Category Archives: Writings

Training Partners.

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This morning I was grateful to lead a sixth grade boys Bible study. Exactly thirty boys entering their teen years were mostly respectful, and enthusiastic. Sometimes rowdy, mostly funny, and definitely happy to be there among friends, they returned each time to listening to an adult persuade them to trust God and live in His goodness. Thankfully I know many by name, so I can speak into their lives with credibility.

I spoke on Training Partners, a connection between two recent messages and Scripture passages they recently heard taught by men they respect.

A training partner is someone who invests in you, and you in them, as you grow stronger in a shared area of our lives. In middle school lingo, it is the guys we share life with in doing challenging things (sports, homework, etc.). They recognize the difference between trying and training, and that alone helps us see all the people who help us succeed in life. Even as we considered many ‘solo’ sports (golf, tennis, motorcross, being their examples). How many of us create our own gear, or drive ourselves to the course/court? Did we entirely teach ourselves how to play? If we’re wise, we watch others and want to do what they do how they do it. In fact, that’s why we wanted to play that sport to begin with — someone introduced us to it, and made our playing possible.
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All that and more.

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The world is smaller, bigger, better and badder than you think.

And God so loved the world.

Both of those lines help me grasp why Jesus came to rescue us.

[14] And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth… [16] And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. [17] For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. [18] No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.
—John 1:14, 16-18, ESV

 

Counting others.

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Every time I tell our four-year-old son “I’m proud of you, son,” he is quick to remind me, “No, Daddy. Pride is bad.” True, son. So if I’m thinking about it I instead said, “Son, I’m really happy with you. You please me.” It seems our kids need to know we are happy to be called their parents. God the Father was happy to say the same of His Son (Matthew 3:17).

Our son is learning about humility. He’s getting the concepts down, and like all of us, learning in real-time the pitfalls of our self-centered pride. Brings to mind some of the things preached this Sunday in our church worship gatherings:

“You don’t need to try to be humble. Just be honest with who you are in light of who God is. Stop pretending, and trying to cover up who you are before others… Be honest before God.”
—Joel Dombrow, preaching on Philippians 2:1-11, Joy From Humility (Sunday, Jan. 30, 2011)

If we do that, we will then consider God as awesome, certainly more than ourselves. I was moved as I sat there asking God to do this in me.

Joel continued: “The humble person is someone who considers others as better than their self.” Not that we have to think that others are better than us, but that we place their needs before our own. We treat them as if they are better and more deserving than us. We must think about them more than us. It is putting others first.

“Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” (Paul writes, Philippians 2:3-4)

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We become what we think about.

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(Or, Hermeneutics and the Transformation process, for the theo-dorks.)

Hermeneutics |ˌhərməˈn(y)oōtiks| is a cool word to describe the science and art of Bible interpretation. (More broadly, it is the branch of knowledge that deals with interpreting literary texts.) It is a process of making sense of God’s Word as well as His world. One goal of hermeneutics is to make sense of what God said, so we can know what He says today for us.

We all know far too many people who have piles of knowledge but whose life is also in piles. As Eugene Peterson reminds us, “There is a great deal of impersonal knowledge available. There is no impersonal wisdom.” Knowing a lot about what God has said should lead us to knowing Him personally, and applying His wisdom to our lives.

Wise people know a few core things really well, and are gripped by them.

Making sense of God’s words is parting of the larger process of transformation — being made new. God’s transformation process through the Word often works like this:

  • Think // Our will directs our minds to interact with the thoughts of God’s Word.
  • Understand // Good hermeneutics helps to understand the meaning of God’s Word.
  • Illumination // The Holy Spirit illuminates our understanding and helps us see how to apply God’s word to our lives (how the meaning is significant to us, and for us).
  • Transformation // As we submit ourselves to the Person of the Holy Spirit, God’s Word has a radically transforming impact upon our lives.

“Think over what I say, for the Lord
will give you understanding in everything.”
—Paul writing to Timothy (2 Timothy 2:7)

We must understand that the role of hermeneutics is not to be an end to itself, but it is for the purpose of transformation. However, it is an integral and necessary part of the process. This is why after interpreting the meaning of a passage, we need to spend time meditating and pondering the truth of the passage, and asking the Holy Spirit to show us the significance of that truth to our lives. On the flip-side, if we have stellar hermeneutics and we don’t seek to bring our hearts and our will under the submission of the Holy Spirit and actually apply God’s Word, then it doesn’t matter (in some sense) if we got our hermeneutics down pat. (Much thanks to Adam Poole on these thoughts.)

 

One sign it will be a good day.

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How does your day begin? Why on some days are we happy and free, and other days we wake up on the proverbial wrong-side-of the-bed? Perhaps there are many reasons, but consider a broader question first.

Where does generosity come from? We might tend to think we will be more generous with our time, talents, and treasure if only we had more. Or, if there were easier ways to ‘plug in’ and invest our time, use our talents, and give our treasure to others.

All of those opportunities are already before us. Everyday, and (just about) each moment. Being generous begins with being thankful. Gratitude is the key to changing our hearts to want to want to give our lives away for a cause much greater than our little lives.

Here’s a simple exercise we started doing a couple years back: on garbage day, watch the garbage truck pick up your trash. Seriously. Let’s pause our breakneck speed and consider the beauty of how someone drives by and picks up our trash. Better yet, when we hear the truck around the corner, say to our children, ‘Let’s watch the garbage truck!’ and rush to the window together to be awed.

Wait for the questions … this is a routine for us every Wednesday morning as my son considers important questions like “what do they do with all that garbage?” It has sparked many conversations on how the world works, our chores and responsibilities, why the recycling container is 4x the size as that garbage can, and how we can today choose to be thankful (aka “have a happy heart”).

Since the garbage truck circles around the back of our house, then up the other side of the street, back around on our side, and exits our neighborhood to the one behind us, there are four opportunities to say “there’s the garbage truck.” Of course, this may be a boy thing, and I’m doubtful our daughter will one day be as enthused. (We do the same thing with the street sweeper.)

Can you believe we are able to roll our garbage out to the curb? For about $20 a month? Are you kidding me? (Remember those old tin cans with the round lids that tended to blow off? Just remembered they didn’t have wheels, AND we had to purchase the cans ourselves.

I remember being jealous once as a kid that the neighbors had a fancy set of cans; they were colored plastic with special lids and built-in bungee cords that would latch them shut. They never had to be late to school because their cans tipped over with trash littering the street. We did.

There are people in developing nations walking trash across the city, barefoot, in the heat of the day, parched and yet not complaining about their lot in life. And I get to witness someone come by my house weekly and take our garbage out of sight and out of mind. In fact, there are two, as the recycling truck comes along later.

Sure there are opportunities for us to complain, worry, and get anxious. But if today the garbage truck stopped by to take your stinky heap of waste — that’s a good sign today will be a good day.

 

A parenting workshop for those doing pretty good (or even great) as parents.

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Whenever we hear and announcement or see a 30-second commercial about a product or an idea, we subconsciously ask ourselves “Do I need this?” If we buy into what the marketers want — a want to want it, based our their projecting the ‘need’ we hadn’t realized before — we’ll buy what they are selling. Or, we’ll figure out the best version to get that is similar to what they’re selling.

Here’s the idea I’m selling you today:

You need to be at this Parenting Worship, on Saturday, January 22nd (9am-2pm).

As a friend reminded me this morning how all of us grew up with imperfect parents (bless them!). There was a year when we stopped communicating with and trusting them, and they were less effective in raising us. They were in many ways echoing the pattern they saw in their parents, living the same pattern out in raising us. So, let’s think about what age or year that happened in your family. Without wisely and godly counsel, you as a well-meaning parent (and me) will repeat this same pattern. We may be doing great right now, but there will be a day when we are not doing great. Let’s commit to planning for that day.
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Welcome to Philippians: True Joy.

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This Sunday we begin a journey as a church through Paul’s epistle (letter) to the Philippians. We’re calling it “True Joy,” for in Christ we find this true joy that will never fade. No matter our circumstances, we can stand in joy and embrace reality head-on. In Jesus we see the perfect Example and goal, and in Paul we see another one who lived in this joy. This joy becomes louder than his suffering.

The Apostle Paul wrote this God-inspired letter sometime around AD 60 from a prison cell (or house arrest) in Rome. He wrote to this faithful church in Philippi, because he loved them, and primarily as a thank you for their sending one of their best to his side, with a personal gift. He met them about a decade earlier (see Acts 16:14-40), and they received the Good News of Jesus as from God. In this letter, which is a short 104 verses, he outlines what the Christian life shall look like, and God’s plan for true community built around Jesus. There’s much in there about happiness, humility, holiness, and contentment. Sounds like a letter we all need to read. (Even memorize. Join me in memorizing it together between now and Easter Sunday.)

We learn in this letter some key things, which I’ll quickly summarize. But first, they all tie to the greatest event in history, which is actually a series of events: the Gospel. Jesus came, God as a Man, lived a sinless life, died the death of a crucified criminal, took on the wrath of God, and rose from the dead. These are crazy events, yet they really happened. This changes everything.

We learn in Philippians three simple things about what Jesus has done to Paul. Even from a prison cell this man is:

  1. really happy
  2. really humble, and
  3. really driven

(The Gospel is why Paul is happy, humble, and driven. He’s met Jesus and he’s now a new man being made new every day.)

So he writes in this happiness — a true and abiding joy — to a church that was doing many things right. Continue reading →

 

A thinking man’s Christmas

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Ross Douthat has a really good opinion column over at NYTimes.com:
“A Tough Season for Believers.” His piece begins:

Christmas is hard for everyone. But it’s particularly hard for people who actually believe in it.

In a sense, of course, there’s no better time to be a Christian than the first 25 days of December. But this is also the season when American Christians can feel most embattled. Their piety is overshadowed by materialist ticky-tack. Their great feast is compromised by Christmukkwanzaa multiculturalism. And the once-a-year churchgoers crowding the pews beside them are a reminder of how many Americans regard religion as just another form of midwinter entertainment, wedged in between “The Nutcracker” and “Miracle on 34th Street.”

If we take a step back and ponder our traffic jams, heightened stress, overspending, and ridiculous expectations of family members, we might well laugh a bit at ourselves — or be drawn to despair. How have we missed the essence of Christmas? (Is it really about if some one says “Merry Christmas” instead of “Happy Holidays” to us while we by things we can hardly afford to impress people with gifts we haven’t given much thought about?)

I read Douthat’s column while waiting for a prayer meeting this morning that never materialized. Or should I say, four of us then gathered to pray — I was privileged to join the Father, Son, and Spirit in adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and intercession.

Here are some of the themes I prayed: Continue reading →

 

The Path: straight ahead

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An analogy: Imagine there is a pathway before us.

Those who are faithfully following Jesus daily by faith re walking straight ahead, empowered by grace.

To the left is a ditch where the self-absorbed and apathetic get caught up (concerned mostly with self).

On the right is a ditch were a person gets stuck when he or she is over-stressed and overwhelmed. This person cares deeply but is overwhelmed!

Usually when a person is awakened to the Gospel truth, they swerve from one ditch to the other. (Over and over.)

God’s wisdom helps us learn who God is, who we are, and what He asks of us — the faithful pathway straight ahead. We stay on this road by grace-driven effort, neither passively sitting back or doing it all in our strength. God designed that when we follow Him we turn neither to the left hand or the right.

Jesus walked this path perfectly for us, and invites us to join Him, walking in His steps.

The Pathway: turning neither to the left or the right

This happens as we are daily rejoicing in our salvation received by grace, devoting ourselves to the good works He brings in front of us. People who are becoming generous with their time, talents, and treasure are resisting the urge to fall into the ditch on the left, and have spent time in the ditch on the right.

Do you notice how these people are compelling? You notice there is something different about him or her, as they are caring in their interactions with others — speaking to the person no one else notices, pausing from the break-neck pace to help someone in need. They see the hurting and marginalized.

How do we begin on the path?

Repent and believe the Gospel. Quit trusting in yourself, and place your full confidence in Jesus, the Righteous One, who lived the life we have failed to live (pleasing God perfectly from a pure heart), and died the death we should die (receiving the full wrath of God).

How do we stay on the path?

Continue Repenting and believing the Gospel. The oft-used metaphor of walking shows us it is a long obedience in the same direction, marked by repentance and renewal.

Walk. Step-by-step. Neither worrying we will fall off, nor thinking that life would be better on another path. (That is, walking on the path is no so much about self — it is about God and others.)

All of this with grace-driven effort.

“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.”
—Galatians 5:16

“Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.”
—Colossians 1:28-29

“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.”
—Hebrews 12:1-2

 

A quick reminder.

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Happy Thanksgiving! I hope your day has been full of joy, gratitude, laughter, and rest. (And some football with a side of gravy, of course.)

For all of us shopping on ‘Black Friday,’ let’s remember whose money were are spending, and what it is for.

A reminder for guys: hobbies are not cheap. Sure you’re going to use that new gadget? Need one that snazzy? (Are you thinking, “I really need _______.”)

Let’s not go into debt trying to buy happiness. Joy is there to be had … freely.

Men, let’s take the lead in our families, setting the pace for what we consume, and how much.