Notable...

I have not blogged out here in a while but have spent a great deal of time at my faith and culture blog, The RP2, plus commenting at friends' blogs. I just recently posted over there about the deplorable conditions of sweatshop labor in China, making of all things, crucifixes. I was torn about whether it deserved to be posted here or there, but nevertheless, it is over there and not here, so click over and please read. Thanks.

The Personhood Question Arises in Colorado

Not too long ago at the collaborative blog I posted on whether or not abortion is a religious issue. A good discussion ensued and boiled down to mostly a policy discussion. A good-natured debate in respect to the inequality of different religions was the primary topic of the thread and that different religions say that life begins at different times, whether in the womb or not.

I find it amazing that we must debate when life begins. Only because we have the unnatural capability of stopping a life from growing in the womb does this debate arise. In Colorado last Tuesday, a measure was taken by their court system to define when a life begins. A constitutional amendment was passed unanimously in the state supreme court and will go to a ballot vote in November of '08. The language of the amendment is as follows:

"Shall there be an amendment to the Colorado constitution defining the term 'person' to include any human being from the moment of fertilization as 'person' . . . in those provisions of the Colorado constitution relating to inalienable rights, equality of justice, and due process of law."

I walked through the argument for personhood and its endowment by God in the womb at the post at sbcImpact. Michael J. Norton, a lawyer who represented supporters of the proposal, said the real impact of the proposal would be in its simplicity, asking a profound philosophical and moral question.

“The whole issue centers on when does life begin,” Mr. Norton said. He said that though the word “abortion” would not appear in the language of the proposal, it would effectively make an abortion “the destruction of a person” and therefore illegal.

“Whatever rights and liberties and duties and responsibilities are guaranteed under the Constitution or other state laws would flow to that life,” Mr. Norton said.

Crying foul, Vicki Cowart, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, said this then "would give fertilized eggs the state constitutional protections of inalienable rights, justice and due process." Opening a Pandora's Box of legal implications, birth control and in-vitro fertilizations would also be called into question.

This is an important debate that needs to happen. It is the responsibility of a free, civilized society to protect the weak and oppressed and certainly the unborn fall into this category. Several states (GA, MS, MI, OR) have attempted such measures, but thus far only Colorado has been successful, and Colorado would be the first state to vote on such an initiative.

Keeping Little Girls Little

As a father of four little girls, brother Bowden McElroy's post on Keeping Little Girls Little especially resonated with me. It has always been a major concern to me and my wife that our little girls stay little as long as possible. It is distressing to see other little girls, the same age as my oldest, look like they are eighteen years old in terms of body build. For a time, we tried to buy all organic foodstuffs to try to stave off early onset of puberty due to the growth hormones injected in milk and meats. Buying organic quickly became cost-prohibitive. However, the study Bowden has posted seems to intimate otherwise, and thankfully so.

The results of the study show that children living in families with greater parental supportiveness, from both mothers and fathers, less marital conflict and less depression reported by the fathers experienced the first hormonal changes of puberty later than other children. In addition, children whose mothers had started puberty later (a genetic factor), whose families were better off financially when the children were in preschool, whose mothers gave them more support when they were in preschool and who had lower Body Mass Index when they were in third grade developed secondary sexual characteristics later than their peers.

As Bowden notes, "A stable home environment may delay the onset of puberty in girls." One thing my wife and I constantly struggle for is a semblance of order in our home. The premise we base this on is that heaven is often referred to as "home" in the Scriptures as well as in popular culture so we try to foster as "heavenly" an environment as we can. It is a challenge!

Though we only have one nearing pubescent age, the results are evident. A stable home life counts for so much more than just the normal rhythms of life and prayerfully, it will develop happy, whole, God-fearing children in our home.

The Weekly Exposition

I have enjoyed posting snippets of my messages from Sunday mornings and I hope they have been of some benefit to all you precious readers out there. This week's offering continues in the book of Hebrews, 12:3-11. This represents my last message from the book as I will head into holiday messages next Sunday that will carry us through the end of the year.

Here is an excerpt from Spiritual Discipline.

Verses five and six teach us that discipline is a mark of the relationship of a child of God with his God. "You have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons." He says, "My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord," rather welcome it! He says, "Do not be discouraged when you are rebuked," rather be encouraged!

For to be disciplined means you are a child of God and that He loves you! Too many children these days get away with too many things. I wore enough stripes on my legs as a boy to know that my father was concerned about my erring ways and that he desired for those ways to be trained out of me. He never punished out of malice; it was always out of love. And there are certain levels of discipline we can expect according to this writer.

The first level is that of a rebuke. Consider with me the power of a mother's eyebrow. My mother could make me stand up lock-straight just by a curl of her eyebrow. Consider the snap of a father's finger; same effect. This is God getting your attention. It may come as a friendly word of advice from a friend; a word of admonition from your pastor; a song lyric; an impression from the Holy Spirit. This level is by far the simplest and easiest to endure, yet easily overlooked and typically broomed away.

The second level is God getting more serious because you didn't. It is the level of chastening. The discipline is stepped up so that you might take notice of the path you are now treading and the dangerous place you have put yourself. This comes as the stern "talking-to" that my dad used to give me as a teenager. (Sometimes I wished he would just whip me and get it over with.) This is the prayer that lays heavily upon your heart, the word of admonition that went unheeded that constantly troubles your heart and mind, when the skies feel as gray as gun metal and are closed just as fast. However, this is the level that God desires that you PAY ATTENTION because in no way does He desire to proceed to the next level.

If you choose to ignore Him it gives God no pleasure to proceed to scourging. This is the same word used of Jesus' scourging in Matthew 27:26; a frightening prospect indeed, knowing that all our sins were laid upon Him and He received all our punishment for them. It pleased God to bruise Jesus, but in no way does it give Him pleasure to bruise His children.

I just recently finished Elie Wiesel's book Night about his imprisonment and hard labor in a German concentration camp. Elie just happened to catch a German guard with a young woman. Fearing he would get in trouble, the guard took measures to insure Elie would keep quiet. He called for a crate and had Elie stretched out over it, bare-backed. Elie only felt the sting of the first lash; the following twenty-four lashes drove him into unconsciousness. After the beating, the guard had Elie stand in front of him and he demanded that he would never speak of what he had seen. Elie's response was, "My head bobbled yes, it bobbled as if it would bobble that way for all eternity."

In no way is scourging ever done in such a way by our loving Father. Every stroke is measured; every stroke is for our good. He does resort to such horrendous means but only when He has exhausted all others. When He scourges, it isn't to be taken lightly, but soberly and sensibly. His correction is always to be received to bring us to our senses, never to leave us senseless.

Important Books (To Me)

Other than the Bible, what books have had a profound influence on you, shaping the way you live and act as a Christian, the way you believe, do ministry, and relate to others? Five books have been especially significant to me (in no particular order).

1. Knowing God, J.I. Packer
2. Overcoming the World, Joel Beeke
3. A Passion for Prayer, Tom Elliff
4. Every Man's Battle, Stephen Arterburn and Fred Stoeker
5. Ministering Like the Master, Stuart Olyott

What books have had a profound influence on you and your walk with Christ?

The Preacher's Pledge

I have blogged on pulpit plagiarism before (here and here). It still amazes me that some preachers are not above plagiarism and use the Internet frequently and regularly for sermon preparation. I admit, the Internet is a useful tool, but for a pastor to download and preach verbatim a sermon is theft and at worst just sheer laziness. However, I am just simply flabbergasted by the need of pastor's to sign a pledge not to base their sermons off the labors of others.

And, the pledge affirms that a preacher should preach from, of all things, the Bible (insert sarcasm)!

In a new campaign aimed at putting the centrality of the Bible back into a preacher's message, "The Preacher's Pledge," introduced by SermonCentral.com, has been signed by pastors from over 50 nations so far.

"We introduced The Pledge because we think preachers must engage the Bible in their sermon preparation and not simply short circuit the process with someone else's study," says Ron Forseth, general editor for SermonCentral.com. "Our site is a valuable supplement but not the primary source for a sermon. God's Word is."

Preachers then make their commitment to the following:

• I will make the Bible my primary resource in sermon preparation and preaching.
• I may use other resources such as commentaries and web sites to enhance, not replace, my personal interaction with Scripture.
• As I study I will strive to accurately understand and honestly apply God's Word, allowing Him to uniquely proclaim His truth in a relevant way through me.

Maybe it is just me. I hope it is. Why this need? Is Sermon Central so naive? I'm going to be bold: if a pastor needs to sign this pledge, does he need to be in the ministry anyway? It seems a commitment to the Bible would be a non-issue and that without reservation the Bible would be central. Perhaps as preachers graduate from seminary they can just sign a little pledge card akin to True Love Waits.

Books from Church Members

Occasionally, church members will give me books to read and critique for them. This is something I encourage them to do, especially since it gives me peace of mind that they are indeed reading. Reading is a practice that is definitely lost on some church people and if they are reading then often it is something froofy (technical term). Lately, I have been given two books and I would like to share my overall critiques.

The first is 23 Minutes in Hell, by Bill Wiese. It records the author's twenty-three minute descent into hell with the intent to scare you straight. I do not discount Wiese's experience. He quite legitimately may have been given a tour of hell and allowed to experience some of the torments so that he might return to warn people of their impending doom if they fail to accept Jesus.

Some of the imagery was like it was out of a childhood nightmare and Wiese may have done a much better job if a more experienced writer co-authored the book with him. The scenes he depicts seem more to be grounded in horror movie epics rather than biblical truth. For instance, in grisly detail he describes his demonic accusers and the shrieks of terror of others imprisoned in hell. Though he does describe the isolation and separation he felt while in "hell" it seems biblically incongruous that he could experience the terror of others, as well as be tormented by a demon.

The latter half of the book is Wiese's attempt at developing a biblical doctrine of hell, which a writing theologian alongside of him would have helped, but as a lay writer, Wiese did an admirable job. Obviously Wiese wanted the biblical record to match his experience and that portion of the book, as I described to the church member, is a hermenuetical embarrassment. I do not discount Wiese's experience and that part of the book can stand alone on its own merit. It is up to the reader to decide whether or not Wiese is sincere. His theology leaves much to be desired and a word of caution, if you are looking for a biblical doctrine of hell, you won't find it here.

The second book comes highly recommended. When this lady handed me this book, pleading that I read it because "I would never be the same," I shuddered because of the Oprah's Book Club sticker adhered to the cover. Reluctantly I took the book and agreed to return it the following Sunday.

She was right. After reading Night by Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel (and I didn't notice the similarities in the author's names until I posted) the horror of the Nazi concentration camps became a little too real. Devastatingly simple in its detail yet graphic enough to churn your stomach, I finished this book after the second sitting.

It chronicled Wiesel's family's abduction by the Nazis in World War II and their transport to the extermination center of Auschwitz. Separated from his mother and sisters forever, he and his father made it through "selection" and immediately began hard labor. The narrative then becomes Elie's feeble yet desperate efforts not to be separated from his father.

The book is appropriately titled for darkness settles in on the prisoners as they arrive in the camp. A blackness that should be unfathomable in human experience envelops those unfortunate enough to be alive.

What are You, my God? I thought angrily. How do You compare this stricken mass gathered to affirm to You their faith, their anger, their defiance? What does Your grandeur mean, Master of the Universe, in the face of all this cowardice, this decay, and this misery? Why do You go on troubling these poor people's wounded minds, their ailing bodies? [p. 66]

Elie loses all hope in humanity and eventually in God as he watches horrid death after horrid death. The story climaxes with a death march to Buchenwald, where he and his father are transferred as the Russians and Americans are marching through Germany. Their lives were reduced to the avoidance of violence and the constant search for food. Never should another human being be treated in such a way. Never should man forget man's capacity for inhumanity.

In the afternoon, they made us line up. Three prisoners brought a table and some medical instruments. We were told to roll up our left sleeves and file past the table. The three "veteran" prisoners, needles in hand, tattooed numbers on our left arms. I became A-7713. From then on, I had no other name. [p. 42]

Liberation for Elie was welcome yet horrifying. Having not seen his own face in years,

One day when I was able to get up, I decided to look at myself in the mirror on the opposite wall. I had not seen myself since the ghetto. From the depths of the mirror, a corpse was contemplating me. The look in his eyes as he gazed never left me. [p. 115]

The book concludes with Wiesel's acceptance speech for the 1986 Nobel Peace Prize where he takes a bold stand against worldwide injustice and oppression, calling all with the ability to fight against it. May we never forget man's ability to do evil and to harm another human being, including our own.

The Weekly Exposition

This is an excerpt from the weekly exposition I deliver at the church I serve, taken from The Secret to Enduring Faith, from Hebrews 12:1-2.

I have been reading the book Band of Brothers by Stephen Ambrose. It chronicles the exploits of Easy Company of the US Army during World War II. They were known as one of the best combat outfits in the military. Being a volunteer outfit, only the strictest requirements let a young soldier in. Physical training was of utmost importance, the men doing it most of their waking hours. Intended to be a paratrooper regiment, the men began to get irritated that they had not began training in that regard. They did nearly twice as much calisthenics as normal basic.

However, basic came to an end and the boys transferred from Camp Toccoa in Georgia to Camp Mackall in North Carolina. Training at Mackall was to be broken into four regimens, A, B, C, and D. A was to be strictly physical exercises. Easy was so well-trained physically that they were able to skip Week A. The men began doing their runs backwards, literally running around the staff sergeants as they led them out on runs, and challenging the staff sergeants to races.

After two days of this abuse, the staff sergeants went to the CO and recommended that the boys of Easy advance to Week B and skip A. Standing in awe of the boys' endurance, the staff sergeants, as well as men from other outfits, got out of their way and let them begin training as paratroopers.

Many of us know similar people in our walks of faith. Much like the boys of Easy, we stand in awe of some of our contemporaries' faith. How do they do it? How do they endure under such difficult circumstances? Many of us have mature Christians we look up to and we wonder where they get their strength and stamina from.

The writer of Hebrews says, "Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us." The Christian experience is like a race and not an easy one. This is one of the grand lessons of Hebrews 11. By faith each figure in chapter eleven endured, and it wasn't by perfect faith, but by enduring faith. Now the writer wants us to know how to endure just as those of the roll call.

The two secrets to enduring faith are so simple anyone can follow them; even me! First, we must lay aside every impediment. And then, we must keep our eyes on Jesus. Simple, isn't it?

Another Offering

Of Lousy Church Signs! This one smacks of elitism and Christian superiority, akin to "Christians aren't perfect, just forgiven."

Heaven: a prepared place for a prepared people

I have no problem with the theology behind the statement but we don't want to use heaven as a badgering point for calling people to repentance and faith in Christ; especially not on a potential first point of contact with unbelievers.

The second is an offering from brother Ron Jackson, emailed to me over six weeks ago. I apologize brother Ron! It got caught up in my inbox and underneath a flurry of email I lost it until today when I was cleaning out the inbox. There shouldn't be several hundred messages in one inbox!

I'm not quite so sure. Google is kind of like Wal-Mart; if they ain't got it, you don't need it. If you can't find it on Google, you can't find it, right? Right? Anyone?

Quote(s) of the Day

Via Dave Black quoting Corrie ten Boom in his latest essay The Astounding Power of Poverty.

“Look inside and be depressed, look outside and be distressed, and look to Him and be at rest.”

Brother Dave goes on to say in retrospect:

This intimate assurance that Christ can be trusted is our security. It resolves the dilemma of our insignificance, our mortality, our futility. Gradually we become aware that God takes unimportant nobodies, fills them with His Presence, and empowers them to live lives of unhypocritical love (Rom. 12:9). Our growing awareness of, and confidence in, the adequacy of Christ constitutes the unshaken rock upon which our faith stands.

Amen.

Praise Report: Thank God for Rain!

Southside Virginia has been terribly dry over the summer and nary a drop of rain has fallen since spring. However, rain has been steadily falling since Wednesday morning and is falling now as I type. I wonder though...

Two weeks ago, a church member emailed me with a burden and related the she had a burden that our church was not praying enough. She then asked if she could organize a prayer vigil for Saturday, October 27th. I heartily concurred and agreed to take a slot. She wanted to pray specifically for rain because rain is completely bound up in the providence of God and only through prayer can a change be affected.

The irony is that since yesterday evening, our local weather report has stated we have received over five inches since Wednesday and our county is under a flood watch! We will still gather tomorrow at the church for our prayer vigil, which now will morph into a "praise" vigil! Perhaps tomorrow you might like to join us in prayer? I hope so.

Lousy Church Signs Continued...

OK, OK. I'm on a roll again. I can't help it. I spent about six hours in the car today making hospital visits and the church signs were just ripe for the picking. On a Baptist (ironic, huh?) church sign:

We'll care about you.

As opposed to whom? It must be that other church. (Shhhhh...you know which one I'm talking about!!) Like I've said before, if you have to put it on the sign...

God gave us faces.
We create our expressions.

At least God didn't create church signs. Because I couldn't imagine He could be responsible for such lousy "expressions" on them. This next one takes the cake. My first question is, why do you need a banner in addition to a marquee? Are you multiplying lousiness?

Wednesday, October 31st 4-7 PM
Family Fun
and a
Holy Ghost Wienie Roast

I can't comment. I just can't. I'm wiping the tears from my eyes.

Miracle Baby Turns One

Earlier this year I blogged about miracle baby Amillia Sonja Taylor and the fact that she was born at one day under twenty-one weeks, the shortest gestation period known for a live human birth. A lively discussion ensued regarding reproductive choice. Amillia turned one yesterday. Follow the link to see a picture.

Lousy Church Signs

It has been quite some time since my latest offering of lousy church signs. Here are a few for your Wednesday. This one my wife found on the new "worship center" downtown.

Let your life match your lip.

Interesting diversion from "practice what you preach." Its good they didn't lose the alliteration. That is always important.

This one belongs in the "so sweet it will make you sick" category.

The next time you are reluctant to change,
think of the beauty of autumn.

Awww. It makes me want to get a new hair-do. And this one comes from my good blog friend Chris, The Evangelism Coach. And its OK to laugh out loud!

So, verbal adjective or adjectival verb? You make the call!

Sunday Morning Sermon

I have been preaching through the book of Hebrews. In this past Sunday's exposition, I dealt with Hebrews 11:30-40; the title of the message was Faith that Overcomes. In the development of verses 35-37, I transitioned the writer's expectation of persecution for the Hebrew Christians to contemporary persecution. Here is a brief snippet.

Persecution is very real. I could give example after example of modern-day persecution, yet we are lulled into believing that it really doesn't happen. We are insulated by a first amendment that guards our religious expression. We can gather freely, talk about the Bible, and worship with absolutely no recourse.

Yet, there are Christian brothers and sisters around the world that earnestly pray for the freedom you and I have. What does that freedom engender in us, however?

A white-hot passion for the Gospel?

A zeal to see souls saved?

A radical worship that changes hearts and lives?

An earnest calling forth of men and women to repent and believe the Gospel?

No--none of this. Rather it engenders in us a complacency, a slothfulness, a laziness that God abhors. It does not drive us to our knees in fervent prayer for our persecuted brothers and sisters. It drives us onto our backsides just glad that it ain't us.

These martyrs; these persecuted Christians are who the writer of Hebrews is holding up for us by way of example. He isn't holding up who we would consider giants of the faith--Billy Graham, Charles Stanley, David Jeremiah, Jerry Falwell--yes, these are great men of God and we should listen to them, honor them, and respect them and their ministries. Yet they aren't the men whom will be in the roll call of faith per Hebrews 11.

It will be men more along the likes of Tilmann, Necati, and Ur, Turkish believers who died for their faith in April of this year. Or the Chinese believer who was brutally beaten, along with his wife, for refusing to reveal the meeting location of their house church.

This is a disconnect that we need to overcome as the people of God. Persecution is real and it takes place everyday--even if it doesn't happen within our shores. Our freedom is a blessing but one we take woefully for granted.

Notes on Pastoral Authority

Having difficulty with an argumentative church member, I asked a couple of brother pastors' advice on the issue. From two different pastors, I received two different responses, polar opposites from one another. One pastor said simply tell him that you're the pastor and that's that. The second said I needed to lovingly admonish the brother and walk with him through this issue.

Pastoral authority is a difficult topic to discuss. How much authority should the pastor have, if any at all? If he does have authority then to whom does he answer? Likewise, who answers to him? How should he exercise that authority? Positions on authority are as many as there are pastors and there are several other factors that guide a pastor's understanding of his own authority.

Some pastors feel they don't need to know what is going on in the church; a hands-off approach. Some pastors micro-manage every minute detail of church life. The Scriptures give evidence of some semblance of authority when Peter urges the elders to whom he was writing. "Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain, but eagerly; nor as being lords over those entrusted to you but being examples to the flock" (1 Peter 5:2-3). It is apparent that in Peter's time there were pastors who saw their role in church life as "he who is to be obeyed." Perhaps this attitude did not play out in actual practice but quite certainly the tendency was there.

It was about fifteen minutes before I was to preach at a funeral with one of the predecessors of the church I serve. He is seventy years old. Spending twelve years at the church I now pastor, he asked, "How long have you been here now?"

"Almost six years, sir."

"Well, you've been here long enough to be called pastor now haven't you?"

This is one of the first principles of pastoral authority. Authority is earned. I believe a certain amount comes with the office, but not much. People are not by nature trusting people and when a man comes in from outside their congregation, there is a natural uphill climb to garner respect. Many pastors do not take advantage of this uphill climb to allow their muscles to be hardened by the difficult work of winning people's hearts.

A good friend of mine (and if you're reading, you know who you are) often says, "A man who leads and nobody follows is only taking a walk." Pastoral ministry is not some kind of divine follow-the-leader. It is an earned respect, an earned influence.

A second principle is just to simply love people. We emphasize the Great Commission as well we should, but often we have done it to the detriment of the Greatest Commandment. Loving people is hard and its much easier to tell people about Jesus than to love them to the point of acceptance.

Moreover, people are needy and demand care. One brother pastor jokingly said he had 85 children. Though I disagree with the spirit of that retort, there is a grain of truth in it. As children are needy so God's people are needy and need constant attention and provision.This does not mean God's people won't act unloving. The pastor then can take the lead in a delicate area of church life and show the congregation he serves how to love unloving people. Peter did say "be examples."

A third principle I guide my ministry by is trod where they have trod. Walk with the folks through their difficulties and burdens, rejoice in their rejoicings, weep when they weep. Sometimes pastoral ministry just needs to be a ministry of presence. For the pastor's watch to stop for just a few moments means the world to a lonely elderly person, a grieving widow, or a hurting divorcee.

A final principle is to always pray. I pray with the people God has given me to serve every opportunity I get. I never leave a congregant's home, bedside, or hospital room without praying. Whether the time is happy or sad, I always pray.

One final concern is when to exercise authority. The pastor only has as much authority as the congregation allows him to have. It can raise incrementally through a life of integrity, dealing well with mistakes, and living an authentic Christian life before them. A real pastor and not "super-Christian" fosters an environment of trust when times to exercise authority comes yet hypocrisy can do irreparable harm.

Pastoral authority has its limits and can be abused. The Bible does not even call for "servant-leaders," the vogue, falsely humble moniker for how pastors ought to be. Rather, Jesus just calls for servants.

You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. And whoever of you desires to be first of all shall be slave of all. Mark 10:42-44

A Good Question

Lawrence Henry, writing for the American Spectator, asks a good question. In an article entitled Church and Me? he asks,

Is a church its people, or is it the body of Christ, or both? When you feel like certain people -- perhaps key people -- have let you down, what do you do?

Lawrence states a problem I have often had in my own ministry and as a church member. What do you think?

But, at various stages, I have stopped going to church, because some human fallibility, some shortcoming in the congregation itself, has brought me up short. As a church, we belong to Jesus Christ, not to any particular person, whether he be preacher, teacher, elder, or friend.

But those preachers, teachers, elders, and friends do mean something, and when something goes awry -- when the church as a church just plain doesn't work, and when I start to feel the way I felt as a child, that some of the grownups are faking it, or taking refuge in rigidity -- then I start to feel that old uneasiness again, and find it a lot more comfortable to retreat to my Bible and my prayers and solitude.

What I Said Sunday

This past Sunday I preached a message from Hebrews 11:17-22 entitled "Confidence in Christ". Expositing verses 17-19 about God testing Abraham, I said...

Testing accompanies faith--it is a given. The Bible teaches that Abraham was tested, meaning that Abraham did not go looking for this test. It meant that any number of people or circumstances may have been the cause of this test, but ultimately, the originator of the test was God. But the test was not about God. It was not about proving Abraham's faith to all his friends and neighbors. It was about proving Abraham's mettle. It was about proving Abraham to himself. It was about Abraham being shown his deficiencies and how God would be sufficient to meet his every need; past, present, and future.

This was an amazing test for Abraham. When God called Abraham to leave Ur, Abraham gave up his past. But in the sacrifice of Isaac, Abraham was asked to surrender his future to God as well. All Abraham's hopes for the future lie in that boy--all of God's promises being fulfilled lie in that boy--yet God asked Abraham to give up that as well. God was going to make sure that Abraham had no claim on his own future--only God did.

And what proof did Abraham have? Only a simple promise and the voice of God. Isn't it amazing how, through the Bible, level of belief decreases with increasing level of revelation? Abraham had no accompanying miracle, no manifestation of the power of God, no burning bush, no crucifixion; yet he believed. Compare the bitter, hateful Israelites of Moses' day.

They had all manner of revelation, including a promise and the voice of God. They had Moses' experience at the burning bush, the horror of the ten plagues, the parting of the Red Sea, manna from heaven, a cloud to lead them by day, and a pillar of fire by night, yet how many of them refused to believe! Abraham had only a a simple promise and the voice of God yet this caused him to conclude that God was able to raise Isaac up, even from the dead.

But all this is beside the main point: that God, despite all obstacles and events to the contrary, He is faithful to His promises.

A Post to Consider...

...at my other blog. I posted last night on some valid questions David Gushee, ethicist at Mercer University, asks of those holding to a complementarian view of Scripture.

Friends or Friendly?

Being new in ministry, other pastors felt the need to give me advice and lots of it. Standing in the Danville Mall, my family had bumped into another pastor and his family. Talking shop, my brother pastor related the story of how a church member, who he claimed was a friend, "stabbed him in the back" (I'm not very fond of that phrase.)

He then offered this piece of advice: "You can be friendly; but don't be friends."

That piece of advice I have not followed. Yesterday, as I stood behind the pulpit preaching yet another funeral service, I understood how atrocious that piece of advice was.

Brother Billy and his family have grown very special to my family in our tenure at our church. They have nearly adopted us as part of their own family, something (unfortunately) unheard of in many churches. There seems to be a presupposed distance between church member and pastor, as well as his family. I understand this distance, but it just does not mesh with my personality and who I am in Christ. I am a very relational person, and I think that is vital for being a successful minister.

The distance breeds an artificiality that is simply impossible to overcome. How can you minister to a flock of God's people and not get close to them? Relationship implies nearness.

Billy's wife regularly kept nursery and my wife and I, as has been said of us, "are determined to keep the nursery full." Billy had progressed to the point where the pulmonary fibrosis he was diagnosed with several years ago needed constant care. Billy's wife had been unable to come to church since our new baby was born, so my baby boy and I made a trip over about six weeks ago. He was passed around like a sack of taters and Billy was thrilled to get to hold him for a short time. There is something about the "babyness" of a baby that just makes elderly people feel good.

About two weeks ago, I made another visit to see Billy, his situation having gotten worse. He felt like the end was near, but still seemed like he had not digressed; there was no noticeable difference in his health. However, this past Monday evening, Billy's son called and said that his daddy had gone on to be with the Lord. I quickly got dressed and spent the next four and a half hours with the family.

As Billy's wife and I stood at Billy's bedside, awaiting the funeral home to come pick up the body, I remembered a promise I had made. I had told Billy the last time I visited that I would bring my boy back over to visit. He was elated and said he couldn't wait to see the "little feller".

As I was preaching yesterday, I related the story to the assembled family and friends. I made a public apology to Billy and his family for failing to keep my promise, and then it happened. The tears began to flow. Perhaps it was because I had failed to keep that promise; perhaps it was because I had sinned, fallible as I am. However, I think I know why. Death is unexpected. We cannot predict it. And Billy's death also caught me off guard.

The shortest verse of the Bible has profound and deep meaning. Jesus wept. He was not afraid to show His emotion. He was not afraid to be transparent. He was not afraid to get close. At the grave of a close friend, Jesus' eyes dripped water, an indication of His humanness, His identification with frail humanity, His love for those to whom He was close. Why should the pastor be any different?