moving forward

I’m not going back, my past is over…. It’s one of my favorite songs at the moment. The video isn’t great but the song sure is! I especially like the chorus: You make all things new, yes, you make all things new, and I will follow you, forward!

Philippians 1:29: a theology of suffering?

Would you believe that suffering, as part of the Christian life, according to the Bible, is a gift from God? 

In Philippians 1:29 is the word χαριζομαι (the text has the aor pass indicative: εχαριστη), which has to do with grace or to give graciously (BDAG 7893; Bibleworks 8).  In addition, χαριζομαι was a common term used in honorific documents lauding officials and civic-minded persons for their beneficence.  Who more than God, our gracious heavenly father, deserves such an honorific description, who desrves to be lauded for his beneficence? 

So, with regard to suffering, in a sense it is part of God’s gracious favor towards us, that we suffer for him, whatever that may mean, be it through poverty, illness, disability, persecution, even imprisonment (as in the case of Paul) (the list could go on and on). 

And to be sure, these things may not all happen here in the States necessarily (not yet at least) but they happen to Christians all over the world on a regular basis, especially in what are called “closed” countries (ie, most of the Middle East, most of Asia, and any other region of the world with a communist or totalitarian government). 

Here is how Lightfoot reads Philippians 1:29: 

God has granted the high privilege of suffering for Christ; this is the surest sign that he looks upon you with favor.  

Suffering is the surest sign that God looks upon us with favor?  This is hard to believe/hear isn’t it?  That a sign of God’s favor is not necessarily or always blessing (mainly in the material or physical sense).  One might be lead to ask, if I am not suffering in some fashion for following Jesus, am I really following Jesus?  Do I have God’s favor? 

I find this particularly interesting because thinking in many Christian circles seem to suggest the opposite: that suffering is somehow a curse, a sign of God’s punishment or judgement, not his blessing.  This seems to be especially true in those circles that promote the health and wealth gospel (also known as Word of Faith).  These folks see health and wealth as signs of God’s favor not suffering.  In fact, they eschew suffering.   This is contrary to the word of God.  We should embrace suffering, for through it, we have God’s favor. 

This is one of the reasons why preaching through Philippians has been challenging for me though I am not even out of the first chapter yet.  The more I read it the more I become uncomfortable with the notion that people who follow Jesus with all of their hearts don’t suffer.  Paul blatantly contradict that notion.   Now, I hesitate to say any material or physical blessing is somehow wrong – it isn’t because God does bless his people.   Some are gifted to be wealthy for the benefit of the larger body of Christ, but I would not say this is the norm or even to be expected by most.   And who’s to say being wealthy isn’t aform of suffering since so much responsibility is required to maintain that wealth and or to handle that wealth in a responsible way?  Make no mistake: not every rich person is happy – many suffer all sorts fo hardships, especially from friends and family who may not be wealthy and who want a chunk of that wealth. 

Anyways, suffering for the Lord Jesus is a basic part of discipleship and is to be expected and embraced.  It comes with the cost of following Jesus – and so Paul exhorts the Philippian believers to “live in manner worthy of the gospel,” “as citizens of heaven,” standing firm in the one Spirit, striving together in unity for the sake of the gospel so they won’t have to fear those who oppose them.

back online

got the new modem and am back on line, not sure when the next blog will be.

re

our modem broke so we’re waiting on a new one – so I just am not able to be in the net much or able to keep up with blogging.  I trust you all are well.

I won….

an nlt mosaic!  shweet!

On the use of Study Bibles

to be honest I don’t really use them, that much. 

In fact, I only have maybe two or three of them and rarely do I actually look at them.  This is not to say they are not useful or beneficial to the church.  They are very useful and very beneficial to the church – probably one of the most useful aspects of them are the introductions and the outlines. 

I once embarked on an inductive study of 1 John and spent quite a bit of time just reading through it over and over noting key words and phrases and making notes on a chart  and things.  When I was done I decided to look up 1 John in my NIV Study Bible and to my amazement, the outline and thoughts I had come up with was virtually identical to the NIV notes.   And this is probably how it should be.  If you study a book in depth and come up with something completely different than what is commonly stated you should probably be worried and maybe go back over some things.   My comparisons with the NIV Study Bible notes only confirmed I was going in the right direction – and perhaps this is really the biggest benefit of Study Bibles – they can help us be sure we’re going in the right direction with regards to how we are understanding the Bible text.

That aside, I have an MDiv (not that that makes me more special than anyone else), I have the tools needed to be able to write the notes most of the folks do who write the notes for the Study Bibles.  Well, of course they are more learned than myself but don’t miss my point – for pastors and teachers, who should have the training, Study Bibles shouldn’t be their main resources.

Who are Study Bibles most helpful for?  They are most helpful to those who don’t have the training and want a good resource for getting the needed guidance for properly understanding the biblical text.

But for those who have the training, I am not sure they should be used that often if at all.

What say you?

still here

i’ve just been offline while we move into an temporary living arrangement while we work on replacing our home that got over run by mold.   i trust all is well for you.

We had a gal present on her missions work in Northern Asia yesterday in our service  and I was pretty moved by it – I ended up blubbering in front of those were there.  I was especially deeply moved by the fact that there is no translation of the Bible in any language of the various peoples of Tibet – none.

If you are young and looking for some way to make an impact in the Kingdom of God – I say go to Tibet, pick a people group and spend the rest of your life getting them a translation of the Bible, even if it is just the New Testament – this is the work of the Kingdom – to bring light to the lost – to be a light in the darkness – and Tibet is a dark dark pace desperately in need of the light and truth of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Who has heard the voice of the Lord and whom shall he send??!  Will you go?  Go now!

Be Blessed.

Tim Keller on Preaching

Pastor Tim Keller has a blog post he put up recently called Preacher – onlys aren’t good preachers.    He makes some really good points that I too have been thinking about with regard to the the pastoral ministry and church life and that is this:  preaching isn’t everything.

In other words, there is more to the pastoral ministry and church life in general than preaching, even the oft praised expository preaching.  Much more.   Now this isn’t to put down preaching or to say that there isn’t a need for good preaching but if that is all you do in the church then you are only fulfilling a very small part of your pastoral calling and vocation, if not neglecting it altogether.  In fact, you are overdoing it.

What are the other aspects of the pastoral ministry?  Keller writes in part:

I have often seen many men spend a great amount of time on preparing and preaching lengthy, dense, expository messages, while giving far less time and energy to the learning of leadership and pastoral nurture. It takes lots of experience and effort to help a body of people make a unified decision, or to regularly raise up new lay leaders, or to motivate and engage your people in evangelism, or to think strategically about the stewardship of your people’s spiritual gifts, or even to discern what they are. It takes lots of experience and effort to know how to help a sufferer without being either too passive or too directive, or to know when to confront a doubter and when to just listen patiently. Pastors in many of our Reformed churches do not seem to be as energized to learn to be great leaders and shepherds, but rather have more of an eye to being great teachers and preachers.

I am sorry to have to say this and sorry to hurt some pastors ears but again, there is more to the pastoral ministry and church life than just the preaching – there is the ministering of the ordinances, there is pastoral care and nurture, shepherding, leadership issues, and so on and on and on.   And in the end what does all this do?  Make you a better preacher.  Why?  Because you’ve been interacting with people, dealing with daily life issues and problems and successes and so on.

I was surprised to see he gets in about 15 hours of sermon prep time – and advised that newer or younger pastors only get in about 6 – 8 hours.  I remember once hearing John MacArthur telling a church board he was interviewing with that he was essentially demanding 30 hours for sermon work – to me, when I heard this, I thought that was massive overkill.   I fall in the 6-8 hour range, I just don’t have a lot of time for sermon prep – though I try to follow certain methodologies to be a s effective as I can be in the time I have (ie: diagramming, word studies, some background research and the like).  But 30 hours?  Man that is just too much.

So, don’t over focus on the preaching prep – make sure you put in time being a pastor too!  ;)

Go here for more thoughts on preaching.

the latest

I missed a lot of blogging lately because we’ve been pretty busy.  A couple days this week we had a minister’s renewal for the AZ District of the Assemblies of God and it went well.  Mark Batterson and Bob Rhoden were our speakers.   Mark did a lot of the speaking though and he is good.  He mostly addresses leadership issues but they are all well grounded in the Scripture.  He pastors National Community Church in the D.C. Area and shared a lot about that experience as well.  He has a couple of books out too: Wild Goose Chase and In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day.  He has a new one coming out in December call Primal that sounds like it will be pretty good as well. These are not biblical studies books per se but more leadership and personal growth/development books (something that is just as needed as the other). 

On another front, we’ve discoverd we have a pretty heavy duty mold problem in our house and will have to pack it up and get a new one – it will cost too much to salvage it – there is a 25 sq ft area under the kitchen area of the house that is all full of mold - according to the inspection it’s probably been there since even before we lived here (2 years now) so it’s a problem.   It explains a lot – why mercy has been in the Dr’s office at least once a month since we’ve been here, low energy, other sicknesses, and so on.   Thankfully, we’ll be getting a lot of help from those in our district. 

a thought for the day: I have been thinking about the title of Gordon Fee’s book Listening to the Spirit in the Text and I wonder if and hope that is what I do – do I listen to the Holy Spirit as I read and study the Bible or a particular passage when preparing for a sermon – do I listen to the Holy Spirit and then follow through or do I simplylet my own presuppositions and or personal agenda influence how I read or interpret the Bible?  I know many of us hope we are listening to the Holy Spirit but tray as you ca to press in and hear from the Spirit.

a lost blog

Mark Stevens has officially retired his blog – no more blogging.  He writes in part:

However, ultimately, as my good friend Simon Clemowreminded me recently the GREAT BISHOP, said in his “Mark For Everyone” Commentary of Mark Mark 9:38-50, “The second thing, within that [that being that discipleship is difficult, and demands sacrifice], is that sometimes what we are asked to give up is not something that is sinful in and of itself…We should be prepared to reject something which is good and God-given – as hands, feet, eyes and [blogging] are! – but which, at the moment at least, is leading us down the wrong path.”(p.127-128). therefore I might best describe this as an act of obedience and personal in nature. You may not agree with it, but I do ask you try to understand and respect it.

It’s been really great getting to know Mark – he is a great guy and he had a lot of great things to say on his blog – but I know too it wasn’t always an easy or smooth ride and I know some of the blogs of which he notes he will not miss, and I know the ones that he will miss.   All I can say is shame on those bloggers who’s blogs he will not miss.

But his point is well taken that sometimes following the Lord means even giving up good things to take on better ones (which is is why he says this is personal and not universal).

In a lot of ways I can relate to Mark’s situation – it’s pretty hard to keep up blogging consistently when you have small children and a job and the like – I now have two small children (a 2 yr old and a 2 month old), plus I more or less have three jobs: the church (voluntary – no pay) and two part-time jobs (paid) on the side, plus the need to have personal time, family time, time with the Lord, time to read, time to deal with church issues, and on and on the list goes, which is why I have slowed down a bit in blogging, and dropped off the top-50 list and so on.   So, I can relate.   Though I hate to see he retire his blog, I can understand and respect why he is doing it.

Grace and Peace.