things said...

Three things I heard this week...

"You won't lose anything worth having walking within God's boundaries."
-Dr. Hammett on Psalm 84:11

"Being a soldier in Christ's army is no place for sissies; it is no place for wimps."

-Dr. Daniel Akin at Spring Convocation, January 27, 2009.

"Jesus is not saying that 'you ought to be witnesses', but that 'you, by the fact that you bear My name, are My witnesses.'"

-Dr. Beck on Acts 1:8

Redeeming Movies

Christianity Today's top ten (plus a few) "Most Redeeming Films of 2008."

It's worth checking out... As for me and my wife, it may be a guide to our next few rentals...

(HT: Justin Taylor)

Many convert to 'The Way'; Barnabas leaves

Maybe that was the news headline the day Barnabas walked away from Antioch.

Who knows? But can you imagine what this new, groundbreaking church must have been thinking when Barnabas walked away?

Let me set the scene. We're about a third of the way through the book of Acts and the church is still almost entirely Jewish. In fact, as Acts 11:19 informs us, the Christians outside of Jerusalem were "speaking the word to no one except the Jews." But that's about to change. At Antioch, we're about to see the real beginning of the Gospel finally going to the ends of the earth - to Jew and to Gentile. So (in Acts 11:20) when some Christians get together and share the message of Christ with some Gentiles here in Antioch, and "a great number" (11:21) of the Gentiles respond in faith, this is a watershed moment in the history of the Church.

(Interesting side note here: those preaching the gospel to the Gentiles in this passage go unnamed. How many times does that happen in the book of Acts? It seems that just some average Joe's head out to follow Christ's call to seek and save the lost ... interesting concept ...)

This mass conversion is so unprecedented that the news is heard a few hundred miles away in Jerusalem. So the big-wigs in Jerusalem send one of their own, Barnabas the encourager, up to Antioch to see what's going on and to help out.

This must've come as welcome news to the young church in Antioch. Now they'd have someone to help them grow. But, to their surprise I'm sure, Barnabas gets there, sees this growing and paradigm-shifting church, and walks away.

What would compel him to leave a place where God was doing so much work?

Simple, a rough-edged young convert named Saul.

Barnabas walked away from Antioch and the opportunity for instant successful ministry, seemingly trading the masses for a man. He left, traveling on another long journey, to head "to Tarsus to look for Saul" (11:25).

Ultimately, Barnabas and Saul return to Antioch and eventually are sent from there on their first missionary journey. Out of this movement, much of the New Testament was written, much of Europe and Asia-Minor was won to Christ, and historically the world has never been the same.

What's interesting for me to see, though, is Barnabas' willingness to leave this growing church for one man. Yes, Barnabas knew he would return. (Although I'm not convinced he knew for certain he'd find Saul and return with him.) But traveling took so long in those days and while he was gone he was missing crucial ministry time. He was leaving the mission to which he specifically was appointed!

Yet Barnabas believed in the importance of the man, he believed in the idea of bringing others with you into the labor and thus training and developing other leaders for the work of ministry.

Barnabas saw the best way to reach the world in developing one man.

How many of us would turn away from an opportunity for instant "successful" ministry in order to do what it takes to bring a rough-edged young believer into that work with us? How many of us see reaching the world through impacting one man at a time?

Barnabas did. And he must've left a profound imprint on Paul, who did the same thing later (2 Cor 2:12-13).

More importantly, Christ did. The more I read it, the more it seems all his time in the masses was aimed at developing the men around him, specifically Peter, James and John.

Would I do the same? Would you?

waking up to snow

So I went to the grocery store yesterday, good husband that I am, before Stephanie got back from her weekend trip so she wouldn't have to go later. Little did I know that I would be in the middle of the southern ritual of ambushing the bread and milk aisle before a little of the white stuff fell out of the sky... To my shock and utter disappointment, one hour later (yes, one HOUR) I was finally able to make it out of Lowe's Foods (this was after a failed attempt to land a parking spot at Wal-Mart...you think that would've clued me in that more people than usual we going out for their MLK-day shopping spree) only to find out when I got back to the apartment that snow was on the way. At least that explained the crowds...sort of... But why anyone in the south actually thinks he is going to be snowed in is beyond me.

The good news: I don't have to go to Greek class at 8:00am. The bad news: It was only pushed back to 10:00... So it goes...

So, here it is, as of 7:00 am this morning, Flaherty Farms under a blanket of snow, with more forecast to come during the rest of the morning and perhaps into the afternoon.

Behold the Man!

O LORD, who shall sojourn in your tent?
Who shall dwell on your holy hill?

He who walks blamelessly and does what is right
and speaks truth in his heart;
who does not slander with his tongue
and does no evil to his neighbor,
nor takes up a reproach against his friend;
in whose eyes a vile person is despised,
but who honors those who fear the LORD;
who swears to his own hurt and does not change;
who does not put out his money at interest
and does not take a bribe against the innocent.

He who does these things shall never be moved.

Psalm 15 (ESV)

The more I think about it, the more I think King David's question should be the question asked by all who say they love God.

To dwell with God is to reach the end for which we were created. It was the joy of Adam in the garden. It was the hope of the men and women of faith, as shown in Hebrews 11, the men and women who longed for "a better country, that is, a heavenly one." It is the hope still of all the saints yearning for heaven, where it will be proclaimed, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.

But what's interesting is David's answer to his own question. For most of us, we have the Sunday School answer ready. "Who can dwell with God? The one believes in Jesus can dwell with God." True. This is true. But this isn't David's answer. David didn't explicitly call for a faith looking to the Messiah or a faith in God the Father to save, but he instead describes a man with a transformed heart.

This is the man who stands before God -- the man whose heart has been transformed by God. This is not a list for us to check off, but a list at which we can aim, through which we can pray and from which we should long to be changed. I long to be this man. To do what is right and walk blamelessly; to guard my tongue from slander and do no evil, to keep short accounts and commit no wrong against my friends. To see the sin and sorrow of the godless and hate it instead harboring this secret longing in my heart to live their life. To give freely and justly and to seek the good of the innocent, the lowly, the weak.

I want to be this man... But when I look at my life, I know I am not. When I look at this list as the answer to the question, "Who can dwell with God?", I must ask myself, "How can someone like me ever hope to stand before the Almighty God?"

And so one of the reasons that I praise Christ is that He is this man. He was "in every respect ... tempted as we are, yet without sin." And through Christ's death, I have hope to dwell before God. "For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God." (1 Peter 3:18). This is why Christ lived and died - that someone like me may dwell with God. As the writer of Hebrews states, "Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water." (Heb 10:19-22).

And so, by faith in Christ, who was this man, I am being transformed more and more, bit by bit, into this man. This is the paradox of the Christian life. Because Christ is this man, I am this man -- There's a definition of grace! -- by virtue of my union with Christ through faith. But I know in my flesh I am not this man. I long to be this man to honor The Father, my Father. His grace sees me as this man in Christ -- so I too shall never be moved -- and His loving Spirit compels me to live now as this man in abiding in Christ.

I want to be this man and dwell with God. Christ is this man, Christ is God, and Christ dwells with me, enabling me to be this man. Now may I (and you) live accordingly...

Say it ain't so...

HT: AJC Sports.

the day the Braves died.

It's something sad and shocking enough that Don McLean could write a song about.

I cannot remember when I started watching the Braves. That is to say, I cannot remember life without watching the Braves. But as long as I have watched my beloved team, I have watched John Smoltz.

I was 4 and a half years old when Smoltzie was traded to the Braves from Detroit. I was 5 and a half when he made his Major League debut in August of 1988. I do not remember either of these events. All I have ever known, to this point, is John Smoltz is a Brave.

Today -- the day the Braves died -- I am 26. After more than two decades of wearing the Tomahawk, John Smoltz is gone.

I'm not trying to sound like John Smotlz is dead. He's not. (Though it's probably just short of that shocking for me.) He's just a Red Sock (or is it, "a Red Sox"?).

Initially, when I first heard the report yesterday, he was dead to me. But now, after the fact has rolled around in my stomach like a bad burrito, more and more the Braves are dying to me. (They're not dead to me yet...they're just on life support. Or, to mix metaphors, the way I see it is that being a fan is akin to being married. It is for better or for worse. Me and the Braves, we'll be alright. This is just part of "the worse.")

Do I blame John Smoltz for leaving the only Major League club he's ever known? No. Not one bit. Quite simply, I blame Frank Wren - a good GM in my book (see below). But he royally screwed up in this one.

In any normal situation, I say let someone else gamble (to steal Chipper's word) on a worn-out arm. But this isn't any normal situation. This is the face of your franchise. This is a man with an exceptional history in rebounding when he's down. This is an athlete known as one of the most competitive men on your team and one of the greatest leaders in your locker room. This is a pitcher who is an invaluable resource for your young pitchers (à la, Jair Jurrjens). This is a man - if there ever was one - deserving of a farewell tour. And this is a pitcher fully capable of winning 12-15 games (or saving 25-35) for your team in the process. (A team in deep need of pitching, I might add.)

But Frank Wren and the Braves passed on all this over a paltry $3 million. For a team with (reportedly) $25-$30 million left to spend in a tumultuous offseason of failed signings, this is an absolutely unacceptable and completely avoidable development.

But the Braves went in another direction, either due to botching another negotiation by assuming that Smoltz would automatically re-sign with the only team he's ever known (in which case, Wren is no longer a "good" GM in my book) or due to making a conscious decision to move on (which is a poor decision in my book and a slap in the face to one of the greatest players in your team's history - both also, potentially, demoting Wren's status in my book).

So, for this fan, the blog has been changed to black for my mourning process; Frank Wren is now in a probationary period regarding my support; I will still continue to cheer for my favorite Brave, even while he is in Boston; and I will still continue to back the Braves, even after 'the Day the Braves died.'

___________________________

not checking off the Bible in 2009

As has been my custom for the past several years I am embarking on a quest to read through the entire Bible in this calendar year. After a successful 2005 I vowed to continue to practice this discipline yearly, the goal being to do so as long as I walk the earth. A pretty intense goal, yes, but hey - it's got all the marks of a "good" goal. It seemed attainable (I had just completed it, why not continue!), it had a set duration (every single year of my life!) and I knew in a good way it would stretch me and my commitment to the word of God.

Since 2005 I'm Oh-for-3.

So, batting .250 and still swinging away, I'm starting again on the Discipleship Journal one-year reading plan.

Over the course of my attempts at this in the past, there have been stretches of great insight and depth and worship and adoration of the God who gave us His very word, and there have been times (often, I confess) of quick reading and checking off a line on a list. There have been times of satisfaction from feasting on the Bread of Life; there have also been times of the momentary satsifaction of seeing all (or many, or some) of the little boxes checked off.

What have I learned? I've learned that despite all that, I still believe that reading through the Bible regularly is a good discipline, one that is honoring to God and one that is fruitful for the reader. I've learned that I don't need to stop a good practice because my motives aren't always right, but instead I need to seek God's face in repentance over bad motives and pray for the grace to move forward with godly motives.

And from the good times I've learned that reading God's word prayerfully and thoughtfully is a feast for the soul.

So I'm moving forward again this year, not to check off the Bible as if it were merely "empty words," but to see it as my "very life." (Deut 32:47)

How do we read the Word of God in this way? How do we do this when, for example, we're reading four chapters of Leviticus, a Psalm, and a handful of verses from a Gospel and the book of Acts? Let me offer a few humble suggestions from my limited experience.

First, read the Bible with questions in mind. Questions I like to ask the text (even Leviticus!) are like this: "How does this passage point me to Christ and the gospel?" "What trait would God have me 'put off' and what would He have me 'put on' as revealed in this passage?" (See Eph 4:20-24) I cannot express how helpful this has been to me while reading longer passages of scripture. Instead of a story about a man, his boat and a huge flood, I'm seeing how seriously God takes sin, how intent He is in punishing it and how He graciously gives salvation to His people. I'm seeing how Christ is the ark by which we are saved from the penalty for sin.

Second, read the Bible while remaining in a spirit of prayer. Talk with God about the text through which He is talking to you! Jude writes, "But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith [which is what we do reading the word of God] and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life" (Jude 20-21). I am not perfect at this, nor is there some magic spell that if we speak it will automatically bring us rich and full times of reflection every time we open the Bible. But we come to the Bible to meet with God, and we are dependent on God for that. Ask Him for it, interact with God over His word to you and pray continually, keeping yourself in an attitude of humble submission.

Third, and finally, actively remember that these are words of God for the glory of God. The bible is the very word of God - the same God who created everything (everything!) we see, taste, touch and feel (and more!) by His very word! I say "actively remember" because remembering this does not come without concious effort. But remember it we must. His words are powerful, they are life-giving, they reveal the God who called you, saved you, adopted you and loves you.
And His word does this for the sake of His name and for His glory. The word of God is not primarily "a roadmap for life." It is primarily the revelation of God in order that His people might know Him, love him and be transformed into His image "from one degree of glory to another." (2 Cor 3:18)

So, let us read the word. Let us ask questions and engage the text prayerfully and with humility. "For it is no empty word for you, but your very life..."