On Sleeping In Church

Think On These Things

The Bible has quite a bit to say about the power of our thoughts.  Proverbs 23:7 says, “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.”  In Romans 12:2 the apostle Paul goes so far as to say that we are “transformed by the renewing of our minds.”

Needless to say, the things we think on are vital in our spiritual formation and maturity.  If we dwell on things that are objectionable, impure, hurtful, unjust, unlovely and the like it will rob our souls.  I’m not entirely sure why we do those things.  I once had a pastoral supervisor who liked to ask, “What do you get out of that sort of behavior?”  The answer was nearly always, “I don’t get anything out of it.”  But the reply always came back, “Then why do you do it?  You only do it if you think that you’ll get more benefit from it than from not doing it.”

But whatever it is we think we will get out of it, the Scriptures seem to be clear that we will only be losers in the end.  Those negative things we focus on end up being the very things that usually cause division, dissension and strife among us - things that the apostle Paul calls the works of the flesh.  If we are going to build up - ourselves, others, our churches - then we really should heed Paul’s words in Philippians 4:8-9.  They are so important I want to quote them in full:

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.  The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.

Due to Circumstances Beyond Our Control …

Guest post from Todd Littleton while Paul is away at camp and without Internet access.

A few years ago I sent out a weekly email. Inadvertently I left the “o” off of the end of “Hello.” You can imagine my grief when my good friend, and now fellow pastor, Wayne wrote me making fun of my gaff. While he took it in stride as a typographic error I could only think someone might think I had done this on purpose. Quickly I sent out a follow-up expressing regret that while my “spell checker” did not find a mis-spelled word there indeed was a “mis-spelled” word in my greeting. I had every intention of saying, “Hello!”

Sometimes the electronic mediums create occasions where the slight of finger changes the meaning of everything. Other times there are sinister “dummy” servers designed to sneak into a website material offensive to all.

Paul called me last night. His voice reflected the dread that someone may read his blog and discover one of these “dummy” servers designed to “spam” websites with impunity. He asked if I would help him out as he did not know of this and could do nothing about it while at camp. Of course, I obliged. Read more

A Week At The Creek

This week we’re taking our kids to our state youth camp at Falls Creek. Sleepless nights and hot days lie ahead. Pray for us if you think about it.

Practical Thoughts On The Trinity

The doctrine of the Trinity can seem so….so….incomprehensible.  This is especially true if you read some of the church debates over the Trinity that took place in the fourth century.  Your head will be sure to spin when you begin to see words like “homoousios” and the like.  Was Jesus of the same substance as the Father, or was he of a similar substance, or was he simply a perfectly created being?  And what, exactly, does that all mean?

In our practical day and age the situation becomes that much worse when we begin asking the question, “What does that have to do with this life that I’m now living anyway?”

Well, count me as one who believes that all theology is practical (and if it’s not it simply isn’t theology worth our time and effort).  So what practical value is the Trinity to us? Read more

Of Brides and Black Eyes

Some years ago an old high school friend was serving as Youth Minister at a church. Not being there I don’t know all of the details behind the story, but it is a church where I have friends and family, so I heard about it from their perspective. The Youth Minister was leaving the church. In the process he stood up in the service and began to verbally roast certain people from the floor, including the pastor. From all accounts it was pretty ugly.

I was appalled. I remember telling some of those people that when someone does that sort of thing it was like being at a wedding and punching the bride in the eye. After all, the church is the bride of Christ. Now, if that were a real wedding and someone went up front and punched the bride in the eye as she was waiting on the groom, he’d better get out of there quick, because when the groom arrives he’s going to give that boy a thumping like he’s never seen. What do you suppose Jesus’ response is when people blacken the eye of the church?

That happens in a variety of ways. It’s not just when disgruntled staff go out in a bad way. It’s not limited to what goes on in public meetings, either. Probably more often than not it happens in day-to-day life when we fight and squabble, say unkind things about one another and to one another, express ill will toward one another and sow seeds of division. It’s no longer just a Baptist thing to say that the most common way to plant a church in America is to split one that’s already there.

There’s often too little patience, too little kindness, too much envy and boasting, too much arrogance and rudeness, too much insisting on my own way, too much irritability and resentfulness, too much rejoicing in wrongdoing and too little rejoicing in the truth. We don’t bear all things, believe all thing, hope all things or endure all things. In other words, we lack love.

Jesus said that the world would know we are his disciples by our love for one another. Not by our rightness. Not by our skill in defending our positions. Certainly not by our strife and discord. Do they know? Are our words seasoned with understanding? Do we seek more to be heard than we do to listen? Or are we like those Paul mentions in Galatians who bite and devour one another? In that same passage Paul admonishes us:

16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

May we be people who walk in the Spirit, not the kind who give the bride of Christ a black eye.

Taylor Goes Electric

The Church - Created For What?

In his book A Community Called Atonement Scot McKnight writes that any theory of atonement should keep the end in mind - what was atonement meant to produce? In answering that question McKnight notes that the atonement was not just meant to produce forgiven people, but that “the work of God is to form a community in which the will of God is done and through which one finds both union with God and communion with others for the good of others and the world.” Thus, the atonement was meant to produce a certain kind of community.

I like his approach. I think it is very helpful in formulating a well-rounded and holistic view of the atonement. It avoids getting “stuck” in one particular place, overemphasizing one aspect of atonement to the neglect of others. In fact, he mentions the various views of atonement and likens them to a bag of golf clubs. A golfer might make it through a round with just one club (I think there are even friendly golf games that might involve just such a feat), but don’t expect to shoot par, or probably even close.

Perhaps McKnight’s approach would benefit our understanding of the church as well. Read more

Picture This

These are a couple of pics I took at our city fireworks show last week. You can see more at my flickr page.

Orgainzed Chaos

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