Just as I am. Michael W. Smith (at the Lying in Honor of the Reverend Bi...

On Wednesday, the remains of Billy Graham lay in honor at the U.S. Capitol Rotunda. He is the first religious leader to be honored in that way.

Hundreds of people streamed past his coffin and a ceremony celebrating the evangelist’s life was held in the hallowed halls of the nation’s Capital. As part of that ceremony Michael W. Smith sang “Just as I Am.”

Smith first met Rev. Graham at a Crusade in the 1980s. He played the piano and led the song “How Majestic Is Your Name.” “He got a kick out of me stomping my foot,” the singer said. He recalls Rev. Graham being “deeply genuine.”

Smith performed at many of Rev. Graham’s crusades and said he learned from the evangelist to be transparent and relational, not “try to beat everyone to death with a Bible” when sharing the Gospel. Some people might feel uncomfortable sharing their faith, he said, but he encourages them to “step out there and be bold. … Muster up some faith and just go for it.”

On his website, Smith paid tribute Billy Graham:

“I knew it was coming….we all knew it was coming. Billy was 99 and his health had been declining for years. And I knew from my visits with him that he longed to be with his Creator and he longed to be reunited with his beloved Ruth. But, even given that, I was devastated when I got the news this morning that my good friend Billy Graham had breathed his last breath here on earth. He welcomed me on his stage countless times. Each and every Crusade was so special. But more than anything—I cherished the friendship we developed.

“Friend, mentor, counselor, hero, leader, example, pastor—he was so many things to me—making the impact of his passing such a deep hurt. At the same time—I know Billy would be questioning why we grieve. Because he is now in paradise. He is face to face with the Jesus he so loved and served so well.

“I bet his mansion is actually a log cabin—not that different than the one he and Ruth called “home” in the North Carolina mountains. I’m pretty sure it has a couple rocking chairs for him and Ruth and an endless line of heaven’s residents lined up to thank him for introducing them to Jesus.

“I will miss Billy—the same way Debbie and I have missed Ruth. But I rejoice in the promise that we will someday be together in heaven.”

In 2013, Smith released a song in honor of the evangelist titled “I’ll Lead You Home” inspired by Graham’s longing for heaven. The song is a conversation Graham might have with Jesus when he gets there.

The lyrics of the song include these lines:

So let it go and turn it over to

The one who chose to give his life for you

Leave it to me

I’ll lead you home

Smith said of Graham, “He stood before millions and he sat with world leaders. Everywhere he’s gone, he’s taken the message of the gospel and the world is different because of that one man.”  

Graham’s remains left the Capitol Rotunda Thursday to be returned to North Carolina for a private funeral on Friday.

"Dallas' Personal Daily Practices?" by Dallas Willard

Scholar and author Dallas Willard wrote books on the spiritual disciplines (The Spirit of the Disciplines) and on experiencing God (The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life in God) so posing the question, “How am I supposed to experience God” was a natural for him.  The question came during a session of Catalyst 2010. 

Experiencing God comes by way of reading the Bible, prayer, and meditation to name just a few avenues.  Or some might argue, we experience God by way of spiritual disciplines.

For many, that’s where the pursuit of God ends. They associate disciplines with punishment. Who wants discipline?

But Willard says that’s a narrow view. Those who eschew the spiritual disciplines miss benefits that enable us to do things that are good, strengthening and rewarding.

Some also argue that striving to fulfill spiritual disciplines is the opposite of grace.  Willard disagrees. He claims grace doesn’t make us passive: “Grace is not opposed to effort, it’s opposed to earning. Effort is action, earning is attitude.”  He maintains those who believe they are earning grace through their efforts have the wrong basis for relationship with God.

Instead, Willard describes discipline as practice.  It is the difference between training to do something and trying to do something.  It is not worldly wisdom.  The world tells us, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.  Willard argues, “That’s not it. Find out what went wrong and then fix it.”  That’s discipline.

In answer to the question, “How am I supposed to experience God?” 

Willard suggests intelligent effort, exercised through the spiritual disciplines.  And includes this advice, “If you want to grow spiritually start by doing the next right thing that you know you ought to do.”

Willard says that’s what God wants you to do adding, “Nothing will drag you into the kingdom of God like doing the next right thing.”

Experiencing God has been a pursuit of believers for centuries.  One of the most adored books on living in God’s presence comes from a lay brother in a Paris monastery by the name of Brother Lawrence.

After his death in 1691 a few of his letters were collected and published under the title, ‘The Practice of the Presence of God.’

In it, Brother Lawrence simply and beautifully stated that to experience God one must continually commune with God:

 “Sometimes I considered myself before Him as a poor criminal at the feet of his judge. At other times I beheld Him in my heart as my Father, as my God. I worshiped Him the oftenest I could, keeping my mind in His holy presence and recalling it as often as I found it wandered from Him. I made this my business, not only at the appointed times of prayer but all the time; every hour, every minute, even in the height of my work, I drove from my mind everything that interrupted my thoughts of God.”

As with Willard, Brother Lawrence points out our responsibility to seek God through spiritual disciplines, not in an effort to earn grace, but rather to experience it.

Just Listen: How to Hear From God

My wife says sometimes I talk too much.

It’s a little embarrassing to admit, but I know it’s true. If you have a pulse, I can and will talk with you. A lot.

“You need to give others a chance to talk and just listen,” she’ll tell me.

Just listen.

This is good advice for having a conversation with a friend, coworker or stranger. I mean, it’s a basic social norm and a common courtesy that one acquires by the age of 5. It’s important to listen to others. To give others a chance to speak and share. To give each other a turn to talk.

But it’s also good advice when it comes to prayer and talking with God.

To give Him a turn.

To give God a chance to speak.

To listen to Him.

While many of us, especially us extroverts, are good at talking with people, we often struggle when it comes to speaking with God. Prayer can be overwhelming for many because we don’t know the words to speak. That said, when it comes to prayer, the most important part isn’t speaking. It’s listening!

Listening and giving God a chance to speak isn’t just good advice, it’s necessary and vital to having a true conversation with God.

Bottom of Form

Now, we can hear from and listen to God at any place and at any time, but we must know what the voice of God sounds like.

The best place to start knowing His voice is by opening the B-i-b-l-e. #SundaySchool. By seeing His words come alive. As we read, we come to understand the character and heart of God. We come to know His promises and truths. His ways. We see what God has said in the past, which gives us a good idea of what He’ll say to us today. And what He won’t say to us. We come to know what His voice sounds like.

Unlike we naturally assume, when God speaks in the Bible, it’s often not in a loud booming voice from heaven that stops traffic. Instead when God speaks, He does so using a still small voice.

Instead of brashly breaking into our lives, He stands at our front door and gently knocks.

Instead of shouting when we don’t listen, we’re told that He draws us to Himself with His kindness, not His anger.

When it comes to hearing from God, often the main question that we need to answer is the most basic one:

 Do we want to hear from Him?

If we do, we need to give God the space and room to speak.

More practically, invite God to speak and then be quiet.

Turn off the noise. Instead of checking Twitter between meetings, be still for three minutes and listen.

Get into the Bible. Again, we must be able to recognize God’s voice if we want to hear it.

Declutter your life. Is every ounce of your day full (including every evening and weekend)? Good luck hearing from a God who whispers and quietly knocks.

If we want to hear from God, we need to give Him time.

Time to share.

Time listening.

Time and availability to speak into our lives.

We need to.

Just listen.

An excerpt from the brand new chapter of Talking With God now in paperback.

Source: Adam Weber

How Do You Respond to a Member Who Thinks You Should Resign?

A few days ago, I received an email with this report from Thom Rainer. Thought I should share it as I go through my time in God’s Waiting Room.

HOW DO YOU RESPOND TO A MEMBER WHO THINKS YOU SHOULD RESIGN?

1.    Don’t respond directly immediately

2.    Remember most of the time they are in a distinct minority

3.    Pray for the critic

4.    Pray for discernment

5.    Move on to the positive

Some highlights from today’s Rainer Report:

• We often don’t want to pray for our critics, but it’s what we’re biblically commanded to do.
• Pastors, be sure to spend time with people who have positive outlooks.

You Cannot Serve Both God and Theology

What’s more dangerous to the human soul—money or theology?

Money is the easy answer. Paul warns us, “The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs”           (1 Timothy 6:10). Treasure money, and what it can buy, more than God, and it will rob you of him and buy you terrifying, unending pain, apart from him.

Jesus himself says, “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money” (Matthew 6:24; see also Hebrews 13:5). The God of Christianity and the god of money are irreconcilably opposed. They cannot room together in the human heart. If you find yourself serving money—consuming yourself with earning, gathering and spending—by definition you are not serving God.

But is money more spiritually dangerous than theology? The answer may be trickier than we think, especially within the numbing comfort of a proudly affluent and educated American Church. Money is a tangible, countable, often visible god. Theology, on the other hand—if it is cut off from truly knowing and enjoying God himself—can be a soothing, subtle, superficially spiritual god. Both are deadly, but one lulls us into a proud, intellectual, and purely cosmetic confidence and rest before God. Theology will kill you if it does not kindle a deep and abiding love for the God of the Bible and if it does not inspire a desire for his glory, and not ultimately our own.

Good Theology Is the Only Path to God

Now, I love theology, and you should, too. Paul’s one aim in life and ministry was to know Christ and him crucified (i.e., to know Christian theology), and he wanted to know God in Christ as truly and thoroughly as possible, with all of its implications for everything he thinks and says and does (1 Corinthians 2:2). You cannot read this man’s letters and not come to the conclusion that theology was his heartbeat. He lived to know as much about this unsearchable God as possible, and he was ready to die for those truths.

Psalm 119 is a passionate love letter written to the revelation of God in his word. What we know about God from the Bible is unbelievably, inexhaustibly profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, training in righteousness and life (2 Timothy 3:16; John 6:68).

Without theology, you will not know God—literally and spiritually. So, this article is not meant to be a prohibition against theology—God forbid—but a caution and a warning about theology. Knowledge about God can replace an authentic knowing of him to our destruction, especially for the theologically refined and convinced. We all should want our theology to be not only true, but Spirit-filled and fruitful.

Source: 

Marshall Segal

http://twitter.com/marshallsegal

Marshall Segal (@MarshallSegal) is a writer and managing editor at desiringGod.org. He’s the author of Not Yet Married: The Pursuit of Joy in Singleness & Dating (2017). He graduated from Bethlehem College & Seminary. He and his wife Faye live in Minneapolis.

Billy Graham’s Son Rev. Franklin: His Tombstone Will Simply Read ‘Preach...

In his first live interview since the death of his father, Rev. Franklin Graham speaks to TODAY’s Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb about the iconic preacher’s legacy and how he affected the world.

REFLECTIONS ON BILLY GRAHAM’S PASSING

Eighty million people. That’s the number of people that Rev. Billy Graham is thought to have preached the gospel to during his years of active ministry. This doesn’t include those who heard via radio or film. Millions have come to faith in Christ as a result of his commitment to his Savior and his pursuit of the call of God on his life. He has held the position of one of the most admired people in America more than any other individual.

Billy Graham was beloved by both Christians and non-Christians, admired by those who love Jesus and those who have rejected him. And with his passing today, we are at a loss for words in many ways.

His impact on modern global Christianity is unparalleled. And yet his life calling was one of simple obedience. “My one purpose in life,” Rev. Graham once said, “is to help people find a personal relationship with God, which, I believe, comes through knowing Christ.”

In the Billy Graham Center, where I work, we have an entire section devoted to the life and ministry of Rev. Graham. On the walls are panoramic pictures of him at crusades, him with his family, him on magazines and perhaps most importantly, him praying to the God he loved so dearly.

These walls tell the story of Rev. Graham, from the time he was born in 1918 through his latter days. Having walked through these sections many times, it is hard to believe he is now face-to-face with the One he told millions about.

William Franklin “Billy” Graham Jr., the eldest of four children, was born on November 7, 1918, near Charlotte, North Carolina. He grew up on a dairy farm and at the age of 16 went to visit evangelist Mordecai Ham. He first placed his trust in Jesus at one of Ham’s revivals. Graham attended Florida Bible College, where he received his call to ministry, and later Wheaton College, where he met his future wife, Ruth Bell, the daughter of a medical missionary. The couple had five children.

While attending Wheaton College, Graham became pastor of the United Gospel Tabernacle in Wheaton, Illinois, and later served as pastor of First Baptist Church in Western Springs, Illinois, after which he took over the radio program “Songs in the Night” from his friend and fellow evangelist Torrey Johnson. In 1947, at the age of 30, Graham was named as president of Northwestern Bible College in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He served in that position until 1952. During this time he became the first full-time evangelist with Youth for Christ and in 1949 held a crusade in Los Angeles, which launched him into national prominence.

Over his ministry career, Rev. Graham held over 400 crusades in 185 cities. He also spoke at InterVarsity’s Urbana Student Mission Conference nine times.

In 1950, Rev. Graham founded the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.

It is nearly impossible for me to imagine the welcome he is receiving in heaven, the “Well done,” spoken directly to him from the One he spent his life telling others about.

As an Evangelical leader, and now holding my position as head of the Center that bears Rev. Graham’s name, it is hard for me to put into words how I feel and respond knowing that he has passed into heaven. Thankfulness and extreme gratitude top my list—gratitude that he rarely lost sight of his true calling to proclaim Christ to a lost and hurting world. Rev. Graham was on a mission to tell people about our Savior so much so that he once said, “I’ll preach until there is no breath left in my body. I was called by God, and until God tells me to retire, I cannot. Whatever strength I have, whatever time God lets me have, is going to be dedicated to doing the work of an evangelist, as long as I live.”

Awe and admiration come in a close second. Rev. Graham was a man who knew what was important. His God, his family, his friends. He didn’t waver in the face of numerous opportunities to be esteemed and lifted high in the sight of man. He didn’t cower in speaking the name of Jesus at all times, in all ways, to all who would hear. His singular vision to see our world know Jesus is nearly unparalleled.

Humility and self-reflection is a close third. In no way do I count myself the prayer warrior Rev. Graham was. His time in Scripture and prayer formed him in a way that countless people, including myself, aspire to be and do. Rev. Graham had an extraordinary balance of quiet time with God and active ministry and leadership. He held the two in perfect balance. As I reflect on my leadership at the Center, and in numerous roles God has called me into, my prayer is that I too would allow more time for quiet and rest with the God I desire all to know.

And last, but really not least, I feel sorrow upon his passing. Yes, he is in heaven and we are rejoicing. But we have lost a model, a hero of the faith. We have lost a man who impacted our world for Christ profoundly through preaching and ministry, as well as through intercession—which he did in many of his final years.

Billy Graham was an amazing model for the Christian faith—a person whose mind and heart was fixated upon Jesus. There shall never be another person like him. And yet I know that if he were here, he would continue to remind us that we are all to proclaim God’s love in a world that is lost and drowning in sin. Rev. Graham once said, “I have found that when I present the simple message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ with authority, quoting from the very Word of God, he takes that message and drives it supernaturally into the human heart.”

Rev. Graham would also call us to open our Bibles and let the words soak in long enough to convict, guide and transform us more and more into the image of Christ.

The world has lost an amazing man. And yet, the Spirit of Christ lives on in all of us. My prayer for you and me is that we too would let the words of life come from our lips at all places, at all times and in all sorts of new and creative ways. It’s time for all of us to continue on where Rev. Graham’s passing has left a void.

By Ed Stetzer • February 21, 2018

THANK YOU, BILLY GRAHAM

Like many of you, I am deeply saddened to hear news of the death of Billy Graham today. He was a friend, a colleague, and mentor to me, and I will miss him dearly.

When reports of his declining health made headlines recently, I reflected on a trip I took with Nellie Jo to visit with Mr. Graham at his home in Montreat, North Carolina in the fall of 2009. Though it was not my first time to meet with the famed evangelist, this visit seemed especially poignant at the time. Perhaps the poignancy of the moment related to the visit in his home. I had never been to the mountaintop cabin that he and his family called home for so many years.

It was my first visit with Mr. Graham since his beloved Ruth had passed away two years prior. Her photos and keepsakes were visible throughout the home. This visit was certainly different for that reason. Still again, my time with Billy Graham was poignant because he was in his twilight years. He knew it. So did I. Sadly, this would be my last visit with him.

LESSONS I LEARNED ON MY VISIT

I also knew that when I meet with people like Mr. Graham, there is always an opportunity to learn from them. So in the visit I had with Mr. Graham, I wanted once again to glean from his life, his wisdom, and his experience. My quest was not disappointing. To the contrary, I came away realizing that I had been on the mountaintop in more ways than one.

Here are five simple but profound lessons I learned from that visit with Billy Graham.

1. A life pleasing to the Lord is a life of integrity. The name of Billy Graham inevitably reminds us of integrity. His was a life that did not compromise morally. It was a life that was above reproach financially. And his was a life of incredible honesty. Leadership at any level cannot begin to function well unless the leader has integrity.
2. Our first ministry is to our family. The home of Billy Graham was a home of love. It was the place where Billy and Ruth Graham raised children and welcomed grandchildren. At one point in my visit with Mr. Graham, he pointed to a portrait of his late wife Ruth. With tears in his eyes he said, “I can’t wait to see her in heaven.” Today, he has that joy. Thank you, sir, for reminding me again of the priority of family.
3. Listen to critics, but don’t dwell on them. In my position, I am subject to criticisms more often than I like. Indeed I am pretty thin-skinned, so it is an area in which I constantly struggle. So I asked Mr. Graham how, in a lifetime of international ministry and scrutiny, he dealt with the constant stream of criticisms. He smiled at me and simply said, “I ignored most of them.” While he never implied that he was blameless, he knew that dwelling on criticisms would distract and harm his ministry. So he simply moved on.
4. Humility is one of the greatest virtues of leaders. He counseled presidents and kings. He preached to millions. Volumes have been written about his life and ministry. Some have seen him to be the world’s most influential person of the second half of the twentieth century. Yet in each of the times I was with him, I witnessed one of the most humble men I’ve ever known. Billy Graham never thought too highly of himself. What an incredible example he was.
5. All that really matters is Jesus. Mr. Graham preached about Him for most of his life. The message of the gospel was the heart of his ministry. He understood the brevity of life. And he knew, when it is all said and done, our relationship with Jesus Christ is all that really matters.

These lessons are but a sampling of what he has undoubtedly contributed to the millions and millions of lives he has impacted through his ministry.

IT WAS ALL ABOUT JESUS

And as I reflect on his life and ministry, I know I will never come close to becoming the man he was. Still, I can learn. And you can learn too.

We can learn to love our family and others with a greater love. We can learn to have a greater humility, understanding that we are nothing without Christ. We can learn that the simple things in life are those that really matter. And we can learn that this life is not about us.

It’s all about Jesus.

That was the life of Billy Graham. It was all about Jesus. That is the type of life I desire to have.

Thank you, Mr. Graham.

Thank you for your time. Thank you for your ministry. Thank you for your integrity. Thank you for your humility.

Thank you for your life.

BY: Thom Rainer

Who Will Hold the Ropes?

In 1792, William Carey published a treatise with the long title:                    An Enquiry Into the Obligations of Christians to Use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens.  Most of Carey’s contemporaries believed that the call to cross-cultural evangelism applied only to the apostles. Carey challenged this view by arguing that the Great Commission of Matthew 28:18–20 is a binding command on every generation of Christians. 

He recounted the history of missions, offered a survey of the state of global Christianity during his day, and urged Baptists and others to form societies to send missionaries to foreign lands with zero or minimal gospel presence.

That same year, Carey preached a missionary sermon from Isaiah 54:2–3, which reads, “Enlarge the place of your tent, and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out; do not hold back; lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes. For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left, and your offspring will possess the nations and will people the desolate cities.” His sermon had two points: expect great things, attempt great things.

Even Lottie Moon had a Mentor in Missions

 Before the end of 1792, Carey and his friends in the Northamptonshire  Baptist Association founded the Baptist Missionary Society, which was the   first organization of its type in the evangelical world. Carey himself was sent  to India the following year, where he served as a missionary until his death in 1834. His example inspired hundreds of others to become missionaries. 

Carey has often been called the father of the modern missions movement because of his advocacy for foreign missions and his role as the most famous early evangelical missionary.

Andrew Fuller Held the Ropes

Many people have heard of William Carey; far fewer have heard of his good friend Andrew Fuller. Like Carey, Fuller was nurtured in a theological context that wasn’t congenial toward intentional evangelism and missions. And like Carey, Fuller came to believe that every Christian was commanded to spread the gospel, and some were called to do so cross-culturally.

Before leaving for India, Carey famously told Fuller, “I will go down into the pit, if you will hold the ropes.” Fuller held the ropes by serving as president of the Baptist Mission Society from its founding until his death in 1814. He traveled all over the British Isles, raising funds and preaching missions-related sermons. The missionaries in India and other early fields could concentrate on their ministry in the field because they knew Fuller was advocating for them back home.

While the Great Commission is a command for all Christians, not every believer is called to move to another land to serve as a cross-cultural missionary. But many are, and these missionaries need pastors back home who, like Fuller with Carey, will hold the ropes for them as they spread the good news among unreached and underserved people groups.

By:  

Nathan Finn

Ravi Zacharias - Liberty University Convocation

On February 21, 2018, at Convocation, North America's largest weekly gathering of Christian students, Ravi Zacharias, President, and Founder of RZIM reminded students to let the word of God transform their mind and guide their moral compass so that others can see the gospel lived out!

Convocation is North America’s largest weekly gathering of Christian students, and each year it plays host to more than 80 guest speakers of national significance from every sphere of society.

Reflections on “What Can Miserable Christians Sing?”

Of all the things I have written, my little essay “What Can Miserable Christians Sing?” has provided me with so many delightful surprises over the years.[1]

I wrote it in about 45 minutes one afternoon, infuriated by some superficial comment about worship I had heard but which I have long since forgotten. And yet this little piece which took minimal time and energy to author has garnered more positive responses and more touching correspondence than anything else I have ever written. It resonated with people across the Christian spectrum, people from all different church backgrounds who had one thing in common: the understanding that life has a sad, melancholy, painful dimension which is too often ignored and sometimes even denied in our churches.

The article was intended to highlight what I saw as a major deficiency in Christian worship, a deficiency that is evident in both traditional and contemporary approaches: the absence of the language of lament. The Psalms, the Bible’s own hymnbook, contains many notes of lamentation, reflecting the nature of the believer’s life in a fallen world. And yet these cries of pain are on the whole absent from hymns and praise songs. 

The question that formed the article’s title was thus a genuine one: What is it in the hymnody of your church that can be sung honestly by the woman who has just lost her baby, the husband who has just lost his wife, the child who has just lost a parent, when they come to church on Sunday? The answer, I suggested, was the Psalms, for in them one finds divinely inspired words which allow the believer to express their deepest pains and sorrows to God.

Would I write it differently today? Not in terms of substance. If anything, I would broaden its application since I believe that its message is more important now than it was at the time of composition. As I survey the contemporary church landscape, I am struck at how even the great gospel of sovereign grace is now so often focused on the youth market and consequently packaged with the aesthetics of worldly power, of celebrity, of the kind of superficial approaches to life which mark the childish and the immature. Things that were once (and sadly no more) the exclusive preserve of the proponents of the prosperity gospel now feature in mainstream evangelical circles without comment or criticism. 

The world has truly been turned upside down when Calvinism has in some quarters become known for its pyrotechnics and its cocksure swagger.

I am also more aware now than I was when I wrote it of how real mortality is and of how short life can be. I wrote the piece with others in mind; now I am older and only too aware of how it applies to me and to those I love. 

The older one is, the more one is acquainted with the loss of friends and family, and the more one’s own mortality feels like a constant and unwelcome dinner guest. As a father I rejoiced the first time my son beat me in a running race; but my delight in his growing strength was short-lived when in the coming months and years I realized it was also indicative of my own decline.

The world tells us to defy this as long as we can, whether by fitness, fashion choices or even surgery. But the world is a malevolently plausible confidence trickster who tells us what we want to hear. Weakness and then death ultimately come to us all; and it is the pastor’s task to prepare both himself and his people for the inevitable. 

Thus, I now believe it is more important than ever that the church embrace weakness and tragedy in its worship. True, we look forward to the resurrection; but we often forget that the pathway to resurrection is necessarily and unavoidably through death. We need to remind our people in both what we preach, what we pray and what we sing as a congregation that God’s strength is made perfect in our weakness—and, where resurrection is concerned, in and through our total weakness at the hands of death.

Since writing the original piece, I have also become more aware of the power of liturgy to shape the mind of a Christian congregation. I am not talking here only of formal liturgies such as those in The Book of Common Prayer. I mean the form and content of any worship service claiming to be Christian. That which we say and sing as a congregation will over time subtly and imperceptibly inform our thinking about the Christian faith and thus about life in general in a powerful way. That is why an emphasis on the aesthetics of power and youth—perhaps we might say liturgies of power and youth—are problematic. They exclude the old or delude them into thinking that they are not old; and they deceive the young into thinking that they are the center of the universe and are destined to live forever. A liturgy which accurately reflects the expectations we can have for life in a fallen world, one that inculcates and reinforces that week by week, is important as a means of preparing our people for the suffering that must eventually come their way.

And that brings me once more to the psalms. True, there are Christian poets and even the occasional hymn writer who have captured the dark complexities of life; but there are none to compare with authors of the Psalter who set forth the riches and depths of human experience and existence with perfect poetic pitch. The church which makes the psalms part of her regular diet provides her people with the resources for truly living in this vale of tears, just as the church which does not do so has perversely denied her people a true treasure in pursuit of what? Relevance? There is nothing more universally relevant than preparing people for suffering and death. 

I have people in my congregation who have very hard lives, lives that are not going to become easier over time. To them I can only say: suffering comes to us all, but there is a resurrection; listen to how the notes of real, present lament in the Psalms are suffused with tangible, future hope and be encouraged: weeping may tarry for the night, and indeed be truly painful while it does, but joy will come in the morning.

When I married a young couple in my congregation a few years ago, I commented in the sermon that all human marriages begin with joy but end in tragedy. Whether it is divorce or death, the human bond of love is eventually torn apart. The marriage of Christ and his church, however, begins with tragedy and ends with a joyful and loving union which will never be rent asunder. There is joy to which we point in our worship, the joy of the Lamb’s wedding feast. But our people need to know that in this world there will be mourning. Not worldly mourning with no hope. But real mourning nonetheless, and we must make them ready for that.

Still, as I look back to the original “Miserable Christians” piece, I never imagined I would still be commenting on it so many years later. I am grateful that it seems to have been a help and encouragement to so many.

[1] “What Can Miserable Christians Sing?” in The Wages Of Spin: Critical Writings on Historical and Contemporary Evangelicalism (Christian Focus, 2005), 157-63.

Source:  

Carl Trueman

www.reformation21.org/carl-trueman/

In addition to serving as Pastor of Cornerstone OPC in Ambler, PA, Carl R. Trueman is Professor of Historical Theology and Church History and Paul Wooley Chair of Church History at Westminster Theological Seminary. Carl has degrees from St. Catharine's College, Cambridge, MA and the University of Aberdeen, Ph.D. Carl has authored many books, including, most recently The Creedal Imperative. He also blogs regularly at Reformation21 and co-hosts the Mortification of Spin podcast. He lives in Oreland, with his wife Catriona and has two sons.

This article originally appeared here.

Thought for the day

Pastoral Transition: A Very Personal Note

As I sit at my desk and begin typing on my laptop to post this to my blog my heart is heavy and tears are in my eyes. This ministry transition is tough!

Yesterday I met with a pastoral friend as I once again told the story of our transition from the church I have served for the last 18 months. 


It gave my comfort as that pastor looked at me and agreed that the most emotion I have is sorrow as we depart the ministry that God lead us to in the Spring of 2016. It was a time of prayer and fasting as Sharron and I sought God's will in our life and ministry. As we came to this church it came with a deep commitment that this could be our ministry location for several years. 

The release of ministry at this church took place the day of the pastoral vote and the results were shared with us. We now seek God's will as we sit patiently in God's Waiting Room. 

Last evening there were more tears as we sit in the home of good friends who played a major role in bringing us to Gastonia. The prayers for us and the words of encouragement were needed. We know that God is in control.  This is a first in 42 years of ministry that a church has given us such a short time to depart and within a few weeks our financial security disappears. God is speaking to us through His WORD and we are praying throughout each day. Our faith is strong because our God is strong. 

Thank you for your prayers. Resumes are being sent out almost daily. I am making every effort to put my name "out there" for God to secure our future. 

Thought for the day

What a Difference Love Makes

Have you ever wondered what a life without love would be like? Are you curious as to what the world would be like without the power of love?

To be honest, I’ve never given either of those questions much thought. You could say that I merely take love for granted.

Really, I don’t want to imagine a life without love or a world without the love of God. Such curious daydreaming would be too dark and depressing.

Tina Turner sang, “What’s love got to do, got to do with it?!” Biblically, we can attest that love is more than a second-hand emotion and its absence is about more than a broken heart.

John, the son of Zebedee, was divinely inspired when he wrote: “God is love” (1 John 4:8). Knowing how he started out, it is incredible grace that enabled John to grasp the love of God. He and his brother James were nicknamed the Sons of Thunder, by Jesus. Apparently, the Lord saw their inner rage and appropriately called them out.

However, students of the Bible recognize that this Son of Thunder became the Apostle of Love. How could such a transformation take place for John?

It is only because He had a personal relationship with God’s only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus became John’s first love, and that love began to permeate his whole life.

This doesn’t mean that John never got mad or that he never made an unpopular decision. In fact, because of his first love, John developed the ability to sternly deal with problematic people in the Early Church.

Loving God and loving others was, in fact, the way of life for John, the Beloved. He would go so far as to describe himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved (John 19:26). And the word love (or loved) appears about 80 times in John’s New Testament writings.

One of my favorite passages that John wrote is found in 1 John 4:7-11.

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”

Without the love of God that John experienced, I imagine that he would have become a bitter old man and died a miserable death. But oh what a difference love makes!

Such amazing love makes me want to sing and shout. But since this is a writing blog and not a listening podcast, I’ll share some beautiful lyrics for your eyes to feast upon.

The love of God is greater far

Than tongue or pen can ever tell;

It goes beyond the highest star,

And reaches to the lowest hell;

The guilty pair, bowed down with care,

God gave His Son to win;

His erring child He reconciled,

And pardoned from his sin.

(Refrain)

Oh, love of God, how rich and pure!

How measureless and strong!

It shall forevermore endure—

The saints’ and angels’ song.

Could we with ink the ocean fill,

And were the skies of parchment made,

Were every stalk on earth a quill,

And every man a scribe by trade;

To write the love of God above

Would drain the ocean dry;

Nor could the scroll contain the whole,

Though stretched from sky to sky.

John’s writings throughout Scripture clearly teach that our behavior is the most significant indicator of what we truly believe.

Having a first-love relationship with God made a miraculous difference for John.

Christian, it’s time for you to walk in the love of God that you profess. In deed, let Jesus be Lord of your life and make loving others your priority today.

Are you in a first-love relationship with God Almighty through His Son, Jesus Christ? Have you been miraculously changed by His love?

Source:  the William Strickland blog