Friday, July 31, 2009
Connection Tools
Steve McCoy offers some great advice on how to connect with others. What I like about his advice is that he uses generosity, thoughtfulness, and self-giving as the means to make connections with people. I tend to be introverted like him, so I need avenues of kindness to win people over.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Home Grown Worship Music
Austin City Life, a church plant in Austin, TX and pastored by a friend (Jonathan Dodson) has recently released a worship album. I've known about this album for some time, but I haven't had a chance to check it out. I like to support churches in creating good music, but unfortunately many churches don't do it very well. ACL, however, has created a short but excellent collection of songs, and all but two are originals. The first song "In Your Name" is rare blend of gospel and mission, and local mission at that. You can read Steve McKoy's review or just go listen to it and download yourself.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
World Christianity
Challies has an interesting post about Mark Noll's new book The New Shape of World Christianity. Looks like a really interesting read. Here are some interesting facts from the book.
This past Sunday it is possible that more Christian believers attended church in China than in all of so-called “Christian Europe.” Yet in 1970 there were no legally functioning churches in all of China; only in 1971 did the communist regime allow for one Protestant and one Roman Catholic Church to hold public worship services, and this was mostly a concession to visiting Europeans and African students from Tanzania and Zambia.
This past Sunday more Anglicans attended church in each of Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda than did Anglicans in Britain and Canada and Episcopalians in the United States combined—and the number of Anglicans in church in Nigeria was several times the umber in those other African countries.
This past Sunday more Presbyterians were at church in Ghana than in Scotland, and more were in congregations of the Uniting Presbyterian Church of Southern Africa than in the United States.
The past Sunday more people attended the Yoido Full Gospel Church pastored by Yongi Cho is Seoul, Korea, than attended all the churches in significant American denominations like the Christian Reformed Church, the Evangelical Covenant Church or the Presbyterian Church in America.
This past Sunday the churches with the largest attendance in England and France had mostly black congregations. About half of the churchgoers in London were African or African-Caribbean. Today, the largest Christian congregation in Europe is in Kiev, and it is pastored by a Nigerian of Pentecostal background.
This past week in Great Britain, at least fifteen thousand Christian foreign missionaries were hard at work evangelizing the locals. most of these missionaries are from Africa and Asia.
For several years the world’s largest chapter of the Jesuit order has been found in India, not in the United States, as it had been for much of the late twentieth century.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Same Old Story
The battle over worship music is nothing new. Hymns were once the contemporary, cutting edge music rejected by many churches. Now they are the tradition, and the wars continue. May God help us to keep the gospel at the center of our churches.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Equal, Yet So Very Different
Mary Farrar offers a very helpful article on understanding male sexuality. It blows me away that a woman could have such an accurate picture of what it is like to be a man. The article is addressed to wives about their husbands, but it is informative and enlightening for men as well. In this day and age, articles like this are must reading.
Friday, July 3, 2009
Rewards: Part 6
Objections (cont.)
2. If we are all perfect, won’t we all be at the same level?
We tend to think that perfection is a static state. Once your perfect, you don’t get any better. Or so we think. But perfection is more flawlessness than being all that we could be. Think back to Eden. Our first human ancestors were created perfect, but were they all that they could be? Apparently not, for God commanded them to “be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it.” Following those commands would lead them into whole worlds of new experience like sex, romance, building, creating, etc. Over time they would grow better and better at these tasks and derive more and more joy. They have always loved perfectly, and yet as they grew in their knowledge of one another they came to a deeper understanding of what “love” is. God isn’t “the same yesterday, today, and forever” because he is perfect, but because he is infinitely perfect.
As I said before, our brokenness, both our broken and twisted hearts and our broken bodies, will be gone forever. In that sense, we will be perfect, but we will not be all that we can be. It’s impossible to imagine that with minds no longer clouded by the psychological, social, and emotional effects of sin, with bodies liberated from the weakness and diseases that have hampered them, while living in the presence of the Creator God and of the redeemed from tribes, people groups, and nations from all over the world and history, we would not grow in our knowledge of God, love for others, joy of new experiences, etc. Edwards said, and I quite agree, that eternal life will not be more static but more dynamic than this present life. Freed from all that weighed us down, we will not run slower but faster. And I cannot help but conclude that part of the reward is just how fast we will grow. And when shall we stop growing? God is infinite and infinity alone is where we stop. But we can never reach that infinite level, for we are finite. That means that we shall grow and mature, learn and develop faster than we ever have before, but we will never stop. We will only increase at ever widening paces into eternity.
3. If we can progress in eternal life, why start storing up rewards now?
This objection comes directly on the heels of the last answer. Why get serious about rewards now when we’ll have eternity to make up for lost time? How twisted is the mind that offers such an objection. I don’t say that to condemn, for I entirely sympathize with the question. That doesn’t make it less twisted, because I'm a twisted man.
However, once you take a moments reflection, you will observe the absurdity of this thought. One might as well say, “Why should I start fighting this cancer now, I always have tomorrow” or “Why should I eat my dinner this week. There will be dinner next week everyday, and every week as far I can see.” If you do not cherish the miraculous and indestructible gifts of love, joy, faith, and holiness more than the temporal and fading treasures of this world, I can promise you that you will not like an eternal dwelling with God. In other words, if you are not seeking rewards, than you are not seeking God.
4. Isn’t working for an eternal reward really acting selfishly?
I hope by this point that you can answer this question yourself. But sometimes our minds are slower than our hearts, so I’ll give a brief response. Put simply, to love others to get the reward of a new corvette is selfish. To love others to get the reward of more love for others is not. Seeking God to get a gift is selfish, but seeking God to get more of God, or to get one of his gifts that displays more of Him to you, is not.
I have read a helpful illustration by Randy Alcorn, but I’ll put my own twist on it. Let’s say my son is taking swimming lessons (which he is) and is terrified of water (which he is), and let’s say that I promise to take him out for ice cream (which I did) if he doesn’t scream, cry, and does what he is told during the lesson. Now is my son’s motivation for obeying entirely selfish? Not necessarily. At least I hope not, since I try not to teach my children to be self-centered. We can find out pretty quick what his motive is. If say I take him out for ice cream, and he says, “Dad, I want ice cream, but I really don’t want to eat it with you,” then his motive would have been selfish. But he didn’t do that, and that is because his love for me and his desire for a reward from me are all wrapped up together. To him ice cream is a display of my love for him. God’s rewards are not detached from him; they are displays of him. If you want the gift but not the Giver, then you have a problem. But if you want the gift because it’s from the Giver, then you are living exactly as Jesus commanded.
2. If we are all perfect, won’t we all be at the same level?
We tend to think that perfection is a static state. Once your perfect, you don’t get any better. Or so we think. But perfection is more flawlessness than being all that we could be. Think back to Eden. Our first human ancestors were created perfect, but were they all that they could be? Apparently not, for God commanded them to “be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it.” Following those commands would lead them into whole worlds of new experience like sex, romance, building, creating, etc. Over time they would grow better and better at these tasks and derive more and more joy. They have always loved perfectly, and yet as they grew in their knowledge of one another they came to a deeper understanding of what “love” is. God isn’t “the same yesterday, today, and forever” because he is perfect, but because he is infinitely perfect.
As I said before, our brokenness, both our broken and twisted hearts and our broken bodies, will be gone forever. In that sense, we will be perfect, but we will not be all that we can be. It’s impossible to imagine that with minds no longer clouded by the psychological, social, and emotional effects of sin, with bodies liberated from the weakness and diseases that have hampered them, while living in the presence of the Creator God and of the redeemed from tribes, people groups, and nations from all over the world and history, we would not grow in our knowledge of God, love for others, joy of new experiences, etc. Edwards said, and I quite agree, that eternal life will not be more static but more dynamic than this present life. Freed from all that weighed us down, we will not run slower but faster. And I cannot help but conclude that part of the reward is just how fast we will grow. And when shall we stop growing? God is infinite and infinity alone is where we stop. But we can never reach that infinite level, for we are finite. That means that we shall grow and mature, learn and develop faster than we ever have before, but we will never stop. We will only increase at ever widening paces into eternity.
3. If we can progress in eternal life, why start storing up rewards now?
This objection comes directly on the heels of the last answer. Why get serious about rewards now when we’ll have eternity to make up for lost time? How twisted is the mind that offers such an objection. I don’t say that to condemn, for I entirely sympathize with the question. That doesn’t make it less twisted, because I'm a twisted man.
However, once you take a moments reflection, you will observe the absurdity of this thought. One might as well say, “Why should I start fighting this cancer now, I always have tomorrow” or “Why should I eat my dinner this week. There will be dinner next week everyday, and every week as far I can see.” If you do not cherish the miraculous and indestructible gifts of love, joy, faith, and holiness more than the temporal and fading treasures of this world, I can promise you that you will not like an eternal dwelling with God. In other words, if you are not seeking rewards, than you are not seeking God.
4. Isn’t working for an eternal reward really acting selfishly?
I hope by this point that you can answer this question yourself. But sometimes our minds are slower than our hearts, so I’ll give a brief response. Put simply, to love others to get the reward of a new corvette is selfish. To love others to get the reward of more love for others is not. Seeking God to get a gift is selfish, but seeking God to get more of God, or to get one of his gifts that displays more of Him to you, is not.
I have read a helpful illustration by Randy Alcorn, but I’ll put my own twist on it. Let’s say my son is taking swimming lessons (which he is) and is terrified of water (which he is), and let’s say that I promise to take him out for ice cream (which I did) if he doesn’t scream, cry, and does what he is told during the lesson. Now is my son’s motivation for obeying entirely selfish? Not necessarily. At least I hope not, since I try not to teach my children to be self-centered. We can find out pretty quick what his motive is. If say I take him out for ice cream, and he says, “Dad, I want ice cream, but I really don’t want to eat it with you,” then his motive would have been selfish. But he didn’t do that, and that is because his love for me and his desire for a reward from me are all wrapped up together. To him ice cream is a display of my love for him. God’s rewards are not detached from him; they are displays of him. If you want the gift but not the Giver, then you have a problem. But if you want the gift because it’s from the Giver, then you are living exactly as Jesus commanded.
Rewards: Part 5
Objections
1. How can I be eternally happy knowing that I will be eternally less happy than others? Okay, so maybe I don’t have to spend eternity starring at Billy Graham’s palace from my cramped studio apartment, but I do have to spend eternity in the company of others far more joyful and immersed in God’s glory than me. How can eternity be eternal bliss knowing that I’m second rate?
There are several false assumptions lying behind this objection. First, it fails to take into account the perfect state of holiness we will be in. Why do you assume that another’s greater happiness will you make you less happy? Certainly, in this day when a good friend gets a raise or inherits $100,000 while we can barely afford our next tank of gas, we tend to grumble rather than rejoice over our friend’s good luck. And “good luck” it is, right? He certainly didn’t earn it. It’s not like he is better than me. I’ve probably prayed harder, have been more responsible, and need it more than him, but I suppose I should be happy for him. So our thinking goes. But is this the way we shall see those of greater raptures in the eternal state. Will we really be shaken by our envy of them? Sin and tragedy are the roots of grief. Jesus’ resurrection says that the roots will be pulled and the weeds of unhappiness with them. In a healed land populated by healed people, only happiness is possible. If your heart bursts with nothing but love for another, and that other is better off than you, you do not begrudge their richness. You rejoice in it. The fact that others will be better off than ourselves will not make us less joyful; it will increase our joy. They are our joy, and their betterment is our betterment.
Secondly, we tend to think that less happy means more unhappy, or that experiencing less of God means we receive less of God. These seem logical enough, but it does not necessarily follow that being less happy means being more unhappy. In addition to Scripture, much of my thinking on rewards owes to Jonathan Edwards. Edwards used the example of bowls. Take two bowls of differing sizes. Say one holds 10 oz. and the other holds gallon. Now in the smaller bowl does it follow that holding less water means it is more empty than the larger bowl? Of course not. The smaller bowl my be full to the brim and still hold less water. Think of eternity in a similar vein. All of us will be bowls of joy, but the size of those bowls will vary. Some will be 10 oz. and some 10 gallons. But every bowl will be full to the brim. You will never think, “Oh, I wish I could have so much more.” You will be bursting at your capacity for joy. You will hardly be able to believe that more joy is possible, and yet it will be.
Furthermore, it does not follow that experiencing less of God means we receive less of Him. Theologian Millard Erickson uses the example of attending the performance of a classical orchestra. Depending upon the understanding and love of classical music, two individuals may have very different experiences. One person may be totally engrossed while the other bored to tears. But it is not because they are hearing different things. They are both immersed into the same bath of harmony. In a similar fashion, God’s glory and love will not be more on display for some and less for others. We shall be immersed into the same bath, but like with the music some of us are greater connoisseurs of God. One’s vision will not be at all different from another, and yet it will be very, very different.
1. How can I be eternally happy knowing that I will be eternally less happy than others? Okay, so maybe I don’t have to spend eternity starring at Billy Graham’s palace from my cramped studio apartment, but I do have to spend eternity in the company of others far more joyful and immersed in God’s glory than me. How can eternity be eternal bliss knowing that I’m second rate?
There are several false assumptions lying behind this objection. First, it fails to take into account the perfect state of holiness we will be in. Why do you assume that another’s greater happiness will you make you less happy? Certainly, in this day when a good friend gets a raise or inherits $100,000 while we can barely afford our next tank of gas, we tend to grumble rather than rejoice over our friend’s good luck. And “good luck” it is, right? He certainly didn’t earn it. It’s not like he is better than me. I’ve probably prayed harder, have been more responsible, and need it more than him, but I suppose I should be happy for him. So our thinking goes. But is this the way we shall see those of greater raptures in the eternal state. Will we really be shaken by our envy of them? Sin and tragedy are the roots of grief. Jesus’ resurrection says that the roots will be pulled and the weeds of unhappiness with them. In a healed land populated by healed people, only happiness is possible. If your heart bursts with nothing but love for another, and that other is better off than you, you do not begrudge their richness. You rejoice in it. The fact that others will be better off than ourselves will not make us less joyful; it will increase our joy. They are our joy, and their betterment is our betterment.
Secondly, we tend to think that less happy means more unhappy, or that experiencing less of God means we receive less of God. These seem logical enough, but it does not necessarily follow that being less happy means being more unhappy. In addition to Scripture, much of my thinking on rewards owes to Jonathan Edwards. Edwards used the example of bowls. Take two bowls of differing sizes. Say one holds 10 oz. and the other holds gallon. Now in the smaller bowl does it follow that holding less water means it is more empty than the larger bowl? Of course not. The smaller bowl my be full to the brim and still hold less water. Think of eternity in a similar vein. All of us will be bowls of joy, but the size of those bowls will vary. Some will be 10 oz. and some 10 gallons. But every bowl will be full to the brim. You will never think, “Oh, I wish I could have so much more.” You will be bursting at your capacity for joy. You will hardly be able to believe that more joy is possible, and yet it will be.
Furthermore, it does not follow that experiencing less of God means we receive less of Him. Theologian Millard Erickson uses the example of attending the performance of a classical orchestra. Depending upon the understanding and love of classical music, two individuals may have very different experiences. One person may be totally engrossed while the other bored to tears. But it is not because they are hearing different things. They are both immersed into the same bath of harmony. In a similar fashion, God’s glory and love will not be more on display for some and less for others. We shall be immersed into the same bath, but like with the music some of us are greater connoisseurs of God. One’s vision will not be at all different from another, and yet it will be very, very different.
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