pastoral theology – Page 38

Soldiers or Sons?

GlenAugust 8, 2009Leave a comment

Theologically speaking, what's the more dominant image for the Christian - soldier or son?

Are we soliders of Christ who also happen to be children of God?

Or are we children of God who also happen to be soldiers of Christ?

Here are some clues: What is God's fundamental identity if not 'Father of our Lord Jesus Christ'? What is Jesus' fundamental identity if not Son of the Father? How does Jesus teach us to pray - 'Our Commanding Officer in Heaven'?

Remember: Soldiers don't become sons on account of their soldiering. But sons do become soldiers on account of their sonship.

So, what are you fundamentally - a soldier or a son?

And do you know it?

Does this photo represent your spiritual life?

Are you tired and anxious like this kid?

What exactly are you playing at?

What is the more dominant model of the Christian life pushed in your church / small groups / preaching / Christian circles?

Practically speaking, how do you front up to God in prayer?

Soldier or son?

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! (1 John 3:1)

I’ve got a question

glenscrivAugust 6, 2009Leave a comment

A man accused of killing his 11-year-old diabetic daughter by praying instead of seeking medical care has been found guilty of second-degree reckless homicide.

Dale Neumann, 47, was convicted over the March 23, 2008, death of his daughter, Madeline, from undiagnosed diabetes.

Prosecutors argued he should have rushed the girl to a hospital because she could not walk, talk, eat or drink. Instead, Madeline died on the floor of the family's rural home as people surrounded her and prayed. Someone called an ambulance when she stopped breathing.

Neumann stared at the jury as the verdict was read out in the courtroom in Wausau, Wisconsin.

Defence lawyer Jay Kronenwetter said they will appeal against the verdict.

Neumann, who once studied to be a Pentecostal minister, testified that he believed God would heal his daughter and he never expected her to die. God promises in the Bible to heal, he said.

"If I go to the doctor, I am putting the doctor before God," Neumann testified. "I am not believing what he said he would do." (As reported here)

Why is it lack of faith to call a doctor but not lack of faith to use a lawyer??

Pray for these parents. And renounce this theology.

I've got a question

GlenAugust 6, 2009Leave a comment

A man accused of killing his 11-year-old diabetic daughter by praying instead of seeking medical care has been found guilty of second-degree reckless homicide.

Dale Neumann, 47, was convicted over the March 23, 2008, death of his daughter, Madeline, from undiagnosed diabetes.

Prosecutors argued he should have rushed the girl to a hospital because she could not walk, talk, eat or drink. Instead, Madeline died on the floor of the family's rural home as people surrounded her and prayed. Someone called an ambulance when she stopped breathing.

Neumann stared at the jury as the verdict was read out in the courtroom in Wausau, Wisconsin.

Defence lawyer Jay Kronenwetter said they will appeal against the verdict.

Neumann, who once studied to be a Pentecostal minister, testified that he believed God would heal his daughter and he never expected her to die. God promises in the Bible to heal, he said.

"If I go to the doctor, I am putting the doctor before God," Neumann testified. "I am not believing what he said he would do." (As reported here)

Why is it lack of faith to call a doctor but not lack of faith to use a lawyer??

Pray for these parents. And renounce this theology.

Trusting God’s sovereignty – Trusting God’s Son

glenscrivAugust 6, 2009Leave a comment

A re-post for Thawed-out Thursdays

When times are tough - what is your comfort? When comforting others, where do you point them?

In the circles in which I move the encouragements of choice involve variations on the theme of 'God's got a plan.' Many's the time when a well-meaning brother (usually a brother) has said 'I guess at moments like this, all you can do is cling onto God's sovereignty.' Often I've heard friends say that only sovereignty has enabled them to get through the hard times.

Something's gone wrong here. Over a billion Muslims navigate through life clinging onto 'insh'Allah' (God willing). 800 million Hindus believe that karma will work everything out. And how many unbelieving westerners, even in the face of terrible suffering, will still believe 'everything happens for a reason.'

This was really brought home to me about 5 years ago. I was praying with a new convert from Islam. We were worried about his visa application, but I was amazed at how he was 'trusting God's sovereignty'. In fact he was using language that I usually associate with the most mature of reformed Christians. I told him I was very impressed, he shrugged his shoulders and said 'In Pakistan we have a saying: 'God willing' - it means that whatever God wills will happen.' I almost physically slapped my forehead. Of course! He's just translated Insh'Allah into a Christian environment.

Yet surely a Christian account of sovereignty involves more than simply transfering deterministic agency from Allah to the Father! Surely there's got to be a gospel-shape, a Christ-focus, a trinitarian dynamic to Christian sovereignty. Yet what was so striking about my friend's translated insh'Allah was that it sounded so completely like the Christian pastoral wisdom sketched out above.

Two years ago I went to northern Nigeria and the difference between Muslim and Christian accounts of sovereignty struck me again. When I wanted something done by Tuesday, the Muslim would tell me 'It will be ready, insh'Allah'. The Christian would tell me, 'It will be ready, if Jesus tarries.' Hallelujah!! Isn't that brilliant?? (King James' English lives on in Nigeria!). But isn't there all the difference in the world between a future determined by an inscrutible divine will and a future opened up in the gospel-patience of Jesus? I've tried to get people using 'If Jesus tarries' over here, but it hasn't taken. Yet.

Now I'm not denying for a second the sovereign rule of the Father through the Son and by the Spirit. And perhaps in future posts I'll outline some thoughts on what a truly gospel-shaped, Christ-focused, dynamically-trinitarian account of sovereignty might look like. But for now I will simply question the pastoral wisdom of referring the suffering Christian to the sovereignty of God as though 'God's in charge' was the sum and substance of the Christian hope.

All too often this amounts to a 'light at the end of the tunnel' comfort. How much better to encourage a person that Christ joins them in the tunnel.

I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings. (Philippians 3:10)

Christ is with us in suffering. He is especially near to the broken-hearted. As Spurgeon used to say, He never throws His children in the fire without joining them in it (cf Dan. 3; Isaiah 43:2). In suffering we get to know the Suffering Servant with greater depth and intimacy than ever before. To simply point to the God over and above us in suffering is deficient. We must also point to the God beside and within us.

The gospel is not the truth that, while I may be buried in muck, God remains untouched in pristine glory and one day I'll be there with Him. The gospel is about God joining us in the muck. The gospel is that He stoops, sympathises and suffers alongside us. And that He raises us with Him to the throne.

Now we know that the good news is not that God remains in heaven and we battle on till glory. Well then, why does so much of our pastoral exhortation assume exactly such a 'gospel.'

Why do we so often point people to God's sovereignty and so rarely point them to God's Son? Why is the focus on the light at the end of the tunnel and so little on the One who joins us in the darkness? The one kind of exhortation produces tight-lipped soldiers, the other produces broken-hearted lovers. Let's aim for the latter!

Trusting God's sovereignty – Trusting God's Son

GlenAugust 6, 2009Leave a comment

A re-post for Thawed-out Thursdays

When times are tough - what is your comfort? When comforting others, where do you point them?

All too often this amounts to a 'light at the end of the tunnel' comfort. How much better to encourage a person that Christ joins them in the tunnel.

I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings. (Philippians 3:10)

Now we know that the good news is not that God remains in heaven and we battle on till glory. Well then, why does so much of our pastoral exhortation assume exactly such a 'gospel.'

How Jesus views the collection plate

GlenAugust 5, 2009Leave a comment

⁴¹ Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. ⁴² But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny. ⁴³ Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. ⁴⁴ They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything--all she had to live on." (Mark 12:41-44)

The way we usually carry on you'd imagine that Jesus watches the collection plate like a hawk, biting His nails to the quick, hoping against hope that we'll give enough to finance His kingdom aspirations. That's basically how we think anyway.

But Jesus is not like that. Actually He's watching us. He's not bothered about what we throw in so much as what we hold back. For Him it's not the amount but the sacrifice that counts. Because - honestly - He's not on edge waiting to see whether His gospel agenda is financially viable. He's interested in the givers not the gift.

I was once staying with some millionaires in the States. They had a massive house, massive swimming pool, even a man-made lake stocked with fish. They called it a pond. It wasn't. It was a lake. My friend was also staying there and one night I wondered aloud to him how much the kingdom would benefit if they gave their wealth away. My friend was wiser. He said 'Maybe. But if they gave away more of their money, the real benefit would be for them.'

Jesus is not watching the missions giving fund. He's watching the givers. That's where His real concern lies.

Audio Bibles 3

GlenJuly 30, 20093 Comments

mp3 Bible For the next 48 hours the Listener's Bible's having a sale.

You can get the entire NIV, ESV or KJV read by Max McLean on mp3 CDs for $40 (£25).

gobible Or how about this for a nifty little product. The GoBible is an mp3 player with the NIV preloaded on it. You can go directly to any verse and bookmark where you're up to. There's a topics index that'll take you to relevant verses, a stories index with 225 preloaded bible stories and there's also a Bible-in-a-year plan you can follow on it.

During the sale it's $90 (£55).

I haven't been asked to plug this, I just think they look like good resources.

Humility, Trinity and Daniel 4

GlenJuly 30, 2009Leave a comment

For thawed-out Thursdays. First posted in Jan 2008...

How should we attain humility? Determine to think low thoughts of yourself? You'd be defeated before you began. Self-deprecation is still self-deprecation. No, to be humble we need to be humbled.

Daniel 4 gives us a great picture of this. Nebuchadnezzar, the most powerful man in the world, is humbled by the triune God who is 'able to humble' 'those who walk in pride.' (Dan 4:37).

As a young(ish) Australian male I know a little something about walking in pride. What can I learn from Daniel 4 about humility?

First, the hero of the piece, Daniel, accomplishes his work only in the power of the Holy Spirit.

"I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in you and that no mystery is too difficult for you." Dan 4:9 (LXX has 'Holy Spirit of God' - translating the plural 'gods' as elsewhere in Scripture)

"None of the wise men in my kingdom can interpret it for me. But you can, because the spirit of the holy gods is in you." Dan 4:18. See also 5:11,14 (LXX translates them all as Holy Spirit of God)

Without the Spirit, Daniel has nothing to offer. With the Spirit, Daniel is wiser than the wisest men on earth.

Second, the promised King of God's Kingdom is described as the Lowliest of Men.

"the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone He wishes and sets over them the Lowliest of men." (Dan 4:17)

In the great inversion of all our human expectations, God's choice for King is not simply a lowly man, but the Lowliest of men. The King of all kings is the One who says "I am gentle and humble in heart." (Matt 11:29) How can Nebuchadnezzar exalt himself when the Chosen One of the Most High is the Servant of all?

Third, Nebuchadnezzar learns humility when he worships the Most High God:

34 At the end of that time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes towards heaven, and my sanity was restored. Then I praised the Most High; I honoured and glorified Him Who lives for ever. His dominion is an eternal dominion; His kingdom endures from generation to generation. 35 All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as He pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No-one can hold back His hand or say to him: "What have you done?" 36 At the same time that my sanity was restored, my honour and splendour were returned to me for the glory of my kingdom.

With his eyes turned upwards, Nebuchadnezzar praises Him Who lives forever. The sovereign glory of the Omnipotent Father draws out of him awed worship. I'm told (and I can believe it) that the Grand Canyon will take your breath away - no-one stands on the rim with high thoughts of themselves. And no-one can confess the majesty of our Father and not be correspondingly humbled in the process.

So how do I fight pride? The doctrine of the trinity of course. I need to know that anything I have of worth in God's service is a gift of the Spirit - "What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?" (1 Cor 4:7).

I need to know that the Lord of Glory is Himself the Lowliest of men. His glory is His service. So how can I exalt myself above Christ?

I need to know that the Most High Father is awe-inspiring in His heavenly power. As I worship Him I find a grateful 'nothingness' by comparison which is, at that very moment, my restoration to honour.

To be enfolded in the life of these Three is to be well and truly humbled.

I am in Christ AND Christ is in me

GlenJuly 27, 2009Leave a comment

Something I think the Lord has been teaching me recently is to prize both these truths:

I am in Christ

and

Christ is in me

I am clothed in an alien righteousness but also filled with an outworking Power. My standing before God is entirely outside myself - in Jesus. Yet my walk in the world is enabled by an energy that is no less heavenly in origin but that springs from a new core within - the new heart. Will's sermon on the New Birth is a great help in this direction.

Here are some more thoughts from Watchman Nee's little book on Ephesians - Sit, Walk, Stand. In this section he is moving from our 'seated' reality with Christ in the heavenly realms (Eph 1-3) to our 'walk' in the world (Eph 4-5).

God has given us Christ. There is nothing now for us to receive outside of Him. The Holy Spirit has been sent to produce what is of Christ in us; not to produce anything that is apart from or outside of Him...We have been accustomed to look upon holiness as a virtue, upon humility as a grace, upon love as a gift to be sought from God. But the Christ of God is Himself everything that we shall ever need... Our life is the life of Christ, mediated in us by the indwelling Holy Spirit Himself.

No wonder that this is Paul's prayer as he transitions from the 'seated' reality to our earthly 'walk':

14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, ¹⁵ from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. ¹⁶ I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, ¹⁷ so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, ¹⁸ may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, ¹⁹ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fulness of God. (Eph 3:14-19)

God is waiting for you to despair 11

GlenJuly 24, 200911 Comments

From Watchman Nee's Sit, Walk, Stand.

"An engineer living in a large city in the West left his homeland for the Far East. He was away for two or three years, and during his absence his wife was unfaithful to him and went off with one of his best friends. On his return home he found he had lost his wife, his two children and his best friend. At the close of a meeting which I was addressing, this grief-stricken man unburdened himself to me. 'Day and night for two solid years my heart has been full of hatred,' he said. 'I am a Christian, and I know I ought to forgive my wife and my friend, but though I try and try to forgive them, I simply cannot. Every day I resolve to love them, and every day I fail. What can I do about it?' 'Do nothing at all,' I replied. 'What do you mean?' he asked, startled. 'Am I to continue to hate them?' So I explained: 'The solution of your problem lies here, that when the Lord Jesus died on the Cross he not only bore your sins away but he bore you away too. When he was crucified, your old man was crucified in him, so that that unforgiving you, who simply cannot love those who have wronged you, has been taken right out of the way in his death. God has dealt with the whole situation in the Cross, and there is nothing left for you to deal with. Just say to him, 'Lord, I cannot love and I give up trying, but I count on thy perfect love. I cannot forgive, but I trust thee to forgive instead of me, and to do so henceforth in me.'

The man sat there amazed and said, 'That's all so new, I feel I must do something about it.' Then a moment later he added again, 'But what can I do?' 'God is waiting till you cease to do,' I said. 'When you cease doing, then God will begin. Have you ever tried to save a drowning man? The trouble is that his fear prevents him trusting himself to you. When that is so, there are just two ways of going about it. Either you must knock him unconscious and then drag him to the shore, or else you must leave him to struggle and shout until his strength gives way before you go to his rescue. If you try to save him while he has any strength left, he will clutch at you in his terror and drag you under, and both he and you will be lost. God is waiting for your store of strength to be utterly exhausted before he can deliver you. Once you have ceased to struggle, he will do everything. God is waiting for you to despair.'

My engineer friend jumped up. 'Brother,' he said, 'I've seen it. Praise God, it's all right now with me! There's nothing for me to do. He has done it all!' And with radiant face he went off rejoicing."