A paradox of the Christian faith worth pondering, from John Flavel:
When God intends to fill a soul, he first makes it empty. When God intends to enrich a soul, he first makes it poor. When he intends to exalt a soul, he first makes it sensible to it’s own miseries, wants, and nothingness.
At the most basic level, the Bible says that Jesus does not have two classes of disciples:
- Those who abandon their lives to his service.
- Those who do not.
The call to discipleship is the same for all.
~ Colin Marshall & Tony Payne, from The Trellis and the Vine
Ray Ortland proposes there are five constants in all historic instances of biblical revival.
These are important features.
To read Ortlands elaboration click: Revived
I’ve been reading Dallas Willard’s The Great Omission. This book is a compilation of essay’s Willard has written through the years. Most of those essays are available online. They are each able to stand alone, and all are worth the read.
USA Today reported last week that the US Army has approved an atheist-themed concert at Fort Bragg (NC) after a group complained that they had not received the same support as did organizers of an Evangelical event held last year. Among those scheduled to appear is Richard Dawkins. I didn’t know Dawkins was a singer! But then again, I really never gave it a thought.
I wonder: What does an Athiest concert look like? In other words, what would distinguish an Atheist concert from a simply secular concert, or a humanist concert? Do people gather for anything? Or do they just sing and talk about what they don’t believe?
Comedian Steve Martin might give us a hint. In the video above Martin takes the mic at the 2010 New Orleans Jazz festival and shares what he calls “The entire Atheist hymnal”. Funny!
Here are the lyrics to Martin’s Athiest Don’t Have No Songs:
Christians have their hymns and pages,
Hava Nagila’s for the Jews,
Baptists have the rock of ages,
Atheists just sing the blues.Romantics play Claire de Lune,
Born agains sing “He is risen,”
But no one ever wrote a tune,
For godless existentialism.For Atheists there’s no good news. They’ll never sing a song of faith.
In their songs they have a rule: the “he” is always lowercase.
The “he” is always lowercase.Some folks sing a Bach cantata,
Lutherans get Christmas trees,
Atheist songs add up to nada,
But they do have Sundays free.Pentecostals sing to heaven,
Coptics have the books of scrolls,
Numerologists can count to seven,
Atheists have rock and roll.For Atheists there’s no good news. They’ll never sing a song of faith.
In their songs they have a rule: the “he” is always lowercase.
The “he” is always lowercase.Atheists don’t have no songs.
Christians have their hymns and pages,
Hava Nagila’s for the Jews,
Baptists have the rock of ages,
Atheists just sing the blues.Catholics dress up for Mass,
And listen to, Gregorian chants.
Atheists just take a pass, Watch football in their underpants.
Watch football in their underpants.Atheists don’t have no songs.
Mark Twain describes forgiveness this way:
Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heal that has crushed it.
What beautifully apropos imagery.
In a recent post I listed 5 Myths About Forgiveness, taken from an article by Sam Storms. What I didn’t do in that post is describe what forgiveness is. So in this post we give consideration to that question, again borrowing from Storms.
Here are 5 Truths About Forgiveness:
While these truths are still not a definition they do work together to give us understanding, perhaps even better than a mere definition might. Forgiveness is embodied and demonstrated in the person of Jesus Christ. He is, in Twain’s words, the Violet that was crushed for us.
***
This list is an excerpt from a post by Sam Storms that originally appeared on the Enjoying God Ministries blog. To whole article is available in .pdf thanks to the folks at Acts 29 Network. Click: Forgiveness
In the movie Just Friends pop singer Samantha James (Anna Faris) lyrically muses:
“Forgiveness is more than saying ‘Sorry'”
Earlier this week I had a conversation with a friend who had been accused by a woman from his church of being “unforgiving” because he was hesitant to re-hire a man who had been fired for cause just a couple years previous. My friend, who is a very gentle and gracious man, was mostly venting frustration from the sting of this accusation. But he was also honestly trying to resolve the conflict within himself; trying to discern if his hesitancy was truly a reflection of a heart lacking in forgiveness.
I suspect many self-searching people wrestle with question at one time or another.
The character Samantha James may be on to someting. But what? What is forgiveness? Maybe at least as important, what is forgivenss NOT?
Sam Storms helps us out with that latter question by listing 5 Myths about forgiveness:
This list is an excerpt from a post that originally appeared on the Enjoying God Ministries blog. To whole article is available in .pdf thanks to the folks at Acts 29 Network. Click: Forgiveness
In a later post we will consider what Storms says forgiveness is.
Went yesterday with my wife and daughter to see the movie The Help. While in one sense this film might fall into the category of Chick Flick, it is more than that. For us it was somewhat nostalgic. The area of Jackson, Mississippi where this was filmed and set is the same neighborhood where we lived in for three years while I was in seminary – Belhaven. (Though the story is set 30 years before we got there.)
This film is poignant – both funny and sad. Laced with humor throughout, it is a discomforting reminder about oppressive attitudes that prevailed only a generation ago. Though the tide had turned by the time we had arrived in Jackson, it was not unusual to stumble upon lingering remnants of the past prevailing prejudices. I suspect they still linger, and not only in Mississippi. So in that sense this movie is a good reminder of the ugliness and foolishness of bigotry. Such reminders insulate against a resurgence of bigoted attitudes.
More than just a moral reminder from days of old, this story is a wonderful demonstration of the power of even just a few to bring about social justice and renewal. In this way, though God is not central to the plot, it is a reflection of the gospel promise to make all things new.
In short, the movie was well worth the extended lunch that took up a portion of my afternoon. So guys, no need to be turned away because this movie may initially appear to be gender in-apropros.
I am thankful to Joe Thorn for concisely clarifying an issue that I believe confounds many well intentioned Christians. The problem addressed is the confusion of moralism with the gospel. In many case moralism is an attempt to take seriously both God and the Christian faith. Nevertheless, moralism is off track.
In a post titled Killing Moralism, Thorn observes:
Many Christians have grown up in the church on moralistic preaching; that is, preaching that calls for obedience without connecting the commands of God to the cross of Christ.
Thorn goes on to suggest:
This disconnect is dangerous, potentially leading hearers into either self-loathing or self-righteousness. Moralistic preaching is often the ground in which the devil sows the seeds of legalism.
The more I study the more I am amazed by how cohesive the Scriptures are – both Old Testament and New Testament. Christ is central to both, as together they unfold God’s awesome plan and work of redemption.
But Thorn is right, too much of what we hear from our pulpits fails to make the connection. And sadly that has all too often been true of the pulpits I have stood in through the years. Oh, the Word was proclaimed. The teaching was faithful. Often rich truth was expressed: doctrinal, devotional, and dutiful. But too often the cross – which is the crux of the whole Bible – was not clearly tied in.
In recent years I have labored to remedy that. But it is still a work in progress.
In his post Thorn suggests three observations we should look for to draw more deeply from the Scriptures for our preaching, teaching, and personal formation:
To practice this observation Thorn wisely instructs us to remind ourselves of three truths:
The more we embrace these principles the better we will become in “preaching the gospel to ourselves”. And living in light of the gospel is the key to escaping well intentioned but ultimately vapid moralism.
Steve Timmis of The Crowded House and co-author of the book Total Church posed the following questions and thoughts for reflection:
How can I be sure I would lay down my life for sake of Jesus & the gospel? Perhaps I’ll be like Peter in his bravado and subsequent denial? Can’t ultimately be sure until I’m called on to do so.
But there are indicators in what I am reluctant to give up…
- If I’m not prepared to give up my bed to go and serve someone, I can be fairly confident I won’t give up my life…
- If I refuse to give up a holiday abroad so I can support someone in gospel ministry, I can be fairly confident I won’t give up my life…
- If I’m not willing to pursue people who are different from me in order to bless them, I can be fairly certain I won’t give up my life…
- If I’m not prepared to miss out on promotion so I can stay & help plant churches, I can be fairly certain I won’t give up my life…
- If I’m not prepared to jeopardize a friendship so that I can tell others about Christ, I can be fairly certain I won’t give up my life.
I think these are worth some personal consideration. Jesus told those who wanted to hang with him:
“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (Luke 9.23)
Being a follower of Jesus and being a fan of Jesus are very different things.
How can one cultivate genuine inner peace? Thomas a Kempis suggests embracing the following four attitudes and practices:
Such a person will enter into the realm of peace and rest.
In this video Jonathan Dodson answers important questions like:
You can also read Dodson’s follow-up article: The Dangerous Gospel
GRACE & PEACE 