Going Deep- Book Review

Gordon MacDonald has given the church a story.  This story is a reminder of the great priority that discipleship ought to have in our churches.  The story is of a fictional church in New England- the same church that MacDonald imagined in a previous book titled Who Stole My Church?  MacDonald could have written this same book as a shorter, non-fiction work- but that would have been far less enjoyable to read and might not have stimulated as much thought on the part of the reader.  Instead, MacDonald packages his message in the form of fiction, but still manages to cite his sources appropriately (by making the sources part of the story and through the bibliography at the end of the book).

The story MacDonald tells is of a two year process in which a pastor and church discover the need to train future leaders and then work through the details of training those leaders.  Conversations, meetings, events, and even correspondence figure prominently as the primary conveyors of the story.

MacDonald's thesis is that churches should be training "deep" people (a term he borrows from Richard Foster).  A deep person is a mature or maturing Christian who lives as a devoted follower of Christ and serves the church and his world.  MacDonald recognizes that people need help in order to grow to be deep.  He suggests that the primary role of a pastor is to be a trainer of deep people.

I certainly agree with MacDonald's idea that pastors ought to be in the discipleship business.  Jesus' Great Commission to the church is that we are to be making disciples.  This is not a new idea, but a good reminder of a primary purpose of the church.

One area that MacDonald mentioned several times, but did not fully develop, is that a pastor who devotes his time to training other people will need to stop doing some things in order to have the time to devote to this main task.  At portions of the book, both preaching and hospital visitation are mentioned as areas in which the pastor might have to give less time.  How these tasks are to get done is not specifically stated.  A generous interpretation might imagine that these tasks will be supplemented by the people who have been equipped by the pastor.  My only objection to this thought is that preaching should be considered one of the primary areas of a pastor's time since preaching provides the opportunity to disciple a large group of people.  In addition, preaching  (both the preparation and the delivery of a sermon) is a primary means of fulfilling the pastoral responsibility of being in the Word and in prayer. 

I recommend Going Deep as a book that is both enjoyable to read and which will also cause you to think about your life and your church.  You probably won't agree with everything.  You won't find that your church is exactly like the church in the story (no two churches are the same).  But you will probably end up thinking about how your church could do a better job in developing people to serve Christ's church.

Are You Going the Wrong Way Again?

"Are you going the wrong way again?"  My wife asked me this question on a trip home from my parents' home a couple weeks ago.  First, it is odd that I had headed the wrong way earlier in the day when we went to my parents' house.  Of all the places in the world, one can usually find their way to their own home and to their parents' home.  But because I wasn't thinking, I had taken a turn that would lead me to a lot of other places where we normally travel.  Now on the way home I was asked, "are you going the wrong way again?"  I answered with these accurate but cryptic words, "No, I'm just not going the right way!" 

I wasn't lost.  I had been driving in one lane.  I had to quickly move over a couple of lanes when the road divided.  Hence, I was not going the wrong way because I had been traveling the right way up to this point and because I changed lanes in time.  But before the sudden lane change, I was no longer in a position to go the right way.  Maybe I should look into a career as a lawyer as a side job.

The song that way playing in our CD player while I was not going the right way is a song called, "You Are the Way."  It was written by Pat Sczebel and recorded by Sovereign Grace on their Worship God Live CD.  This song paraphrases John 14:6- "Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me."  When it comes to what really matters you don't want to go the wrong way.  You don't even want not to go the right way.  What we all really need is to get to God His way- and that is through Jesus.  When it comes to your eternity, don't make excuses and don't try to talk your way into heaven.  Just follow God's way- which means following Jesus.

Book Recommendation- The Good News We Almost Forgot

The Good News We Almost Forgot is not your typical book about doctrine. In fact, though it deals with many topics of theology, it reads more like a devotional. In this book Kevin DeYoung guides you on a tour through an old catechism (the Heidelberg Catechism from 1563). But even though the book is about a document from almost 450 years ago, the book itself is fresh and relevant.

A catechism is a series of questions and answers which guide a learner to truth. This particular catechism is made up of 129 questions and answers. The questions are grouped into 52 sections- one for each week of the year. DeYoung wrote the original form of this book in weekly installments as devotionals for the people in the church he pastors.

The outline that DeYoung proposes that the catechism writers used is: 1. guilt, 2. grace, 3. gratitude. This outline points out that we have a great guilt in the eyes of God because of our sin and have no way of absolving ourselves of this guilt short of an eternity in hell. God's grace has been extended to us in the person and work of Christ on our behalf- specifically His sacrificial death for our sins. After we have seen our guilt and the grace of God, we will then live lives of gratitude to God by living according to the way He has told us to live.

The elders at Grace Church have been benefiting from this book while we are reading it together. You can find more information about The Good News We Almost Forgot at: http://www.amazon.com/Good-News-Almost-Forgot-Rediscovering/dp/B0042P5KFE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1306421886&sr=8-1

Sermon Videos now Available

Grace Church of Old Bridge now has videos of Sunday morning sermons available for viewing. You can watch them here: http://www.vimeo.com/user6317891/videos.

Book Recommendation- The Next Story

I benefitted from a book about technology. Chances are, you will too. The book is not about how you can make Facebook and mobile phones work better. Instead, this particular book is a great reminder that all of our technology is supposed to work for us. Technology should serve you, not make you it's servant.

The book I am talking about is titled The Next Story: Life and Faith after the Digital Explosion. The book is written by Tim Challies (www.challies.com) and is a call to us who are now living in the digital age to live faithfully and wisely in these new times.

One of the most helpful portions of this book to me was the point that multi-tasking is actually a distraction. Like many people, I want to check my text or e-mail as soon as I hear a noise that tells me I've received that communication. It turns out that we are actually far less productive when we are able to be manipulated by such a small, beeping noise.

Be sure to also check out the section on immediate versus mediated conversation.

More information about the book can be found on the amazon site here: http://www.amazon.com/Next-Story-Faith-Digital-Explosion/dp/0310329035/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1305728822&sr=8-1

Teeth

In my life I have averaged one trip to the dentist each decade. It's not that I have a fear of the dentist- I just have a fear of dental bills. We recently acquired insurance, so I headed off for my first dental visit in approximately ten years. The results were disappointing, if not predictable. The dentist was appalled by the condition of my teeth and promptly scheduled me with enough appointments in the coming months to significantly alter my once a decade average.

It's probably no surprise to you that there is a reason dentists want to see you twice a year (at least two reasons that I can think of and the first one is so they can collect a lot of money). The health reason for seeing the dentist more than a handful of times in one's lifetime is so they can fix any problems before the problem becomes too bad. Because I waited so long to see the dentist I now will have to endure a host of root canals, extractions, fillings, etc.

Perhaps many people view church the same way as the dentist. We would go if we saw the need for it or if we had the time or the money (okay, you don't need to have money to come to church, but not everyone realizes this fact). I figured that I could handle most of my dental needs at home- I brushed my teeth faithfully and thoroughly. We might be tempted to think that we can take care of our spiritual needs at home as well. We can read the Bible and pray and listen to music and sermons at home. But it isn't the same as coming to church where your friends and fellow Christians will help keep you from greater danger and give you the spiritual maintenance that your life truly needs. My teeth deteriorated when I limited my dental care to self-sufficiency. Your faith will deteriorate if you limit your spiritual care to what you can do yourself. Do yourself a long-term favor. Become an active member in a good local church. It will guard your soul and prevent larger faith problems.

Building Update- May 2011

Your Building Committee at Grace Church continues to be active. We are still looking at what size of building will best serve us and help us serve the community.

It appears that the building that we will build will be an addition to our current building. The new addition will probably sit in the space of our current foyer and will include a new entryway.

The two most likely scenarios right now are for either a small addition with classrooms, bathrooms, and entry space or a sanctuary with bathrooms and entry space. If we use only build the smaller addition we would continue to meet in our current sanctuary (of course we would try to do some things to make it a little nicer). If we build a new sanctuary we would use our current sanctuary for classroom space.

A major factor in deciding which building is right for us is the financing. We ought to be able to get a loan for the smaller addition, but we still need to find out if we can get the loan for the larger addition. Please continue to pray that we would follow God's leading in this decision.

A Gospel Primer- Book Recommendation

A Gospel Primer for Christians- Learning to See the Glories of God's Love is an excellent little book by Milton Vincent. In the book we are reminded that gospel Christians need the gospel as much as they need to share the gospel. The book simply reminds us of our need to remember God's goodness in Christ, and then guides us through what God has done for us. The descriptions of the goodness of God are marvelously footnoted with Scripture. Both a prose and a poetic version of the glories of the gospel is included.

Grace Church of Old Bridge will be considering many of the truths from this book in our up-coming "Mid-Week Boost" meetings (Wednesday nights beginning May 25th).

More information about the book can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/Gospel-Primer-Christians-Learning-Glories/dp/1885904673/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1304949803&sr=8-1

State of the Church- 2011

Each year I preach a "State of the Church" message. The summary of this year's message in the form of the letter I gave to the congregation is available in the notes section of Grace Church's Facebook page:

www.facebook.com/gracechurchob

My Cousin Vinny and the Judges

The American Bar Association listed the movie My Cousin Vinny as #3 on the all-time list of their 25 Greatest Courtroom Movies. In this movie Joe Pesci and Marisa Tomei played an engaged couple from Brooklyn who traveled to the South so he could sever as a lawyer for his cousin who had been wrongly accused of murder. You might be able to guess that people from Brooklyn talk differently than people from the South. Both areas have distinct accents. There are times in the movie when the southerners can't understand what Vinny is saying. And Vinny has a lot to learn when it comes to Southern culture. In fact, even though Vinny is a lawyer, he has a lot to learn when it comes to courtroom behavior. It turns out that Vinny is actually an auto mechanic who studied law at night school. This will be his first case.

When Vinny gets in front of the judge, his New York brashness and lack of respect for courtroom procedure get him thrown in jail every day for contempt of court. It is abundantly clear that the judge doesn't like him. His life was made far more complicated because of this judge who was always getting mad at him. By the end of the movie, Vinny was trying to skip town in a hurry (after winning the case) because he thought that the judge had just figured out his true credentials. Instead, the judge came up and said how great it was to have Vinny and that he had finally been able to verify Vinny's qualifications. It turned out that Vinny's girlfriend had called a judge that knew Vinny and had him send the positive recommendation. Having a judge that liked him was what eventually overcame having a judge that couldn't stand him.

While I don't think that this movie has much of anything to commend it to us spiritually, the attitudes of the judges illustrate and important truth. It is always better to have a judge who is pleased with you than a judge who doesn't like you. Remember that God is our ultimate judge. When the time comes for you to be judged by God, would you like to approach Him as a friend or as a foe? Would you rater come before God for judgement as someone who has made Him happy or as someone who has disappointed Him. The Bible tells us how we can have a relationship with God in which He is happy with us.

Uncle Tom's Cabin

In 1852 a woman named Harriet Beecher Stowe published the novel Uncle Tom's Cabin. This book became the best-selling novel of the nineteenth century. Stowe clearly wrote the book with the purpose of undermining the slavery of the American South. The book is rightly or wrongly credited for influencing people to bring about the Civil War which lead to the freedom of the slaves.

Not wanting to rush into anything, I finally read this novel (now more than 150 years after it was published). I must admit that I was shocked at how compelling the story of the book actually was. It is a real page-clicker (if you read an electronic edition as I did). No doubt one of the reasons for the terrific interest in the book was because the book itself was terrifically interesting.

I believe that what made this book interesting were the plot, the characters, and the conversations. Even though I had a good idea of what the book was about and what the impact of the book had been, I was still surprised by the many plot twists throughout the book. The characters were made life-like through an assortment of interesting observations and through the way they acted. The characters were written in such a way that you would not have any trouble imagining them as real people. The conversations between the characters seemed like real conversations that would have taken place at that time in America's history. Most likely the reason that Stowe was able to make the events, characters, and conversation seem so true to life was because she admitted that she based the story on composites of real people and on conversations she had had and on events of which she knew to be true.

Stowe very clearly argues against the evils of slavery. She wrote in order to encourage people to set the slaves free. But while she encouraged freedom, she did not write against the South completely or exclusively. Surprisingly, she showed that the prejudice of Northern people was often more severe and just as wrong as the prejudice of those in the South. She also showed that people in the South often treated their slaves as part of their family, though they might have never considered granting them their freedom. While the positive aspects of some slave holders were shown, the evils of the system and the heart-wrenching way in which it continually ripped families apart was highlighted even more.

Very few novels impact their generation the way this one did. Very few novels take on a societal issue and encourage people to do something about the issue the way this one did. Very few novels draw you into their story with such life-like characters, facts, and plot the way this one does. These are some of the reasons that very few novels stand the test of time the way this one has. If you haven't already read Uncle Tom's Cabin, it is certainly worth taking the time to enjoy.

Church Covenant

The elders at Grace Church have initiated a Church Covenant. A Covenant might be a new concept to you. Basically, a covenant is an agreement. It is a promise. A church covenant is an agreement that a church member makes to the members of the church.

While church covenants were once a common, they are far less common today. We thought that bringing in a covenant would be beneficial to our membership. Our covenant is a reminder of the things that we promise to do for each other. We would like each member of the church to read and affirm the covenant each year. I don't think that our new covenant makes new requirements for us. Instead, our covenant spells out plainly some of the expectations that any church has and calls us to live up to these standards.

Here is a copy of the covenant that we are proposing for Grace Church of Old Bridge.

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?created&&note_id=125984020802653&id=115387825183043

I welcome any feedback regarding the wording of the covenant or questions about how the covenant will actually function.

2011 Bible Reading Program

Grace Church of Old Bridge (NJ) is hosting a Bible Reading Program for 2011. The program consists of reading one chapter in the Bible each day. The chapters that are selected will take us through the story or action portions of the Bible.

You can read on-line each day at www.gracechurchob.wordpress.com or you can pick up a paper copy of the readings and notes each month at the church.

Religious or Wise?

This is the time of year when we think about the Christmas story. After Luke 2, the main part of the Bible that we learn the events surrounding Christ's birth is the beginning of the book of Matthew. Luke tells about the shepherds, manger, angels, the trip to Bethlehem and more. But Luke doesn't tell us about the wise men. Matthew is the one who tells us about the wise men.

The wise men appear in Matthew 2 and are immediately contrasted with the religious leaders in Jerusalem at the time Jesus was born. The wise men probably travelled for two months to see the newborn King. The religious leaders refused to travel five miles to discover whether or not the report of the wise men was true. The wise men searched for Jesus, worshiped Jesus, and gave gifts to Jesus. The religious leaders ignored Jesus.

We have a choice. We can be "religious" and use spiritual stuff for our temporary advantage. Or we can be wise and follow Jesus. I encourage you to be wise with your life. Seek for Jesus. He will receive you and save you from sin. Worship Jesus no matter what the cost. And give Jesus the gift of all that you are- time, money, ability, and more.

Merry Christmas. Remember to be wise.

Prayer For a Price? You've Got To Be Kidding!

In the comments section of my previous post someone asked me to check out a site that he thought was interesting and to give him my opinion. I did a little digging and quickly discovered that the commenter was none other than the author of the other site. The site that he was stealthily (dishonestly?) promoting is a web-site in which you can post prayer requests and pay money to make sure that your request gets prayed for by a certain number of people. In addition, you can pray for the requests and receive tokens so that other people will pray for your requests.

One of the first thoughts I had was that the Reformation in the 1500's included a similar issue (indulgences) where people could pay money in order to get dead relatives out of "purgatory" sooner. But people profiting off of religion actually goes back much farther than the Catholic church. Jesus famously cleared the traders out of the temple because they were using religion as a means to financial profit. When Jesus sent His disciples out to serve He instructed them in Matthew 10:8, "Freely you have received, freely give." Paul warns Christians in 1 Timothy 6 against people who think that religion (godliness) is a means toward financial gain.

Not only does the very concept of paying for prayer go against Biblical principles, but the examples of prayer requests that were on the site were all self-centered. One person wanted to lose a certain number of pounds. Another person wanted a certain minimum score on a test. Someone else wanted their football team to win by a specific number of points (to cover the spread?). Someone else had a political request. Noticeably absent were prayers about God's glory and spiritual growth.

I doubt that I have to encourage you to hold onto your money. Most people aren't going to spend money on prayer. But I do encourage you to guard your heart. We are all in danger of focusing our prayer time on our physical and financial needs instead of on the the great God who meets our needs.

Christ the Savior

The second verse of the Christmas carol Silent Night ends with the words "Christ the Savior is born. Jesus was indeed born for the mission of saving His people from their sins (Matthew 1:21). He came to seek and to save the lost (Luke 19:10). The gifts and parties, the decorations and food of the Christmas season are all very nice, but they are not the real reason that Christ came to earth. He came to be the Savior of His people.

What difference should it make to you that Christ came as Savior? First, you should respond to Christ's mission by accepting Him as your Savior from sin. Christ's sacrifice on the cross of His righteous life bore the penalty of sin that you deserved to pay. That sacrifice only becomes effective to you by way of faith in the work of Christ on your behalf. Receive Christ as your Savior by faith and receive the forgiveness He acquired for you.

Second, we should respond to Christ as our Savior by worshiping Him for His act that procured our salvation. We should not grow tired of praising Christ for the cross. Instead, we should be like the one healed leper in Luke 17 who returned to give glory to God. Jesus commended this leper and wondered why the other nine did not do the same thing. Clearly Jesus expects us to worship Him for saving us from our sins.

A third response to being saved by Christ should be to tell others what Christ has done for us. This is what Jesus told the man that he cast a demon out of in Mark 5. That man wanted to travel with Jesus. Instead, Jesus told him to go back to his town and tell people what God had done for him. If Jesus has saved us, then it becomes our job to tell other people what we have experienced and how they can experience the same thing.

Finally, if Jesus has saved us from our sins, then we should respond by living free from continued sin. Romans 6 makes this conclusion quite convincingly. Jesus didn't just pay the penalty for our sin. He also changed our allegiance. We used to be devoted to sin. Now we should be devoted to living out God's righteousness in our lives. We will not always live perfectly, but we can live in a way that is consistent with having a Savior.

Is Jesus your Savior? If not, why not receive Him today? If He is, then live like it by worshiping Him, telling others about Him, and living free of the sin from which He saved you.

NERD

It's funny to find out how your children perceive you. We were at a McDonald's the other day and a Stevie Wonder song started playing. This caused me to share a story with my oldest two kids who were there about how I had never heard of Stevie Wonder as a singer when I was a kid. Instead, I had a friend at Awana named Steven who had the nickname "Stevie Wonder." I thought it must be since everyone thought he was so cool. This caused me to wish that I had an equally cool nickname- something like "Davie Wonder." At this point my wife and kids cracked up and my oldest daughter said in dis-belief, "you mean you were a nerd?"

My wife was shocked that the kids had no idea that I was a nerd before she made me over. She takes all the credit for changing me to the point where I am the cool dude I am today (although I'm still waiting to be called Davie Wonder- oops, there goes my inner nerd sneaking out again). Mostly, my wife was rightly impressed with herself for changing my nerdiness so much that our teenage daughter had never suspected my nerd-like roots.

Of course being called a nerd somehow got me just a bit defensive. I began to share that I actually fit with the athletes at school as well as with the brains. I thought I was bragging when I shared that I had the second highest GPA in my graduating class (even though there were only 16 of us). My son wanted to know who had higher grades than me. When I said that her name was Rachelle, his reply was, "ha- you got beat by a girl!" Okay, that's humbling. First, I'm a nerd because I had good grades. Then, I'm not enough of a nerd because a girl had even higher grades than me. I don't think I'll ever understand my kids.

Chirst the King

If you go to your search engine and type in "Christ the King" you will be directed to web pages for various churches and schools. But Christ did not become popular as "King" while He lived on earth. Make no mistake- Jesus came to this earth to become King. He came to establish His kingdom. But during the thirty-some years He walked the dusty landscape of Palestine, He was not recognized as King.

Matthew, the first book of the New Testament, clearly presents Christ as the one who came to be King of His people. From the very beginning of the book Matthew establishes the kingly identity of Jesus. The first section of the book is a list of names. Most people will skip this list or just skim over the names. But if you look closely, you will see that the list traces the kings of the people of Israel from David until the time when they ceased to have kings. But the genealogy does not end there. It continues on a straight line right to Jesus. Matthew is very clearly informing us that Jesus stands in the royal line of King David. Jesus deserves to be seen for who He truly is- King Jesus.

How should our lives be different if we know that Jesus is King? First, we should submit to Jesus as our king. This means that we will trust that His way to God is right and we will accept His payment for our sin.

Second, we should use our time like Jesus is our king. A king expects his followers to come when called. Jesus calls us every day to spend time with Him in the Bible. Jesus calls us every week to spend time worshiping him with His other followers in church.

Third, we should use our money like Jesus is our king. Let's stop asking how much we have to give and begin asking how much we can give to our king.

Fourth, if Jesus is our king, then we should be His heralds. While we may not use the words, "hear ye, hear ye" we certainly should deliver the message of the gospel to the people with whom we have the privilege of interacting.

Finally, if Jesus is our king, then we should submit to the lower authorities that He has placed over us. Government leaders, church leaders, family leaders, school leaders, employment leaders- all of these people have responsibilities to serve us. We should serve King Jesus by submitting appropriately to these leaders.

Every part of the Bible was written by God for a reason (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Matthew didn't leave us to wonder why He included a genealogy at the beginning of the list. Instead, Matthew pointed to Jesus as Messiah and showed that Jesus came to be king. Are you living like Jesus is your king?

Spurgeon Quotes- sermons preached in 1887

Here are a few quotes from Charles Spurgeon taken from Volume 33 of his sermons.

"A self-righteous man's religion is nothing but a painted pageantry to go to hell in!"

"Let us enjoy Heaven on the road to Heaven."

"The greatest Believer would not believe for another moment unless Grace were constantly given him to keep the flame of faith burning."

"All the agony of death lies in the foresight of it- death itself is the end of all agony!"

"To the Believer it is not death to die!"

"Remember, that Hell for the orthodox will be quite as horrible as eternal ruin for the heterodox."

"It will be a dreadful thing to go to hell with a sound head and a rotten heart!"

"To live without Christ is not life, but a breathing death!"

"When we struggle against tribulation or persecution, we may be warring against untold benefit."

"Preachers need not seek for larger spheres- let them be faithful in those which they now occupy. A Brother recently said to me, 'I cannot do much with a hundred hearers,' and I replied, 'You will find it hard work to give in a good account for even a hundred people.' I confess it very quietly, but I have often wished that I had a little congregation, that I might watch over every soul in it. But now I am doomed to an everlasting dissatisfaction with my work, for what am I among so many? I can only feel that I have not even begun to do the hundredth part of what needs to be done in such a Church as this!"

God's Love and Your (Football) Success

It probably would have been a good idea for Buffalo Bills wide-receiver to go home and read Romans 8:28-39 before tweeting last Sunday night. On Sunday afternoon Johnson dropped a pass in the end zone that probably would have caused his team to beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in a huge upset. Instead, Johnson became hugely upset at being the goat of the game, and decided to blame God with this tweet:

I PRAISE YOU 24/7!!!!! AND THIS HOW YOU DO ME!!!!! YOU EXPECT ME TO LEARN FROM THIS??? HOW???!!! ILL NEVER FORGET THIS!! EVER!!! THX THO. . .

If I set aside my thoughts on the grammar, spelling, punctuation, spacing, and capitalization of tweets in general and this one in particular, I end up with only a theological problem with what Stevie Johnson has said. Johnson's theology seems to be that as long as he acts in a way that pleases God, then God should give him a good life.

The apostle Paul had no such misconceptions. He had experienced the "tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword" that some might suggest could separate a Christian from the love of God. Paul testified that neither those things, nor anything else would ever be able to separate a follower of God from His love for them- the love that is gloriously displayed through the cross of Christ.

Paul did not deny that much trouble comes to the life of a believer. In verse 36 of Romans 8 he even quotes from the book of Psalms to show that God's followers have always experienced great hardship. Problems in life are not a sign of God abandoning his followers. But problems in life might show us when we have stopped relying on God and started to try to earn physical blessing from Him instead.

I don't know what Stevie Johnson's relationship with Christ actually is. But I can assure you that if you are a follower of Christ two things are true: 1. You will have problems, 2. God's love for you is eternal and will exhibit itself most permanently through granting you eternal salvation.