Saturday, 14 November 2009
Friday, 6 November 2009
Too busy - a very common malady
"No single mortal can be sufficient to do everything however many and various may be the endowments wherein he excels. Let then God’s servants learn to measure carefully their powers, lest they should wear out by ambitiously embracing too many occupations. For this propensity to engage in too many things is a very common malady and numbers are so carried along by it as not to be easily restrained."
Calvin on Exodus 18:15ff
HT: David Field
Calvin on Exodus 18:15ff
HT: David Field
Thursday, 5 November 2009
Wartime Living
"One of the marks of this peacetime mind-set is what I call an avoidance ethic. In wartime we ask different questions about what to do with our lives than we do in peacetime. We ask: What can I do to advance the cause? What can I do to bring the victory? What sacrifice can I make or what risk can I take to insure the joy of triumph? In peacetime we tend to ask, What can I do to be more comfortable? To have more fun? To avoid trouble and, possibly, avoid sin?
If we are going to pay the price and take the risks it will cost to make people glad in God, we move beyond the avoidance ethic. This way of life is utterly inadequate to waken people to the beauty Christ. Avoiding fearful trouble and forbidden behaviors impresses almost no one. The avoidance ethic by itself is not Christ-commending or God-glorifying. There are many disciplined unbelievers who avoid the same behaviors Christians do. Jesus calls us to do something far more radical than that.
People who are content with the avoidance ethic generally ask the wrong question about behavior. They ask, What's wrong with it? What's wrong with this movie? Or this music? Or this game? Or these companions? Or this way of relaxing? Or this investment? Or this restaurant? Or shopping at this store? What's wrong with going to the cabin every weekend? Or having a cabin? This kind of question will rarely yield a lifestyle that commends Christ as all-satisfying and makes people glad in God. It simply results in a list of don'ts. It feeds the avoidance ethic.
The better questions to ask about possible behaviors is: How will this help me treasure Christ more? How will it help me show that I do treasure Christ? How will it help me know Christ or display Christ? The Bible says, "Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all for the glory of God" (1 Corinthians 10:31). So the question is mainly positive, not negative. How can I portray God as glorious in this action? How can I enjoy making much of him in this behavior?
Oh, how many lives are wasted by people who believe that the Christian life means simply avoiding badness and providing for the family. So there is no adultery, no stealing, no killing, no embezzlement, no fraud--just lots of hard work during the day and lots of TV and PG-13 videos in the evening (during quality family time), and lots of fun stuff on the weekend--woven around the church (mostly). This is life for millions of people. Wasted life. We were created for more, far more.
There is an old saying: "No man ever lamented on his dying bed, 'I wish I had spent more time at the office."' The point being made is usually that when you are about to die, money suddenly looks like what it really is, useless for lasting happiness, while relationships become precious. It's true. When my mother was killed in 1974, I wrote to the chairman of my department at Bethel College, where I was teaching, and reversed my request to teach an overload the next semester to make more money. Standing beside your mother's grave with a wife and child makes things look different. Money loses its pull.
But that saying about spending less time at the office can be misleading. We need to add this: No one will ever want to say to the Lord of the universe five minutes after death, I spent every night playing games and watching TV with my family because I loved them so much. I think the Lord will say, "That did make me look like a treasure in your town. You should have done something besides provide for yourself and your family. And TV, as you should have known, was not a good way to nurture your family or your own soul."
John Piper, Don't Waste Your Life, page 118-120
If we are going to pay the price and take the risks it will cost to make people glad in God, we move beyond the avoidance ethic. This way of life is utterly inadequate to waken people to the beauty Christ. Avoiding fearful trouble and forbidden behaviors impresses almost no one. The avoidance ethic by itself is not Christ-commending or God-glorifying. There are many disciplined unbelievers who avoid the same behaviors Christians do. Jesus calls us to do something far more radical than that.
People who are content with the avoidance ethic generally ask the wrong question about behavior. They ask, What's wrong with it? What's wrong with this movie? Or this music? Or this game? Or these companions? Or this way of relaxing? Or this investment? Or this restaurant? Or shopping at this store? What's wrong with going to the cabin every weekend? Or having a cabin? This kind of question will rarely yield a lifestyle that commends Christ as all-satisfying and makes people glad in God. It simply results in a list of don'ts. It feeds the avoidance ethic.
The better questions to ask about possible behaviors is: How will this help me treasure Christ more? How will it help me show that I do treasure Christ? How will it help me know Christ or display Christ? The Bible says, "Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all for the glory of God" (1 Corinthians 10:31). So the question is mainly positive, not negative. How can I portray God as glorious in this action? How can I enjoy making much of him in this behavior?
Oh, how many lives are wasted by people who believe that the Christian life means simply avoiding badness and providing for the family. So there is no adultery, no stealing, no killing, no embezzlement, no fraud--just lots of hard work during the day and lots of TV and PG-13 videos in the evening (during quality family time), and lots of fun stuff on the weekend--woven around the church (mostly). This is life for millions of people. Wasted life. We were created for more, far more.
There is an old saying: "No man ever lamented on his dying bed, 'I wish I had spent more time at the office."' The point being made is usually that when you are about to die, money suddenly looks like what it really is, useless for lasting happiness, while relationships become precious. It's true. When my mother was killed in 1974, I wrote to the chairman of my department at Bethel College, where I was teaching, and reversed my request to teach an overload the next semester to make more money. Standing beside your mother's grave with a wife and child makes things look different. Money loses its pull.
But that saying about spending less time at the office can be misleading. We need to add this: No one will ever want to say to the Lord of the universe five minutes after death, I spent every night playing games and watching TV with my family because I loved them so much. I think the Lord will say, "That did make me look like a treasure in your town. You should have done something besides provide for yourself and your family. And TV, as you should have known, was not a good way to nurture your family or your own soul."
John Piper, Don't Waste Your Life, page 118-120
Tuesday, 3 November 2009
Wednesday, 28 October 2009
Godly Giving
This Sunday at All Saints is ‘Stewardship Sunday’ – when we are all encouraged to review our stewardship of the abundant good gifts God has given us. In Ephesians 4:28Paul writes: “He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need.” Put simply, there are three ways to live with money and possessions: 1) we can steal to get; or 2) we can work to get; or 3) we can work to get in order to give.
Too many of us Christians live on level two, urged on by the pressures of the culture we live in. But the Bible calls us to be different from the world. The Bible urges us on to level three. “God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.” (2 Corinthians 9:8) Why does God give us all we need and, for many of us, plenty besides? So we can have enough to live on and then use the rest for all sorts of good works in love and service of Jesus and others.
The way of Jesus is not how we usually live - abundance for us, just enough for others - but rather the extraordinary way of love - abundance for others, just enough for us. It’s not about how much we have. The more we have, the more opportunity (and responsibility) we have to pass on God’s grace to others. However much you’ve got, use your money wisely: enjoy everything you have, but set your hope fully on God, and joyfully overflow in abundant generosity to a lost and needy world.
Paul taught Timothy: “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.”
Our God is good and loves us to be happy! He commands us to be generous and willing to share, not so that we lose out but so that we gain – life that is truly life.
HT: John Piper (of course!)
Too many of us Christians live on level two, urged on by the pressures of the culture we live in. But the Bible calls us to be different from the world. The Bible urges us on to level three. “God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.” (2 Corinthians 9:8) Why does God give us all we need and, for many of us, plenty besides? So we can have enough to live on and then use the rest for all sorts of good works in love and service of Jesus and others.
The way of Jesus is not how we usually live - abundance for us, just enough for others - but rather the extraordinary way of love - abundance for others, just enough for us. It’s not about how much we have. The more we have, the more opportunity (and responsibility) we have to pass on God’s grace to others. However much you’ve got, use your money wisely: enjoy everything you have, but set your hope fully on God, and joyfully overflow in abundant generosity to a lost and needy world.
Paul taught Timothy: “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.”
Our God is good and loves us to be happy! He commands us to be generous and willing to share, not so that we lose out but so that we gain – life that is truly life.
HT: John Piper (of course!)
Monday, 5 October 2009
The Badman Review
Petrified that the family might actually have some freedom beyond their observation, the state is planning a crack down on home education. Put simply, they don't trust parents to care for our kids. Given original sin I can understand that. But can the government be trusted to care for our children? Consider this case:
"A school dinner lady who saved a seven-year-old girl from being viciously bullied and then told her parents what had happened has been sacked for breaching pupil confidentiality. Carol Hill - who has worked at Great Tey Primary School in Essex for eight years -rescued Chloe David after she was tied to a fence by a gang of boys and whipped with a skipping rope.
The boys' parents were called in to discuss the violence, but Chloe's parents were only told that she had been hurt in an incident with a skipping rope. They only discovered the truth after bumping into Mrs Hill at a Scout meeting. The school claims that she broke confidentiality rules by telling them what had happened, and she has now been fired by a disciplinary tribunal." (26 September 2009)
Here is a case of state teachers covering up horrific bullying and lying to parents because they care for themselves and not the children under their care. What's more, the tribunal then sacked the school staff who cared for a child in her care and told truth to the child's parents. Hadn't the government better get their own house in order before presuming to tell us how to run ours?
I know you probably don't home educate your kids and you probably send them to a local school but the government's attitude effects you nonethless. Your absolute right as a parent to choose to educate your child in the way in which you choose is as much at risk as mine as the state over regulates and invades family life. Mr Badman's proposal to allow a child to be interviewed in his or her own home by an official of the state without a parent being present would give the local authority official more rights than a police officer. We teach our kids not to trust strangers, but Mr Badman proposes we be coerced to allow strangers to chat to our kids alone. Badman's proposals require a substantial shift in law away from the parent towards the state in regards to the responsibility to raise a child. This redefinition of the role of the parent and the state in raising children has wide implications for all families outside of the home education community too.
Wednesday, 23 September 2009
Thursday, 3 September 2009
Fools quoting fools being fools
On Tuesday, the Daily Telegraph published what they called ‘The Top 10 worst Bible passages’, taken from shipoffools.com who have been asking those who visit their website to vote on their least favourite verse. The top 10 were the following:
1. The ban on women teaching in church (1 Timothy 2:12)
2. Samuel’s instruction to ‘totally destroy’ the Amalekites (1 Samuel 15:3)
3. Moses’ command ‘Do not allow a sorceress to live.’ (Exodus 22:18)
4. The ending of Psalm 137 ‘Happy are those who seize your infants and dash them against the rocks’
5. The gang rape and murder of a concubine (Judges 19:25-28)
6. The condemnation of homosexuality (Romans 1:27)
7. Jephthah’s vow which led to his daughter being sacrificed (Judges 11)
8. God’s instruction to Abraham to sacrifice Isaac (Genesis 22:2)
9. The instruction that wives submit to their husbands (Ephesians 5:22)
10. The instruction that slaves submit to their masters (1 Peter 2:18)
Clearly some of those are hard to deal with, though just because the Bible describes an event it doesn't mean God approves. However, 1, 6, 9 & 10 are not hard to deal with. They are very clear. They are also very unpopular. We would expect that from non-Christians, but for Christians to turn their noses up at God's word is daft, rude and plain faithless.
As Keven DeYoung points out: "Christians should not only believe what the Bible teaches, they should like what the Bible teaches. All Scripture is not just tolerable, but profitable and breathed out by God (2 Tim. 3:16).The law should be our delight (Psalm 1:2; 119:77; Rom. 7:2). We should love the commandments of God (Psalm 119:47; 1 John 5:3).... The Bible is true and the Bible is good. When we accept its truth without actually liking it, we have only come half way to mature faith. We are like kids saying "I'm sorry" while rolling our eyes, like a husband getting flowers so his wife won't be ticked, like a lover skimming through a letter from her beloved when she should be cherishing every word and every truth in her heart. Read the Bible. Believe the Bible. Delight in all that it affirms. Anything less is not good for your soul."
Ship of fools seems appropriately named. For more wisdom from DeYoung's post go here.
1. The ban on women teaching in church (1 Timothy 2:12)2. Samuel’s instruction to ‘totally destroy’ the Amalekites (1 Samuel 15:3)
3. Moses’ command ‘Do not allow a sorceress to live.’ (Exodus 22:18)
4. The ending of Psalm 137 ‘Happy are those who seize your infants and dash them against the rocks’
5. The gang rape and murder of a concubine (Judges 19:25-28)
6. The condemnation of homosexuality (Romans 1:27)
7. Jephthah’s vow which led to his daughter being sacrificed (Judges 11)
8. God’s instruction to Abraham to sacrifice Isaac (Genesis 22:2)
9. The instruction that wives submit to their husbands (Ephesians 5:22)
10. The instruction that slaves submit to their masters (1 Peter 2:18)
Clearly some of those are hard to deal with, though just because the Bible describes an event it doesn't mean God approves. However, 1, 6, 9 & 10 are not hard to deal with. They are very clear. They are also very unpopular. We would expect that from non-Christians, but for Christians to turn their noses up at God's word is daft, rude and plain faithless.
As Keven DeYoung points out: "Christians should not only believe what the Bible teaches, they should like what the Bible teaches. All Scripture is not just tolerable, but profitable and breathed out by God (2 Tim. 3:16).The law should be our delight (Psalm 1:2; 119:77; Rom. 7:2). We should love the commandments of God (Psalm 119:47; 1 John 5:3).... The Bible is true and the Bible is good. When we accept its truth without actually liking it, we have only come half way to mature faith. We are like kids saying "I'm sorry" while rolling our eyes, like a husband getting flowers so his wife won't be ticked, like a lover skimming through a letter from her beloved when she should be cherishing every word and every truth in her heart. Read the Bible. Believe the Bible. Delight in all that it affirms. Anything less is not good for your soul."
Ship of fools seems appropriately named. For more wisdom from DeYoung's post go here.
Desperately in need of grace
“Your worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God’s grace, nor are your best days ever so good that you are beyond the need of it.”
Jerry Bridges, Discipline of Grace
Jerry Bridges, Discipline of Grace
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