Surprised By Scripture

I've been surprised by what I find in Scripture several times recently.

Psalm 73 Here prosperity is called a "slippery place" vs 18 where God intentionally sets the wicked until the moment when He suddenly sweeps them away. Riches among the ungodly are a cause for pity rather than envy.

Jeremiah 3:14 What's frightening about this verse is that God says "I will take one from a city and two from a family." The context is a call to repentance to the faithless among God's covenant people. I wonder if verses like this explain why some Calvinists think that God will save very few and condemn the majority?

2 Corinthians 4:7-18 This beautiful passage on bodily suffering is surprising because so little of its sentiments are expressed by Christians today whose "outer nature is wasting away". How hard it is for us to believe that "we have this treasure in jars of clay" for a reason.

Good Advice for Church-goers

"Keep your head down, and try to be faithful. Don't analyze too much."

This is the tactic of a man I admire who has faithfully served the same church for 15 years here in the hard-to-grow Southwest. The remark about 'don't analyze too much' means don't do things like fret over why the liberal churches continue to grow at a faster rate than the biblical ones, etc. Just try to be faithful, trusting God's sovereignty over all things.

This is more than good advice for pastors--I ought to heed it, too. What is called for in the local church is a servant and not an analyst who stands aloof while pointing out the problems he sees.

Lunch at Model's Pharmacy

Roadfood hasn't let me down yet. This book (now a website, too) finds the best backstreet mom and pop restaurants across our country and shares the news so we can enjoy them, too. Today we had a great lunch at Model's Pharmacy.

They serve breakfast and lunch with a refreshing side of local culture. How delightful to get away from the same chains and enjoy some simply delicious fare. Located near the base, if you're in the area, Kristin and I highly recommend stopping in for a bite!

Sunday Morning Climbs

I need help climbing Mt Zion on the Lord's Day. My help has to be patient and strong; I'm a slow climber and the trek to corporate worship can put me in the foulest mood.

What I have found to be a great help in that climb is the lectionary readings for Sunday mornings. Week after week it provides surprisingly strong aid for the ascent. For instance, this morning's readings comprised short selections from the Psalms, Joshua, Ezekiel, Deuteronomy, Proverbs, 2 Timothy, Matthew, Luke, and Mark. Each passage lent a strong hand in getting me properly up to Mount Zion.

My other faithful trail guide is the Valley of Vision. This morning I was prayerfully reminded,

this is thy day,
the open door of worship,
the seal of the sabbath to come,
the day when saints militant and triumphant unite in endless song.

The veil is torn aside and I find thee ready to hear,
waiting to be gracious,
inviting me to pour out my needs,
promising to give more than I ask or think.

I'm not going to miss that. Let's get up that mountain.

When Peace Yields to Faith

Many Christians hope for a nice, quiet life. It's a biblical hope (see 1 Tim 2:2), but interestingly, the "hall of faith" (Heb 11) contains not a single account of a peaceful and quiet life.

To reconcile these two -- a desire for peace with the violent reality of a life lived by faith -- there seems to be a point where to be peaceful is to be unfaithful. At some point peace yields to faith.

The faith chronicled in Hebrews 11 is both passive and active. It's passive faith to suffer mockings and floggings, to be killed with the sword, to be tortured. But faith is to be aggressively active too; it puts foreign armies to flight, conquers kingdoms, receives back the dead, enforces justice, obtains promises.

I desire a quiet, peaceful life. But there will be situations where I must choose: peace or faith. At that point, peace is cowardly and treasonous. And not becoming of those whom the world was not worthy.

If it Sounds like a Duck, then...

I had another meeting this week with my co-worker who is a Mormon. He is interested in knowing why I will not consider Mormonism part of the Christian faith. I identified the essential doctrines of the Christian faith and used examples from Mormon doctrine that show that they reject the correct understanding of the Trinity--in other words they deny the true God.

To obfuscate their position the LDS plays word games, very similar to how modernists have treated the Christian faith since the 19th century. For instance, the LDS uses the term Trinity but gives it a very different meaning. Instead of "one God existing in three eternal persons", they define it as "an office held by three distinct Beings who are one in purpose and intent, perfectly united to comprise one Godhead."

My friend could see the difference but considered it only semantics. I argued that it was not semantic since this is an essential doctrine of the faith, and that to reject a correct understanding of Trinity could make one guilty of idolatry and blasphemy.

The question I left him with is whether the Mormon faith is polytheistic, even though it claims not to be. I don't believe the LDS would ever admit to being polytheistic, but it sure sounds to me like they are.

Thankfully, this was a civil discussion and we are to continue talking.

Still True?

It ought to be more carefully considered, that all men promiscuously do homage to God, but very few truly reverence him. On all hands there is abundance of ostentatious ceremonies, but sincerity of heart is rare.

That's a quote from Calvin's Institutes (Book 1, Chap 2). Is it still true that all men do homage to God?

My answer: our age is one of radical informality, so there is no longer "an abundance of ostentatious ceremonies"--although the church-growth movement still attacks formality as if it is the problem. What has changed is that even the "sincere in heart" see little need for ceremony, so that neither God-rejecters nor God-lovers truly reverence him.

Disappointment in Virginia

I've been reading tonight (while in Seattle on business) of the sad affair -- and ugly mess -- that has occurred at St Peter Presbyterian Church where R.C. Sproul, Jr pastors.

I suspect this is not the most objective account of the defrocking and dismissal of Sproul Jr (and the session) from the denomination to which they belonged, so I will avoid commenting on the pastoral practices of the session and limit comments to an area that hopefully avoids potential for slander.

Why did so many families move across the country to rural Virginia to join a church? Many of them went to such great expense in order to be part of a vision that offered a simple, separate, and deliberate lifestyle, focusing heavily on family and community.

I believe this is a good vision based on biblically-important principles. For a brief time, I considered moving my family there. I have a stack of Basement Tapes. But a couple of conditions make the St Peter community ripe for strife. First, expectations of the movers are bound to be high, dangerously high. People who give up much in order to gain a certain lifestyle will be tempted to feel cheated by empty promises if reality doesn't match what they imagined from listening to tapes and reading articles.

But the bigger problem may be doctrinal. This could prove to be a classic case of majoring on minors. While lifestyle and community are important, they don't rise to the level of the essentials of the Christian faith. If they are exalted to that place, one tends to become opinionated and unloving. Reading the complaints of several members, there were significant theological disagreements with the church's leadership, but the families chose to move there anyway, ostensibly for the lifestyle. This shows the importance of doctrinal agreement and the destructive power of doctrinal differences.

Disappointing to say the least.

Once Deceived, Twice Shy

A recent friendship, that I'm afraid has come to an end, has taught me to be more considerate of the difficulties that come with leaving a cult. My friend grew up in the RLDS (associated with Mormonism) but came to realize this was a false church many years ago and left it. Painfully aware of how thoroughly he had been deceived, he is very sensitive about being deceived again, and for years this has kept him from becoming part of any church.

He recently made attempts to become part of the church I attend, but a host of issues has led him away from any assembly. His path is a lonely one; separated from a community of redeemed sinners, alienated from the visible church, and her means of grace.

I believe my friend is sincere when he says his desire "is to bring honor to the Word of God and the purity of the gospel of Christ." But his desire is unachievable apart from the visible church since Christ came to join us to himself and to one another as his body, the people of God. We are not to be individual points of light in the world, but a city set on a hill. We are not to give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing (Heb 10:25).

In a fallen world we shouldn't expect purity, and this includes in the church. But for my friend, it appears that some of Joseph Smith's lies have yet to be rejected: the witness of the Christian church is so impaired that we must separate from it.

I do have pity for my friend and those in his situation. To be deceived by a cult is painful enough. Doing your best to avoid being tricked again makes sense. But I fear that going alone is just as dangerous a solution.

Causing Offense

I've written before about a Mormon I work with that has initiated a discussion with me about whether Mormons are Christians. As I was leaving work for the day yesterday, he came to me again and we spent an hour going over what defines a Christian and if the Mormon faith is a reasonable faith.

It was a civil discussion until near the end. Once he realized that I did not accept his attempts to refute my arguments and would not consider him a Christian, he with a flushed, angry face told me he was offended and off-loaded on me for a few minutes. At one point I had the suspicision he was thinking of striking me.

It will be awkward to continue working with him every day.

Giving Up the Love of God to Become the Sin of Men

Last Sunday's sermon pointed out to me
that the Son loves most His Father's charity.
In this he has delighted, ere the worlds began to be.

But from all eternity, there came a time in Galilee
when the Son willingly ended His Father's love to become iniquity.

"Son of God, come down from the cross," mocked the Pharisee.
O how close did this agree with the prayer at Gethsemane,
"My Father, if it possibly be, let this cup pass from me!"

To give up what you love most, to become what you most hate;
the love of God for the sin of men; the Son's sacrifice so great!

It was not only the Son who was tempted to bend,
one appeal to the Father--twelve legions of angels He would send.
Rescue my only Son, damn the world of sin!
O how close did the plan come to an end.

To give up what you love most, to redeem what you most hate,
the love of God for the sin of men; the Father's sacrifice so great!

Early (Warning) Signs of Personality

Chronic Dislocation Syndrome

Church membership either turns you into a servant, or proves to you that you’re not one. Mark Dever

The military lifestyle is a highly mobile one, and I'm convinced this chronic dislocation is more likely to make you a church consumer than a church servant.

Most of our military friends that are Christians are not church members. They can't decide which church they like and so they discontentedly float between large churches for months or even years. Over the last several months, we've invited at least 8 of these families to church with us. All of them have politely turned us down.

It ain't easy being a little church. Tougher still if you're little and Presbyterian. Our church is both those things. It's for servants--not consumers.

Repeating Pilgrim's Progress

Every other year I find my way back to Pilgrim's Progress. I finished it again last night. Each time new characters stand out from the rest and I make better sense of what Christian is saying during some of the longer conversations with Hopeful.

But I wonder, if Christian's descendant, call him Christian the VI, were to enter yonder wicket-gate today who would he meet with on the way? Many of the same misinformed folks and scoundrels, I suspect. But there probably would be some new acquaintances.

Mr. Therapeutic, Mr. Nice, and Messrs. Sweet and Sentimental, all of the town At-Ease, would be traveling along the way. Surely the way must also pass near a great university where Christian, VI would encounter the aged Dr. Higher Criticism and the always youthful Dr. Po-Mo.

Interestingly, Christian today has no need of different friends than his ancestor enjoyed. Evangelist, Faithful, Hopeful, and the refreshment provided by the Lord of the way still supplies all a Pilgrim needs.

Now, reader, I have told my dream to thee,
See if thou canst interpret it to me.

Sola Scriptura Requires More than Scripture

The title of this post sounds nonsensical, but I hope the brief words that follow prove it true. This post continues some thoughts on The Democratization of American Christianity.

In an elders' meeting a couple of years ago we were wrestling with several theological issues and there application in our church. I thought it appropriate to recommend we look to church history for assistance, but the senior pastor felt otherwise. He remarked that the problem with creeds, confessions, and the like, is that you don't know which ones to use because they're not infallible. In effect, you have to read the Bible as if it just dropped from the sky and you're the first person in the world to pick it up. To him this is what Sola Scriptura means.

The problem with this approach, which is all too common today, is that we can't escape coming to the Scripture with our own set of prejudices and ideas. We do not possess a "clean slate" for the Bible to write upon.

This problem is not unique to us. The authors of creeds and confessions had the same problem, but since they lived in a different time and culture, their prejudices were in different areas than ours. So here is one reason why creeds and confessions can help us with Scripture interpretation; their blind spots are different than ours.

So for us to approach our faith Sola Scriptura, we must overcome our prejudices. Our fathers in the faith can serve us in that regard. And since the Bible has been honored, interpreted, and applied faithfully by our fathers in the faith, we would be foolish not to take their reflections into account.

The American Devolution

Several folks I respect recommend The Democratization of American Christianity as a way to understand how American Christianity became audience centered, intellectually weak, organizationally fragmented, and popularly led. But don't think the book is one-sided. It also explains why American Christianity maintains a strong presence in our culture, forging moral communities that give meaning to ordinary people. I will limit this post to summarize only a small part of Hatch's impressive scope of research and analysis.

The impression given by the book is that what happened to American religion in the early years of our nation is a case of generally understanding a problem correctly, but reacting with a terrible solution. The problem was found in the form of Calvinism so pervasive at that time. It permitted no means of spiritual release (i.e. no emotion or place for personal experience), was preoccupied with arcane theology and complicated controversies, often endorsed the status quo regarding social classes and slavery, and was full of clergy that couldn't relate to the common man.

The reaction to these problems was much worse than the problem itself. Drunk on dreams of democracy and individualism, American Christians in their passion for religious liberty exalted the individual's judgment over all creeds, catechisms, and confessions. In essence what was attacked was theology and the need for an educated clergy. All the weight of church history and theological argument could not withstand the power of the declaration, "No Creed but the Bible." What we failed to realize is that our aversion to religious authorities and historical underpinnings, and our exaltation of private judgment, only created more and more disunity and discord in the church. Could God be the author of such confusion?

And this has become America's characteristic defect. We possess an unstable compound of religious zeal and private judgment that continues to split churches and create an endless number of denominations. Religious innovators in America have rarely been denied a receptive audience. We are a land of ten thousand Reformers, and each one has his own church.

A Strange Lack of Desire for the Future

Children, our future, are perceived as a threat to the present, as though they were taking something away from our lives. Children are seen--at least by some people--as a liability rather than as a source of hope.

Benedict XVI in First Things

Impotent Morality

Ken Myers in volume 77 of the Mars Hill Audio Journal makes a telling remark on morality. Speaking from the perspective of the pragmatists, he says,

We want the morality, but we don't need to worry about any kind of transcedent source for it. We'll just work up some rules to ensure the morality happens.

Those of us who suffer through ethics training know this to be true all too well. The pragmatic approach fails because fallen mankind cannot live up to the ideal. We are regularly hunted by the evidence; rules don't prevent scandals.

Old and Young

Kristin and the children went to a community craft center during homeschool recently. A group of older women were also there, and they repeatedly made it clear that they didn't like children around them. After several rude comments, Kristin and the children decided to come back another time.

We naturally have a bias towards our own demographic. For me, this bias manifests itself in who I seek out after church as well as who I seek to invite to church. This may explain why some churches are filled with young families while others have nothing but the older set, and vice versa.

In my private worship this morning, Zechariah had this to say speaking of the holiest, best days of Jerusalem,

Thus says the Lord of hosts: Old men and women shall again sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each with a staff in hand because of great age. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets. (Zech 8:4-5)

I take this to say that it is marvelous in the Lord's sight (vs 6) when His people, old and young, look beyond their own demographic and enjoy being together with each other.

Good Fences -- Doctrine Defines, and Yes, Divides When Necessary

Christians today seem to think someone is a Christian based on an experience they've had ("I asked Jesus into my heart"), or their morality ("I don't watch Desperate Housewives"). They neglect the role that doctrine should have in defining Christianity. A couple of events from this week reaffirmed to me why we must know what we believe.

I was given an opportunity to explain the Gospel to a Mormon co-worker yesterday on the way back from a luncheon. He felt that Mormons were Christians because he believes he is saved by grace through faith.

I agreed that we have similar salvation language, but the problem is, we have different Gods. He thought I was overemphasizing what is really just semantics about deity. I then explained the need to define what is Christian faith, and used the Nicene Creed to do so. I explained how it says that the Christian God is a triune God and defines what that means. He responded, "then by that definition I am no Christian." Interestingly, he came back to my desk today with a statement from the LDS prophet that says that they do not affirm the Nicene Creed, yet they are Christians. Well, one of us has the wrong definition of Christian! And I hope to continue the discussion.

Another event happened this week to Kristin that also shows that we must know what we believe. She was having dinner with a couple of ladies from our neighborhood who were talking about a Muslim neighbor. One of the ladies, who professes Christ, said that the Islamic lady and her have talked and they can't find any real differences in what they believe.

Creeds, Confessions, and Catechisms have been used by the Church for centuries to define what is the historic, orthodox Christian faith. Christians today would be well served to better acquaint themselves with them.

Spending Time with Giants

A friend and I met for lunch today to discuss Jonathan Edwards' Unpublished Essay on the Trinity, written sometime in the 1700s. Edwards' main point was that the Word of God teaches us more things concerning the Trinity than have been generally taken notice of. In in a very compact way he goes higher up and further into this most mysterious of divine mysteries. Among other things this is the best teaching on the Person of the Holy Spirit that I've ever read. And his writing is not dry as dust nor highbrow, but instead is richly devotional.

But the Trinity is not my point in this post. This is a lament against modern books. If you've got a few minutes read just the first 100 words or so of Edward's essay and compare that to the same amount of text in a typical theological work of today. Edwards says vastly more in a few paragraphs than modern authors usually convey in whole books. If you want to discover more glorious and exceedingly wonderful things in your reading, make time for the giants of the past.

Epiphany Gifts

Exchanging gifts on Epiphany (6 Jan) is a tradition in our family. Each gift is selected with the intent to help another love Christ more. The children got a new Story Bible. I gave Kristin a sabbatical at a local Bed and Breakfast. Kristin delighted me immensely by getting me a seat at Ligonier Ministries' National Conference in Orlando this March! This year's theme is the church; I can't wait! Are any of you planning to attend?

A Plea to Re-think China Adoptions

I'm in Seattle this week for business, but I enjoy talking to Kristin each evening. She tells me we received another urgent phone call from an adoption agency desperately looking for a home for a soon-to-be born baby. Before we took our name off the lists (after adopting Faith) we received several phone calls like this every week!

If I can be less-than-nice for a moment, I know several families who are waiting to adopt from China despite that country's recent decision to delay processing applications for adoption for up to one year. So we have the deplorable situation where families who want to adopt, who have their home study done so they can adopt, are waiting for over a year for a baby from China while the fatherless and needy infants of our own country go without Christian homes!

At this risk of judging motives, I think Christians have too heroic a vision of rescuing babies from China. Indeed, it is in vogue now in parts of the Christian community. But while they wait and wait while China dallies around and takes their money, they are effectively denying Christian homes to many needy children in the States. Adopting domestically, if you look outside the Caucasian race, is ordinarily cheaper, quicker, and easier!

If providentially you know a family who is ready to adopt, and would consider what I've said, have them contact me. The baby we heard about today is due early March, and she doesn't have a home.

2005 in the Books

Each New Year I post what I read during the year just ended. The last couple of years have been meager ones, mainly due to tending to schoolwork in the evenings or moving. But with a break in Air Force schooling (and moving!), I'm hopeful to cover more (and better) ground in 2006. Anyway, here's a list of the books read in 2005 (not counting the Bible or what I read to my children) with a brief analysis at the end.

- Call Of Duty, the Sterling Nobility of Robert E. Lee; Steve Wilkins
- The Cross-Centered Life; C.J. Mahaney
- The Spirituality of the Cross (i.e. Lutheranism 101); Gene Edward Veith
- The Foolishness of God (i.e. is the law of non-contradiction biblical?); Siegbert W. Becker
- Age of Opportunity (parenting teenagers); Tedd Tripp
- Against Christianity; Peter Leithart
- Gilead (twice); Marilynne Robinson
- Plowing in Hope, towards a theology of culture; David Hegeman
- To Conquer the Air (bio of Wright Bros); James Tobin
- Reformed Theology in America, a history of its modern development; David Wells, ed.
- Ministries of Mercy; Tim Keller
- Pickwick Papers; Charles Dickins
- Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment; Jeremiah Burroughs
- Confessing Christ (used in new members class at church); Calvin Knox Cummings

Looking at this list overall, I'm pleased that I read several biographical works, that I read some theology outside of my tradition (e.g. two Lutheran works), and that I read quality fiction (i.e. Dickens and Robinson). I'm not satisfied with the amount of reading of books written outside of my time period or outside of the Christian faith. So in 2006 I will try to read more books that are older and also make time for some non-Christian non-fiction (e.g. like Postman, etc).

Such a Swarm of Prejudices

I re-read a portion of puritan Isaac Watts' Logic this week at the request of a friend. In this section Watts details the sources of error in our judgment which largely stem from the fondness we have for ourselves. In a most powerful way he reveals the devastation our prejudices have on a right understanding of Scripture. I'll add that American Christians, with our individualistic and anti-authoritarian tendencies, need to pay special heed to this rebuke. Some of Watts' excerpts,

We set up our own opinions as tests of orthodoxy. We ought to bring our minds free, unbiased, and teachable, to learn our religion from the word of God; but we have generally formed all the lesser as well as greater points of religion beforehand, and then we read the prophets and apostles, only to pervert them to conform our own opinions.

We become sharp-sighted as to find our own opinions in those places of Scripture where the holy writers never thought of them, nor the Holy Spirit intended them. At other times, our prejudices bring such a dimness upon the sight that we cannot read anything that opposes our views, though it be written with sunbeams, and in the plainest language [Watts cites Luther on the Epistle of James, Catholics on the Apocyphra].

If the common text be not favorable to our opinion...the common understanding most be supposed to be defective or redundant, and the sense of it shall be literal or metaphorical, according as it best supports our own scheme. We are ready to find something in every chapter of the Bible to countenance our own private sentiments; and we love those chapters best which speak our own opinion plainest.

I believe our prejudices largely explain the disunity of the Church. The solution? Watts again: "Since we find such a swarm of prejudices, the weakness of our reason, our insufficiency to guard ourselves from error, we must direct ourselves to Heaven, and implore the God of truth to lead us into all truth, and to ask wisdom of Him who giveth liberally to them that ask it."

Chaplain Tim Bailey?

Back in 1993 when I was new to the Air Force, and new to the Christian faith, I spent a good deal of time with an Air Force Chaplain whose background was African Methodist Episcopal. He believed in prophesying and he believed in me. He told me that one day I would be an Air Force Chaplain, he knew it, and he was never wrong about these things. Thankfully, wrong he was.

A friend of mine from the Air Force, who's not a chaplain, sent me a copy of the new talking paper on the "Interim guidelines of religious expression in the Air Force." A couple of the new guidelines make sense, but most are horrid, especially if you're a chaplain.

Consider its recommendations on prayer. "Prayers may be offered at military holiday parties. If a prayer/meditation is to be offered, strongly recommend that unit Chaplains be utilized to provide the prayer/meditation. Key point: The prayer/meditation/reflection should not be specific to any faith group." Then the following sample prayer was provided,

Dear Lord, as the days of winter grow shorter, our hearts seem to yearn for the coming light, explaining our Holiday Season focus on decorative lights and candles. And as we focus on the coming light that this season represents, allow our light to shine in our world. Allow our good works to shine before men so that they may be encouraged. Amen

I detest these empty prayers and empathize for the Chaplains that are forced to pray to this therapeutic deity of our own making. Thank the Lord Jesus Christ I'm not one of them.

Love Must Be Expressed Through Word and Deed

My church is surrounded by growing numbers of people in need. Situated fairly close to the "bad part of town", a deacon recently told me that more than once the after-worship refreshments have been stolen during the service by people off the street. And there have been some tense moments during the week when emotionally-unstable people have entered the building demanding a hand-out.

I suspect most churches in large cities are regularly solicited for financial assistance from people in need. I also suspect that many of these people will abuse whatever assistance is provided. Perhaps this explains why many evangelical churches are much stronger on Word ministries (e.g. teaching, evangelism) than they are mercy ministries.

So I was intrigued when a deacon at our church taught the adults from Tim Keller's book. Dr. Keller is pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Manhattan, and he confronts the evangelical church over its lack of mercy, pointing out that mercy is not optional or additional to be being a Christian.

This is a bold book. In many places Pastor Keller gives names of those in the church that get this wrong (e.g. Sider and Chilton are both criticized) and shames the Left with its redistribution of wealth theories and the Right for its assertions that economic growth alone will mend broken families. He shows that only the ministry of the church can properly attack the root of the problem because "the spread of the Kingdom of God is more than simply winning people to Christ. It is also working for the healing of persons, families, relationships, and nations; it is doing deeds of mercy and justice."

Most valuably, this book not only convinces you of the orthodoxy of mercy ministry, aptly answering all the objections to it and also shaming the church for its negligence, but also spends many chapters describing how to go about it.

As a result, our little church is stepping up its participation with several rescue missions in town, expressing our love for our neighbors through Word and deed.

"The Way to Contentment is to Add Another Burden"

This will be the last book I read this year. It will also be the best.

Do you have a deep satisfaction with the will of God in all things? Do you maintain an inward, quiet, gracious frame of spirit no matter the situation? Or do you murmur? Do you complain at every cross and affliction in your life, dwelling on what discontents you, but unable to meditate more than a moment on God's mercies to you?

Rare Jewel was written by the Puritan preacher Jeremiah Burroughs and first published in 1648. In that era puritan authors wrote with a style of all meat, no fluff. This is a book to savor one paragraph at a time for weeks. If you do so, by the end of the book you will know the cause of your discontentment, and its cure.

Is This a War Worth Fighting?

...the War Against Christmas, that is. I'm going against most of pop-evangelicalism and saying that the battle against "holiday trees" and the like is largely a distraction from the real issues of religious liberty.

The Christians I work with are on the warpath because our base newspaper calls it a holiday tree and the Commander says 'Happy Holidays' instead of 'Merry Christmas'. Renaming a Christmas tree is certainly silly, just imagine if we started calling a Menorah a Holiday Candlestick! If we do live in a pluralistic society then there should be enough room in the public square to call a rose a rose. It is a Christmas tree.

But I don't think that the War against Christmas is a major battle for religious liberty. I'm more concerned about recent court decisions forcing some Christian schools to use state-sponsored atheistic curriculum and forbidding some Christian organizations to hire and fire based on Christian morals.

Sadly, there is much less awareness among my Christian co-workers about these issues. And most distressing, there is no angst whatsoever that some of their own churches have called off worship this Lord's Day. This seems like a clear case of keeping the traditions of men while ignoring the commands of God. And that is a battle worth fighting over.

Ordered, Adjudged, and Decreed

Here we are earlier this month with the judge in Alabama that finalized our adoption of Faith. It was a very simple proceeding; we're thankful for that. Since then the days whizzed by with little time to write. I've also been trying to finish three more books by year end; I now have one left. I enjoyed Ministries of Mercy by Tim Keller and hope to post some thoughts on it pretty soon. I also finally wrapped up Dicken's first novel, The Pickwick Papers. Nearly 800 pages long, it's an amusing tale and an amazing feat for the 24 year old author!

The last step

We're off tomorrow to Alabama to finalize the adoption at a court proceeding. At this point we don't expect any difficulties, and we're looking forward to spending over a week with family.

Improving Family Worship

I want to be careful what I teach my children through the practice of family worship. Learning to sit quietly while the Bible is read, or prayers are said, can be a significant accomplishment for little children, but not if they've only learned to tune out what's going on. Good manners are not the end, but a means. What I want out of family worship is for them to have a focused quiet, like the kind that occurs when eating a favorite meal and all you hear is the work of the fork and spoon.

I've noticed for some time that we've lacked the focus and the enjoyment of mining the Word of the Lord during our times of family worship. Now that my two older children can read well enough, I've taken some steps to try to remedy that.

I've explained to them the ACTS (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication) model of prayer, and on a small whiteboard I have a column for each category. As the children listen to me read through the Scriptures, I instruct them to tell me things to write down on the board for each area. This forms a large part of our prayer list each evening.

This approach, I pray, will show my children that God's Word is not to be read passively, nor to be read merely as stories, but every time you read the Scripture, you ought to lay your hand upon it and say, "It is mine, and I am to live upon it."

Happy New Year!

Am I early? Not if I'm reading my lectionary right. The first week of Advent begins tomorrow, which begins the new year on the church calendar.

This has been my second year using a lectionary based on the Book of Common Prayer from 1662 for my private Bible Study. Of course there's nothing wrong with reading the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, but when I used that approach I disliked spending all my devotion in only one book of the Bible. The lectionary approach keeps you in several books every morning and evening. For instance, here's today's reading:

Morning
Ps 124, 125
Gen 35:1-20
Matt 13:1-17

Evening
Ps 119:97-112
Isa 42:1-9
Rev 21:22-22:5

I can't find the exact one I use on-line; but here's a recommendation for trying it out.

The Forgotten Call for Humble Penitence

As a thought experiment I googled a few key Thanksgiving Day proclamations with the intent of comparing them theologically. I sampled Plymouth Colony's First Proclamation of 1676 (although some historians question the validity of the source document) , President Washington's 1789 proclamation, President Lincoln's of 1863, and President Bush's of 2005.

Most strikingly, the 1676 proclamation doesn't mention thanks for an abundant harvest at all; rather, it expresses gratitude that the Lord did not totally consume them with afflictions. It's also a call to consecration, "in view of God's returning mercy," so that the Lord may behold them as a people "sensible of God's afflictions."

Washington proclaims a special day of thanks in part to, "beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions." Lincoln calls for a "humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience."

Regrettably, somewhere along the way, the call for humble penitence is lost. Recent Presidents, including the current one, make no such request of the American people. No connection is made between national afflictions and God's hand. From President Bush's proclamation, all we ask of God now is that He "watch over us", give us His "special blessing", and "guide us as we move forward." We are a people no longer sensible of God's afflictions.

Growing in Years, Growing in Grace

Our daughter Grace celebrated her 6th birthday this week. She invited a few friends from the neighborhood to our house for the evening.

Her new friendships have brought with them a mixture of blessings and trouble. But we pray with confidence that she will love whatsoever things are true and pure and lovely and of good report, following the example of her Savior Jesus Christ. And she does already, to a degree. Today I walked into her room and found her working with her 3 year old brother on his Scripture memory--that's encouraging!

Pie and Praise

One of the beloved traditions of our church occurs on the Sunday evening before Thanksgiving. The church comes together to enjoy homemade pies and fellowship and then spends the remainder of the evening publicly thanking God through prayer for His goodness to us over the last year. This has been going on for 15 years. It is refreshing to be part of a church body that, despite being geographically separated by long distances, enjoys getting together enough to make the drive. And does so pretty frequently.

What Does it Mean to be Reformed?

In an effort to understand how churches in the same denomination (PCA) can be so different, I picked up this book. It's a collection of essays covering the 3 major strands of the American reformed church: Princeton, Dutch, and Southern Presbyterian. Each background has an introductory essay and 2 or 3 essays on crucial men in that strand and their theology.

To boil down my notes on the book to the length of a typical blogpost, I'll say that the book does a great job explaining the distinctions of the 3 backgrounds in view, but at the end I'm left with the feeling that there's a large group of people that call themselves reformed that wouldn't identify with any of the three groups. It seems there should have been some discussion over the large number of reformed Baptists, or used-to-be-Baptist reformed folks. These are the kind of folks that we most often meet in the PCA and undoubtedly have added to the uniqueness of American reformed theology and practice.

Athanasius Contra Mundo

Desiring God radio aired Piper's biographical message on Athanasius. Here are the points I appreciated the most:
- Why it's worth fighting over doctrine that Christians have disagreed about for centuries
- Loving Christ must include loving true propositions about Christ. So, doctrine is essential in loving Christ.

I hope you get time to listen to it; I recommend it.

Veteran's Day to a 5 year old

I asked my children what we remember on Veteran's Day. My 7 year old son got it right, but Grace, my 5-year old daughter had a different conception. She said, "we remember those that take care of dogs."

We have since explained to her the difference between a veteran and a veterinarian.

A Question about Helping Neighbors You Don't Know

Our friend Melene, who lives in North Carolina, asked us to pray for a family in our neighborhood that was in serious need. Melene's husband was deployed with our neighbor's husband, who arrived home yesterday and will care for his wife during a very-risky brain surgery.

We hadn't met the family until recently, and so far we've only met the children and their aunt. The aunt, by the way, lost everything in Katrina and now lives here and cares for her sister's 4 children while she tries to cope with the daily pain associated with loss of brain fluid. There are serious needs all around.

This family is Catholic and may be getting assistance from their church; we don't know. So my question is what is the proper thing for us to do?

In addition to prayer, our current plan is to take them a meal and ask if their church is providing meals and other assistance. If they need help, we want to provide it; but we don't want to be too pushy since we're strangers who happen to live near-by. Other thoughts?

The Conversion of Man is Real!

There are skeptics of conversion; they think man's nature cannot truly be changed. And there are those of us that for years have longed for loved ones to know the Lord, and to be frank, we have given up on them. How encouraging it was tonight to have at my dinner table a new friend in Christ. He was a sixth generation Mormon (RLDS) who as an young adult left that cult at great personal cost and now embraces the Biblical truth.

What's more remarkable is that his parents left that false faith, too! Even more remarkable is that my friend's father was the State leader of the Mormon (RLDS) church when he left!

The gospel is the power of God for the salvation of all who believe. No matter what age or situation. Take courage, have hope, keep praying for your lost loved ones!

Outdoor Recreation

We're enjoying an unusually long Fall here in Albuquerque. To celebrate, some co-workers and I hiked 12 miles Friday in the Sandia mountains on the east side of town.


Then this morning, Eli and I, and some neighbors, went for a horseback ride a few minutes from base. You wouldn't want to do either of these activities in the summer, but it was perfect today!

Nice Quotes

Desiring God is putting message before money...all the conference lectures from this year's national conference are available for free download (here and here). The theme of the conference was Suffering and the Sovereignty of God. Joni Eareckson Tada covers the subject masterfully, and during her address remarks (and here's my paraphrase from memory), "instead of rehearsing our theology with each other, we are to live out our theology in front of others."

Also, one of the books that I have my nose in is Tim Keller's Ministries of Mercy. Sometimes it pays to read the endnotes carefully. That's where I found this great quote from the minutes of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) in 1892,

In the meantime [since we don't have parishes yet], our usages have taught the poor that the State and not the Church is their almoner, but it is high time that it be rescued from this neglect, and restored to its proper dignity as the most ancient and one of the most significant of ecclesiastical functions...The municipal overseer can never be a substitute for the deacon...The Church must prove herself the friend of the workingman. She can and should answer and conquer the communist by the deacon."

Reformation Day 2005

Our family watched this film (from the '50s) over the weekend. The version that came out a couple of years ago is more gripping, but this one emphasized more the importance of sola fide. Our church had a nice Reformation party on Friday, although next year we hope to incorporate some of the great ideas for children we enjoyed at Covenant OPC in Dayton, Ohio.

It's almost impossible to skip Halloween in our close-knit military neighborhood; but we joined a couple of other families tonight at a deserted Chuck E. Cheese. The children had a great time with their friends. Other blogs criticize Christians for the un-neighborliness of forgoing trick-or-treat, but in my situation I have plenty of other ways to spend time with my neighbors that don't have the baggage of Halloween.

Today I was asked about our position on Halloween. I tried to avoid pietism in my brief response; see what you think.

Our family tradition is to celebrate a different holiday on Oct 31. We celebrate Reformation Day. Today is the date, back in 1517, God used Martin Luther to begin a very important reformation in the Church. We enjoy celebrating this holiday because we can use it to teach our children about the gospel.

A Blemish on the Bright Future of Blogs

Numerous publications and even more web sites foresee blogs "spreading the gospel" to great numbers. Just a few weeks ago there was a conference on Christian Blogging, GodBlogCon with enough press coverage to get an AP article even in New Mexico's newspapers.

And maybe blogs will connect with people in ways that other forms of outreach never could. But what can be done to ensure the right gospel is getting out? The following quote was written long before the advent of computer networks, but the relevance to blogging is there nonetheless.

Tendencies, which had found no room to unfold themselves in other lands, wrought here without restraint...Every theological vagabond and peddler may drive here his bungling trade, without passport or license, and sell his false ware at pleasure. What is to come of such confusion is not now to be seen." Philip Schaff, The Principle of Protestantism, 1844

Pop Culture's Mandatory Fun

We have a "ghost sign" on our front door, despite our dislike for Halloween. If I didn't hang it up neighbors would keep dropping off bags of candy and cookies and dashing off before I can identify them. It happened twice before we decided it's un-neighborly of us to accept their goodies but not put up their silly sign. Our neighbors mean well, they just can't imagine we'd rather celebrate something else on 31 October. So that explains the mandatory fun we're now part of.

One of Kristin's friends was recently invited to two baby showers. Both were for unwed mothers. This put her in somewhat of a dilemma. Even though she didn't want to congratulate an impenitent person on fruitful fornication, if she didn't go, she'd come across as insensitive. She's glad the mother didn't abort. But does this mean an unwed mother, who has no designs of marriage, should receive the same kind of celebratory shower as the bride who waited? Well, we really have no choice. Popular culture says she does and so we concede to more mandatory fun.

Time for a Picture

Faith is a wonderful baby. And I'm pleased that the number of rude questions we receive from strangers has been very low. Kristin has received the worst one so far; someone she had never met before came up and asked her, "so how much did she cost?". This question is fine during a good conversation about adoption, but it's not a good opening question. Our skin is fairly thick anyways. For the most part, the people we've met here are very accepting and kind, especially at church and in our neighborhood.

From Pride and Prejudice to Sex in the City

Since my last post my family has gone through a birthday (#34 for me), a double ear infection (Isaiah), and strep throat (Kristin). Plus I was TDY to California for a few days.

On the trip I listened to the MARS HILL Audio report, Wandering toward the Altar: The Decline of American Courtship. It is very well done and chronicles how cultural conventions of choosing a mate have regressed from the "calling" system evidenced in Austen's novels to the dating of the post-WWII era to the "hook-ups" of today.

Besides being fascinating history, the series will be a useful teaching tool in my family for exposing the problems with dating and sketching out a better approach.

Today's Agenda

So will I ever sing praises to your name, as I perform my vows day after day" (Ps 61:8)

Secularizing the Military

Air Force Chaplains have recently been forbidden to evangelize service members of different faith groups. That, in itself, is a loss for religious liberty and evangelical witness. Now the Air Force is considering a gag order that would forbid its chaplains from evangelizing the unchurched, or those that claim no faith. The new policies were enacted due to threats of litigation from a previous Air Force Officer who says the Academy discriminates against non-evangelicals.

Also, until recently, we used to be able to offer prayers for service members upon their promotion, retirement, or other military ceremony. That has also come under fire. Public prayer is now only permitted rarely, "to add solemnity to an event." Compare that to in the past when prayer was an invocation, asking for God's favor upon the person being recognized.

Giving You An Earful

For whatever reason, while I love reading books, I can't read them fast enough to keep up with all the topics I'm interested in covering. I should probably switch to reading more articles, an idea from Barb, but I've found that there's tons of good, free audio available now a days. I try to listen more broadly than I believe; I think it's healthy to hear different views from within the pale of orthodoxy. Here are my favorite FREE audio places in no particular order:

St Anne's Pub -- down-to-earth reformed topics, mostly cultural
9 Marks Interviews -- reformed Baptist-led interviews and speeches
Covenant Seminary Audio Library -- recordings of chapel speakers, conferences, etc
White Horse Inn-- broadly-reformed topical discussions
Issues, Etc -- Confessional Lutheran broadcasts, mostly on cultural matters
I've also downloaded several great MP3s thanks to links I find in various blogs. This is a great way to spread a good message.

For audio for a fee, I especailly like,
Mars Hill Audio Journal -- first-rate cultural commentary from a Christian perspective
WordMP3 -- MP3s of sermons and lectures, mainly from reformed pastors and theologians
I usually also order the audio for the Desiring God conferences and from other ministries such as the Basement Tapes

Any other recommendations?

The Cruise of Mr. Christopher Columbus

I just read my children the book titled above about Columbus, published in 1932. I had hoped that it would be old enough to present the Christian elements of Columbus' character and mission. But no, according to this story, it was all about gold and proving that the world isn't flat.

According to Columbus' diaries recorded during his voyage, he and the crew regularly prayed, even bursting out with the Te Deum, laudamusat the sight of land! Columbus understood, to some degree, that his voyage was in obedience to the Great Commission.

Generations of school children never heard about this, but mine will. And I hope yours will, too.

Worn Out and Learning to Pray

The Psalms indicate that God won't give us more than we can handle, but He may push the envelope from time to time. Today was a envelope-pushing day.

My family has been laid low by an intense stomach virus for almost a week. Thankfully, Kristin didn't catch the virus, so she has been able to care for me and the children. We took precautions to keep the bug from spreading to our 2 month old daughter Faith, but last night she caught it. She (and Kristin) are spending tonight in the hospital regaining fluids.

As bad as it sounds, I was too tired to pray for Faith on my own this morning when things were at their worst. But I remembered the Book of Common Prayer and found that it expressed our feelings and desires superbly with supplications like these,

O Father of mercies, and God of all comforts, our only help in time of need; We flee unto you for relief. We humbly ask you to behold, visit, and comfort Faith. Give strength and skill to thy ministers of healing; bless the means of cure; and in view of how frail her life is, look upon her with the eyes of thy mercy, deliver her from bodily pain, and prolong her days here on earth, that she may live to thee, and be an instrument of thy glory. Grant this, O heavenly Father, for the love of thy Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

Relying On An Intercessor

Today I took a private request from one of my subordinates to my boss. It was a "closed door" kind of meeting. I don't know what my boss thinks of me, and I didn't do a great job in addressing my team member's need. This isn't the best boss I've ever had, and there are issues he's not going to share with me. But in the end, he listened and was fair. Why bring this up here?

Consider how much better an intercessor you have on your side. If my subordinate's need was fairly heard by my boss today, although he's not the greatest and neither am I, rejoice that you have God the Father hearing your needs and His completely-trustworthy Son bringing them forward!

Our requests to God are delivered by the beloved Son to His perfect, loving, omnipotent Father. Rest assured in His intercession on your behalf!

Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. Heb 7:25

We're Not Scalp-Hunting

I've mentioned before what a great opportunity for ministry we have in our new neighborhood. This week that opportunity became more elusive.

Another Christian couple that we had partnered with in starting a Bible study has reportedly gotten into several quarrels with neighbors over the behavior of their children. We've been told, "if Christians behave this way, we don't want any part of Christianity", and other disappointing statements.

Part of the problem is a different understanding of "ministry" between my family and our partner. I've come to understand the importance of knowing, loving, enjoying, and serving your neighbors as the foundation for discipleship. I'm led to believe that our partners' focus could be described as "let's convert the Catholics".

We're caught in the middle of the tension. We are to love our partnering family, and not distance ourselves from them for the sake of getting to know the other families. We will try to be a peacemaker in this situation.

In the meantime, today I began a neighborhood sports league for the dads and children. I had 12 children and several parents come out for a game of touch football. We'll do this each week. My intention is to build trust with the families, to show them that I'm not just interested in spiritual-scalp-hunting; we simply want to be good neighbors. And, I hope, God will honor this desire by allowing us to disciple others when and how He sees fit.

The place to put Faith when we want a one hour nap. Guaranteed results!

Twice as Much a Son of Hell

Everything they do is done for men to see. (Matthew 23:5)

A visiting minister on Sunday showed how big a problem self-righteousness is in the Christian family. He's in campus ministry and when I asked him how well the college students from Christian homes grasp the Gospel, he basically said that their parents have taught them self-righteousness and not the Christian Gospel.

He pointed out that as parents we are most happy when our children exhibit certain external behaviors and avoid others--this is our mark of success. We haven't taught them that Jesus was harshest with those who thought they had it together, who didn't acutely hate their sin and long for a Savior.

The minister added that parents just aren't as concerned with self-righteousness in their children as they are with "worldly" behavior, as if self-righteousness isn't twice as bad or dangerous. Despite all our effort in raising our children, if we're only teaching them how to behave, instead of modeling and exhorting them to continually repent and believe the Gospel, all we're doing is populating Hell.

You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are. (Matthew 23:15)

Childless by Choice

One of the things that strikes me as odd about this assignment is the number of married couples I've met without children. Of course to them I'm the odd one for having 4 children (I'm often asked if I'm Mormon), but it's getting to the point where it's unusual to meet a married couple in their thirties that have children.

In some cases the couples desire children but are infertile. But in many cases there is a conscious decision never to have children because it would interfere with their career plans. I can understand this selfishness among the non-Christian couples, but it's discouraging to find a similar attitude in believers.

I think the problem, once again, is a small Gospel. It's a lack of understanding of what we are saved unto. "Be fruitful and multiply" was never repealed. While the dominion mandate means more than raising Christian children, it does mean at least that.

The second problem is that American evangelicals find too much pleasure in ease. We are addicted to comfort and selfishness. Children are too much work. "Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean" you know (Prov 14:4).

Conspiring Against Me

For people will be lovers of self (2 Tim 3:2)

Tweaking what Calvin said, God sends afflictions into my life to wean me from an excessive love of myself. The Heidelberg, always encouraging, adds that God "will turn to my good whatever adversity he sends me in this sad world." (No. 26)

Bottomline: That terrible weekend I just endured, where everything conspired against me, Kristin was terribly sick, my three-year old suffered from some sort of urinary problem, my newborn owned the night, and my dog wouldn't quit barking, shows that God's loving providence is often acutely painful. But instead of "kissing the rod", I'm more apt to get out of its way. The old man -- that self-lover -- dies hard, and the new man needs a lot of maturing. The remedy for both problems is suffering.

This weekend reminded me that the Baileys, this family that I am the head of, certainly does not have it all together. We have our list of issues, we can be "high maintenance", we are often undone. We need the Lord. We need Him who comes "proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every affliction" (Mt 4:23).

Wrestling with God

An encouraging sermon from Pastor Meyers on a theme of particular interest to this blog. The encouragement: learning to see the face of God behind your struggles.

Unevangelism

When my mom called last week wanting a recommendation for a study Bible, I mulled over which one would be right for her. Meanwhile, Kristin was smarter and mailed her one of ours.

I've been praying for something like this to happen in her life (although not as faithfully as I should). Turns out her next-door neighbor, a close friend, got her involved in a Bible study at a local Presbyterian church, and now she's in God's Word on a regular basis.

I was supposed to start a neighborhood Bible study tomorrow night. We decided to postpone it for a little while because I forgot how much work having a new baby is. But we're excited about the response. Several families, friends of ours in the neighborhood, that don't have strong church backgrounds want to come.

I've heard a little about "unschooling". I think it's where you avoid the typical educational approach of classes, textbooks, and the like in order to teach more naturally. Perhaps evangelism, note the nefarious "-ism", is in need of the same approach. If we love our neighbors, instead of treating them as evangel"ism" projects, if we enjoy spending time with them and serving them, we might find that disciple-making comes naturally.

It's Hard to Believe

Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed (John 20:29)

I struggle with believing God; I'll try to be specific. I have no problem believing that there is a God, or in my own sinfulness--that is too apparent. And I don't doubt God loves me, at least not since hearing a sermon by a pastor who rebuked me with, "what part of Jesus dying on the Cross makes you wonder whether God loves you?!?" But it's hard for me to believe God is really actively involved in my life.

I'm cynical. When I thank God for an answered prayer what I'm really thinking is that if you wait long enough, and do enough, eventually you'll almost always get what you want--God or no God. Thanking God after I get what I want doesn't seem like biblical faith; true faith should begin before "the answer" and continue on despite what comes. But this I lack.

I think David, in some of his psalms, expresses the difficulty of faith, while at the same time reminding himself of God's promises (see Psalm 13 for an example). So maybe what I experience is right, and a lack of "doubting God" may be an indication that I'm not trusting Him for anything hard.

Martin Luther sometimes lamented the hiddeness of God. Is He really there? Does He really hear? Is He really involved? But Luther points out that for God to be hidden, He must be present! We walk by faith, not sight. Even when it is hard to believe. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.

Instead of a Post

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The Confessions of St. Augustine

I'm making slow progress through this classic work, not because it's a hard read, but because no book can compete with a baby. But I can't pass up posting the great analogy about the Word of God contained in this quote,

I therefore decided to give my attention to the study of the Holy Scripture and to see what they were like. And what I saw was something that is not discovered by the proud and is not laid open to children; the way in is low and humble, but inside the vault is high and veiled in mysteries, and I lacked the qualities which would make me fit to enter in or stoop my neck to follow the pathway. For when I studied the Scriptures then I did not feel as I am writing about them now. They seemed to me unworthy of comparison with the grand style of Cicero. For my pride shrank from their modesty, and my sharp eye was not penetrating enough to see into their depths.

How to Hear a Sermon

Last week our pastor preached a fine sermon which included this topic. He's mentioned before that when he sees people sleeping during the sermon, he just yells louder, but this time he focused on the opposite problem: nitpicking. As a Bible college and seminary graduate, he declared himself to be a nit expert; however, sitting in judgment of a sermon (instead of sitting under one) is common to many who take the faith seriously.

Remember Paul's rhetorical question, "how are they to hear without someone preaching?" We all desire a greater faith, and since faith comes from hearing, we would profit from knowing how to hear a sermon.

Take this advice: Prepare for hearing a sermon with diligence and prayer beforehand. Then examine what you hear by the Scriptures [be good Bereans], and by all means receive the truth with faith, love, and meekness, as the Word of God to you! Since God has spoken to you, meditate upon what He said; hide it in your heart, and bring forth its fruit in your life. (WLC 160)

The Unintended Consequences of Biblical Convictions

In many of the churches we've seen, especially where doctrine and worship are taken seriously, fellowship is woefully lacking. You can attend for months without anyone inviting you into their home, or even seeking you out after the service. It's as if you wake up invisible on Sundays. Why is that?

I've asked that question of several pastors whose congregations have struggled with this problem for years. Diverse reasons are given, but the most common one is that the people live too far apart. And after many attempts to overcome this problem, the pastors have all but given up.

While distance is an obstacle, it's no new thing. Are we really to believe that a 30 minute commute to a meeting place is a first in the life of the Church? And from my conversations with friends driving from all over the region to attend the evangelical mega-churches, they aren't wanting for fellowship. No, I think the problem lies elsewhere for the reformed.

In reforming churches we come to realize the danger of too many programs. And here is where our problem lies. We cut and burn the programs, which have been the main source for fellowship, before we have trained the congregation on how to have fellowship without the programs. In our efforts to take out man-centeredness from worship, many have cut the choir, and naturally there are no more get togethers for practice. In our desire to emphasize family discipleship, we shut-down AWANA, Sunday School, and the youth group. And since we live "too far" to have Sunday evening and Wednesday evening worship, we are only left with the one Sunday morning worship service. It's a wonderful service, but obviously not intended to meet all the "one anothers" of Scripture.

The reason for the near-absence of fellowship in too many reformed churches is simple. We have cut and slashed programs that appear to be unbiblical. But this has had the unintended consequence of destroying fellowship opportunities before a biblical alternative was ready.

I don't necessary advocate going back to the "program-based" church. Instead, the next step in reforming the church, is to re-form her families into one loaf.

Introducing Faith to the Family

Preach Until You Are Free

Candidly, over the last couple of weeks I've had some thoughts about whether we're in the right church. But whenever I hear the preaching, from a man who describes himself as a capital C coward, I can't leave. I've never before seen an older reformed pastor like him that is able to communicate a sermon with such verve, lashing out in fierce anger while preaching on the judgment seat of Christ, and then breaking down in tears over sin.

His delivery style must also be his own creation. He opens the sermon reading from a page of prepared notes, until it seems that something he said takes him captive. His glasses are slowly removed and laid aside, and then he preaches until he is free. That is to say, he must preach it in order to express what is on his mind and heart and until he does, he will not feel free. After a rollercoaster ride, in which the glasses go on and off as he returns to the calm propositions of an intellectual until the next unexpected wave of emotion hits, he closes the sermon by reading his conclusion and, sometimes, apologizing for going over the time he expected to take.

This pastor is more prophet than professional. And yet he calls himself a coward. But in the pulpit he is a lion.

His word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed I cannot. Jer 20:9

Baby Gifts

The adoption agency gave us this nice gift; it's called a "church baby". As the story goes, during corporate worship grandmothers used to take a handkerchief from their pocket and tie it into a church baby for restless babies. Years later the hankerchief is untied and carried on the wedding day. I guess this gift fell into disuse when families: 1. sent grandmother to Florida, 2. sent the kidos out of the worship service, and 3. switched to Kleenex (who carries a real hanky anymore!).

What we need today are practical gifts! Like this one...

Everyone's home. God is good.

Cast Your Bread Upon the Waters,

for after many days you will find it again (Eccl 11:1). I don't know nearly enough about bread to try this out, but today I got back some "bread" (if you will) in the mail. The birthmother we were matched with in Oklahoma City, who had changed her mind about us because of Kristin's diabetes and our children's coloring, selected a family in Canada to adopt her child. That family agreed to back-pay all the support and legal fees we had paid earlier, resulting in a nice refund for us!

An even better return happens tomorrow when Kristin and Faith come back home! Praise God that New Mexico and Alabama (not the first two states that come to mind when you think of swiftness) worked out whatever legal agreement they needed for Faith to leave the state. I can't wait!

Vanity Mirrors

Our Lord taught (in effect), "Your obligation is to work as hard as you possibly can and when you have finished to say, 'At best I am an unprofitable servant'" (cf. Luke 17:10). And here, after just three days of taking care of the children by myself, I'm wondering where my Achievement Medal is. How pathetically vain-glorious.

Thankfully my household comes equipped with several built-in vanity mirrors to remind me of my warts and God's pure grace. The more time I spend with the children the more I see my sinfulness and folly passed down to them. (Lord, restrain my sin and foolish ways!) The longer I spend on the phone with my wife the more I realize how she prepared homeschooling material, groceries, etc ahead of time and how that has eased my load this week.

But I still want the 'atta boy's from whoever will give them. God does me good by reminding me tonight, "when you have done all that you were commanded, say, "We are unworthy servants, we have only done what was our duty."

How radically gracious that God responds, "Well done, my good servant!" (Luke 19:17).

Proud Papa Photos

If you read the comments on an earlier post, the next photo of Faith to be posted here was to be of her baptism. But how could I ever have thought of postponing photos like this one?



If I have my story straight (keep in mind I'm 1,200 miles away from the camera), this is the official shot of Kristin receiving Faith from the adoption agency. Kristin is at her parent's house. Two very lovely ladies!

Me and My Bible

The latest edition of Mars Hill Audio Journal opened with a helpful discussion of two uniquely Baptist distinctives, "sole competency" and "the priesthood of the believer (singular)."

Originally, "sole competency" meant that each believer is to interpret the Bible on his own. Unfortunately, the effects of modernity over time saw the "no creed but the Bible" dogma lead to "Unitarian Baptists" and other rejections of orthodoxy.

The priesthood of the believer (singular) distinctive originally was meant to emphasize that each person is accountable to God. But over time, American individualism and egalitarianism morphed this doctrine into a Christian's right to ignore the authority of the Church and the accountability of other Christians.

Thankfully over the last decade or more a significant part of the Southern Baptists have returned to orthodoxy. However, during my time in reformed baptistic churches, sole competency and priesthood of the believer, while never named, were still thoroughly ensconced. I believe this hurt discipleship and, perhaps more significantly, impacted the authority of the preached word and the office of elder.

Adoption! Glorious Things of Thee are Spoken

Today was the last day for the birthmother to change her mind. Thank God for journals; as I read an entry this morning from two years ago I was reminded of this, "He is not afraid of bad news; his heart is firm, trusting in the Lord." (Ps 112:7).

This morning's lectionary reading included the 87th Psalm, the basis for the hymn Glorious Things of Thee are Spoken. Serendipitously, I discovered that the "glorious thing" being spoken of here is adoption! In view is our adoption into Zion, the eternal city of our God. Consider the fourth verse,

And of Zion it shall be said, "This one and that one were born in her"; for the Most High himself will establish her. The Lord records as he registers the peoples, "This one was born there. Selah"

Calvin says of this passage, "that new citizens shall be gathered into the Church of God from different parts of the world. Strangers by birth shall be accounted among the holy people, just as if they descended from Abraham. Although Zion was not the place of their natural birth, they were to be grafted into the body of the holy people by adoption. We may perceive the more clearly how much benefit may be derived from this psalm; and at the same time, how necessary it is to meditate upon it continually." Selah, indeed!

Finding Compassion

Our adoption of Faith is still going well. Kristin flies tomorrow to Alabama and will stay with her parents until she receives state approval to bring Faith home. I'll stay here and keep homeschool going until she returns. It's been a busy week working through the legal documents and preparing for the trip. Yet more and more we're finding adoption is wonderful in many ways. We get to enjoy another blessing (Ps 127:5). But we are also reminded of the Lord's compassion for children in difficult circumstances (Job 29:12-17 for starters), for with God "the fatherless find compassion" (Hos 14:3).

Little Christian Children

I've enjoyed listening to the latest audio release from St Anne's Pub on "Leading our Little Ones to Christ." I was encouraged to try reading J.C. Ryle's Boys and Girls Playing (first published in 1881) to the children again. This time I'm reading it once they are in bed--they're more interested in non-picture books when the alternative is lights out.

This section from the first sermon made an immediate impact on Eli and Grace,

You are never too young or too little to begin thinking of God. Are you old enough to be naughty? Then be sure that you are old enough to be good. Are you old enough to talk? Then be sure that you are old enough to say your prayers. Are you old enough to learn bad words? Then be sure that you are old enough to learn texts. Are you old enough to know and love your mother? Then be sure that you are old enough to know and love Jesus who died to save your souls.

Adoption Update (The Biggie)

Welcome Faith Alethea Bailey!

The adoption is not official yet, but the birthmother surrendered her rights to the child (she has until Saturday to change her mind). Faith is currently with a foster family until we can pick her up. The adoption is very likely; however, there are several things that concern us and we ask for your prayer. Specifically, that a fingerprint check (on us) would go through quickly, the birthmother to have peace of mind with her decision, the birthmother's recovery from an emergency C-section, that paperwork would go smoothly, and the travel arrangements.

We should know more as the week progresses, but we hope to bring baby Faith home in the next couple of weeks. We greatly appreciate your prayers.

Tails of the Bizarre


While we wait for the baby to be born (currently one-week past the due date), Eli and I went camping at a state park in the mountains west of town. We caught trout, rock-climbed, pitched a tent, roasted marshmallows, and enjoyed a beautiful piece of God's creation. Lava fields, crawdads the size of small lobsters, and violent cloudbursts are some of the bizarre facets of camping in New Mexico.

This photo overlooks the canyon that we hiked down. At the bottom is a little river that feeds into one of the few lakes anywhere around us.

During the camping trip I started reading Augustine's Confessions by lantern light. I regret how long this book has sat on my shelf unread! It has one of the best beginnings of any book I've read!

Our church combined worship services today with a reformed Baptist work south of town. The sermons were on community. Bizarrely (bear with me), we bumped into a friend that we haven't seen in several years, since our time at Community Bible Church in Illinois.

In his sermon our pastor rebuked our lame attempts at evangelism, likening us to the Gospel Blimpers, a reference to a Christian movie from the '60s. The bizarre storyline entails a group of Christians wanting to spread the Gospel to the neighborhood, and so for some reason they buy a blimp to spread the Word. They upset the whole town by leaflet-bombing Gospel tracts on freshly raked lawns. This is supposed to be a satire on how we will do anything to "reach our neighbors for Christ" except actually get to know them so we can then love them.

Plowing in Hope

This book helped me articulate part of what makes up good preaching, which is odd since preaching was not in view. Here's a quick summary of the book and then I'll come back to the insight on preaching.

The Bible begins in a garden and ends in a glorious city. We have a divine calling to transform the Earth from its initial natural state to a beautiful network of gardens and cities. As we bring out the latent beauty of creation we glorify the Creator. Importantly, we can expect our best works to follow us into the New Heavens and New Earth (Rev 14:13)! There is a real continuity between this world and the next, between the works done now to the glory of God and the surroundings we will enjoy in our eternal home.

Now for the idea about preaching. Redemption and Dominion go hand-in-hand; neither should be neglected. If redemption is neglected then we're no better than secular humanists, forgetting Christ and Him crucified. And if the dominion mandate is neglected then we fail to know what we are redeemed unto. We will forget that we've been graciously restored so that we can carry out the original culturative calling (Gen 1:28).

The book's author also has a blog.

Baby Watch

The birthmother in Alabama that we are matched with was due Sunday, 7 August. As of today she's not in labor. But I think Kristin might be. There are more butterflys flitting around inside of her than in all of Callaway Gardens.

When Did God Become So Apathetic?

Orthodoxy used to be so much clearer. No Israelite doubted whether there was a Sabbath to keep. Nobody questioned whether children should receive the covenant sign and the covenant meal. It was simpler back when God would smite those who messed up the liturgy with a little "strange fire". That's a sure way to clear up any doctrinal controversy.

But I guess God doesn't care so much anymore. I don't see Him smiting anybody for strange worship, and there's plenty of that around, so it must not be a big deal. There was a time when He would kill a child for not having the covenant sign (remember Moses' boy?), but most Christians these days don't have Zipporahs to make things right, and nothing happens to their kids. Are we supposed to still keep the Sabbath? Who says you have to dress up for worship? Does God really expect us to figure out what the Old Testament says about these things? Come on, if it was really so important to Him wouldn't He spell it out for us in the New?

I'll dislodge the tongue from my cheek now and only say that where sin increases, grace in Christ abounds all the more.

Fatherly Benedictions

Here are a couple of verses that have stood out to me from this week's family readings.

A bed-time blessing for the wise child: "If you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet." (Proverbs 3:24)

Next, something that every godly man longs for: "In place of your fathers shall be your sons; you will make them princes in all the earth." (Psalms 45:16)

Two Men and a Truck

A pastor we knew in Ohio believed that to be happy in a church you've got to serve. If you don't then you'll never feel like part of the body. Scripture backs him up; consider how forthright the command of Romans 12:13 is, "Contribute to the needs of the saints."

So I've been praying about how to serve in our new church. But when the pastor announced last Sunday that help is needed on Saturday to move someone from Santa Fe to here, I wrote this request off as not really applying to me. It's strange how easy that is to do.

Then on Tuesday night, out of the blue, Kristin says I should help out. I'll take that as a graciously-stubborn answer to my prayer.

My pastor and I are going to pick up the U-haul and ride together to Santa Fe and back--I look forward to getting to know him better.