Idolization of Work and Rest

This season has been unlike any before. Seminary has become almost all that I spend my time doing. This has been necessary for the short term. However, this has led me to be either totally consumed with Seminary or to have almost nothing to do when class has ended. I experienced this in part when I was home for a week around Thanksgiving. I had a few finals to study for but nothing that needed 8-10 hours a day. I lived that week pretty aimlessly and I left that week tired, unfulfilled and purposeless from lack of activity.

Right now, I am in the middle of taking two compressed classes. These classes are pretty intense, and I have been equally busy during these two weeks. Some of the work carries over through the Winter break, so I will have a few things to do then as well. I am worried that once I don’t have work that occupies a good chunk of my day, I will become lazy, lonely and depressed.

I believe these basic feelings to work and to rest are right, healthy and biblical, but I think that this is revealing a deeper issue.

Man was created to work. Man was not created to lie around and do nothing. Especially in the West, we have a deep desire to accomplish and conquer, particularly as males. I think this desire within me is God-given, but I am prone to take this to wrong ends.

Our work is never to be the end for which we were created. Our work is meant to glorify God. Adam was told to fill the earth, to subdue it and to have dominion over the creation. Habakkuk provides further understanding of the purpose of Adam’s work.

“For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.” –Habakkuk 2:14

This knowledge, before the fall and partially after the fall, comes through the creation. Paul describes this in Romans.

“For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.” –Romans 1:19-20

So as we subdue the earth we are to be about making God and the gospel known. There is also a God-given desire to rest well. This basic desire is good, but can also be taken to wrong ends. We can become lazy bums or we can be led into temptations not likely for busy people. So is the answer to this predicament to work more, less or find the right balance? Partially, but I think this reveals a deeper issue.

As we work, we are advancing the creation and creating in order to show who God is. The purpose of our work is to glorify God and to point to his glory in creation. The purpose of our work is not that we would be fulfilled or satisfied, but these are definite outcomes of doing what God created us to do. As a man I am prone to making my work define who I am—I idolize work to the point that it defines who I am.

As we rest, we are being reminded of our limits and finiteness. The purpose of our rest is to glorify God and be energized to do this better. The purpose of our rest is not that we would be fulfilled or satisfied, but these are definite outcomes of doing what God created us to do. Again, I am prone to making rest ultimate and idolizing this comfort.

This idolization happens regardless of the circumstances (busy or free) and reveals a deeper issue.

So the point of this is not that I should work more or work less. Surely there is wisdom in doing both at certain times. All will certainly go through seasons of busyness and freedom. The real issue is that I work not for the glory of God and that I rest not for the glory of God. The real issue is that I am too focused on myself too much and not on the purpose for which I was created.

I am praying that I would learn to not use busyness to mask the issues in my heart. I am praying that I would learn to rest well and not over-analyze my own heart. I am praying that whether I am busy or free, I would be about glorifying God. May we exalt the gospel of Jesus Christ in our work and in our freedom. May the gospel advance in our own hearts so that we might not idolize either work or freedom, but instead worship God fully regardless of the circumstances.

“Little children, keep yourselves from idols.” –1 John 5:21  

Stiff-necked Rejection of the Trinity

What does it mean to be stiff-necked? I have come across this phrase in Scripture recently and wanted to know more about it. The place I read it first was in Acts 7, but it occurs often throughout the Old Testament to describe God’s people in rebellion. So why does Stephen call the Jewish leaders this in Acts 7 and why does that lead them to kill him?

On the surface, it describes someone who is unwilling to be led, stubborn, and indignant against authority. The Israelites were called this when they rejected the prophets’ words from God and when they resisted the prompting of God to repent from their sin. Stephen calls the high priest and the council this in Acts 7 and is killed for it. Stiff-necked is a term that never has a positive usage in the Bible. Stephen was telling them that they were not listening to God and were rejecting God. Stephen drew a line in the sand, and forced them to respond. They chose to be stiff-necked and resistant to the Word of God and the Holy Spirit. This they did just as their fathers had done to the prophets in times past.

On a deeper level, to be stiff-necked is to be anti-Trinitarian. This is not at first obvious, but I believe can be seen in Acts 7 through Stephen’s sermon. To be stiff-necked is to deny true orthodoxy.

In Stephen’s defense before the council, he systematically summarizes the Old Testament. He works his way from the choosing of Abraham down to Solomon. It seems to be a tame summary of the Old Testament and seems to be going well, but then he changes course in verse 48.

“Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands, as the prophet says, “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest? Did not my hand make all these things?’”

Stephen quotes Isaiah 66 to show how the Jews had completely missed the point. They had the same history as the Christians, but had made a wrong turn at Jesus. They took a right, when they should have gone left. They juked, when they should have jived. They missed it. Ultimately, God was not concerned with earthly buildings and earthly practices, but instead was concerned with the Righteous One, the Messiah, the Christ, Jesus. The Jews were so caught up in the buildings, the practices and the culture that they missed the pinnacle of all of history.

When I first read this text, it seemed to be a small disagreement between Stephen and the Jews. It does not seem like the events that followed were the natural consequence of this sermon. However, Stephen was calling them ‘their fathers’ which was an indictment that they were rebellious men who knew not God. This was a serious claim and not something small to call the most religious, pious men of their day.

Stephen is about to get murdered for professing this message; Jesus is the point of your Law. He is the Word of God. He is God. He is the beginning of the time of the Holy Spirit. He is the beginning of this new covenant. He is the propitiation for the sins of the people. He is the fulfillment of the Law. He is the end of the Law as they knew it. The Jews did not believe this though and were forced to kill him for this fundamental disagreement about who God is.

So how is Stephen's understanding of God Trinitarian? In the Old Testament, the usage of 'stiff-necked' meant that one had rejected the words of God from the prophet. John, in his gospel, calls Jesus Christ the Word of God. So there is no longer a need for new prophets because Jesus has come as the final, full prophet of God the Father. However, Stephen says that they are stiff-necked because they have resisted the Holy Spirit, not because they have resisted the Word of God. Is this so different though? He goes on to declare that they have not accepted Jesus, the Righteous One. I believe this all points to Stephen's implicit understanding of the Trinity in this text. I also believe that this is why the Jews killed him. They did not believe that Jesus Christ was divine nor was he the Messiah sent from God. 

The Jews are resisting the Spirit. They are resisting the Word of God. They are resisting God the Father himself. 

This is how we know whether we are of the faith or not. Do we glorify God the Father? Do we profess Jesus as the Christ? Do we respond to the promptings of the Holy Spirit? Are we Trinitarian in our understanding of God?

So, what does it mean to be stiff-necked? Stiff-necked people do not respond to the Holy Spirit. Stiff-necked people reject the Word of God. Stiff-necked people do not believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God. Stiff-necked people do not believe that God has made a way for us in his Son Jesus Christ. Ultimately, to be stiff-necked is to reject that God is Trinitarian in His nature. To be stiff-necked is to have a false understanding of who God is and who man is.

May we not be stiff-necked but instead be repentant. May we respond to God the Father, to God the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. When this belief has not been present in church history, the church does not thrive. We must hold fast to this message of the Trinity as proclaimed by the Apostles.

“Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.” Hebrews 2:1

Iron Sharpening Iron

This past weekend, 5 buddies from Midland and myself took off to Ruidoso, NM to rest. We got a cabin for two nights and made zero plans on how to spend our time. Our plan was to have no plans.

The idea was born out of a few sermons that our pastor preached two months ago on Sabbath and rest. We decided that we needed to make rest a rhythmic part of our lives, so we chose a weekend to escape. The plan was to meet with God and rest as much as possible.

The funny thing is, we all rest differently. Some of us need to sleep for days. Some of us need to be adventurous and active. Some of us need a good book and a cup or two of coffee. Some of us need to be surrounded with people. Some of us need not see another soul for days. Some of us need to pray constantly and be filled with Scripture. Some of us need to process things out loud in group discussion and argument. Some of us need to process things on the inside through meditation.

I needed to be alone and have time to deal with God by myself. I would rather not have much outside stimuli such as discussion or activity. I need coffee, my Bible, a journal and some background music.

So we all entered the weekend with different ideas about what that rest might look like. Our group was very diverse and our resting styles did not jive with each other. This caused much frustration within each of us. The self-smart introverts needed to be alone and this caused the people-smart extroverts frustration because they couldn't work things out with conversation. The people-smart extroverts needed intense community and this frustrated us self-smart introverts because we needed time alone to be with ourselves and God.

For me though, even in the frustration I found great rest. I learned so much about myself and how sinful my heart is. Playing Settlers of Catan taught me more about myself than sitting with my Bible open for two hours ever could have. I need a community of brothers around me to rub against me. I need some friction to create sharpening. As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. That Scripture verse sounds so sweet, but in reality iron sharpening iron is a very destructive and painful process. Rubbing against each other causes sanctification and growth in different ways than being alone ever could. Self-smart introverts need this. People-smart extroverts need this too.

God I pray that you would rub off the edges of our sinful hearts and sharpen us for greater effectiveness in ministry. I pray that community and Your Word would cause friction and shape us into Your image more and more.

Secret Thread

Last week, I had the opportunity to go to Youth Camp with my church here in Midland. This camp was quite different than my previous experiences with camp while growing up. In Huntington, we felt good when we loaded up a whole bus of people. Stonegate took 11 buses, plus more personal vehicles. I was only a face in the crowd of 100+ volunteers who poured their lives into students’ lives that week. It was a joy and an honor to be part of such a great week.

I have learned much about myself over the years, but I still surprise myself with my weaknesses. I am initially hard to get to know, because of my natural self-smart, introverted personality. I can come across as cold, guarded and unfriendly. These traits are only partially true. It takes me time to warm up to people and feel out the situations to know what role I am to play in the groups I find myself in. In some sense, this is a beautiful trait, but it is also a broken trait. I use my personality as an excuse to seek comfortable situations instead of putting myself out there in friendship and vulnerability. This became evident throughout the week with my 10^th and 11^th graders. God used all of this anyway and He was glorified in spite of me.

Our Senior Pastor spoke on Monday night to the high-school students and it was a very powerful talk. As I have said often, the books, messages, and songs that speak the deepest to me speak of things that I already  sense of the truth of. These things I am usually passionate about, but have yet to speak such eloquent words concerning. C.S. Lewis called this idea the ‘secret thread’. He said that normally we could not put this secret thread into words, but we centered our lives around this ‘secret thread’ which binds us to such ideas, scenery, hobbies and friendships. Our Pastor spoke of this ‘secret thread’ and I deeply connected with his message. This became more evident when the next night, others deeply connected to an outside speaker, Kathy Koch, and I found myself disinterested. There may have been other barriers in place, but I think for whatever reason, God has designed our hearts to desire this ‘secret thread’.

Our Pastor made this statement, backed it up with Scripture, and then he dialogued with us for an hour.

‘We are all preparing to give our hearts away to that thing, person or idea which we believe will give us the greatest joy, satisfaction and ultimate purpose. We will not do this half-heartedly, but will sell completely out for this thing, person or idea. No matter what this thing, person or idea is, it will suck the life from us. All things will steal the life out of us, but only Jesus Christ will give that life back.’

I think this is very true. We give ourselves to whatever it is that we believe will satisfy us most deeply. We all seek our own good, without exception. In America, we see most people pursue this through material possession or immaterial ‘success’, however they might define success. We think that a certain salary or level of status or personal gain will make us worth something in a deeper sense. We think that the cares and pleasures of this world exist to give us joy, but Jesus said that these choke out the fruit and steal life from us. He went on to say that unless a grain of wheat should fall to the ground and die, he will never bear fruit and have life. We must die to ourselves and pursue Christ in order for true life, satisfaction and ultimate meaning to be had.

This message resonated with me and spoke in a very relevant way to the youth in our church. In wealthy, upper middle-class Midland, Texas, we have more than we ever need and in turn do not know what it is to rely on Jesus Christ or to face persecution for our faith. If we allow our riches to get in the way, they will steal life from us and keep us from experiencing the gospel which gives life.

In the rest of the Parable of the Sower, the other ‘soils’ respond differently to the seed, that is the word of God. Even this very true message bounces off some people and has no effect. For others it never takes root and does not bear fruit. For others it takes root, but gets choked out by the pursuits of this earthly life. And for the few on the narrow way, it takes root and bears fruit. This message was very poignant for me in our discussion groups. For some, they couldn’t get enough of the message and for others they couldn’t wait to get out of the group.

This message was again confirmed in me today as I read an email from the team that just got back from Guinea, West Africa. It was heart wrenching to hear of some who had claimed to follow the Jesus Way, but have turned to their own way. And still others are continuing in the faith, bearing fruit in keeping with repentance. They are pressing into knowing Jesus more and being faithful to Him in the face of persecution.

Thinking about all of these things has made me so thankful and humbled to have experienced the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was no doing of my own. Even in my desperate sinfulness, He reached in and intervened. Even in my wavering, He is faithful. Even in my undeserved flesh, He sees me as perfect, holy and righteous. This is the gospel. This is what gives life, not more money, fame or status.

Jesus is worth it all.

Cultural Relativism

"The position of cultural relativism is very attractive. It shows high respect for other people and their cultures and avoids the errors of ethnocentrism and premature judgments. It also deals with the difficult philosophical questions of truth and morality by withholding judgment and affirming the right of each culture to reach its own answers. The price we pay, however, in adopting total cultural relativism is the loss of such things as truth and righteousness. If all explanations of reality are equally valid, we can no longer speak of error, and if all behavior is justified according to its cultural context, we can no longer speak of sin. There is then no need for the gospel and no reason for missions."

I am currently reading a book entitled Anthropological Insights for Missionaries by Paul Hiebert. I have never delved into anthropology, sociology or philosophy in an academic sense, but this book has been great for beginning the learning process of understanding how the gospel and culture mix.

I have long thought about this concept of ‘cultural relativism’, without knowing the name for it. Even from within the church, we tend to justify the actions of every other culture (except our own). We throw the phrase, ‘That is just part of their culture. Who are we to judge the way they do things?’ at situations without thinking about the consequences of such a phrase. In thinking about reaching and engaging another culture, we try to assume that all things are neutral in a culture, whether beliefs, customs or behaviors. This is foolish.

If we embrace cultural relativism, then just as Heibert says, there is no need for the gospel or missions. Since all cultures are inherently neutral or good, there is no need to evangelize or tell about the gospel of Jesus Christ. This mindset is dangerous.

We must have some objective ground to stand on to speak into a culture. This solid ground must be the Bible, since it is the revelation of God to us. To stand on any other ground leads to a disastrous end.

Ultimately, God is about redeeming and reconciling all peoples, cultures and societies back to Himself. He wants to take and redeem all things back to Himself. Cultures are broken, yet beautiful. When engaging our own culture and other cultures, we must remember that within each culture exist the extremes of reality; brokenness and beauty. We must be about redeeming the brokenness and embracing the beautiful.

In reading this book, Hiebert has forced me to think about what is truly essential and what is negotiable. He challenges the decision criteria for deciding what is essential and negotiable. Essentials must be essential to the church across all cultures. Negotiables may or may not be valid in every culture. This was a challenging exercise for me to think about. You might find it to be helpful to think about.

Label each with an E for Essential or an N for Negotiable

1 -	Greet each other with a holy kiss.
2 -	Do not go to court to settle issues between Christians.
3 -	Do not eat meat used in pagan ceremonies.
4 -	Women in the assembly should be veiled when praying or speaking.
5 -	Wash feet at the Lord's Supper (Eucharist)
6 -	Lay hands on for ordination.
7 -	Sing without musical accompaniment.
8 -	Abstain from eating blood.
9 -	Abstain from fornication.
10 -	Share the Lord's Supper (Eucharist) together.
11 -	Use only real wine and unleavened bread for your Eucharist meals.
12 -	Use only grape juice for Eucharist meals.
13 -	Anoint with oil for healing.
14 -	Women are not to teach men.
15 -	Women are not to wear braided hair, gold or pearls.
16 -	Men are not to have long hair.
17 -	Do not drink wine at all.
18 -	Slavery is permissible if you treat slaves well.
19 -	Remain single.
20 -	Seek the gift of tongues.
21 -	Seek the gift of healing.
22 -	Lift your hands when you pray.
23 -	People who don't work don’t eat.
24 -	Have a private 'devotional time' every day.
25 -	Say Amen at the end of prayers.
26 -	Appoint elders and deacons in every congregation.
27 -	Elect the elders.
28 -	Confess sins one to another.
29 -	Confess sins privately to God.
30 -	Give atleast ten percent of your income/goods/crops to God.
31 -	Construct a building for worship.
32 -	Confess Christ publicly by means of baptism.
33 -	Be baptized by immersion.
34 -	Be baptized as an adult.
35 -	Be baptized as a child/infant.
36 -	Do not be a polygamist.
37 -	Do not divorce your spouse for any reason.
38 -	Do not divorce your spouse except for adultery.

What principle or principles governed your decision? Write out the method that you used, in a simple, concise statement. Be completely honest with yourself and accurately describe how you made your decisions. Your principles should account for every decision.

Are your essential items so important to you that you could not associate with a group that did not practice all of them? Are there some essential items that are a little more essential than others? Are there any items that have nothing explicitly to do with Scripture at all?

I hope this is helpful in thinking about how we engage our own and other cultures with the gospel.

Work as Mission

This afternoon, I napped for 3 hours, so I am having trouble sleeping; partly because of the nap, but also partly because of the craziness in my head right now. Tonight our pastor gave one of the most pointed sermons I have ever heard him give.

He began to work out a philosophy of work as mission. He used a lot of Scripture and personal experiences and beliefs to encourage us to begin to see our work and lives differently. He talked about the separation that has happened between clergy and laymen. He talked about the professionalization of full-time ministry. He talked about the Biblical basis for the church doing the work of ministry/mission and the pastors equipping the saints for that work of ministry. He talked about our false views of following Jesus as happening only on Sundays.

His main points centered on the fact that we do not see our work as our mission field. The paradigm that exists in Midland right now during this boom is GET IN, GET MINE, and GET OUT. This paradigm presupposes the wrong purpose as to why we work the job we do. This ‘get mine’ mentality centers on getting enough to live the lifestyle we want or to retire at a certain time with enough. He broke down the idea of retirement and called us to finish the race marked out with endurance, not to strive to get to relax.

A central piece of understanding is the Great Commission in Matthew 28:19-20. ‘Go therefore and make disciples…’ We read it in our English translations as a command or an imperative, but in fact it is not a command. The central verb in this sentence is the make disciples (evangelize or gospeling), not the go. It could be read ‘as you go’, ‘while you go’, ‘as you are going’, ‘as you are doing’, instead of ‘go’. He connected this with Colossians 3:23, which talks about doing all that we do to the glory of God.

So the point is that it does not matter what job or career we find ourselves in. It is not important whether we are happy or even satisfied with that job. What matters is that we see all that we do through the lenses of mission.

This is a hard sermon to hear no matter how ‘good’ or ‘bad’ one is currently doing at making disciples in our workplaces. Although difficult to hear, this kind of reminder refocuses us on what we are to be about.

He poked some fun at our ideas of missions as trips overseas witnessing to the poor African or Asian. He talked about how hard we might work to contextualize the gospel to these people and how committed we will be to devotions and prayer while being on mission. Yet, in our daily lives we hardly pause in the mornings to even reflect on the souls that we will intermingle with that day. We hardly consider how it is we might engage those at work. We hardly consider that we are on mission at every moment, or we are not.

He seemed to negate the need for ‘missions’ in the traditional understanding, yet I know this is not his heart. He understands the need for people to be going overseas to places that will never hear the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. However, it did bother me that he somewhat negated the full-time cross-cultural ministry that is necessary.

I understand where he is coming from. He pastors a church in Midland, Texas and is primarily concerned with the people that will exist here. Most people will not spend their lives in a foreign country or in a professional ministry position. Most people will be normal, average Joes who work in the oil industry out here. He understands this, so in order for him to have the most impact, he has to impact the average Joe and Jane. Most people will be content coming to Church on Sundays and seeing the paid staff of pastors doing the entire ministry. This is neither biblical nor healthy. He wants to see radical, daily commitment from the body to be the hands and feet of Jesus every day in the places we spend the majority of our time.

There will be no great reconciliation movement from more songs, sermons, summer camps, or revival services. We need people to so treasure Jesus Christ that each day is seen as a mission.

It was interesting listening to this sermon and catching eye contact with him throughout. He knows my life course for the time being. We have talked about how God might use my Petroleum background and passion for Jesus for the Kingdom. But I know in my heart of hearts that I have not been the missionary at Chevron that I so desire to be at the ends of the earth. I have engaged some and seen some fruit from being faithful, but not near to the extent that I could have.

This sermon really challenged me in two areas. The first is to be fully engaged with the people around me for the next 2.5 months at Chevron. The second is to continue to pursue how God might use Petroleum Engineering and Seminary as mission. I pray that we would be challenged to see work/life as mission. 

To the Fields

I realize that I have been absent from writing for a while. I’ve encountered a season of dryness in my writing, reading and thinking. I am not real sure what has brought this on, but I hope that it ends soon.

Thursday of this past week will be a day that lives in infamy in my mind for a while. Granted it’s not the end of the world, but it was a monumental moment in my life thus far.

Two weeks prior, my boss had asked me to schedule some time with him to discuss my Career Development Plan. This is a normal refresh, so for him nothing out of the ordinary was happening. However, I knew that I couldn’t not tell him the news. To call myself a Christian and go in there without revealing what’s going on in my life, would be very inconsistent.

So I began to prepare mentally, physically, spiritually for 3:00 on Thursday. For me, this consisted of refusing to think about this until the last possible moment. My boss walked in about 9:30 and asked if we could move our meeting up. I asked for 30 minutes, so that I could breathe and pray, knowing that I had refused this conversation any room in my thoughts.

Many have asked me if I ever thought about going back and just not following through my plans. The reality is that I never allowed that to be an option. Sure, thoughts of doubt and hesitancy entered my mind, but never to the point that I felt like I was making the wrong decision. Too many times this calling on my life has been confirmed and encouraged. For me to turn back now, would reveal a severe distrust and lack of faith in God who has brought me here.

So I walked down there at 10 and shared my heart. I told him about what God has been doing in my heart and that He is taking me a new direction. I told him about my desire to be in full-time missions of some sort. I told him that I will be walking away from Chevron in August to go to Southern Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky to enter into a season of being prepared. I told him about my lack of a clear plan right now as to what that full-time mission might look like. (Chevron international, Chevron stateside, IMB Missionary, Living Water, Local Pastor, etc.) I told him that I will continue to work hard until my final day. I told him that I wanted to talk with as many people individually about this decision, before we told a big group.

In all fairness to my boss, it would be hard not to be shocked by this news. Who walks away from a bright future and a cushy career to a possible life-threatening career? He was very supportive and happy for me to be choosing to follow God. He did call my move bold and risky, which I am choosing to count as a compliment, not an underhanded shot at me. He also said that even though it was shocking to hear, it fit right in with how I have lived my life up to that point. This was very encouraging for me to hear.

Most people don’t reveal how they view you until a moment of loss or frustration. So we operate not knowing exactly how we are representing Christ in everything, but in hopes that others might see Him in our lives and hear Him in our words. We chose to be faithful and fruit will follow as God sees fit. We can only control our faithfulness not our fruitfulness. We often do not even recognize fruit as God recognizes fruit. The farmer tills up the earth, plants the seeds, and waters the ground, but God is the one who causes the fruit to grow.

I have talked about this for what seems like decades, although has only been about 2 years. I am finally making good on some action to follow those words. I am opening up my hands and releasing my grasp on my career, life and success. I am choosing to trust that God’s Word is the Truth and I am banking my life on it. I am choosing to be faithful to the One who has been Faithful to us. I know not how the fruit will grow, but I am ready to labor in the fields.

Treasure

Mostly because I cannot say it better, I offer up a few quotes from men much smarter and more in tune than I. May we ever treasure Christ, because in Him is found the fullness that we all seek.

Just as our joy is based on the promise that God is strong enough and wise enough to make all things work together for our good, so God's joy is based on that same sovereign control: He makes all things work together for His Glory.  - John Piper, Desiring God


The world rings with praise; lovers loving their mistresses, readers praising their favorite poet, walkers praising the countryside, players praising their favorite game. ... I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation. It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are; they delight is incomplete till it is expressed.  - C.S. Lewis, Reflections on the Psalms


We praise what we enjoy because the delight is incomplete until it is expressed in praise. If we were not allowed to speak of what we value and celebrate what we love and praise what we admire, our joy would not be full. So if God loves us enough to make our joy full, He must not only give us Himself; He must also win from us the praise of our hearts - not because He needs to shore up some weakness in Himself or compensate for some deficiency, but because He loves us and seeks the fullness of our joy that can be found only in knowing and praising Him, the most magnificent of all Beings.  - John Piper, Desiring God

Once we had no delight in God, and Christ was just a vague historical figure. What we enjoyed was food and friendships and productivity and investments and vacations and hobbies and games and reading and shopping and sex and sports and art and TV and travel...but not God. He was an idea...but He was not a treasure of delight. Then something miraculous happened. It was like the opening of the eyes of the blind during the golden dawn...We would give anything if we might be granted to live in the presence of this glory forever and ever. And then faith - confidence that Christ has made a way for me...But before the confidence comes the craving. Before the decision comes the delight. Before trust comes the discovery of Treasure.  - John Piper, Desiring God


In conversion we find the hidden Treasure of the kingdom of God. We venture all on it. And year after year in the struggles of life, we prove the value of the treasure again and again, and we discover depths of riches we had never known. And so the joy of faith grows. When Christ calls us to a new act of obedience that will cost us some temporal pleasure, we call to mind the surpassing value of following Him, and by faith in His proven worth, we forsake the worldly pleasure. The result? More joy! More faith! Deeper than before. And so we go on from joy to joy and faith to faith. - John Piper, Desiring God

Captured by Love

I think if I were to claim a life verse, it would be the following:

'For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and He died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for Him who for their sake died and was raised.' -2 Corinthians 5:14-15

Our pastor is preaching a series on The Church. Last night we came to a series of verses about what the church is to look like. He came to the stage with nine points, but ended up just sharing two. The first was this: be captured by the love of Christ. We are to never move past this simple, yet robust truth. Christ loved us with a selfless agape love. This love is a deep, unselfish love that pours itself out and expects nothing in return. Our pastor urged us to not seek more discipline, but to pray that God would capture our hearts with His love for us. This is the model in the Scriptures. We are motivated, changed and protected because of the love of Christ, and nothing else. This is what I am praying for my heart this week and for yours.

His second point was that we are in the Spirit. He used many verses to illustrate this. Because of the Spirit we are sealed and have a guarantee (down payment) on the inheritance to be received. But more than this, we have life in the Spirit in this present age. The verse that really stuck with me last night was this:

'Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.' -Acts 4:13

Our pastor urged us not to seek more discipline again, for it is not the wise and learned that will find favor in the sight of God, but instead those who have been with Jesus. To ask this question of ourselves is difficult. When people see me, do they recognize that I have been with Jesus? We need more people in the church who have been with Jesus, not more volunteers and loud singers. We need more people in the workplace who have been with Jesus and are recognized for this by those outside and inside the church, not their domineering morality. We need more people going to the nations who have been with Jesus, for the world will not respond to anything but the Spirit moving.

Let us not confuse a vast knowledge of the Word, an eloquent prayer and staunch morality with a relationship with Jesus. My prayer is that we would commune and abide with Jesus this week and be captured by the love with which He has loved us.

Commonalities

God is doing so much in my heart right now. It is hard to put it all out there though. I am going to examine my heart more frequently. I have become dry and comfortable in my walk recently. It is nothing major, just a small shift. But that is really all that it takes. I am learning much about the mundane and the unnoticed, daily disciplines of life. We are no more than our habits, whether good or bad. There is no glamour or praise for the one who stays the course day after day. But the one that remains faithful, no matter the circumstance, is the one that is becoming something. Faithful. Disciplined. Steadfast. These are words that I think we all want said of us, but few of us are willing to stick to the course long enough to see the fruit.

I want to share a few truths that are stuck in my head after church tonight. Our pastor is killing it. The series is about The Church. The purpose is that we might see the fullness of the gospel, not just partialities and trite, Christian phrases.

We are all broken sinners who are separated from God. This is truth, whether we accept it or not. God is Holy. We are not. This separates us from the intended community and life that was meant to be from the outset of creation. Life was the design, but our sin brought death into the world.

We all seek that which we believe will give us life to the fullest. The objects that we seek are different, but we all seek that object until it leaves us empty. We then find another object to seek after or even worse, continue to seek after that which has left us empty for so many years. The range of possibilities for life-giving objects is endless. Success. Money. Power. Attention. Fame. Comfort. Approval. Ease. Death. All of these objects are not life-giving, but are instead ways that we are deceived. All of these end in death without Jesus Christ.

The gospel is about life. The gospel is about so much more than praying a prayer to get to heaven and promising to do better and trying to not sin anymore. The gospel is not a prayer and a destination. The gospel is about reconciliation. The gospel is about being brought back into life, both here on earth and forever with Jesus. The gospel is about changed lives. The gospel is about moving from death to life. The gospel is life-giving. Jesus has made a way for us to be reconciled. The gospel is about seeking Jesus, because in Him we will find life, unlike the other objects that we sought after.

*Prayer – Dad and a team from HFBC are in Guinea, West Africa even as I type. Two new brothers among the UPG they are working with have come to follow the “Jesus-way”. They want to be baptized. This is a monumental decision in their lives. They are openly professing to their Muslim communities that life is found only in Jesus Christ, not in any other religion or lifestyle. Pray that whole villages would receive the truth of the Kingdom of God. Pray that God, the Lord of the Harvest, would raise up workers for the harvest that is to come among these people. Pray that Mousa would be strengthened daily in the Word of God. Pray for these two new brothers that they would be rich soil and not rocky, dry or weed-infested soil. Praise God for salvation among those at the ends of the earth!

Go, Give and Pray

I had a chance this evening to get together with some people with kindred spirits. Because one of my good friend's crazy ideas, this group of people are going to put together a banquet/fundraiser for Living Water International here in the Permian Basin. Most of us have been on a trip with LWI and have seen God move in many ways through water. We want the people around us to be moved to go, give and pray as well. So, we're going to be putting together an event on May 25th at Rock the Desert's facilities to raise up volunteers to go and to give as well. There is going to be plenty of food, music, video, pictures and stories of reaching the thirsty with water and the Living Water. Please pray that God begin to move and stir up hearts to go, give and pray.

I'm thankful for people that see no difference between our outward actions and what God has done on the inside. These two should be so intertwined and mingled that there is no discernible difference between who we truly are and who we portray ourselves to be by our actions. God has rescued us and is satisfying our thirst, so we should be rescuing and satisfying the thirst of others too with physical water and the Living Water, Jesus Christ.

I really can see God doing some big things through this event. We really don't know how big or small this thing could be. Our goal is to stir up hearts to go, give and pray. This literally could raise millions of dollars of impact, or just a few hundred dollars. This could begin to change hundreds of lives, or just one. Either way, we seek to honor God and be used by Him.

Father, use our talents, influence, monies and skills to bring you glory and honor. We pray that You would begin the work of reconciliation in many people's hearts through this. We pray that You would use the wealth of the Permian Basin to bless countless people. We pray that You would usher in Your Kingdom through the drilling of these wells. We pray expectantly, knowing that You can do far above all that we can hope for. 

List-eater Christians

I started the Daniel Fast on Monday. My plan is to do it for 40 days and maybe longer. As I have changed my diet, I have seen how many things I run to before Jesus. These are not just food, but many other things. This fast has just provided an opportunity for me to be reminded of my dependency on so many things before Christ. I have also found that the list of things I find emotional comfort in before Jesus to be long and worn out. I believe the term for this in the Bible is idolatry.

Idolatry – placing anything in a position of greater importance than the most important thing; worship of anything that is not meant to be worshiped but to cause worship of its creator; replacing things of ultimate worth with things of temporary and fading worth

I have also found as the week has gone along that my ability to stick to the rules of the fast has increased. I have learned the things that I can eat, I like to eat, and that fill me up. I have found a way in my humanness to do my list. As this has happened, I have struggled with opening the Word and remembering my dependence on Christ. Early in the week, I found it easy to dwell on Christ because I was often hungry and unsatisfied. But now, as I have adjusted to the differences, it is much harder to remain in that constant state of dependence. This fact points out my weakness all the more. Christianity is not about a list, but life. If we just had a list, then we would learn to keep that list and never enter into a relationship with God. My list has changed from two weeks ago to now, but even in 7 days I have adjusted to keeping this list instead.

There is an old Aggie story about the ‘list-eater’. To get tickets to football games, you have to wait in this line according to your seniority throughout the week. Many people camped out for days and days to get the best seats. To make sure that it was known who was there first, they kept a list. Apparently, one year before the big Texas game, things got pretty tense and tight. There was a major argument about the list and who was in the right order. The famed ‘list-eater’ took the list in a moment of frustration and rage and proceeded to eat the list, never to be seen again. This caused even more confusion and ruckus than before since the list was gone.

I want to be a ‘list-eater’ Christian. I want the list of things that I feel like I have to do to please God to be digested and thrown out. Sure, some of those things on that list might have been around a long time and deserve some importance. Sure, I cannot get away from doing things on that list whether the list exists or not. But based on my experience with God and with the Bible, the list is meaningless. The list is Satan’s attempt to keep us entrapped, entangled and in bondage to rules and not relationship. The list is our attempt to stay in God’s good graces. Sure, not having the list might cause some confusion because we are used to a set of guidelines and not a relationship. But the relationship is what matters, not following an obscure set of rules.

I have also found that freedom and life is in Christ alone. Everything else that we call life, is only a tainted image of what true life is about. I have begun to see a glimpse of that life over the past few years. I have seen life more fully this past week than I had previously.

For those of us who are in Christ Jesus, we need not work to earn our salvation or favor in God’s sight. We could not increase nor decrease God’s view of us. He is wisdom and therefore sees all things as they truly are. We are what we are, and that comes through Jesus Christ. We are accepted because of Him. We are treasured because of Him. We are valued because of Him.

Our lists are a form of religion that is not pure and undefiled before God. Our lists get us nowhere fast. Our lists cause us to forget the gospel. Our lists hinder growth and life.

Let us be ‘list-eaters’ and seek God and not the rules we make up.

Romans 8:1 – There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Hosea 6:6 – For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

Isaiah 64:6 – We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.

Invitation to our Funeral

Eric Clark brought it this morning at Men’s Morning Bible Study.

Romans 6.

The first part of Romans 6 is the invitation to our funeral. (vs. 1-11)

                Die to self – the old man has passed away with his longings and desires

                Life in Christ – the new man has come; not a ‘better version’ of the old man, but Christ in me, the hope of Glory

                Our IDENTITY has fundamentally been changed to:

                                PURE, HOLY, BLAMELESS, RIGHTEOUS, SON, REDEEMED

                Even though in God’s sight the old man is gone, he still haunts us …

The second part of Romans 6 is an invitation to become a slave to Christ instead of sin. (vs. 12-23)

                Sanctification is the name of the game

                We are all slaves to something

                Instead of presenting ourselves to SIN and obeying that master, we as the REDEEMED should present ourselves to Christ and obey him

                The fruit of SIN is death and the fruit of Christ is life with Christ forever

                Sanctification is dual effort

                God’s Role:

                                1 Cor 3:5-8 – only God gives growth, not man

                                2 Cor 3:17-18 – The Spirit is transforming us (in degrees) as we behold the glory of God

                                Phil 1:6 – He began the work and will complete it

                                Phil 2:13 – He works for His glory and good pleasure

                Our Role:

                                Rom 8:13 – living in the flesh is death and we must put to death the flesh in us

                                Phil 2:12 – work out our salvation with fear and trembling

                                Phil 3:12-16 – pressing on to the goal

                                Romans 6:12-16 – present ourselves to the better master; Christ, not sin

Be reminded of IDENTITY in CHRIST through the GOSPEL.

Become slaves to Christ.

MAKE WAR against sin.

Communities of Remembrance

At my community group this past week we discussed different Biblical events and people. The focus of the discussion was times in their lives where their faith was tested and grown. These times in their lives were times where they came to know God better through either their trials or good times. We talked about people from Old Testament all the way through to the end.

Moses. Elijah. David. Lazarus. Martha. Mary. Paul. John.

There are so many stories to recount of how God was Faithful, Provider and Sovereign over circumstances in the lives of the righteous and unrighteous. God showed up time and again, or didn’t show time and again, so that His name might be proclaimed in all the earth.

It was interesting to talk about these and to think about how quickly these people forgot what God had just done in their lives. They often saw God do something amazing and incredible that only God could do and the next verse will read that they quickly forgot. They not only forgot what God had done, but they cried out against Him. They cried out in sin and then often rebelled and went the other direction away from God. This is a common thread that runs through the whole of Scripture.

God is good, all the time.

Humans rebel against Him and His goodness.

God reveals Himself and many believe and worship.

Humans forget and rebel again.

God is Faithful to the end.

I started reading through the book of Exodus, chronicling the life of Moses and the people of Israel coming out of Egypt towards the Promised Land. After reading this last night, a couple of main things stuck out to me about these events.

·         God is faithful, even when we are unfaithful and resist Him and His will for our lives.

·         God is ultimately after His name being proclaimed in the world, not our success.

Moses was born into struggle and strife. Moses was born a slave and should have been killed immediately, but was preserved and blessed for God’s purpose. He was raised up in the house of Pharaoh. He eventually kills a man and has to flee the land of Egypt to the wilderness, where He spends 40 years away from where God would send Him. Some would say here that he resisted what God meant for his life, but I believe that this ‘wilderness’ experience was necessary for him to grow into the man that God desired him to be.

Moses then met God in a burning bush and Moses still resisted God’s call on his life to go and speak.

“But Moses said to the LORD, ‘Oh my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since You have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.’ Then the LORD said to him, ‘Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the LORD? Now therefore go, and I will be your mouth, and teach you what to speak.’” –Exodus 4:10-12

God offered to fill His weaknesses with Himself, but Moses still resisted. God used Moses anyways, even though he resisted God’s call on his life. God is faithful even when we are unfaithful.

Second, God told Moses to go speak to Pharaoh and tell Him to let His people go. God threw in this caveat though: Pharaoh will not listen to you because I will harden his heart, but I want you to go tell him anyways. God just told Moses that nothing will come of you doing exactly what I tell you to do. God told him to just be faithful to do what God called him to do and leave the results to God. God continues to harden Pharaoh’s heart and do miraculous signs to show Himself as God Almighty, Yahweh, the LORD. But Moses is still unsuccessful in changing Pharaoh’s heart. God had to do the work, not Moses. God says this in the midst of all the plagues to Pharaoh.

                ‘But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.’ –Exodus 9:16

God could have just wiped them off the face of the earth with one breath, but wanted His name to be made famous and worshipped. God is ultimately after His name being proclaimed in the world, not our success.

Once God finally allows the people to leave Egypt, they get into much trouble in the wilderness. God set up important events in their culture to remind them of these Exodus experiences (Passover, Feast of Unleavened Bread, etc.) In the wilderness, they constantly gripe and grumble and resist that God is Almighty, Provider, and Faithful. The Israelites were so forgetful and rebellious, not quick to listen and obey and so short-sighted. They desired their best good now, but God desires a better good that is far-reaching. God desires to show Himself as the only true God and desires that we become worshippers of Him only.

We are not unlike the Israelites. We are slaves to our sin and flesh. We want to be freed from that, but even when we are we still resist that God is after His glory and our good. We have ‘wilderness’ experiences. We gripe, grumble and forget. We run from Him, even as He is providing for us and being faithful to His promises. We do come back at times and worship Him for who He is. But, then we forget what He has done powerfully in front of our eyes and in the scope of human history. We need to be reminded of who God is. We need to be reminded of who we are. We need to be reminded of our need and His great Grace in the cross (i.e. The Passover). We need to be reminded that He is Faithful to the end.

This is why we need a community that is reminding us of these things. We need each other, because without each other, we will quickly forget all that God has done and all that God is.

I pray that our communities would be about reminding each other of God Almighty. I pray that our communities would be about the gospel and a constant remembrance of it. 

Almost-kinda Resolutions

I am not big on resolutions. In fact, I do not think that I have ever made one legitimately, let alone kept one. I am somewhat of a rebel, so when I see everybody doing something, I tend to want to run as far from that thing as possible. Resolutions have been one of those things for me. But maybe 2012 will be different.

Currently at work, I am working on 2012 plans for production, spending and development. I have been thinking a lot about those things for Chevron-Dollarhide, and I think that it would be good to think about those things in my own life. What is my plan? What do I need to change? What do I need to keep? Where am I heading?

I don’t want to necessarily make resolutions, but just think about what 2012 might look like for me. Instead of being long-winded, I am going to try to write very simply and concisely, like my dad says the best writers do. With no further ado, these are my ‘almost, kinda’ resolutions for 2012.

The Gospel – learn to speak it more clearly and more often

Live openhandedly – knowing that my stuff is not my own but has come from the Father

Learn to live lean – this will be an area of growth (does that even make sense) for me in 2012; learn to trim out the fat and excess in my life (literally and metaphorically)

Get rid of excess – figure out what it is that is ‘necessary’ and ‘essential’ and get rid of the rest

Read and Study the Bible every day – ‘The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.’ John 6:63b

Invest in lives – learn to give up self and seek the wellbeing of others; learn to pour out my life into others

Seek the Father and His will for my life – this includes more prayer, more fasting, more community, more quiet, more study, more exposures and more seeking

Boom. There they are. Now it is time to go make them happen.