Build, Pray, Love, Look

I’m currently reading one of a number of “never before published” books based on the writing of A. W. Tozer.  This one is titled The Dangers of a Shallow Faith: Awakening from Spiritual Lethargy, released this year by Regal (Gospel Light). In Chapter 3, he speaks about having a wrong concept about God himself.

If you do not have a right concept of God, of yourself and of sin, you will have a twisted and imperfect concept of Christ. It is my honest and charitable conviction that the Christ of the average religionist today is not the Christ of the Bible. It is a distorted image — a manufactured, painted on canvas, drawn from cheap theology Christ of the liberal, and the soft and timid person. This Christ has nothing of the iron and fury and anger, as well as the love and grace and mercy that He had, who walked in Galilee.

If I have a low concept of God, I will have a low concept of myself, and if I have a low conception of myself, I will have a dangerous concept of sin. If I have a dangerous concept of sin, I will have a degraded concept of Christ. Here is the way it works: God is reduced; man is degraded; sin is underestimated; and Christ is disparaged.

Does this mean we must be tolerant? Actually, men are tolerant only with the important things. What would happen to a tolerant scientist or a tolerant navigator? The liberal religionist simply admits he does not consider spiritual things as vital.

No wonder Jude said the terrible things he said in his epistle to the Church. I recommend you read the book of Jude…

…We are not called to always show a smile. Sometimes we are called to frown and rebuke with all long-suffering and doctrine. We must contend for but not be contentious. We must preserve truth but injure no man. We must destroy error without harming people…

A Call to Remain Faithful

^{(NLT) Jude 1:17} But you, my dear friends, must remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ said. ¹⁸ They told you that in the last times there would be scoffers whose purpose in life is to satisfy their ungodly desires. ¹⁹ These people are the ones who are creating divisions among you. They follow their natural instincts because they do not have God’s Spirit in them.

²⁰ But you, dear friends, must build each other up in your most holy faith, pray in the power of the Holy Spirit, ²¹ and await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will bring you eternal life. In this way, you will keep yourselves safe in God’s love.

²² And you must show mercy to those whose faith is wavering. ²³ Rescue others by snatching them from the flames of judgment. Show mercy to still others, but do so with great caution, hating the sins that contaminate their lives.

…Now He’s come to His own — true believers in God and in Christ. And then He gives them four things to do:

1. Build up — “building up yourselves on your most holy faith…” (v. 20) Do you have a Bible, and do you study it? Have you read a book of the Bible through recently? Have you done any memorization of Scripture? Have you sought to know God or are you looking to the secular media for your religion? Build up yourselves on your most holy faith.
2. Pray — “praying in the Holy Ghost” (v. 20) I do not hesitate to say that most praying is not in the Holy Spirit. The reason is that we do not have the Holy Spirit in us. No man can pray in the Spirit except his heart is a habitation for the Spirit. It is only as the Holy Spirit has unlimited sway within you that you are able to pray in the Spirit. Five minutes of prayer in the Holy Spirit will be worth more than one year of hit-and-miss praying if it is not in the Holy Spirit.
3. Love — “keep yourselves in the love of God…” (v. 21) Be true to the faith, but be charitable to those who are in error. Never feel contempt for anybody. No Christian has any right to feel contempt, for it is an emotion that can only come out of pride. Let us never allow contempt to rule us; let us be charitable and loving toward all while we keep ourselves in the love of God.
4. Look — “looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life” (v. 21) Let us look for Jesus Christ’s coming — for the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ at His coming. Isn’t it wonderful that His mercy will show forth at His coming? His mercy will show itself then, as it did on the cross; as it does in receiving sinners; as it does in patiently looking after us. And it will show itself at the coming of Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
   

~A. W. Tozer, The Dangers of a Shallow Faith pp. 44-46

(scripture text added)

Madame Guyon Quotations

First, the usual stop at Wikipedia (two separate links as noted):

Jeanne-Marie Bouvier de la Motte-Guyon (commonly known as Madame Guyon) (13 April 1648 – 9 June 1717) was a French mystic and one of the key advocates of Quietism. Quietism was considered heretical by the Roman Catholic Church, and she was imprisoned from 1695 to 1703 after publishing a book on the topic, A Short and Easy Method of Prayer.

Quietism is a Christian philosophy that swept through France, Italy and Spain during the 17th century, but it had much earlier origins. The mystics known as Quietists insist, with more or less emphasis, on intellectual stillness and interior passivity as essential conditions of perfection.

Guyon believed that one should pray all the time, and that in whatever one does, one should be spending time with God. “Prayer is the key of perfection and of sovereign happiness; it is the efficacious means of getting rid of all vices and of acquiring all virtues; for the way to become perfect is to live in the presence of God. He tells us this Himself: “walk before me, and be thou perfect” Genesis 17:1. Prayer alone can bring you into His presence, and keep you there continually.”^[1]

As she wrote in one of her poems: “There was a period when I chose, A time and place for prayer … But now I seek that constant prayer, In inward stillness known …”

Here are a few of her writings:

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The soul seeks God by faith, not by the reasonings of the mind and labored efforts, but by the drawings of love; to which inclinations God responds, and instructs the soul, which co-operates actively. God then puts the soul in a passive state where He accomplishes all, causing great progress, first by way of enjoyment, then by privation, and finally by pure love.

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There are three kinds of silence. Silence from words is good, because inordinate speaking tends to evil. Silence, or rest from desires and passions is still better, because it promotes quietness of spirit. But the best of all is silence from unnecessary and wandering thoughts, because that is essential to internal recollection, and because it lays a foundation for a proper reputation and for silence in other respects.

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We must forget ourselves and all self-interest, and listen, and be attentive to God.

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If knowing answers to life’s questions is absolutely necessary to you, then forget the journey. You will never make it, for this is a journey of unknowables, – of unanswered questions, enigmas, incomprehensibles, and most of all, things unfair.

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Regarding your spiritual life, be open, simple and like a child. In the depths of your spirit be like a drop of water lost in an ocean, and be no longer conscious of yourself. In this enlarged condition see and enjoy everything from within God. Within yourself there is only darkness, but in God there is only light. Let God be everything to you…. God’s love is like a weight within us, causing us to sink deeper and deeper into God.

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Holy Solitude

Kind solitude
Away from the world and the noise
Divine quietude,
Silence, like the night!

Happy the one that possesses you,
And tastes your sweetness,
The cure of all ills!
Unfortunate are those who do not love you!

It is blessedness,
To be heart to heart with God:
There no disquietude
Troubles the peace of this place.

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Rest assured, it is the same God who causes the scarcity and the abundance, the rain and the fair weather. The high and low states, the peaceful and the state of warfare, are each good in their season. These vicissitudes form and mature the interior, as the different seasons compose the year…God loves you; let this thought equalise all states. Let him do with us as with the waves of the sea, and whether he takes us to his bosom, or casts us upon the sand, that is, leaves us to our own barrenness, all is well.

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O my Divine Love, the desire I had to please You,

the tears I shed,

my great labours and the little fruit I reaped from it,

moved Your compassion.

You gave me in a moment,

through Your grace and Your goodness alone,

what I had been unable to give myself through all my efforts

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I implore you not to give in to despair. It is a dangerous tempatation, because our Adversary has refined it to the point that it is quite subtle. Hopelessness constricts and withers the heart, rendering it unable to sense God’s blessings and grace. It also causes you to exaggerate the adversities of life and makes your burdens seem too heavy for you to bear. Yet God’s plans for you, and His ways of bringing about His plans, are infinitely wise.

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Sources: GiGA Quotes, Quotation Park, Wikiquote, Daily Christian Quotes, Madame Guyon Blogspot, Relevant Blog Blogspot, Rachel Jane Rickert

It Takes Courage

Jim Foreman is the pastor of Sedley Baptist Church in Sedley, Virginia. This appeared on his personal blog, On the Brink of Something Large, and on his church blog, Pastor’s Study.

IT TAKES COURAGE – Author Unknown

It takes strength to be firm,
It takes courage to be gentle.

It takes strength to conquer,
It takes courage to surrender.

It takes strength to be certain,
It takes courage to have doubt.

It takes strength to fit in,
It takes courage to stand out.

It takes strength to feel a friend’s pain,
It takes courage to feel your own pain.

It takes strength to endure abuse,
It takes courage to stop it.

It takes strength to stand alone,
It takes courage to lean on another.

It takes strength to love,
It takes courage to be loved.

It takes strength to survive,
It takes courage to live.

I like this poem but I love what these have to say about courage:

Deuteronomy 31:6
Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the LORD your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you. – (NKJV)

Joshua 1:3-9
I promise you what I promised Moses: ‘Wherever you set foot, you will be on land I have given you … No one will be able to stand against you as long as you live. For I will be with you as I was with Moses. I will not fail you or abandon you.

Be strong and courageous, for you are the one who will lead these people to possess all the land I swore to their ancestors I would give them. Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the instructions Moses gave you. Do not deviate from them, turning either to the right or to the left. Then you will be successful in everything you do. Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do. This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. (NLT)

1 Chronicles 28:20
David also said to Solomon his son, “Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you until all the work for the service of the temple of the LORD is finished. (NIV)

1 Corinthians 16:13
Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong. (NIV)

Recollections

A couple of short re-posts today from one year ago here at Christianity 201 for all our new readers. If that’s not you, check out what follows after the two short articles.

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Promise Box Theology

I’ve decided on some benchmarks that I think moving into deeper Christian living should contain:

• getting away from prayer lists and focusing in on intensive prayer for God to something specific for an individual in a unique situation;
• getting away from “promise box theology” and reading entire chapters or even 3-4 chapters at a time;
• getting away from devotionals that begin with quick stories, and instead considering a topic or an idea and thinking about how that would play out in the life story of someone you know;
• being consciously aware of ways for improvement in terms of manifesting the fruit of the Spirit;
• being aware of things that are sin even though you didn’t consider them sin a few months earlier;
• becoming genuinely excited about evangelism both in terms of personal involvement and hearing stories where “it’s working;”
• finding yourself more deeply part of the picture as you read a New Testament narrative;
• understanding your own brokenness and the brokenness of others, and how it draws us closer to God;
  
• increasingly becoming an agent of grace and being drawn to others who are
  
• feeling more and more “at home” with both personal Bible study and spending time in God’s house.

I’ve left many other possibilities out, I’m sure. Feel free to add to this list in the comments.

~Paul Wilkinson

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Before You Pray “Our Father…”

This was part of our [recent] worship time… My wife adapted this from something one of our team members sent.

If my religion and my life have no room for others and their joys and needs,

…I cannot pray “Our”

If I do not live as a child, beloved and learning,

…I cannot pray “Father”

If all my interests and pursuits are earthly things

…I cannot pray “Who art in Heaven”

If I — called to be holy as he is — am not holy

…I cannot pray “Hallowed be thy name”

If he is not King in my own life,

…I cannot pray “Thy Kingdom come”

If I will not listen for and obey his voice on Earth

…I cannot pray “On Earth as it is in Heaven”

If I will not make an honest effort, or if I ignore the immediate needs of others

…I cannot pray “Give us this day our daily bread”

If I choose to remain in a situation where I am likely to be tempted

…I cannot pray “Lead us not into temptation”

If I am not prepared to fight the spiritual fight with faith and truth and love

…I cannot pray “Deliver us from evil”

If I insist on my own rights and my own way

…I cannot pray “Thine is the Kingdom”

If I live according to what my neighbors and friends may say or do

…I cannot pray “Thine is the Power”

If I’m controlled by anxiety about every day’s problems and promises

…I cannot pray “Forever”

If I cannot honestly say ‘Cost what it may, this is my prayer’

…I cannot pray “Amen”

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The last part of today’s multi-part post is a listing of web addresses for sermon video from some of the largest churches in the U.S. Many of you read both blogs, but I wanted to make sure nobody missed this. These are all fairly large churches, because they have the budget to do the video thing with technical excellence. But little churches can have great sermons online, too. Also, remember this was written for the broader audience at the other blog. Those of you who dig deeper have favorites that aren’t listed here.  Feel free to use the comments section to recommend things to others.

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Andy Stanley

Considered one of the finest communicators in North America. Live feed from North Point Community Church in north Atlanta on Sunday at 9 and 11 AM, 2 PM, 6PM and 10PM includes worship and baptisms.

http://northpointonline.tv/ — streaming live at times as noted above
http://www.northpoint.org/messages — video server of recent series

Steven Furtick

Another young communicator whose church has really taken off in Charlotte, NC in the past five years. The reference to Sundays at 12:00, 4:00 and 8:00, refers to streaming Sunday services, because Elevation Network goes 24/7. Author of Sun Stand Still.

http://elevationnetwork.com/

Bruxy Cavey

Our first of three Canadian entries. The long-haired rock ‘n roll preacher of The Meeting House in Oakville has messages going back to 2000, though some are just audio. The media player is a small on-screen window and takes longer to buffer. Great teaching, though; you want to start at part one of a series that interests you, such as the recent 5-part series Jesus by John. Fastest growing church movement in all of Canada.

http://www.themeetinghouse.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=121&Itemid=3

Charles Price

Our second Canadian entry. The British-born pastor of The Peoples Church in Toronto is an excellent Bible teacher, as seen on CTV on Sunday mornings. Deep thoughts, straight-forward teaching, but not afraid to be controversial.

http://www.livingtruthmedia.com/index2.php — most recent sermon; previous messages available on audio

Jon Thompson

Now we’re three-for-three for Canada. The very focused pastor of C4, a large church in Toronto’s eastern suburbs; site uses video player.

http://www.c4church.com/media.php?pageID=5

Kyle Idleman

The host of the H20 video series and author of Not a Fan. Teaching pastor at Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, Kentucky. Very straight-forward, easy to follow teaching. Video server available anytime.

http://www.southeastchristian.org/default.aspx?page=4140 (Indiana campus, different series)
http://www.southeastchristian.org/default.aspx?page=3476&project=123478&program=553660 (main campus)

Bill Hybels

The guy whose ‘seeker sensitive’ and contemporary services changed the way we approach church today. Bill doesn’t preach every Sunday anymore, but all their teachers are really high standard. This is a video server, with lots to choose from. “Weekend Services” are more like what Andy does, “Midweek Services” go a bit deeper.

http://media.willowcreek.org/

Greg Boyd

A Princeton theological education combined with large doses of Pentecostalism produced an always interesting and sometimes controversial pastor at Woodland Hills Church in Minneapolis.

http://whchurch.org/sermons-media/sermon-series

Pete Wilson

The super-casual Nashville pastor preaches several times at his area campuses but then on Sunday night does this thing in a downtown Music City club called Rocketown where he repeats his sermon from the morning, but then takes live chat questions after. Author of Plan B, and blogger at Without Wax.

http://campus.316networks.com/crosspoint.tv — Sunday night at 6:00 Central, 7:00 Eastern; but often starts a bit late
http://www.crosspoint.tv/nashville/media/ — past sermon series; video player

Craig Groeshel

Pastor of the church in the U.S. with the most satellite locations, in fact the name of the church is the name of the website, lifechurch.tv — the part of the site linked below uses a video server so you can start anytime. This links to the current series and then you select week one to start.

http://www.lifechurch.tv/watch/samson-2012/1

Rick Warren

Pastor of the 2nd largest church in the U.S. and author of Purpose Driven Church, this church streams its teaching at least ten times every single day!

http://saddleback.com/internetcampus/aboutus/servicetimes/index.html — schedule, then you go to the media player.

http://saddleback.com/mediacenter/home/default.aspx – media player

David Platt

Pastor of the Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, Alabama. Author of Radical and originator of Secret Church (which sadly, you can’t see online, but you possibly wouldn’t want to, because each sermon is six hours long.) Video server available anytime. Very laid-back, soft-spoken teaching from a Reformed perspective.

http://www.brookhills.org/media

Belief is Just the Beginning

I remember years ago there was pop music star who was rumored to have become a Christian.  Later on however, the report was nuanced a little finer with the news that he simply undergone “an intellectual conversion.”  I guess he had worked out all the claims of Jesus Christ and accepted those as being true, but wasn’t about to let it change his life.  Or something. Perhaps he was simply astute enough to realize that true Christ-following was going to cost something; or that one really has to be all-in to accept Christ’s invitation.

Jamie Arpin-Ricci gets at this in an excellent blog post at Cost of Community titled Convinced is not Converted.  As we still are in the early days of a new year, we need to make sure that all those things we give intellectual assent to are also finding application in our lives. 

I have an odd intolerance for certain foods.  I’m not allergic to them, but I’ve also discovered that it more than mere pickiness.  Unfortunately, the foods I am intolerant of are the ones that I most need to be eating for health and nutrition.  While I am working on overcoming this problem, it never fails that someone learns of my eating habits and begins to lovingly lecture me on the necessity of eat better than I do.  I nod patiently as I hear for the umpteenth time the basics of nutrition we all learned in grade school.  Recently, when someone began this lecture, I quickly interrupted them and said: “Oh, I agree!  I’m convinced, just not converted“.

This off-hand turn of phrase has stuck with me ever since.  Let’s briefly look at the terms in question here:

Convinced: To be moved to believe, through logic, argument or evidence, that something is true.

Many Christians, especially in West, have come to faith through being convinced — that is, we have been moved to believe differently about something through a compelling argument, presentation or even relationship.  This ushers us into active relationship with God as we make a choice to identify as His follower.  Growing up, this is what I was taught about what it meant to be converted.  While there is overlap, I think that we have confused being convinced with being converted.

Converted: To be changed from one form, substance or state, to another.

Without question being convinced is a significant part of the conversion experience (at least for many).  That being said, we can see by the definition that conversion is far more than simply being convinced- it encompasses and surpassed it.  To be converted is to be transformed- to be changed from one thing to another.  It is holistic and all-encompassing.  The emphasis of rationalism in Western Christianity, while bringing us many gifts, has all too often led us understand belief as primarily (and at times exclusively) as cognitive.  Yes, it demanded change in us, but it was as though we believe that the transformation would occur because of the changed understanding.  In other words, the primary means of conversion was the change of ideas.

True conversion does not occur because of us.  Yes, we participate through our will.  Yes, our minds- that is our understanding and ideas- should be changed as well.  But the source of that change is not the result of anything in us, but instead it is the work of the Holy Spirit.  Further, if Jesus is to be believed, then how we live out this transformation is more important than what we think about it.  The changed mind is a product of the transformed heart, made possible through Christ.  The fruit of that transformation must be made manifest in how we live.

Don’t settle for a changed mind.  Jesus is not someone who had some ideas He wanted us to be convinced by.  Rather, He invited (and invites) us into Himself to experience true and whole transformation to become, together, His Body for His kingdom and His glory.

(To explore what I believe it means to live the fullness of what Christ calls us into, see “The Cost of Community: Jesus, St. Francis & Life in the Kingdom”)

~Jamie Arpin-Ricci

Endorsing the Message

^{Gal 6:11(NIV)}  See what large letters I use as I write to you with my own hand!

Have you ever wondered what it would be like if the Apostle Paul lived in a world that had our technology?  Would he have a blog?  It would definitely get his letters delivered faster to the various spiritual communities to whom he wrote.

Or what if Paul were spreading his message through political advertising.  Not all candidates in North America elections run to win, many are just trying to get a position in front of the greatest number of people, and an election campaign is a good way to do that.  I can just hear the voice-over announcer finishing his script and then we hear words so common in the U.S. and Canada,

“My name is Paul and I approve this message.”

Paul’s “large letters” type of comment at the end of Galatians is repeated three other times in the New Testament…

Colossians 4:18
I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand. Remember my chains. Grace be with you.

2 Thessalonians 3:17
I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand, which is the distinguishing mark in all my letters. This is how I write.

Philemon 1:19
I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand. I will pay it back—not to mention that you owe me your very self.

…but it’s the “large letters” comment that lend to the belief that Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” was his poor eyesight.  Were his eyes always bad, or was this a leftover consequence of that moment on the Damascus Road?

However our focus today is the idea of Paul endorsing the message content that precedes his personal sign-off. 

If Paul lived in our day and had a blog he wouldn’t simply be re-blogging other people’s content or having the scribe he employed finish off the epistle with ideas that were not Paul’s.  No, his signature is not just a sign-off (in the sense of a signature) but he is personally signing off (in the sense of taking responsibility) on everything you’ve read up to that point. 

Though, with the technological metaphor still in view, Paul would definitely copy-and-paste parts of previous letters into future ones: We see many parallels in the epistles; two examples are his advice to husbands, wives, children and slaves; or his direction to put off the clothing of sin and clothe yourself (literally ‘put on’) in holiness and righteousness.

But wait a minute!  I can hear some of you saying, “Isn’t this very blog one which appropriates the content from other writers?”  Yes, that is its very point. But while I probably don’t agree with every doctrinal/theological thing in every site to which this blog links, I do read and respect the quality of Biblical or doctrinal examination that takes place in the posts that are used here.

The problem, moving forward into 2012, is the proliferation of blogs that copy-and-paste material from other blogs because they feel it is expected of them to do so, or that they earn higher standing or greater acceptance with their blogging peers because of their perceived association with bloggers, writers or pastors of greater renown.  They want to identify with some ideal they have of the Christian blogging community. Perhaps they get it from pastors who feel they add weight to their sermons by quoting from popular Christian sources.

And that’s just wrong. 

And so as I myself move forward into 2012, I want to be more forthright in terms of what I personally believe, while at the same time maintaining a forum here that is a melting pot for divergent doctrinal and theological positions. I want this to be a space that defies categories and classifications. I want this to be a taste of something deeper for those who have never experienced greater depth.

Not every day will hit the mark. And the blog post you feel is weak may be someone else’s personal favorite.  But I will stand behind everything that appears here as being worthy of consideration. I’ll take responsibility for it, signing off on it just as the Apostle Paul put his stamp of approval on the communications that bore his name.

A Third Kind of Love

In three different contexts this week, I was confronted by the writings of A. W. Tozer.  One of these, earlier this week, concerned a piece he wrote that was titled, “Three Kinds of Love.”  At first, I thought this would be an explanation of the difference between phileos, eros and agape love.  But it turned out to be something quite different; he writes about the love we have for God. 

Rather than just run the excerpt today, I’m going to try to paraphrase what Tozer wrote…

He begins by saying that traditionally, religious writers talk about two kinds of love for God:

• The love that springs out of gratitude for God:  “I love the Lord because he has heard my voice and my supplications,” and “We love him, because he first loved us.”  Ps. 116:1 and I John 4:19, italics added.  This is a very basic, elementary kind of love that actually has selfish overtones: It’s a love that is driven by benefits we receive
• The love of the admiration of excellence: A higher level of love where the selfishness factor is reduced, and is replaced by a consideration of God’s glorious being; his power, knowledge and might become the driving factor; we love him because of all that he is.

But then, Tozer takes it to another level and introduces the analogy of a mother of what we would today call a special-needs child, in this case one who is considerably developmentally challenged.  (This was a rather progressive example in Tozer’s day; and I use it now with apology to those of you whose families are touched by the reality of a special needs child or children.)

He says that, “The child excites no gratitude in her breast, for all the benefits have flowed the other way; the helpless infant has been nothing but a burden from the time it was born.”  This is a child that won’t be helping set the table, won’t be taking out the garbage.

At the second level, “Neither can the mother find in such a child any excellence to admire, for there is none.”  This is a child whose artwork won’t be adorning the refrigerator door; whose report cards won’t be shown off to the aunts and uncles.

Yet she loves the child with a great intensity.  Her life and the life of her child are more intertwined than they were before she gave birth.  They are bonded emotionally.  It is what he calls “the union achieved by hearts; more beautiful than anything that can be experienced by flesh and blood.”

There is no element of because.

It’s not, “I love because;” because there is no because. It’s simply, “I love.”

This is the third kind of love, what he calls a supranatural love.

…

For the last 48 hours, I’ve been trying to process how the story of the mother relates to our love for God.  Tozer notes that we all have things to be thankful to God for; just as we all have moments where we are overcome by the excellence of magnificence, the great majesty of God. 

But I’m trying to find in my own heart the parallel to the third type of love, something that is not the product of logic, or enumeration of God’s attributes, or any other because.   

Tozer says,

If this all seems to mystical, too unreal, we offer no proof and make no effort to defend our position. This can be understood only by those who have experienced it.  In the rank and file of today’s Christians it will be rejected or shrugged off as preposterous.  So be it.  Some however, will read and will recognize an accurate description of the sunlit peaks where they have been for at least brief periods and to which they long often to return.

And such will need no proof.

today’s thoughts based on Three Degrees of Love as it appears on pp. 147-150 of the 1955 Christian Publications edition of The Root of Righteousness.

Oswald Chambers Quotations

Many know the works of Oswald Chambers, but not many know that he only actually wrote one book!  From Wikipedia: 

While there are more than 30 books that bear his name, he only penned one book, Baffled to Fight Better. His wife, Biddy, was a stenographer and could take dictation at a rate of 250 words per minute. During his time teaching at the Bible College and at various sites in Egypt, Biddy kept verbatim records of his lessons. She spent the remaining 30 years of her life compiling her records into the bulk of his published works.

From the writer of My Utmost for His Highest…

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The teaching of the Sermon on the Mount is not–Do your duty, but–Do what is not your duty. It is not your duty to go the second mile, to turn the other cheek, but Jesus says if we are His disciples we shall always do these things. There will be no spirit of–”Oh, well, I cannot do any more, I have been so misrepresented and misunderstood”. . . Never look for right in the other man, but never cease to be right yourself. We are always looking for justice; the teaching of the Sermon on the Mount is–Never look for justice, but never cease to live it.

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We tend to use prayer as a last resort, but God wants it to be our first line of defense. We pray when there’s nothing else we can do, but God wants us to pray before we do anything at all.

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Never tolerate through sympathy with yourself or with others any practice that is not in keeping with a holy God. Holiness means unsullied walking with the feet, unsullied talking with the tongue, unsullied thinking with the mind – every detail of the life under the scrutiny of God. Holiness is not only what God gives me, but what I manifest that God has given me.

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Doubt is not always a sign that a man is wrong; it may be a sign that he is thinking.

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It is impossible to live the life of a disciple without definite times of secret prayer. You will find that the place to enter in is in your business, as you walk along the streets, in the ordinary ways of life, when no one dreams you are praying, and the reward comes openly, a revival here, a blessing there.

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If in preaching the gospel you substitute your knowledge of the way of salvation for confidence in the power of the gospel, you hinder people from getting to reality.

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We say, sorrow, disaster, calamity. God says, chastening and it sounds sweet to him though it is a discord to our ears. Don’t faint when you are rebuked, and don’t despise the chastening of the Lord. ”In your patience possess your souls.”

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It is not so true that “prayer changes things” as that prayer changes me and I change things. God has so constituted things that prayer on the basis of Redemption alters the way in which a man looks at things. Prayer is not a question of altering things externally, but of working wonders in a man’s disposition.

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We have to pray with our eyes on God, not on the difficulties.

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Patience is more than endurance. A saint’s life is in the hands of God like a bow and arrow in the hands of an archer. God is aiming at something the saint cannot see, and He stretches and strains, and every now and again the saint says–’I cannot stand anymore.’ God does not heed, He goes on stretching till His purpose is in sight, then He lets fly. Trust yourself in God’s hands. Maintain your relationship to Jesus Christ by the patience of faith. ‘Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him.

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Get into the habit of dealing with God about everything. Unless in the first waking moment of the day you learn to fling the door wide back and let God in, you will work on a wrong level all day; but swing the door wide open and pray to your Father in secret, and every public thing will be stamped with the presence of God.

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The author who benefits you most is not the one who tells you something you did not know before, but the one who gives expression to the truth that has been dumbly struggling in you for utterance.

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Character in a saint means the disposition of Jesus Christ persistently manifested.

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Sources:  Good Reads, Think Exist, Famous Quotes & Authors, Daily Christian Quote, Brainy Quote

Satisfying The Craving

Today’s item is jointly posted at Thinking Out Loud and Christianity 201

Several years ago, I introduced the modern worship song “Breathe” by the group Passion with something like this:

“Some of you have had to have a medical procedure where you’re told that 24 hours beforehand you’re to stop eating solid food. You may be a light eater generally, but once you’re told that can’t eat something, you find yourself really craving it.

“Then, they might tell you that for the last three hours prior to the procedure, you’re not to drink anything, either. You’ve probably gone longer without quenching your thirst, but once you reach that no drink stage, you suddenly find yourself aching for something in the beverage category.

“But the real kicker is when, five minutes before the procedure, they ask you stop breathing…”

I reminded our church that while the first two situations — being denied food and drink — are achievable in the short term, we all need to breathe. (Actually, Need to Breathe would be a great name for a band.) We simply can’t live without oxygen, and so also we should be hungry and thirsty for God.

This is the air I breathe
This is the air I breathe
Your holy presence
Living in me

This is my daily bread
This is my daily bread
Your very word
Spoken to me

And I, I’m desperate for You
And I, I’m lost without You

I relate this because this week we were at a Christian camp, and if you’ve ever been on the grounds of a Christian retreat or conference facility, you know there’s an unwritten rule that if you’re a guy, unless you’re swimming, skiing, windsurfing or water skiing, you’re supposed to keep your shirt on.

But Ontario experienced record high temperatures on the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, with temperatures hovering close to 30 ° Celsius all three days, which for our metricly challenged American friends is around 78 ° Fahrenheit. Beautiful sunshine. No black flies, mosquitoes or bees. No humidity. Reduced risk of sunburn in October.

I was craving maximum sunlight. So I climbed up a hill to what the kids call “the mountain” and doffed my t-shirt and stretched out on a rock in nothing but shorts and let the sunshine vitamin soak in; in the process becoming a human solar panel, absorbing the rays at just the right angle.

And I started thinking about the warmth of God’s Spirit that we’re supposed to experience as part of what the Bible considers normal Christian living.

the warmth = the comfort of God’s spirit
the sunshine = the spiritual ‘nutritional benefit’ of God’s presence

In a previous century, a songwriter wrote about “Heavenly sunshine, flooding my soul with glory divine.” We express things differently today, but the principle is the same; food, drink, oxygen, the light of the sun; all these analogies in nature exist to remind us of our need for God. A craving that is intended to be natural.

Just like a deer that craves
streams of water,
my whole being craves you, God.

^{Common English Bible Psalm 42:1}

But none of this would have struck me, and my Vitamin D fix would not have been fulfilling had I not first climbed the mountain… but we wouldn’t want to add another metaphor, would we?

In our culture, we really don’t know what it is to be physically hungry or thirsty. There’s always a snack bar just around the corner. Do we know what it means to truly be spiritually hungry? Have you ever experienced true spiritual hunger or thirst?

Watch ‘Breathe’ previously posted here with some additional thoughts

Going Deep into Depth

There are presently two strains of evangelical preaching emerging.  Some preachers prefer the “one thing” approach; providing a rhythm and cadence to their preaching which leaves their listeners remembering a clear message and a clear application.  The classic, “It’s Friday Night… But Sunday’s A-Comin’” is a message you’ve probably heard, or at least heard alluded to, that is based on this type of teaching.

The other style is the kind of message that gives you much information about context and history as well as cross-references to at least a dozen related scriptures.  There are multiple points and various information sidebars.

The problem is that sometimes the people in the second camp, feel that the people in the first camp are not giving their people enough “depth.”  This came up in the Elephant Room Conference where Steven Furtick used hyperbole to indicate the degree to which he did not want to aim for going deep on Sunday mornings.*  

And it comes up here in this exchange between John Piper and Rick Warren.   You might prefer to go direct to the YouTube page and click on some of the other subjects covered in this series.  I’m sorta hoping you will!  Some of the clips will also run in playlist form, allowing you to just sit back as the videos play in succession.

“Simple does not mean shallow.”  “Simple does not mean simplistic.”  What is deep?  Warren says he taught series on sanctification and incarnation without actually using the words; is that possible?

*For your interest, here is the discussion between Steven Furtick and Matt Chandler, moderated by James MacDonald.  It gives you some insight into how pastors wrestle with the “deep” question.

Random Notes…

I’m really late posting tonight.  Rather than a specific reading or theme, I thought I’d share some of my own nightly devotional process.

When my kids were young, we started something called “Hangin’ Out Time,” which included reading from The Beginner Bible, and other books of that ilk, and then moving on to Hurlburt’s Story of the Bible (the original, in-depth edition, not the simplified one you can purchase today.)

It was doing Hurlburt that I realized the potential for my own spiritual growth to come out of these times, and now that the “kids” are 17 and 19, we still do “Hangin’ Out Time,” though it’s more like a 20-30 minute theology study time.

We’ve read — out loud — every chapter of the New Testament in the Life Application Bible including reading — out loud — all of the study notes.   Plus a number — more than half — of the Old Testament books including Leviticus.

We’ve done three books by Stuart Briscoe, are in the middle of an Andrew Murray, and alternate with occasional contemporary authors such as both books by Francis Chan.

But until tonight, I had never read a single word by Warren Wiersbe.  I picked up a copy of Be Hopeful — our house is full of books in every room — which is Wiersbe’s commentary on I Peter.   I had been told that some people regarded him as somewhat simplistic, but I didn’t get that from his first chapter, which talked about the writer, the recipients and the message of the book.

Wiersbe apparently doesn’t believe that “apostles” exist today.  I’m not sure I agree with that.  I believe that in some form, the fivefold gifts commonly called APTEP — apostle, pastor, teacher, evangelist, prophet — are still resident with members of your congregation and my congregation.  Michael Frost boldly suggests that every one of us have degrees of that gifting, but that God has placed at least “one of each” in any body.

But it’s important that I don’t allow my difference with Wiersbe on this — and I’m sure there would be other things — to block me from receiving the other wonderful things he says in this opening chapter.   His foundational chapter on I Peter gives the reader an appetite for the rest of the epistle.

Warren Wiersbe has a number of commentaries that all begin with the word “be.”  The list below begins with the  list from Wikipedia, the ones I’ve added at the end (without dates) are just a few I collected tonight. I offer it to you as good start if you’ve never read or purchased a commentary on an individual book of the Bible.   You’ll see why these are called “The Bees” by some people:

• Be real (1972) – I John
• Be successful – 1 Samuel (1973)
• Be joyful; a practical study of Philippians (1974)
• Be free : an expository study of Galatians (1975)
• Be rich : are you losing the things that money can’t buy? : An expository study of the Epistle to the Ephesians (1976)
• Be right : an expository study of Romans (1977)
• Be mature : an expository study of the Epistle of James (1978)
• Be ready (1979) I & II Thessalonians
• Be complete (1981)  Colossians
• Be faithful : it’s always too soon to quit! : an expository study of the Pastoral Epistles, 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus (1981)
• Be Challenged (1982)
• Be Confident : an expository study of the Epistle to the Hebrews (1982)
• Be Hopeful (1982) I Peter
• Be Wise : an expository study of 1 Corinthians (1983)
• Be Alert (1984) II Peter, II & III John, Jude
• Be victorious (1985) Revelation
• Be Compassionate (1988) Luke 1-13
• Be Patient : an Old Testament Study – Job (1991)
• Be Comforted : Feeling Secure in the Arms of God : an Old Testament study Isaiah (1992)
• Be Obedient: Abraham (1992)
• Be Distinct - II Kings, II Chronicles
• Be Holy   – Leviticus
• Be Available - Judges
• Be Restored - II Samuel, I Chronicles
• Be Committed - Ruth and Esther
• Be Alive - John 1-13
• Be Transformed  – John 13-21
• Be Encouraged - II Corinthians
• Be Reverent -  Ezekiel
• Be Counted - Numbers
• Be Heroic – minor prophets
• Be Delivered - Exodus
• Be Responsible – I Kings
• Be Equipped – Deuteronomy

That is quite a lifetime of work, isn’t it?

There are also other series, such as The Life Application Commentaries, and The Bible Speaks Today series, which don’t require you to know Greek or Hebrew; other series such as The Tyndale Commentaries contain some “textual criticism,” which gets into translation issues.

…Christianity 201′s motto is “Digging a little Deeper.”  I hope tonight’s “random notes” have encouraged you to do just that.

On Christian Growth, Devotion, and the Deeper Life

The title of this piece sounds like it would be written by one of the giants of the faith, but I’m afraid you’re just stuck with me today.

Today marks the end of twelve months of Christianity 201.  The tag line for this blog, “Digging a Little Deeper,” doesn’t actually show on the screen for some reason.  (I’ve tried to fix it twice.)  There are days when this has been more of a devotional reading blog, and days when I have tried to truly dig a little deeper into scriptures.

Each day has been an adventure.

I started this with the goal of posting my thoughts later in the day; usually around 6:00 PM, Eastern Standard Time.  I mention that only because most devotional bloggers put things up in the morning, which is considered the “more spiritual” time of day to do Bible study or meditation.  But there are always people browsing search engines later in the day — and also at WordPress — and I wanted to offer some tagged posts that might catch their attention when things are less busy in the Christian blogosphere.

I’ll admit some days the posts have been rather random.

The adventure has consisted in the discovery of the wealth of good reading online.  By using search terms like “holiness,” “discipleship,” or even words like “temptation;” I’ve discovered bloggers who have enriched my own spiritual growth.

Of course, in the discovery, I’ve also had to check their previous writings to make sure I wasn’t directing those I considered my readers to something that might be doctrinally questionable. It is a responsibility.

So the process can be exhausting.

I started Christianity 201 because my other blog, Thinking Out Loud, was achieving great success numerically, but often got bogged down in the news of the day.  Its top posts have concerned disgraced televangelists, controversial authors, Christian musicians, or the goings on in a big glass church on the west coast.  Informative and insightful, but probably more “wood, hay and stubble” in the greater scheme of things.

Christianity 201 was created to be more “gold, silver and precious stones.”  More timeless.  More lasting.  (A good place to pause and ask yourself, “Which type of material characterizes my own spiritual output?”)

Of course, people would rather read the funny stuff, or go searching for the interesting pictures.  So T. O. L. has days where it reaches 1,000 readers — not bad for a Christian blog from Canada — and my book trade blog reaches around 120 daily; while C201′s peak days are usually around 40.

That keeps me humble.

I need that.

The adventure has often been exhausting.   I’m not sure that I will try in the second year to force myself to have something fresh every single day.  But submissions and suggestions are always gratefully received.

So keep reading.

Keep digging a little deeper.

You’ll never exhaust the depth and riches of God’s Word.

~Paul Wilkinson.

Study

I always hated to study.  My study habits in high school weren’t great, despite some great academic coaching, and how I got through university is anyone’s guess.

So I have a natural aversion to the term “Bible study,” as it suggests someone staying up late in the dorm under a study lamp, cramming in order to pass some test; when instead, we should she shared times in God’s word as more of a feast, or a banquet.   I don’t want to communicate the idea that something that is designed to be joy-filled is actually ardous labor.

So the verse I learned as a kid,

Study to show thyself approved onto God…

Is fortunately translated differently in newer translations:

^{(NIV) II Tim 2: 15} Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.

^{(The Message) II Tim 2:15}Concentrate on doing your best for God, work you won’t be ashamed of, laying out the truth plain and simple.

^{(NASB) II Tim 2:15}Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.

^{(NLT) II Tim 2:15} Work hard so you can present yourself to God and receive his approval. Be a good worker, one who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly explains the word of truth.

Do your best… concentrate… be diligent… work hard.  No late nights with the study lamp burning! It’s not about cramming to pass a test, it’s about living a life!

Now having said all that, this does not diminish the responsibility of the Christ follower to, for lack of a better word, study the Bible.

I recently dialogued with a young woman who, after a year of Bible college was unfamiliar with a Bible concordance.  This is a basic reference tool that, while not necessary for admission to heaven, is one that should form part of your personal library at some point.  Of course, it’s functionality is also available online through sites such as Bible Gateway.

This morning a visiting pastor shared with me this quotation, “Evangelicals are people who know more than they do;” which he attributed to Canadian church leader Brian Stiller.  We don’t want to just fill up with head-knowledge, we need to find ways to put feet to our faith.  But the quotation also implies that historically, we have been people who knew their Bibles.   The term “Methodist” actually refers to a group of people who had a methodical way of studying the scriptures.   The Bereans are held up in Acts as an example of a group who studied the sacred texts with great diligence.

Wanna dig a little deeper?

One way to start is to carefully examine related books:

• Compare the ‘fatherly’ advice in Proverbs with the New Testament proverbs in the book of James…
• Study the book of Acts in such a way that you break out into Paul’s epistles to the different churches mentioned in the last two-thirds of Acts…
• Compare the end-time prophecies of Daniel and Revelation with the things Jesus said about the end times in Matthew…
• Study the passages in the gospels which are present with all four writers, and then take a contrasting look at the ones that are unique to particular books, especially the gospel of John…
• Using a concordance, and several different translations, do a word study on a particular theme or idea in scripture…
• Read books that deal with the “hard sayings” or “difficult passages” of scripture and try to figure out, based on all your other readings, where you stand on these sometimes-labeled “issues”…
• Here’s a fun one:  You have a blog consisting entirely of scripture passages copied and pasted from an online site.  (Not very challenging so far, right?)  Now, your job each day before you post something is to come up with the post tags, those little one-word things that would bring readers to your page.  How you would tag the various sections is indicative of what you’re seeing in each individual section…
• The above is very close to something called inductive Bible study.  For this you you make a hard copy (photocopy) of a Bible passage and using a technique practiced by Kay Arthur and others you underline, circle and highlight key words and phrases.  It slows you down and forces you to really consider what the passage is saying…
• Buy a commentary on a particular book of the Bible and get into depth with the Bible scholar(s) who wrote it.  If you don’t know Greek or Hebrew, get help picking out one that doesn’t go deep into what’s called ‘textual criticism’ and just get one that’s devotional or more user-friendly.  I can’t really list series here because some involve different writers who dig deeper in varying degrees.  So have someone qualified — ideally in a Christian bookstore, not online — help you make that choice.
• Do a study on the theology of the hymns.  Many contain multiple allusions to scripture, and some hymnbooks have a key verse on the page to help you get started.  Some of the modern choruses also contain a similar depth.

Hope these ideas propel you to greater love for God’s word.

Light The Fire Again

Although I’m now a confirmed fan of Brian Doerksen’s worship music, I didn’t immediately gravitate toward the song “Light The Fire Again” when it was first becoming popular.  Only a few days ago, as I was reading the text it is based on in Revelation 3 (the letter to the church at Laodicea) did I really come to appreciate the song.

To craft a song like this you would need several things to be happening

• At the most basic level, an awareness of the text
• Second, a familiarity and comfort with the text.  Many times we shy away from poetic images or prophetic images, or even the book of Revelation itself
• Finally, that familiarity with the text has to extend to an ability to restate the text in words that are immediate and relevant to our modern church experience.

Here’s the text itself:

^{(NIV) Rev 3:17} You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. ¹⁸ I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.

Here’s the video and some devotional thoughts on the song that appeared here just a month ago.

Let’s go a different direction with this today:  We’re not all songwriters, but here are some questions to ask ourselves…

• Are there texts we are unfamiliar with?  A recent study showed that in many churches, despite owning a vast collection of hymnbooks, there were really only 27 hymns that were common to all.  These are the “popular” hymns, the ones that survive even in churches that do modern worship.  It’s the same with Bible texts.  We have our favorites, our “go-to” places in the Bible that we perhaps read at the expense of other places God would have us discover.
• Are there texts we are uncomfortable with?  Parts of the Bible we avoid?  I’m not talking about obscure genealogies or Levitical laws, but other places that don’t resonate with us, so we tend to skip over them instead of prayerfully reading them, asking God to show us more of His nature and His character in the words He inspired.   They should become part of us.
• Could we re-state certain passages in ways that would connect with people living 21st Century lives?   Have we captured the “gist” of a passage enough to describe it, paraphrase it, or even put it into a song?  Or do we just skim the words and then close the book?

I’m not there yet.  I just think when we see writers who are able to take these passages and literally make them sing, we need to look into the depth of our own reading and processing of scripture, and if it’s somewhat lacking, take steps to move from a Christianity 101 approach up to the level of Christianity 201.

Discernment: Two Gifts in Scripture

It was the title of this post that caught my eye.  Dr. Greg Burts, at the blog Dying to Live, called this post Are There Too Many Milk Drinkers? But then he goes on with something that suggested to me that perhaps many Christians lack discernment because they’re thinking in terms of the supernatural gift that’s mentioned in a list of other supernatural gifts that perhaps they see as outside their spiritual reach.

Throughout 2,000 years of church history, there have always been those who distorted the Scriptures. Paul provides a “who’s-who” list of false teachers to avoid in 2 Timothy. With increased television and Internet exposure for anyone who wants to promote his ‘take’ on Christian teaching, has there ever been a greater need for Christians to exercise discernment?

We need people with discernment who can detect false teaching (Heb. 5:14), and spot impostors who try to mislead them and others (2 Tim. 3:13-14). You may be saying, “but I don’t have the gift of discernment.” But Paul is not talking about the “gift of discerning spirits” found in 1 Corinthians 14. He is talking about discernment as a quality each of us is expected to grow in (Phil. 1:9).

And you can sense Paul’s frustration as he writes: “You have been Christians a long time now, and you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things a beginner must learn about the Scriptures. You are like babies who drink only milk and cannot eat solid food. And a person who is living on milk isn’t very far along in the Christian life and doesn’t know much about doing what is right. Solid food is for those who are mature, who have trained themselves to recognize the difference between right and wrong [discern] and then do what is right” (Hebrews 5:12-14 NLT).

Dr. Greg Burts.