Spiritual Practices for a Healthy Summer

For College Students and the rest of us

As welcome as the summer break can be, it can also be a dangerous season. We fall out of our routines and end up taking a vacation from Jesus. Separated from our community at school, we can fall into old patterns that become spiritually destructive to our souls.
How can we look forward to the summer as a time to grow closer to God, not move further from him?

These are the essentials:
1. Preach the Gospel to Yourself Everyday! Compose a self-sermon you can pull out when you need it.
2. Read your Bible. There are some great plans out there. You can also get a daily Bible reading sent directly to your InBox.
3. Pray!
4. Get connected to a good Church community. Don’t believe the lie that “I’m only around a couple months, it doesn’t really matter if I connect or not.”

These practices go a long way towards your spiritual summertime health:
5. Make sure you take some downtime/vacation. And when you have downtime, make sure its truly resting. Sabbath is a Biblical principle. It means to cease from our regular activities in order to have extra time with God.
6. Make sure it’s not ALL downtime. Work is God-given and worthwhile, so get a job. In the rare situation that you don’t need to get a job, make sure you fill your time with Kingdom-building stuff. God has bigger and better plans for you than playing Wii all summer.
7. See your workplace as a mission field. From Day 1, think and pray about how you can share Jesus with your colleagues.
8. Lead! Many college students feel disconnected in the summer months—gather them for cookouts, trips, Bible studies. Be the initiator!
9. Share what you’ve learned this year with your old friends and family. Don’t be afraid to let them see how you’ve grown spiritually.
10. Be proactive in your relationships with friends and family. Repair those that are broken. Strengthen those that are weakened. Be intentional in carving out quality time with parents, siblings, high school friends.
11. Read good books that will stretch your faith. There are good Christian books out there for your personal spiritual growth, for reaching out with the Gospel to others, to thinking through your major and the culture from a Christian perspective. For suggestions, check out the list I started at the Missio Dei wiki!
12. Fast—summer can become a time of indulgence and distraction. Fasting helps reorient you to Who and What really matters.

This list is by nature not exhaustive. And none of these practices is ‘guaranteed’ to make you closer to God. The point is that they are designed to draw you into a closer, deeper relationship with the living God. Good spiritual practices don’t guarantee growth, but put you in the way of receiving God’s grace. Make the most of the summer and come back in August spiritually fed, strengthened, and ready for what God has for us!

Does the Bible teach bad Cosmology?

Anyone else catch the the scientific implications in Isaiah 40:22? "It is [God] who sits above the circle of the earth..." Apparently, at least God and Isaiah understood that the earth was not flat but round, even though it took a couple millenia for everyone else to figure it out! Upon some brief internet research however I discovered that many skeptics actually accuse the Bible of supporting a flat earth view. There's actually a lot more controversy about the way the Bible presents the earth, sky, etc, than I was aware of. Interesting...

I didn't really spend the time to be able to write up a whole summary of this controversy, but if you are in to this sort of thing, the following article from Tektonics Apologetics Ministries seems to give a pretty thorough and biblically faithful point of view on this discussion:

http://www.tektonics.org/af/earthshape.html#circle

A Theology of Brokenness

I recently downloaded The Ambassador's new CD called The Chop Chop: From Milk to Meat (In case you don't know William "Duce" Branch, AKA The Ambassador is a Christian hip hop artist, and also and one of the teaching pastors at Epiphany Fellowship in Philadelphia.) While I've always been more of a rock-n-roller as opposed to a hip-hopper, I find the theological depth that the Ambassador packs into his lyrics to be irrestible, and far superior to a lot of Christian music out there these days. The great thing about hip-hop is that it allows for so many lyrics...so you can practically preach a sermon in one song. It's great...maybe I'm more of a hip-hopper than I thought. Not sure I should start free-stylin' yet though.

Anyway, track 11 on the CD is an interlude entitled "A Theology of Brokenness". I think basically what it is is a clip of him preaching, overlayed onto some cool piano music and beats.

It's better to listen to it with the music and everything, but the content is hard-hitting, and hits me right where I'm at, so I wanted to share it with you guys.

Here it is:

...A lot people blame a lot of things on Satan.
It's easy to deal with the reality of the fact that Satan is against you and all that stuff, and he's your problem.
But there's a whole other category and issue to let sink into you, when it's not Satan who's your problem, but God who's your problem.

Listen, if you're going to walk in the implications of the gospel then you're going to have to be marrried to the principle of brokenness.

Brokenness is the mark of a person that is qualified to be used by God.
At the end of the day people that are actually being used by God in a crazy way- in an off the meter way, are people that have been cracked up, who have been lunged at by God, and God has done something to them. Broken can mean:

Shattered,
Crushed,
Maimed,
Devoid of arrogance,
Wounded,
Contrite,
Injured,
Smashed,
Grieved,
Anxious,
Distressed,
Crippled,
Wrecked,
Demolished,
Fractured,
Handicapped,
Disabled.

Brokenness, based on the scriptures: The spiritual state by which one is disarmed of one's self-dependence and pride, therefore leaving one disabled and in desperate need of help, thereby making one a viable conduit for the glory of Christ.

We're not massochists, but we do kinda have a theology of brokenness.

The Implications of the Resurrection (or lack thereof) #2

What if the resurrection didn't happen? Would the Christian faith fall apart?

Many today are attempting to find ways to say "no" to this question. In a lecture by D.A. Carson entitled Rumors of Resurrection he recounts a recent response by a prominent religious leader in Australia (I think it was an Anglican bishop). In an interview with the media, this bishop was asked if it could be proven that Jesus' body was found and that the ressurection was nothing more than a legend, if that would ruin his faith? The bishop responded with a confident "no" explaining that it would not change the fact that "Christ had risen in his heart."

While this kind of metaphorical reading of the resurrection may be very attractive to many (mostly because it is a safe, non-threatening interpretation that fits in nicely with a post-modern worldview that detests the idea of absolute truth or an exclusive savior), it is important for us and those we interact with to understand that this is not the biblical position.

Apparently the bishop I mentioned earlier had not spent much time in 1 Corinthians (or simply ignored it). In 1 Corinthians 15 (which by the way is the earliest report of the resurrection- within 15-20 years of the crucifixion), Paul answers the question with undeniable clarity:

15:14 "And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain."

15:17 "And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins."

15:19 "If in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied."

A resurrection-less gospel is not a gospel at all! If Christ only died but did not rise, we have no good news. As Paul points out later in the chapter, without the resurrection, we may as well live by the philosophy "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die." If Christ was only a good teacher, or an admirable martyr, we are still in the dark, without hope. Even if we lived our lives following his good example, if he is not a living savior, he is not a savior at all, and we are all just fooling ourselves-- like cancer patients imagining we will be cured by lifting weights and keeping a healthy diet!

But if the resurrection is true, we have a living savior who conquered death and sin! For those who are in Christ, this victory has already been applied to us positionally as Christ's righteousness is credited to us by grace through faith. We see the effects of this victory gradually in this life in the process of sanctification. But the best is yet to come, when we will finally be able to fully taste the victory that Christ accomplished in his death and resurrection when we are united with him after death or upon his return.

The good news of Jesus Christ is truly "a glorious gospel" (1 Timothy 1:11) worth living for, and dying for.

The Implications of the Resurrection #1

As we ramp up towards Easter, I'm going to try to put up several posts on the implications of the Resurrection- why the event is essential to the Christian faith and what it means for us as Christians in the 21rst century.

While preparing for tonight's Sojourn topic, "The Reality of the Resurrection", (which by the way, you should come to, 7:30 @ Webster's) I realized that I have kind of taken the resurrection for granted in the past. Growing up in the church, the idea has never been strange to me, and as far as my own doubts, I've struggled more with foundational things like the existence of God and the validity of scripture. So it makes sense that if I came through those foundational doubts and came to the conclusion that God is real, and that the Bible is his inspired word of God, that there isn't much room left for doubting the resurrection.

However since it is often my doubts that propel me to study things out, I have never spent a lot of serious time dwelling on, dissecting, or questioning the resurrection. My unbelieving friends have also not seemed overly concerned with the topic. They seem to be primarily concerned with the existence of God, the validity of scripture, hypocrites in the church, the problem of evil, the arrogance of exclusive religious claims etc.

What I've realized though as I've prepared to lead the Sojourn discussion is that in the resurrection is a deep theological well that I've barely dipped into. And so these next few posts are as much for me as they are for you.

To kick things off here's a great quote by N.T. Wright that Tim Keller ended "The Reality of the Resurrection" chapter with:

The message of the resurrection is that this world matters!
That the injustices and pains of this present world must now
be addressed with the news that healing, justice, and love
have won...If Easter means Jesus Christ is only raised in a
spiritual sense- [then] it is only about me, and finding a
new dimension in my personal spiritual life. But if Jesus
Christ is truly risen from the dead, Christianity becomes
good news for the whole world- news which warms our hearts
precisely because it isn't just about warming hearts. Easter
means that in a world where injustice, violence and degredation
are endemic, God is not prepared to tolerate such things- and
that we will work and plan, with all the energy of God, to
implement victory over them all. Take away Easter and Karl Marx
was probably right to accuse Christianity of ignoring problems
of the material world. Take it away and Freud was probably right
to say Christianity is wish-fulfillment. Take it away and Nietzsche
probably was right to say it was for wimps.

I used to rule the world....

Have you guys read Isaiah 13-24 yet?

Does anybody else think that Coldplay's "Viva La Vida" would be the perfect soundtrack to this section? As I read, I couldn't help but hear the song in my head, especially the first 3 verses:

I used to rule the world
Seas would rise when I gave the word
Now in the morning I sleep alone
Sweep the streets I used to own

I used to roll the dice
Feel the fear in my enemy's eyes
Listen as the crowd would sing
"Now the old king is dead! Long live the king!"

One minute I held the key
Next the walls were closed on me
And I discovered that my castles stand
Upon pillars of salt and pillars of sand

After reading this portion of scripture, it's amazing to me that anyone (look up open-theism) could question God's sovereignty over human history.

I'd recommend reading the whole portion at once, and also reading chapter 25 so you can rest in God's goodness, and see the beauty of his redemptive purposes after all of that judgement and carnage.

Notes on Michael Behe's Intelligent Design talk

Tonight I heard Dr. Michael Behe, author of Darwin's Black Box and leading figure in the Intelligent Design movement, speak on the topic at Penn State. He was an invited guest of the "Science & the Bible Club," and he spoke to a full (and mostly sympathetic) house. In fact, I'm sure we violated the fire code. His talk was entitled:

“Answering Objections to the Argument for Intelligent Design in Biology”

Behe’s Disclaimer: he’s representing only himself.

What follows is my attempt to take as complete notes as possible, with a brief assessment at the end.



I. Argument for Intelligent Design Itself

His argument:

Design is not mystical. It is deduced from physical structure of a system.
Everyone agrees that aspects of biology appear designed.
There are structural obstacles to Darwinian evolution.
Grand Darwinian claims rest on undisciplined imagination [synonym for faith]
Bottom Line: We have strong evidence for design, little evidence for Darwinism


1. Design is not mystical. It is deduced from physical structure of a system.

What is meant by intelligent design?

The purposeful or inventive arrangement of parts or details. We infer design whenever parts appear arranged to accomplish a function.



Is the conclusion of design necessarily a religious one? No, it is a logical one. We can’t necessarily infer when or who or why or how. Only what.



The strength of the inference is quantitative. [huh?]



2. Everyone agrees that aspects of biology appear designed.

Richard Dawkins book, “the Blind Watchmaker”

“Biology is the study of complicated things that give the appearance of having been designed for a purpose” p. 1



So according to Dawkins (in Behe’s words), biology is more like observing Mt. Rushmore than your average mountain, or even the Old Man in the Mountain. It gives evidence of design. It’s not an aesthetic conclusion, but an engineering conclusion.



Paraphrasing Dawkins: we say it’s well designed if an intelligent and knowledgeable engineer might have built into it in order to achieve some sensible purpose…

But Dawkins insists that biology can produce the appearance of design w/o having been designed.



3. But there are structural obstacles to Darwinian evolution.

“If it could be demonstrated that any complex organ existed which could not possibly have been formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications, my theory would absolutely break down. But I can find out no such case.” Darwin, Origin of Species, p. 58



Here’s a problem for Darwin:

Behe’s signature concept & contribution to ID: Irreducible Complexity.

A mousetrap needs each of its parts to work. Take away any piece, it doesn’t work only half as well; it doesn’t work at all. Irreducibly complex things are a headache for Darwinian thought. How would a mousetrap “evolve”? It couldn’t work that way.



Are there any irreducibly complex biological systems, cellular systems, biochemical systems? A couple examples:

The Bacterial Flagellum (the outboard motor of bacteria). Can’t take away any of the parts and it still works.
Everyone talks about the cells as “machines,” “motors, clocks, springs and things,” “engines.”


4. Grand Darwinian claims rest on undisciplined imagination

Imagination is important; but undisciplined imagination is a double-edged sword. If you have a good imagination, you’ll see things that other people have missed. But with an undisciplined imagination, you’ll see things that aren’t there.



Behe’s Darwin’s Black Box was widely reviewed:

“We should reject, as a matter of principle, the substitution of intelligent design for the dialogue of chance and necessity (cites Behe); but we must concede that there are presently no detailed Darwinian accounts of the evolution of any biochemical system, only a variety of wishful speculations.”

--Franklin Harold, The Way of the Cell, Oxford UP 2001



What principle is it by which we reject ID? Harold didn’t say. Behe believes it’s “Ghostbusters,” ie, the belief that in ID extra-scientific ideas with supernatural beliefs are being wrongly imported into (in place of) Science.



Behe: Science is supposed to follow the evidence, wherever it goes. Let other people worry about the philosophy and its implications.



5. Bottom Line: We have strong evidence for design, little evidence for Darwinism



“Yet the living results of natural selection overwhelmingly impress us with the appearance of design as if by a master watchmaker, impress us with the illusion of design and planning.” Dawkins, Blind Watchmaker, p.21



So, if it looks like a duck, sounds like a duck, etc., how is it not a duck? Dawkins says it’s not a duck, even though it looks, smells, sounds, tastes like one. They call it an “in-duck-tive” argument. (Ba dum cha). But Encyclopedia Britannica says, “inductive reasoning is the logic normally used in the Sciences.” In other words, ID is rationally justified.



II. A Rebuttal to Several Objections to Intelligent Design



1. Judge John Jones and the Dover Case

Behe testified at length for the losing side in the Dover Case. Behe believes ID rationally justified; Judge John Jones (in the Dover case) disagreed. Strongly worded verdict against ID. Judge’s opinion was 139 pages.

Eric Rothschild—lead attorney for the other side—presented a “findings of fact and conclusions of law” that was 161 pages, very long.

Judge Jones cut-and-pasted Rothschild at points, nearly word for word.

At one point, Judge Jones quoted Behe talking about design as an “analogy,” but it was Rothschild who characterized it that way.

And this kind of plagiarism is legal in legal circles, but Behe’s argument is that Judge Jones didn’t understand the material (that’s why it’s not allowed in school). And it was Judge Jones who apparently made up a bunch of people’s minds (like Scott Adams of Dilbert).



[This part of the lecture felt like Behe’s attempt at prosecuting Judge Jones. He was not rebutting the arguments themselves; it’s an ad hominem argument against the capabilities of Judge Jones. The temptation to get even a bit was just too tempting, I guess. But it weakened his overall argument, because he had ceased talking science. ]



His point was that people like Scott Adams (of Dilbert fame) who said that the judge’s decision was “good enough for me” are not off the hook.



2. Prof. John McDonald, Univ. of Delaware

“A Reducibly Complex Mousetrap”

A prof. who allegedly refuted Behe’s mousetrap argument by “designing” mousetraps by taking one part out at a time, eventually down to one part.

http://udel.edu/~mcdonald/mousetrap.html

But his mousetraps are not physical precursors, but conceptual ones.

And they are intelligently designed traps. Nor would they evolve from step one to step two and so on. So this critique ultimately doesn’t work.



Unfortunately I couldn't stay for the Q&A, which I’m sure was interesting.



Behe has quite a bit more info at his blog on Amazon.com, connected to his books.



In short, I felt like I saw what makes the ID movement so interesting, and yet what also short-circuits it. The first half of Behe’s lecture was coherent, informed, and compelling. He made a solid case for the inclusion of ID in the scientific discussion. But the second half departed from science and made ad hominem arguments that undermined his case and were ultimately ineffective. While ID deserves a fair hearing, and is most assuredly not getting one in many places (just watch Ben Stein’s movie Expelled), the second half of Behe’s talk gave skeptics too many reasons to reject the issue out of hand.

[UPDATE: This morning I read a NYT editorial on the Texas School Board handling of evolution. It included these revealing paragraphs:

Conservatives tried — but failed — to reinsert a phrase requiring students to study the “strengths and weaknesses” of all scientific theories, including evolution. That language had been in the standards for years, but it was eliminated by experts who prepared the new standards for board approval because it has become a banner for critics of Darwinian evolution who seek to exaggerate supposed weaknesses in the theory.

The conservatives also narrowly lost attempts to have students study the “sufficiency or insufficiency” of natural selection to explain the complexities of the cell, a major issue for proponents of intelligent design. The conservatives also failed to get the word “sufficiency” inserted by itself, presumably because that would imply insufficiency as well. They had to settle for language requiring students to “analyze, evaluate and critique” scientific explanations and examine “all sides” of the scientific evidence.

So now the study of strengths and weaknesses is explicitly disallowed when it comes to Science? Who is the one suppressing genuine scientific inquiry? Who is the one imposing their ideology? Behe's point about following the evidence is well taken. Frankly, this is an embarrassing decision for the evolutionary fundamentalists, because it reveals how willing they are to compromise genuine science in the name of their evolutionary ideology.]

Want to know who the “Real Jesus” was? Ask the people who were there.

As a society, we value first-hand knowledge and experience more than ever. With the ever-expanding immanence of technology, there’s no need to rely on 2nd or 3rd hand accounts of anything. We can connect to someone who was there—is there—through YouTube, Twitter, or Facebook. We don’t trust accounts that aren’t firsthand. We want up close and personal.

It’s Spring, which means three things: flowers budding, students sweating impending finals, and loads of stories about “the real Jesus” in magazines and on TV as we approach Easter. What do we really know about him, and how do we know? Is it possible to get any sense of who he really was? Do we have any first-hand accounts that tell us what we want to know?

I recently got acquainted with Richard Bauckham’s landmark book Jesus & the Eyewitnesses to prepare for a discussion on these very questions at Sojourn, our Thursday night forum for questioning faith and doubt.

I had been hearing about the book for a while now, so I was eager to get a hold of it. While I don’t have the time to write a full review of the book here—that’s already been done in several places, better than I could anyway—I will try to summarize some of what makes the book so helpful.

To understand the value of Bauckham’s contribution to NT scholarship and apologetics, it’s important to understand something of the context. For over 250 years, the “Jesus of Faith” has been pitted against “The Historical Jesus” of Higher Criticism. In other words, we are told that we must choose which Jesus we believe in: either the one we read about in the Gospels, or the “real” one behind or underneath the Gospels, who must be recovered by higher critics and their scholarly methods.

Form Criticism is a branch of Higher Criticism, along with Redaction Criticism and Source Criticism. (Lower Criticism refers to Textual Criticism, the discipline of comparing the thousands of biblical manuscripts and their variants in order to recover the most reliable biblical text). It’s impossible to define an entire discipline of scholarship in a nutshell without being reductionistic, but essentially Form Criticism is the method of classifying units of Scripture by their literary form and their cultural context (Sitz im Leben), in order to determine how the story was originally told. If you took Religious Studies and learned how the Pentateuch is made up of four traditions known as JEDP (aka, the documentary hypothesis), you’ve learned Form Criticism.

One of the central assumptions of Form Criticism—and the one that has arguably had the most sweeping impact—is that the Gospels are derived from several generations of oral tradition, and are therefore less reliable. This is the “Whisper Down the Lane” argument—that whatever was originally said must have been corrupted (and probably intentionally changed) by following generations. (You can partially thank Form Criticism for all those magazine covers and TV specials purporting to have uncovered “the truth” about “the Real Jesus”). The changes over time produce “layers” on top of the original story. Form Critics believe they can strip away these layers (and agendas) to arrive at the kernel of truth or actual event within a given story.

There are several problems with this approach, notably 1) the outright skepticism of the historicity of what we have in the Gospels; 2) the assumption of a lengthy and corrupting oral tradition; 3) the often accompanying anti-supernaturalistic assumptions (since we know Jesus couldn’t have performed miracles, we know those stories must have been added later); and 4) the optimism that their critical method can reconstruct something more accurate and true than the Biblical accounts. It’s important to note that the study of the Bible’s literary and cultural contexts is important and profitable; it’s the accompanying presuppositions of Form Criticism that are problematic.

The most egregious (and admittedly extreme) example of Higher Criticism at work is the infamous Jesus Seminar. This illustrious gathering of scholars (which includes Paul Verhoeven, the director of such cinematic gems as Robocop, Basic Instinct, and Showgirls) has radically redefined what they believe to be the accurate depiction of the real Jesus. By means of voting with four colored beads, they decide which statements are most or least likely to actually have been said by Jesus himself. Among their criteria for inauthenticity is anything self-referential (which would automatically rule out much of the Gospel of John); any “framing” material surrounding an event or story (such as who Jesus was addressing, curiously eliminating the all-important contextual clues); and anything perceived to have a theological agenda (you know, because Jesus himself wouldn’t have had any theological ideas or anything). Not surprisingly, they end up with something like 15-20 “authentic” statements, and a Jesus whom no one would care to listen to, let alone crucify.

Tomorrow, I will outline Bauckham’s response to Form Criticism and how his approach is able to bring together the Jesus of history and the Christ of faith.

Jim Collins (Good to Great) optimistic about the next generation

Jim Collins, author of Good to Great, in an interview in the April 2009 issue of Inc.magazine.

Q: What’s the source of your optimism?
A: A lot of it has to do with the young generation. A general at West Point told me, ‘This is the most inspired and inspiring generation to come through West Point since 1945.’ I see the same thing with the young people who come to work for me. They have a sense of responsibility and service and a lack of cynicism that is remarkable and wonderful. It’s an ethos, and its collective. That’s what’s really powerful. It’s connected technologically. It’s not grandiose, but there is a fundamental assumption of being part of a much larger world and a much larger set of aspirations. The world can be a really awful, brutal, turbulent place. And yet I’m hopeful precisely because of this generation of kids. I really think we ought to just give them the keys as soon as we can. Let them run it.

In working with you, the next generation, I share Collins' assessment and optimism. I agree--let's give you the keys! That's what Missio Dei is about--unleashing you to make a difference for the Kingdom! So here’s the keys—where are you taking us?

I Asked the Lord that I Might Grow

John Newton (1725-1807) is famous for being the former slave trader-turned-pastor who penned the words to the well-known and beloved hymn "Amazing Grace." He was also a mentor to the great abolitionist William Wilberforce and to the hymnist William Cowper, and for many years pastored a congregation in Olney, England, where he was noted for his outreach to the poor and for his preaching.

As this poem reveals, he was a probing contemplative as well as a gifted lyricist. He had a powerful understanding of the Gospel, and he captures well the struggle with sin and the surprising ways in which God answers our prayers for growth in holiness. 

I asked the Lord that I might grow,

In faith and love and every grace,

Might more of His salvation know,

And seek more earnestly His face.

It was He who taught me thus to pray,

And He I trust has answered prayer.

But it has been in such a way,

As almost drove me to despair.

I hoped that in some favored hour,

At once He'd answer my request.

And by His love's constraining power,

Subdue my sins and give me rest.

Instead of this, He made me feel,

The hidden evils of my heart.

And let the angry powers of hell,

Assault my soul in every part.

Yes, more with His own hand,

He seemed, Intent to aggravate my woe.

Crossed all the fair designs I schemed,

Blasted my gourds, and laid me low.

"Lord, why is this?" I trembling cried.

Will You pursue Your worm to death?"

"This is the way" the Lord replied,

"I answer prayer for grace and strength."

"These inward trials I employ,

From self, and pride, to set you free;

And break your schemes of earthly joy,

That you may find thy all in Me."

—John Newton

Is there a "Coming Evangelical Collapse"?

Michael Spencer, aka the Internet Monk, thinks so. His article on the Coming Evangelical Collapse (CEC) has me agreeing with him.

We are on the verge – within 10 years – of a major collapse of evangelical Christianity. This breakdown will follow the deterioration of the mainline Protestant world and it will fundamentally alter the religious and cultural environment in the West.

Within two generations, evangelicalism will be a house deserted of half its occupants. (Between 25 and 35 percent of Americans today are Evangelicals.) In the "Protestant" 20th century, Evangelicals flourished. But they will soon be living in a very secular and religiously antagonistic 21st century.

This collapse will herald the arrival of an anti-Christian chapter of the post-Christian West. Intolerance of Christianity will rise to levels many of us have not believed possible in our lifetimes, and public policy will become hostile toward evangelical Christianity, seeing it as the opponent of the common good.
Millions of Evangelicals will quit. Thousands of ministries will end. Christian media will be reduced, if not eliminated. Many Christian schools will go into rapid decline. I'm convinced the grace and mission of God will reach to the ends of the earth. But the end of evangelicalism as we know it is close.

Spencer goes on to outline why this has happened (shallow theology, caving in to consumerism, fighting the wrong battles, ie, the culture wars), and what the landscape will look like (less professed evangelicals, more Catholic and Orthodox converts, and more persecution).
He also goes on to say that this is not all bad--there is much of evangelicalism that needs to die. The corruptions and perversions attached to evangelicalism need to be washed away, like the health and wealth heresy. (How long would it take Joel Osteen to become an all-out universalist if his lucrative livelihood was threatened?)

I don't know if I see things quite as direly as Spencer does, but he is right. Current evangelicalism is incredibly and tragically shallow. It is biblically and culturally illiterate. It has retreated to its Holy Huddle, and is utterly unprepared to survive in a hostile society. The environment for being a Christian in the West is rapidly changing. Might Obama be our last professing Christian president? Maybe. If not him, perhaps the next. Will Christianity be expelled from all civic discourse, politics, academia? Likely. Will Christians face some form of persecution? Likely. Will the money dry up, in the Christian world, as Spencer predicts? Yes, but this will likely be a good thing in the big picture, as many stupid/silly projects won't get funding. But it will still hurt many worthwhile ministries, eg, someone like me who raises support for a living. Many of us will have to consider going bivocational.

I've contemplated dropping the term "evangelical" as a self-descriptor because of the culture-warrior baggage and because the tent has become so big that I don't want to affiliate myself with beliefs/causes I believe to be unbiblical. I've heard some folks going with their tribe (Reformed), or using "orthodox" (small "o") to describe their time-tested, biblical beliefs.

What do you think? Is evangelicalism going to collapse? Is it already? Do you use that term to describe yourself? Why/why not? Will we face persecution soon? Will the money dry up? What does a post-evangelical America look like?

Pruning to Bear Fruit

We have a peach tree in our yard. At least, we think it’s a peach tree. Late last summer, it bore a very peculiar, shriveled, sour-tasting fruit-like substance that we placed somewhere in the peach family. It seems that the previous owners were not much in to pruning, so the tree became rather unfocused in its growth. Dozens of little branches here and there; undisciplined growth all over the place; and no fruit—at least not the kind of fruit worth eating.

 

We were told by a friend who knows about these things that when you have an overgrown fruit tree, you need to really pare it back. This is short-term loss, but long-term gain. If you do it right, the tree won’t be ready to bear good fruit the first year (nor will it even look pretty), but in the second year, the tree’s energies will no longer be diluted, and its growth should result in sweet, delicious fruit. Peach cobbler. Peach pie. Peach jam. Mmm.

 

So Saturday morning I took out the chainsaw and started hacking away. I lopped off limb after unfruitful limb. It was satisfying. When I was done, it seemed that three trees worth of limbs had been cut down. Somehow, all the branches had come down from this one little tree. I had thought it would take 3 minutes. But pruning it well had been a more involved procedure than I had thought. Yes, I enjoyed the violence of it—but all the more because it was constructive violence.

 

Yes, I am a little worried that my pruning was too extreme. I may have gotten carried away. We’ll know for sure next year. The proof is in the peaches, so to speak. During my pruning, Jesus’ words in John 15 seemed especially fresh and relevant:

 

I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.” (John 15:1-2)

 

Some Lessons Learned from Actually Pruning a Fruit Tree

 

1. Showy fruitlessness is worthless. Bearing fruit is the point! Not all growth is good growth. What good is a peach tree that doesn’t bear peaches? Not much. This tree did have a lot of growth, but it wasn’t the right kind. It was undisciplined, unintentional—and unfruitful. It was darn near losing the right to be called a peach tree. Showy fruitlessness is why Jesus condemned the fig tree in Mark 11:12-14.

 

2. Pruning is short-term loss, long-term gain. The same morning I pruned the tree, I had breakfast with a mentor. He not-so-coincidentally brought up John 15, and he said that a recent pruning season in his life “put me on the bench for three months.” But he spoke with commingled joy and sorrow about it, because he was in a much better place now. The pruning had done its work.

 

3. Pruning is constructive violence. It takes things we may think are important, even essential, and hacks them off. After years of unfruitful “growth,” it may take a chainsaw! It may be painful. But it will be for ours—and others’—good.

 

4. Jesus is the Vine and God the Father is the Good Vinedresser. He knows what he’s doing.  His pruning (unlike mine) will always result in greater fruitfulness. He is wise and we can trust him.  

TIME mag cites "New Calvinism" as one of the "10 Ideas Changing the World Right Now"

This is old news to those of us inside the movement, but its notable when TIME notices the resurgence of neo-Calvinism. They give shout-outs to John Piper, Mark Driscoll, and Al Mohler. It is true, as the article notes, that the real energy and vigor in the evangelical world is coming from Reformed circles. From their most recent issue.

What is a movement? 12 marks

If you hang around me long enough, you know I'm fond of talking about Missio Dei as a movement. But what exactly IS a movement? How is it different from what others may be doing? And why is this distinction important? 

Recently a pastor friend challenged me with those questions, and this was my response. I drew it from my study of revivals and awakenings, going back to the first Great Awakening of Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield and the Wesleys; the Haystack Revival; the Welsh Revival; the Student Volunteer Movement; the work of men like D.L. Moody and Billy Graham; and modern movements ranging from Vineyard and Calvary Chapel to Sovereign Grace, Redeemer, and Acts 29. Part of this draws on a talk I heard Mark Driscoll give at an Acts29 Boot Camp in Raleigh in Feb 09. 

So is Missio Dei a movement? Not yet. But I think we're heading in the right direction. You should also know that I'm personally uncomfortable with #11, but it seems impossible to ignore when you look at history. 

1. It’s an extraordinary outpouring of the Spirit of God upon a praying people. It is inherently something beyond the normal workings of God, and well beyond man’s ability to create.

 

2. It’s characterized by extraordinary events and transformations: the renewal of an apathetic, dry church; resulting in many conversions of people within and without the visible church.

 

3. It is unusual in its degree and scope. It breaks down human distinctions which are not biblical and which have impeded Kingdom expansion (ie, the convergence of charismatic theology with the Reformed world in recent years).

 

4. It actively seeks to NOT become institutionalized. When it becomes institutionalized, it loses a great deal of momentum.

 

5. It is discerning about the essentials--those things which must be agreed on or maintained (closed hand), and which are non essentials—those things not necessary to agree on (open hand). There is unity in diversity.

 

6. It CAN work in concert with institutions, to renew and expand them.

 

7. It is a recovery of sound theology and practices—what are not new, but seem that way to those experiencing them.

 

8. It is messy around the edges—and sometimes at the middle. It attracts bad theology, bad practices, and unstable people.

 

9. A movement generates a lot of discussion, both within and without the movement. Some of it is healthy; much of it is gossip and speculation and criticism. But it cannot be ignored.

 

10. It takes hits on both sides. From secular leaning folks, and from the religious establishment. The bad apples are used by skeptics to discredit the entire movement.

 

11. It is frequently spearheaded by a particularly charismatic or larger-than-life leader who seems to be anointed for the task. These leaders are lavished with praise by their followers, but are frequently unfairly criticized and undergo great suffering and temptation.

 

12. It leaves lasting changes in those impacted by it: individuals, families, churches, communities, and even cultures are never the same. 

10 Guidelines for Missional Partying

Going to school in this town you are bound to end up at a few parties.

These situations are both strategic and dangerous.

They are strategic as a relational opportunity to connect with your friends, meet new people, and perhaps even find a chance to share your faith. One of the things that Jesus was criticized for was that he hung out with drunks, tax collectors, and prostitutes, and beggars. We need to do the same.

But as Christians, we also have to realize that these situations can be full of pitfalls...or maybe another good metaphor would be the idea of running through mine-fields. We should not be ignorant of the fact that while God may call us to enter these situations from time to time, we should go in with our heads up, taking the advice of 1 Peter 1:13-- having sober-minds, prepared for action.

Here are some general guidelines that may help you work through which situations you should be in and which situations you need to avoid:

1. Be sensative to the Spirit-- pray beforehand -- if at any point you feel you shouldn't be there, get out!

2. If you are double-minded at all (in other words you know that you are kindof looking for an opportunity to satisfy your flesh, but rationalizing it telling yourself you are being missional), don't go!

3. Set up some accountability-- let a Christian friend know you are going into this situation, and decide on a time for them to give you a call and check up on you. Better yet, take a Christian friend with you!

4. Know before-hand why you are going, who you want to connect with, and the amount of time you want to stay.

5. Make an effort to always be in conversation-- on your feet-- not lingering, watching, or leaving yourself open to temptation (you know what that means for you). If you are there to reach out to your friends, be intentional and do it! Don't coast into neutral.

6. If your friends are too drunk to have real conversations, doing something else might be a wiser use of your time.

7. Don't participate in or appear to condone any behavior that is illegal, or sinful. If you feel like you are condoning illegal or sinful behavior by just by being there, then you should leave. Keep in mind 1 Peter 4:3,4: "The time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkeness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery..."

8. Always remember that you are a missionary-- a representative of Christ-- wherever you are. The question is: Will people see Christ in you, or will you blend in to the crowd?

9. Are you in the position where you could host parties-- where you could be in a little more control of what's going on, but still hang out with the people you want to reach out to? Think about hosting parties at your place, and show people you don't have to get drunk out of your mind to have a good time. Have good food, drinks (you can make the call about whether or not any alcohol will be involved...perhaps it can be a byob if people want to drink alcohol...), games, movie, whatever your creative mind can come up with.

10. Remember 1 Corinthians 10:31 "So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."

This is not an extensive list...there are probably a lot more things that could be added, but hopefully I got you thinking.

Truth = Christ

"Truth is not a set of rules to be obeyed, mysteries to be known or evidences to be mastered, but Christ, by whom we know and are known. Truth is not discovered, it is revealed in relationship to both the head and the heart. Therefore, Truth is not something merely known or proclaimed but Someone experienced, tasted, and seen as the Psalmist says, by grace, faith, and presence that not merely knows the Truth but loves Him."

-Mark Driscoll

"One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple."

-Psalm 27:4

The Essence of Sin & How to Glorify God

Preferring anything above Christ is the very essence of sin...God defines evil this way when he says, “My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water” (Jer. 2:13). God pictures himself as a mountain spring of clean, cool, life-giving water. The way to glorify a fountain like this is to enjoy the water, and praise the water, and keep coming back to the water, and point other people to the water, and get strength for love from the water, and never, never, never prefer any drink in the world over this water. That makes the spring look valuable. That is how we glorify God, the fountain of living water.

-John Piper, When I Don't Desire God

Cultivating Intimacy with God

I've been thinking lately about the importance of cultivating intimacy with God- I think many of us tend to focus on learning about God and often times neglect the importance and the privelige of actually, truly, intimately knowing God. There is a book by A.W. Tozer on this topic called The Pursuit of God which I have found to be very helpful in thinking through this stuff. Here is a quote from the first chapter:

The modern scientist has lost God amid the wonders of His world; we Christians are in real danger of losing God amid the wonders of His Word. We have almost forgotten that God is a person and, as such, can be cultivated as any person can. It is inherent in personality to be able to know other personalities, but full knowledge of one personality by another cannot be achieved in one encounter. It is only after long and loving mental intercourse that the full possibilities of both can be realized.

What is keeping you from intimacy with God?

Back on the Blogosphere!

The tough thing about blogging is that in order to do it effectively and maintain a readership, you really need to do it every day (or at least several times a week). So after my 10-day silence I suppose I have lost you all! But the reality is that life has off-weeks and last week was one of them for me. But I'm happy to say that I am back online, and will seriously make an effort to post something, even if it is small, everyday this week, and hopefully keep that momentum going for the rest of the semester. Also, it would be great to include some posts from you guys. If you have an idea, let me know.

To get us back in the swing of things, check out this quote by Jonathan Campbell from his article "Postmodernism: Ripe for a Global Harvest- But is the Church Ready?":

The good news is Jesus transcends all cultures. Jesus is
not modern. Jesus is not postmodern. And his body, the
church, is neither modern nor postmodern, though it
lives within both cultural paradigms. Ultimately, Christ's
community is a way of life that incarnates into and challenges
any and every culture, in every time, in every place. Mission
is an intrinsically translational task. Throughout history,
God has shown himself relating to people within their cultural
frame of reference. The life and work of Jesus Christ set a
pattern for the church's mission. In the incarnation, God
became more than words. The Word himself entered culture in
a specific time and space (John 1:14).

Thoughts? Shoot me an email at missiodeipsu@gmail.com

A Pilgrim Makes it Home

“There was a real railway accident,” said Aslan softly. “Your father and mother and all of you are—as you used to call it in the Shadow-Lands—dead. The term is over: the holidays have begun. The dream is ended: this is the morning.” And as He spoke He no longer looked to them like a lion; but the things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them. And for us this is the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story, which no one on earth has read: which goes on for ever: in which every chapter is better than the one before." C.S. Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia

As I was falling asleep last night, I got a phone call from my Mom informing me that Pastor Dan Cummings of Five Points Community Church (the church I attended most often during college and a church which has supported my family as missionaries to Papua New Guinea since 1989) in Auburn Hills, MI had just passed away, after 10 months of battling with cancer.

Pastor Dan was not an old guy. He was mid-40's and has 3 kids about ages 20, 18, and 15 (guessing.) He was a marathon runner. No one saw this coming. But God saw fit to allow Pastor Dan and his family to face this great trial, and to use it as the means of ushering Pastor Dan into his presence. And by the grace of God, Pastor Dan was a warrior. During the 10 months that he was undergoing cancer treatment (and experiencing all kinds of complications) God gave him the strength to preach more than 20 sermons.

Although I did not have an extremely close relationship with Pastor Dan and even had some frustrations with the church as a whole, Pastor Dan's ministry had an undeniable impact on me. He was the first pastor I'd ever met who viewed the communication of God's word as his full-time job, and would spend 30-40 hours a week preparing for his sermon! And it showed-- At a time when so many churches downplay preaching, turning sermons into theraputic pep-talks, Pastor Dan's messages were like a feast for my soul. My understanding of scripture and theology, and my awareness of my own sin and need for God's grace, went to a new, and much deeper level sitting under the preaching of this small, soft-spoken man. There is certainly more to ministry than preaching, but oh, how I wish pastors would take there job as seriously as Pastor Dan did.

While I was in Michigan over the holidays, I had the opportunity to hear him preach one last time. He looked older and weaker than the Pastor Dan I used to know. He wore a big baggy sweater so he could keep warm. In his message entitled "A World of Love" He spoke of the glories of heaven, yet was obviously torn between wanting to go there, and wanting to stick around and continue loving his family and his church. But it was very clear that his deepest desire was to glorify God, in life, or in death.

So I laid in bed last night, wondering what Pastor Dan's first few hours in heaven were like. I also thought about my Dad, who went to heaven 16 years ago (when I was 9). I realized how little I even think about heaven. How would my life be different if I consistently lived with heaven in view?

I wonder what happens when you close your eyes for the last time on earth, and then open them to a world of indescribable goodness. Do you find yourself at the gate of a great city? Do you walk in to the cheers of your closest friends and family members who have made it there before you? Or maybe you find yourself in a great and beautiful wilderness (has anyone read The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis?), a wonderful place of joyous exploration. Or perhaps the first thing you see when you open your eyes is Jesus...and he is so glorious that you don't even care about anything else. Perhaps he invites you, like Thomas, to look at the scars in his hands and feet, to put your hand in his side. Perhaps he looks at you and says: "You're not dreaming, It's all real. You've made it. You're sins truly are forgiven. Yes, I really do love you. Well done, my good and faithful servant. Come, and enter my rest." As long as we're on this side of heaven, we can only speculate what these first moments will be like. But one thing we can count on if we are in Christ Jesus: They will be way better than anything we could ever imagine. Without minimizing his love for his family or for his church, I'm pretty confident that Pastor Dan is no longer torn about where he wants to be. I'm so thankful for the example of courage and reliance on God that he set during his final months.

Perhaps there are people that you have known who have set a similar example for you. I encourage you to thank God for them. There's a part in John Bunyan's spiritual allegory The Pilgrim's Progress where Christian (the main character in the allegory) is crossing a river in order to get to the City of God- the final obstacle he faces on his journey to heaven. The river represents death. As he go across he begins to deal with doubt and fear as he faces his death. He cries out in despair to his friend Hopeful, who replies: "Be of good cheer, my brother, I feel the bottom, and it is good." Those who have gone before us (The great cloud of witnesses, as Hebrews calls them) have persevered through life's trial and persecutions, have faced death with courage, and have opened their eyes to the everlasting love of Jesus. I think they would say to us in our struggles, and in that moment when we face death: "Be of good cheer...I feel the bottom, and it is good."

Posted alongside Pastor Dan's blog, in addition to the C.S. Lewis quote I put at the top of this post, was this quote by Jonathan Edwards:

"The enjoyment of [God] is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied. To go to heaven, fully to enjoy God, is infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations here. Fathers and mothers, husband, wives, or children, or the company of earthly friends, are but shadows; but God is the substance. These are but scattered beams, but God is the sun. These are but streams. But God is the ocean."

Take a few minutes to let that sink in.

If you are interested in checking out some of Pastor Dan's sermons, you can do so at: http://68.250.205.21:9085/sermons.asp .

If you are interested in taking a look at his blog, you can find it at: http://5pointscc.org/dan/

Missional Quote

In North America, “come and see” church outreach is still effective in many contexts but, usually, only when combined with relational approaches. In many places in North America, attractional is still missional, but it must be combined with Incarnational ministry.

A church that is Incarnational is interested more in the harvest than in the barn. For too long, the church has focused on getting the grain into the barn. We have made sure the barn is clean, made sure it is attractive, made sure it is well organized, and then, we assumed that the grains of wheat would make their way in if we invited them. Some did—but most people who could be reached that way already have been. Now, it is our job to move the church from solely attractional methods to also engage in missional ones. 

Breaking the Missional Code, p.65.

Missional Venues

I was checking out the "Venues" section of The Daily Collegian yesterday, looking for some creative cool stuff to check out this weekend.

My weekend picks-

A photography exhibit, a Cello recital, and a basement pot-luck rock-show (not in Venues...a friend of mine is putting it on), and of coarse a Super Bowl party on Sunday!

But that's just me. Where do you find yourself this weekend? Where will you already be that will give you an opportunity to be a light to others? Are there any other venues that you could intentionally plan to attend as an imbedded missionary?

The cool thing about Christianity is that it does not call us to hide from the world-- to retreat to church basements to read books about the rapture. We are called to be like Jesus-- to be humans! To come along side people...to eat, drink, study, work, view art, design buildings, engineer stuff, use software, speak languages,play sports, and rock out (or rap-out if that's a word)to a good show! But as we participate in the things that we enjoy, and share these activities with people from all backgrounds and beliefs, we have the privelige of sharing with them the joy that goes deeper than all of these activities, and the hope that conquers all despair!

So make plans with friends, check out "Venues" (http://www.collegian.psu.edu/venues/), watch some football, and be missional!

Light for the Broken

In Matthew 5:14-16 Jesus says: “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven."

At Sojourn last night, we discussed the concept of sin and debated whether or not the world is "broken." While that's all well and good for middle to upper class educated philosophical types sitting in a warm coffee shop sipping on warm drinks, and heading home to a warm bed, for many people around the world, the question of whether or not the world is broken seems ignorant to even ask. The answer is so obvious!

Much light is needed around the world. There is much work to be done. Jesus says that we are the light, and that the light that shines through our lives is meant to lead people into a relationship with God in which they will glorify Him. But don't make the mistake of thinking that going to the broken only means going to Africa (although God may lead some of us to leave our homes to serve the broken around the world.) We must realize that beyond the obvious brokenness of starving people, refugee camps, warzones, disease, and poverty is the brokenness that all people who do not know Christ share: spiritual brokenness and the possibility that they will spend eternity seperated from the love of God. May God teach us to be a city on hill, ministering to broken people, and leading them into the light that has captivated us-- and may he teach us to be just as burdened for the broken people that surround us in our warm coffee shops and classrooms, as we are for the orphan in a far off country.

Oh God, make our light contageous, here, at Penn State, and to the ends of the earth!

Break our hearts for the broken!

"Yahweh" by U2

Take these shoes
Click clacking down some dead end street
Take these shoes
And make them fit
Take this shirt
Polyester white trash made in nowhere
Take this shirt
And make it clean, clean
Take this soul
Stranded in some skin and bones
Take this soul
And make it sing

Yahweh, Yahweh
Always pain before a child is born
Yahweh, Yahweh
Still I’m waiting for the dawn

Take these hands
Teach them what to carry
Take these hands
Don’t make a fist
Take this mouth
So quick to criticise
Take this mouth
Give it a kiss

Yahweh, Yahweh
Always pain before a child is born
Yahewh, Yahweh
Still I’m waiting for the dawn

Still waiting for the dawn, the sun is coming up
The sun is coming up on the ocean
This love is like a drop in the ocean
This love is like a drop in the ocean

Yahweh, Yahweh
Always pain before a child is born
Yahweh, tell me now
Why the dark before the dawn?

Take this city
A city should be shining on a hill
Take this city
If it be your will
What no man can own, no man can take
Take this heart
Take this heart
Take this heart
And make it break

Note: Image found at www.vagabondish.com

An Anchor for the Soul

"God's presence is renewing, transforming, enlivening, sanctifying, commanding, sweetening, and cheering to the soul. Nothing is like it in all the world: His presence supplies all need, heals all sickness, saves from all danger; it is life in death, heaven in hell, all in all."

-John Bunyan, mid 1600's

Lest you be confused, I do not believe that this quote is saying that being in right relationship with God fixes everything. Rather, God's presence in our lives frees us from all the things that would cause us to despair if we had to live life without Christ. God's presence gives a whole new lense through which to view the world.

You may lose your job or run out of money for groceries. You may die from cancer. You may be a victim of abuse. You certainly will face death at some point just like every other human in history (with the exception of Enoch and Elijah). And these things will be hard as humans....remember 1rst Peter...we will face "various trials."

But even as we are tossed about by the things which are most difficult in human life, as members of the body of Christ and fellow heirs (Romans 8:17) of the kingdom of God, we have an anchor of joy and hope (Hebrews 6:19 calls it an "anchor of the soul")-- an anchor that sets a limit to our suffering-- and an anchor that never allows us to drift too far from the hope that will be realized "when our faith becomes sight" (As the hymn "It is well with my soul" puts it).

One of the absurd and beautiful things about the Christian life is that it often presents suffering as the pathway to joy. I've found personal encouragement both in trial and temptation thinking about Hebrews 12:2 where it says that Christ endured the cross "for the joy set before him."

Not only is there joy on the horizon, after the suffering. There is joy in the suffering. Romans 8:28 says "we know that for those who love God all things work together for good" and James 1:2-4 says "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."

From a material perspective, we may lack food, shelter, or cash, but if we have God we are among the richest people in the world. Because of Christ we can confidently face danger or disease with a smile on our face, because we know that either God will be glorified by delivering us from these trials, or that they have been ordained by God as the vehicles through which he intends to usher us into his presence.

Take a few minutes today to dwell on God's "renewing, transforming, enlivening, sanctifying, commanding, sweetening, and cheering" presence." If you have put your faith in Christ, you are never lost at sea. Even in the roughest of waters, remember: you have an "anchor of the soul."

Gospel Sighting...Right in the middle of The Daily Collegian

So I'm bummed that Jerry Bridges was in town over the weekend and that I had no idea about the event...but I did catch the recap, entitled “Speaker asks audience to live Gospel” by Natalie Plumb in yesterday's Collegian. I am also thrilled to report that this article was also an official gospel sighting right on page 3 of The Daily Collegian. Praise God!

I actually don't know that much about Bridges except that he is somehow connected to the Navigators (a campus ministry God has used in great ways over the years), and that he wrote a book called The Discipline of Grace which revolutionized my view of the Gospel towards the end of high school or early in college (I can't remember exactly when...I'm only 25 and I'm already losing my memory!)

It is interesting (and a bit frustrating) that when most of us read a non-fiction book of say, 150-200 pages, we often forget most of the small bits of information, supporting arguments, and catchy anecdotes that often surround--is it too scandalous to say clothe (?)-- the real message that the book is getting at. I think that the success of a book (and as a side-note, good preaching...and probably any communication for that matter) lies in the communicator's ability to lead his/her readers or listeners to the naked truth, the ultimate truth which inspired the message to be crafted in the first place. Another way to explain this (perhaps a bit more 'G' rated) is to say that with most media that we take in we will eventually forget the fluff, but if the message was well crafted we will remember the heart of the message.

All that to say that although I don't remember a whole lot of specifics from Bridges' Discipline of Grace, the bottom-line truth that has stuck with me is that the gospel is not something we move beyond; it's not something that happened a long time ago when we said a magic prayer. The Gospel is something we need every day, and it is something that should be constantly transforming us and influencing the way we view everything. I don't have the time or the space to show you all the scripture references that back up this idea, so you may want to take a look at The Discipline of Grace (or just read the Bible for that matter.) In a few words, this idea and its application into our lives is referred to as The Centrality of the Gospel, and happens to be one of the core values of the Missio Dei movement.

To repeat the Bridges quote from Plumb's article: “Preach the gospel to yourself every day.” Why? Because we desperately need to hear it EVERY DAY!

One of the other quotes that I remember was something to the effect of “Your good days are never so good that you are beyond the need for God's grace, and your bad days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God's grace.” (I'm going by memory so that may not be the exact quote.)

When these theological concepts are integrated into our lives, we are freed from a perfectionistic view of our Christian lives (The idea that we were saved by Grace, but when it comes to our daily lives we feel like we have to continually be at a certain “spiritual” level-- that somehow in our post-salvation lives we have to earn God's favor so he'll keep blessing us.) We realize that we are in need of God's saving grace at every moment of every day. It's not that we are losing and regaining our salvation moment by moment (that is a frightening thought), but rather that we have come to terms with the fact that being a Christian is more about a continual recognition of how messed up we are and how we constantly need Jesus if we're going to do anything right, than it is about crossing over some moral threshold where we assume new identities as righteous, sinless, superheroes.

Consider the words of Jesus in John 15:5: “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” As Bridges said, and Plumb reported so well, “It is the death and perfect righteousness of God” that grants Christians justification, or entrance to heaven. I would add that the death and perfect righteousness of God is also what gives us the ability to live with purpose in this world-- to love sacrificially, to pick ourselves up when we fail, and to find hope in times of sorrow. I'll close this long blog post with Hebrews 12:1,2: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God."

Dear Refuge of My Weary Soul

I woke up this morning singing this hymn. I was hoping to find a link to a video or free mp3 so you hear the music, because it is such a beautiful song-- unfortunately I was unsuccessful. But I thought I'd post it anyway.

Whatever you are facing today, run to God, who is our refuge.


Dear Refuge of My Weary Soul

1. Dear refuge of my weary soul,
On Thee, when sorrows rise
On Thee, when waves of trouble roll,
My fainting hope relies
To Thee I tell each rising grief,
For Thou alone canst heal
Thy Word can bring a sweet relief,
For every pain I feel

2. But oh! When gloomy doubts prevail,
I fear to call Thee mine
The springs of comfort seem to fail,
And all my hopes decline
Yet gracious God, where shall I flee?
Thou art my only trust
And still my soul would cleave to Thee
Though prostrate in the dust

3. Hast Thou not bid me seek Thy face,
And shall I seek in vain?
And can the ear of sovereign grace,
Be deaf when I complain?
No still the ear of sovereign grace,
Attends the mourner's prayer
Oh may I ever find access,
To breathe my sorrows there

4. Thy mercy seat is open still,
Here let my soul retreat
With humble hope attend Thy will,
And wait beneath Thy feet,
Thy mercy seat is open still,
Here let my soul retreat
With humble hope attend Thy will,
And wait beneath Thy feet

©1998, Kevin Twit Music.

Missional Monday

Probably one of the more common questions is, ‘Should [we] focus on better disciples or focus on reaching out?’ The reality is that we need both. You cannot have one without the other. You cannot separate evangelism and discipleship. We need missional churches that are focused on serious disciple-making, not just leading people to make a decision. For this to occur, we must identify what a disciple is. As we fully define a disciple to include both the inner disciplines of personal spirituality and the outer disciplines of missional living, then we will move our churches to be filled with missionary disciples like the early church. 

Breaking the Missional Code, p. 68-9

A Front Row Seat to Brokenness

I have to admit...there are times where my Christianity does feel like a straitjacket. There are times when holiness is hard, purity is lonely, and self-control feels boring. Last night was one of those times.

It seemed like everybody in town was partying. I was lonely. I felt left out. I felt boring. It would be so much easier to just go out and have a “good time” like everybody else.

After a couple hours of distracting myself on email and facebook at dunkin donuts (which was quite unproductive due to the heavy weight of temptation which seemed to be assaulting me mentally), I went home to discover there was a party across the hall from my apartment. Temptation just doesn't let up sometimes!

I read my Bible for awhile, then talked to my brother on the phone for awhile. I was feeling better after that. By this point the it was 1:00am and the party was still going strong nextdoor. There was not much hope of getting to sleep so I ate a bowl of cereal and tried to distract myself by reading.

Then I started hearing conversations, arguments and fights from the hallway. I went over to the peep-hole in my door and began watching the reality show going on in my hallway. Relationships were crumbling. Friends were being betrayed. One guy called another guy to tell him his girlfriend was making out with some other guy. I heard another girl crying in the hall, saying that she had paid for her best friend to have an abortion-- through tears she exclaimed that had “paid to kill her friend's baby.” Not only was she distraught about the fact that she had paid for an abortion, but now that friend was sleeping with the guy that she was in love with. I heard drunk friends counseling drunk friends...and their advice was empty, and sometimes absurd. It was literally “the blind leading the blind.”

After stepping out of my apartment to ask some people to stop smoking right outside my door, and to investigate two fights that sounded like they were about to erupt in my hallway (one in each stairwell), I met a couple guys who were quite talkative (typical of drunks, I suppose). They said they were starving, so I offered them a box of Ritz crackers...and was treated like a superstar after that. One of the guys, who seemed to be kind a social leader in the group (and also quite sober...comparatively speaking), became my tour guide, leading me through the alcohol-drenched apartment, and introducing me to several people, including 3 of my neighbors.

As we walked around, I overheard more drama, witnessed girls throwing themselves around, and saw guys taking advantage of them. Then it dawned on me-- “I have a front-row seat to brokenness right now. I am not the one wearing the straitjacket-- they are. I don't need what they have-- they need what I have.”

Oh, to see the light of Christ break into the lives of these broken people!-- that the girl who paid for an abortion would experience the forgiveness found in only in Jesus Christ!--that these boys would become men, who love God, and as a result respect the women in their lives--that these girls would become women who do not find there value in the attention of a guy, but rather in a savior who truly loves them and will never fail them—that friends would no longer fight and betray, but would “bear each other's burdens,”-- that my confident tour-guide buddy would some day use his people skills and influence to lead people to Jesus.

Oh God, forgive me for being duped by the “deceitfulness of sin,” for envying the “freedom” of sinners....for viewing your great salvation as a burden. Fill my heart with compassion for my new friends and neighbors, who are lost and broken. Make me an ambassador of the freedom and joy that is found only in you.

A Little Encouragement on a Freezing Friday

I read Psalm 16 this morning. It's a great Psalm. You should Check it out:

http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Psalm+16&src=esv.org

Psalm 16:3 says: "As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight."

Although the Missio Dei movement is still in it's infancy, and many of us do not even know eachother yet, I know I speak for the Missio Dei leadership team when I say that you all are our delight!

We are thrilled and excited to see how God is working in your lives, and cannot wait to see how God uses you in the place that he has placed at PSU.

We are committed to praying for you and supporting you in any way that you can. If you have anything you need prayer for at the moment or in the future you can always feel free to drop us an email at missiodeipsu@gmail.com.

I don't know all you guys, but I love you, and am praying for you.

Enjoy the weekend!

Sojourn Preview, Thursday, 1/15

Sojourn book club will be meeting tonight at Webster's at 8:00.

We'd love to have you!

We'll be discussing chapter 9 in Tim Keller's book The Reason for God. The title of the chapter is "The Knowledge of God." If any of you have read Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis you are familiar with the discussion of what Lewis calls the "moral law" which seems to inherent to humanity...the idea that we all have some common ideas about what is right and wrong (even people from different cultures have many of these same ideas), and that while this notion within us does not necessarily prove God's existence, perhaps it is a clue.

Here's an excerpt from Penguin Publishing Company's discussion guide:

In chapter 9, the author states that the real challenge is not to prove that God exists, but to recognize that
people already suspect that God exists. He points to the
human sense that certain things are right and others
are wrong. For example, protecting children from harm
is right; ethnic cleansing is wrong. In light of these
understandings, Keller writes: “[D]oesn’t that mean
you do believe that there is some kind of moral standard
that people should abide by regardless of their individual
convictions?” (p. 146). He continues: “We can’t know
that nature is broken in some way unless there is some
super-natural standard of normalcy apart from nature
by which we can judge right and wrong” (p. 155 —156).
Do you agree that a shared sense of right and wrong is an
indication of God’s existence?


Come and share your thoughts!

Is Christianity a Straitjacket?...Brad Pitt Thinks So.

It's getting a little creepy...it seems every time I turn around I see Brad Pitt staring at me from another magazine cover. From Rolling Stone to The Architectural Review, to W Magazine, apparently the world can't get enough Brad (and Angelina)...I guess the technical term now is “Brangelina.”

My boss subscribes to Rolling Stone, so occasionally I check it out on my lunch break. Yesterday I read Rolling Stone's interview with Pitt, and have to say that I really enjoyed reading his thoughts on fame, film, family, and faith. I found much of what he had to say intelligent, witty, and admirable.
It was interesting, however, to hear Pitt's thoughts on religion. At one point during the interview Pitt explains why he tends to approach much of life skeptically:

Pitt: Well, that probably comes from growing up in a religious community (Pitt grew up conservative Southern Baptist). I just found it so stifling, my religion. I know it's very comforting for other people.

Interviewer: Did you go to Church every week?

Pitt: Yeah. And it was too much of what you shouldn't be doing instead of what you could be doing. I get enraged when people start telling other people how to live their lives...

Pitt, like many today, views Christianity (at least for himself) as a straitjacket-- a code revolving around restriction. (To be fair, there are brands of Christianity that do present the gospel as a kind of deal...“You get saved from hell...now here's your rule book...don't screw up or your out of the club”...we call that legalism, and it's bogus and unbiblical...so Brad is not completely off his rocker.)


If I could sit down with Brad, I'd tell him that he is on to something, but I'd also encourage him to consider whether it's possible that he has thrown out the baby with the bathwater.

Tim Keller discusses this notion of Christianity as a Straitjacket in chapter 3 of his book The Reason for God, (which has been the catalyst for our discussion at Missio Dei's “Sojourn Bookclub,” which meets Thursday nights at 8:00 in Webster's Cafe—if you weren't part of the group last semester, we'd love to have you!)

Keller says, “Christianity names some beliefs 'heresy' and some practices 'immoral.' It bars from its community those who transgress its doctrinal and moral boundaries. This seems to contemporary observers to endanger civic freedom, because it divides rather than unites our population. It also appears to be culturally narrow, failing to recognize that various cultures have different perspectives on reality. Finally, it seems to enslave or at least infantilize its members, determining what they must believe and practice in every particular...Christianity looks like an enemy of social cohesion, cultural adaptability, and even authentic personhood.”

Keller goes on to suggest these cultural notions of Christianity are based on mistakes about the nature of truth, community, Christianity, and of liberty itself.

In the next few days we'll consider some of Keller's arguments, not to mention some arguments from a few other credible sources...for example, Jesus!

No question or criticism from our culture should be disregarded. We must heed the words of 1 Peter 3:15: “...in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you...”

*Note: Photo found at: http://jeffreydonovanfans.com/photos/magazines/straitjacket.jpg

Tune In Now...A New Series by Pastor Mark Driscoll on 1rst and 2nd Peter!

iPods are good for more than just music!
Here's an idea- download some preaching to go!
Seriously, Sunday is not the only time you're allowed to listen to preaching!
This is the information age, baby!
This past Sunday Pastor Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, WA started a brand new series on 1 and 2nd Peter.
If you don't know Mark Driscoll, you should!
You can download the first sermon entitled "Trial and Sin" here:

http://www.marshillchurch.org/media/trial/trial-and-sin

Enjoy!

Do You Have A Hard Time Praying? Pray Scripture!

I don't know about you, but I find prayer to be difficult.
I'm not talking about the random emergency prayers we often shoot up to God like text messages....please help me pass this test....let me get a date with this attractive person...help my Aunt that has cancer. While God does care about the little details and emergencies in our lives, it is also important to spend focused time in prayer with God, not to give him our latest wishlist, but rather to cultivate intimacy with our Heavenly Father.

But in our fast paced, technology-saturated lives, not only can it be difficult to set aside focused prayer time, but even when we do make the effort, it can be a challenge to stay focused. One strategy that can help us with our spiritual A.D.D. is praying scripture. Try it out sometime! You might be surprised how encouraging it can be to disect scripture and personalize it in prayer.

In the past week we have been reading 1rst and 2nd Peter. While sitting in the laundry mat today and struggling to pray I decided to pray scripture, and used 1 Peter 1:1-9. Here is how the text translated into prayer for me:

Heavenly Father,

Why should I be numbered among the elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, not to mention the elect exiles of all the centuries since (those citizens of the City of God that have gone before us as "sojourners and exiles" on this earth--1 Peter 2:11) ? The only possible answer is your grace and mercy. The idea that you knew me long before I was ever born, and that you set me apart for salvation (through Christ's blood) and obedience is utterly mind-boggling...and oh, how often I fail to be obedient! I am so prone to taking this great gift of salvation for granted!

As Peter prayed for the elect exiles of the dispersion, I pray for a multiplication of grace and peace in my life. Oh, for a greater realization of your grace and the peace which "surpasses all understanding" (Phillipians 4:7)!

I bless you, oh God and Father of my Lord Jesus Christ! For according to your great mercy you (not my good efforts) have caused me to be born again to a living hope through the resurrenction of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for me, who by God's power am being guarded through faith for salvation...

Because of this glorious work of redemption in my life, I rejoice--even in the midst of hard times! For I know that even the struggles of life and the fight against sin are refining and strengthening my faith (1 Peter 1:7; James 1:2-4). I pray that you would help me to trust you in each and every situation in my life.

Though I do not see you, I love you! I believe in you, and rejoice over this "glorious gospel" (1 Timothy 1:11), through which the salvation of rebellious souls like mine is accomplished.

In Jesus name I pray,

Amen.