Forgiveness - What about Marriage?

Last week I posted some follow-up thoughts to a post I made back in November about Forgiveness. After I posted it, I got a couple of follow-up emails specific to marriage saying, "If forgiveness does not demand reconciliation, what does that do for our marriages? Doesn't forgiveness within marriage demand reconciliation in order for it to be true forgiveness?"

It's a good question, and here's how I responded:

The difference between marriage and some other relationships is that on the front-end of marriage you make a covenant commitment to restoration “until death do us part.”

When we get married, we promise to do more than just move the relationship back to a zero balance. Our promise requires us to go further than just forgiveness because our marriages are intended to model the whole gospel... not just the forgiveness part, but the grace part as well.

It is true that in our humanness, it may not be possible for the marriage relationship (or any human relationship) to be completely restored to what it was prior to the offense. For example, a woman whose husband struggled with pornography will likely never be able to shake the fear that her husband might be fall again. A husband whose wife blew their life savings on new furniture without telling him might not ever completely trust her to keep the family's financial records. But in promising to love like Christ loved us "until death separates us," we're promising to erase the debt (forgive) and pursue reconciliation of the relationship until one of us dies.

That's why marriage commitments are so significant.

Primal - Book Review

I've enjoyed Mark Batterson's blog for years. Batterson is the pastor of National Community Church in Washington DC, and can be counted on for a regular daily dose of good leadership insights. Only watching from the outside, Mark seems to be the kind of pastor I would love to be: energetic, sharp, well-read, with an ability to be serious about ministry and serious about his staff team (and church as a whole) having a lot of fun.

Primal is Mark's third book. I enjoyed "In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day," and got the privilege of reviewing an advance copy of "Wild Goose Chase." His publisher was gracious enough to send me "Primal" as well.

"Primal" is Batterson's most mature book to date. This book has more intensity than its predecessors and hits just a little harder. But just like the first two books, "Primal" is a good motivational book with good advice about living the spiritual life.

Batterson has mastered the art of the axiom, and (as I wrote in my Wild Goose Chase review) is an anecdote machine. His one-liners and creative storytelling make the book an extremely fast read, and help it stick with the reader.

"Primal" is outlined around a "reimagination of the four primal elements detailed by Jesus in the the Great Commandment" (Mark 12:30). His thesis is that our primal problem as a Church is that we are rarely even good at the great commandment. In talking about the heart, soul, mind, and strength of Christianity, Batterson says we need "primal compassion," "primal wonder," "primal curiosity," and "primal energy."

The theologically astute reader will find little to argue with in Batterson's conclusions, but may be a little disappointed in the way Batterson gets there. The book is anecdote heavy, but not Bible heavy. Batterson often uses the Bible to illustrate his point, but rarely to make his point. This is a weakness, in my opinion, because it limits the real authority behind Batterson's right conclusions.

Batterson's writing style is extremely unique. He isn't a linear thinker, and doesn't write like one. So, the linear left-brained thinker (like me) may struggle to follow where Batterson is taking them. Instead, Batterson asserts several things around his point, tells a few story, and a conclusion pops out. The left-brained person may feel like the book is disjointed but it isn't. Once you understand Batterson's mindset, the book is much easier to follow.

If you're looking for a good motivational book this Christmas to set your focus as you head into the New Year, "Primal" might the book for you. It won't take you long to read, and you will find a lot of great points to think about. It shouldn't be the meatiest book you read in 2010, but is a good one to jump start your thinking.

Hole in Our Gospel - Review

I read "The Hole in Our Gospel" by Richard Stearns several months ago, but have avoided doing a review. Honestly, there were some things I strongly liked about this book and several things that I strongly didn't like about this book. It's hard to know where to start a review, and means the review will be longer than normal. Sorry.

When it comes down to it, I think Stearns comes to a right conclusion (Christians need to do better when it comes to involvement with social justice around the world) through a false premise (Belief in the gospel is not enough, we need to bring the kingdom through our actions).

Richard Stearns is the president of World Vision, and tells his own remarkable story throughout the book. He has done much good in the world, and is a shining example of someone who decided to focus his eyes on eternity despite the temporary cost to himself. We need more people who live their lives that way.

Stearns rightly argues that much of Scripture is concerned with God's people representing His interests with those who are victims, oppressed, downcast, and destitute. Stearns also rightly argues that the 20th century church has done a crummy job of this, focusing inward instead. He's right.

But Stearns makes two assertions - one that I personally disagree with but that isn't an issue to divide over, the second an extremely dangerous assertion that could take the church off a cliff at break-neck speed.

First, Stearns argues that it is the Church's responsibility to make the "'kingdom of God'... a reality through the lives and deeds of [Jesus'] followers" (p. 3). The thesis Stearns lays down in his introduction is that "the whole gospel is a vision for ushering in God's kingdom - now, not in some future time, and here, on earth, not in some distant heaven" (p.5). And throughout his book, Stearns shifts back and forth between an amillenial position (there will be no actual thousand year kingdom) and a postmillenial position (Jesus will return after His kingdom has been established). Therefore, he says, we should get to work building what the Old Testament Prophesies promise the kingdom will look like, which includes social justice.

Personally, I believe in a premillenial kingdom, that Jesus will return physically to the earth and establish his thousand-year kingdom on the earth as He sits on David's throne in Jerusalem in fulfillment of 2 Samuel 7:5-16 and Revelation 20, among other passages. The Church should absolutely reflect God's interests in the world (including acts of social justice), but not because we're attempting to bring the Kingdom; because we're ambassadors of a future Kingdom (2 Corinthians 5:20). Yet, godly Christian men and women disagree on the timing of these things.

One thing no godly Christians should disagree about, however, is the nature of the Gospel, because it and it alone is the "power of God to everyone who believes" (Romans 1:16). In 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, Paul defines the gospel as the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

In an attempt to emphasize the importance of social justice for Christians, Stearns goes way too far:

• "Belief is not enough. Worship is not enough. God has always demanded more" (p. 3).
• "We would much rather believe that the only things needed for our salvation are saying the right words and believing the right things - not living lives that are characterized by Christ's concern for the poor" (p. 59).
• "There is no "whole gospel" without compassion and justice shown to the poor. It's that simple." (p. 60)
• "Our obedience is the way we determine whether or not we really know God" (p. 87).

In this, Stearns writes out of both sides of his pen. A couple of times he says "I want to be clear that this does not mean we are saved by piling up enough good works to satisfy God..." (p. 59). And yet, that is exactly the way Stearns' words come across. He makes it clear that if you are not involved in works of social justice, he does not believe you believe the "whole gospel," and as a result he questions your salvation. At best, Stearns' book is confusing. At worst, he confuses the gospel.

Richard Stearns and World Vision are making a difference in the world, and I'm thankful. I'm also thankful for his investment in acts of social justice and mercy as well as his call for others to do the same. However, there are enough places in "Hole in Our Gospel" that I believe shoot holes in our Gospel that I can't recommend this book.

Forgiveness - Another Thought

Back on November 4th, I posted some thoughts about forgiveness. It must have touched a nerve - I got several emails about it.

Last week in our small group Bible study, the topic of forgiveness came up and this question was raised: When Jesus forgave us, He restored our relationship with Him. Does that mean for us to forgive others like Christ forgave us (Colossians 3:13), we have to treat them like nothing happened?

What do you think?

It's easy to spout off an answer this question when the worst sin you have ever experienced against you is someone gossiping about you behind your back. But what about when someone really sins against you - they abuse you or someone you love, do you some kind of serious irreparable physical harm, or literally ruin your life? If a biblical principle applies to the smaller sin, it has to apply to the larger one as well because the Scriptures don't separate them.

So, does biblical forgiveness mean the relationship has to be restored to what it was before the sin occurred? I don't think it does.

It is true that Jesus has forgiven those who trust in His death and resurrection (Ephesians 1:7). It's also true that Jesus has restored us to a right relationship with Himself (Romans 5:1). But it isn't just forgiveness that allows that relationship to be restored.

Forgiveness erased the debt we owed God, but it only brought us back to a zero balance. Relationships exist on more than a zero balance.

When we trusted Christ, our debt was cancelled. But we were given more than a zero balance. Christ's righteousness was given to us as well (2 Corinthians 5:21; Romans 5:17). It is the combination of forgiveness and righteousness that allows our relationship with God to be restored. I think that's the crux of Paul's point in 2 Corinthians 5.

It takes right standing to have a relationship. We can forgive a person - cancel their debt to us - without them having a right standing before us. Forgiveness means we don't pay them back, or seek revenge, or attempt punishment, but does not mean we have to pretend there is a balance when none exists. That balance may have to be regained.

We should always pursue reconciliation with others because God has provided for us to be reconciled to Him. But reconciliation is not automatic just because we forgive.

This is Powerful

This made the rounds on the blogosphere yesterday, and is more powerful than anything I could have written today.

Video from Matt

As some of you who know me personally know, I went through some health challenges of my own in 2006. For a while, it looked like I was going to get to have brain surgery myself. It was a scary time for Kari and I, and we trusted God. But I never, never had the kind of mature perspective in that trial that Matt Chandler exhibited last week. And my trial was nothing compared to his.

I was thankful that God preserved me from something worse, and trusted Him to make it better. Matt is thankful for the trial because it gives him the platform to make much of God, whether or not God makes it better.

Transforming Discipleship - Review

I picked up "Transforming Discipleship" based on the recommendation of The Canadian. His church is re-examining their discipleship model and I was sharing some of what I've been experiencing in life-on-life discipleship at McKinney over the past couple of years. He mentioned that "Transforming Discipleship" might really augment some of my thinking, so I was excited to pick it up.

Greg Ogden has spent the last couple of decades involved in intentional discipleship. As a part of a Doctor of Ministry project, he began to investigate different sized groups, from one-on-one to much larger groups, and came away feeling strongly that groups of 3 (triads) are the most effective.

The first half of Ogden's book pursues a biblical model for discipleship, looking mainly at the ministries of Jesus and Paul. One-on-one proponents often point to Paul's relationship with Timothy as the "biblical model" for discipleship, but Ogden shows compelling evidence that Jesus and Paul did not limit their discipleship to one-on-one relationships, especially with mature believers.

Knowing where he is going, there are times in the first half of the book that Ogden seems to argue that the triad method is the biblical method. This is especially apparent in the section where he talks about the Bible being a "method book" as well as a message book. I don't think that is Ogden's intent, but I think it is important to note that the Bible never commands us to use a specific method in making disciples; it simply tells us to do it. Whether you choose to use triads, small groups, or the life-on-life method, the biblical mandate is to involve others in intentional, accountable growth relationships centered around the Word of God and the person of Jesus. Ogden's book will help provide one way to do that, but certainly not the only acceptable way.

Ogden argues that a one-on-one method might not be the best discipleship method because it places too much responsibility on the discipler, could result in dependency, provides limited dialogue, limits a disciple's growth to the strength and weaknesses of the mentor, and can be difficult for a disciple to feel confident reproducing. All of these are valid concerns of the life-on-life model, though they can be issues in triads as well.

"Transforming Discipleship" is a really well done book. All of my discipleship has been done using the life-on-life method, but I'm certainly open to experimenting with Ogden's method. Whether or not you land on Ogden's method specifically, you need to pay attention to his argument (and plea) for discipleship of some kind.

If you're considering how you can leave a legacy in the lives of people around you, whether you're a pastor or do ministry in the marketplace, this book needs to be one you have read.

Eye of the Tiger

I'm sure you're as tired of hearing about the Tiger Woods soap opera as me, so this will be short. I just can't resist.

Think about Tiger's life. It's every guy's earthly dream:

• Plays a game for a living
• Arguably the most successful person in his profession, ever.
• Received 100 million dollars last year in endorsements alone
• Impeccable physical shape
• Married a supermodel
• Strikingly good looks
• Two beautiful children
• Multiple homes in exotic locations
• Celebrity status all over the world...

And it wasn't enough. He is still searching for something.

Tiger's not the first. And he isn't experiencing something uncommon to mankind. His life is the life the writer of Ecclesiastes described. "I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all my labor. Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun" (Ecclesiastes 2:10).

Why was it so meaningless? The writer of Ecclesiastes goes on to describe why: God has put eternity in our heart (Ecclesiastes 3:11). He has created us with a longing for something more - but it is something that will never be found here, no matter how hard we try to find it.

Fortunately, Tiger's story isn't over. Let's hope he ends up in the same place as the great Preacher: "Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man" (Ecclesiastes 12:13).

Counterfeit Gods - Book Review

I love many things about Tim Keller. But one of the things I think I appreciate most is that he waited until late in his ministry to publish. I'd love to write a book someday, but read a lot of books by younger guys and often find myself wondering how they will feel about their books when they get older. I would be thoroughly embarrassed to read something I might have published when I was 20. Heck, I am embarrassed by some of my earliest blog posts. But Keller waited until he was later in his ministry to publish and the result (in my opinion) is deeper books that are far more profound.

If you've listened to many of Tim Keller's sermons, you know that he regularly speaks of man's bent toward idolatry. His new book "Counterfeit Gods" is a development of that theme.

I loved Prodigal God and think The Reason For God may be one of my top ten books of all time. Counterfeit Gods is the weaker of the three, from my standpoint, but don't let that dissuade you from picking it up. It's good.

Keller begins the book by introducing the fact that idolatry is far more prevalent in our mind than we like to think. When we look at the Israelites' tendency to worship golden calves, we often shake our head and thank God that we're more advanced than they. Keller helps obliterate that delusion by showing that anything more important than God in our lives is just as good as a golden calf.

Then, Keller tackles some of the most popular idols in our Western culture. He devotes a chapter each to the idols of love, money, success, power and glory, profit, and religion. The book ends with a guide to finding and replacing your idols. Throughout the book, Keller's trademark ability to speak as both an intellectual and a pastor at the comes shining through. You won't have any problem following Keller's logic throughout the book, though his IQ is twice yours and mine combined.

My only gripe about this particular book is the biblical stories Keller points to in order to make his points. He chooses to use common stories you may have learned growing up to point to the various idols we worship, but sometimes the examples feel like a stretch.

For example: He uses the story of Abraham's call to sacrifice Isaac to introduce the idea that an idol is anything that is more important to you than God. Yet, I think there are clearer examples in Scripture than that one which would have made Keller's point more clearly. Although I certainly see where Keller was going, I'm still not certain that God's call to Abraham happened because Abraham was valuing his son above God. But that's the impression Keller gives by challenging us to look for the "Isaacs in our life."

Keller doesn't say anything un-biblical, of course. I just feel like some of his biblical illustrations distract from a point which is superb.

With all of that said, you still need to read this book as well as anything else Keller puts out. Keller is a great writer and an even better thinker. His books are also unashamedly Christocentric - they will always point his readers straight to Jesus. Counterfeit Gods is par for the Tim Keller course.

Clarity - Part 2

If you didn't read Andy's comments on my post yesterday about vagueness, you should read them. Today I'm going to try to provide clarity on my post about clarity.

Andy's absolutely right. You can't have cut and dry clarity about everything, and there is a tendency for some of us to put square pegs in round holes just for the sake of having everything in a nice, neat package. Life does not work that way. We live and lead in shades of gray.

What you do need to have (and Andy demonstrates it perfectly - he's a good leader) is clarity about the most important things as well asclarity about the things for which there won't (or can't) be clarity. Especially early in the organization's life cycle.

The trick is in not allowing the vagueness to persist. As the organization matures, the wise leader will seek to bring more and more clarity and definition wherever possible. Organizations have to fight the tendency to devolve into the vague cliche that comes when people have established assumptions about what the organization does and where they fit. When that vagueness persists, the status quo exists.

Some clarity and specificity is impossible at the beginning of an organization, but the leader has to stay on his guard to make sure that doesn't continue to be the case. Even when it means bringing clarity to the things that can not and will not be clarified. In those cases, the leader clarifies as far as he or she can go, and stops.

To use a lame example: I lead our worship leader at McKinney, and want to continue to bring clarity to his role so that he can succeed. But a degree of specificity with him would actually be counter-productive. If I said "your role is to provide our congregation with God-honoring, Christ-exalting worship music using two keyboards, drums, three guitars, four vocalists, a flute, and a violin," that would distract us from what we're really trying to do. So, in the interest of providing clarity about what we're really trying to accomplish, I give him enough clarity that any reasonable interpretation of my instructions will be acceptable to me: He is responsible for providing our congregation with God-honoring, Christ-exalting worship music that is sensitive to the culture we lead.

He has plenty of clarity, plenty of specificity, and also plenty of flexibility to operate inside of the clarity I have given him.

Vagueness

Vagueness is always on the side of the status quo. When organizations - whether Fortune 500 companies or small rural churches - start painting with vague generalities, they limit themselves to treading water.

When the purpose for moving forward becomes vague or cliche, the organization is destined to the status quo because you can't find clarity within vagueness. It's the difference between water color and oil paints. Both of them are nice in their own right, but you'll never pick water colors if you're trying to paint a clear, specific picture.

People need a clear, specific picture of how to move forward within the organization if they are going to move forward with confidence. At best, they flounder. At worst, they fill in the definition on their own and move forward in the wrong direction.

If you want your organization (it's true with your family too) to move forward, you have to fight for specificity and clarity. The more general your vision, or roles, or boundaries, or expectations, or policy becomes, the less likely you are to move ahead. Vagueness is always on the side of the status quo.

Happy Thanksgiving

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good.

His love endures forever.

(Psalm 136:1)

New Years Resolutions

I'm blowing and going to finish up my big New Years Resolutions for this year. A couple of my resolutions haven't worked out like I hoped, but the two biggies were my reading goals and my conversion to a paperless office. I'll blog about my failures in the future; today I'm focused on finishing the ones I can.

I changed admins this year which complicated the paperless conversion. My new admin had plenty of other things to do to get caught up, and some big things came up that we hadn't planned on at the beginning of the year. But, I'm well on my way. To date, I've scanned all my seminary notes, and the paper files I had for every book of the Bible. I've got about 100 more topical files to scan, as well as a few work related paper files and I'll be done. We're still working through some technology burps, but I'm pretty excited about the progress.

As far as my reading schedule, I'm close. I was hoping to read a book a week this year, and I should be able to reach that without much of a problem. I'm in the middle of book 49 right now, which is a big deal for me.

I'm looking forward to finishing these up and setting some new goals for next year. There is something about setting goals that seem unattainable that really motivates me.

How are you doing on your goals for 2009? You've got plenty of time for a big finish.

Lions' Dens

I love it when you read a Bible story you have known for-e-ver, and spot something new.

This week I was reading in Daniel 6 about Daniel and the lion's den. You remember the story. Daniel was a good guy, but evil men tricked the king into making a shortsighted but permanent law that forced the king to throw Daniel into the den of lions for worshiping the God of the Bible.

If you read Daniel 1-5, you realize that God has been trying to get the attention of the king for a while, through dreams and the (literal) writing on the wall.

When you get to Daniel 6, the king is between a rock and a hard place. He likes Daniel, but likes being king too. And by the time you get to Daniel 6:16, the king is resolved to do what he has to do to save his own head and Daniel is thrown into the den of lions.

Here's the cool thing: What had Daniel done wrong before God to bring on these circumstances? What lesson was God trying to teach Daniel through this?

Actually, if you look at the book leading up to Daniel 6, it's pretty clear that the lesson isn't for Daniel; the lesson was for the king.

Sometimes bad stuff happens to us. When it does, our first question is to ask God what we did to deserve it. The second question we sometimes ask is "What are you teaching me through this?" But sometimes the answer to both questions might be "nothing." God isn't always disciplining us or teaching us a lesson. Sometimes the lesson might be for someone else.

It doesn't change our responsibility, which is always to trust God and follow Him despite our circumstances. But we have to allow God, like Daniel did, to use us in revealing Himself to others, going into the lions' den with confidence that God would show up one way or another. We can trust God, keep our heads up, and stop playing mental mind games trying to figure out God's motives in everything.

You Become What You Celebrate

During my first several years as a pastor, I didn't think much about the importance of celebration. I would do a lot of things differently if I could relive those years but this is one I wouldn't miss.

All organizations (and leaders) celebrate something. Some are proactive in celebrating their values. Others inadvertently celebrate passivity and other negative values by failing to be intentional about celebrations.

If something is important, it's worth celebrating. When you celebrate something, you make sure everyone knows how important it is. What you find is, you become what you celebrate.

One church where I served gave an award every year to a select few non-staff leaders who demonstrated servant leadership. They made it into a big deal. As a result, that church has servant leaders pouring out of the woodwork.

Another church made a big production every several months celebrating everyone who went through the pastor's small group Bible study. It's hard to find people in that church who have not completed his study. They have become what they celebrate.

What do you want your organization (or your family) to become? One of the keys to moving people in that direction is to find creative ways to celebrate that where you see it.

Up Close and Personal

Tuesday I had a great conversation with one of my buddies who works at another church about the method of discipleship in each of our churches. Churches try to tackle the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20) in a lot of different ways: through large group growth, small group growth, a lecture format, hands-on service projects, one-on-one relationships, and about a thousand permutations of each.

As I talked about the method I prefer, I was reminded of something I heard Howard Hendricks say a long time ago: "You can impress anyone from a distance; you can only impact up close."

To me, there is just no substitute for life-on-life, intentional discipleship. The level of intimacy, degree of accountability, and ability to laser-focus biblical principles in the most personally relevant ways can't be replicated in even a relatively small group. You can fake out a large or small group from a distance with any reasonable talent in deception.

Don't get me wrong, I believe in small groups. I believe in large groups. But when it comes to having the greatest impact for my buck, I'll choose life-on-life relationships every day.

Backwards Marriage Illustrations

I was thinking about something yesterday:

When we read Ephesians 5 and other passages about marriage, we usually read them as if Jesus' life is the ultimate illustration of marriage. Wives ought to be voluntarily selfless (5:22), and Jesus showed us how by submitting to His Father's will despite the cost to Himself. Husbands ought to be sacrificial lovers (5:23) and Jesus showed us how by dying for someone who didn't deserve it.

But I think we have it backward.

It wasn't like God was sitting in heaven puzzled, thinking "How in the world can I help their marriages be better? Oh, I know! I'll send my Son as an object lesson for them."

We've flipped the illustration. Jesus isn't intended to be an illustration of marriage; marriage is intended to be the ultimate illustration of Jesus, and specifically the gospel.

There's a huge difference.

Jesus' main purpose wasn't to make your marriage better. Your marriage's main purpose is to make the gospel of Jesus more evident to everyone around you. And here's the thing: when that happens, our marriages usually get better as a result.

Here's a question for you: "How can I love my spouse today in a way that the Gospel of Jesus Christ will be made more clear to others?"

Hooked - Book Review

I heard about "Hooked" by Joe McIlhaney and Freda McKissic Bush from my mother-in-law who heard about it on the radio. The subtitle of the book is "New Science on how Casual Sex is Affecting our Children."

I do a lot of premarital counseling, and it is staggeringly rare for me to counsel a couple in which both parties are entering marriage sexually pure. I also do a fair amount of regular marriage counseling, and have been confident for a while that premarital sex scrambles something for couples and individuals that is hard to sort out. This book is the science behind that scrambling.

McIlhaney and Bush are both ob-gyn physicians who are a part of a group called "The Medical Institute for Sexual Health." That institute has done a significant amount of testing and research on the response of the brain to sexual activity, and their conclusions are pretty fascinating.

To sum it up, the brain responds to sexual activity a way that promotes a long-term highly-committed sexual relationship. Casual sex, "hooking up," rewires the brain and desensitizes a person (male or female) to the brain chemicals that promote connection and intimacy. Because the brain chemistry of a person bonds them to another person, a person naturally moves more quickly into another sexual experience after a sexual relationship ends, attempting to recreate what they had previously. When this happens in a younger, under-developed brain, the rewiring can be difficult to unscramble.

The book has a lot of technical jargon, but it's well-explained. If you're a parent of a teenager, or a teenager yourself, you'll be able to understand the book. It isn't a page-turner, nor written particularly well (in my opinion), though the information alone makes the read well worth it.

I don't know where McIlhaney and Bush are spiritually; this is not a "True Love Waits" book written by church ladies trying to rob high school students of a fun prom night. It is a book written by doctors based on years of scientific research. But the conclusion is thoroughly biblical: sex inside marriage is great for a reason; but outside marriage, it can destroy your current and future relationships.

Holiness

I just finished a great book called "Healthy Congregations; a Systems Approach." If you're a pastor, it's worth picking up.

I love this story about holiness near the end of the book.

It seems that a young aspirant to holiness once came to visit the hermitage of an old holy man who was sitting in the doorway of his quarters at sunset. The old man's dog stretched out across the threshold as the young spiritual seeker presented his problem to the holy man. "Why is it, Abba, that some who seek God come to the desert and are zealous in prayer but leave after a year or so, while others, like you, remain faithful to the quest for a lifetime?"

The old man smiled and replied "Let me tell you a story:

One day I was sitting here quietly in the sun with my dog. Suddenly a large white rabbit ran across in front of us. Well, my dog jumped up, barking loudly, and took off after that big rabbit. He chased the rabbit over the hills with a passion. Soon, other dogs joined him, attracted by his barking. What a sight it was, as the pack of dogs ran barking across the creeks, up stony embankments and through thickets and thorns! Gradually, however, one by one the other dogs dropped out of the pursuit, discouraged by the course and frustrated by the chase. Only my dog continued to hotly pursue the white rabbit.

In that story, young man, is the answer to your question."

The young man sat in confused silence. Finally, he said, "Abba, I don't understand. What is the connection between the rabbit chase and the quest for holiness?"

"You fail to understand," answered the old hermit, "because you failed to ask the obvious question. Why didn't the other dogs continue the chase? And the answer to that question is that they had not seen the rabbit. Unless you see your prey, the chase is just too difficult. You will lack the passion and determination necessary to perform all the hard work required by the discipline of your spiritual exercises."

Organizational Healing

A few weeks ago, one of Casen's friends fell into the corner of his parents' coffee table and busted his forehead. Just a few weeks before that, the college-aged daughter of some of our friends was run over by a pontoon boat. Her arm was almost completely severed by the motor.

For the smaller injury, the trip to the ER involved a few sutures, a band-aid, and some hugs and kisses. The boat accident required different treatment. It was a major enough wound, no sutures could hold the wound together tight. A careless doctor who attempted to "fix" the wound too quickly would have endangered the life of the person he was trying to heal. Deep wounds have to heal by a process called "granulation," where the wound is packed and the body naturally heals from the inside out. During that long, gradual process, the wound is especially vulnerable to infection and disease so doctors have to be very careful, and patient.

I think organizational wounds heal much the same way. Cosmetic, surface wounds can be serious if they are ignored but can be treated quickly. With those wounds, healing happens rapidly, often leaving no trace of the injury behind. However, deep wounds have to be treated slowly and deliberately. If you rush to close up a serious problem, you risk causing the organization even more damage.

Before your organization begins the healing process, it's probably a good idea to do some triage and figure out exactly what wounds you're dealing with. Failure to do so could have long-term implications.

Church Growth

In the last two decades, the topic of church growth has received a ton of discussion. Most of the time, when you're talking about "church growth," you're either directly or indirectly talking about the size of the congregation. To a point, that's a really good conversation to have.

The church is an organism, and growth is important for any organism. We take my son into the pediatrician on a regular basis for "well baby checkups" to make sure he is growing and developing normally. Always, one of the critical metrics the doctor checks is his size. If Casen stops growing during this point of his life, it will be a sure sign that something is not going well. Growth is important. Same for the church.

However, at some point organisms are no longer expected to grow (size-wise). Beyond that point, any growth the organism experiences is usually unhealthy growth. As a twenty-nine year old, my doctor gets concerned when I do grow. He measures my waistline and looks for tumors or other abnormal unhealthy growth.

I wonder if we shouldn't talk about "church maturity" instead of "church growth." Organisms never stop maturing even after the stop growing. Growth is a part of maturity but not the goal or focus of maturity. It's more of a byproduct.

I also wonder if thinking about the church this way might not allow us to focus on growth for a season as a temporary part of the maturity process while a church is young, before beginning to think about other facets of maturity such as development and reproduction - topics that often get lost in the growth focus.

The Source

Henri Nouwen says about loneliness, " you must try to find the source of this feeling. You are inclined either to run away from your loneliness or to dwell in it. When you run away from it, your loneliness does not really diminish; you simply force it out of your mind temporarily. When you start dwelling in it, your feelings only become stronger, and you slip into depression. The spiritual task is not to escape your loneliness, not to let yourself drown in it, but to find its source."

Nouwen's personal struggle seems to be loneliness and depression but my experience is that his observation is true of ever emotion. Anger, fear, joy, anxiety, and everything else we can feel has a source as well as a ditch on both sides.

The problem with Nouwen's advice is that he stops short. The believer should go to the source of emotion but shouldn't stop there. We have to go to the source of our loneliness, anger, fear, or other emotion, and examine both the source and the emotion in light of the cross.

Anger, for example, is often rooted in our surprise at the sinfulness of others. When we examine it in light of the cross, we're reminded of the seriousness of sin in God's eyes and the satisfactory payment of Christ on that person's behalf, as well as our own sinfulness and need for a Savior. At that point, anger dissipates and worship emerges.

When we take emotion and its source to the cross, we're driven to worship every time.

Disorientation

Last week was a pretty rough week for me. Part of it was the emotional hangover that always follows a huge event. Part was a couple of difficult counseling appointments and leadership challenges that all hit at the same time. The details aren't important but for most of last week I felt disoriented.

Times of disorientation are present in the story of every leader I've ever met. They're scary, confusing, and can be dangerous; if the leader gets disoriented he can't set the pace or the direction. Prolonged periods of disorientation can have a long-term negative impact on the organization. Most of the time, disorientation is not that serious.

When I was learning to fly, a part of my instruction was learning how to deal with spatial disorientation that can come from flying in clouds or at night when you can't see the horizon or distinguish the sky from the grounds. During those periods, pilots are taught to only trust their instruments. Trusting your emotions, your feelings, or your perceptions can get you killed. When you're disoriented, you have to trust what you know to be true and ignore everything else until you can fly out of the clouds and reorient yourself.

It's the same in organizational leadership.

When I face times of disorientation like I did last week, I have to remember that God is in control and that He is good. I have to remember the core of what He has called me to do and that He has provided everything I need to do just that through the Cross (2 Peter 1:3). Those are my instruments. I trust those and keep moving forward, despite what I feel, as I wait for things to clear up.

Understanding the Old Testament

Next Spring I'll be teaching an Old Testament Survey class at the church. I'm looking forward to it, mostly because I love a challenge and am like most people: I don't know the Old Testament nearly as well as I know the New Testament.

But here's some food for thought: I don't believe you can understand the New Testament fully until you begin to understand the Old Testament. Although there are clear distinctions between the two with regard to how God is working (in the Old Testament through a nation, in the New Testament through a Body), the New Testament doesn't start from scratch. Sometimes I think we put too much discontinuity between the Old and New Testaments. Just a casual read shows you that the New Testament writers drew heavily from the Old Testament as they wrote their letters. You can't understand the New Testament fully until you begin to understand the Old Testament.

But, according to Jesus in John 5:39 and Luke 24:27, you don't fully understand the Old Testament until you understand what it says about Jesus. You can't fully understand the Old Testament until you see how it points to what the New Testament reveals.

Bible study is a spiral. You have to know what the Old Testament says so you can understand how the New Testament clarifies what the Old Testament reveals.

Forgiveness

Our small group lesson last week was on the topic of forgiveness. Forgiveness is one of those topics that everyone agrees we should do (Ephesians 4:32), though it's rare that any of us actually agrees on what forgiveness means.

Biblically speaking, Jesus' parable of the unmerciful servant in Matthew 18:21-35 gives a good perspective on how Jesus looked at forgiveness. Here are a couple of things to notice:

1. Forgiveness does not mean pretending a wrong never occurred. Both the king and the servant knew there was a legitimate debt owed that the servant was unable to pay (18:24). We don't have to pretend like a wrong never took place in order to forgive.

2. There are often just consequences in the absence of forgiveness. The king would have been absolutely just to require the servant to be sold to repay a legitimate debt (18:25). Forgiveness doesn't indicate that a person is unworthy of punishment. To the contrary, forgiveness means that the person who sinned against us deserves to be punished for what they did. Otherwise, there is nothing to forgive.

3. Jesus defines forgiveness as "cancelling the debt" (18:27). The king erased the debt the servant owed him. Be careful with 18:26-27. When we demand someone apologize before we forgive, we erase our chance to erase the debt. If someone "owes us an apology," and they apologize, they have paid their debt and it cannot be erased any longer. The king didn't forgive the debt because the servant made things right emotionally. He forgave the debt because he chose to do so.

4. Our forgiveness of others should be in direct proportion to the amount we have been forgiven. We should be the first to forgive others who sin against us only up to the point that their sin against us is equal to our own infinite sin against an infinite God. Beyond that, we aren't obligated to forgive.

5. Forgiving does not mean forgetting. When the king's servants heard of the forgiven servant's harsh treatment of another debtor (18:28-30), the king did not need to be reminded about their earlier encounter (18:31-32). Forgiveness means cancelling the debt. It doesn't mean you have to loan to the same person again.

Two Faces of Missional

The word "missional" has been a fad word in evangelical Christian circles for long enough that it doesn't mean anything any more. In fact, now that everyone is using the word "missional," everyone talkin' 'bout missional ain't going there.

Today, as best I can tell, you've got two different uses of the word "missional."

The word originated with churches who had a philosophy of ministry that centered on the sending of Christians into the world. Those churches aren't concerned with attracting a crowd so much as they are interested in sending people into the crowd. They want their people to live "on mission" throughout the week, hence the term "missional."

Now that the word has become a fad, another group is emerging. They've co-opted the word "missional" as well as some of the ideas of missional churches without buying the overall philosophy. They send their people to live "missional" lives with the intent of attracting people to their church.

Lots of churches in that second group are doing some good ministry. God is using them. But, I think they're missing a great opportunity.

The end goal of the missional life isn't someone being attracted to your specific church; it's someone being attracted to Jesus. And while Christ Himself is the great initiator in that process (John 6:44), He is gracious to us to use our lives in that process (2 Corinthians 5:11).

If you are more excited about attracting people to your church than you are about attracting others to Jesus, you've got either too high a view of your church or too low a view of Jesus.

2012 The Bible and the End of the World - A Review

If you've visited Barnes and Noble recently, you may have noticed the ever-growing 2012 display and wondered what the heck was going on. If you spend much time watching the History Channel, you already know.

2012 is the new Y2K; a great chance for basement dwellers everywhere to don their tin foil hats, brush up on their HAM radio skills, and collect a lifetime supply of SPAM and other surviving-the-end-of-the-world staples. With an opportunity like that, you know Hollywood is cashing in. 2012 the movie is coming out next month.

The Mayan people were a mysterious people who lived as long as 2000 years ago in Central America. They were fascinated with the stars and obsessed with keeping time to the point that they kept and observed more than 20 different kinds of calendars. The Mayan Long Count Calendar, one of the main ones, stops keeping time on December 21, 2012.

The reason for the date is that on December 21, 2012, the sun will block the center of the Milky Way, interrupting energy flow from the center of the galaxy to the earth... something that happens only once every 26,000 years. We're not sure what happened the last time this happened, but one thing is for sure: newspaper clippings from that date didn't survive. We've looked.

Add to the Mayan prediction some supposed predictions from Nostradamus, an occult "prophet" from the 16th century who mastered in giving vague fortune-cookie-like predictions, and you've got the makings of an opportunity for every wannabe scientist to get his 15 minutes of fame.

Mark Hitchcock is an evangelical Christian pastor in Edmond, Oklahoma who is fairly fluent in end-of-the-world language. He's written quite a few books about the end of the world from a biblical perspective, and is a scholar (and person) for whom I have a great deal of respect. His book "2012 The Bible and the End of the World" is a very good primer on the Mayan calendar, the Nostradamus prophesies, supposed Bible Codes, and the mystery around 12/21/12.

Whether you're vaguely curious about 2012 or someone who is really passionate about researching this kind of thing, this book is a really great place to start. Hitchcock's work is good scholarship, but doesn't feel like scholarly reading, and his footnotes will point the serious student in the right direction of several other resources to check out.

Hitchcock's conclusion? Who knows what might happen when energy is blocked from the center of the milky way to the earth. But, the Bible's flawless prophetic track record can be trusted above Nostradamus' sketchy guesses and the Mayans' inconclusive suggestions. And if the Bible is right, we've got at least 7 years from today until Armageddon and 1007 years from today until the world is destroyed.

So, continue to watch and wait for the blessed hope - the glorious appearing of Jesus Christ (Titus 2:13), and begin investing in the tin-foil hat business... you'll have some money for Christmas presents on December 23, 2012.

I Do Not Think it Means What You Think it Means - Part 4

This one is a little bit tougher.

James 2:17 comes up a lot with misbehaving Christians. Actually, it's usually quoted in hypothetical situations, but rarely does someone have the guts to apply it the same way to a specific situation involving themselves or someone they know. Here's what I mean:

We hear about hypocritical Christians misbehaving fairly often. They smoke, drink, chew and run with girls who do. And we're quick to quote James 2:17 in their situation. "Well, I've got to question whether or not they're really a believer. You know, James says "faith without works is dead..."

But when someone calls us on our gossip, or our bad attitude, or our choice of language when the Dallas Cowboys false start on the goal line... again... James 2:17 couldn't be further from our mind.

And, it's just as well. Because I think it's pretty dangerous to apply James' words about faith without works to a person's eternal salvation. If James is saying that a person's faith, without works before, during or after salvation is not enough for them to be assured of heaven, we've got a huge problem because Paul says the opposite.

James isn't saying that if you don't have good works you are going to miss heaven. He has made it clear up to that point in his book that he assumes the people he's writing to are going to heaven (James 2:1).

If you look at that whole chapter, James is reminding Christian people that their works are important; not so they can be confident of heaven, but so that others can see their faith. James is writing about the importance of being a good reflection of Jesus. And he challenges his readers: You show me your faith while being a deadbeat, and I'll show you my faith by what I do... let's see whose life is the most compelling testimony of Christ to the world.

Christians should absolutely have good works in their lives; not so they can prove to other Christians that they're going to heaven, but so that they can prove to the rest of the world that because of what Christ has done our eyes are on a different and better kingdom (James 2:5) with a different and better Law (James 2:12).

As a pastor, I've seen a few dead bodies in my life. And frankly, I think dead bodies are pretty weird. Why? Because those bodies are not supposed to be like that. They weren't created to look pretty in a casket. They were created to walk, talk, hug, love, smile, eat, and enjoy life. Death is a consequence of sin - not what we were created to do.

As a believer, we are created in Christ Jesus to do good works (Ephesians 2:10) so that God can show the riches of His grace to the world (Ephesians 2:7). When Christians don't live lives of good works, they're like bodies lying in a casket - not doing what they were created to do. In that way, faith without works is dead. That's James' point.

It doesn't mean that you aren't going to heaven... just means when it comes to showing your faith (2:18) you're as worthless as a body lying in a casket.

I Do Not Think it Means What You Think it Means - Part 3

I'm a big fan of asking God to give me direction, especially when I'm facing a difficult decision. But a lot of times when I'm sitting in my office talking to people about decisions they have made (or are about to make), they tell me they're confident in their decisions because "God gave them a peace about it." Then they quote Colossians 3:15, "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts..." to back things up.

The problem is: I've prayed and had a peace about some really stupid decisions in my life. And, as a pastor I've heard about some really boneheaded decisions followed by, "but God just really gave me a peace about it."

Yeah, leaving my wife to reconnect with my high-school girlfriend and quitting my job to pursue a career in acting seemed like a bad idea at first... but I have such a peace about it...

I don't think Colossians 3:15 means what you think it means.

If you back up two verses, you see that Paul is telling the Colossians to "bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you have against one another..." He goes on to say "put on love, which binds [all virtue] together in perfect unity."

This is a passage about how to fight fair, not a passage about how to make decisions.

The Greek word for letting the peace of Christ "rule" in your hearts is a word that means "referee." Paul is saying that when we fight, we should let the peace of Christ serve as our referee. What is the peace of Christ? The same writer says elsewhere that "having been justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:1), even when we were still sinners (Romans 5:8).

Colossians 3:15 is reminding us that we should do as much to pursue peace with others as Christ did to pursue our peace with God, even when we don't deserve it. It doesn't have anything to do with decision making unless we're deciding whether or not to fight fair.

I Do Not Think it Means What You Think it Means - Part 2

One of the passages you hear most often when it is time for corporate prayer is found in Matthew 18:20 "For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them." In fact, as a teenager, this was one of my favorite ways to start a prayer.

Lord, we know that where two or more are gathered, you hear the things we pray...

No wonder I wasn't motivated to have a quiet time by myself!

I love corporate prayer. I love the fact that I'm a part of a church who prays together a lot. But it isn't because I believe God hears us better if there are two or more of us. I do not think it means what you think it means...

Matthew 18:20 can't be separated Matthew 18:15-19 which tells us what to do when a person sins against you - not church-wide prayer gatherings. If your brother sins against you and won't make things right after you go to him individually, you should take "two or three witnesses" (Matthew 18:16) as unbiased observers according to the Old Testament Law in Deuteronomy 19:15. If your brother will not make things right in the presence of two or three unbiased witnesses, he should be put out of fellowship in hopes that he will realize his wrong and repent (Matthew 18:17).

As a result, what you have in Matthew 18:20 is a warning to unrepentant brothers more than a comfort for prayer gatherings. Jesus reminds unrepentant brothers that two or more unbiased witnesses represent Him; they're gathered in His name. If they agree that the brother needs to repent, God is on their side.

Corporate prayer is vital for our growth, fellowship, and discipline together as a church, but it isn't because God is mystically more present when we have a quorum. God hears and answers our private prayers (Matthew 6:6) as well as our corporate prayers (Matthew 6:9) in a powerful, personal way. One is not more significant than the other.

I Do Not Think it Means What You Think it Means - Part 1

This week I want to do something a little different. I hope it doesn't come across the wrong way.

One of the most quotable movies in all history has to be "The Princess Bride." In that movie, there's a funny exchange between Inigo Montoya and Vizzini, after Vizzini continues using the word "inconceivable." Inigo Montoya looks at him and says, "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

There are a couple of passages of Scripture that I hear quoted all the time. But when you start looking at them, I'm not sure they mean what we use them to mean. I'd like to take a stab at a few of them this week.

The first one is Revelation 3:20. This verse is a favorite invitation verse for summer camp and Vacation Bible School speakers because it paints such a compelling picture. We imagine that the door is the imaginary door to our heart (I've always pictured the left ventricle, myself). Jesus is standing in the cold and rain, unable to enter our heart because of our sin. He stands there knocking (at this point it's helpful to knock three times on the pulpit, just for effect). If only we would ask Jesus into our heart, He could come in out of the cold.

Now, please understand. A person could hear that kind of invitation and understand that God loves them, sent His Son to die on the cross for their sin and gives eternal life by faith. I did. But that was because the Holy Spirit was speaking louder than the preacher, and I don't think the end justifies the means.

In Revelation 3:20, Jesus is talking to a church. He's not knocking on the door of a heart; He's knocking on the door of a church requesting fellowship with them.

Also, if the people in Laodicea He was writing to were unbelievers, it would be the only one of the "churches" in Revelation who were not believers; and the only "church" of unbelievers in Scripture. If you believed a person could lose his salvation, you might be able to make the argument that these people were once believers but now aren't, so Jesus is knocking at the door of their heart so that they would be saved. But that interpretation doesn't square with the rest of Scripture.

Revelation 3:20 makes an appealing invitation verse, but sometimes I want to go forward during the invitation and say "I do not think it means what you think it means." Jesus isn't knocking so little boys and girls will ask Him into their heart and not go to hell. He's asking boys and girls and moms and dads who have already trusted Him for eternal life to - as a church - repent and rejoin fellowship with Jesus.

Revelation 3:20 is an invitation, but not for eternal life. It is an invitation for churches to not get so distracted by other things that they leave Jesus standing outside.

The Unforgiving Minute - Book Review`

The Unforgiving Minute, by Craig Mullaney was a recommendation by Al Mohler several months ago as good summer reading. So, I gave it to my father-in-law for his birthday in hopes that I could steal it from him during a visit.

Before we left on vacation a couple of weeks ago, he suggested I take the book, which kept me from having to sear my conscience to steal the book. Maybe he had seen me plotting my getaway.

"The Unforgiving Minute" describes Craig Mullaney's life beginning with an education at West Point and in Army Ranger school, through Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, to the battlefield as a platoon leader in Afghanistan.

Mullaney is a brilliant writer, deep thinker, and great story teller. He has an uncanny ability to help the writer grow as a leader alongside him as he writes about his life-education on several different fronts. From debating philosophy in a pub near Oxford University to the private dealings of a young adult man who watched as his father abandoned his family, Mullaney is able to take the reader inside his head to struggle alongside him. Only a few years removed from the combat zone in Afghanistan, Mullaney is able to see events and circumstances with an astounding amount of clarity.

Mullaney has a much different worldview from mine and some of that shows up throughout the book. He has lived through vastly different experiences than I have. Yet throughout the book, I couldn't help feel a common bond with him.

I had a hard time putting this book down. Something about it compelled me to keep reading, as if putting the book down would let Mullaney and his men down. I wanted to find resolution. It came, but not completely. In many ways, Mullaney's story won't be fully resolved either. He doesn't lead you to believe that it has been.

In the interest of full disclosure: if your ears are prone to bleeding in the presence of foul language, you might want to skip this book. Mullaney describes the battlefield and the language of soldiers pretty graphically. Otherwise, this book gets a strong recommendation from me.

Polarized

I recently heard Timothy Keller make the argument that people today are rapidly congealing into two camps when it comes to religion: Those radically engaged and those radically opposed.

For much of the 20th century, the vast majority of people who followed a religion of some kind were moderate followers. They went to worship, adhered to the basic tenets of their faith, and went about their business. If Keller is right, and I think he may very well be, the 21st century will see that group of people almost completely replaced by a group of people whose religion absolutely permeates their life and a group of people who are radically opposed to religion altogether.

The Muslim world seems to be ahead of the game in this shift. It is becoming increasingly impossible for secular Muslims to exist. They're being forced to either embrace the complete package of their belief system or leave it altogether.

We're certainly seeing a rise in people who are radically opposed to religion altogether. Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and Daniel Dennett are radically opposed to religion altogether and would love to have others join their group.

Meanwhile, Christians will be forced to either put up or shut up; to get serious about their faith or abandon it altogether. And although that sounds scary, I think it could be one of the best things to happen to evangelical Christianity.

The Price of a Salute

One of the books I started when I returned from vacation is "The Unforgiving Minute" by Craig Mullaney. It chronicles his education from West Point through Army Ranger School, to Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, to the streets of Afghanistan during battle. Mullaney is an extraordinary writer with a fascinating story. This is a great book, though some of the soldier language he employs would make it hard for me to recommend the book to my mom.

Early in the book, Mullaney recalls a conversation with a history professor, Lieutenant Colonel Guy LoFaro who had served as an Army Ranger in Grenada, and disarmed an assassin who opened fire on soldiers at Fort Bragg. Mullaney asked LoFaro "How do you know how you'll handle combat?"

LoFaro responded, "You don't... What you do know is that it will be chaotic and loud... You'll be more scared of letting down your men than anything the enemy's gonna do to you. And then you'll lead from instinct and judgment. That's the price of a salute."

If you're in a leadership position, others salute you, whether physically or literally. They defer to your leadership, look to you for marching orders, and entrust the health of their careers and sometimes their very lives to your hand.

Leadership brings responsibility. It's costly but if you want people to trust you, you have to be willing to lead in the hard stuff. You have to be able to be trusted in battle. That's the price of leadership; the price of a salute.

What will you do this week that is worth your team's loyalty?

Vacation Mini Book Reviews

We had a great vacation. We relaxed and ate so well, we probably wouldn't have come back if we hadn't run out of money.

Before I went, I asked for fiction recommendations. I went to Half Price Books the day before I left, and bought several of your recommendations. Here are some brief reviews:

Inside the Revolution by Joel C. Rosenberg - Okay, so technically this one isn't fiction. But, I read it at my in laws' house and in the airport before we left. I'm glad I did. It's a really great book tracing 3 major movements within Islam in the middle east: Radicals, Reformers, and Revivalists. We hear a lot about the radicals, and rightly so - Rosenberg describes their theology of how the world will end, and how many world leaders (especially the leader of Iran) are radicals who are set out to bring the end. The Reformers are peaceful Muslims who represent the majority, albeit a silent majority. The Revivalists are the millions of Muslims who are trusting Christ across the middle-east. If you are at all interested in what is going on in the Middle East, Rosenberg (who has served in the White House, and is well-connected throughout Washington as well as being a Bible student) writes a really good book.

Divine Justice by David Baldacci - This was the first novel I read on the trip. Baldacci is (apparently) known for suspense novels. This one was pretty fast-paced and an easy read. Basically, a former spy is on the run after two major political players are assassinated. As he seeks a hiding spot, he ends up in the wrong town and races against the clock to stay hidden and solve a series of mysterious deaths in a small coal mining town. Oh yeah, and there's a love story too. This was a good book, though fairly predictable.

Runaway Jury by John Grisham - Several people recommended this one, and it was the second one I read. Everyone who walked by on the beach commented about how much they liked the book, so I guess everyone had read it except me. My review will be short: really liked the book. I like a good twist at the end, and although I had this one figured out before it happened, I wasn't disappointed. I like Grisham's ability to pay attention to detail without bogging the reader down. The book moved just quickly enough for me. Good read.

The Sigma Protocol by Robert Ludlum - This was my least favorite of the books I read, though it wasn't awful. I read it toward the end of our trip, and wanted to finish it before we got home so I may have rushed through it. It's not a good book to rush through. A guy gets shot at by a former friend while on business in Europe. As he tries to piece things together on the run, he realizes that he is near uncovering a deep, dark secret leftover from Nazi Germany. He runs from country to country trying to stay a step ahead of assassins while trying to uncover the truth despite the fact that it could destroy his family. Oh yeah, and there's a love story. The book was good, though it seemed every person had two or three aliases and spoke in different languages while they jumped around to several different locations. That made the characters and storylines almost impossible to follow. The book came together at the very end, though I thought the end was weird. The language in this one was particularly rough too. Someday when I finish all the other books in my queue, I might pick this one up and give it another shot because I think it has potential. Nah... I'll just wait for the movie.

I read one other book at my parents' house when we got back. It's non-fiction - the story of a West Point soldier who goes to Afghanistan. I'll post more about it in the future, because I'm not quite done with it. I'm loving it though and will want to recommend it to you.

On Vacation

I am here:

Be back October 19.

Money Money Money Money

This morning I was reading in Acts 16:16-24, the account of Paul and Silas in Philippi. They come across a girl - actually, she seems to find them - who was possessed by a demon that allowed her to predict the future. She was owned by another guy, who exploited her demonic possession for the purpose of earning a little extra spending money.

This voodoo girl begins following Paul and Silas throughout the countryside, saying correct information but making their ministry into a freak show. So, Paul casts the demon out of the girl.

He frees her from the demon, doing her a pretty big favor. The slave-owner wasn't impressed. A great miracle happened right in front of his eyes, but he was so worried about his money disappearing alongside the demon that he couldn't notice what was going on right in front of him.

Instead of being overjoyed that his servant was restored to her right mind, the slave-owner could only focus on his own situation. As a result, he had Paul and Silas flogged, stripped naked, and thrown in a maximum security prison cell.

Perhaps just a bit of an overreaction.

Throughout his ministry Paul confronted a lot of different idols, but none was personally dangerous to him as the idol of money. When he talked about the Unknown God on Mars Hill (Acts 17:16-34), some sneered. But when he confronted the idol of materialism, he normally found himself at death's door (see also Acts 19, especially verse 24).

Some things never change.

Fake Brakes and the Gospel

When I get to heaven, I'm going to ask God why He coded the "fake brake" reflex in the foot of every woman. My mom has it, my wife has it, and my friends report that their wives and mothers have the same trait.

You know the "fake brake." While driving, you approach an intersection (or another car) at a rate of speed that is uncomfortable for the female in your car, at which point they simultaneously reach across to restrain you, put their other hand on the dash to brace themselves, and stomp on the fake brake that they believe has magically appeared on the passenger's side of the car.

As if their arms and a non-existent brake are going to be enough to restrain either of us from flying forward in the event of a crash.

Kari assures me that she trusts me as a driver. The fake brake is just a reflex. She just wants to be sure... just in case.

I talk to a lot of people whose reflex is trying to fake brake their way into eternity.

"Think you'll go to heaven when you die?"

"Sure."

"What makes you so sure?"

"Well, I trusted Jesus as my Savior when I was six... and after all, I go to church every Sunday, read my Bible, give to the poor, listen to Christian radio, teach Sunday School, and put a Jesus fish on my bumper."

If I had a quarter for every time I'd heard that explanation...

It's not that people have a hard time trusting Jesus. It's that we have a hard time trusting Jesus alone.

We fake brake it... Just in case.

As if our filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6) are going to be enough to carry us over the line if Jesus fails...

Here's the problem: it's awfully hard (read: "impossible) to trust Jesus and trust ourselves at the same time. Either Jesus is our Savior, or Jesus us helping us be our own savior. It can't be both.

If the real brake fails, the fake brake ain't going to be of much help. So trust Christ alone, and enjoy the ride. Do all those other things because you get to, not because you feel like you're helping Jesus drive.

Fiction Vacation

I don't read fiction.

I don't have anything against fiction, or people who do read fiction. But for most of my life I have regarded fiction as a gigantic waste of time. I read a ton, but not just for the joy of reading. I read for the joy of learning. If I want fiction, I watch MSNBC.

Just kidding.

I'm leaving for vacation on Friday. I'll be gone for about week. We're going to a location where my cell phone and email will not work. If someone wants to get a hold of me (other than Kari), they'll need to get on an airplane. I love my job and the people at our church, but I'm going to a place where they can't find me.

And, I need a couple of books to read while I'm laying on the beach. But, I'm not allowing myself to take any non-fiction books along. If I read non-fiction, I'll think about how to apply it at work, and I'd like to not think about work so I can be fully refreshed when I return.

Here's my request: You get one (1) fiction book recommendation. If it isn't one of the "Left Behind" books, "The Da Vinci Code," "The Shack," a Nicholas Sparks book, "The Giver," or "Elmo Wants to Play," I haven't read it. Which single book of fiction would you recommend?

Keep in mind, I'm reading for entertainment on the beach... not to be beat over the head. Don't come at me with Dostoevsky or something that's going to make me read with a dictionary. I don't want to carry a dictionary to the beach. They're heavy.

So... I need your help. What's one fiction book I can't miss? Comment away.

The Crucifixion of Ministry - Book Review

The Crucifixion of Ministry by Andrew Purves is a book that helps those involved in full-time Christian ministry give "their ministries" back to Christ.

I bought this book because a friend of mine was reading it and I loved the title. I ended up liking the book too.

Purves makes two big points throughout the book: (1) The ministry we lead isn't ours. It never was ours. It never will be ours. And, when we begin to think of it as ours, it usually goes about as far as we're able to take a supernatural ministry in our very natural power: nowhere... over and over again. If you pastor "your church" or "your para-church ministry," or for that matter "your Sunday School class," you really ought to kill it.

(2) Christ is at work in the world, and we get to share in what He is doing. But, He will do it in His power, with His resources, in His way. It isn't our job to make Jesus relevant, or catchy, or funny, or angry. Jesus is alive... He can impress people however He likes. Our responsibility is to present Him as Scripture says, help people interpret Scripture, and lead the church in types of worship that point people back to Jesus (communion, baptism, etc...).

Purves is much more reformed than I, so there were a few places that I disagreed with the theology behind his advice. He talks a lot about Jesus "believing" for us, which I think is an over-reach of some reformed theology, but it didn't distract from Purves' main point.

Lots of books will help you be a good pastor from the man-side. They'll help you do your job better from the standpoint of the congregation, your elders, and in your own eyes. But if you're a pastor looking for a good theology of pastoral ministry from the God-side, Purves' book is a pretty good place to start.

Character Defense

Ever notice that it's impossible to defend yourself against a character accusation?

If someone accuses you of being an angry person, you can't defend yourself against it. Anecdotal evidence will always win the day. You say you're not an angry person, but one person saw you get angry on the soccer field one time when you were eight, and in their mind that proves their case.

"Character" speaks about a pattern of behavior over a long period of time. It is the person I am when pressure is applied; the person I am when nobody is looking. And if nobody is looking, nobody else knows what my true character is. They're reliant on anecdotal evidence that is impossible to prove or defend against.

I think that's what Paul is going for in 1 Corinthians 4:2-5.

Today, it's impossible to defend yourself against a character accusation. Some day, we'll stand defenseless when our character is revealed. False negative accusations today are better than true negative accusations on that Day.

So rather than focusing on what everyone else is saying, it's better to focus on what God will say. By and large, when that is our focus, the other takes care of itself.

Comfort Zone

When my alarm went off at 5:15 this morning, I almost cried. This would have been a great morning to sleep in. The weather is getting cooler, I was in the middle of a deep sleep, great dream that didn't make any sense, in a cold room under warm sheets, with the sprinkler system hitting the window like rain, and a slow trickle of drool running down my cheek.

I was in the zone.

It's hard to leave the zone when you're that comfortable.

It's always hard to leave the comfort zone. I mean, why would you leave if you're comfortable?

Yet I noticed something the other day: The vast majority of significant leaders throughout the Bible weren't primarily used by God until He took them out of their comfort zone.

God called Abraham out of his homeland (Genesis 12), Jacob had to leave home (Genesis 27:41), Moses' mom took Moses out of the comfort zone (Exodus 2:1-7), and then he got to flee again later (Exodus 2:15) only to go back (Exodus 3:10), and leave again (Exodus 12). Joseph's brothers "helped" Joseph leave the zone (Genesis 37:28). It was true of Daniel (Daniel 1:1-6), Jonah (Jonah 1:2), Jeremiah (Jeremiah 2:2), and the disciples (Matthew 28:18-20). It's true of us too.

When we're out of our comfort zone, we're dependent on God. We're keyed in on what He's doing because we have to be. We do what He calls us to because we're already uncomfortable so we might as well. And we find that most often, it is on the ragged edge of life that God is working most powerfully - not in the places where we're comfortable.

As nice, warm, peaceful, and restful as my bed is, it's hard to make a difference in there. I've got to face the cold hard world because that's where God is at work and I want to be a part of it.

What comfort zone is preventing you from being used to the full extent of what God wants to do through you?

Seeds

If you're a parent who doesn't know about Seeds Music, I'm about to make you very happy.

I remember road trips in the Freeland Mini Van. We traveled all over the country when I was young (I've been to 48 of 50 states because of those road trips). Mom had her pillow. Dad was driving. Blake had his Game Boy, and I had my Walkman.

I don't know why I had a Walkman and headphones - everyone was going to hear my music anyway. I had a tendency to rock "Wee Sing Bible Songs" at the top of my lungs.

For eight hours.

Both ways.

Seeds is the next generation of Wee Sing Bible Songs, except that the songs aren't cheesy, there are no songs about an "arky, arky," and parents won't want to scratch their eardrums out after listening to the songs with their kids.

Seeds songs are straight-up Bible verses set to music. It's a tremendous Bible memorization tool for your kid and for you. And the music isn't just tolerable - the songs are well-written and catchy, even for parents.

You should be able to find these at your local bookstore for around 12 bucks per CD. Actually, the CDs come in two CD packs so you can listen to one and pass one on to a friend who could benefit from the "seed" of God's word being planted in their child's life. It's not a bad marketing strategy either.

If you've got kids, you really should look in to these CDs unless you're a relative with kids who normally gets a Christmas present from Kari and I. In that case, forget I said anything. We've got the "Seeds of Purpose" CD playing in Kari's car right now, and love it.