Who is the Heart of Your Christmas?

I wonder if you are like me. Every year it seems that the heart of the Christmas moves from a Baby to a bearded man. Not only is this man a commercial success; he truly has won the battle for the hearts and minds of Americans. Let me prove it to you. How many of you have struggled about whether to tell your children his story? Yet, how many of you have been disheartened when your children no longer believe the story?

When Caroline and I were blessed with our first child we quickly felt the pressure about what to teach him, and the struggle increased with more children. So in a culture so enamored by this man and so hostile to the message of this baby; certainly Christian parents must find a way to respond. Here are my thoughts.

FIRST, I am certain we cannot avoid Christmas becoming an increasingly devoted to this man’s gift giving. It has everything to do with the message our culture wants to hear. When was the last time you heard about coal and switches at Christmas? I would like to submit that our culture wants to focus on its materialistic desires.

SECOND, I am fairly certain that even when we have the Baby at the heart of our Christmas, non-Christians and carnal Christians will avoid his story. Why? The Baby’s very presence admits that there is a problem between man and God. He came to be our peace, which means we are at war with God. He came to be a Savior, which means we need to be saved. The Baby’s nativity demands see ourselves as bad and the Baby as good: to a non-Christians this is unthinkable, and to a carnal Christian this is uncomfortable.

THIRD, Our children, with sinful hearts will naturally focus on the story of this man with reindeer; however all is not lost. As parents we have the opportunity to highlight truth (John 8:31-32) and celebrate it. Caroline and I realized we could not avoid this man, so we decided to focus on the true Saint Nicholas. This fourth century bishop in Myra (Turkey) gave his great wealth away to the needy so that he could enter the ministry. His faith and generosity was inspired by his repentance of sin and trust in the baby Jesus who came to be our Savior. Then for years he gave his life to serving his church family giving the Good News to all who had spiritual need.

After Nicholas died, on the anniversary of his death in December people continued to give gifts to remember his faith. We can do the same. In our home at Christmas we make sure our gift to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering is a major part of our celebration. This gift goes to share the Gospel for which Nicolas and countless others have given their all. Even more so it makes sure the Baby is the Heart of our Christmas.

This article finds me thinking about the revival meetings I am preaching at Selma Baptist Church. Perhaps, the article finds you thinking of revival as well. Even if that is not the case for you, take just a few minutes to think about revival with me. In our Wednesday Night Bible Study the question was asked, “when was a time that the Spirit moved greatly in our church?” One person answered that the last time they felt the Spirit in last year’s Fall Revival. In thinking on that revival, the Spirit was evident, but why? Perhaps above all other considerations would be the idea that we all as a church longed to see God move. We were unified, prayerful, and willing to do whatever it took to see God move. A revival if nothing else is longing to see God move and making the sure there is nothing in the way of his moving.

Psalm 69:29-33 gives a good summary of revival. Beginning in verse 29 David says that he is both afflicted which describes an emotional turmoil as well as being in pain describing a physical pain. Even so, David asserts that it is the salvation of God that changes his difficulties in delight. Revival begins when we desire nothing to remedy our problems but the Word of Christ and the good news of his saving power. This pleases God because we come humbly not selfishly, or arrogantly demanding something of the Lord. Verse 32 makes clear that those who are humbly seek God will be revived. Even more, in verse 33 the Lord hear those who know their need and realize they are in prison to sin, death, and hell apart from Christ. In other words we want to see change in our lives and humbly beg the Lord Jesus to be the one who changes us.

This attitude does not apply only to lost people. No in fact, such a desire and attitude must be the continuing cry of the saved. We will not be perfected until we reach heaven, but all of our time here on Earth should show progress in righteousness. This demands that we day by day, week by week, month, by month, and year by year seek the Lord Jesus’ transforming power continue to change our lives. Luther says it like this, “the old creature in us with all sins and evil desires is to be drowned and to die through daily contrition and repentance, and on the other hand that daily a new person is to come forth and rise up to live before God in righteousness and purity forever.” Revival quite simply is dying to self and rising up to live for Christ!

A Review of Luther for Armchair Theologians by Steven Paulson.

I had a seminary professor tell us how important it was to keep reading theology books once we graduated. His suggestion, which I think came from a John Piper book was to pick a few theologians and read all that we could find on that theologian. During Church History I read a work by Martin Luther and added him to the list of theologians I wanted to read.

When I bought this book I thought it was a biography of Luther’s life. Though it did not turn out to be such a work, in some ways this work was more useful. Paulson takes Luther’s theology and masterfully weaves it into the details of his life. An additional bonus is the comical illustrations that helped add humor and levity to the weightiest parts of the work.

As I read, the work transformed my opinion of Luther’s life and theology. I thought I had a handle on Luther as author of the 95 Theses and leader of the Protestant Reformation. Though I knew the gist of Luther’s theology as Faith Alone, by Grace Alone, through Christ Alone; I found that his theology depended on a view of the Bible that few share today. For instance, “For Luther, everything in this life and the next depends on how faith is made in the act of a preacher declaring, ‘Your sins are forgiven on account of Christ.’ Those are the simple clear words of Scripture finally ‘interpreting’ you, the sinner. Whether you are Abraham (who came before Christ) or Luther (who came after), when God gives you a promise, it alone makes you righteous. Your whole life is then in God’s hands, and you cling to that word like a drop of water clings to the outside of a pitcher. You don’t spend your life spinning out new myths and tropes of your own liking.” (pg. 66-67)

Though there are parts of Luther’s theology like infant baptism, the idea of penance and of course his view of Christ’s presence at communion (con-substantiation) which cannot be wholeheartedly agreed with, I can now see why he thought these things. Luther took every word in the Bible literally at face value. God’s Word was not up for interpretation but informs, instructs, and initiates spiritual realities into a man’s life. The job of a preacher was to speak God’s Word into the lives of people so that they could receive those promises as a new reality of life. Thus infant baptism was important because the promise of salvation from God’s Word was spoken into the babe’s life. Penance in Luther’s mind was important because forgiveness was spoken into the sinner’s life. Most certainly at Communion Christ was literally given as a promise to his people in the Bread and Cup.

Overall I can wholeheartedly recommend this work, with this warning. Read this to begin understanding Luther’s theology. This is neither a definitive work on Luther, nor a definitive work on orthodox theology. Even so to begin to understand who this man was and why he thought as he did lays the foundation for further understanding of his life and more importantly the Reformation of which Baptists are heirs.

As announced the results are in! I want to thank all who participated in our church health survey and am so thankful for the results we received. The church health indicators listed are ones mentioned throughout the New Testament, but especially in Acts 2:42-47. The survey measures how we feel about the health of these areas in the life of the church. The results are not a prescription of how we can solve all our problems, but they help us to know where we are as a church right now.

So let’s get to the results. As you can see in the chart we have a real strength at FBC Enoree in worship and prayer. The category of questions that relate to worship asks questions about our facility, our music, and the messages people receive when they attend. Prayer questions were ones that emphasized both the importance of prayer in the life of a believer as well as the belief that prayer works. In the middle we find ministry and discipleship. Ministry questions asked the willingness of people to serve and who actually does the work of the church. On the other hand, Discipleship questions seek to discover if people grow as Christians in this church as well as if the church keeps its members. Finally as you look at the results, you will also notice that the least healthy areas of our church right now is in evangelism and fellowship. Evangelism questions were ones that asked people about sharing the gospel and reaching out through missions. Fellowship questions were ones that asked about the sense of unity and love among our members. In addition I listed on the graph the next health level for each indicator as a goal for us to keep in mind.

In reality these results are no surprise to us; however as Luke 14:25-33 encourages us, these results serve to allow us to see where we are in following Christ and what it will cost us to serve him better. As believers we all want to follow Christ. We all want to be a part of a church that is unified and faithful serving him. We all want to the people in our community come to know Christ through the ministry of our Church. This survey aides us in two ways. First we know our strengths. As we seek to see our church become healthier certainly we will do so by emphasizing worshipful and prayerful ways to resolve conflicts and share the gospel. Secondly we also know our weaknesses. In all areas of our church life we must be diligent to see conflicts resolved biblically and emphasize both evangelistic and community building opportunities. Perhaps the greatest news for us is that there is tremendous hope for us in knowing where we are as a church family. To follow Christ we must make hard decisions, take difficult stands, give up personal preference, and even suffer for the gospel’s sake. The great news is that just as Christ had an eternal impact; as church family who follows Him, we are empowered by the Holy Spirit to have an eternal impact for Him!

1^st Peter 5:1-5

Let me take just a moment to present to you the message of 1^st Peter. Throughout the book the message is that we have a firm foundation for our faith and living. That firm foundation is a crucified Christ. When we are looking to him, there is no suffering, no trouble, or no hardship we are not willing to endure because we know that this world is temporary, our sufferings are worthwhile if they uplift him, and our trials even in the fellowship with other believers can be God honoring because they serve to make us more like Christ.

Thus this title may seem to contradict that message since there is no way that Christ and him crucified can be defeated, destroyed or “cracked”. Even so this question is not about Christ this question is about us. If you have cracks in the foundation of your faith and living Christ is not your foundation. Think with me. Do you have any sin that you love to do more than Christ? Do you look at doing what you know is right as a burden instead of a joy? Do you find yourself unwilling to share your faith? Do you think if you pay enough to the church that someone will do the ministry? Do you think that since you lead a Sunday School class, a ministry, a program, or are a deacon that people should just do what you say? Do you think that just avoiding people you have conflict with or quitting church is the right way to handle things? All these are cracks in the foundation of you faith and your living. All of these are places in your life that you have not trusted that Christ as sufficient to meet your needs.

5:1 – In this passage Peter points out three key places that the church can see cracks in its foundation. Though each of these cracks deal with a particular group or persons in the church their presence allows fractures and divisions in the church. The first crack Peter develops is visible in the Elders of the church. Now let’s be clear, Elders is a term in the New Testament that applies to those who lead the church. Today we call these people pastors or ministers. Though there is not time to develop it here there is a definite benefit to the presence of several pastors in a church most of all because there cannot be the same pride there is when there is only one leader. Peter presents here principles that sum up biblical leadership, and the greatest threat to such leadership, pride.

Peter’s message particularly to the Elders but in some way for all who help them lead charges them to be wary of pride in their leadership. Peter himself is an elder, moreover he witnessed Christ’s sufferings, and even more he already has been made a partaker in the coming kingdom. Peter has every reason to be proud, to rest on his laurels and to simply allow people to honor him; however Peter has a different encouragement for the leadership.

5:2-3 – His encouragement is to shepherd the flock of God among the Elders. A shepherd basically is one who cares about his sheep. This entails his provision for their needs such as food, water and shelter. It also involves his protection of them from pitfalls and against the wolves. Finally it is the shepherd who divides the sheep from the goats. All of this care comes about for the biblical Elder when he stands, teaches, and promotes the word of God among his people. The second part of the encouragement tells the Elders to exercise oversight. Not that they are to micromanage a situation, nor are they to be lax, but provide oversight with an eye of compassion over the souls of the people they care for.

Peter then narrows the focus of what he means by watch-care. He shares with the people that this should not be something they feel forced to do, but exercise watch-care because of a willingness to be used of God. Similarly they must not desire gain, monetary or in prestige, and favor. They should simply exercise watch-care because they desire to show compassion on souls gone astray. As a final narrowing of the focus of watch-care Peter tells the leaders not to command people, dominating them with the sheer force of personality or will. No the leaders are to be an example to the flock in their devotion to God.

5:4 – Then as a capstone to the passage showing the Elders what to replace pride with, Peter tells the Elders why they should replace pride with watch-care. The Elders have a Chief Shepherd who accounts for their faithfulness, as do all people in biblical leadership. When he comes, he passes out rewards to the faithful, not that good works save a person, but they receive a crown that will not fade away. This crown is a symbol in the New Testament of Christ’s authority which he willingly laid down for the glory of God by coming to this earth. The crown we receive from him will be the gift we have to give to Christ, the only gift that does not waste away. We must not be prideful even about the inheritance we will receive in glory because the crown we receive is one to lay at Jesus’ feet.

5:5 – In the final verse in the passage Peter points out the two other areas that cracks may appear in the foundation of the church. These two areas are linked to the preceding passage by the root problem which again is pride. The first crack in the foundation brought up is with those who are younger in the faith pridefully rejecting the leadership of the Elders. The language of this verse clearly indicates that young men and women are in view in this passage. Even so, the language is ambiguous enough to include those who are young in the faith. Such people though older in age, being young in the faith may reject the leadership of the Elders as well. This prideful rejection is a clear indication of their youth in Christ.

To bolster this idea Peter finishes the verse with the command for the entire body of believers to clothe themselves with humility. A church that cannot do this has the severe and major crack in its foundation of pride. Such a church cannot look to one another with compassion, love, forgiveness, and peace. Only a body of believers committed to put Christ first can humbly submit themselves to see others as more important than themselves. To be humble towards one another does not mean one cannot point out faults and troubles in each other. What it does mean is that the individual does this lovingly so that the other person can glorify Christ better!

Why is it important to not if there are any cracks in the foundation of our church? It is vital because if these cracks show up it is proof that we have built on the wrong foundation. Their presence shows we have built on our own lives and proudly insisted we are the center of the church and this life. To this God says that he opposes or wars against the proud. The cracks we see are due to the opposition of God against the proud. This opposition is the same type of opposition God offers to the unconverted. No the church must be a repentant church, hating sin, being grieved over the places we still find pride in our hearts and lives, and asking God for forgiveness in this area. In sum we must be a church that humbly comes to God and trust that Christ, crucified and risen is the only foundation suitable for faith, life, and practice!

As I listened to this presentation I was amazed at how many of these choices are ones with which FBC Enoree needs to struggle.
1. Will we have a Missiological or Bueracratic way of thinking?
2. Will we have a Tribal or Theological identity?
3. Will we have a Convictional or Confused cooperative ministry?
4. Will we be Secular or Sectarian in our approach to the world?
5. Will we be a Younger or Dead/Dying people?
6. Will we be a Diverse or Diminished people?
7. Will we be Missional or Methodological in our ministry?
8.  Will we be Strategic or Anemic in our evangelistic efforts?
9. Will we be Bold or Boring in the life of our churches?
10. Will we be Happy/Joyful or Bitter in the Life of our churches?

Listen to the message for yourself and think about the these choices.

New at Conventional Thinking — “The Future of the Southern Baptist Convention”

Shared via AddThis

• R. Albert Mohler Jr. Culture Shift: Engaging Current Issues with Timeless Truth. Multnoma, 2008. 160 pgs.

As promised, I am reviewing for you the summer reading that I am doing on my vacation. The first book I read is Culture Shift (CS). I have respected Dr. Mohler and his work for quite some time and especially like his radio program. He is consistently biblical while being fair and gentile in his conversation with all people, believers or not. In this work Dr. Mohler takes on the major issues of the day and seeks to offer a biblical perspective on those issues. In doing so he offers a fair analysis of the issues often citing the proponents of the issues speak for themselves. Each chapter in the book resembles one of Dr. Mohler’s essays published on his blog, these having been selected presumably because Dr. Mohler views them as essential ingredients to the shifts that we see. Certainly the analysis Dr. Mohler offers gives the reader a definite view of the social and spiritual aftershocks we all experience when our culture is changing.

I must say this book is not what I thought it would be. Though I would recommend its content to any reader, I would caution all not to come to CS as I did expecting an overarching theme that drives each chapter of the work forward. Perhaps the closest semblance of this is Dr. Mohler’s assessment of Augustine’s City of God. The first chapter is devoted to exploring the way Christians should engage in politics, a topic which Mohler aptly cedes to Augustine’s genius. In many places Dr. Mohler comes back and references portions of the City of God that related to the topic at hand.

Instead of a work devoted to a particular theme, this work is like a running editorial on the issues of the day. I found myself enjoying the chapters that had a definite connectivity about a certain topic more so than those that only had one brief essay. For instance the first four chapters concerning a Christian’s approach to politics formed the strongest unit in the book. After reasoning over the secular thrust of society and providing Five Theses for Christian engagement Dr. Mohler offers this paragraph:

A Christian’s motivation for entering the public square and advocating public policy is love of neighbor. Our concern in political, moral, social, and cultural engagement is not to impose Christianity – as if the mere imposition of a Christian moral code would be sufficient. Rather, our concern is love for our neighbor. We are motivated by love for other human beings, believing that health and welfare and happiness and commonweal are dependent on society’s being ordered in such a way that the Creator’s intentions for human relationships are honored and upheld – and that will inevitably require restrictions on human conduct. Only when the Creator’s intentions for human society are upheld will His desire for human happiness also be realized among us. (pg. 26)

The following chapter about the “Culture of Offendedness” enlightened me to what I would think is the key to the tremors we see in culture. Instead of our society valuing freedom of speech, we instead have a value the “right” to not be offended. On the sum of the book, I would recommend that the interested party simply read it. All the chapters are well written and worthwhile. Furthermore, this book is a good launchpoint into thinking about the spiritual aftershocks of society’s social tremmors.

    Read any good books lately? Obviously if that question were posed to me and I hope to you, the response would be that I have been reading the best book of all time, the Bible! Though true the question intends a slightly different answer. I have been thinking about that question a good bit as we have been preparing for our vacation this week. For me vacation has always been a time to read things I have been saving for such a time of relaxation. Even so, this year I have been at a loss to select which books to read. Perhaps I should just read the Bible, or maybe I shouldn’t be so picky. Which will it be?

    Sometimes Christians fall prey to a false teaching that we should not watch, read, or listen to anything that is not the Bible. Though I certainly think we should not engage in anything that is unbiblical, I find a problem with those who like the Pharisees form a hedge between themselves and the world. On the other hand, Christians normally fall into the other extreme reading, watching, and listening to all things uncritically. Just because something is popular in our world does not mean that we as Christians must experience it to relate to a lost world. Furthermore there is some media that can place doubt or error into our minds concerning biblical truth. There is one such book in most Christian bookstores right now. How should a Christian go about selecting media?

    All media demands that we engage it, thinking about its assertions. As such Philippians 4:8 seems to apply. This verse gives two general tests we should consider when we select things to “think on”. First we should consider if a book, movie, or song encourages us to consider an attribute of God. Philippians lists things such as those that are true, honorable, just, pure, and lovely. Then the test shifts from a pure attribute of God, which excellence certainly is, to a measure of how well a thing reflects God’s excellence. The verse lists these things as commendable, excellent, and praiseworthy. All media should be subjected to these two tests. Anything that fails the first test by not encouraging a consideration of an attribute of God should be dismissed. With the things that pass the first test those that best reflect God should be dwelt upon.

     So as I went to the online bookstore I selected three titles for vacation that I thought encourage contemplation of God’s attributes as well as being excellent in their content. If you would like to hear more about them, check out future blogs!

Here are four videos that I think adequately show the problem of being too concerned with relevancy to either modern or traditional methods of worship. Especially pay attention to the fourth Video. It begins to get close to the truth. Besides that they are hilarious. Enjoy!

     Tonight as I officially grew older, I thought it would be appropriate to reflect on any new wisdom I have gained from another year of life. Though I cannot say that I feel tremendously different a few things do move me to write.

• Abundant life often demands a radical trust in God during the stressful times, but engenders an overwhelming humility when He unexpectedly blesses you.
• Fathers not provoking your children to wrath often times means not being provoked to wrath by your children. Training children in the fear and admonition of the Lord requires a much softer word and a much steadier hand than I knew I could have.
• More prevelant now and growing every day, do I long and desire to gather together with two or more believers that I might experience Jesus’ presence in our midst. Such love and fellowship makes us yearn more deeply for the satisfaction of Christ’s return.
• The role of an under-shepherd requires of those who accept the burden an unyeilding commitment to the final result, a driving compulsion to provide a steady diet and refreshment, and a unwavering devotion to knowing the flock among you.
• The more I realize my own meloncholy heart the more I hear God speak to my heart as He did to Paul’s son in the ministry through the words penned in the apostle’s second epistle to Timothy. I praise God for such words as if they had been written by my mentoring pastor on behalf of Christ directly to me!

Thanks be to God for this twenty-ninth year and for the twenty eight ones already past. Though it does not seem right to pray for longevity or even for brevity, I do echo Paul in my prayers that for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. I pray that I might be as Peter, not negligent to remind people of gospel truth but stirring them up for Christ as long as I inhabit this tent. I ask that God give me a spiritual eyesight that does not dim, instead of the physical eyesight as Moses had, and I pray that I might have a similar portion of that same passionate vigor that the great Lawgiver had. More than anything else I pray that my life be one that Christ recieves glory from and in the end it can be said that I have fought the fight, finished the race, and have kept the faith!