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I love the way Francis Chan opens this teaching and ties it to faith…

True prophets of God both afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted.

- Willem A. VanGemeren

The Backward Creed of the Upstream Swimming Fish from Woodmen Valley Chapel on Vimeo.

In the Problem of Pain (one of my all time favorite books), C.S. Lewis addresses how the Bible often uses the analogies of various relationships between man & beast to help us make sense of the relationship between God & man. Reading the quotation below, I can’t help but smirk as I picture the dynamic between my dogs and myself. I quickly recognize that because of my love for them and my far greater understanding, they don’t realize what is really going on most of the time. They can’t quite grasp that I’m trying to train them (to be something they don’t want to be) for their own good & because  that is my will – and I’m their boss-man.

Another type is the love of a man for a beast – a relation constantly used in Scripture to symbolize the relation between God and men; “we are his people and the sheep of his pasture”. This is in some ways a better analogy …because the inferior party is sentient, and yet unmistakably inferior: but it is less good in so far as man has not made the beast and does not fully understand it. Its great merit lies in the fact that the association of (say) man and dog is primarily for the man’s sake: he tames the dog primarily that he may love it, not that it may love him, and that it may serve him, not that he may serve it. Yet at the same time, the dog’s interests are not sacrificed to the man’s. The one end (that he may love it) cannot be fully attained unless it also, in its fashion, serves it. Now just because the dog is by human standards one of the best” of irrational creatures, and a proper object for a man to love – of course, with that degree and kind of love which is proper to such an object, and not with silly anthropomorphic exaggerations – man interferes with the dog and makes it more lovable than it was in mere nature. In its state of nature it has a smell, and habits, which frustrate man’s love: he washes it, house-trains it, teaches it not to steal, and is so enabled to love it completely. (more…)

For since I am free from all I can make myself a slave to all, in order to gain even more people. To the Jews I became like a Jew to gain the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law) to gain those under the law. To those free from the law I became like one free from the law (though I am not free from God’s law but under the law of Christ) to gain those free from the law. To the weak I became weak in order to gain the weak. I have become all things to all people, so that by all means I may save some.

- St. Paul, 1 Corinthians 9:19-22

Some are out of sync with both scripture and culture. Many are literate with either scripture or culture. Few are in sync with both scripture and culture. And in even a lazy reading of the his Epistles and Acts, we see this rare trait in Paul who (by grace) was BOTH in sync with his God and his setting. May we likewise be students of His word and the contexts we inhabit.

For one who aspires to live missionally, here’s two action steps & some questions to ask yourself:

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“First they came for the Communists; I did not speak because I was not a Communist. Then they came for the Jews; I did not speak because I was not a Jew. Then they came to fetch the workers, members of trade unions; I did not speak because I was not a trade unionist. Afterward, they came for the Catholics; I did not say anything because I was a Protestant. Eventually they came for me, and there was no one left to speak …”

Martin Niemöller, Pastor – Dachau, Germany 1942.

I’m teaching my World History class some WW2 … wondering how Germany became what it became in the 1930′s & 40′s. The context was situated largely in economics and national pride/shame … and very bad theological responses to, “What (or who) is the problem, and what (or who) saves?”

To place this in context, we must first recall Germany was forced to sign a burdensome guilt clause that called for strict submission to its enemies and was required to pay exorbitant retributions for The Great War; something thought to be largely unfair (by President Wilson and many historians) and could thus fuel future resentment. Soon after, Germany experienced unparalleled hyper inflation and entered a terrifying economic depression. During this season, the Mark was worthless; some would burn their bills to stay warm, children would build kites with their parents’ money, others would even wallpaper their houses their currency.

In the midst of this chaos, the national conscience cried out for salvation and scapegoats; who was the “they” to be vilified and how could “their” removal be legitimated? Who was to be the savior?

Idolatry arose in the form of nationalistic religion, with charismatic Hitler leading the way.

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Here’s an excellent and hard-hitting blog post especially for us who are young and serious about our church/theology. Even if you’re not fully in the same stream (I’m not a perfect fit) as Kevin DeYoung, it should still hit the bulls-eye.

There are two ironclad rules of Gen XYZ Americans: (1) They like to be trendy, (2) but only until everyone knows what they’re into is trendy. We want to be like everyone else but, at the same time, different. So we gravitate to whatever people are into as long as it doesn’t feel like everyone else is into it.

I believe God is at work in the under-40 generation, doing something doctrinally, ecclesiologically, and doxologically healthy among many youngish Christians. Further, I believe this work of God is being mediated through a remarkable network of like-minded pastors, preachers, and scholars. I don’t know when there have been so many folks, often friends, saying and writing more or less the same things about the gospel, the atonement, the Scriptures, the glory of God, the doctrines of grace, the centrality of the church, the importance of preaching, the roles of men and women, and on and on it goes. We are blessed with an inordinate and growing number of good teachers, good books, good blogs, and good conferences … But allegiance to our favorite conference or preferred tribe must always always be a means to further our allegiance to Christ. He must never be a means for recruiting more people to our tradition. The spotlight is always on the glory of God in the face of Christ.
So let’s be Christ-seekers, not trend-chasers.

Read the whole post by clicking here.

The vice I am talking about is Pride or Self-Conceit: and the virtue opposite to it, in Christian morals, is called Humility. You may remember, when I was talking about sexual morality, I warned you that the centre of Christian morals did not lie there. Well, now we have come to the centre. According to Christian teachers, the essential vice, the utmost evil, is Pride. Unchastity, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere flea-bites in comparison: it was through Pride that the devil became the devil: Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind.

“The gospel of justifying faith means that while Christians are, in themselves still sinful and sinning, yet in Christ, in God’s sight, they are accepted and righteous. So we can say that we are more wicked than we ever dared believe, but more loved and accepted in Christ than we ever dared hope — at the very same time. This creates a radical new dynamic for personal growth. It means that the more you see your own flaws and sins, the more precious, electrifying, and amazing God’s grace appears to you. But on the other hand, the more aware you are of God’s grace and acceptance in Christ, the more able you are to drop your denials and self-defenses and admit the true dimensions and character of your sin.”

— Tim Keller

…working through an excellent book that speaks straight to the heart, Tim Keller’s Counterfeit Gods. Two quotes for now, more thoughts another time:

We never imagine that getting our heart’s deepest desires might be the worst thing that can ever happen to us.

Jesus must become more beautiful to your imagination, more attractive to your heart, than your idol…If you uproot the idol and fail to ‘plant’ the love of Christ in its place, the idol will grow back.

A “conscience” helps us make sense of a Holy God. A conscience illuminates a moral/ethical dimension in our lives/world that shouldn’t be ignored. When people don’t have these, oh the horror…I think we can all understand the need for a moral compass. But I’m not talkin’ bout that, Willis.

I’m talking about an over-active conscience. When one’s conscious has been hijacked and one becomes too sensitive and plagued heavy sense of being wrong/unworthy/not good enough. He or she has no gray, it’s all black and white; even if the “morality” is just a construct of societal/cultural norms, these are seen as mandates from God Himself. This could mean a prohibition on consuming lawful/moderate amounts of alcohol, using sarcasm, listening to non-Christian music, or so on. But Christianity isn’t about what you don’t do, it’s about who you know. (more…)

Matt Chandler, teaching pastor of The Village Church, suffered a seizure on Thanksgiving morning and woke up in the hospital. After having tests run, he learned of a tumor on his brain.  Yesterday,  Matt updated his health status and tells us about where he is at with God in the midst of these recent events in this video… It it is encouraging to see unflinching faith in the God he preaches. What a gut check; reminds me of this passage.

Augustana – Hotel Roosevelt

To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket — safe, dark, motionless, airless — it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside of Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell.

- The Four Loves

Can a mortal ask questions which God finds unanswerable? Quite easily, I should think. All nonsense questions are unanswerable. How many hours are there in a mile? Is yellow square or round? Probably half the questions we ask-half our great theological and metaphysical problems-are like that.

- A Grief Observed

The Avett Brothers – And It Spread

In a recent article, Tim Keller addresses idolatry with relevance, clarity, and precision. His insights definitely strike a few chords with me. Here are a few quotes:

“An idol is something you rely on instead of God for your salvation…”

“We tend to worry about drugs, drinking, and pornography. But it’s not bad and nasty things that are our biggest problems. Sex, work, and money are great goods. They are intrinsic to our being made in God’s image. If God is second place in your life and one of them is first, you’re cooked. These things are candidates for first place because they are so great.”

(How does someone identify their idols?)

“Look at your daydreams. When you don’t have to think about something, like when you are waiting for the bus, where does your mind love to rest? Or, look at where you spend your money most effortlessly. Also, if you take your most uncontrolled emotions or the guilt that you can’t get rid of, you’ll find your idols at the bottom. Whenever I hear someone say, “I know God forgives me, but I can’t forgive myself,” it means that person has something that is more important than God, because God forgives them. If you look at your greatest nightmare—if something were to happen that would make you feel you had no reason to live—that’s a god.”

A synopsis of his new book, Counterfeit Gods: