christ succeeded where Israel failed. Where Israel failed to worship/reverence the one true God who had been their provider and deliverer, they pursued idols, idols that couldn’t hear, see, or speak, Christ succeeded by declaring that only God could deliver on such a promise and then by His obedience that follows that kind of faith.

C. Practical Implications For Our Life
-The things of this world can appeal to a lust of the eyes,
-When we submit to those desires, we submit to other gods, or idols
-But idols never deliver what they promise.
-Where we intend for idols to serve our selfish desires, we end up serving them.

Conclusion: 2 questions:

A. In what ways has Christ been the ultimate example to follow in how we should respond to temptation?

1. He did not submit to the lust of the flesh in commanding the stones to become bread. Rather than follow His own design to meet his needs, He depended on the Will and the Word of God. This is an example that we can follow…

2. He did not submit to the pride of life in putting God to a test in ways in which He has already demonstrated His goodness. Rather than test God, He obeyed Scripture that states not to needlessly contend with God since He already Had God’s promise and His track record. This too is an example that we can follow…

3. He did not submit to the lust of the eyes in worshipping Satan in exchange for His own creation. Rather than give into that desire, He chose to serve only His Father who already had a plan for Christ’s creation to be restored to Him.
This too is an example that we can follow.

B. Here is the 2nd and more pressing question, since we have this example to follow, why do we fail?

Simply put, because instead of being like Christ, we are a lot more like Israel.

1. Lust of the flesh: Like Israel, we constantly choose our own will rather than God’s when it comes to satisfying our desires.
2. Pride of Life: Like Israel, we contend with God, putting Him to an unnecessary test (Is the Lord God or not?) when He has already given us His promises and His track record in His Word where He has proven Himself.
3. Lust of the eyes: Like Israel, we follow after gods (little g) for selfish reasons rather than serve the one true God. We forget what Scriptures tells us that these idols (really The idol of self) cannot deliver on what they promise…only God can.

• Do you see the theme? Christ, as a perfect example, combated every temptation with Scripture. But it was not just a quote in passing, as if to teach us that when temptation comes, it’s just a matter of pulling out our Scripture memory packs.
• Christ’s success in temptation began where Israel failed. He believed in the truth of God’s word. This belief ALWAYS led to obedience for Christ.
• Christ always chose to obey the clear Word of God, Israel rejected the Word of God. Is it really that simple….YES
• Christ desires that we be like Him, rather than Israel, in the wilderness.

Temptations of Christ - Part 2 Test God or Trust God?

2009-04-23T13:27:00.000-07:00

II. Trust God Or Test God? Pride of life vv. 5-7

“ 5 Then the devil took Him into the holy city and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple,
6 and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written,
‘HE WILL COMMAND HIS ANGELS CONCERNING YOU’;
and
‘ON their HANDS THEY WILL BEAR YOU UP,
SO THAT YOU WILL NOT STRIKE YOUR FOOT AGAINST A STONE.’”

7 Jesus said to him, “On the other hand, it is written, ‘YOU SHALL NOT PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST.’”

A. Satan’s offer: “prove your Divinity through authority over the angels”

The place where Jesus went with Satan was more than likely a spot on the roof of the temple on the corner that descended down into the Kidron valley. According to the Historian, Josephus, you could not see the bottom of the ravine from this part of the temple roof.
Satan challenges Jesus to jump and quotes Ps. 91:11,12.

11 For He will give His angels charge concerning you,
To guard you in all your ways.

12 They will bear you up in their hands,
That you do not strike your foot against a stone.

It is interesting to note that Satan is now using Scripture as well, but like in the garden of Eden, he twists God’s word.
The entire chapter of Ps. 91 is about the Sovereign protection of God for the one who trusts God. Satan’s twist of this passage is to apply it not to one who trusts God, but to one who tests God.
Satan omits a key phrase in v. 11 ‘to guard you in all your ways’ and without it, one can easily lose the intended meaning – God will protect you as you walk in His appointed ways.
The appeal to Christ, (and there, once again, had to be an appeal or this would not be a temptation) was likely one of pride knowing that He could (as He mentioned at His arrest in the garden) at any moment call on the protection of a multitude of His own created angels. Potentially, this could feed the pride of having that kind of authority.

B. Christ’s response: Christ quoted Deut. 6:16

Deut. 6 is another speech of Moses to Israel along the lines of total commitment to the Lord.
In verse 16 (where Christ’s quote comes from), Moses commands the people to not test the Lord as they did in Massah.
This is a reference to Ex. 17:1-7, where the people of Israel (1^st generation wanderers, not those Moses is addressing) were complaining about a lack of water.
Read Ex. 17:1-7 Massah = ‘testing’; Meribah ‘contending’. Essentially, the challenge or test from these people can be summed up with the end of verse 7 “Is the Lord among us, or not?”…essentially…Hey God, time to put up or shut up!
God met their need, but not because they asked Him to. Rather than trust the hand of God…the hand that had just delivered them from

1. Egypt via the miracles of the 10 plagues,

2. then delivered them again via the miracle of the Red Sea parting,

3. then delivered them again by miraculously making bitter water sweet,

4. then delivered them again by providing Manna,

5. and when bread prepared by God Himself was no longer enough and they complained He gave them quail…

rather than trust this God who they were experiencing regularly, they challenged and tested God, by demanding that he prove Himself –AGAIN - even though He already had.
Israel’s sin of rebellion and pride in demanding God to act was not for lack of information…they were eyewitnesses to the power and goodness of God.
Christ, again, succeeded where Israel failed. Rather than needlessly challenging the Father with a test “Is the Lord among us or not.” He obeyed scripture, Moses’ command to the Jews in Deut. 6:16, “You shall not put the Lord to the test as you tested Him at Massah.”
In this way, Christ, not Israel is our example to believe God’s Word rather than to pridefully challenge His role in our lives and test God needlessly since we have His promises.

C. Practical Implications For Our Lives

Watch out for the temptation of pride.
A heart that says “Is God at work in my life or not?” as a way of testing God is a heart that could be giving in to pride in that you are challenging God.
Instead, obey where Israel failed – remember the goodness of God and that He has never failed, and is not about to start with you. Bring gratitude into the picture and humility will follow when you remember the goodness of God – the promise He has already given, and a track record He has already proven!

The Temptations of Christ - Part 1

2009-04-19T19:10:00.000-07:00

Today, I spoke on Christ, my example in responding to temptation. That podcast will be up soon, but in the meantime, I decided to post some of my thoughts from that sermon. Appropriately, it will be a 3 part blog looking at each temptation from the standpoint of:

1. Satan's 'Offer'
2. Christ's Response
3. Practical Implications for followers of Christ

Temptation #1 "My will or God's Will?" Matthew 4:1-4

“And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry. And the tempter came and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.’”

A. Satan’s offer : “prove your Divinity by making bread out of stones”

1. Satan appeals to Christ’s most obvious physical need. (We know of Satan’s craftiness and his method of appealing to us ways where we may be susceptible).
2. “If” can be rightly summed up as “Since”: Satan was not refuting Christ’s position as God’s Son as he was attempting to lure Christ into using His Divine attributes apart from the will of the Father. “Since you are God, do the miracle!”
3. Almost a dare, Satan appeals to Christ to use a miracle to meet his physical appetite – or more specifically, meet God-given desires apart from God’s plan.

B. Christ’s response: Christ quoted Deut. 8:3

Not only, does Christ not do the miracle to fulfill His desire apart from God’s plan, He responds in a way that we can model.
Christ quotes Deut. 8:3
In order to understand Christ’s purpose in this quote, we’ll need to understand what is happening in Deut. 8:

1. Deuteronomy is essentially a series of speeches given by Moses at the end of his life.

2. These speeches are directed to the 2^nd generation of Wilderness Wandering Israel. With the exception of Joshua and Caleb, the first generation had died off in the wilderness after refusing to enter the Land, the first time around.

3. Moses is about to die and the 2^nd generation is on the verge of taking the land of Canaan under Joshua’s leadership.

4. In some ways, Deuteronomy is a sort of Collective-warning to these people…”if you fail to learn the lessons of the past, you will be doomed to repeat your parents’ failures.”

5. Chapter 8 is a warning against ‘not forgetting the Lord’…or remember the Goodness and Grace of God.

6. In v. 1, Moses states that obedience is the key to living, multiplying, and possessing the land of promise.

“ 1 “All the commandments that I am commanding you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the LORD swore to give to your forefathers.

7. In v. 2, God’s purpose for the wilderness was to humble and test His people and that their response to the test ***would tell him about the true condition of their heart***

2 “You shall remember all the way which the LORD your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.

8. In v. 3 (where Christ quotes) Moses states that God allowed them to experience hunger and then met the need of that hunger in a miraculous way (manna) so they would know that it is not just a manner of being fed, but that God’s Word fed them…the food existed as a decree of God.

3 “He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD.

9. Moses goes on in v 4 to recall the miracle of God’s other provisions (clothing never wore out in 40 years!)

4 “Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years.

Christ’s quote of this passage is so appropriate, not only for His own situation, but also for our own.
In the same way that Israel had to learn that it was God who created them with natural physical desires and needs and it was God who promised to be the one who would meet those needs, Christ was going to choose to allow God, His Father to operate in the same way with Him. Christ would depend more on God’s promises of provision and trust Him to fulfill His WORD, than seek to meet a God-given desire/need in a carnal way.
As we know, Israel failed this test didn’t they? Despite numerous miracles and time after time of God delivering Israel, even when they were not crying out to Him, they regularly sought to meet their own needs according to their own plan, rather than the will of God.
Christ on the other hand, did not succumb to the temptation of the lust of the flesh. He did not seek his own will and way in meeting this desire, but chose to depend and trust in the Word and Will of God.
In this way, Christ, not Israel, is our example in choosing to obediently submit to the Word and Will of God when it comes to the desires of the flesh.

C. Practical Implications For Our Lives

When temptation to fulfill the lust of the flesh comes, it is often Satan’s program of fulfilling God’s desires in our own timing.
At that moment, we can choose, by the grace of God and the power that Christ offers to us, to submit to God’s Word/God’s Will rather than our own desires and appetites.
But too often, we make our flesh ‘god’ as an idol in our lives that we serve, rather than worship the one true God…we often fail where Israel failed (giving into our appetites) rather than succeed where Christ succeeded (choosing to submit to God’s Word/Will)!

The Resurrection Changed History

2009-04-11T16:50:00.000-07:00

Ever wonder what the disciples must have felt like after Christ's death? To an extent, the answer is speculative, but I think it's safe to say that there was a major letdown. Christ's death (despite his own foreshadowing of the event) was not what they expected. Almost certainly, they expected Him to set up an earthly kingdom with them as His 'leadership team'. So, to say that there was a gap between their expectations and what was happening in their experience is quite the understatement.

It is Saturday night, the sun has set and it has been a full 24 hours since Christ's death. What would these followers of Christ be thinking? What would they be doing? No doubt, some of them went back to fishing. What else would they do? What else were they qualified to do? I cannot even begin to imagine the despair and deep grief they must have felt. Perhaps, they felt let down, maybe even disillusioned. This man that they had watched heal the lame, raise the dead, cast out demons, tell storms to stop raging, had Himself been, essentially, been defeated (remember it's Saturday night, not Sunday morning). Imagine the kind of problems this would have created in their mind.

And then, Sunday morning comes. Without spelling out all of the details, some of Christ's followers visit the tomb not expecting a resurrection but to anoint His dead body. It is important to note that they did not expect the empty tomb as evidenced not only by their trip to anoint the body, but also by the disbelief of His followers (especially Thomas) that Christ had indeed been raised once the empty tomb had been discovered.

In that moment, where it was evident by Christ's numerous appearances, there is a shift in human history beginning with Christ's disciples...a change. This change was one from grief to great joy. Of course they were overjoyed that Christ was indeed alive, but there was more to this change. These men went from being despondent, discouraged, disillusioned, to being a committed band of unstoppable proclaimers of the message of the resurrection.

These apostles, with the exception of John, ALL became willing martyrs as they preached this message. Even Paul, experienced a similar (even more drastic) change after meeting the risen Christ. He went from a persecutor of the followers of Christ to a man who was beheaded for preaching the truths for which he persecuted others.

Why the change? Very simply, nothing in history has had more impact on someone's life than the fact of the resurrection. The greatest evidence for the resurrection of Christ is a changed life. The change in Christ's disciples was night and day. From discouraged and defeated to courageous and victorious. Even the prospect of death could not keep these men from proclaiming a truth they were so convinced.

This does indeed address the criticisms levied along the lines of the resurrection being a myth concocted by Christ's followers. Many will die for a lie of which they are ignorant, but who would die for a lie of their own creation? It is an implausible idea at best.

It is Saturday night in 2009 and a changed life is still the greatest evidence for a risen Christ.

The question is this - What kind of change has God done in your life?
If your life was to be an evidence of the resurrection, would it stand up to the change test?

Christ is indeed risen...it is the most history-altering life-changing event...has it changed you?

The essentiality of the resurrection

2009-04-08T11:23:00.000-07:00

I love Easter. No, I do not mean that I love chocolate, and peeps...ok, I do, but that is not my point here. Let me say it this way, I love the resurrection. To be even more direct, I love the Gospel.

In a day where the absolute nature of truth and God's Word is constantly under attack, many question the validity of the claims of Scripture. Unfortunately, in an effort to appease the masses, even "believers" are often tempted to question the importance of standing for these bedrock doctrinal positions. The thought can be "Not being so absolute about these claims will make us less controversial. Once we remove the controversies over Scripture, we will be more relevant to meet peoples real needs." And therein lies the problem. The Gospel story cannot be something that is brushed aside in order to meet the real need. The Gospel story addresses man's lostness, which IS the real need. (For the record, I am in favor of humanitarian efforts that meet the felt needs, but not as a replacement of the Gospel. )

So, what does all of this have to do with the resurrection? Paul, in I Corinthians 15 basically defines the Gospel, as Christ's death and resurrection. In vv. 1-4 he states:

" 1 Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, 2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.

3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,"

Verses 3&4, are a restatement in detail of that which he is mentioning in verse 1&2. The death of Christ is essential to the Gospel for more obvious reasons, but why is the resurrection essential? That is what I Corinthians 15 was written to address. After Paul defines the Gospel, he gives many evidences for a risen Christ in vv 5-11:

"5 and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; 7 then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; 8 and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me. 11 Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed."

Then, he moves into, what I believe to be, the point of the passage in verse 12:

"12 Now if Christ is preached, that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?"

For the remainder of this passage, Paul addresses the essentiality of the resurrection to Christian doctrine. In other words, what is at stake if we allow that the resurrection is negotiable as a place to stand?

vv. 13-19

"13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; 14 and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain. 15 Moreover we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we testified against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised; 17 and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied."

What if Christ did not rise again? 6 conclusions from vv. 13-19

If Christ did not rise from the dead:
1. Preaching is empty (Read Acts, the most essential message of the Gospel was the resurrection...it was also the most controversial).
2. Faith is empty (The Christian faith is not just a blind leap or empty sentiment "you just have to believe", it is a firm belief in the truth of God's Word, written AND incarnate in Christ. With a dead Christ, this faith is misplaced and worthless.)
3. The apostles are liars (More than just liars, but false witnesses, in that they spent their ministries and gave their very lives to this claim that God raised Jesus from the dead. For them, this was more than just something to 'agree to disagree' on. We cannot play a game of "the authors of God's word were loving people, but misled about a few things. If Christ did not rise from the dead, they are nothing short of diabolical liars.)
4. Sin is unforgivable (If Christ was not raised by God, then essentially he was merely human. God's resurrection of Christ, among many other things, is God's statement of credibility on Christ's claim to be the Messiah, Savior of the world, Atonement for sin. Without this atonement, sin was not paid for...leaving a debt for us to bear.)
5. There is no hope for the dead (Very simply, our future eternal life is based on whether or not Christ was raised. Those whom we love and expect to see again one day? Not if there is no resurrection!)
6. Hope in Christ for this life only is a bad idea (I have heard some actually say that even if there was no Heaven to look forward to, that they would still follow Christ on earth. To that I say 'nonsense'. The hope of eternity based on Christ's resurrection IS the driving force for the purpose for which we live our lives on this earth. Without that, there is not a reason to follow Christ!

Is the resurrection essential to Christian doctrine? Is it a 'hill to die on'? Both figuratively and literally, the authors of Scripture would resound with a hearty YES.

May we be so grateful for the resurrection on which rests much of what we cling to as believers!

Authentic Ministry

2009-03-31T18:46:00.000-07:00

Rather than post here about this, let me encourage all of you to listen to a two part sermon that I heard recently by Ravi Zacharias called "3 severe tests for authentic ministry". To listen to that, go here.

I will share one excerpt. He tells the story of a boy and girl. The boy had a bag of marbles and the girl a bag of candy. Each wanted what the other had, so the girl proposed a trade: the candy for the marbles.

The boy wanted the night to think it over and decided to make the trade. But just before making the trade, he kept the nicest marble and placed it under his pillow. Later that night, the girl was sleeping soundly while the boy lay restless in his bed wondering if the girl had given him all of the candy.

Many a child of God who has not submitted his entire will lies restless in bed wondering whether or not God has given everything to him!

Listen to the entire sermon...it will be worth your time!

Discipleship Defined

2009-03-30T12:01:00.000-07:00

Discipleship is a term that is 'thrown around' a lot these days. There is a saturation point, I believe, where the term can lose its meaning. At that point, the word itself is defined more by programs in an anthropocentric format than by scripture.

One of the verses used most often to define what discipleship looks like is 2 Tim. 2:2. As many of you know, one of my passions is to dissect scripture to see the basic ideas. The goal here is not to be inventive or even creative, but to simply discover what God's word teaches, and then to practice it faithfully, followed then by teaching it to others...wait a second...I'm getting ahead of myself.

"The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also."

First of all, there is one basic idea here in the form of the verb "entrust". I love to think of discipleship as a form of entrusting. As parents, Kristen & I have discussed the great privilege and responsibility of entrusting our children with the truths of God's word and a life that glorifies Him. When I think about my own upbringing, I can see how I was entrusted with these truths by godly parents.

And so as we think of the concept here of entrusting in relationship to discipleship, we can ask two questions about this entrusting:

1. What is being entrusted?

Paul urges Timothy to entrust The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses. Later on, in the letter, Paul makes a similar reference (3:14) where he urges Timothy to continue in the things that he learned. Let us say simply that Paul was teaching Timothy Divine truth. Here is the point that I would like to emphasize. Discipleship in the form of 2 Tim. 2:2 entrusting is not simply sipping coffee and talking about life. Is there a place for that in relationship building? Of course there is. However, specifically, this mode of discipleship involved the teaching and transference of biblical truth. The greatest 'thing' that you could entrust a faithful believer with the idea that it will be passed on by them are the unsearchable riches of God's truths!

2. To whom is it being entrusted?

Paul urges Timothy to entrust the Divine truths which have been invested in him to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. There is an obvious idea here and that is this. As truth is entrusted to us as believers, the inherent concept is that we will in turn entrust those truths to others, BUT NOT JUST ANYONE. Beyond the obvious task of entrusting truth, there are at least 2 qualifications of who was to be entrusted:

These men were to be faithful.
These men were to be able to teach others also.

How does this affect discipleship? I see at least 3 ideas:

1. Discipleship 'entrusting' should have the truth of God's Word as it's center.
2. Those who we are investing in should be demonstrating faithfulness to these truths. For those young in their faith this shows up as teachability.
3. Those who we are investing in should take up the responsibility of the entrusting and reproduce others by doing exactly what this verse says.

Failing churches and ministries often are failing in making the practice of 2 Tim. 2:2 a priority.

Prayer - the elusive discipline

2009-03-23T11:42:00.000-07:00

I am currently reading another book on spiritual disciplines. I will say that I am enjoying it, though I'm sometimes skeptical of the tendency for personal discipline to be viewed as an end rather than a means to an end. The author addresses this from the start by emphasizing the purpose for discipline: I Tim. 4:7 . "...discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness".

The most recent chapter that I read was on prayer. Admittedly, I am weak in my personal prayer life. I don't say that as a form of pseudo-humility: it is just a fact. It is something that I desire to see changed but need to develop the discipline after which, hopefully, it will be something to which I am devoted.

Now, I have read many chapters and books on prayer, but Whitney gives a wonderful perspective on prayer as it relates to the discipline of prayer. His perspective is that one of the problems with an unproductive prayer life is that our prayer life is not properly situated after Bible intake and meditation.

What is the significance of the order? Here is a quote:

"Meditation is the missing link between Bible intake and prayer. The two are often disjointed when they should be united. We read the Bible, close it, and then try to shift gears into prayer. But many times it seems as if the gears between the two won't mesh. In fact, after some forward progress in our time in the Word, shifting to prayer sometimes is like suddenly moving back into neutral or even reverse. Instead there should be a smooth, almost unnoticeable transition between Scripture input and prayer output so that we move even closer to God in those moments. This happens when there is the link of meditation in between."

That is the best explanation I have ever read for my own personal struggle to have a productive time of prayer as part of my daily time in the Word. Meditation on God's Word is the most natural bridge between the intake of Scripture and a productive prayer life.

Many Christians identify George Muller as, among many other virtues, a man of prayer. Check out a brief description of his on his own prayer life related to the thoughts above.

I am challenged to make my personal prayer life a natural extension of Bible intake and meditation on who God is as revealed in the truths of Scripture.