The Dangerous Side of Being an Encourager
People like Barnabas are always needed in the church. They are peacemakers, the go-betweens who seek no glory for themselves but only seek to bring out the best in others. But “would-be” Barnabases of today need to hear a further lesson from this outstanding biblical figure. Barnabases want everyone to be happy, but sometimes it simply is not possible to please everyone without serious compromise of one’s basic convictions. Barnabas found that out later at Antioch when, in order to placate the conservative Jewish Christians “from James” (Jerusalem), he withdrew from table fellowship with those very Gentile-Christian converts we see him witnessing to so enthusiastically (Gal 2:11-13).
—John Polhill, Acts in NAC Commentary, p 272.
The Anti-Trinitarian, Anti-Gospel, Anti-Incarnational Enemy of Marriage
Pornography is a universal temptation precisely because it does exactly what the satanic powers wish to do. It lashes out at the Trinitarian nature of reality, a loving communion of persons, replacing it with a masturbatory Unitarianism.
And pornography strikes out against the picture of Christ and his church by disrupting the one-flesh union, leaving couples like our prehistoric ancestors, hiding from one another and from God in the darkness of shame.
And pornography rages, as Satan always does, against Incarnation (1 Jn. 4:2-3), replacing flesh-to-flesh intimacy with the illusion of fleshless intimacy.
Moral Relativism and the Ability to Drawing Lines
Last week for his Breakpoint program, Chuck Colson told about the recent experience of a member of our church, Dr. Stephen Anderson, who teaches philosophy at A.B. Lucas Secondary School in London, Ontario. His students had just finished a unit on metaphysics and were about to start one on ethics. Colson writes about Anderson’s plan for getting the conversation about ethics going.To jump start the discussion and to “form a baseline from which they could begin to ask questions about the legitimacy of moral judgments of all kinds,” Anderson shared with them a gruesome photo of Bibi Aisha, a teenage wife of a Taliban fighter in Afghanistan. When Bibi tried to get away from her abusive husband, her family caught her, cut off her nose and ears, and left her to die in the mountains. Only Bibi didn’t die. Somehow she crawled to her grandfather’s house, and was saved in an American hospital.
Writing in Education Journal magazine, Anderson relates how he was sure that his students, “seeing the suffering of this poor girl of their own age, [they] would have a clear ethical reaction,” one they could talk about “more difficult cases.”
But their response shocked Anderson. “[He] expected strong aversion [to it], … but that’s not what I got. Instead, they became confused … afraid to make any moral judgment at all. They were unwilling to criticize,” as he said, “any situation originating in a different culture. They said, ‘Well, we might not like it, but maybe over there it’s okay.’”
Anderson calls their confusion and refusal to judge such child mutilation a moment of startling clarity, and indeed it is. He wonders if it stems not from too little education, but from too much multiculturalism and so-called “values education,” which is really just an excuse for moral relativism.
Anderson writes, “While we may hope some [students] are capable of bridging the gap between principled morality and this ethically vacuous relativism, it is evident that a good many are not. For them, the overriding message is ‘never judge, never criticize, never take a position.’” Anderson wonders whether in our current educational system, we’re not producing ethical paralytics? Well, if the horrifying example of the students’ reaction in this case is any indication, Anderson already knows the answer.
God’s Empowering Presence
There’s something freeing about a fresh start. We hope that a new year, a new job, a new town, or school will make things work out differently. We’ll have a different routine, work harder, get better grades, have better relationships, improved eating, sleeping, and exercising. But it only takes a short while to realize that old patterns have resurfaced. The laziness that affected us last year returns. The compulsion to overwork bings like a blackberry. The desire to get up 15 minutes earlier to read and pray dies when you hit snooze for the 3rdtime. Fresh starts are great. But fresh starts don’t bring the change. Why? The problem is a wrong diagnosis: we think the problem is out there: Circumstances. People. Situations. So change the external factors, dig down a little deeper within, and “Voilà!” It’s fixed! The problem isn’t the law, commands, circumstances, or situations – it’s not out there. It’s a heart problem. The reason you touch wet paint when the sign says, “Wet Paint; Do Not Touch,” isn’t because there’s a problem with the sign. It’s in you. Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, and sending of the Spirit is the help for the weak and powerless. The Spirit applies all of the power of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection to us (Rom 8:11)! The old poem says it well: Run and run, the law demands, but gives us neither feet nor hands; Better news the gospel brings: it bids me fly and gives me wings. The Holy Spirit is the power for you to obey and fulfill the law. No law opposes the fruit of the Spirit, because love fulfills all of the requirements of the law (Gal. 5:22)! So next time you’re feeling weak, powerless, and despairing, plead with God for a fresh filling of his Spirit’s empowering (Eph 5:18) and be amazed at God’s empowering Presence!
Preparing for Sunday
“In the name of God, brethren, labor to awaken your own hearts, before you go to the pulpit, that you may be fit to awaken the hearts of sinners. Remember they must be awakened or damned, and … a sleepy preacher will hardly awaken drowsy sinners. Though you give the holy things of God the highest praise in words, yet, if you do it coldly, you will seem by your manner to unsay what you said in the matter… . Speak to your people as to men that must be awakened, either here or in hell. Look around upon them with the eye of faith, and with compassion, and think in what a state of joy or torment they must all be for ever; and then, methinks, it will make you earnest, and melt your heart to a sense of their condition.”
Richard Baxter, quoted in J. I. Packer, A Quest for Godliness (Wheaton, 1990), 279.
Trusting God in Adversity
“It would be a very sharp and trying experience to me to think that I have an
affliction which God never sent me, that the bitter cup was never filled by his
hand, that my trials were never measured out by him, nor sent to me by his
arrangement of their weight and quantity”
- Charles Spurgeon, as quoted in Darrel W. Amundsen, “The Anguish and Agonies of Charles Spurgeon,” in: Christian History, Issue 29, Volume X, No. 1, p. 25.
Crucifying the Technological Interrupter in Me
I was standing in line at the store, talking on my cell phone, when it was my turn to complete my transaction at the till. I had a moment of awkwardness - what do I do? Keep talking? Hang up? Ask the person to hold on for a minute?
Technology - especially smart phones - have created an interesting social experience out in public. The most important person often becomes the person who is least present! Whether texting, phoning, or emailing, smart phones have become a convenient way to stay in touch with the people you care about…but often at the expense of those who are physically present. Some companies have replaced tables with glass tops so that the “under the table” texts are eliminated.
Social media and technology has had a profound influence of democratizing everything. Everyone is always equal: equal access to me, equal time, equal in their demands. But it has an incredulous way of making me feel like the world revolves around me.
And yet, there’s nothing like scheduling an appointment with someone in order to get their full attention, only to feel like they’re not fully there. The call, the text, the email ping…someone’s always grabbing their attention. And it’s grabbing it away from YOU.
Elder John knew that was a problem. He wrote to a dear church, “Though I have much to write to you, I would rather not use paper and ink. Instead I hope to come to you and talk face to face, so that our joy may be complete” (2 Jn 12). He recognized the benefits of technology - he could write them, encourage them, challenge them. But he also saw it’s limits - the face to face contact would complete his joy.
And that’s the danger of technology and social media. Your relationships are only partial. There full joy isn’t there. Because nothing says, “I love you” like one’s undivided attention.
When our Lord came to earth, he left his Father’s throne above. Jesus emptied himself. He denied himself. He came to earth and was fully here as the God-man, not distracted nor deterred from his mission - setting his face toward Jerusalem like flint to be crucified for us and for our salvation. And those who follow Christ have crucified their sinful passions and desires (Gal 5:24).
Are you fully there? Or are you a technological interrupter? Ask yourself these questions:
1. If I am at the dinner table, socializing, or engaged in a conversation, do I reach for my smart phone to check what’s going on?
2. Do my friends/family members feel I fully engage them and hear their point of view?
3. Am I having to conceal my use of my phone to communicate?
4. Does my need to be in constant contact suggest that I think the world cannot survive without me?
Don’t be a technological interrupter by interrupting conversations with another one. Wherever you are, be all there. You died with Christ and were raised with him. He is the One who holds all things together. You? You might find your joy complete by being all there…wherever you are.
Crucifying The Interrupter in Me
You’ve done it. I’ve done it. Someone starts talking and you’re ready to finish their sentence. You’ve heard it before. Maybe it’s subconscious. Maybe it’s intentional. Maybe it’s a pattern that’s developed because of thoughtlessness.
Interrupting is an incredible form of pride. Interrupting says, “I know what you’regoing to say” or “What I have to say is more important than what you’re saying.” In any case, interrupting is an act that is not filled with the love that comes from being filled with the fruit of the gospel.
In Romans 12:10, Paul is in the midst of discussing the fruits of what the gospel does in those who have been transformed by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ - it builds love. He says, “Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.” The parallel of loving one another with brotherly affection is outdoing one another in showing honour. In other words, prefer the other, just as Christ did by laying aside his glory and considered others better than himself (Philip 2:3).
Being quick to listen to another rather than interrupting is a powerful gospel fruit. By not interrupting, we’re saying, “I prefer to listen to you and hear you out rather thanmaking you listen to me. What you have to say is important and allows me to hear your heart, your struggles, your joys.”
How do you know if you’re “The Interrupter”? A few good questions to ask:
1. Am I formulating my response and not listening to the heart of the personspeaking?
2. Am I stuttering to get a word in edge-wise?
3. Am I saying “Uh huh” or “Yeah” to try to get into the conversation?
4. Ask a few trusted friends: “Do I have a habit of interrupting? Do you feel like I hear you out when you speak?”
Interrupting isn’t merely a problem of feeling like you’re not going to be heard - it’s a heart of pride that needs to be shaped by the gospel of a Savior who gave up his rights, who was silent before his accusers, and trusted his Father to vindicate him.
So stop. Confess. And listen to your Father in his Word. And find the power of the cross more ready to help you than you are ready to interrupt!
The Fuel of Marriage - Keller
Tim Keller on how satisfaction with Jesus fuels marriage:
The simple fact is that only if I love Jesus more than my wife will i be able to serve her needs ahead of my own. Only if my emotional tank is filled with love from God will I be able to be patient, faithful, tender, and open with my wife when things are not going well in life or in the relationship. And the more joy I get from my relationship with Christ, the more I can share that joy with my wife and family.
- The Meaning of Marriage, p. 124.
Great Reads in 2011
Nothing stimulates the mind like a couple of good books. In 2011, four books stand out:
1. The Meaning of Marriage by Tim and Kathy Keller. Keller examines Ephesians 5 and shows how the biblical view of marriage gives us the power, mission, and fortitude for a strong marriage. Deconstructing the cultural ideals, the Kellers show that God’s design for marriage is grounded in the good news of Jesus Christ’s sacrifice.
2. Resolving Everyday Conflict by Ken Sande. This little book is the simplified version of The Peacemaker. Sande runs through the 4 G’s to resolving conflict: Glorify God, Get the log out of Your eye, Gently restore, and Go and be reconciled. A great primer for conflict resolution and a great read that our church staff found helpful.
3. Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Metaxas. While some areas of this biography may be historically questionable (i.e.: Mexatas’ failure to adequately deal with Bonhoeffer’s “Religiousless Christianity”), the book was inspiring, challenging, and refreshing. I had a hard time putting this one down.
4. What is the Mission of the Church? by Kevin DeYoung and Greg Gilbert. Our elders read and discussed this book, and it provoked a lot of good discussion. This book helped answer a lot of questions and raised a lot more for us in the process. A refreshing read!
For 2012, there are a few books that I’m looking foward to:
Jared Wilson, Gospel Wakefulness and his follow up book Gospel Deeps
Tullian Tchividjian, Jesus + Nothing = Everything
Now - time to finish a few leftovers from 2011! What will you be reading in 2012?
