Grace Matters

How People Change seminar this fall

2010-09-09T10:02:00.000-04:00

What is God up to in our lives as he is seeking to change us, sanctify us, make us more like Jesus? How do we actually change in good ways? What's the relationship between our thoughts, action, words and the heart out of which all these things flow? How can we better participate in God's work of growing, changing, refining us?
This fall Brandon will be leading a small group seminar on biblical change based on the CCEF counseling course "How People Change." The class will meet on Thursday nights, 7:30-9:00 pm, at the church and will begin on September 23. The cost of the class is $15 to cover the workbook.
For more information, you can click here to see a sample lesson and watch the video clip below. If you're interested, please email Brandon or Kathy asap to sign up.

Judgment and Wrath

2010-08-20T22:16:00.000-04:00

This summer I’m preaching through the story of Abraham, and this week we’re looking at Genesis 19 and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. It’s been a sobering week of sermon preparation. In Genesis 19, God utterly wipes out an entire city and its surrounding villages because of their oppression of others and violent godlessness. This judgment of God then becomes a metaphor throughout Scripture of God’s judgment on sin, a judgment that finds its final expression in the day of judgment, when Christ returns and when every man, woman, and child will come face to face with their maker. Those who trust in Christ will find mercy and salvation, those who don’t will find everlasting condemnation.

It’s hard to read these things, hard to write them now, and sobering to preach. So much of the Bible woos us to God with the overpowering love of Christ. And it may well be true that love is a better motivator than fear. And yet… the Bible doesn’t shy away from telling us the truth of God’s judgment and wrath in all its bleak awfulness that we might rightly fear a future devoid of God.

There are a few things I’ve read this week that might be a help for those who are wrestling with this incredibly important teaching of the Bible:

• Jonathan Edwards’ sermon “Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God.”
I don’t think I’d read this since high school, but found a copy online and read it again this week. Edwards is graphic and passionate, but even when it seems he may have gone somehow too far, I was reminded that he’s really only drawing out the reality of God’s wrath and judgment that Jesus himself spoke of in graphic terms. It is a sobering sermon.

• D.A. Carson’s new book The God Who is There: Finding Your Place in God’s Story, Chapter 12: “The God Who Is Very Angry”

• Tim Keller’s book The Reason for God, chapter 5: “How Can a Loving God Send People to Hell?”

God and Guinness

2010-07-15T15:05:00.002-04:00

The Search for God and Guinness by Stephen Mansfield
And for our next book review... a book about beer. And about God. And vocation. And the redemptive use of wealth.
For the record, I was given this book as a birthday gift. That said, it was a great gift.
The book begins with some some Guinness facts. Let me quote a few:
• More than ten million glasses of Guinness are consumed each day worldwide. This is nearly two billion pints a year.
• Guinness is now sold in 150 countries. It is brewed in 49 countries.
• In 2003, scientists at the University of Wisconsin reported that a pint of Guinness a day is good for the human heart.
• Arthur Guinness (who founded the brewery in 1759) founded the first Sunday schools in Ireland, fought against dueling, and chaired the board of a hospital for the poor.
• A Guinness worker during the 1920's enjoyed full medical and dental care, massage services, reading rooms, subsidized meals, a company-funded pension, subsidies for funeral expenses, educational benefits, sports facilities, free concerts, lectures and entertainment, and a guaranteed two pints of Guinness beer a day.
• During World War I, Guinness, guaranteed all of its employees who served in uniform that their job would be waiting for them when they came home. Guinness also paid half salaries to the family of each man who served.
• A Guinness chief medical officer, Dr. John Lumsden, personally visited thousands of Dublin homes in 1900 and used what he learned to help the company fight disease, squalor, and ignorance. These efforts also led to the establishment of the Irish version of the Red Cross, for which Dr. Lumsden was knighted by King George V.
• Guinness was known for its care of its employees. One Guinness family member who headed the brewery said, "You cannot make money from people unless you are willing for people to make money from you."
• In the 1890's, Rupert Guinness, future head of the brewery, received five million pounds from his father on his wedding day. Shortly after, he moved into a house in the slums and launched a series of programs that served the poor.
• Henry Gratten Guinness, grandson of brewery founder Arthur Guinness, was a Christian leader of such impact that he was ranked with Dwight L. Moody and Charles Spurgeon in his day. He has been called the Billy Graham of the nineteenth century.

  This is a book about the famous Guinness stout, but even more a book about the stout Christian faith of a family and a company that sought to honor God in the faithful brewing of beer, the faithful care of it's employees, faithful service to the poor in Dublin, faithful Christian witness to the world. The Guinness family had generations of brewers, businessmen, politicians, pastors. And through it all ran a lineage of faith that began with the founder, Arthur Guinness.
  Here's what captured my imagination the most in this story--its beautiful, robust, biblical picture of pursuing a vocation with passion and excellence, of caring for the poor and oppressed, and of using the legitimate pursuit of wealth for ends much greater than just personal enrichment.

  May the world have more families, more legacies, more good beer like Guinness.

Same Kind of Different As Me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore

2010-05-06T10:41:00.000-04:00

Reviewed and Recommended by Camper Mundy

The New York Times Bestseller Same Kind of Different as Me is an amazing true story of “relational justice.” Written by Ron Hall and Denver Moore, the book details the development of their unlikely friendship. It is the story of “a dangerous, homeless drifter who grew up picking cotton in virtual slavery, an upscale art dealer accustomed to the world of Armani and Chanel, and [the] gutsy woman with a stubborn dream” who brought them together (back cover).

This is a story of redemption for two men, a story that so powerfully shows the relational nature of mercy and justice. And a story that emphasizes the two-way street of relational justice, that mercy is not about the “haves” helping the “have nots,” but rather about people in need of grace embracing people in need of grace. It’s about the grace of God breaking into the lives of people who may appear radically different on the outside but who are actually very similar on the inside.

Themes such as prejudice, grace, homelessness, wealth, sickness, suffering, forgiveness, and faith run throughout the book. This book explores the beauty found in relationships when risks are taken, when barriers are crossed with courage and humility. Any reader of Same Kind of Different as Me will be encouraged by the transformational nature of the gospel and challenged to express that gospel by loving boldly.

A Praying Life by Paul Miller

2010-04-13T10:39:00.000-04:00

Recommended by Kathy Buhl

Are you as intimate with the Father as you’d like to be or know that you can be? Can you do life on your own? Do you believe that time, talent, and money are all that you need to be satisfied? Are you no longer in need of God’s grace in your life? Like me, you would probably say a resounding “No!” to all of those questions, yet we don’t pray. Has prayer become an add-on to our life instead of the very fiber of it?

In A Praying Life, Paul Miller takes an honest look at what prayer is, what hinders us from praying, and how to enter into a vibrant life of prayer. Drawing from his own personal examples, Paul shows us how it looks and feels to have a life of prayer. Prayer is when the real you meets the real God. Let’s face it, life is messy, ugly, and full of unbelief; not at all how we want to come to God. Yet, that is exactly what He wants. A Praying Life encourages us to draw near to the Father in an intimate relationship, not to perform a duty. Looking at Jesus , his life of prayer, and his utter dependence on the Father, is what we have to guide us as we grow together in prayer.

Do we believe that God is that personal? Can and does God change hearts? What do we do with God’s extravagant promises about prayer and how do we handle unanswered prayer? These and other tough questions are addressed in A Praying Life as we consider the gospel story that God is weaving in our lives.

This book will encourage you to connect with God in the daily-ness of life and restore hope and expectation as your life becomes “a praying life.”

Humility: True Greatness by C.J. Mahaney

2010-02-11T11:20:00.002-05:00

  Awhile back I gave some thought to writing a book on humility. Now that puts me at something of a disadvantage because aspiring writers are often encouraged to "write what you know." On this topic I'd have to take a different approach, the one an investigative reporter takes: write what you don't yet know but want to know.

  I've found Humility: True Greatness to be a good primer, a good first step, in thinking more deliberately about humility--and in the more difficult work of actually pursuing humility of heart & life.

  Mahaney opens his book with an observation that Jim Collins' made in his leadership & business book Good to Great. Collins realized in his research of companies that went from being good companies to being truly great that one of the ingredients was a leader who was, of all things, humble. Someone who was a strong and decisive leader but at the same time self-effacing, who realized his or her need for other opinions and insight. Someone who was quick to give credit and praise to others where credit was due. Someone who was committed to the greater good of the company's greatness, not his or her own achieving glory.

Yet, in business and in every other aspect of life, we don't usually prize humility. Mahaney defines humility this way: "honestly assessing ourselves in light of God's holiness and our sinfulness." Instead, though, we scramble for recognition, affirmation, and sometimes power and control rather than prizing an awareness of ourselves as we stand before God--not only as sinners or sinners saved by grace, but as finite, dependent men and women who were created to live for God's glory and not our own. And so, chapter 2 of the book takes us right to the core of what bends us from the narrow and simple road of humility--the pride that has wrapped itself around every human heart. And here he puts his finger on something that both James and Peter tell us in the New Testament (James 4:6; 1 Peter 5:5):

"God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble"

God doesn't simply make note of the proud--he opposes them. That can sound a little extreme, can't it? As if God is insecure and petty in his overseeing of us, his creatures. But our pride isn't just a minor character flaw in us, it is the heart of rebellion against God in all his goodness, wisdom, and sovereignty over our lives. Our pride is the bent of our heart that says "not thy will, but my will be done." Mahaney quotes Calvin helpfully here: "God cannot bear with seeing his glory appropriated by the creature in even the smallest degree, so intolerable to him is the sacrilegious arrogance of those who, by praising themselves, obscure his glory as far as they can." God opposes the proud because our pride obscures God's glory, turns our eyes away from him, and welds armor around our hearts so that we can neither love God nor follow him. Our pride needs to be opposed by God.

But there's the other side of the equation: God gives grace to the humble. God's eyes are drawn to the humble heart. The humble know God's grace, know God, walk with him. In humility we get a right understanding of ourselves, and we get God. And that grace of God comes to us in the person of Jesus, the Son of God in the flesh. The humble Son of God in the flesh. The one who deserved all glory, but laid it aside. The one who did not count equality with God something to be grasped, but who made himself nothing. Who took on the form of a servant. Who became human. Who was obedient to the point of death.

So how do we become humble ourselves? The last third of the book takes up practical disciplines in pursuing humility. Acknowledging our need for God as the day begins. Ending the day in thankfulness. Meditating on the attributes of God, the one who actually deserves praise and glory. Thoughtfully encouraging others around us. Inviting and pursing correction from others. Responding humbly to trials. These chapters are good a good place to start in cultivating humility in our lives. And it's all worth it--because in humility we get God.

Shepherding a Child's Heart by Tedd Tripp

2010-01-27T16:24:00.003-05:00

Reviewed by Marti Hutchison
Parenting is difficult; excellent, God-centered parenting is IMPOSSIBLE without the grace of God. There is no shortage of advice out there about how to raise children. How can a parent discern which of the many well-meaning "experts" are right? Does God's Word have any real direction for us? Genuine believers vary widely in their parenting philosophies and methods, so to whom do we listen?

Shepherding a Child's Heart, by Tedd Tripp, does an excellent job of addressing the heart of this issue of childrearing. Tripp, a seasoned parent, pastor, counselor and school administrator, offers no magical formula, but, instead, calls parents to the arduous task of pursuing a relationship with each of our children and living daily in the light of the Gospel as we parent.

Shepherding a Child's Heart can be divided, pragmatically, into two parts. The first part of the book provides the foundation for Biblical parenting, and looks at what the goals of parenting ought to be and how to pursue those goals. It further discusses how to engage our children in what really matters, by addressing heart issues and emphasizes that communication and discipline work together. The second half of the book provides practical training objectives and procedures for infancy through the teen years.

Tripp's thesis, if you will, is that every behavior has its root in the heart. We must address the heart issue, and not the outward behavior, in each of our interactions with our children. We should, therefore, not aim for outward conformity in our children's behavior but a change of heart...an understanding of the way in which the behavior either glorified God or was sin against Him. The goal of discipline, then, is NOT punitive, but corrective, and should be used as a means to restore relationship (with God, with parents, with others). Conversely, the goal of discipline is NOT to alienate, embarrass or chide.

The author discusses that in order to discipline confidently, we need to first understand our calling to be in authority over our children; not because we're smarter, bigger or less sinful, but because that is the role God has given us. We are to be shepherds to our children. We have been placed in their lives to guide, protect, correct, discipline and teach. Our role is NOT to "catch" them being "bad", but to understand their sinfulness and their need of a Savior, just as we understand this about ourselves.

Tripp encourages parents to use the "shaping influences" in our children's lives (family life, siblings, values, the culture around us, etc.) to lead them toward a Godward orientation in life. It is our role to equip them to respond to everything in life with an awareness of the Gospel, our need of it, and a desire to please God BECAUSE of it.

I love this book!! The centrality of the Gospel (the good news of Jesus and His pursuit of a relationship with us) permeates the book. We must, likewise, pursue a relationship with each child that God has blessed us with, and, by God's grace, within the context of the authoritative role God has given us as parents, help our children internalize the Gospel so that it effects every aspect of their lives. God has commanded us to "teach them (His commandments) to our children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up." Deut. 11: 19 This command doesn't look optional to me. We cannot assume that someone else is going to shepherd our children. No, parenting isn't for sissies, but it is for people committed to relationship with Jesus, and humbly relying on Him to enable them to do what He has called them to do. "But He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness'." II Corinthians 12:9. Our great Shepherd will help each of us as we shepherd our children.

If God is Good... Faith in the Midst of Suffering and Evil

2010-01-21T11:08:00.006-05:00

Reviewed by Chris Tennant

If God is Good... Faith in the Midst of Suffering and Evil is the latest book from author Randy Alcorn, whose previous book Heaven enjoyed enormous popularity. In If God is Good Alcorn tackles the question that both believer and non-believer alike wrestle with, "If God is all-knowing, all-powerful, sovereign, holy and loving, why does He allow evil and suffering?" Or as St. Augustine succinctly presented the dilemma: "If there is no God, why is there so much good? If there is a God, why is there so much evil?"

Written with a pastoral heart, Alcorn carefully explores principles laid out in Scripture and reinforces them with numerous real life accounts of people dealing with suffering. Because it is not merely a collection of philosophical and intellectual arguments, this book serves not only to teach but also to comfort. (For a more scholarly approach to the subject of theodicy, consider reading D.A. Carson's excellent book How Long, O Lord?). Readers expecting quick and trite answers will be disappointed, because the truth is, there are none. If God is Good runs on the long side at 512 pages but remains completely accessible throughout, despite delving into topics such as the sovereignty of God and human will.

The book is divided into 11 sections which are comprised of several short chapters each. The book begins by presenting the problem of evil and suffering, including its origin, nature and consequences. Having a proper, Biblical perspective of sin is imperative for starting any discussion on evil and suffering. Alcorn's emphasis on how lightly we take sin and just how wide the chasm is that separates a holy God from sinful creatures is a powerful reminder for us all. As C.H. Spurgeon rightly pointed out "too many think lightly of sin, and therefore think lightly of the Savior".

Several sections are dedicated to showing why popular worldviews are simply incapable of providing a framework for understanding evil and suffering. One of the most relevant to our present day is the so-called prosperity gospel which promises health and wealth to those with sufficient faith. Of course when these temporal expectations are not met the result is a profound disappointment in a God who did not keep his "promises". The importance of having a Biblically based worldview is vital. Even a cursory reading of the gospels should be enough to discourage us from any notions of a suffering-free life in this fallen world (see John 16:33).

Alcorn also explores how some have attempted to excuse God, or get Him “off the hook”, from the evil and suffering by limiting one or more of His attributes. For instance, by denying God's omnipotence some have been able to excuse God for the evil in the world. While God remains all-knowing and knows when evil is about to occur, they argue that he is nevertheless powerless to do anything about it. Apart from breaking from Scripture which reveals God as all-powerful (see Isaiah 46:9-11) this presents us with a God who is not only unable to deliver us from suffering, but also who cannot deliver us through suffering.

The focus of the book then shifts to showing how Christianity alone provides a worldview that is big enough to include the evil and suffering around us. The clearest picture we have of God's good and perfect will being accomplished through evil and suffering is Christ's redemptive work on Calvary. God allowed Jesus' temporary suffering so he could prevent our eternal suffering. Christ's atonement guarantees, for the Christian, the final end of evil and suffering. This leads to a very readable discourse on divine sovereignty and human will.

Vital to any discussion of evil and suffering is the subject of Heaven, a place where God's eternal grace is extended to unworthy but grateful children, and Hell, where God's sovereign justice is administered to evildoers. If we do not have a sound Biblical understanding of Heaven, we rob ourselves of a source of hope and joy (see Colossians 3:1). This is where Alcorn is uniquely qualified and particularly effective, having written the definitive book on Heaven. In fact, the name of Alcorn's own ministry - "Eternal Perspective" - speaks to his desire to establish a sound theology of Heaven and eternity in the church today.

God allows suffering to make us more Christ-like. In preparing us for eternity “God doesn’t simply want us to feel good. He wants us to be good. And very often, the road to being good involves not feeling good”. Among other things, suffering ought to make us more thankful, cultivate humility, expose idols in our lives, remind us of our inability to control our life, prepare us for eternity and provide a means by which we grow in joy, compassion and hope. The book concludes with a section of practical applications for living meaningfully in the midst of suffering. A large part of that is cultivating an eternal perspective in our lives. As Alcorn reminds readers, for the believer, this life is the closest they will come to Hell. For the unbeliever, this life is the closest they will come to Heaven.

If God is Good is a remarkable achievement in that is provides a comprehensive yet accessible treatment of perhaps the most difficult question that we face as we live out our lives between "paradise lost" (Eden) and "paradise regained" (Heaven). The best summary is given by Alcorn himself, who writes that "the answer to the problem of evil is a person and a place. Jesus is the person. Heaven is the place."

Good books to read... coming this way

2010-01-21T11:03:00.004-05:00

Starting this week, the Grace blog is back in business. Among other topics, I'll be posting book reviews by folks in our congregation. The idea is to let our congregation know about good books to be reading. We'll be featuring some on parenting, ministry, prayer, and the problem of evil (our next post), among others. So keep checking back!

Thirsting for God

2008-12-31T10:22:00.002-05:00

This past week, in my sermon on Luke 2:22-40, we looked Simeon and Anna and talked about their spiritual thirst which found its fulfillment in embracing Jesus the King. I mentioned an article by Donald Whitney that I think might be helpful reading, so I'm including the link--just click here.

In the article, Whitney identifies three types of thirst: the thirst of the empty soul, the thirst of the dry soul, and the thirst of the satisfied soul. He goes on to give some practical suggestions about where to do with our thirsty souls. I hope this article will be some help and the start of more serious and concerted reflection for all of us on the invitation that we have for intimacy and depth in our relationships with God.

Good Books: The Prodigal God by Tim Keller

2008-11-13T09:11:00.012-05:00

The full title of Tim Keller's new book is The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith. Here's the bottom line: you should read this book. Prodigal God is an extended treatment of Jesus' misnamed parable of "the prodigal son" in Luke 15. Misnamed because, and this is the heart of Keller's book, Jesus' story is about not one prodigal son but two lost sons. The younger son is the prodigal lost son who leaves home, but the older brother is the equally lost son who stays home. And Keller's title comes from the real meaning of prodigal. We tend to read that word as "wayward," but it really means "recklessly spendthrift" and that's a description not only of the son, but even more so of the father who is a recklessly spendthrift with his lavish and shocking forgiveness and love for both of his lost sons.

Of course the younger son is "lost." He chafes under the authority and presence of his father, and he wants out. He goes to his father and asks for his share of the inheritance, which in those days would be two thirds of his father's estate. In effect he was saying to his father "I care nothing about you but only want your stuff. I wish you were already dead so I could get what I really want, so please just go ahead and give it to me now." He insults his father in the most serious way possible, and Jesus' hearers would have expected the offended father to drive out his son and disown him for his outrageous request. Instead, the father amazingly does what his son asks. To give the son a third of the estate, he would have had to sell land and goods to convert them to cash. He hands over the inheritance, and the son leaves to seek the life of freedom and pleasure of which he's been dreaming.

We get the fact that this son is desperately in need of a heart change, and that he is the recipient of his father's sacrificial love. What's perhaps less obvious to us, and here is where Keller's book is so helpful, is that the older brother is every bit as lost as the younger brother. The younger brother is lost in his pleasures and dissipation. The older brother, though, is lost in his obedience and moral uprightness. The younger brother avoids the father's love by leaving and being very "bad." The older brother avoids his father's love by staying and being very good--obeying his father and doing all the right things. How can all this be a bad thing--obeying the father, staying at home, etc.? Because just as the younger brother has not been melted and transformed and converted by the father's love, neither has the dutiful older brother. The older brother shows his hand right towards the end of the parable. The father is throwing a party for the younger brother who has now returned, and the older brother publicly humiliates his father by not joining in the feast, but instead refusing to participate:

But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’

All these years of dutiful service and obedience by the older son have been nothing more than his own strategy to get what he really wants: his father's stuff. No joy in serving and knowing his father. No heart that loves and values what the father loves and values. His "goodness" is only his own strategy for making life work for himself. He too, didn't love the father.

Keller quotes Flannery O'Connor's novel Wise Blood. She says of the character Hazel Motes that "there was a deep, black, wordless conviction in him that the way to avoid Jesus was to avoid sin." In other words, we can work very hard to be very good so that we can not need Jesus in any real and deep way. Jesus actually spoke to a lot people in exactly this boat--the religious professionals called Pharisees.

This is a book, because this is a parable, that our church desperately needs. Because let's face it, we're not a church filled with prodigals, though we may have a few. We're a church that falls off the horse in the other direction--not in shaking off constraints and the carefree pursuit of pleasure at all costs, but in our dutiful pursuit of having everything in order. We tend, at least in the outward show, to be very, very good. But could it be that we're often good, if we were to be honest with ourselves, not because we're living out of joyful response to Jesus, but actually because we're afraid of Jesus and doing all we can to avoid really needing him or coming face to face with him? On the whole, if not actual older brothers who are missing out on relationship with the Father, we are at least still very "older brother-ish."

Are you sure this doesn't apply to you? Read the book. Not sure if you buy this idea that you can be good and miss God not only at the same time, but actually miss God because of your pursuit of goodness? Read the book. Do you think this might actually be you? Read the book. And let's talk.

All I've got for you is Jesus...

2008-08-28T11:05:00.002-04:00

When I was in seminary, one of the sayings I frequently heard from my counseling professors was that "we have a big Bible." We have many & large struggles in this life: sickness, suffering, death. Temptations and addictions. Eating disorders and relational disorders. Depression, anxiety, fear. Deep marital strife. Shallow relational connections. Sexual struggles of all kinds. And I find that in talking to people in times of significant struggle it's hard sometimes to believe myself what is true--that God is at work, that somehow he is in control and committed to bringing good out of the bad in the lives of his children. And in those moments it's easy to forget that we have a "big Bible," one that actually has something, in fact a lot of things, to say to those who struggle. It speaks to the fearful, the addicted, the sinning, the depressed, the dying. It speaks to us in our struggle with sin, whatever the particular genre of sin that might be in our own particular lives. And it speaks to us in our suffering, the common denominator of so many of our struggles with the hard edges of our health, our brain chemistry, our situation, our relationships. For all the glory of God's good work in the world and in the lives of his children, the Bible, this great story of salvation, comes to us in the midst of all the real brokenness of our real lives. So we really do need a big Bible, and we really do have a big Bible. And that's a big gift.

But there's another side to all this as well. The Bible, for all it's "bigness," has one grand Center, one main theme to which all the stories, all the letters, all the exhortations and laments and praise all point. One thing stands at the heart of the Bible. In fact, one person--Jesus. The help that the Bible provides is always help that's centered not in technique, but in a relationship with Jesus. For example, the Bible has a lot to say about marriage. Some of which comes in the "marriage passages" scattered throughout--instructions to husbands and wives, teaching about sex and relational roles and love and respect. But then the Bible also says so much else about loving our neighbor, loving our enemy, reigning in our tongue, forgiving from the heart, forsaking our crazy agendas for making ourselves the center of the universe--all of which comes into play for a married person in relationship with his or her spouse.

But very little of this could be considered any kind of "technique." Because it's all rooted first not in our attempts to get our lives straight, but in a broken relationship with God that can only be restored through being connected to Jesus who died and rose again for the forgiveness of our sins and the healing of our relationship with God. And it is only through living in this relationship, this relationship of grace, that any of the particular struggles and sufferings of our lives can be addressed with any kind of lasting help. This living relationship with Jesus is what Paul calls being "united to Christ." When a person comes to faith, he passes from death to life, from being alienated from God to being in Christ, united to Christ, joined to him. And all the exhortations to wise & godly living that the Bible contains are all aimed at those who are in fact united to Jesus. That relationship is the foundation of any real and lasting change in our lives.

So back to the title of this post. At the end of the day, "big" Bible in hand, I really only have one thing for my friends and family and church and myself. All I've got for you is Jesus. "How am I going to survive in this marriage? I'm losing hope." All I've got for you is Jesus. Let's talk about communication skills. Let's talk about how you make decisions together. Let's talk about your anger. But what's going to give you the ability to begin to curb your tongue? To soften your angry heart? To forgive in the midst of real wrong? To love and not simply tolerate your spouse? Only the transforming presence of Jesus who is at work in you and your marriage. How are you going to die to your own agenda for your marriage or your health or your kids or your career? Only if you're learning to love God over self, learning to trust Jesus and not yourself, learning to, by the Spirit, put to death the misdeeds of the body (Romans 8:13).

All I've got for you is Jesus. And I'd be lying to tell you otherwise. All I've got for myself is Jesus, and I'm lying to myself when I tell myself otherwise. But, and here's the good news in ministry to others and in my own struggling and suffering, Jesus really is enough.

Stealing & Giving

2008-08-15T07:45:00.000-04:00

"You shall not steal." Exodus 20:16

The eighth commandment, like all of the 10 Commandments, has both a negative prohibition and a positive implication. First the negative: no stealing. Don't take what belongs to someone else. Pretty straightforward. It includes all kinds of theft: breaking into someone's house and taking their stuff; purse snatching; fudging on your tax return; wasting time on the internet when you are on the clock at work; stealing someone's ideas or words and passing them off as your own; illegally downloading songs from the internet or copying cds; possibly even finding pictures on websites, copying them, and posting them on your blog like the one here--I'm not sure what the rules are about that.

So, the implications of not stealing pervade all aspects of our lives, from the headline thefts that make the news to the many mundane ways in which we're tempted to take what does not belong to us. And behind this commandment is the fact that personal property matters to God and so it is to rightly matter to us as well. In fact, loving our neighbors (Jesus' summation of commandments five through 10) involves loving their stuff by not taking it from them.

But that's not all. It's not enough only to avoid what the commandments prohibit, because they also encompass the positive aspects of what God calls us to in loving Him and loving our neighbor. And this commandment tells us that it's not enough to simply refrain from stealing from our neighbor, but we are to use our own resources for the good of our neighbors, to concern ourselves not only with our own flourishing but to also be committed to the flourishing of our neighbor as well. Paul gets at this in Ephesians 4:28, when he calls the thieves among us to give up our stealing and embrace generosity:

"Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need."

What's the principle here? We are to actively care for the needs of those around us and even to commit ourselves to honest labor so that we are not only able to meet our own needs but also able to help meet the needs of others. This, I think, is the sticking point of the eighth commandment for most of us. Why is it often so hard for us to embrace this fact, that we are called to a life of generosity to others and openhandedness with our money, our possessions, our stuff, our time? It might be our greed and covetousness--the subject of the 10th commandment. Or it might be a lack of trust in our God. The economy is struggling--how can I be generous? I have children and a mortgage and food costs are soaring--how can I be generous? I live on a fixed income and I'm not sure I've put enough away for my retirement--how can I be generous? I'm only a college student and I'm trying to scrape together enough to buy books--how can I be generous?

You see, we're afraid. Afraid God won't provide, afraid He won't take care of us, afraid of the uncertainties of life. God does call us to live wisely--but He also calls us to live generously as we rest in the generous care of our Father for us. Jesus has a lot to say about trusting our Father for our needs. Remember Matthew 6 in the Sermon on the Mount. Don't be anxious about your life, what your will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Look at the birds--your Father feeds them though they don't sow or reap. Look at the lilies of the field--they don't spin or sew and your Father clothes them. Don't you know you are much more valuable to your Father than the birds and the flowers? Therefore don't be anxious.... "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you" (v. 33).

But can we trust that? Trust our Father? Trust Jesus and his words to us? How do we know he understands our struggles, knows our needs, will act generously to us? Here's what Paul said to the Corinthians when he exhorted them to give generously to the needs of others:

"But as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all earnestness, and in our love for you—see that you excel in this act of grace also.... For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich" (2 Corinthians 8:7,9)

How can we be set free not only to refrain from stealing but to actively share with other, meet their needs, be generous? Only by knowing the generosity of our Father to us in Jesus. Jesus laid aside his riches, made himself poor, in order to meet our need, to make us rich in relationship with our Father, to adopt us into God's family, to give us an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. In other words, not only did Jesus not steal from us, he gave himself for us to generously meet our ever need. May that generosity of our God for us free us to be generous to our neighbor as well. Amen.

Fidelity

2008-08-08T08:52:00.000-04:00

The Seventh Commandment says this: "You shall not commit adultery." And most people, whether their actions live up to their beliefs or not, do believe that adultery is wrong. But why? Why is this such a basic and important reality that it has a place in the ten commandments? Why is this such a fundamental issue for us and for God who gave us this commandment?

On the surface, it's easy for us to see that this commandment protects something important to our social fabric. Families can't thrive, or in most cases even survive intact, if there is not a commitment on the part of the married couple to be faithful to each other. The very substance of marriage is that the relationship between a husband and wife is to be exclusive. In a wedding service, the very first words said by the couple come in the form of the words of intent. They stand at the front of the church, with the bride's father between them, and the father doesn't sit down until he hears the groom say "I will" to this question: "Will you love her, comfort her, honor and keep her in sickness and in health, forsaking all others to be faithful only to her, so long as you both shall live?" And then he waits to hear his daughter affirm this vow as well. And then he can sit down--knowing that this new couple is promising to be faithful to each other.

But back to our more fundamental question. Hardwired into us is an understanding that this kind of faithfulness matters. And matters not just because it's good and necessary for the flourishing of society and individual families--which it is--but matters at an even deeper level to us. We know that faithfulness isn't just a good social construct, but a part of the way things are meant to be. The way things should be. In fact, the way God designed things to be. And here's the point--God did in fact design things this way, and he did so not arbitrarily, but as a reflection of himself, of his own character. We are called to faithfulness, and we long for faithfulness, because God himself is faithful. Faithfulness is part of his character, part of who he is. So much so, in fact, that he chooses to be faithful to his people even when they are unfaithful to him.

One of the most graphic and dramatic illustrations of this comes in the book of Hosea. God's people have been unfaithful to him, and he calls Hosea, a prophet, to confront his wayward people. And he uses Hosea's own marriage as an illustration of his own love for his unfaithful people. He tells Hosea to marry Gomer, a prostitute, and to show her enduring, faithful love in spite of her unfaithfulness. After they are married and have children, she is unfaithful to him, commits adultery, and leaves. And God tells Hosea to take her back, to stay faithful in spite of her sin against him. "And the LORD said to me, 'Go again, love a woman who is an adulteress, even as the LORD loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods....'"

Why does faithfulness matter? Fundamentally because our God is a faithful God--faithful to his people in spite of their sin. Gracious, in fact. So faithful, in fact, that he sent Jesus, his Son, to live a perfectly faithful life, to be betrayed by his people, to die at the hands of our unfaithful hate, and to rise again for our forgiveness and new life. The fabric of our relationship is woven throughout with the threads of God's faithfulness--and he calls us to respond by being faithful in return, faithful to him, faithful to each other, and coming back up to the surface of the seventh commandment, faithful to our spouses.

Do not murder...

2008-08-01T10:21:00.000-04:00

"You shall not murder."--Exodus 20:13

This scene of Cain murdering Abel is from the 1432 Ghent Altarpiece, and it's a vivid reminder that murder, the subject of the sixth commandment, has been an issue for humanity since the very first family.

On the surface, the sixth commandment is straightforward and doesn't engender much debate--all societies have some sort of prohibition against murder. And murder is the best translation of the Hebrew word. In the Old Testament there are several words related to killing, and it is clear that some kinds of killing are presented as not only not wrong, but even appropriate in certain situations. This word covers what we would classify as murder, but also can include cases of accidental killing. This commandment does not prohibit killing in warfare or capital punishment, both of which are recognized by Scripture as legitimate under certain conditions.

So, on the surface there seems little pointed about this commandment for most of us--we know we shouldn't murder, and it is unlikely that most of us ever will. So we're off the hook. Or are we?

Not quite. The implications of this commandment go much deeper than the outward act of murder in two ways. First, we've got Jesus' penetrating analysis of the law in Matthew 5:21-22.

"You have heard that it was said to those of old: 'You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.' But I say to to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, 'You fool!' will be liable to the hell of fire."

What's he getting at? Murder, like every sin, springs from the heart and can fester in our hearts even if it never translates into an act of violence against another person. When hate takes root in our lives, we are guilty of breaking the sixth commandment, of murdering our neighbor in our hearts. So... every bitter thought, every indulgence in a sweet morsel of gossip, every cold look, every snide remark, every dismissive comment, every time we inwardly smile at the misfortunes of another... murder. Who is guilty? Who breaks this commandment? Who needs rescue and mercy and grace? We do.

But that's not all. Each of the ten commandments has bearing on our lives in two ways--in what they prohibit, and also in what they, by extension, enjoin upon us. So, not only are forbidden to take the life of another, or bring damage or injury, we are also called to act for the good of our neighbor, for his peace, his flourishing, his health. Not only do we not rob our neighbor of his life, we are responsible for positively guarding his life as well. Scripture is full of God's heart, for example, for the poor, the oppressed, the widow, the orphan. Those marginalized by society are to be cared for by God's people. Jesus taught this clearly and pointedly, painfully even, in Matthew 25. He tells of the last judgment, when the "sheep and the goats" are separated. And the one group will inherit eternal life, and the other eternal curse. And that judgment, in this sermon, hinges on the care of those in need. Those who receive life are commended for caring for the needy, and those who receive judgment withheld care for those in need. Here's what he says to those who are condemned:

"...I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' Then they will answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?' Then he will answer them, saying, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.'"

What's he saying? Not that care for the needy and mercy earn salvation, but that they are certainly to be the fruit of salvation--the fruit of a life forgiven and transformed by the love of Jesus. Jesus comes to us as we are lost in our sin, but he does not leave us there. He is about the work of turning us, as we've said often in our Exodus sermon series, into "love God and love neighbor kinds of people."

Ceasing

2008-07-17T16:12:00.000-04:00

This week we'll be looking at the fourth commandment, "Remember the Sabbath..."(Exodus 20:8-11). At it's heart, the Sabbath is about resting, ceasing, and about worshipping. On the surface, it seems that a command to rest would be one that we would welcome with fireworks and a full marching band. But we don't. Why? What's driving us and distracting us to the degree that we can't even rest in the way God has designed us to and commanded us to? Imagine yourself talking to your spouse, your child, your friend, telling that person he needed to stop, take a break, rest. And imagine that person, with a frenzied look in his eye, saying that he just can't stop. Wouldn't you be worried? Wouldn't you think that there was something terribly wrong with this picture? And yet when it comes to a day of rest, for many of us our lives look like this wild-eyed friend who can't slow down.

The fundamental picture of the Sabbath in Scripture, though, is that it is a day for our good and flourishing. God tells us to call the Sabbath a delight (Isaiah 58:13). We have a lot to learn about letting God lead us into rest.

A couple resource I'd like to recommend on this topic if you'd like to do some reading and listening on this. One is Keeping the Sabbath Wholly by Marva J. Dawn. I've also benefitted from the Fourth Commandment chapters in John Frame's The Doctrine of the Christian Life. You can also listen to his classroom versions of these chapters on the RTS podcast of his seminary class on ethics. Click here to go to the RTS itunes U link. That should direct you to the RTS classes on itunes and from there you can see Frame's ethics classes.

Reading good books... The Radical Reformission by Mark Driscoll

2008-07-08T15:20:00.000-04:00

As I come across good and helpful books, I'm going to post some thoughts about them here on the church blog. I just recently finished reading The Radical Reformssion: Reaching Out Without Selling Out by Mark Driscoll. Driscoll is the pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle. The book is, as you'd gather from the subtitle, about reaching out to our world without compromising the gospel. Specifically, it's about churches reaching their own local cultures.
   One of the most helpful and arresting points of the book has to do with our willingness (or unwillingness) to go where sinners are. Not to participate in sin, but to go into our culture, to know people, and to bring them the hope of the gospel. I'd say that as a church we are convinced that we are called to bring the good news to the world, but we're often hesitant to step into that calling in a personal way, and we may often be so suspicious of the culture around us that we think it's not possible to participate without sinning ourselves. But, Jesus hung out with all the wrong people. He went where notorious sinners were. He went to their parties, he ate at their table, he spoke into their lives, and he never sinned while doing so. And sinners loved him. It was, remember, the religious professionals, the Pharisees, who hated, discounted, and derided Jesus. It was prostitutes who came to him weeping and washing his feet. Driscoll addresses a fearful response to culture that keeps us away from others in order to avoid sin. Only one thing, he points out, will actually keep us from sinning. Not artificial (i.e. extra-biblical) rules, but loving and staying close to Jesus. Here's a great summary of his point:
   "I am advocating not sin but freedom. That freedom is denied by many traditions and theological systems because they fear that some people will use their freedom to sin against Christ. But rules, regulations, and and the pursuit of outward morality are ultimately incapable of preventing sin. They can only, at best, rearrange the flesh and get people to stop drinking, smoking, and having sex, only to start being proud of their morality. Jesus' love for us and our love for him are, frankly, the only tethers that will keep us from abusing our freedom, yet they will enable us to venture as far into the culture and into relationships with lost people as Jesus did, because we go with him. So reformission requires that God's people understand their mission with razor-sharp clarity. The mission is to be close to Jesus. This transforms our hearts to love what he loves, hate what he hates, and to pursue relationships with lost people in hopes of connecting with them and, subsequently, connecting them with him. This actually protects us from sin, because the way to avoid sin is not to avoid sinners but to stick close to Jesus (italics mine)" (p. 40).
   Driscoll goes on to address the motivation of our hearts which stands between us and the culture around us--our own self-righteousness, a sin which the non-believing world sees clearly in us and which hampers any effort of ours to share the gospel. Consequently, our own ongoing repenting of our many forms of self-righteousness is crucial to our ability to bring the gospel to the world: "It is imperative that Christians develop a habit of confessing and repenting of their self-righteousness, which prohibits this natural progress of the gospel through the culture" (p. 74). Confession brings us freedom as we own up to our sin, bring it to the One who forgives us, and as we are then sent out into our lives as forgiven and humble followers of Jesus who are freed to really love our neighbors.
   One caveat about the book. Driscoll is purposely edgy in his writing, and by the end of the book his occasional sarcasm and provocative tone wear thin. In spite of that, though, there is much that's great and helpful in what he has to day. So, read this book. It should be an encouragement in getting to know the cultures around us (even and especially right here in Williamsburg), in loving our neighbors, and in actually reaching out to our city with the hope of the gospel.

Exodus and 10 Commandment Resources

2008-06-18T11:00:00.000-04:00

For the past couple months we've been looking at Exodus 1-19, and beginning this week we take up the 10 Commandments. Here are a few good resources for our study:

For Exodus as a whole
• Exodus, NIV Application Commentary by Peter Enns
This is a great and accessible commentary on Exodus.

For the 10 Commandments
• Keeping the 10 Commandments by J.I. Packer
A brief, devotional-like introduction to the 10 Commandments
• The Ten Commandments: Manual for Christian Life by J. Douma
This is a standard and helpful Reformed resource on the Commandments
• The Doctrine of the Christian Life by John M. Frame
Frame's brand new, and massive, volume on Christian Ethics. A good portion of this is devoted to the Commandments. What I've read so far is accessible and helpful.
• How Jesus Transforms the 10 Commandments, by Edmund Clowney

Our new assistant pastor

2007-08-27T09:15:00.001-04:00

For those of you who didn't get a copy in the mail of our letter about our new assistant pastor...

August 23, 2007

Dear Grace Covenant family,

As you know, the Session has come to the conclusion, after careful prayer and thought, that it is time for our church to bring on an assistant pastor. I’m writing to give you the update on our search for the right person to fill this position. This past week we invited Camper Mundy to interview with us. Camper and his wife Heather had the opportunity to meet with members of the congregation in a variety of settings and were interviewed by the Session this past Sunday. We decided to offer the position to Camper, and they have accepted.

We are very excited that Camper will be joining our church staff and that he and Heather will be part of our church family. For those of you who didn’t have the opportunity to meet Camper and Heather, let me tell you a little about them. For the past six years, they have been living in Vancouver, B.C. They moved there in 2001 for Camper to pursue his M.Div. at Regent College. While there, they were part of Grace Vancouver, a PCA church plant in the city. Camper worked at Grace as an intern and then as an assistant pastor, a position in which he’s served for the past three years. Prior to their time in Vancouver, Camper served for six years as InterVarsity Christian Fellowship staff at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. Camper and Heather are both graduates of Wake Forest University and will be celebrating their eleventh anniversary this fall. They are also expecting their first child, who is due at the end of October.

Camper brings many gifts to the service of our church. Two stand out to me in particular. First, he has gifts in evangelism and a great desire to see non-believers come to faith in Jesus. Second, he loves to walk alongside believers as they grow in their grasp of the goodness of God’s saving grace and learn to live out their faith in every area of life. Camper’s role at our church will include teaching Sunday school on a regular basis as well as equipping other teachers in our body, overseeing our Home Fellowship Group ministry and the ongoing training and support of those leaders, preaching on a regular basis, and helping our body better reach our communities with the gospel.

Camper and Heather will likely be arriving in town the second weekend of September, so they will soon be here with us. Please be praying for them as they say goodbye to their church family in Vancouver and make the 3,000 mile drive to Williamsburg in the next few weeks. Pray for Camper as he transfers his PCA ordination to our presbytery this fall. Finally, pray for our church as we welcome Camper and Heather and as we together follow Christ and seek to make him known in Williamsburg and the surrounding area—and to the ends of the earth.

Grace and peace,

Brandon

Welcome to Grace Matters!

2007-08-27T09:13:00.000-04:00

What in the world is this?
Grace Matters is periodic post of information, thoughts, and news about life here in our community of Grace Covenant. Check back from time to time to see the latest.
--Brandon