Not Blogging Here Anymore

This is for any of you who are following me via email, RSS, and the like. I have moved my blog over to Wordpress because I found it to be a much superior tool for me. The new URL is www.graceandtruthblog.com. You can subscribe via RSS or email on that page.

10 Principles for Church Music

The following is copied from Kevin DeYoung's blog. It is a 2-part blog, but I'm going to just copy all the text into one extremely long post. :) Any of you who lead worship or enjoy church singing should appreciate this teaching.

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When it comes to singing on Sundays, churches have more options than ever before. From hymnals to Hillsong to homegrown creations, pastors and worship leaders have thousands of songs to choose from. A nice problem to have.

But still a problem. No music leader or pastor can keep up. No church can sing all the great hymns and all the latest greatest songs on the radio. No musician can excel in all the available styles. No leader can please all the people all the time.

The proliferation of choices often leads to conflict. Should we do hymns (Wesley, Watts, or Fanny Crosby?) or contemporary (70′s folk music, early seeker service contemporary, or edgy punk rock?). Should our music have a Latin flavor or an African American feel? Should we use chants, chorale music, metrical psalms, jazz, country western, or bluegrass?

There are other questions too. What sort of instruments should we use? How much should cultural context come into play? Is there only one right kind of song to sing? If not, are there any wrong ways?

I can’t possibly answer all those questions. But there are some general principles we can use to make wise decisions with our church music. Let me suggest ten principles for congregational singing.

1. Love is indispensable to church singing that pleases God.

There are more important things than the kinds of songs we sing. Music should not be the glue that holds us together–the cross, the glory of Jesus Christ, the majesty of God, and love should. But even churches centered on the gospel disagree about music. So love is indispensable when we sing and when we are trying to discern what is best to sing.

John Calvin:

But because he [the Lord] did not will in outward discipline and ceremonies to prescribe in detail what we ought to do (because he foresaw that this depended upon the state of the times, and he did not deem one form suitable for all ages), here we must take refuge in those general rules which he has given, that whatever the necessity of the church will require for order and decorum should be tested against these. Lastly, because he has taught nothing specifically, and because these things are not necessary to salvation, and for the upbuilding of the church ought to be variously accommodated to the customs of each nation and age, it will be fitting (as the advantage of the church will require) to change and abrogate traditional practices and to establish new ones. Indeed, I admit that we ought not to charge into innovation rashly, suddenly, for insufficient cause. But love will best judge what may hurt or edify; and if we let love be our guide, all will be safe. (Inst. 4.10.30)

Before we are quick to judge the lame songs some other Christians enjoy, remember C.S. Lewis’ revelation. Listen to one of the century’s most famous converts to Christianity talk about his early impression of church music:

I disliked very much their hymns, which I considered to be fifth-rate poems set to sixth-rate music. But as I went on I saw the great merit of it. I came up against different people of quite different outlooks and different education, and then gradually my conceit just began peeling off. I realized that the hymns (which were just sixth-rate music) were, nevertheless, being sung with devotion and benefit by an old saint in elastic-side boots in the opposite pew, and then you realize that you aren’t fit to clean those boots. It gets you out of your solitary conceit. (God in the Dock, 62)

I imagine the Apostle Paul, if he were writing to the church today, might have something to say about our worship style. “If I sing in style of the hippest music, but have not love, I am only a banging drum or a strumming guitar. If I have a gift for reading music and enjoy the richest hymns, but have not love, I am nothing. If I am discerning of excellent music and fine poetry, but have not love, I gain nothing.” The first principle for singing as a congregation and choosing music for the congregation is love.

2. Our singing is for God’s glory and the edification of the body of Christ.

God is the one we want to impress, the one we most want to honor. Our first aim must not be to win over the culture or appeal to the unregenerate. Worship is for the Worthy One.

Following closely on this priority is the goal of edification. The singing on Sunday morning should benefit God’s people. This is a fair application of Paul’s concerns in 1 Corinthians 14. It’s also part and parcel of teaching and admonishing each other with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs (Col. 3:16). We should never approach the music as an entertaining lead-in to the sermon. Before you employ secular songs as your background music prior to the start of the service, consider whether a vaguely spiritual song from U2 will really build up the body of Christ.

Congregational song is part of the teaching ministry of the church. Church musicians and pastors should ask themselves: if our people learned their theology from our songs what would they know in twenty years about God, the cross, the resurrection, the offices of Christ, the Holy Spirit, the Trinity, creation, justification, election, regeneration, the church, the sacraments, and all the other fundamental doctrines of the faith?

3. We ought to sing to the Lord new songs.

Isn’t that a command? A command we haven’t exhausted yet? There are still new songs to be sung to the Lord. What if the Church had stopped singing new songs in the 15th century? We wouldn’t have “A Mighty Fortress is Our God.” What if Christians stopped in the 16th century? No Charles Wesley. No Isaac Watts. What if the Church stopped a generation ago? No one would be singing “In Christ Alone” this Sunday. What a pity.

Sometimes I want to ask to very conservative Christians: “Do you really think the last good song of praise to Jesus has been written?”

4. Church singing should swim in its own history of church singing.

The metaphor is intentional. We should swim in this big ocean of church music, a ocean that is continually receiving new streams. I am not advocating a certain percentage of old v. new–every church will look and feel a little different, but I am suggesting that we should understand ourselves to be a part of this deep ocean of Christian song.

It’s amazing to me that any church would consciously (or unconsciously for that matter) step completely out of the ocean of the historic hymnody and step into a wading pool of nothing but contemporary song. I’m not saying newer songs are inferior to older ones (see previous point). What I am saying is that it is an expression of extreme hubris and folly to think we have nothing to gain from older songs and nothing to lose when we throw out the songs Christians have been singing for hundreds of years.

Think of what you get with a hymnal (whether it’s an actual hymnal or the contents of the hymnal on your screen):

• A link to history. Our people, not to mention the world, needs to know that Christianity is not a novel invention. We sing in concert with two millennia of believers.

• Diversity. I guarantee that those churches using hymns are being exposed to a wider variety of Christian song than those who are exclusively contemporary. The hymnal has twenty centuries of styles: chants, folk tunes, ethnic tunes, carols, psalms, Welsh ballads, English melodies, stout German hymns, gospel tunes (black and white), and dozens of other musical variations.

• Excellence. Yes, there are some real clunkers in most hymnals. But by and large, the bad songs have been weeded out. If we are stilling singing a song five hundred years later it probably has strong lyrics, good poetry, and a singable tune.

• The whole counsel of God. Hymns give you a wide range of themes and biblical categories. Contemporary music is getting better in this regard, but the hymnal is still the best place to find a song on the ascension or the exaltation of Christ or a song of illumination or a lamentation or a communion hymn. Kudos to the Getty/Townend team and Sovereign Grace for trying to fill these kinds of gaps.

5. Sing the Psalms.

I am not convinced by the arguments for exclusive psalmody. But in 95% of our churches the problem is not that we are keeping out good non-Psalms. It’s strange, even though we are commanded to sing Psalms and even though Psalms have been at the center of the Church’s singing for centuries, still we easily ignore the 800 pound gorilla in the middle of our Bibles (to borrow a phrase from Terry Johnson). On a cheerier note, I’m thankful we are beginning to see some contemporary musicians turn their attention to the Psalms.

6. We should strive for excellence in the musicality and the poetry of the songs we sing.

I’m not for a moment suggesting elitism. A tune has to be relatively simple for hundreds or thousands of people to sing it at the same time. But we can still insist on undistracting excellence (to use Piper’s phrase). We want the cross to be the stumbling block, not our poor musicianship or faltering powerpoint.

While I believe a wide variety of styles can be used in worship, I am not a musical relativist. Some songs are better than others. Some styles work better than others. And when it comes to lyrics, we should avoid obvious sloppiness like using thee and you in the same song or heaping up trite cliches. I heard a song on the radio a couple weeks ago whose chorus had something about a fragrant rose in the early spring and an eagle soaring to spread its wings. If your church sings this on Sunday, love your worship leader all the same. But if you’re the worship leader picking this song, try for something with a little more artistry, something that doesn’t sound like it came from a random page in your inspirational pocket calendar.

Some songs are simply deep and some are deeply simple, but there is a way to do both well. With so many songs to choose from, there’s no reason churches can’t make an effort to sing songs with some sense of poetry and musical integrity. The Hallelujah chorus is repetitive, but it’s musically interesting. Most songs, choruses, and verses aren’t good enough to be repeated for very long.

7. The main sound to be heard in the worship music is the sound of the congregation singing.

Everyone is responsible to sing. The young girl with her hands in the air and the old man belting out the bass line. What people want to see in your worship is that you mean it. And no matter how chill or how reverent your worship is, if no one is singing, it’s lame.

And if the main sound is to be the congregation singing, this will have implications for how we play and choose our songs.

• Is it singable? Pay attention to range (too high or too low), and beware of syncopation and lots of irregularities in the meter and rhythm. Make sure the melody makes some intuitive sense, especially if you don’t have music to look at or people can’t read music. When your guitar strums between G, C, and D there are a lot of notes to choose from.

• Is the instrumentation helping or inhibiting the congregation to sing? This means checking the volume. Is the music too soft to support the human voices? Is it so loud it’s drowning them out? One mistake music teams make is to think that every instrument needs to be used with every song. Some songs should get the whole kitchen sink, but just because you have a drum, piano, guitar, bass, lyre, zither, flute, chicken shaker, banjo, cello, and djembe up there doesn’t mean you have to use them all.

• Is this song familiar. People cannot handle a new song every week, let alone two or three new songs. Stick with your basic sound and core songs and go out from there. On occasion you may have to admit, “That’s a great song, but I don’t think we can do it well.”

8. The congregation should also be stretched from time to time to learn new songs and broaden its musical horizons.

Every church will have a musical center. You should not reinvent the center every week. But you should not be enslaved to it either. We need to be stretched once a while, not only with a new song but a new kind of song–something from the African-America church, or something from Africa or Latin America (with an English translation so it is intelligible), or something from the classical choral tradition. It’s good to be reminded that belong to an ancient and global church.

9. The texts of our songs should be matched with fitting musicality and instrumentation.

Music should support the theme of the song. Different texts have different moods. The words for “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” would not work with the tune for “Children of the Heavenly Father.” The campy song “Do Lord” does not quite capture the mood of the dying thief’s final words. On the other hand, you have to love the Getty song “See What a Morning” where the triumphant, celebratory music perfectly matches the resurrection lyrics.

Musical style is not neutral, but it is elastic. Music conveys something. Some melodies are too syrupy or too raucous or too romantic. I’ve always felt like “This is the Air I Breathe” was too sensual sounding. Plus I’m not sure what the song means. But styles are not rigid categories. There isn’t a sharp line between contemporary and traditional, or classical and popular, or high culture and low culture. We don’t have to make absolute rules about musical style, but we do need to be intelligent.

Let me just say a word about organs. No church should die on this hill. But if your church already has an organ my advice is to keep using it. Organs were originally associated with paganism. So there is nothing inherently spiritual about them. When they were introduced into churches, the average Christian in the Middle Ages new as much about organs as your average teenager does today. They were introduced into worship because of the fitness of the instrument. As Harold Best argues in his fantastic book Unceasing Worship, there is no instrument we know of in the West better suited to support congregational singing (73). The organ fills in the cracks, provides an underneath sound, and encourages churches to sing louder and freer. If you don’t have an organ they can be expensive to get. We mustn’t lay down any commands. But if an organ is an option for you, don’t ditch it.

10. All of our songs should employ manifestly biblical lyrics.

We must start by asking of all our songs: is this true? Not just true, but accurate to the biblical text. For example, I like the Third Day song “Consuming Fire” but the lyrics, while true, misuse the biblical text. According to the song, our God is a consuming fire because he reaches inside and melts our cold hearts of stone. That’s true, but the text in Hebrews is about God our judge.

Similarly, our songs should be manifestly true. That is, we shouldn’t have to put a spin on the lyrics to get them to be ok. We are looking for subtlety. We don’t want to sing songs that leave us wondering “what exactly does that mean?”

On the flip side, don’t be too hard on “I” songs. About 100 of the 150 Psalms have the word “I.” “I” is not the problem. The problem is with songs that are too colloquially, or use I thoughtlessly (I just want to praise you – well then praise him), or never move from how I am feeling about God to who God is and what he’s done to make me feel this way.

In all our songs we want to be teaching people about God. If we aren’t learning good theology and biblical truth from our songs, then either we don’t care much about our songs or we don’t care much about rich biblical truth, or both.

What If God Wasn't In Your Promised Land

Tonight, I finished reading Redemption by Mike Wilkerson, one of the pastors at Mars Hill Church. The book is written with the purpose of pointing people to the freedom and healing that is found in the gospel of Jesus. Right toward the end of the book, there is a section on "reaching the promised land" that really hit home with me. By way of setup, Pastor Mike is using the story of the Israelites' exodus from Egypt as a framework for how the journey into freedom often looks in our individual lives. We are seeking freedom from a particular sin or healing from a particular wound and we view that as the promised land. Wilkerson does a fantastic job of pointing to one very significant pitfall that many who are seeking freedom or healing can fall into:

No doubt, you have some situation in your life that demands attention: that enslaving addiction, fear, or wound, an unfulfilled longing to have children, or a marriage in crisis. You long for freedom. You know what it is to wander in the wilderness, and you are desperate to arrive at "home."

Heaven, prefigured by the Promised Land, is the true home of every Christian. But what do you imagine awaits your arrival there? John Piper asks:

Would you be satisfied to go to heaven - have everybody there in your family that you want there, have all the health and restoration of your prime, and everything you disliked about yourself fixed, have every recreation you've ever dreamed available to you, and have infinite resources of money to spend - would you be satisfied...if God weren't there?

If you were completely free from the urge to look at porn and were totally fulfilled emotionally spiritually, relationally, and sexually, would you be satisfied without Jesus?

If you were finally assured that your friends, your spouse, and your pastor had your best interests at heart, loved you, and would never hurt you, would you be satisfied without Jesus?

...Here, near the end of a book that you probably picked up because you were seeking transformation and freedom, it may be hard to swallow the idea that such goals could be hollow. But here's the catch: they are only hollow when they are not filled with God. To put it differently, they are best enjoyed as gifts wrapped in the much larger and all-satisfying gift of being in God's presence, which is to say, the gift of God himself.

You see, we don't just get peace from God; God is our peace - he gives us himself...We don't just get joy from God; he is our joy - he gives us himself. He is our hope, and he gives us himself; our love, and he gives us himself.

...So it isn't that we should stop wanting freedom from addiction, healing for the wounds of our past, or repair for our broken relationships today. It is that these blessings all come to us in God's presence and lead us further into his presence. He is the greatest gift he gives.

Again, this book has been very challenging and encouraging to me as a pastor, a believer, and a sinner. I highly recommend it to anyone who knows that they need healing from hurts or freedom from addictions. I also hope that you'll join me in repenting for those times when I seek God in order to receive something from him without being interested in receiving God himself.

Musical Schizophrenia

I play and enjoy music a lot. I get nervous around people who say that they only like one style of music or only listen to one radio station. Maybe I'm diverse in my tastes. Maybe I'm just ADD. Either way, I was just going through some videos of various musical projects I've been involved in over the years. Maybe you would appreciate this small trip through the musical diversity that is my life.

There's my most recent band, Saturday Sleeper, a rock/alternative/punk style band.


There's my worship band.


There's my love for classical guitar.


There's that time that I played country music in Nashville.


There's my love for parody songs (especially theological ones).


There's even my love for playing instruments that I don't really know how to play.


What do you call this disease that I have? Musical schizophrenia? I think so.

Toddlers and Fire

Last night, I built a fire in our fireplace. My two oldest girls were outside playing with the neighbor kids, so I enlisted the help of my 20-month old, Reagan. The first step was to retrieve the firewood from the garage. I had only a small pile of firewood left and I would rather burn it than move it later this week. Reagan came with me to the garage. I handed her one small chunk of a 2x4. I carried all the rest of the wood upstairs, approximately 20 small-ish pieces.

When we got upstairs to the fireplace, I had Reagan crumple up a piece of paper, a job she was well-suited for. I then told her to put some kindling on the paper. She piled it all on. I even had her get a match out of the box, which I lit. Once the match was lit, I held her hand with the match and together we lit the paper and the kindling on fire.

Ta-da! Fire started.

When I think about it, Reagan didn't really do much of anything to help. She carried one measly log up the stairs, and even that was a job I directed her to do. I had to hold the door for her with my arms full of firewood, I had to put her crumpled paper in the right place, I had to re-stack the kindling, I had to light the match and direct her hand to light the fire. Basically, she did nothing and I did everything.

So why did I include Reagan in the fire-making process? Certainly it was not because of her highly valuable contributions. No, the reason that I included her was because I wanted to. I am her daddy and I want to have relationship with her. At no point in the 20 months of her life have I really needed her, but I always want her.

In Psalm 50, God says "For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine."

Does that sound like a God who is in need of our contribution or help?

If I was to be honest, I often feel like my contributions to God's kingdom are pretty stinkin' important. I give money. I give time. I use my talents and gifts in service of the kingdom. And...God doesn't need any of it. He is sufficient in himself and has no need. But, God has graciously invited me to participate with him in his activity in the world. Much like a little kid going to work with his daddy, I am in way over my head. God does the work, but I get to tag along and share in his joy.

I am not needed by God, but I am wanted. That is both humbling and freeing.

Kids Who Love Sacraments

One time when Mackenzie and Delaney were eating a lunch of PBJ's, Mackenzie (who was 4 at the time) said, "Here, Delaney, eat this. And when you do, remember me."

One time we found Delaney serving communion to her stuffed animals.

Recently, my wife overheard Mackenzie preaching a pretty theologically-loaded sermon to the next door neighbor kids. For a 6-year old, it was pretty good stuff: incarnation, substitutionary atonement, resurrection, then it concluded with the line, "and that's why Jesus can turn back into a baby any time he wants to!"

I'm a pastor. I want to model good and Godly character for my kids. I want to set them an example to follow. I am far from perfect, but that is my desire. My kids' apparent appreciation for the sacraments doesn't necessarily correlate with character, but sometimes I forget how much my kids are actually watching...

I Am Dying

It's true. It's unavoidable. I have been diagnosed with a condition that is fatal. I don't know exactly how many days or hours I have left, but the prognosis is ultimately bleak. It doesn't matter how many vitamins I take or how much I jog or how much sleep I get or many green vegetables I eat or how good my health care is, the simple fact remains: I am going to die.

You are dying too. You may or may not realize it, but by the time you are done reading this, you will be 5 or 10 minutes closer to the end of your life. I know this is bleak, but I figured that you would want to know the truth.

Of course, by now you realize that I am not speaking of some specific disease that I have - there's no cancer or HIV or MS - but rather that I am highlighting the fact that the mortality rate of humanity is 100%. We don't like to think about it because it is uncomfortable. Many of us are young, still in good health, and live relatively peaceful and comfortable lives. If fact, in America, we are so relaxed and comfortable that it is killing us. Obesity is the biggest (no pun intended) health issue facing our country right now.

This evening, I spent some time in the hospital with a man who has been given no more than 2 days to live. He has been battling cancer for the last 3 years or so and took a turn for the worse over the weekend. I had lunch with him a few months ago, and he told me that his cancer actually served to awaken him to the reality that we all face, namely that we will all die. His heart was not sad or despairing; he has lived a full life and experienced many good things. He was not full of some "carpe diem" fluff; he was purposefully taking me out to lunch to share the wisdom that he has gleaned over the years with me. The cancer, rather than deflating his hope, served to propel him forward.

Christians believe that in the history of the world, there is only one person who ever successfully defeated death: Jesus Christ. The Bible makes the audacious claim that after the Romans crucified Jesus for claiming to be God, he came back to life 3 days later. In case you weren't aware, that doesn't happen. The Christian faith then goes on to claim that for those who put their faith in Christ, a similar resurrection awaits them at an appointed time in the future. The Bible claims that Jesus is the first of many more to come in the future.

For the Christian, death is sorrowful, but it is not the end of the story. One of the earliest Christian writers, St. Paul, when facing his impeding execution, wrote about his emotional conflict. He knew that he had much to do on this earth still for the cause of Christ, but he was also eager to depart this life to be with Jesus. After death comes rest (heaven), and after rest comes resurrection. Heaven is great, but it is not the end of the story. The book of Revelation claims that at the end of time, God will restore the earth and all of the cosmos to a perfect balance, a perfect order, a perfect shalom. The Christian faith holds incredible hope for this life, as well as for the life to come.

As I left the hospital, a flood of scriptures were flooding through my mind: Philippians 1:23, 1 Corinthians 15:26, 1 Corinthians 15:54-55, Hebrews 2:14-15, Colossians 2:13-14, Revelation 21 and 22. I got into my car, and I plugged in my iPod into my car stereo, which is set to auto-play. I was a little bit more than amazed when the following song came up on my iPod. I encourage you to listen to it and ponder these words of hope. For the believer in Jesus, there is a sense of longing and desire that lies beyond what this world has to offer.

There's a country that no one's found yet. Somehow I seem to know about it.
There's a melody that no one's sung yet. It's faint, but I can hear it echoing.
I've never been alone, but I've never felt at home. Isn't it strange that everyone feels this?

Try and name it, try to forget, there is something more that I desire but I cannot become yet.
Still I'm haunted, I feel the ache, there's a thousand joys that show me home but never let me stay.

I have sailed across the sea, I've seen the ocean floor, but I cannot become the tide and battle with the shore. I know there must be something more. I can feel the winds are rushing, I hear them in the trees, but I cannot rage through the sky and wrestle with the leaves. But I've heard that this won't always be....

Someday soon we shall put on the sun. Not the one we see, that's just a sketch of what's to come.
Earth and sky are coming to their end. We will wear the glory they had always hinted at.

I have sailed across the sea and seen the ocean floor, but I cannot become the tide and battle with the shore. I've always known there's something more. I can feel the winds are rushing, I hear them in the trees, but I cannot rage through the sky and wrestle with the leaves. But I know that it won't always be this way!

Forgiveness Means Absorbtion

You'll have to forgive me for the lack of original content, but this Redemption book by Mike Wilkerson (of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, my soon-to-be-new-home-church) is utterly incredible. The book is written as a theological and pastoral overview of Mars Hill's redemption ministries. The redemption groups are organized in a 2-part system: healing from abuse & freedom from addiction. All of the groups are taught and lived out under the framework of the Exodus story. I want to share with you tonight a snippet from the chapter on the Passover which speaks about forgiveness in a really helpful light.

A helpful way to think about forgiveness is absorption. Imagine you're in a traffic, and another driver swerves into your lane, cutting you off and forcing you to hit the brakes to keep from crashing into his bumper. What do you do? If you flip him off and slam on your horn (not for safety, mind you, but for payback), you offend everyone else around you. They have to tolerate your road rage on top of the usual stresses of commuting. Furthermore, maybe the guy who cut you off didn't mean anything personal by it - he just needed to move over quickly to make his exit. But you, in your swearing, definitely meant somehthing personal against him. You have refused to absorb the offense and in the process have compounded the sin.

Absorption, says [Robert] Cheong, "is at the heart of forgiveness, since it involves the ability to deal with the pain in a way this it will not be passed on to anyone else." or, as Tolstoy put it, to forgive is to "swallow" evil and prevent it from going further. On the cross, Jesus overcame evil with good: he didn't return evil for evil; he didn't pass on the evil by seeking revenge; he absorbed it (Rom. 12:21; 1 Pet. 2:23). The only way we can truly absorb evil - the only way we can forgive - is to "roll it over" to Jesus who deals with it for us in perfect love and justice. To do that is to show love for our enemy because our desire that he should know the love and forgiveness of Jesus is greater than our desire to see him punished.

I am really benefiting pastorally from this book. Perhaps you're someone who has been wounded by events in your past, or perhaps you're someone who is struggling with a life-dominating issue. I can't think of another resource that has been this valuable in a long time. You can get the book on Amazon.

Who Is The Story About?

The following is an excerpt from Mike Wilkerson's "Redemption," a book about helping people find healing and freedom from abuse or addiction. I am only in the introduction, but I am already incredibly challenged and inspired by the gospel-driven truth that I am reading. The following is an excerpt:

Here's what's surprising about making sense of your life in God's story: the story is not about you - it's about Him. He is both the author and the main character, and he has written you into his story to say something about him. Yet, if we are honest, we tend to script our lives with ourselves as the protagonist and God in some supporting (or possibly antagonistic) role.

Often, God is cast as a mere extra. At best, he adds to the background action; at worst, he's overlooked. Some have written God into the story as an absent father who pays no attention to the damage being done to his child. Some have made him out to be a therapist whose job it is to prop up their self-esteem. Some treat God as debtor, holding him responsible for their pain and believing they are owed a free pass for sins of pleasure and escape in trade for their undeserved suffering. Others live a life of despair in a world they believe is controlled by a heartless mastermind, pulling the strings of the universe with no compassion for people afflicted by evil. Some treat God as though he were the source of a better high or a better escape than their drug of choice.

...Rather than trying to write God into our stories, we would be wiser to sit patiently with our Father and let him tell us his. We would surely find ourselves in his story and learn that we are not defined by our hurts or our sins, as we may have believed. As he tells us his story, we must be willing to let go of the stories we've told to make sense of our lies. We must let his story rewrite ours and sweep us up into something much greater than ourselves.

"Redemption" by Mike Wilkerson is available from Amazon.

Video Blog, "What I Will Miss About Anchorage"

Extra Super Duper Awesomely Humble

My friend Christian has a license plate that reads "IMHMBL." Of course it's done tongue-in-cheek, but it makes me laugh every time that I see it because such a blatant declaration does not typically square with our idea of humility. Similarly, there's a verse in Numbers 12 that says "Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth." Seeing as Moses himself was most likely the author of this verse, it is almost laughable that he would have penned such a thing. How can someone be humble and be aware of it?

What does humility look like to you? What kind of descriptor words come to mind? Weak? Groveling? Unable to accept a compliment?

Humility is not a virtue in our society. Pride, self-reliance, and individualism are deeply woven into the fabric of America. On a daily basis, we witness famous people behave in a way that could not in a million years be described as humble. A 7-foot tall basketball player celebrates a slam dunk like he just cured cancer, yet all he did was hop a little. A reality TV star goes out in public and demands royal treatment despite the fact that they have done nothing meaningful for society. We as a society are prolific in the art self-congratulation.

Like every other human, I struggle with pride. Pride manifests differently in different people, but the fundamental definition is that we are obsessed with ourselves. The self-aggrandizing rapper is obsessed with his "awesomeness." The self-loathing emo-rocker is obsessed with his "terribleness." At the end of the day, both are obsessed with self. My pride is closer to the self-aggrandizing type than the self-loathing type, but the bottom line is that I struggle with pride.

I have been aware of my particular type of pride since I was in high school. I have spent years trying to squash that sense of superiority or entitlement. This has caused me to sometimes intentionally downplay certain gifts or talents that God gave me. I think that I am just starting to learn what real humility looks like. The Bible gives us a amazing framework on how we are to understand ourselves.

We see that Biblical humility involves a bit of tension. On the one hand, we humans were uniquely created in the image of God (Gen. 1) and crowned with glory and honor (Psalm 8). However, we also see that we are deeply fallen and flawed (Gen. 3), extremely limited in our scope and understanding (Job 38), and that our best attempts at righteousness are like filthy rags in God's eyes (Is. 64). While we are certainly not supposed to think more highly of ourselves than we should, I believe that it is possible to devalue the gifts and abilities that God has given us to the point where we become bad stewards. The problem is not with the gift or the ability, the problem comes when we think that we deserve the credit for the gift or the ability. It is God alone who gives gifts and abilities (1 Cor. 12), therefore it is God alone who should receive the glory and honor.

Unlike my friend with the license plate, I have not arrived at humility. I am quite sure that I will spend the rest of my earthly existence being stretched and grown in this area. I can say, however, that God is currently teaching me how to live out the gifts and abilities that He gave me for His glory and for other peoples' good. Ultimately, I want to not think about myself in the process at all. I want to be so focused on God's glory that my own accomplishments aren't really worth mentioning. I want to be so filled with genuine love for other people that I use my gifts to serve them without concern for their ability to repay me or compliment me. I want to understand that I am but a speck of dirt in comparison to God, but that I am a speck of dirt whom God has declared valuable in His eyes.

Painting For Eternity

I am painting my walls so I can rent out my house.
I am renting out my house so I can have some income.
I am in need of the income so I can take an unpaid internship position.
I am interning so I can learn and be equipped for ministry.
I am being equipped so I can plant a church in the future.
I am planting a church in the future so that people can meet Jesus.
I am introducing them to Jesus so we can spend eternity together in heaven.

I am painting my walls for eternity.

What Does God Require? part 6

This will be the last post on Deuteronomy 10:12-13. I will try to keep it brief. And amazing.

And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD, which I am commanding you today for your good. - Deuteronomy 10:12-13

Here is my understanding this requirement:

1. Order of operations
Notice that this requirement comes at the end of the list; I think that's important to note. Far too often, we are tempted to feel like our relationship with God is contingent on our ability to tow the line. As Christians, we must continue to preach the gospel to ourselves: our salvation is a free gift from God and it is not of works. As Pastor Tullian Tchevidjian puts it, ""Once the gospel frees you from the enslaving pressure to do anything for Jesus, you'll want to do everything for Jesus." Works come after grace.

2. The Commandments of the Lord
Everyone wants to have some modicum of control over your life. The government, the media, family, friends, bosses, coworkers - everybody has an opinion on how you should live, behave, think and speak. Our society is filled with rules, both spoken and unspoken. At the end of the day, the only "rules" that we should be concerned with are those of the Lord. When I die and stand before God, it will not matter one bit if I "played the right part" at my school, my work, my social club. God's commandments take precedence over cultural commandments.

3. For Your Good
I have quite a few rules for my daughters. They aren't allowed to play in the road, for example. The neighborhood that we live in is still in development and we have a lot of dump trucks and semis driving up and down our road frequently. 2 summers ago, our neighbors' dog ran out in front of a truck and was killed. Would my girls like to play in the road? Heck, yes! Do they at 6, 5, and 1 have the presence of mind to not make a mistake like the neighbors' dog? Sometimes...Do they gripe and complain that my rules are unfair and unnecessary? Often. In the same way, God gives us rules for our good. Know that He has your best interest at heart and knows infinitely more about what is good for you. Trust His intentions for you.

I hope that this series has been beneficial for you. I like writing topically, but often it's just good to go through the scripture with a fine tooth comb. My hope and prayer is that anything I write would point you to Jesus and cause you to desire to dig into the scriptures for yourself.

Keller on Calling

Yesterday, in my series of blogs on Deuteronomy 10, I wrote on the subject of calling and vocation. As a bit fan of Tim Keller, I was excited to see (after I wrote my blog) that Keller recently posted on the same thing recently. Since he's 349 times the author that I am, I will graciously tap out, and give you the link to download his whole article:

Click HERE to download.

What Does God Require? part 5

Continuing in our look at Deuteronomy 10:12-13, today we come to this requirement of the Lord:

"...serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul..."

This is a call to action; we're not allowed to sit still. In part 3, we looked at the idea that God wants us to learn how to walk in all his ways. I view those words as instructional to how we "do life," our everyday actions, thoughts, and words. This requirement, however, may be pointing to something more specific. I believe that there is a unique role for each one of us to play in God's Kingdom. As 1st Corinthians 12 teaches, we are all unique and individual parts of the Body with different jobs and functions. There is a lot to say about calling and purpose, but let's highlight some key thoughts:

1. Know Your Calling
There are tools to help you discern what you are good at and how you are wired (i.e. DISC test, Meyers-Briggs, Spiritual Gifts assessment), but nothing can substitute the sense of call that God will place in your heart. It can at times be frustrating to figure out what your calling is because God is not formulaic in the way He gives you that information. God is relational and desires you to pray and seek His face and read the scriptures. Only in that will you truly be able to rest in the security of your call.

2. Don't Desire Someone Else's Calling
For the last 10 years, we have had the privilege of watching the trainwreck auditions at the beginning of each season of American Idol. There is nothing more sad than watching an awful singer who is deluded in thinking that they can actually sing. When it comes to Christian service, don't be "that guy". If you stink at public speaking, chances are you're not called into preaching. Of course, God can always do a miracle, but He most often works with the giftings that He placed in us when we were born. Know your calling and learn to be OK with it.

3. Understand That Seasons Change
As the famous passage from Ecclesiastes observes, there are different seasons and times in our lives. You may find that what you are called to now is different than it was in the past. Or, a particular need may arise that has to take precedence for a season over the bigger call of God. The Apostle Paul was called to, you know, write the Bible! But when there was a need for money to help finance his trips, Paul made tents. When discerning your calling, ask God to help you know what things are "whole-life" callings and what things are seasonal.

4. Serve Wholeheartedly
Whatever you are doing in service to God or whatever season you are in, do it with all your heart and with all your soul. Leave it all on the playing field, so to speak. That's what's really at the heart of these verses in Deuteronomy. The God that we worship is so glorious, so precious, so valuable that He deserves nothing but our best. When we understand how good and loving and kind and powerful our God is, it becomes easy to pour ourselves into our tasks heart and soul.

If you are wrestling with the idea of calling and purpose, I would recommend 2 books to you. The first would be The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer. In this classic work, Tozer does a magnificent job of painting a picture of a life that is fully devoted to knowing God. The second book I would recommend is Courage and Calling by Gordon Smith. This book does a great job of putting forth a Biblical theology of work, vocation, calling and purpose. Together, these 2 books can be very helpful as you seek God for His calling on your life.

Rihanna, Nigel Tufnel, & John Piper on Sex

For the first time in a while, I was shocked by something: I heard the song S&M by Rihanna on the radio the other day. Oh sure, there are plenty of sexual songs on the radio, but something about the graphic lyrics to that song struck me in a way that other sexual songs don't usually. Maybe I'm just getting more numb along with the rest of America. There are many levels that I am disappointed with the way that America thinks and behaves sexually. I am disappointed morally; sex is a holy thing. I am disappointed relationally; the onslaught of sexually explicit images doesn't help my wife's and my relationship in any way. I am disappointed parentally; I can't even fathom the pressures that my daughters will be facing for the rest of their lives.

Perhaps one of the ways that I am most disappointed is intellectually. Of all the accusations and caricatures of "dumb Americans," I contend that none are so aptly fitting as how we think about sex. We are like preschoolers who have been let loose into the cotton candy factory, eating ourselves sick and never feeling satisfied. We're immature and unthinking when it comes to sex. It reminds me of the movie Spinal Tap. At one point, the filmmaker reads a review of their record to the band:

Marty DiBergi: "This tasteless cover is a good indication of the lack of musical invention within. The musical growth of this band cannot even be charted. They are treading water in a sea of retarded sexuality and bad poetry."
Nigel Tufnel: That's just nitpicking, isn't it?

As humorous as the movie may be, it actually makes a salient point. The boys in Tap were buffoons and toyed with sex the way a small child might play with a mud pie: as a diversion. If we're honest, this is how we act about many other pleasures besides just sex. When we are lonely, bored or depressed, we reach for food that we know is unhealthy because it gives us an emotional "fix," albeit temporarily. There isn't a person alive today who is unaware that cigarettes will kill you, yet millions of people still reach for cancer sticks when they are stressed, nervous or simply bored.

You are bored.

We as a nation are bored.

We were made to be overwhelmed by the glory of God, but we're bored and distracted. John Piper writes:

My conviction is that one of the main reasons the world and the church are awash in lust and pornography...is that our lives are intellectually and emotionally disconnected from the infinite, soul-staggering grandeur for which we were made. Inside and outside the church Western culture is drowning in a sea of triviality, pettiness, banality, and silliness. Television is trivial. Radio is trivial. Conversation is trivial. Education is trivial. Christian books are trivial. Worship styles are trivial. It is inevitable that the human heart, which was made to be staggered with the supremacy of Christ, but instead is drowning in a sea of banal entertainment, will reach for the best natural buzz that life can give: sex. - John Piper in Sex and the Supremacy of Christ, available as a free e-book download here.

Elsewhere in the book, Piper argues from the scripture that sex was given to us by God to give us a glimpse of the type of joy and pleasure that truly awaits us in God. Sex is a metaphor; the reality is actually far more powerful. This is why the Bible constantly uses marriage and sex as a picture - both positive and negative - as a picture of our relationship with God.

Here are some of the things that I am praying about when it comes to our unthinking attitude toward sex. I invite you to pray these with me:
1. May we repent of turning sex into a "god," seeking ultimate satisfaction in it. Romans 1:24-25
2. May we submit our sexuality to God, knowing that His commandments are given to us for our good. Deuteronomy 10:13
3. May we understand that sex is a gift from God given to us for our enjoyment in it's proper time and proper context. Song of Solomon 8:3-4
4. May we learn to think critically, to engage our minds, so that we are not so easily fooled into thinking that an earthly pleasure can provide soul-satisfaction. Ephesians 4:14-16
5. May we learn to take all of the pleasures of life - sexual or otherwise - and turn them around as worship to the God who gives us pleasures for our enjoyment. Psalm 36:7
6. May we find our deepest joy and delight in God alone.

What I Love About City Church

The following is a column that I wrote for the most recent City Church newsletter. I hope you find it encouraging. A good companion to this blog would be the video blog that I posted a few weeks ago. You can watch it by clicking here.

On July 18th, 2011, I will get into my family minivan and drive to Seattle, moving there until further notice. I have lived in Alaska my whole life and have never left the state for more than a few weeks at a time. I am extremely excited about this next season of my family’s life as we have been experiencing an undeniable sense of a call from God in the direction of church planting. I will be immediately plugged in and serving at Mars Hill Church in Seattle and start their seminary-level ministry school in August. We are also excited to go to Washington State as that is where my wife grew up. We are looking forward to spending more time with her family over the next few years.

However, I am also very sad. All of my immediate family is in Anchorage. I just got my sister and brother-in-law back from Georgia. I have friendships with men in this city going back twenty years. I am also going to really, really miss City Church. I have given the last four years of my life to serving this local body. (Many of you go back another ten years before that with New Direction, the church that my parents started and merged with City Church over four years ago). There are so many signs of God’s activity in this church. I am going to truly miss being a part of such a vibrant, life-filled community. In parting, I thought it only fitting to highlight some of the things that I love most about City Church.

1. I love City Church’s commitment to community involvement. This church is full of incredibly passionate, hard-working people who love Jesus and their city. I am constantly amazed when I turn on the local news and see ministries that we are involved with being heralded and praised. From the New Direction High School Program to Beacon Hill, from the Governor’s “Choose Respect” campaign to our Saturday food shelf, City Church is a church that takes Matthew 25:35-40 seriously.

2. I love City Church’s commitment to generational and ethnic diversity. I’ll be honest: it would be easier to be a part of a church where everyone looked the same, acted the same, and had the same tastes and preferences. In Revelation 7, the Apostle John sees a vision of heaven where he sees men and women from every tribe, people and language standing before the throne of God in worship. I have met people and been exposed to perspectives and wisdom that I would not have necessarily come across if not for this unique church.

3. I love City Church’s commitment to out-of- the-box methodology. City Church is unusual. It always has been and it always will be. If churches were ships, we would be an icebreaker. We are often called to go places and try things that other churches might not. This is not meant to be a prideful statement but a recognition of a unique calling on this church.

4. I love City Church’s commitment to the activity of the Holy Spirit. I’ve not spoken on this much, but a few years back I was tempted to just “be done” with the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit: prophecy, words of knowledge, speaking tongues, praying for healing, and the like. Having grown up in mostly charismatic churches, I was tired of seeing out of balance excesses from some charismatics. I was frustrated from seeing large moral failures from self-proclaimed prophets. Long story short, God has used my time here at City Church to heal me from those hurts. Pastor Richard has spoken so encouragingly about being “naturally supernatural” as opposed to being “spooky” in our use of these gifts. I am more committed to praying for healing and praying in tongues personally than I have ever been before. I am so thankful for this church’s desire to participate in the life of the Spirit.

5. Finally, I love City Church’s commitment to the Scriptures. Throughout the Bible, we see God instructing people to write down the words that He gives them. It’s as if God knows our human proclivity to drift from truth into error. The Bible is the unchanging, authoritative written Word of God. It is not about us, it is revelation of the character and nature of God. City Church does not use the Bible to beat people over the head, but neither does City Church shy away from the bold declaration of the scriptures. I am so thankful that this church does not stand on the authority of church tradition or human reason or emotion; this church unwaveringly stands on the authority of the Word of God.

These are but a few of the reasons that I will miss City Church so greatly. I am thankful that the internet and social networking can help people stay connected somewhat. If you are on Facebook, I have an open-door Facebook friend policy (www.facebook.com/agray82). I am also on Twitter @agray82.

One final note: this is a season of change and transition for City Church. Some of you may be feeling like God is calling you into a new season of change and transition as well, but others of you may be feeling like God is calling you to step up into a new place right here at City Church. This may be your season to really serve this local body like never before. I pray that whatever call God has placed on you, you will be faithful to answer that call and follow hard all the days of your life.

One of My All-Time Favorite Songs

What Does God Require? part 4

And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD, which I am commanding you today for your good. - Deuteronomy 10:12-13

Today we will look at the next instruction from this verse, that we are to love God. There is a lot that can be said about this simple command, so I will try to highlight some other Biblical passages that provide us a robust picture of what it means to love God. As you're probably aware, the original languages of the Bible have more than one word for "love." In English, we say that we love pizza or we love a particular TV show or we love our country or we love our children. Obviously, those are different types of love. Let's look at some other scriptures that help us understand what loving God looks like.

1. Love God Not Just For What He Does, But For Who He Is.

Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness! - Psalm 150:2

God does incredible things. Creation, common grace, healing, provision, comfort, and...oh yeah, SALVATION!! It is good for us to love God and praise Him for His incredible works, but the scripture doesn't let us stop there; we are to also praise God for who He is. Think about the attributes of God: eternal, all-powerful, all-knowing, compassionate, merciful, wrathful, patient, just, righteous, loving, etc. Those are but some of the attributes of God that we are to love. If we only love God for what He can do for us, that type of love is ultimately selfish and will leave us frustrated when God doesn't always do what we want. But if we love God for who He is (and remember that He is is unchanging), we will never be left disappointed.

2. Love God Not Just With Your Emotions, But With All Of Who You Are.

And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. - Mark 12:30

In our culture, "love" is almost exclusively defined as an emotional experience. We say that we've "fallen out of love" with someone, meaning that the emotional high of the initial love experience isn't there anymore. The Biblical definition of love includes the emotions to be sure, but it is much bigger and deeper than that. We are to love God by learning about Him intellectually. (I have written before about the fact that if you love something, you will learn about it). We are to love God by persevering through difficulties and dry seasons. We are to love God by being disciplined to seek Him through scripture and prayer. Again, the emotions are very important but they are not the definition of what it means to love God.

3. Love God By Obeying Him

For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. - 1 John 5:3

Plain and simple, we demonstrate our hearts through our actions. It would be no good for me to tell my wife and kids that I love them with my mouth but never go to work and provide for their needs or never defend them against harm or never show them physical affection. If we claim to love God, we will learn what pleases and displeases Him and seek to bring Him joy. *VERY IMPORTANT* This obedience must first spring from an understanding of the Gospel. You will not impress God and earn your place in His family with your amazing works. In fact, the Bible says that even our best deeds are like filthy rags in God's eyes. But once you understand that the cross and resurrection mean that you are already accepted by God because of what Jesus did, it frees you from the burdensome toil of trying to measure up. Once we have understood the gospel, we are now free to keep the commandments of God out of loving response to the love that He has already shown.

4. Love God By Resting In His Love

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. - John 15:9

I don't know about you, but the above verse gives me a avery strong sense of peace and rest. Here, Jesus is assuring us of His love, letting us know that He loves us the same way that God the Father has loved Him. Our proper response should be to relax, to rest, to trust in that love. Our love toward God should not be anxious or fearful; God has demonstrated His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Rest. Relax. Enjoy. Abide. Live in His love. Experience His love day by day.

I'm quite certain that there is much more that could be said about what it means to love God, but the above points should give each of us something to think about, to wrestle with, to pray about. There is nobody who loves God perfectly, so we all have some way that we can grow in this area. I'll simply close this blog out by echoing the prayer of Paul found in Ephesians 3:

[I pray] that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

What Does God Require? part 3

We're continuing to go through Deuteronomy 10:12-13 with a fine tooth comb. Today, I want to address the next phrase in the list of requirements from God:

Walk in all His Ways

I remember when I first learned how to water-ski; it was a terrifically awkward experience. Every time the boat started to pull forward, my natural inclination was to straighten out my legs, lean forward, and stand up on top of the water. There was a slight problem, however: that is the exact opposite of what a person needs to do to go from the floating position to being up on top of the water. No matter how many times my teacher told me to lean back, keep my knees bent and relax, I just couldn't find it in myself to do it. Only after several hours of trying (and several gallons of lake water going through my nose) was I finally able to water-ski successfully.

A lot of hobbies and activities are like that. It is very awkward and unnatural to learn how to play an instrument or swing a golf club or shoot a basketball properly. Most every one of us have experienced, at some point or another, the frustration of learning to do something correctly when it goes against our natural inclinations.

When it comes to how we live our lives, our culture preaches a message of "do whatever comes most naturally to you" or "just be yourself" or "you gotta do you." The problem is, like the beginner water-skier or violinist, the proper way to "do life" often runs against our natural inclinations. When God instructs us in this verse to "walk in all His ways," I think it's a bit like Him telling us "I have a way that I want you to live your life, but I want you to know that it's going run against your natural inclinations. Because of your sinful, fallen nature, you think you know how your life should operate, but I have a better way. It's going to feel awkward, it's going to frustrate you sometimes, but in the end, it leads to the truest life that you will ever find."

Does this surprise you? Doesn't it make sense if God is perfect and we are imperfect that our paths would diverge at some point? Proverbs 14:12 says "There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death." Last week, when driving around an unfamiliar city with my wife, I thought I had a sense of the way back to our hotel, but in the end it led to...well, not death but just a golf course. Much like how our external sense of direction can get messed up, our internal moral compass is easily misled. Only the heart that is submitted to the ways of God will be able to navigate the twists and turns of life successfully.

This verse is intensely practical. It means that our day-to-day activities should be challenged by the teachings of the scripture. It means that our emotional reactions to life events should be challenged by the scripture. It means that we should daily, hourly seek the guidance of the Spirit as we face our daily and hourly tasks and situations.

It also means that we must rely daily upon the grace of God as we know that we will not always "get it right." Salvation is not a matter of works but of grace. Once we understand that our salvation is a gift from God, it frees us up to pursue God's ways out of a sense of love for Him. Our pursuit of God's ways will not be an arduous climb or a life-sucking task list, but a joyous, life-giving pursuit of the God who has made us and knows best how we ought to live our lives.

Video Blog, "Faith: Staying or Leaving?"

In this video, Aaron talks about his recent decision to move to Seattle and explores how faith looks in the life of different people.

What Does God Require? part 2

And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD, which I am commanding you today for your good. - Deuteronomy 10:12-13

This week, I'm working on memorizing the above verses. As these verses are incredibly dense with meaning, I thought it would be a good idea to carefully go through these verses with a scalpel. In the last post, we explored the idea that God's requirements for us are evidence of His love. Deism is wrong, God is active and involved. Today I want to explore the next small piece of this verse, "...to fear the Lord your God."

What Does It Mean To Fear God?
The fear of God is a major theme of the Bible. In Proverbs, it says that "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." Paraphrase: you don't know jack unless you've first learned to fear God. In Luke 12, Jesus tells his followers to not be afraid of those who can merely kill the body, but rather to be afraid of the one who has the authority to cast into hell. Just so we're clear here, that is in reference to God. Not Satan, not your pastor, not your neighbor, but only God is the judge who has the authority to grant eternal life. Fearing God is apparently quite important, but we need to unpack and explore what it truly means. I have outlined below (via numbered list, of course) several of the markers of a healthy fear of God.

1. Awe
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? - Psalm 8:3-4

Have you ever had one of those experiences where you bumped up against the power of nature and suddenly felt your insignificance and smallness? Like Matt Chandler says, nobody goes up to the Grand Canyon and suddenly feels compelled to brag about their scholastic or career accomplishments. Or have any of you musicians ever seen a really, really good concert and been overwhelmed at how good the players were? Has it ever made you feel pretty puny or like you wanted to quit playing? Part of what it means to fear God is to overwhelmed with awe at His immensity, His greatness, His incredible attributes. We should be awestruck by God.

2. Respect
...but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect. - 1 Peter 3:15

We live in an incredibly rude and disrespectful society. Our entire culture looks like MTV's Real World slogan: "Find out what happens when people stop being polite and start getting real." Rudeness is actually heralded as a virtue because "at least you're just being honest." Even toward earthly rulers - presidents and kings - we have lost any sense of respect for those in rule or authority. You can buy shirts at the mall that say "Bush is a Dumbass." Jon Stewart called President Obama "dude."

Now, I'm not advocating that we should speak to God in King James English or that we have to dress a certain way to show respect to God. The issue isn't about external things like words or clothes or rituals; the issue is the position of our heart. God is the true King over all the other kings, presidents, prime ministers, and rulers. He places rulers in their place of authority and removes them at His discretion. We should reject any treatment of God that is bossy, demanding, childish (not child-like), or disrespectful.

3. Trust & Obedience
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. - Isaiah 55:8-9

I'll be honest: sometimes I just don't get God. It seems like the way He runs the universe is different than I would do it. I suppose that's a good thing, because my own house is not always in order. I have mold growing in my garage. Fearing God means that we mentally give assent to the fact that His ways are better than our ways. This is trust. But trust does not exist in a vacuum. Real trust, real faith means that our actions must match. This is the obedience part. I could say that I trust a bungee cord, I could even believe intellectually in the strength and elasticity of the cord, but if I'm not willing to jump I've just revealed that my heart doesn't really trust it. It is scary to hand over control of my life to someone else, but trust and obedience are two very important aspects of walking in the fear of the Lord.

4. Actual Fear (Like Being Afraid)
But the LORD of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. - Isaiah 8:13

Electricity is a really good thing. It helps our lives immensely and has changed the way we do literally everything. However, when I see linemen working on the power lines near my house, I get a little queasy. While useful, electricity is also incredibly dangerous. The power that electricity represents should give us caution before we just treat it however we want. The same is true with God. His power should cause us to be cautious in how we think, speak and act before a Holy God. If you are willfully behaving sinfully, you should fear. If you are mocking the grace of God, you should fear. We should fully embrace the goodness, grace and mercy of God, but make no mistake: God will not be mocked. (Gal. 6:7).

I love the way that C.S. Lewis writes of Aslan in The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe:

"Is - is he a man?" asked Lucy.

"Aslan a man!" said Mr. Beaver sternly. "Certainly not. I tell you he is the King of the wood and the son of the great Emperor-Beyond-the-Sea. Don't you know who is the King of Beasts? Aslan is a lion, the Lion, the great Lion."

"Ooh," said Susan, "I thought he was a man. Is he - quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion."

"That you will, dearie, abd make no mistake," said Mrs. Beaver; "if there's anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they're either braver than most or else just silly."

"Then he isn't safe?" said Lucy.

"Safe?" said Mr. Beaver; "don't you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the king I tell you."

Conclusion
There is much in the scripture that teaches us about the closeness, the familiarity of God. Jesus teaches us to pray to God as "Abba," the Aramaic equivalent to our children saying "daddy." The Holy Spirit is spoken of as our Comforter. Jesus promised to never leave us or forsake us. The disciple John is said to have been reclining up against Jesus at the table. I get it, I really do. God has revealed Himself to us as being close to us, loving and approachable.

But, without a proper fear of the Lord in place, we can easily swing into self-importance and self-sufficiency. Hebrews 1 says that the entire universe is upheld by the word of His power. Think about that. At this moment, water is still behaving like water because of God. Grass is growing right now because of God. My computer is functioning on electricity right now because of the word of God's power. Not a molecule in the universe is out of God's sight at this very moment. I can't even find my freaking ear buds today. He alone is God. I am not. He is awesome in power and should be rightly feared. A proper understanding of the fear of God makes His invitation to approach Him like a little child all the more unbelievable and scandalous.

Our fear of God should not paralyze us or cause us to shrink away from Him. Rather, we should run with abandon into the arms of the one who is more powerful that we can ever understand and more loving than we could ever comprehend.

What Does God Require? part 1

And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD, which I am commanding you today for your good. - Deuteronomy 10:12-13

I have an iPhone app called "Fighter Verses." The app was put together as a way to help people memorize certain key verses from the Bible, these 52 "Fighter Verses." The app is really well done and I highly recommend it, but that's beside the point. This week's verse comes from Deuteronomy 10, and it really struck me as valuable. Maybe I liked this verse so much because it comes in the form of a numbered list, my favorite information delivery technique. I thought I would take a couple of blog posts and go through this verse with a fine tooth comb. The more I have meditated on these words, the more densely packed I see them to be. This post will only cover the first 12 words.

And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you?

This verse records Moses speaking to the people of Israel after God gave Moses the second set of the 10 Commandments. In Deuteronomy 5, Moses gathers together all the people of Israel and launches into a lengthy speech to the people, instructing them in the ways that the Lord has set before them. Moses is asking this question as a way to teach the people of God, clearly and succinctly, how God desires us to be in relationship to Him.

Many people in today's culture live their lives in some form of deism. Deism is the general belief or understanding that there is a God who somehow made the world, but that God is very distant and uninvolved. In the deistic view, what God really wants and requires of us is to figure out life on our own. God started this whole universe project, but has now abandoned it and left us in charge of everything. Many enlightenment thinkers, including the majority of America's founding fathers, were deists; this is why our cultural awareness is steeped in do-it-yourself-ism. It's as thick as the air that we breath. This worldview certainly encourages hard work but certainly fails to take into account the God to whom we are actually responsible.

Right from the beginning of this verse, we are confronted with the idea that God requires something from us. This is not a particularly popular message to speak today, but it is truth. We were created by God and for God. Everything that was created was made by Him. Our next breath, our next heartbeat is dependent on God. When God speaks and lets us know what is required of us, we had better pay attention.

I find great comfort in knowing that God requires something from me. I find it comforting because it means that God is not distant and uninvolved. It means that God is a good God, a good Father who cares about us, our lives, our actions, and our treatment of other people. It means that God loves us enough to not leave us alone. The ultimate form of hate is indifference, and God is clearly not indifferent.

Rather than recoil in "American-do-it-myself-self-sufficient" horror at the thought of God's requirement, I encourage you to find comfort in these verses. God is treating you as His child. Embrace Him. Submit yourself to Him. He is good and He has your ultimate good in mind.

In the next post, we will explore what it means to "fear God."

Moving To Seattle - pt. 2

Since we announced that our family would be moving to Seattle, I have received a tremendous amount of love, support and encouragement. I thought I would take this opportunity to fill you in on a few specific details that have been nailed down over the past few weeks.

1. I have been accepted to an internship at Mars Hill Church in Seattle. This is a 25hr per week unpaid internship (more on this below). The start date is August 1st.
2. I will also (most likely) be doing the Resurgence Re:Train program at Mars Hill simultaneously. The program and the internship were designed to work together to equal a 40hr week. The start date for this is August 8th.
3. My family will take off on July 18th. July 17th will be my last Sunday at City Church. Erin Lynn and the girls will be flying and I will be driving the van filled with my guitar stuff and other odds and ends.

Many of you have also asked if there was anything you could do to help. As a matter of fact, yes! Here are some ways that you might be able to be a blessing and help our family.

1. Buy my stuff. We are selling pretty much everything and starting fresh in Seattle.
2. Help with a garage sale. I will be doing a sale on Saturday, May 14th and will need help that day as well as on Friday the 13th (!) for setup.
3. Painting, etc. We are going to rent out our home and she needs a fresh coat of paint plus a few other minor fixups. Once the garage sale is done and the house is more empty, this will be easier.

Finally, some of you may feel inclined to contribute financially. As you saw above, the internship and school are all unpaid. We would love to avoid racking up any student loan debt for this school period and we will be asking for sponsors. One-time donations are welcome, but we will also be asking for regular monthly donors for the 14 months of this internship. We will have some income from the rental of our house, plus I will be able to do some part time work, music teaching, etc., but we will need some sort of extra support for this season. I will have more specifics available in a few weeks, but for now just prayerfully consider supporting my family financially either with a one-time gift or regularly.

How Should We React To Osama's Death?

By now, the information is old news: Osama Bin Laden is dead. Information moves at the speed of light and only those who have their electronic devices turned off have not had the last several hours to deal with, to process the news that one of the most evil, hated, despised men in modern history has met his demise. Reading through all of the posts on Facebook and Twitter, it is clear to see that there is a wide range of reactions to this news. I would like to propose a framework that could be helpful for Christians as we react to this incredibly historical event. Perhaps the best word I can think of to use for our reaction would be "mixed."

1. Sorrow

Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the LORD, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live? - Ezekiel 18:23

Like it or not, Osama Bin Laden was a human being, created in the image and likeness of God, albeit severely marred and disfigured by the effects of sin. The people of God, like God himself, should not be glad that an image-bearer of God has persisted in his wickedness until his death. No Christians should take delight in the thought that someone will spend eternity in torment, separated from the grace of God.

2. Joy

When it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices, and when the wicked perish there are shouts of gladness. - Proverbs 11:10

We do not rejoice in the death of the man, but we do rejoice that he is no longer able to inflict evil and suffering upon others. The Bible, from top to bottom, is very concerned with the idea of justice. Most average people are also - at least in theory - concerned with the idea of justice. When a person has been dishing out violence upon violence for years, there is a fitting place for gladness that they have met justice.

3. Humility

[Jesus said], “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” - Luke 13:2-4

Jesus, in these verses, was responding to certain Jews who were elated with the idea that tragedy had struck "those bad people." It is all to easy to become overjoyed when God's justice is meted out again those who are wicked in our eyes. What is easy to overlook is our own wickedness. Jesus says "repent."

4. Submission to Government

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. - Romans 13:1-4

I am fully, personally, firsthand aware of the flaws in our legal system, but we should really pause for a moment and be thankful for the privileges, freedom and security that we have as Americans. I have freedom to post a blog like this with no fear of retribution other than one of you readers griping at me electronically. I'm thankful for the police and the soldiers and all the others who "bear the sword" to offer us humans a spitting chance at a modicum of freedom.

5. Urgency

This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. - Acts 4:11-12

I am fully convinced that the only hope for the nations of the world is Jesus. Part of the reaction that we should have to Osama Bin Laden's death is a sense of urgency to proclaim the good news of salvation to all mankind. The nations rage, people plot, darkness grows darker, violence increases, but the Word of the Lord must be proclaimed to every corner of the earth.

One final note: I find joking and mockery at this point to be in bad taste. Psalm 2 speaks of Most High God looking at the schemes of wicked nations and mocking them, holding them in derision. My perspective on the matter is that mockery/derision is one of those things, like vengeance, that belong to God. There may be a time where God's people, like Elijah, are invited to mock false religion and superstitious belief, but death is not a time for gloating.

I also see the practical implications of this right now. Do you remember when certain people in Muslim nations celebrated and passed out candy on 9/11? Let's not stoop to that level. Let's not take the joy that we may have in this wicked man's death and descend into petty joking, even if the joke is about Trump or Obama or Palin or Chuck Norris or Where's Waldo or anything else. All the joking is ill-timed, in my humble opinion.

If You Love It, You Will Learn About It

I am a seminary student. The degree I am pursuing is called a Master of Divinity (insert joke from Jim Strutz about being a "divine master" here). One of the the most surprising things that happened to me when I announced that I would be pursing a theology degree was the push back that I got from well-meaning Christians. They were concerned that studying theology would ruin my walk with God, that my study would turn my relationship into a merely intellectual exercise. I was surprised, because it was an aspect of study that had never crossed my mind.

When I stopped to think about it, the concern was actually valid. I have actually experienced something like this firsthand before. When I was pursing my undergrad degree in music, I can remember many weekends where I expressed a sentiment similar to the following: "If I never see another piece of music again, it will be too soon." My intensive study, practicing, rehearsing, and playing almost ruined my love and appreciation for music. Many of the other students in my class are not working or earning a living in a music-related field; many of them are not even playing music at all!

However valid this concern in, I don't think it should scare us away from studying or learning about who God is, His nature, His character, and His attributes. I have heard people say "I don't want to know about God, I just want to know God," or "I don't want to just read the owner's manual, I want to drive the car!" This sentiment is understandable, but unfortunately shortsighted. I would propose this: if you love something, you will invariably study it out. Michael Patton from Credo House Ministries explains it well:

It’s popular today to think our learning about God will stifle our passion for God. I’ve even heard people say, “I’d rather be led instead of read.” This is simply not true from human experience. Anyone passionate in any subject will eventually seek to learn more and more about the subject. The person passionate about wine becomes a student of wine. They learn about the art of wine making, differing varieties in differing climates, soil nutrients, fermentation, barreling, pairing, and proper tasting techniques. They love the taste, but the taste is now greatly enhanced by their knowledge.

The person passionate about NASCAR becomes a student of NASCAR. They can tell you about the history of certain race tracks, they will tell you about some of the great drivers from the past, they’ll educate you about fuel conservation during a race, driver and fan safety, getting the most out of the tires, and driver G-forces.

If you’re reading this there’s a strong chance the King of all Kings has adopted you into His family. Your eternal destiny has been altered by a Savior who lived, died and rose in your place. He invites you to take your heavy burden in exchange for His light yoke. Your God is with you every day and is leading you safely to your eternal home. Yet so many people will go months, years or even a lifetime without taking the initiative to grow as a learner. We won’t follow the command of Jesus to make not just converts but disciples. Somehow we think if we know Him we won’t love Him. This is simply not true.

There are many other analogies that could be used - football and other sports, music, cinema, American history - but you see how this works. If you love something, you will learn about it. I appreciate the valid concern that too much study can turn something you love into a frustration, but I think that the vast majority of us are far from that problem. Most of us are in danger of running off the road on the other side, not knowing enough about the God that we worship. I encourage you: study, learn, grow in understanding. As Peter charges us in 2nd Peter 3, "Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." It's a both/and thing. We need to grow in our experience of God's grace while we grow in the knowledge of who God is. May we all increase in both.


Michael Patton and the Credo House Ministries blog can be visited here: http://www.reclaimingthemind.org/blog/