I have been reading a book by Iain Murray entitled "The Old Evangelicalism". Here is a quote by D.M. Lloyd-Jones that is in Murray's book:
"There is no true evangelism without the doctrine of sin, and without an understanding of what sin is. I do not want to be unfair, but I say that a gospel which merely says, 'Come to Jesus', and offers Him as a Friend, and offers a marvelous new life, without convicting of sin, is not New Testament evangelism. The essence of evangelism is to start by preaching the law; and it is because the law has not been preached that we have so much superficial evangelism ... evangelism must start with the holiness of God, the sinfulness of man and the eternal consequences of evil and wrong-doing. It is only the man who has been brought to see his guilt in this way who flies to Christ for deliverance and redemption."
Many so-called 'evangelical' churches today have fallen into this trap. This trap of trying to present the gospel without the recognition of sin. Many people say 'it's about love.' And I wouldn't disagree with that statement. Yes, it is about God's love ... and His holiness ... and our sinfulness. Our sinfulness is what points us to the Savior! Just as Lloyd Jones says that it's not biblical evangelism if we ignore sin, I would argue that it's not the true gospel if we ignore the sin.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Monday, March 19, 2007
Encouragement for Mothers
Read this article today entitled "Joyful Christian Mothering" (from John Piper's church website) and be encouraged as a Mother.
"Treasure Christ and treasure your opportunity to entrust a Godly heritage to your children 'so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments' (Psalm 78:7).
"Treasure Christ and treasure your opportunity to entrust a Godly heritage to your children 'so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments' (Psalm 78:7).
Friday, March 16, 2007
Seeker-Sensitive Church
Lately there have been several great discussions around my circle of the blogosphere about “seeker-sensitive” churches and “healthy” churches. Leslie, Kim and Kim have already touched on parts of this.
I have never been a big Rick Warren or “seeker-sensitive” fan. His ‘programs’ always seemed too perfect and too marketed. In that marketing, the gospel was watered down so much that I questioned if it was still the same Gospel message of the Bible. My suspicions about this “Purpose-Driven” stuff were confirmed when our former church went through the “40 Days of Purpose” campaign. My husband was to lead his Sunday School class through certain materials about this “Purpose-Driven life”. One has to be discerning in reading this book, especially when so many scriptures are taken out of context. A good review of this book by Nathan Busenitz can be found here.
Reading all of these blogs this past week reminded me of a sermon my husband preached last October entitled “Worship in the New Testament: Seeker Sensitive.” God has prescribed worship to be Seeker-sensitive, but not “seeker-sensitive.” Notice that I capitalized Seeker the first time in the previous sentence. Worship is about God. He is the only one who Seeks, He is the One we should be concerned with in worship. In fact, the Psalmist writes in Psalm 14, “The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.”
In Genesis 4:4, God had no regard for Cain’s offering of worship. In 1 Samuel 15 God told Saul to go to Amalek and destroy everything but Saul thought he knew better and allowed King Agag and his best livestock to be spared. Think of Nadab and Abihu, Aaron’s sons, and how their carelessness with the worship of God cost them. Remember the Bible says they offered strange or unauthorized fire and that the fire of the Lord consumed them?
"If there is any lesson to be learned from these accounts it is that our worship must be
seeker sensitive… In our day we have many who are redefining worship in the church. We
have many modern day Cains and sons of Aaron and Sauls and Uzzahs, who want to do
things their own way. Maybe they think their way is more efficient, easier, quicker, and
with apparently better results. Maybe they think that God didn’t really know what he was
talking about in his prescriptions of worship and so they consider their idea’s innovations.
Their innovations water down doctrine so as not to offend. They have sought to be as
entertaining as possible. They can make you laugh one minute and cry the next. They have
re-written worship music to be little more than love songs for Jesus that would fit right in
at any wedding reception or any bar’s karaoke night. It is just like Jeremiah’s day though.
They are acting in their own authority, not under God’s authority, and the people love it.
They must think that because they are pleasing people that this is going to please God
and he is going to be so glad they came along and straightened him out and got the results
he was always looking for but could never get without their help. I’m afraid that just like
the disregarded offerings of Cain and the strange fire of the sons of Aaron and the
disobedience of Saul and the irreverence of Uzzah, God is NOT pleased. And in their
striving to be seeker sensitive, they forgot who the seeker was they were supposed to be
sensitive too." (from Brian's sermon)
I have never been a big Rick Warren or “seeker-sensitive” fan. His ‘programs’ always seemed too perfect and too marketed. In that marketing, the gospel was watered down so much that I questioned if it was still the same Gospel message of the Bible. My suspicions about this “Purpose-Driven” stuff were confirmed when our former church went through the “40 Days of Purpose” campaign. My husband was to lead his Sunday School class through certain materials about this “Purpose-Driven life”. One has to be discerning in reading this book, especially when so many scriptures are taken out of context. A good review of this book by Nathan Busenitz can be found here.
Reading all of these blogs this past week reminded me of a sermon my husband preached last October entitled “Worship in the New Testament: Seeker Sensitive.” God has prescribed worship to be Seeker-sensitive, but not “seeker-sensitive.” Notice that I capitalized Seeker the first time in the previous sentence. Worship is about God. He is the only one who Seeks, He is the One we should be concerned with in worship. In fact, the Psalmist writes in Psalm 14, “The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.”
In Genesis 4:4, God had no regard for Cain’s offering of worship. In 1 Samuel 15 God told Saul to go to Amalek and destroy everything but Saul thought he knew better and allowed King Agag and his best livestock to be spared. Think of Nadab and Abihu, Aaron’s sons, and how their carelessness with the worship of God cost them. Remember the Bible says they offered strange or unauthorized fire and that the fire of the Lord consumed them?
"If there is any lesson to be learned from these accounts it is that our worship must be
seeker sensitive… In our day we have many who are redefining worship in the church. We
have many modern day Cains and sons of Aaron and Sauls and Uzzahs, who want to do
things their own way. Maybe they think their way is more efficient, easier, quicker, and
with apparently better results. Maybe they think that God didn’t really know what he was
talking about in his prescriptions of worship and so they consider their idea’s innovations.
Their innovations water down doctrine so as not to offend. They have sought to be as
entertaining as possible. They can make you laugh one minute and cry the next. They have
re-written worship music to be little more than love songs for Jesus that would fit right in
at any wedding reception or any bar’s karaoke night. It is just like Jeremiah’s day though.
They are acting in their own authority, not under God’s authority, and the people love it.
They must think that because they are pleasing people that this is going to please God
and he is going to be so glad they came along and straightened him out and got the results
he was always looking for but could never get without their help. I’m afraid that just like
the disregarded offerings of Cain and the strange fire of the sons of Aaron and the
disobedience of Saul and the irreverence of Uzzah, God is NOT pleased. And in their
striving to be seeker sensitive, they forgot who the seeker was they were supposed to be
sensitive too." (from Brian's sermon)
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
The Integrity of Marriage
Today I found a link from The Family Room to an Al Mohler article entitled “The Seduction of Pornography and the Integrity of Christian Marriage.” In a day where pornographic images are rampant (even when you’re just walking through the mall and pass a Victoria’s Secret store), we as the Body of Christ must stand differently than the world in which we live. Pornography can easily invade homes and marriages leaving lasting damage. We must be aware and do what we can to protect our families (like filters for our computers and spiritual accountability). This article is a great resource for a husband and wife to read and study together. Here is an excerpt:
“The deliberate use of pornography is nothing less than the willful invitation of illicit lovers and objectified sex objects and forbidden knowledge into a man’s heart, mind, and soul. The damage to the man’s heart is beyond measure, and the cost in human misery will only be made clear on the Day of Judgment. From the moment a boy reaches puberty until the day he is lowered into the ground, every man will struggle with lust. Let us follow the biblical example and scriptural command that we make a covenant with our eyes lest we sin.”
There are several resources for purity in the Christian life at Josh Harris' blog.
“The deliberate use of pornography is nothing less than the willful invitation of illicit lovers and objectified sex objects and forbidden knowledge into a man’s heart, mind, and soul. The damage to the man’s heart is beyond measure, and the cost in human misery will only be made clear on the Day of Judgment. From the moment a boy reaches puberty until the day he is lowered into the ground, every man will struggle with lust. Let us follow the biblical example and scriptural command that we make a covenant with our eyes lest we sin.”
There are several resources for purity in the Christian life at Josh Harris' blog.
Monday, March 05, 2007
Milestones
We had our first baby, Coleman, almost 6 years ago. Just 16 months later he was joined by a new little sister, Emmie. (I knew you could get pregnant while nursing, just didn’t think it would happen since it had taken us a while to get pregnant with our first – but it’s all about God’s sovereignty anyway - but that is another post for another day). Those were some busy and tiring days. Two in diapers and a 16-month old doesn’t make much of a ‘helper’.
Two years later, Calvin joined us. Coleman himself had just turned 3. I have heard Mom’s of many say that it’s the hardest when you have 3 that are 3 and under. Those too were some tiring days. At first – all 3 were still in diapers, but it wasn’t long until that changed. Daddy took off work and by George, we were going to potty train somebody, anybody. Coleman finally got the hang of it after a lot of hard work. Then little Emmie pretty much trained herself (we were due an easy training experience at this point)!
Most of you know that we are now expecting our fourth, probably at the end of April. (Calvin will be 3 in July – notice a pattern? They’re getting further apart!) I realized that my 2 oldest are big enough to be ‘real’ helpers this time. We have started on working on some things, like bringing Mommy diapers and wipes as well as throwing out dirty diapers. I am teaching them to make waffles in the toaster because well, you can have waffles for breakfast, lunch, and supper right?
But I am far more excited about the biggest milestone that we reached this past week. Coleman and Emmie are both buckling themselves in the car! How much easier to go somewhere and only have to buckle in one child (at least for now)? Not to mention that it was hard to help the one in the back of the van because of my expanding belly. I truly feel like we have arrived … not sure where we’ve arrived but we have arrived somewhere. I do want to treasure this time while they are little but these times of growth and independence are nice too!
Want to go for a ride?
Two years later, Calvin joined us. Coleman himself had just turned 3. I have heard Mom’s of many say that it’s the hardest when you have 3 that are 3 and under. Those too were some tiring days. At first – all 3 were still in diapers, but it wasn’t long until that changed. Daddy took off work and by George, we were going to potty train somebody, anybody. Coleman finally got the hang of it after a lot of hard work. Then little Emmie pretty much trained herself (we were due an easy training experience at this point)!
Most of you know that we are now expecting our fourth, probably at the end of April. (Calvin will be 3 in July – notice a pattern? They’re getting further apart!) I realized that my 2 oldest are big enough to be ‘real’ helpers this time. We have started on working on some things, like bringing Mommy diapers and wipes as well as throwing out dirty diapers. I am teaching them to make waffles in the toaster because well, you can have waffles for breakfast, lunch, and supper right?
But I am far more excited about the biggest milestone that we reached this past week. Coleman and Emmie are both buckling themselves in the car! How much easier to go somewhere and only have to buckle in one child (at least for now)? Not to mention that it was hard to help the one in the back of the van because of my expanding belly. I truly feel like we have arrived … not sure where we’ve arrived but we have arrived somewhere. I do want to treasure this time while they are little but these times of growth and independence are nice too!
Want to go for a ride?
Thursday, March 01, 2007
Kidney Stone Update
(Don't worry - mine wasn't as big as the one in this picture!) Thank you for praying for me! The pain stopped about 11 pm last night, which signified that the stone had finally moved into the bladder. I think I passed a small bit of it – amazing that something so small can cause SO MUCH pain. Today I am recovering from yesterday and should be back to almost-normal by tomorrow. I feel like I have been run over by a truck – but at least I am not in pain. I am so thankful for my sweet husband who took such good care of me and the kids yesterday. Our 3 kids yesterday were great while Mommy was ‘sick’. I’m not sure if it was Daddy being home or the fact that I was ‘flying high’ on medicine. By the way, I am also thankful for the pain-killers I had! Good stuff! (And ‘thank you’ to sweet Kim who, with her mangled finger, is bringing us a meal tonight!)
Have any of you ever had a kidney stone? If not, I hope you never get one. If so, I feel your pain, sister (right, Leslie?)! This was my fourth one since 2001. (Three of them have been when I have been pregnant – what’s with that?) I woke up about 4:30 Wednesday morning and thought “Ooooh – I slept funny and did something to my back.” About 10 minutes later, I realized that I was probably dealing with another stone. (Once you experience a kidney stone, you don’t forget the pain. And if you do forget the pain, it doesn’t take long to remember once it starts again. I woke Brian up and told him that I might be having a kidney stone but that I’d try to wait an hour and see. About 10 minutes later, I’m moaning in the floor of our playroom calling my Doctor to get a prescription for the pain. (I am also thankful for a 24-hour WalGreens!) I’ve been in the hospital with them before and all they do is give you pain meds and fluids and I can do that at home.
They say that men that experience kidney stones have an idea of what labor and delivery is like – well, I don’t know if that’s true or not. When I think about both, I’d rather deliver a baby. When you have contractions, at least you have a break in between them to catch your breath (and then when you have an epidural it’s like “what contractions?”). But with a kidney stone, there is no break. The pain stays sharp and constant and drives you to nausea.
Sorry – I didn’t mean to turn this into a dissertation on kidney stones. All of this to say, that I am thankful that this episode has passed and I feel for people who experience chronic pain everyday. I am also thankful for supportive and loving friends and family who surround me. They say once you have a kidney stone, you will likely have more throughout your life. So, I hope the next one will wait until ‘after’ the baby is born!
Until next time …
Have any of you ever had a kidney stone? If not, I hope you never get one. If so, I feel your pain, sister (right, Leslie?)! This was my fourth one since 2001. (Three of them have been when I have been pregnant – what’s with that?) I woke up about 4:30 Wednesday morning and thought “Ooooh – I slept funny and did something to my back.” About 10 minutes later, I realized that I was probably dealing with another stone. (Once you experience a kidney stone, you don’t forget the pain. And if you do forget the pain, it doesn’t take long to remember once it starts again. I woke Brian up and told him that I might be having a kidney stone but that I’d try to wait an hour and see. About 10 minutes later, I’m moaning in the floor of our playroom calling my Doctor to get a prescription for the pain. (I am also thankful for a 24-hour WalGreens!) I’ve been in the hospital with them before and all they do is give you pain meds and fluids and I can do that at home.
They say that men that experience kidney stones have an idea of what labor and delivery is like – well, I don’t know if that’s true or not. When I think about both, I’d rather deliver a baby. When you have contractions, at least you have a break in between them to catch your breath (and then when you have an epidural it’s like “what contractions?”). But with a kidney stone, there is no break. The pain stays sharp and constant and drives you to nausea.
Sorry – I didn’t mean to turn this into a dissertation on kidney stones. All of this to say, that I am thankful that this episode has passed and I feel for people who experience chronic pain everyday. I am also thankful for supportive and loving friends and family who surround me. They say once you have a kidney stone, you will likely have more throughout your life. So, I hope the next one will wait until ‘after’ the baby is born!
Until next time …
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