Vacation, Schedule, Requests

I will not be blogging much over the next several days. I will be on a much needed vacation in Destin Monday through Friday. All I plan to do is read the Puritans, play golf, enjoy my family and fill my mind with as much of God as possible!

On Saturday I am flying to Dallas to see a friend of mine who is on staff at The Village Church. Then I am speaking in Biloxi, MS on the following Monday night, then driving to Hattiesburg to pick up Heather and Cross. Then on Wednesday night I am speaking at a youth event in Poplarville, MS. Should be a crazy next few weeks. Pray that we are safe in our travels. Pray that Cross sleeps and eats! Pray that there is no need to land the plane in the Mississippi! Hope to be back on the blog scene soon enough!

GB

Friday Is For Fun

America's Got Talent for some reason has requested that YouTube not allow anyone to embed their videos, so you will have to click HERE for this Friday Is For Fun. I must say that I don't like Country music, but a little Garth Brooks never hurts from time to time. Check out this Kentucky country boy (and I mean cunntree) sing a little If Tomorrow Never Comes, its a great story!

GB

The Agony of Adultery

Randy Alcorn recently posted a blog article on the consequences of adultery. He and a friend say down and made a list some years ago of what would happen had they commit this sin. If you think you are above this level of temptation, you need to read the list! It is a great way to dislodge even a hint of immorality (Ephesians 5:3).

1. Grieving my Lord; displeasing the One whose opinion most matters.

2. Dragging into the mud Christ's sacred reputation.

3. Loss of reward and commendation from God.

4. Having to one day look Jesus in the face at the judgment seat and give an account of why I did it. Forcing God to discipline me in various ways.

5. Following in the footsteps of men I know of whose immorality forfeited their ministry and caused me to shudder.

6. Suffering of innocent people around me who would get hit by my shrapnel (a la Achan).

7. Untold hurt to Nanci, my best friend and loyal wife.

8. Loss of Nanci's respect and trust.

9. Hurt to and loss of credibility with my beloved daughters, Karina and Angela. ("Why listen to a man who betrayed Mom and us?")

10. If my blindness should continue or my family be unable to forgive, I could lose my wife and my children forever.

Shame to my family. (The cruel comments of others who would invariably find out.)

11. Shame to my church family.

12. Shame and hurt to my fellow pastors and elders. List of names:

13. Shame and hurt to my friends, and especially those I've led to Christ and discipled. List of names:

14. Guilt awfully hard to shake—even though God would forgive me, would I forgive myself?

15. Plaguing memories and flashbacks that could taint future intimacy with my wife.

16. Disqualifying myself after having preached to others.

17. Surrender of the things I am called to and love to do—teach and preach and write and minister to others. Forfeiting forever certain opportunities to serve God. Years of training and experience in ministry wasted for a long period of time, maybe permanently.

18. Being haunted by my sin as I look in the eyes of others, and having it all dredged up again wherever I go and whatever I do.

19. Undermining the hard work and prayers of others by saying to our community "this is a hypocrite—who can take seriously anything he and his church have said and done?"

20. Laughter, rejoicing and blasphemous smugness by those who disrespect God and the church (2 Samuel 12:14).

21. Bringing great pleasure to Satan, the Enemy of God.

22. Heaping judgment and endless problems on the person I would have committed adultery with.

23. Possible diseases (pain, constant reminder to me and my wife, possible infection of Nanci, or in the case of AIDS, even causing her death, as well as mine.)

24. Possible pregnancy, with its personal and financial implications.

25. Loss of self-respect, discrediting my own name, and invoking shame and lifelong embarrassment upon myself.

Why I Am Not Preaching A "God and Country" Sermon

I am not much for writing controversial blog posts, but I am afraid this one might stir some emotions for good or ill in my readers (all 20 of them!). The question of how the Church should view America has been the topic of many conversations I have had over the past several months. Perhaps what is most discussed is what my sermon topic for the weekend of or around the 4th of July would be. I assured all of them that I would not be preaching a "God and Country" sermon. Below I will try to explain what I do NOT mean by that and what I DO mean by that.

What I Do NOT Mean

I do not mean that I am anti-America. This is the nation that God ordained for me and my family to dwell (Acts 17:26). There is nowhere else I would rather live with the possible exception being England. There are things that grieve me about America and things that encourage me. Believers are called to love their nation, pray for its leaders and seek the good of all people, America is no exception. I am not down on America nor am I advocating that anyone reading this should be. And I do think God's common grace is given to America.

I also do not mean that Christians should not be involved in the political, legal, social, educational, etc., realms of America, the public square. We should use every chance we can get to further the good of this country. I believe American Christians should approach these areas with what Jonathan Edwards referred to as common morality, that which is common to all people in contrast to true virtue, that which only born-again believers share. I don't have the room to unpack this entirely here but suffice it to say that God has given a moral compass to all humans and this seems to be at least the starting grounds for our appeals and agendas in our neighborhoods, cities and towns, which might further lead to ways to advance the Gospel. We need not make every issue in the public square a Jesus-issue. We can enter with Christian notions no doubt, but lets face it, the public square is quite pluralistic. Perhaps we can make use of common areas of justice and fairness to plead our case.

What I DO Mean

In my short experience in the life of the Church I have consistently seen a pervading nationalism among Christians that thinks the Church's mission is to see to the progress and health of America. Advancing morality in America is the same as advancing the Kingdom of Christ on the earth. America is espoused as a Christian nation, one on which God has uniquely endowed his grace and is the standard other nations in the world should strive to imitate.

The Church should concern itself with "taking America back for God" and restore it to the way the Founders of our country intended (spare me a little sarcasm). This typically involves a fight; a fight to keep prayer in schools, homosexuality at bay, "God" in the Pledge of Allegiance, the Ten Commandments posted in as many places as possible, evolutionary ideas out of our children's textbooks, gambling out of our cities, and to make having an abortion as difficult as possible. If we can succeed at this we can accomplish God's desires for this country. The role pastors play in this is to preach sermons on how America was a Christian nation that has gradually moved away from its roots and encourage believers to take action in the voting booth, picket lines, boycotts, letters to Congress, etc., make a stand for Jesus and make our voice as loud as possible. We are after all supposed to be the salt of the earth, which for many, means assuming the role of moral guardian for the culture.

My aim here is not to debate these issues and determine whether all of them are worthy causes or not. I certainly think there should be a battle cry by Christians on behalf of the unborn as well as other issues. But is the use of power and politics and laws the way the Church should seek to advance the Kingdom of Christ on this earth? Should the Church expend its energies and resources toward taking America back for God? My answer is NO and here are 6 reasons why I am not preaching this kind of sermon Sunday.

#1 There are no "Christian" nations

This includes America. I know many will disagree here, but the issue hinges on how you define "Christian." America no doubt was founded upon Christian principles (though I am a bit confused as to what this means) and the Bible was certainly a highly revered and acknowledged book. But there is a huge difference in Christianity and morality or "civil religion." Christianity is about Christ, not morality. America was founded upon morality, but not upon Christ.

Christians have no nation in this life. Our citizenship is in heaven (Philippians 3:20-21), we are aliens and strangers sojourning through this life (1 Peter 2:11, Hebrews 11:13), we have no land to posses except the New Heaven and New Earth (2 Peter 3:13, Revelation 21:1).

Anyone who believes that America is God's chosen nation the way Israel was in the Old Testament must remember that we do not have revelation on our side by which to interpret the current events of our time the way they did. I firmly believe in the doctrine of God's Providence, but this does not mean American Christians are able to proclaim "Thus saith the Lord..." for every particular issue our country faces.

#2 The Nations

Focusing on America as God's chosen nation or at least the one He of which He is most concerned can do damage to the urgency of the Great Commission. Christ is concerned with every tribe, tongue and nation and has purchased a people for himself from among them (Revelation 5:9-10), many of which have not even heard the Gospel! Among the 16, 309 people groups in the world, 6, 631 have less than a 2% Evangelical witness among them. This is what God is concerned with, not making America moral! No doubt God is at work saving a people in America as well, but He is not limited to just these United States. I am for churches flying American flags in their worship center alongside the flags of every country in the world!

#3 We are not good moral guardians

When did Christians ever get the idea that we somehow have the moral edge on America? When did Paul and the early Christians ever concern themselves with the moral state of Rome or Ephesus that caused them to call out its leaders? When did Jesus publicly call out any leader who was not part of the covenant community (a possible exception might be Herod who was a convert to Judaism)? Does not Paul say: "What have I to do with judging outsiders?" (1Cor. 5:12) The fact is, we are not very good moral guardians and we choose to call out the sins that we are not publicly guilty of while forgetting the sins that do the most damage to our souls.

The fear here is that if we dont do something that we will lose our rights in this country and before long Christians will face possible persecution. First of all we dont have rights, we lost them at the Cross. Second, though I dont want persecution, I hope we would all trust God to give grace to His people. Third, Christianity thrives under persecution, its like Jello, you pound it and it spreads. You cant stop the Church! If persecution broke out (again I dont hope for this), Christianity would matter! Fourth, suffering is central to the Christian life (2Timothy 3:12).

#4 The Founders

I know, again, many will disagree here, but the Founding Fathers of America for the most part were not biblical Christians. There were certainly exceptions like John Witherspoon (distant relative to Reese Witherspoon), Benjamin Rush and a little beyond the Founders, John Quincy Adams (there is however evidence he later turned to Unitarianism). But some of the major figures from this time such as Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, Ben Franklin and John Adams were by no means Orthodox Christians. Jefferson denied the Trinity, the miracles of Jesus, the deity of Jesus and even edited his own Bible (The Jefferson Bible) in which he cut out the miracles of Jesus, including the Resurrection, to focus on the teachings and morals of Jesus. Paine said the Gospels were a wretched contrivance, Franklin denied the deity of Christ and Adams was Unitarian! They certainly were concerned with the morality and ethic of Jesus, but cared little if any about His deity and Lordship over all things (unlike the Puritans before them). Instead they focused on his morality which seemed to fend off a rising secularism in the new republic.

#5 Confusion of Kingdoms

The kingdom of Christ and the kingdoms of this world are vastly different. The kingdoms in this world use force, power, might, laws, threat, punishment, the sword (and no I am not arguing for or against war here), etc., to maintain and advance their influence, they must. No kingdom or nation can afford to be heavy on grace and mercy and patience when it comes to national security. Christ's Kingdom never works in these ways to advance the Gospel. Its the Cross not the Sword, death not life, losing not winning, serving not being served, forgiving not retaliating, and returning good for evil that advances Christ's kingdom in this world.

Believers, especially those in powerful positions, must watch the seductive siren of power and not abuse the position they have been given. The Gospel cannot be legislated. Passing laws does not change hearts. I certainly think passing certain laws can be a good thing, but lets be careful not to call passing a new law a win for the Kingdom. The Church is to be a city within the city, a kingdom not like this world, living in this world, proclaiming and living the beauty of the Gospel.

#6 Jesus was not political

Enlisting Christ on the side of our cause or political camp or national agenda by definition demonizes the other side! It assumes that we have His thoughts on all the issues. A cursory glance of the New Testament reveals that Jesus would have problems and agreements with both the conservative right and the liberal left. Bringing him to either side (and this has historically been the case for both sides) creates an "us" versus "them" mentality and this will do damage to advancing the Gospel and to the image of the Church. No political party is able to contain Him and the riches of His teachings.

Conclusion

Let me here say again that I am for Christians being actively involved in the progression and growth of our country. The fact that we are believers who proclaim and live the Gospel in many ways, I think, obligates us to engage this world on all levels. The world needs to see that Christians care about every issue, but we are never to confuse advancing morality with advancing the Gospel or the world's kingdoms with Christ's Kingdom. They are not the same things!

This is why I will be in John 11 this weekend preaching on the raising of Lazarus. I can better serve my people and my country by doing so since I will be encouraging them to spread the aroma of Christ in all of life by relying on His power and might to save and redeem. He is the only hope for any nation.

Let us live, work, think, serve, reach, pray, help, care, love, be merciful, kind, truthful, and courageous that our light might shine before others, that they may see our good deeds and glorify our Father in Heaven.

All Hail King Jesus!

GB

The Hard Work of Enjoying God

Lets face it, enjoying God is hard work! Its easier to enjoy TV and movies and steak, than it is to enjoy God. The problem is, you cant reduce it to a list of rules to obey or steps to follow. If someone asked me how I enjoy my wife I don't think I could give them steps on how I do it! But Christians nonetheless should make it their aim to enjoy God over all things in life. So what are some things we can do, not steps or rules to be sure, but at least some ways we can view the world and ourselves that will help us better enjoy God? Here are a few:

1. Use Feasting Language

The Bible often describes worship of God as a feast (Isaiah 55:1-7). If we would see ourselves as starving beggars who have been invited to sit at the table of the richest Person in the world, we might use different language. We might use words like; taste, savor, delight, thirst, pant, yearn, long, crave, hunger. These are feasting words, so use them, pray them, think them, speak them. They might help ingrain in us a worldview where feasting on God is our greatest passion.

2. Make Every Pleasure Acknowledge God

There are good things in this world (1 Timothy 4:4-6). Its OK to admit that you enjoy things in this life. The problem however is that the good things in life want to glorify themselves. Food, sex, children, weightlifting, golf, swimming, sunsets all fight for their own glory and deceive us into thinking they are ends in themselves. They are not! They are simply means to reflect and point to the infinite glory and greatness and creativity and goodness of God. So don't let them steal God's glory! He is the author of all good pleasures and they are to submit to Him. So let every pleasure take you to God; every sensation, every good story, every good song, every good movie (and it doesn't have to be Christian), every good affection and emotion should point us to our great God and King. Do this so if/when God takes the good things away, your life will not crumble.

3. Make It Your Aim To Enjoy God

Wake up with this in mind for your day. Set the tone of each day by deciding to enjoy God. If you are not intentional about this, something else will grab your affections and you will find yourself uninterested with God and amazed at something else which will eventually lead to a life of empty religion. This is why many Christians are bored with God and enthralled in other things.

4. Mortify and Vivify

Those are Puritan words. What I mean here is that we are to mortify what steals our affections for God and vivify what enhances our affections for God. So whatever stirs you up for Christ fill your life with it and whatever makes you forget Him and lose sight of Him, kill it.

Fighting To Enjoy Him,

GB

Friday Is For Macs

Can your PC do this?

Greatness With A Twist

I am thankful that Jesus never called people not to pursue greatness. He simply redefined or... properly defined it. Lest you think that Christians are not supposed to be great and that greatness is somehow in contradiction with a take-your-cross-deny-yourself kind of life, here is what Jesus had to say:

20 Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came up to him with her sons, and kneeling before him she asked him for something. 21 And he said to her, “What do you want?” She said to him, “Say that these two sons of mine are to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.” 22 Jesus answered, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?” They said to him, “We are able.” 23 He said to them, “You will drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.” 24 And when the ten heard it, they were indignant at the two brothers. 25 But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 26 It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever would be first among you must be your slave,28 even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Electing Not To Mention Election?

Preaching on John 10 this weekend which contains some pretty difficult teachings, especially John 10:26 and the issue of election. Some choose not to preach on this doctrine since it can cause controversy and confusion. Here is what Spurgeon had to say about it:

Our Savior did not hesitate to preach the deeper doctrines of the gospel to the masses gathered before him. When he began to preach where he was brought up, they all gathered around him with admiration, until he preached the doctrine of election; and then, immediately, they were so angry with him that they wanted to destroy him. They could not bear to hear that the widows of Israel were passed by, and the widow in Zarephath chosen; nor of a heathen leper healed, while the many Jewish lepers were left to die. Election seems to heat the blood and fire the wrath of many. Not only did they not really care to be chosen by God themselves; but they also wanted to keep other people from having the privilege. Not even the bad attitude of these Jews prevented our Lord from sharing these critical truths of the Word. Here, when addressing the Jews, he did not hesitate to speak, even to a rude crowd, concerning that glorious doctrine. He said, “You do not believe because you are not my sheep.” [John 10:26] He does not lower the standard of doctrine; but he holds his ground, and carries the war into the enemy’s camp. The notion that certain truths are not fit to be preached to a mixed gathering of people, but are to be kept for the special gathering of the saints, is, I believe, horribly wrong. Christ has not commanded us to keep a part of our teaching secret; reserved from the common folk, and set aside only for the spiritual elite. He is for openly proclaiming all truth. “What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs.” [Matthew 10:27]

Meditations on Men

I just received a phone call from an 82 year old woman who has been in church nearly her entire life. She was calling in response to the sermon I preached this weekend on men. She said she has hardly ever heard men challenged from the pulpit in that way in all the years she has been in church. The immediate temptation was to feel flattered, but after about 3 seconds I was only frustrated by what she said.

Why have pastors not called men to be men more often? How can one read the Bible and not see how eternally vital it is for men to live out biblical masculinity in this world? O that God would so awaken the men in the church, that the world might see what real men are and get a taste of the goodness of our Heavenly Father.

Mark Driscoll has recently written a short book on what it means to be a Dad. Its only 45 pages, but is quite to the point about the high calling of being a father. You can check it out here: Pastor Dad

GB

Bellows of the Affections

OK with a blog title like that you know that something from a Puritan is coming! And you would be right!

"Prayer works for good. Prayer is the bellows of the affections; it blows up holy desires and ardors of soul. Prayer has power with God. It is a key that unlocks the treasury of God's mercy. Prayer keeps the heart open to God and shut to sin; it assuages the intemperate heart and the swellings of lust. It was Luther's counsel to a friend, when he perceived a temptation begin to arise, to betake himself to prayer. Prayer is the Christian's gun. Prayer is the sovereign medicine of the soul. Prayer sanctifies every mercy (1Timothy 4:5). It is the despeller of sorrow: by venting the grief it eases the heart." (Thomas Watson, All Things For Good)

Fathers Day Miscellanies

Today was my first Fathers Day! I am so thankful for Cross, He really stirs my affections for Christ and the Gospel! I couldn't resist getting a couple of pics at the end of the service today. Check'em out.

I preached a sermon today called In Pursuit of Men. I wanted to challenge and encourage our men today and not just our fathers since I believe that men affect everyone. I showed how God made men to be cultivators and that if we are not pursuing Christ and devoting ourselves to Him we will cultivate things in the wrong way. I closed with 5 thoughts about pressing into Christ and what that looks like.

#1 You must find your idols and ruthlessly kill them with the Gospel

#2 You must find a band of brothers who walk with Christ and do life with them

#3 You must refuse to run from painful situations

#4 You must live in the Word and prayer

#5 You must love Jesus' Bride

Thought it was a good day, hope our men were challenged, hope Christ was glorified.

GB

Friday Is For Fun

Read This

Desiring God just released the newest Taste and See article. The subject is idolatry and John Piper gives 12 brilliantly insightful thoughts on this issue. I encourage you to meditate over them and see what idols crop up. Here is the article:

Most of us realize that enjoying anything other than God, from the best gift to the basest pleasure, can become idolatry. Paul says in Colossians 3:5, “Covetousness is idolatry.”

“Covetousness” means desiring something other than God in the wrong way. But what does that mean—“in the wrong way”?

The reason this matters is both vertical and horizontal. Idolatry will destroy our relationship with God. And it will destroy our relationships with people.

All human relational problems—from marriage and family to friendship to neighbors to classmates to colleagues—all of them are rooted in various forms of idolatry, that is, wanting things other than God in wrong ways.

So here is my effort to think biblically about what those wrong ways are. What makes an enjoyment idolatrous? What turns a desire into covetousness, which is idolatry?

1. Enjoyment is becoming idolatrous when it is forbidden by God. For example, adultery and fornication and stealing and lying are forbidden by God. Some people at some times feel that these are pleasurable, or else we would not do them. No one sins out of duty. But such pleasure is a sign of idolatry.

2. Enjoyment is becoming idolatrous when it is disproportionate to the worth of what is desired. Great desire for non-great things is a sign that we are beginning to make those things idols.

3. Enjoyment is becoming idolatrous when it is not permeated with gratitude. When our enjoyment of something tends to make us not think of God, it is moving toward idolatry. But if the enjoyment gives rise to the feeling of gratefulness to God, we are being protected from idolatry. The grateful feeling that we don’t deserve this gift or this enjoyment, but have it freely from God’s grace, is evidence that idolatry is being checked.

4. Enjoyment is becoming idolatrous when it does not see in God’s gift that God himself is more to be desired than the gift. If the gift is not awakening a sense that God, the Giver, is better than the gift, it is becoming an idol.

5. Enjoyment is becoming idolatrous when it is starting to feel like a right, and our delight is becoming a demand. It may be that the delight is right. It may be that another person ought to give you this delight. It may be right to tell them this. But when all this rises to the level of angry demands, idolatry is rising.

6. Enjoyment is becoming idolatrous when it draws us away from our duties. When we find ourselves spending time pursuing an enjoyment, knowing that other things, or people, should be getting our attention, we are moving into idolatry.

7. Enjoyment is becoming idolatrous when it awakens a sense of pride that we can experience this delight while others can’t. This is especially true of delights in religious things, like prayer and Bible reading and ministry. It is wonderful to enjoy holy things. It idolatrous to feel proud that we can.

8. Enjoyment is becoming idolatrous when it is oblivious or callous to the needs and desires of others. Holy enjoyment is aware of others’ needs and may temporarily leave a good pleasure to help another person have it. One might leave private prayer to be the answer to someone else’s.

9. Enjoyment is becoming idolatrous when it does not desire that Christ be magnified as supremely desirable through the enjoyment. Enjoying anything but Christ (like his good gifts) runs the inevitable risk of magnifying the gift over the Giver. One evidence that idolatry is not happening is the earnest desire that this not happen.

10. Enjoyment is becoming idolatrous when it is not working a deeper capacity for holy delight. We are sinners still. It is idolatrous to be content with sin. So we desire transformation. Some enjoyments shrink our capacities of holy joy. Others enlarge them. Some go either way, depending on how we think about them. When we don’t care if an enjoyment is making us more holy, we are moving into idolatry.

11. Enjoyment is becoming idolatrous when its loss ruins our trust in the goodness of God. There can be sorrow at loss without being idolatrous. But when the sorrow threatens our confidence in God, it signals that the thing lost was becoming an idol.

12. Enjoyment is becoming idolatrous when its loss paralyzes us emotionally so that we can’t relate lovingly to other people. This is the horizontal effect of losing confidence in God. Again: Great sorrow is no sure sign of idolatry. Jesus had great sorrow. But when desire is denied, and the effect is the emotional inability to do what God calls us to do, the warning signs of idolatry are flashing.

For myself and for you, I pray the admonition of 1John 5:21, “Little children, keep yourselves from idols.”

A Word on Themes

You may have noticed that I have been changing the theme of my blog a good bit lately. The reason being, I cannot find a theme that looks good and actually loads properly every time! Blogger has standard themes that seem to do better so I am ditching trying to find a really cool theme for the blog and sticking to writing things that matter! This layout should be the last one for a long time, but you know me!

GB

Maturity

The mature Christian is one who is growing in his ability to love people as they are, not as he wishes them to be. (Larry Crabb, Inside Out)