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Forgotten God

Just finishing up another book, this one by Francis Chan, called "The Forgotten God." While I did not find this one as astounding as "Crazy Love," I do think that Chan raises some good questions in the book. Here's a great paragraph that gives you the flavor of it.

"As believers, we ought to experience this same kind of astonishment when the Holy Spirit enters our bodies. We should be stunned in disbelief over becoming a "new creation" with the Spirit living in us. As the caterpillar finds its new ability to fly, we should be thrilled over our Spirit-empowered ability to live differently and faithfully. Isn't this what the Scriptures speak of? Isn't this what we've all been longing for?"

As I asked you last week, do you feel that the Holy Spirit's presence in your life is MORE VALUABLE to you than if Jesus Himself had stayed behind to be your personal discipler? Jesus said that that is how it should be (John 16:7)...

The Endurance

Just finished a fantastic leadership book called The Endurance about the true story of the mind-blowing heroic efforts of a polar explorer (Sir Ernest Shackleton) to save his crew stranded on a remote island in Antarctica. The book reads like an adventure... and, if nothing else, makes you realize that at no point have you been truly "cold" in your life.

Best of all, I thought, were the occasional leadership principles the author, Caroline Alexander, extracts along the way. Here are two, just as examples. The first is taken from the diary of one of the stranded crewmen:

"When occasion demanded he (Shackleton) would attend personally to the smallest details...sometimes it would appear to the thoughtless that his care amounted almost to fussiness, and it was only afterwards that we understood the supreme importance of his ceaseless watchfulness. Behind every calculated word and gesture was a single-minded determination to do what was best for his men."

And this one:

"At the core of Shackleton's gift for leadership in crisis was an adamantine conviction that quite ordinary individuals were capable of heroic feats if the circumstances required; the weak and the strong could and must survive together. The mystique that Shackleton acquired as a leader may partly be attributed to the fact that he elicited from his men strength and endurance they had never imagined they possessed; he ennobled them."

How to be "Good and Angry"

Following up on yesterday's message from Proverbs about healing conflict and repairing relationships, I thought this little piece from Paul Tripp's book A Quest for More, offers some intuitive thoughts on how to understand our anger (pp. 190-191).  In the selections I have placed below, Tripp expounds upon the source of our anger and how the gospel replaces that unholy anger with an anger that characterizes those who desire God's cause to be accomplished in our world. The paradox is that unrighteous anger is sinful and completely unhelpful in relationships (James: "the wrath of man does not work the righteousness of God.") Yet, people who love get angry, just like Jesus did. Learning how to have love-based, righteous anger, and sin not, is a wonderful "accomplishment" in Christian maturity.

It is true that most of our anger is dangerous and destructive. This is because it is idolatrous anger. I do not get angry because of your brokenness or the world's brokenness, but because in your brokenness you get in the way of what I crave! On the cross, Christ died to free us from this kind of anger, but not from anger. . . .



Jesus died to produce a culture of people who are so in love with him, so committed to his righteous cause, and so distressed by what sin has done to them and their world, that they cannot help but be angry every day. This is not the old, selfish, unholy anger. These people are good and angry at the same time.

This new anger is an unquenchable zeal for God's cause and an uncompromising distaste for sin.

It is the anger of compassion that cannot help but seek to relieve people who are suffering from sin's damage.


It is the anger of mercy that responds to the foolishness of sin with understanding and grace.

It is the anger of restoration that refuses to condemn, but believes that rebels can be built into the likeness of Jesus.



It is the anger of service that finds delight in helping burdened pilgrims bear their load.



It is the anger of peace that hates division that sin has birthed in our world and does everything that can be done to restore harmony.



It is the anger of forgiveness that hates sin's guilt and despises its shame.



Jesus died not only to free you from your anger, but to enable you to take up his righteous anger.


He died so that you would not rage inside because people and circumstances loom as constant obstacles to the realization of your little kingdom cravings.



He died so that you would not be captive to the self-absorbed anger of your claustrophobic little kingdom.



He died so that you would be angry with sin and the way it has harmed you and everyone around you.



He died so that you would be angry at the way sin has damaged the world you live in.



He died so that your anger would be holy and pleasing to him.



He died so that your anger would propel you to act in deeds of mercy, love, forgiveness, compassion, restoration, and peace. 

*(Emphasis and spacing breaks mine.)



For more, check out Tripp's seminar, How to Be Good and Angry (DVD or CD).

Adopted for Life

This week we are going to reflect on understanding the role we have in teaching the next generation to know God. We are going to make available a really helpful book by a friend of mine, Dr. Russ Moore, who talks about one particular parenting ministry I really hope some of you will consider… adoption. Here are some excerpts from the book.

Adopted for Life by Russ Moore

• “Whether our background is Norwegian, Hatian and Indonesian, if we are united to Christ, our family genealogy is found not primarily in the front pages of our dusty old family Bible but inside its pages, in the first chapter of the Gospel of Matthew.  Our identity is in Christ; so his people are our people, his God our God.”  (37)
• I want to ask what it would mean if our churches and families were known as the people who adopt babies—and toddlers, and children, and teenagers. What if we as Christians were known, once again, as the people who take in orphans and make of them beloved sons and daughters? (20)
• The protection of children isn’t charity.  It isn’t part of a political program fitting somewhere between tax cuts and gun rights or between carbon emission caps and a national service corps.   It’s spiritual warfare. (65)
• What better way is there to bring the good news of Christ than to see his unwanted little brothers and sisters placed in families where they’ll be raised in the nurture and admonition of the Lord? (75)
• Think of how revolutionary it is for a Christian to adopt a young boy with a cleft palate from a region of India where most people see him as “defective”.  Think of how counterintuitive it is for Christians to adopt a Chinese girl – when many there see her as a disappointment.  Think of how odd it must seem to American secularists to see Christians adopting a baby whose body trembles with an addiction to the cocaine her mother sent through her bloodstream before birth.  Think of the kind of credibility such action lends to the proclamation of our gospel. (79)
• Without the theological (dimensions on adoption), an emphasis on it would too easily is seen as mere charity.  Without the missional aspect, the doctrine of adoption too easily is seen as mere metaphor. (18)
• (In response to rude questions people ask him about whether the kids are really "his"): “Our adoption is about the day when…the great assembly of Christ’s church will be gathered before the Judgement Seat.  On that day, the accusing principalities and powers will probably look once more at us – former murderers and fornicators and idolators, formerly uncircumcised in flesh or in heart – and they maybe ask one more time, “So are they brothers?” The hope of adopted children like my sons – and like me – is that the voice that once thundered over the Jordan will respond, one last time, “They are now.” (57)

Some Suprising Conclusions...

Below is a link to a summary of a book by one of my favorite authors, Rodney Stark, who is an outstanding scholar. In the book, Stark does extensive surveying of megachurch trends and comes to some surprising conclusions, basically shattering the myth that megachurches always produce consumers who are light on doctrine and commitment to Christ.

The summary of the book is done by an excellent research team I use called “Docent.” They save me hours of work each week and make me sound smart.

Stark's thesis in the book is as follows:

"The two most important aspects of American religious life are stability and diversity. That is, Americans differ greatly in their religious tastes and convictions, and these differences are remarkably durable. The thesis of the book essentially claims that there are many misperceptions about American religion and the findings repeatedly provide examples of stability and diversity (14)."

To read more of Docent's summary of Stark's book, "What Americans Really Believe," click Download Docent_Stark_Book Review

Getting to Yes, Made to Stick, and The God I Don't Understand. This Friday is about books

I got some really good advice several years ago to read at least one book a year on the "art" of selling. Almost all of us, in whatever profession we are, do a fair amount of "selling" -- whether that is "selling" ideas (by trying to convince others to see things the way we do) or "selling" ourselves (by trying to get people to believe in, and have confidence in, us. As a pastor, I would loathe the idea of being seen as any kind of "salesman," but I do realize that I need to learn to present my "ideas" in a way that makes sense to people. This year’s books to that end were Getting to Yes by Roger Fisher and Made To Stick by Chip and Dan Heath. I'll comment more on Made to Stick later, but here is a great excerpt from the introduction of Getting to Yes that explains the point I was trying to make above.

Like it or not, you are a negotiator. Negotiation is a fact of life. You discuss a raise with your boss. You try to agree with a stranger on a price for a house. Two lawyers try to settle a lawsuit arising from a car accident. A group of oil companies plan a joint venture exploring for offshore oil. A city official meets with union leaders to avert a transit strike. The United States Secretary of State sits down with his Soviet counterpart to seek an agreement limiting nuclear arms. All these are negotiations.

Everyone negotiates something every day. Like Molier’s Monsieur Jourdian, who was delighted to learn that he had been speaking prose all his life, people negotiate even when they don’t realize it about where to go for dinner, and with your child about what they can expect when the lights go out. Negotiation is a basic means of getting what you want from others. It is back-and-forth communication designed to reach an agreement when you and the other side have some interests that are shared and others that are opposed.

More and more occasions require negotiation; conflict is a growth industry. Everyone wants to participate in decisions that affect them; fewer and fewer people will accept decisions dictated by someone else. People differ, and they use negotiation to handle their differences. Whether in business, government, or the family, people reach most decisions through negotiation. Even when they go to court, they almost always negotiate a settlement before trial.

Although negotiation takes place very day, it is not easy to do well.

On a separate note, I just finished a great new book by C.J.H. Wright called The God I Don't Understand. It is a thorough, honest, reflective, warm, insightful book by one of the most brilliant theologians alive, imo. Wright and I do not agree on everything, and I thought his chapter on God's purpose in pain, particularly concerning whether or not pain was part of the original creation was very unsatisfying. I also thought his chapter on the end times was skiddish in its Biblical basis and logic, and he dismissed others without anything close to the careful analysis I have come to expect from him. It is still a good reflection, however, and I was very enriched by it.

Ed Stetzer on Planting Missional Churches

Thought these were some great and inspiring thoughts from Ed Stetzer's book, Planting Missional Churches. I'd been going back through it recently, and thought these were good by way of reminder. 

 

I.  Even in our community, we are not on "Home turf." We are in a missionary setting, and we need to focus on the unchurched around us. (p. 32)

II.  "The single most effective evangelistic methodology under heaven is planting new churches." (p. 33)

III.  There is no basis, biblically or theologically, for the a distinction between "foreign missions" and "local evangelism." (p. 33)

IV.  A church must learn to exegete its culture (p. 33)

V.  Church planting is always on the cutting edge of North American missiology because it has no emotional investment in the patterns of tradition. (p. 33)

VI.  Just as the church ceases to be the church if it is not missional, theology ceases to be theology if it loses its missionary character. (p. 34)

VII.  Contextualization is a delicate enterprise if ever there was one.  The evangelist and mission strategist stand on a razor's edge, aware that to fall off on either side has terrible consequences... either obscuring the Gospel through layers of tradition or distorting the Gospel by too closely syncretizing it with the culture. (p. 35)

VIII.  The End result is to establish biblical new churches that are culturally relevant. (p. 35)

There is no thief like a bad book...

Like many things in my life, I can't remember if Mark Twain said that (the above), C. S. Lewis, or if I made it up. But, as I've often said, "Originality is the ability to forget where you got it from." I don't remember where I first heard that statement either, so it's original with me. At any rate, the point is that I hate wasting time and mental energy with bad books. I am frequently asking people whom I respect what they are reading and what they are most enjoying. I have several "favorite book lists" on people.

So, I've compiled a list of some of my favorite books on various topics. It is here. While there are elements in many I don't agree with, these are the books that have most challenged and stretched my thinking over the years.

Each book is a hyperlink to Amazon. If you order one of the books via the link, the church will get a small portion of the proceeds.

The Book Besides the Bible to Take If You Get Stranded on an Island

G. K. Chesterton was once asked what one book he'd take if he were stranded on an island. He said a book about shipbuilding.

Other than that, and the Bible... this is what I'd suggest you take: Tim Keller's new The Reason for God.
If you read one book in your LIFETIME, THIS SHOULD BE IT. I know this sounds like I'm exaggerating, but this really is the absolute best book I've ever read at interpreting the Gospel for our culture.

Keller shows the reasons why only the Gospel can address the needs of contemporary people, why belief in the Gospel is eminently reasonable, and the absolute difference between religion and the Gospel. Keller is a very "plain-spoken" author, but some of the passages in it are so beautiful and compelling you feel as if you are reading poetry. That's because the beauty does not come from the eloquence of the words, but from the clarity of the Gospel.

Here is one sample passage (which you must read in context to get the power of it):

The repentance that really changes your heart and your relationship with G od begins when you recognize that your main sin, the sin under the rest of your sins, is your self-salvation project. In both our bad deeds and our good deeds we are seeking to be our own Saviors and Lords. We have alternative trusts and 'gods,' even though we do not call them that. We try to prove ourselves by our moral goodness or through achievement or family or career. Even diligent involvement in church and religion may need to be repented of once we understand that it was all a way to put God in our debt... (p. 234)

The Gospel is about turning from your worshipping of and being rescued by other things to worshipping and being rescued by Jesus. When you understand the Gospel, it creates such an intense love for and desire for Jesus that you want to spend your whole life just getting more of Him.

One depressing thing about reading this book is I realize how little many "evangelical" churches preach the actual Gospel (seems to me). I'm thinking even of those places that have high "conversion" numbers. People are moved to pray salvation, come-to-Jesus prayers and get baptized, but you don't see a people falling in love with Jesus. And I've heard a number of those places give invitations where the actual run-to-Jesus-who-was-substituted-in-your-place-Gospel was never really explained. Instead, "accepting Jesus" was presented almost as if it was some kind of sacrament that would make you closer to God and fill in that missing piece in your life. Most "converts" come to Jesus as a "way out of hell" or a "path to a better life," but not as a beautiful God with whom we fall in love with. In these converts you see little passion to worship and really know Jesus. If our converts are not passionate about worshipping Jesus, what are we converting them to?

And it starts with us leaders, it appears to me. Sometimes when I listen to successful church leaders I get my mind filled with new, cool ideas (for which I'm grateful), but they don't make me fall in love with Jesus more. They, and we listening to them, appear to be more enamored with success at growing a church than we do adoring the Jesus of the Gospel.

Sorry for the tirade. But on a separate, much lighter note, there is a ridiculously hilarious (new) blog called "Stuff Christians Like." Check out #'s 108-106 (Summitters, we get mentioned in 107)... 101, 100, 26... 98... 90, 89... 68 67, 60... especially 31... Heck, THEY'RE ALL GOOD. WARNING: YOU WILL WASTE AN HOUR OR SO IF YOU GET ON THIS BLOG.

Will Another Charles Spurgeon Please Stand Up?

Finally finished the last chapter of Arnold Dallimore’s excellent biography of Charles Spurgeon (being somewhat A.D.D., I read no less than 9 books at once and sometimes forget to finish the ones I start).

The book makes me scream out again, “Where today are the great doctrinal preachers who are also extremely effective at winning people to Christ?” Why is it today that these two qualities seem to be at odds among preachers?

The only thing that that disheartened me about Dallimore’s book was the way he ended it… he traced the history of Spurgeon’s church after Spurgeon died, which today is a congregation of about 350 (down from 20,000 in Spurgeon’s day. He pointed out that this congregation still faithfully preaches “Spurgeon’s Calvinistic doctrine,” so, the author said, “Spurgeon’s work still goes on.”

Not at 350 it doesn’t. Unfortunately, 350 is the average size of most doctrinally centered congregations… (I know there are many faithful ministries whom God has not blessed with growth, but what disturbs me is their complacency about it. In the words of Spurgeon, "It is conceivable to think of a fisherman who doesn't catch fish. But it is inconceivable to think of one that is satisfied with that.")

So, where are the great Spurgeons who can preach great, delicious doctrine and grow churches like crazy by reaching unchurched people? And don’t give me this bunk about, "Well, people today just can’t handle depth like they used to…" Hogwash. People don’t change, and the Gospel is still relevant. Is it because today's "doctrinally deep" pastors don't drip with the compassion for lost people that drove Spurgeon?

So will another Charles Spurgeon please stand up? We so desperately need a few today. Here is the coolest quote from the book:

During the 1880s a group of American ministers visited England, prompted especially by a desire to hear some of the celebrated preachers of that land. On a Sunday morning they attended the City Temple where Dr. Joseph Parker was the pastor. Some 2000 people filled the building, and Parker's forceful personality dominated the service. His voice was commanding, his language descriptive, his imagination lively, and his manner animated. The sermon was Scriptural, the congregation hung upon his words, and the Americans came away saying, "What a wonderful preacher is Joseph Parker."

In the evening they went to hear Spurgeon at the Metropolitan Tabernacle. The building was much larger than the City Temple, and the congregation was more that twice it's size. Spurgeon's voice was much more expressive and moving and his oratory noticably superior. But they soon forgot all about the great building, the immense congregation, and the magnificent voice. They even overlooked their intention to compare the various features of the two preachers, and when the service was over they found themselves saying, "What a wonderful Savior is Jesus Christ."