Weekly Plowing

"To even get near [humility], even for a moment, is like a drink of cold water to a man in a desert. Do not imagine that if you meet a really humble man he will be what most people call “humble” nowadays: he will not be a sort of greasy, smarmy person, who is always telling you that, of course, he is nobody. 

Probably all you will think about him is that he seemed a cheerful, intelligent chap who took a real interest in what you said to him. If you do dislike him it will be because you feel a little envious of anyone who seems to enjoy life so easily. He will not be thinking about humility: he will not be thinking about himself at all."

~C.S. Lewis~

Weekly Plowing

Dwell London - Steve Timmis from Ed Stetzer on Vimeo.

Weekly Plowing

Gospel Intentionality

By Steve Timmis

At The Crowded House, we are big on gospel intentionality. What I mean by this is probably best illustrated by our practice of using the word ‘gospel’ as a verb. We ‘gospel one another’ in the sense that we bring gospel truth to bear on the details of one another’s lives so that we might grow in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus. Because of the conviction that the gospel is about all that God has done in Christ, every aspect of our lives is not only informed or shaped by this news, but is actually defined by it!

Take the illustration of grumbling — a national pastime and personal hobby. What are we doing when we complain about our lives, jobs, relationships or even the weather?  In effect, we are criticising God and his management of the world or our lives — and of course this is a sin (Phil 2:14–15). Because it’s sin, it needs to be exposed as such. Letting my brothers or sisters continue in sin is neither loving nor compassionate. If we are committed to gospelling one another, we will have to confront this kind of sin. This is best done ‘on the hoof’, or ‘on the go’ — in the daily routines of life.

Picture this scenario: You’re sitting watching a DVD, and someone starts to complain about their job: “You’ll never guess what my boss asked me to do today! We were in a meeting and he asked me to go and make the coffee! What a cheek. Who does he think I am? You know, I have a real sense that I’m not appreciated in that place.”

There are a number of options open to us to respond:

1) “What a cheek! I hope you put him straight! Not being appreciated makes work difficult, doesn’t it?”

2)  “Oh no! That’s terrible. Let me turn the TV off; we’ll get a drink and sit down and talk it through and pray about it.”

3) “For goodness’ sake, give it a rest. Stop whingeing.”

4) “It’s at times like this that it’s good to remember Jesus, and what Paul says about him in Philippians 2. It’s humbling being sent out on an errand like that, but if the king of the universe could humble himself and become a servant, then I guess we have to be willing to. Dying on a cross — or making the coffee! Hmmm. Now shut up and let me watch the film! Mine’s white with no sugar, by the way!”

Let me nail my colours to the mast. I’m in favour of Option 4. It’s taking the issue seriously, but it’s not making a big thing out of it. It’s dealing with it as it crops up, stating it clearly and yet compassionately. Unfortunately, Option 2 is the response of choice for many Christians. What makes it worse is that they think Option 2 is what gospel intentionality demands! But in fact, Option 2 exemplifies what I would call intensity. This is the tendency to make a crisis out of every event and to turn every circumstantial molehill into a mountain of existential and spiritual angst.

I’ll write another post soon outlining some of the dangers of intensity, and how we can prevent our gospel intentionality being twisted in this direction.

Meanwhile, let’s get on with the business of gospel intentionality.  Let’s be loving enough to speak truth to one another where we are tempted to believe lies. Let’s allow the gospel to offer us sanity when we’re in danger of being seduced by the madness of our own self-importance.

(This is from the Crowded House blog which you can find here: http://www.thecrowdedhouse.org)

The Crown Of Life (James 1:12)

               In 1952, Florence May Chadwick was the first woman to attempt to swim the 26 miles between Catalina Island and the California coastline. As she began, she was flanked by small boats that watched for sharks and were prepared to help her if she got hurt or grew tired. After about 15 hours a thick fog set in. Florence began to doubt her ability, and she told her mother, who was in one of the boats, that she didn’t think she could make it. She swam for another hour before asking to be pulled out, unable to see the coastline due to the fog. As she sat in the boat, she found out she had stopped swimming just one mile away from her destination.
               I love how beautifully this story about Florence Chadwick illustrates how when we loose sight of our final destination we quickly loose motivation to get there and quite frankly often doubt the actual existence of that destination no matter how real or close it actually is to us. And as I reflect on my life as a Christian and the various trials that have come and gone in my life, I am quite astonished at how little faith I have today in the truth of gospel and the fact that God keeps his promises in Scripture. I forget so often how my confidence and faith in the truth of God's word, and the promises he makes in it, directly relates to every single trial that I experience everyday, no matter how insignificant I may think it is. I so quickly forget my eternal destination.
               So what is our destination, and from what are we to draw our confidence in it? This is a question that I hear often in secular circles and to be honest don't always take advantage of like I should. It's as if people are begging at times to hear the gospel, they honestly realize that they have no eternal hope, sure they may have a temporal hope of getting to go home and watch TV after work, or that great summer vacation, maybe it's even that they can go get drunk on the weekends and have sex. Bottom line though, none of these things make any claim to satisfy for eternity, there is no ETERNAL hope found in the pleasures or things of this world. But we as Christians have been given the promise of eternal life thru Christ, and it is precisely this eternal hope that we are called to share with those who are lost. We know this thru the promises that we can see God has made in Scripture: Our eternal destination is with Jesus and we must fix our focus on this truth during the trials of life.
               James 1:12 opens with the word "Blessed" which is the same word that Jesus used when listing out the beatitudes in Matt. 5 and has the meaning of a deep rooted joy that is the fruit of the faith and hope we have in the gospel and the love we have for God. So with that definition in mind we can see why James would state the following "Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial". There is a direct connection between the gospel and enduring trials, because basically if there is no gospel then what's the point of enduring through all the trials in this life? There would be none, but thankfully the gospel is real and we do have hope in the gospel to endure through these trials.
               Later on in verse 12 it says "for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life". This is the hope that I am talking about, the phrase "crown of life" is referring to the promise of ETERNAL life that we have in the gospel because of what Jesus did for us. The type of crown that James is using as an example is the kind that athletes would receive after winning a race, but to be accurate this is not a crown that we earn by running, on the contrary our enduring of the race is a sign that we have been assured of and promised this "crown of life". As James goes on to say "which God has promised to those who love him." God has made massive promises to us (Eternal life) and it should be our delight to dwell on these promises day after day as they are revealed in scripture.
               In the end of it all, the ones who are "Blessed" and the ones who will "endure" are the ones who first and foremost "love him". The reality is that when I choose to not believe in the promises that God has made in scripture, I am calling Him a liar. I am unintentionally saying that I don't believe the gospel, and I don't believe that God will fulfill his promise of giving me "the crown of life" because my circumstances are not what I think they ought to be or any of the other ridiculous excuses we come up with to excuse our disbelief. But there is hope as the Holy Spirit (who also was promised to be given to us) is working in our hearts producing a sincere love for God that grows faith in the promises of His word that then leads to a firm ETERNAL hope and fixed focus on the person and work of Jesus Christ. After this happens we WILL remain steadfast and receive "the crown of life".   

Weekly Plowing

Here is a series of videos from John Piper's sermon "How The Supremacy Of Christ Creates Radical Christian Sacrifice". You can listen to the whole thing here:  Sermon Link

Death

This is a series of thoughts and prayers that I wrote down 3 years ago before and after the death of my step-father, Eric Johnson.

               I have never had much experience with the reality of death in my life, as of yet, though in truth it is the most prominent reality in the world as a result of the devastating power of sin. And I am seemingly overwhelmed by the domination that this truth has on all of my views at the moment.   My views of the world around me, views of the war within me between my flesh and spirit, the views on a common man's soul who walks about in search of his flight at the airport, or even my views of the desolate war that rages in Iraq at the moment, has been changed by this fresh and vivid view of death. It is as if God in His divine Sovereignty chose to place a new seeing glass before my eyes , that I might in a sense see His glory in the world a little clearer, though still dimly. Before I saw but a speck, and now a small gleam.

               This seeing glass has brought with it many hardships and trials though, trials which I was totally and utterly unprepared for. And as I walked along the great hallway of life, thinking solely of my self and the concerns of the world which I have created in my mind, this world that contains everything that my sinful and selfish heart want or think are important, God shook the walls of my soul and tore down the paintings of these unimportant and selfish wants or concerns with one phone call. This was a phone call which informed me that a very close and dearly loved soul has the high potential to leave this world and be in the presence of God. Yet the most intriguing part of this position is that all at once I am shocked, despairing, encouraged, overwhelmed with sadness, joy, and incredibly drawn to God. All the time asking myself, is this the answer to my prayers for spiritual growth, is this, perhaps, the answer to my prayers for trials that would impact me and those around me deeply.

               I am not alone in this trial, though... i have never felt so alone. I am sitting here on a plane, and my heart cries out to God for guidance. This death would impact a large amount of people, but interesting as it is, my heart is still drawn to only think of self. It would only be the work of God if I were to at all imitate Christ during this time, but praise be to God that he has forgiven me of the selfish sins which I will commit during this time. For it is by dependance on His Holy Spirit alone, that I shall be able to over come these  sinful habits of my heart, and be able to have a much more effective ministry to the church and my family. Directing their attention toward Christ and not in any manner towards myself. For He must increase and I must decrease.

               Blood and heartache are the accompanying factors in this time of utter sorrow and death in my family, yet in spite of this my soul seems at ease with the faithfulness and power of  our great God. For he has chosen to allow this tragedy to happen, and that is where I must rest. That is where we all must rest, in the sovereign, and warm loving hands  of our great Father and Lord. I have a strong and burning passion to embrace His open arms, and pour forth all my heart, to make Him my refuge and my stronghold as the psalmist said in Psalm 62:8. This is where a Christian man must stand, considering it all joy when God places these blessings, in the form of trials, in our lives.

               Now, having looked upon the lifeless, cold body of my dear friend and step father, my heart and soul have begun to ache with memories, as well as potential memories that there could have been. I have sat in his house seeing the remains of projects not completed, seeing his ghost walking around living life and working so hard for my mother and little sister, and all I can think about is that he won't be the one to complete these projects. And I walk through his kitchen observing the work of his hands on the cabinets and the tile, the sweet smell of freshly sanded wood filling my nostrils, and I begin to cry. What can God be doing, how can any good come from this death, why would God take a life that has impacted so many?  These  are questions which we are not meant to know the answers to, yet.

               Early this morning I was observing a small candle that burned on the coffee table in his living room, and I sat there staring at it while my youngest sister played a song, full of passion, of joy and heart ache. And my mind was drawn to thinking of how our lives are but candles burning dimly in time, so easily snuffed out, or rather lovingly blown out by God, who gives and takes away.

               Despite the deep sorrow and heartache of death, a soul that is healthy in the Lord and in the understanding of the truth of heaven will actually find joy and comfort in the death of a Christian saint. And by the grace of God I find my heart in this kind of a state, where all I could ask my step-father's body is "What is it like, what is it like to die, what is it like to kiss the hands and feet of our Saviour and Lord, what is heaven like, what is Jesus like?" Coming to terms with his death is probably one of the heaviest weights I have had to bear in this life.

Weekly Plowing

Excerpt From "Organic Church"

By Neil Cole

While doing some teaching in Japan, I had a dream that Heather, my daughter, started a church. In the dream, a room was full of young people who were all seriously worshiping God. When I returned from the trip, I mentioned it to her just to let her know that she was on my mind and in my dreams while I was away.

The next day she said, 'Dad, my friends all want to do it!' 'Do what?' I asked. 'Start a church.' I told her that she would have to do most of the work, and I would coach and lead only a little. She said that was fine. The next day she arranged a house to meet in, picked a night of the week, and found a worship leader; flyers were soon being passed out to friends on campus.

After the church had been meeting for several months, I met with these students and we all sang praises to the Lord. I felt the Lord's pleasure. I asked the students what was the biggest church they had ever been to. Living in Southern California there are many options of megachurches, and a number of churches were mentioned, ranging in size from two thousand attendees to more than fifteen thousand.

I then told them that I think Satan is more intimidated by this little church of fifteen high school kids than by any of those Godzilla-sized churches. They all sort of chuckled and looked around the room at one another with smiles. I showed them why I thought this way: 'How many of you think you could start a church like one of those megachurches?' No one raised a hand. I asked, 'How many of you think you could start a church like this one?' and all raised their hands. I asked them to look around the room at all the raised hands, and I said with a new found soberness, 'I assure you, Satan is terrified by this.'

Weekly Plowing

A Messy Church Or A Pretending Church?

by Tim Chester
...

              Someone asked me how things were going recently. It’s not really a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ (‘good’ or ‘bad’) question. Life in our congregation is messy. People have a wide variety of problems and many of those problems are out on the table. Are things going well when one of your members has been hauled out of a pub in drunken state? When people admit problems in their marriage? When several people are struggling with depression? And I could go on. Actually I think the answer can be ‘Yes, things are going well’. A key verse for me in recent years has been the first beautitude which I paraphrase as: ‘Blessed are the broken people for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.’ To working with broken people is to be where God’s blessing is found. I do not rejoice in people’s problems, but I do rejoice that I am working among people with problems. Indeed I sometimes describe our church as a group of messy people led by messy people. It has proved a context in which I have been able to address my own struggles. What is the alternative. One alternative is to be a church in which there is a lot of pretending; in which people have problems, but in which the culture does not allow people to be open about them. Churches like this are very neat and respectable. But I know I would rather be in a messy church! Mess reflects, I think, a culture of grace. We pretend because either we do not trust God’s grace for ourselves or we do not trust other people to show us grace.

               The question I have been pondering for a while is whether there is a third option in addition to messy and pretending. Are there churches in which most people are ‘sorted’ – not sinless, but have got their lives together? I think I would call this category of church ‘excluding’ because I think they create a culture in which messy people don’t feel welcome. But it may be that if you looked closely you would find that such churches are really pretending churches that are just very good at the pretending! I’m not sure. If you have an answer or any further thoughts then please leave a comment.

(This is from Tim Chester's blog which you can find at http://timchester.wordpress.com/)

Weekly Plowing

A great description by Steve Timmis (author of Total Church) of what our missional communities heart is here in Spokane...

 

The Boasting Of A Poor Man (James 1:9-11)

               Over the past few weeks of listening to people share their hearts, I have noticed a common theme of people wrestling with the question "what am I going to do with the rest of my life?" and this is of course coming from mostly young college age people who don't have career paths or large amounts of money to throw around. And being that I wrestle with similar thoughts at times, I have been contimplating why it is that we feel this overwhelming pressure to have a career path, lots of money, travel alot to see the world, get a nice car, have the latest technology, get a comfortable house in a nice neighborhood, be physically beautiful, and have a great retirement to be successful with our lives, when in reality the bible doesn't mention any of these things as important to our eternal status (which in the end is the only thing that matters).
               So as I am plowing my way through the book of James I came across the passage last week that reads "Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation", and when I took a step back and really thought about what this statement meant to the original readers of this letter, who were really the poorest of poor people, I was overwhelmingly convicted of my unbelief in the gospel when I ask the question "what am I going to do with the rest of my life?". The Holy Spirit really opened my eyes to see that this call to boast in our "exaltation" was really a call to boast in the gospel. This passage is beautifully showing how a relationship with Jesus Christ is all-satisfying to people in their impoverished lives. As well as shedding light on what a true believers actual status is before God, regardless of their earthly status. Christians are an EXALTED people because of what Jesus did on the cross. All of our earthly riches and all of our earthly works ultimately fall short of earning us favor before God, so therefore the only thing that eternally matters is our exalted state because of the gospel, everything MUST point back to the person and work of Jesus Christ. So with that being the ultimate determination of a "successful" life, things like whether you are rich or poor, have a career or are flipping burgers at McDonalds, drive a Porsche or an old beater, whether you're the most beautiful girl at school or the ugliest girl could not matter less, the only thing that matters is your exaltation in Jesus!
               Now my challenge to myself and readers would be to instead of asking "What am I going to do with the rest of my life?" we must ask ourselves "How am I going to let the good news of the gospel radically reshape my life for eternity?" And I think a beautiful passage to dwell on when I have felt stagnant or worthless, and one that is overflowing with the good news of the gospel is Romans 8:16-18 "The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs--heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us." We are not of this world nor is our treasure here.

Weekly Plowing

This little excerpt from a message by Francis Chan has been having a significantly large impact on my thinking lately and I would encourage everyone to listen and wrestle through the things he talks about here.

The Sincerity of Hypocrites

It just hit me the other day, we often would like to think of ourselves as sincere people but still should admit that we aren't, I had the thought that it is potentially more dangerous for us to wallow in our hypocrisy hopelessly (because we know we will never achieve perfect sincerity in this life), than to embrace the label of "hypocrite" sincerely, and then turn to Jesus for hope. I am sincerely a hypocrite saved by Jesus.

A Graveyard of Thoughts

Lately it has seemed like I have been listening to people more than talking to them, and I have noticed a pattern of sleeplessness, where I basically sit awake simply trying to process everything I have heard. In an attempt to keep my insanity while the whole world seems to be going sane around me, I started this blog to help me digest all this dirt as I crawl through it, and my hope and prayer is also to encourage readers with the hope that I have in Jesus as I go through the dark places of this earth. This is my "Worm Diet".