Archive for the ‘Christian Living’ Category
The Discipleship Void, Republished
July 25th, 2008 | No Comments | Posted in » Baptist Issues, Christian Living, Worth Reading
A while back, I’d shared a post here regarding The Discipleship Void.
Today, I’ve republished it (slightly modified) over at sbc IMPACT. When you get a chance, check it out and share your thoughts on the issue.
Sandbox Devotions?
July 14th, 2008 | No Comments | Posted in » Christian Living, Worth Reading
I don’t know about you, but I struggle quite a bit not only with doing my daily Bible devotions, but in getting real meaning from them.
And I know I’m not alone.
Check out Tim Challies’ thoughts on the subject, as he shares about shifting his devotions from “sandbox mode” to “campaign mode”. Good stuff, and it may just make a difference in your devotional life.
Thoughts on Family Focused Faith, Part 2
July 9th, 2008 | No Comments | Posted in » Christian Living, Church Stuff...
This is the second in a series of posts on family focused faith, where I’m taking quotes from Voddie Baucham Jr.’s book and sharing some thoughts and questions to foster needed discussion on the topic. In the process, I hope to further refine my own thoughts as I work toward developing a discipleship program centered around family.
We continue to lay groundwork today, drawing more from the first chapter of Voddie’s book, considering the idea that we live in an “anti-child culture”:
Several months ago I was teaching this [that finding the place of ministry God has crafted us for should be the passionate pursuit of our lives] at a retreat for a church tucked away securely in the Bible Belt. During the retreat I suggested that for some of those college students the application of this biblical principle might mean earning a linguistics degree and translating the Bible into the languages of unreached people groups. As I looked across the room at the approving wide eyes and nodding heads, I added, “Others of you, however, may be called to have large families and train five or six kids in righteousness so that they will in turn impact the world for Christ.” You could have cut the tension with a proverbial knife. This room of approving, eager young men and women turned into a convention of Martians hearing English spoken for the first time. The looked at me as if to say, “That was a good one. When are you going to say, ‘Just kidding’?”
I took that opportunity to make an important observation. I pointed out the obvious discomfort in the room and asked, “When did we begin to hate children?” Suddenly the attitude in the room changed. These young people were being forced to examine a cultural assumption that has been allowed to trump biblical truth for far too long in our culture.
I would imagine this quote from Voddie’s book will arouse some strong thoughts and opinions, but throughout the first chapter, he presents some difficult questions and evidences that lend support to the idea that we live in an anti-child culture… and that such culture has even began to permeate the church. Examples… how often have you heard the joke made to the prospective parent of a third or fourth child, “you have learned what causes that, haven’t you?” How often do you see children characterized as inconveniences that get in the way of life? How many of us choose the size of our families based on income or convenience?
So what do you think? Do we live in an anti-child culture? Is such a culture also prevalent in the church? What does this mean for the church? How do we begin to encourage families to reflect God’s design rather than cultural norms?
I know these are difficult questions, but I think they important ones that we need to consider.
Your thoughts?
Get Dirty…
July 8th, 2008 | No Comments | Posted in » Christian Living, Quote of the Day
Interesting quote I ran across this morning…
You don’t get anything clean without getting something else dirty. (Cecil Baxter)
What a great reminder for we Christians that so like to “reach out” from our safe little sanctuaries… ministry is a messy business. If we’re going to love and serve as God intends, helping to “clean up” the lives of those who need it most… we can’t do so without getting a bit of the “dirt” so prevalent in the lives of the lost on ourselves.
It’s an equally good reminder of what Christ has done for us. Our righteousness… our cleanliness… purchased by the sacrifice of Christ… by His willingness to take all of our filthy sins upon Himself so that the just punishment for them might be given.
Anyway, you know it’s a good quote when you can get that much application from it, right?
Thoughts on Family Focused Faith, Part 1
July 1st, 2008 | 1 Comment | Posted in » Christian Living
Given that I’ve spent some time thinking about family focused faith recently, I thought I’d share a few quotes from Voddie Baucham Jr.’s book, “Family Driven Faith”, and some thoughts about it over the next several posts. I’m not sure how long the series will last, but I’d like to hear what you have to say in response.
In laying the groundwork for his book, Voddie writes some observations on the apparent parenting goals of many (if not most) modern-day Christian families:
Many families have been lulled into what I like to call a full-screen view of parenting. We look at the biblical mandate and compare it to societal norms, and there appears to be something missing. We believe that somehow we are depriving our children of experiences that will make them more liked, more respected, more normal. Hence we trade in the biblical standard for a cultural norm that hovers just below mediocrity. All of a sudden our desires for our children change. Now all we want for our kids is what “every other parent” wants for their children.
Voddie spends a bit of time elaborating on this “full-screen” vs. “wide-screen” view of parenting. If you’ve ever watched wide-screen movies on DVD (and have a standard TV set), you’ll know what he’s talking about. Wide-screen DVDs take up the entire width of your screen, but have black bars at the top and bottom… it looks like something is missing. Full-screen movies don’t have the black bars, but the entire screen is filled by cutting off the sides of the picture. Hence, full-screen movies appear complete, but are, in actuality, missing quite a bit of the big picture.
Voddie notes that many of us prefer the full-screen view of parenting, even though it cuts out part of the full “wide-screen” picture of Biblical parenting. We focus on ensuring that our kids grow up “normal”, and we lower the bar for our parenting efforts, sacrificing God’s standard for the lesser standards of the world. We make our goal for parenting our children any number of things: ensuring they get a top notch education, helping them to become great athletes, preparing them to find their future mate, etc. While these are certainly not bad things in and of themselves, we often place these ideals as the consuming goals of parenthood… far above that of ensuring that our children learn what it means to be devoted followers of Christ.
Think about the time you spend with your children talking with them. Think about the things you spend time teaching them about. How much of that time is spent talking about matters of faith?
What do these things say about the importance you place upon instilling faith in your kids?
When I go through this exercise, it’s eye-opening. While I profess that the number one goal for my parenting efforts is to foster the growth of my kids’ faith, the reality of how we spend our time says much more.
So what do you think? Are Christian parents generally missing the boat with our parenting efforts? Why or why not? Do you think we generally choose societal norms over Biblical standards, or have we just become complacent? What can we do to better maintain proper perspective on parenthood?
Any thoughts on what Voddie has to say, or in response to any of the questions above?
The Discipleship Void…
May 21st, 2008 | 3 Comments | Posted in » Baptist Issues, Christian Living
Over the past couple years, I’ve spent quite a bit of time learning about “Baptist Issues”. I’ve spent way too much time reading blogs, internet forums, and other online Baptist publications, and have read quite a few books on a variety of topics ranging from church vision to small group development to missional living to apologetics.
In doing all of the above, I’ve come across some general facts and statistics that are simply frightening:
– Southern Baptist church membership growth is vastly outpaced by general population growth.
– The vast majority of “church growth” is either biological growth (children of church members getting saved) or transfer membership.
– Somewhere between 80 to 90 percent of teens never return to regular church attendance after they graduate school and move out of their youth group.
From these things, I conclude three things:
– Most churches are doing a miserable job or reaching unchurched people.
– Most churches really aren’t even reaching their own kids.
– Something must change.
There’s no beating around the bush here… these are serious problems that churches need to address, and quickly at that. We’re losing a spiritual battle for the hearts and souls of our kids, our families, our friends, and our communities!
Something must change.
I write all of this in the context of self-examination. You see, I am the Sunday School director at my church (Missouri Valley Baptist), and in my two years serving in that position, I’ve done absolutely nothing to make a dent in these problems. While I could chalk that up to being rather new in the church and still feeling my way in regard to how we operate, I’m really without excuse. I’ve seen the problem… even in my own church… and done nothing.
Something must change.
But what?
Here’s my thought as to one root cause… the discipleship void.
Do a bit of self-examination here, and tell me if your answers don’t reflect a lack of discipleship.
– Describe the quality and frequency of your quiet times with God.
– When is the last time you prayed with your spouse? Your children?
– What kind of regular, focused efforts do you take to help your kids grow in Christ?
– What kind of intentional efforts do you make to share your faith with others?
– How do you go about “being” the church on a daily basis?
Here’s the deal… when I see the unchurched continuing to be ignored by the church, I don’t see a lack of pastoral concern for the matter so much as I do a lack of congregational concern rooted in stagnant faith. When I see teenagers graduating from high school and leaving the church behind for good, I don’t see the youth minister at fault for lack of effort in helping to mold them, but the failure of moms and dads to step up to the plate and fulfill their God-given assignment to guide them in the ways of the Lord.
Worst of all? I see these traits in myself, and I simply don’t want to live a life of dead faith anymore. And I certainly don’t want to see my kids grow up only to bolt straight out the doors of the church, running from God, never to return.
I believe there is a huge opportunity here to make a difference in addressing these problems through family-focused faith. If we can help moms, dads, and kids to grow in their faith together, we can see miraculous things happen in their lives. As families begin to reflect God’s design, and they begin to see what God can do in their lives, I believe we’ll see the unchurched want to see what makes faith-focused families tick. I believe we’ll start to see families begin to have a passion for sharing what God is doing in their lives, and I believe God will open doors for them to make a difference in the lives of others.
Pipe dream, God-given vision, or something in between?
Let’s wait to see how God helps to develop this idea for discipleship before we make that call. This is something I feel pretty strongly about implementing in my church, and I’m definitely open to the advice and insights of others as I pray about this and formulate a discipleship plan.
Your challenge? Help me with a few ideas.
What should a family-focused discipleship strategy look like? How would you go about getting this off the ground? What kind of curriculum or other materials would you use? Am I totally missing the boat on this? If so, how?
You get the point? This is free game, so fire away with whatever thoughts and ideas you may have on this topic.
Bible in a Year… Day 71 (Genesis 40-43)
April 13th, 2008 | No Comments | Posted in » Bible in a Year, Christian Living, My Life
Given the time I’m spending with our efforts to help the Pesina family, my Bible in a Year blogging efforts may be a bit spotty. If you’ve been following along, please try to stay on top of your readings even if I don’t have posts up. Again, the reading plan can be found here.
Today’s reading was from Genesis 40-43, where we learn more of the story of Joseph. In previous chapters, he had been sold into slavery by his brothers… his father believing him dead.
We pick up in chapter 40, where Joseph, under God’s guidance, interprets dreams. Joseph’s response to the predicament of the cupbearer and baker is interesting:
Genesis 40:8 (NIV)
8“We both had dreams,” they answered, “but there is no one to interpret them.”
Then Joseph said to them, “Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell me your dreams.”
Did you catch that?
It’s called faith.
Joseph heard their problem, recognized that God could help by using him to interpret their dreams… and basically said, “alright, let’s go… God will help”.
Joseph’s response is one I can relate to right now… it’s what we’re doing in helping the Pesinas. We’re not interpreting dreams, of course… but we are seeing a need, recognizing that God can meet it, and stepping out in faith waiting for God to provide.
You see, Joseph had no assurance… no guarantee… not even any clear-cut communication that God would do what Joseph needed Him to do. But Joseph had faith, and God met him in mid-leap.
We have no clear-cut assurance that God will answer our prayers and meet the needs of the Pesina family as we envision. But we have faith, and we have complete confidence God will catch us now that our feet have left the ground.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned as a Christian, it’s that faith is required for God to do anything… certainly anything big. We’ve got to step out, take risks, and simply trust that God will be there to meet our needs. It’s scary sometimes… no doubt. But it’s utterly thrilling to see God working, surpassing all our hopes and expectations.
Late Night Infomercials…
March 20th, 2008 | 2 Comments | Posted in » Christian Living, My Life
As I’ve been sick over the past couple of days, sleep hasn’t come easily at times. Each of the past two nights, I’ve found myself wide awake at 4:00 or 5:00 in the morning. To pass the time (and hopefully get back to sleep), I decided I’d go sit in my recliner in my home office and turn on the TV.
I never knew I was missing out on so much by sleeping.
You see, I discovered the joys of infomercials. Tons of them.
Internet secrets for wealth. Special “medications” for men. Books written to tell us all the secrets that “they” don’t want us to know about… health cures, getting out of debt… you name it.
Scams, scams, and more scams. Simply amazing to me.
Worse than all of these, though?
Supposed “men of God” like Peter Popoff (what a name!) peddling junk like “miracle manna” and “miracle water”, and selling the prosperity gospel through books “Divine Wealth: Supernatural Promises for Millenial Prosperity!”. Yeah… a supposed “Christian”, preying on those who are desperately in search of hope.
What a messed up world.
E.R. Exposes Futility of Generic Faith
February 26th, 2008 | 1 Comment | Posted in » Christian Living
I saw this clip from E.R. today, and found it to be one of the most powerful dramatizations I’ve seen of the futile hope of a generic, namby-pamby, anything goes faith in God… a faith where God is love theology is stretched to the point that our interpretation and understandings of God are all that matter… where God is whatever we want or need Him to be… where specific answers to deep questions of faith are simply not available…
It just doesn’t cut it.
When faced with the fact that we are mortal… when faced with the fact that we have done things that clearly have crossed God’s standards for right behavior… when we have sinned, and know we need forgiveness…
This kind of faith just doesn’t cut it.
You need to watch the following clip. While from a fictional show, it presents a realistic picture of how this kind of faith just doesn’t measure up.
Did you catch what the cancer patient said?
I don’t want to go on! Can’t you see I’m old? I have cancer. I’ve had enough. The only thing that is holding me back is that I’m afraid. I’m afraid of what comes next.
No! I don’t need to ask myself. I need answers, and all your questions and your uncertainties are only making things worse!
I need someone who will look me in the eye and tell me how to find forgiveness.
Christianity… real Christianity, that is… provides these answers.
Those answers?
Yes… they start with God’s love…
- He loves us enough that He extends grace to us, forgiving us of our sins and washing us white as snow… separating our sins from us as far as east is from west.
- He loves us enough that He offers us an eternal life in heaven with Him.
- He loves us enough that He sends us His Holy Spirit to lead and guide us as we live our faith journey here on earth.
There a hundreds of others I could list.
But the most important answer originating in God’s love?
That He loves us enough that He gave us the gift of salvation by sending His only son Jesus to die an atoning death for our sins, because we simply can’t afford the just price required to attain it on our own.
All He asks is that we accept the gift by placing our faith and trust in Jesus.
Do that, and we need not fear death, for God will welcome us into His house with open arms when our time on this world is over.
(HT: Cliff Cummings, Ed Stetzer.)
Small Beginnings…
January 21st, 2008 | No Comments | Posted in » Christian Living, Devotions / Bible Studies
Just a few quick thoughts tonight before bed, all arising from our Sunday School lesson yesterday.
First, a couple Scriptures, both from the New Living Translation.
Zechariah 4:10
10Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin.
Matthew 13:31-32
31Here is another illustration Jesus used: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed planted in a field. 32It is the smallest of all seeds, but it becomes the largest of garden plants; it grows into a tree, and birds come and make nests in its branches.”
I don’t know about you, but often times when God has laid things on my heart to do, the task has seemed so large that I haven’t really known where to begin. It’s not necessarily even that the task itself is necessarily huge, but sometimes simply because I see that the task has huge potential. Either way, I often find myself a bit overwhelmed… finding it hard to eat the proverbial entire elephant.
What to do?
Too often, I simply put off the task for a while, trying to figure out not only how to get my arms around the entire thing, but how to swallow the whole thing in one ginormous bite. The result? You’ve probably already guessed… I either become tired and frustrated with the amount of chewing required, and eventually spit it out in failure, or, in some cases… I struggle through to the end to find success. It’s not a futile effort ALL of the time, thankfully!
So what am I getting at? Certainly not that mode of attack for tackling God-given tasks.
Check out Matthew 13:31-32 and Zechariah 4:10 and be encouraged.
For God to be pleased, we don’t have to do everything all at once! Sometimes, we just have to start the work, tackling small items, bit by bit. We don’t have to do BIG things for God to be pleased. Moreso… often the little things in which we are faithful grow into something far bigger than we’d ever imagine!
Think about it. What events in your life have been most meaningful to your walk with Christ?
Odds are, they’re not big items. Maybe it’s simple words or notes of encouragement offered to you by a friend. Maybe it’s those few minutes spent in prayer each morning. Maybe it’s a single Scripture passage God has laid on your heart to remember. You tell me… what has it been in your life?
Little things make a huge difference. Be faithful in tiny tasks or small beginnings, and let God take care of the big stuff.
