You Are Eternal

An excerpt from "The Divine Conspiracy",  author - Dallas Willard

The hymn Amazing Grace was found in a recent USA Today poll to be America's favorite hymn.  It is sung at Boston Pops concerts and played at military and police funerals.  It is now a solid part of American if not Western culture, and it accurately presents the future of redeemed humanity:

When we've been there ten thousand years, 

 Bright shining as the sun,

We've no less days to sing God's praise,

Than when we first begun. 

When Mickey Mantle was dying of diseases brought on by a life of heavy drinking, he said that he would have taken better care of himself had he only known how long he was going to live.  He gives us a profound lesson.  How should we 'take care of ourselves' when we are never to cease?  Jesus shows his apprentices how to live in the light of the fact that they will never stop living.  This is what his students are learning from him.

(pages 98-99)

Justifying Doubt

A excerpt from "SCANDALOUS The Cross and Resurrection of Jesus", author - D.A. Carson

Sometimes doubt is grounded in systematic moral choice.  Consider the following passage from the famous writer and social cynic Aldous Huxley in his book Ends and Means.  In this passage, Huxley unpacks themes that, historically, pushed many people to adhere to a philosophy of meaningless, of a valueless world:

For myself, as, no doubt, for most of my contemporaries, the philosophy of meaningless was essentially an instrument of liberation.  The liberation we desired was simultaneously  liberation from a certain system of morality.  We objected to the morality because it interfered with our sexual freedom; we objected to the political and economic system because it was unjust.  The supporters of these systems claimed that in some way they embodied the meaning (the Christian meaning, they insisted) of the world.  There was an admirably simple method of confuting these people and at the same time justifying ourselves in our political and erotic revolt: we would deny that the world had any meaning whatsoever.

COLLISION: 6 Tips in Helping People Encounter Christ in Small Groups

 1.SHEPHERDING: Before you shepherd others, continually abide in the power of the Chief Shepherd yourself. Let your teaching be the overflow of the love, joy, peace and patience that you supernaturally gain when you rest in His presence. Among other things, this will prevent you from making the bible study about your own personal issues. There is a time when every leader needs support, but it shouldn’t be every meeting. A shepherd puts the flock’s needs above his or her own (See John 15, Phil 2:1-4).

2.GRACE: Before preaching the gospel to others, preach it to yourself. Remember you were once lost, blind, broken and dead in your sin. Let your gratitude for God’s grace well up in you and let that reminder of your own lostness shape the way you love lost people. Jesus attracted sinners not only because of his teaching but also because of his compassion. In the end it’s simple: grace attracts, pride attacks (Matt 9:9-13, Titus 3:3-8).

 3.PURPOSE: Why are you doing this? What is the end goal? Is the purpose to convey how much you know or is it to help others know Jesus? Is your purpose simply to convey information (which is hugely important!) or is it to allow that information lead to transformation? If the end goal is transformation, then it is crucially important to ask questions and make applications to people’s daily lives. Sometimes sheep need to go slow and sometimes sheep need you to connect the dots for them (See 1 Corinthians 1:18-25).

4.LISTEN: Pause. Ask. Listen. The awkward silence is ok. Listening not only forces your group to engage with the Scriptures and wrestle with its truths, it also communicates that you value your group as people. While it is crucially important to prevent the bible study from devolving into a superficial support group, the leader should be known as a good teacher and a good listener. As a general rule of thumb, the leader should not be doing more than two thirds of the talking (See Matthew 5:37, James 1:19-25).  

5. AVOID MINUTIA: Keep the main thing, the main thing. The tragic temptation of any small group is for the conversation to go negative - quick. You can sense it when you leave a negative conversation. Instead of the dialogue giving you joy; it robbed you of it. By God’s grace, try to keep your focus on His glory, His grace, His cross, His Word, His Spirit, His commands. Try to avoid gossip, religious snobbery, theological rabbit trails, scapegoating the culture and divisive political issues. Don’t assume your flock has the same views on some of these secondary issues as you. A tragedy would be someone being turned off to Jesus because we elevated minutia above the message (See 2 Timothy 2:22-26).

6.COLLISION: Remember your flock is struggling with sin, doubt, worldliness, apathy and pain. They need the Word of God. Don’t shy away from it. Don’t be ashamed of it. Please get them into the Bible! Workbooks, videos, bestselling books are all well and good – but they are not the powerful, penetrating, inerrant Word of God. As you lead your flock take them to a place to where they don’t want to go. Force them to collide with God’s majesty and mercy as revealed in the Gospel and the Bible (Romans 1:16-17, Hebrews 4:12-13).

The Beginning of Temptation

An  excerpt from "Imitation of Christ", author Thomas A. Kempis

Many people try to escape temptations, only to fall more deeply.  We cannot conquer simply by fleeing, but by patience and true humility we become stronger than all our enemies.  The man who shuns temptations outwardly and does not uproot them will make little progress; indeed they will quickly return more violent than before.

Little by little, in patience and long-suffering you will overcome them, by the help of God rather than by severity and your own rash ways.  Often take counsel when tempted; and do not be harsh with others who are tempted, but console them as you yourself would wish to consoled.  

The beginning of all temptation lies in a wavering mind and little trust in God, for as a rudderless ship is driven hither and yon by waves, so a careless and irresolute man is tempted in many ways.  Fire tempers iron and temptation steels the just.  Often we do not know what we can stand, but temptation shows us what we are.

Above all, we must be especially alert against the beginnings of temptation, for the enemy is more easily conquered if he is refused  admittance to the mind and is met beyond the threshold when he knocks.  

Someone has said very aptly: "Resist the beginnings, remedies come too late, when by long delay the evil has gained strength."  First, a mere thought comes to mind, then strong imagination, followed by pleasure, evil, delight, and consent.  Thus, because he is not resisted in the beginning, Satan gains full entry.  And the longer a man delays in resisting, so much the weaker does he become each day, while the strength of the enemy grows against him.

(pages 12-13)

No Cross, No Christianity

An excerpt from Classic Christianity, author - Thomas C. Oden

To preach is to announce the cross.  

To worship is to come to the cross.  

To believe is to trust in the One crucified. 

It is impossible to imagine Christianity without a cross.  Christian worship is spatially ordered around it.  The history of Western art and architecture holds the cross before us constantly.  In death the graves of Christians are marked by a cross.

A flood of impression and images collide and meld in the portrayal of the rugged power meaning of the cross.  In a burst of ecstasy, many of these are amassed in a single passage by John of Damascus.  In Jesus death,

Death has been brought low, the sin of our first parent destroyed, hell plundered, resurrection bestowed, the power given us to scorn the things of this world, and even death itself, the road back to the former blessedness made smooth, the gates of paradise opened, our nature seated at the right hand of God, and we made children and heirs of God.  By the cross all things have been set aright...It is a raising up for those who lie fallen, a support for the wandering, perfecting of the advanced, salvation for soul and body, an averter of all evils, a cause of all good things a destruction of sin, a plant of resurrection, and a tree of eternal life (John of Damascus, OF4.11).

(pages 402)

We Grow Small Trying to Be Great

Excerpt from Rescuing Ambition, author - Dave Harvey

Earlier I mentioned my struggle with these kinds of ambition.  I call them "Davebitions."  So often I'm Davebitious.  I assume that my family would work much better if they all majored in Daveology.  Friendships work best if they have a Daveistic bent.  I believe many of life's misunderstandings could be cleared up with just a few Daveological insights.  Overall the world would be a better place if we could just celebrate an annual Davetoberfest.

I guess you can call me a Daveaholic.  

There, I've said it.  I feel so much better.

Now, before you let yourself off the hook and offer prayers for my suffering wife and family, think about this.  The reason I'm a Daveaholic is not temperament or because I was deprived of something as a child.  I didn't get this from my environment.  I got it from my ancestors--Adam and Eve.  And since we all share the same ancestors, you got it too.  The problem - the reason we're all engaged in a quest for self-confined glory - is sin.

The early church used a fascinating visual to describe the self preoccupying nature of sin: incurvatus in se. It means we "curve in on ourselves."  In the service of self, our desires boomerang.  When a hardwired desire for glory is infected with incurvatus in se, noble ambitions collapse.  The quest for self-glory rules the day - as it did that day in Eden.  

In our desire to be great, we actually shrink ourselves.

(pages 37 & 38)

A Treasure Mentality

An excerpt from The Treasure Principle,  author - Randy Acorn

Jesus doesn't just tell us where not to put our treasures.  He also gives the best investment advice you'll ever hear: "Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven" (Matthew 6:20).

If you stopped reading too soon, you would have thought Christ was against our storing up treasures for ourselves.  No.  He's all for it!  In fact, He commands it.  Jesus has a treasure mentality.  He wants us to store up treasures.  He's just telling us to stop storing them in the wrong place and start storing them in the right place!  

"Store up for yourselves."  Doesn't it seem strange that Jesus commands us to do what's in our own best interest?  Wouldn't that be selfish?  No.  God expects and commands us to act out of enlightened self-interest.  He wants us to live to His glory, but what is to His glory is always to our good.  As John Pipers  put its, "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him."

Selfishness is when we pursue gain at the expense of the others.  But God doesn't have a limited number of  treasures to distribute.  When you store up treasures for yourself in heaven, it doesn't reduce the treasures available to others.  In fact, it is by serving God and others that we store up heavenly treasures.  Everyone gains; no one loses.

Jesus is talking about deferred gratification.  The man who finds the treasure in the field pays a high price now by giving up all he has--but soon he'll gain a fabulous treasure.  As long as his eyes are on that treasure, he makes his short term sacrifices with joy.  The joy is present, so the gratification isn't entirely deferred.  Present joy comes from anticipating future joy.

What is this "treasure in heaven"?  It includes power (Luke19:15-19), possessions (Matthew 19:21), and pleasures (Psalm 16:11, Jesus promises that those who sacrifice on earth with receive a "a hundred times as much" in heaven (Matthew 19:29), and pleasures (Psalm 16:11).  Jesus promises that those who sacrifice on earth with receive "a hundred times as much" in heaven (Matthew 19:29).  That's 10,000 percent--an impressive return!

Of course, Christ Himself is our ultimate treasure.  All else pales in comparison to Him and the joy of knowing Him (Philippians 3:7-11).  A person, Jesus, is our first treasure.  A place, heaven, is our second treasure.  Possessions, eternal rewards, are our third treasure.  (What person are you living for?  What place are you living for?  What possessions are you living for?)

"Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven." Why? Because it's right?  Not just that, but because it's smart.  Because such treasures will last.  Jesus argues from the bottom line.  It's not an emotional appeal, it's a logical one. Invest in what has lasting value.

You'll never see a hearse pulling a U-Haul.  Why?

Because you can't take it with you.

Do not be overawed when a man grows rich, 
when the splendor of his house increases;
for he will take nothing with him when he dies,
his splendor will not descend with him. (Psalm 49:16-17)

John D. Rockefeller was one of the wealthiest men whoever lived.  After he died someone asked his accountant, "How much money did John D. leave?"  The reply was classic:  "He left...all of it."

You can't take it with you.

(pages 15-17)

Brokenness

An excerpt from Brokenness, author - Nancy Leigh DeMoss

Over the years I have asked the Lord to show me some of the characteristics of a broken person, and how they compare with a person with a proud spirit.  In the form of a "proud versus broken" comparison, I have listed some of the things that have come to my attention as I've allowed the Lord to search my own heart.  This is by no means an exhaustive list;  the Lord will undoubtedly show you other characteristics as you open your heart to Him.  

Let me encourage you to avoid the temptation to skim through this.  Instead, take time to read it prayerfully and ask God to show you , "Am I a proud or broken person?"  You may even want to place a small check mark next to any evidence of pride that you see in your life.  That simple act could be an important step toward cultivating the broken, humble heart that God revives.

Proud people focus on the failures of others and can readily point out those faults.

 ~ Broken people are more conscious of their own spiritual need than of anyone else's.

Proud people are especially prone to criticize those in positions of authority--their pastor, their boss, their husband, their parents--and they talk to others about the faults they see.

 ~ Broken people reverence, encourage, and lift up those that God has placed in positions of authority, and they talk to God in intercession, rather than gossiping about the faults they see in others. 

Proud people have to prove that they are right. They have to get the last word.

 ~ Broken people are willing to yield the right to be right.

Proud people are self-protective of their time, their rights, and the reputation.

 ~ Broken people are self-denying and self sacrificing.

Proud people desire to be known as a success.

 ~ Broken people are motivated to be faithful and to make others successful.

Proud people keep others at arm's length.

 ~ Broken people are willing to take the risks of getting close to others and loving intimately.

Proud people wait for others to come and ask forgiveness when there is a misunderstanding or a breach in a relationship.

 ~ Broken people take the initiative to be reconciled, no matter how wrong the other party may have been.

Proud people are unapproachable or defensive when corrected.

 ~ Broken people receive correction with a humble, open spirit.

Proud people try to control the people and the circumstances around them - they are prone to manipulate.

 ~ Broken people trust in God - they rest in Him and are able to wait for Him to act on their behalf.

Proud people are remorseful over their sin - sorry only that they got caught or found out.

 ~ Broken people are truly repentant over their sin, and the evidence of their repentance is that they forsake the sin.

(pages 83-92)

Jesus Christ and the Essence of Christianity

An excerpt from A Testament to Freedom, author - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Whether or not the Spirit of Christ has anything final, definitive, and decisive to say to us, that is what we want to speak about...

 Of course, we build Jesus a church or, rather, of the churchiness of a group, not a matter of life.  Religion plays for the psyche of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries the role of the so-called Sunday room into which one gladly withdraws for a couple of hours but only to get back to one's place of work immediately afterwards.  

However, one thing is clear: we understand Christ only if we commit ourselves to him in a stark "Either-Or."  

He did not go to the cross to ornament and embellish our life.  

If we wish to have him, then he demands the right to say something decisive about our entire life.  We do not understand him if we arrange for him only a small compartment in our spiritual life.  Rather, we understand our spiritual life only if we then orientate it to him alone or give him a flat "No."  However, there are persons who would not even bother to take Christ seriously in the demand he makes on us by his question: will you follow me wholeheartedly or not at all?  Such persons had better not mix their own cause with the Christian one.  That separation would only help the Christian cause since they not longer have anything in common with Christ.  

The religion of Christ is not a tidbit after one's bread; on the contrary, it is bread or it is nothing.  

Conflict

An excerpt from the Peace Maker, author - Ken Sande

The are four primary causes of conflict.  Some disputes arise because of misunderstandings resulting from poor communication (see Josh.  22:10-34).  Differences in values, goals, gifts, calling, priorities, expectations, interests, or opinions can also lead to conflict (see Acts 15:39; 1 Cor. 12:12-31).  Competition over limited resources, such as time or money, is a frequent source of disputes in families, churches, and businesses (see Gen. 13:1-12).  And, as we will see below, many conflicts are caused or aggravated by sinful attitudes and habits that lead to sinful words and actions (see James 4:1-2).


Conflict is not necessarily bad, however.  In fact, the Bible teaches that some differences are natural and beneficial.  Since God has created us as unique individuals, human beings will often have different opinions, convictions, desires, perspectives, and priorities.  Many of these differences are not inherently right or wrong; they are simply the result of God-given diversity and personal preferences (see 1 Cor. 12:21-31).  When handled properly, disagreements in these areas can stimulate productive dialogue, encourage creativity, promote helpful change, and generally make life more interesting.  Therefore, although we should seek unity in our relationships, we should not demand uniformity (see Eph. 4:1-13).  Instead of avoiding all conflicts or demanding that others always agree with us, we should rejoice in the diversity of God's creation and learn to accept and work with people who simply see things differently than we do (see Rom. 15:7; cf. 14:1-13).


Not all conflict is neutral or beneficial, however.  The Bible teaches that many disagreements are the direct result of sinful attitudes and behavior.  As James 4:1-2 tells us, "What causes fights and quarrels among you?  Don't they come from your desires that battle within you?  You want something but you don't get it.  You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want.  You quarrel and fight...."  When a conflict is the result of sinful desires or actions that are too serious to be overlooked, we need to avoid the temptation to escape or attack.  Instead, we need to pursue one of the peacemaking responses to conflict, which can help us get to the root cause of the conflict and restore genuine  peace.


Most importantly, the Bible teaches that we should see conflict neither as an inconvenience nor as an occasion to force our will on others, but rather as an opportunity to demonstrate the love and power of God in our lives.  This is what Paul told the Christians in Corinth with religious, legal, and dietary disputes threatened to divide their church:

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.  Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God--even as I try to please everybody in every way.  For I am not seeking my own good the good of many, so that they may be saved.  Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.

1 Corinthians 10:31-11:1

This passage presents a radical  view of conflict:  It encourages us to look at conflict as an opportunity to glorify God, serve others, and grow to be like Christ.  This perspective may seem naive and impractical at first glance, especially to someone who is presently embroiled in a dispute.  As you will see, however, this view can inspire remarkably practical responses to conflict.  These responses are described in detail later in this book, but an overview now will be helpful.

(pages 30-31)

Historical Reliability of the Gospels

The following arguments analyze the historical and objective evidence for the Gospel accounts.  Some of the arguments relate to the New Testament as a whole, while other specifically upon the four Gospels.

1. The New Testament documents are the best attested documents of antiquity in terms of total number of manuscripts.

Generally speaking, very few manuscripts of the ancient classical writers (Aristotle, Plato, Caesar, Tacitus, Thucydides, Herodotus, etc.) exist.  The best cases average about twenty extant manuscripts for any given historical work.  And this number is generally considered an exceptional quantity in terms of manuscript attestation.  However, in most instances far fewer manuscripts remain.  In fact, for most authors's works the number amounts to a mere handful.  Yet by the accepted standards of historiography, even those are not rejected as inauthentic or unreliable on the the basis of their sparse number.  The reality is that some ancient documents are accepted as authentic test with extremely thin manuscript attestation.

In stark contrast to these familiar classical works, the New Testament documents are backed by an astounding quantity of manuscript evidence.  For example, more than 5,000 individual Greek manuscripts that contain all or part of the New Testament exist.  These manuscripts are augmented by more than 8,000 copies of the Vulgate, and important Latin version of the Bible translated by the early-fifth century Western church father, Jerome.  Further attestation comes in the form of several thousand early New Testament manuscripts translated into Eastern languages such as Syriac, Coptic Armenian, Slavic, and Ethiopic.

Even without  these thousands of extant manuscripts, virtually the entire New Testament text could be reproduced from specific scriptural citations within the written (and preserved) sermons, commentaries, and various other works of the early church fathers.  These Christian leaders, apologists, and writers served from the second through the fifth centuries.  The Patristic writers, as they are also called included (among others) such prominent Christian figures as Tertullian, Athanasius, Ambrose, Chrysostom, Jerome, and Augustine.

The New Testament stands as the best attested document of the ancient world.

Excerpt from Without a Doubt, Author - Kenneth R. Samples
(pages 92-93)

The Problem of Forgiveness

Excerpt from The Cross of Christ, Author - John Stott


We must, therefore, hold fast to the biblical revelation of the living God who hates evil, is disgusted and angered by it, and refuses ever to come to terms with it.  In consequence, we may be sure he searched in his mercy for some way to forgive, cleanse and accept evil-doers, it was not along the road of moral compromise.  It had to be a way that was equally expressive of his love and of his wrath.  As Brunner put it, "where the idea of the wrath of God is ignored, there also will be no understanding of the central conception of the Gospel:  the uniqueness of the revelation in the Mediator.  Similarly, "only he who knows the greatness of wrath will be mastered by the greatness of mercy."


All inadequate doctrines of the atonement are due to inadequate doctrines of God and humanity.  If we bring God down to our level and raise ourselves to his, then of course we see no need for a radical salvation, let alone for a radical atonement to secure it.  When, on the other hand, we have glimpsed the blinding glory of the holiness of God and have been so convicted of our sin by the Holy Spirit that we tremble before God and acknowledge what we are, namely "hell-deserving sinners," then and only then does the necessity of the cross appear so obvious that we are astonished we never saw it before.


The essential background of the cross, therefore, is a balanced understanding of the gravity of sin and the majesty of God.  If we diminish either, we thereby diminish the cross.  If we reinterpret sin as a lapse instead of a rebellion and God as indulgent instead of indignant, then naturally the cross appears superfluous. But to dethrone God and enthrone ourselves not only dispenses with the cross; it also degrades both God and humans.  A biblical view of God and ourselves, however-- that is, of our sin and of God's wrath-- honors both.  It honors God by affirming him as having moral character.


So we come back to where we began this chapter, namely that forgiveness is for God the profoundest of problems.  As Bishop B. F. Westcott expressed it,  "Nothing superficially seems simpler than forgiveness," whereas "nothing if we look deeply is more mysterious or more difficult."  Sin and wrath stand in the way.  God must not only respect us as the responsible beings we are, but he must also respect himself as the holy God he is.  Before the holy God can forgive us, some kind of "satisfaction" is necessary.


(pages 110-111)

You Are Still You, But New

Excerpt from Finally Alive, Author - John Piper


In this chapter, we will continue the answer to the question of Chapter 1, What happens in the new birth? Jesus said to Nicodemus in John 3:7,  "Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again."" In verse 3, he told Nicodemus--and us-- that our eternal lives depend on being born again:  "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God."  So we are not dealing with something marginal or optional or cosmetic in the Christian life.  The new birth is not like the make-up that morticians use to try to make corpses look more like they are alive.  The new birth is the creation of spiritual life, not the imitation of life.


We began to answer the question What happens in the new birth? with two statements: 1) What happens in the new birth is not getting new religion but getting new life, and  2) What happens in the new birth is not merely affirming the supernatural in Jesus but experiencing  the supernatural in yourself.

Nicodemus was a Pharisee and had lots of religion.  But he had no spiritual life.  And he saw the supernatural work of God in Jesus, but he didn't experience the supernatural work of God in himself.  So putting our two points together from Chapter 1, what Nicodemus needed was a new spiritual life imparted supernaturally through the Holy Spirit.  What makes the new life spiritual and what makes it supernatural is that it is the work of God the Spirit.  It is something above the natural life of our physical hearts and brains.

In John 3:6, Jesus says, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which born of the Spirit is spirit."  The flesh does have a kind of life.  Every human being is living flesh.  But not every human being is living spirit.  To be a living spirit, or to have spiritual life, Jesus says, we must be "born of the Spirit."  Flesh gives rise to one kind of life.  The Spirit gives rise to another kind of life.  If we don't have this second kind, we will not see the kingdom of God.

(page 35-36)

Coveting Is An Equal-Opportunity Sin

Excerpt from Worldliness, Author - Dave Harvey


Coveting is an equal opportunity sin. It stalks the rich and poor alike.  The audience gathered around the Lord that day consisted largely of peasants, yet Christ took aim at their coveting and unbelief by relating the parable of the rich fool (12:13-21).  The issue is not tax brackets; it's desires.
     Consider the following true story:

Many years ago a major American company had trouble keeping employees working in their assembly plant in Panama.  The laborers lived in a generally agrarian, barter economy, but the company paid them in cash.  Since the average employee had more cash after a week's work than he had ever seen, he would periodically quit working, satisfied with what he had made.  What was the solution?  Company executives gave all their employees a Sears catalog.   No one quit then, because they all wanted the previously undreamed-of things they saw in that book.

The lesson is clear.  The mere availability of stuff can ignite covetous desires.  But we're called to walk a different road.  As this book's title suggests --Worldliness: Resisting the Seduction of a Fallen World--we're to battle covetousness at the level of our desires. 


In my travels, I've visited believers living in poverty in the Philipppines, Ghana, South Africa, India, and Sri Lanka.  It's utterly inspiring to see courageous Christians endure and prevail in surroundings of squalor.  The Western church has much to learn about suffering from poor Christians in the world.  But the temptation to covet can be just at strong whether the stuff in question is a neighbor's goat or a neighbor's golf clubs.


Yes, affluence can be a spiritual disability that dulls people to their need for God.  Jesus was quite serious in saying "How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!"  (Luke 18:34).  But this doesn't mean God is biased against the rich; it means the rich are often biased against God.  Their affluence feels like it meets needs, but it really diverts attention from the Savior to their stuff.


Locating materialism and consumerism in the coveting heart is important.  It offers a biblical diagnosis for a common social malady.  Consumer ailments don't begin with shopping addictions or "an offer I couldn't refuse."  The real problem is sin.  Austerity and indulgence won't cure the bankruptcy of soul and emptiness of life that commonly result when our covetous desires are allowed free reign.


(page 96) 

We Need God to Know God

Author - Os Guinness, A Long Journey Home

We cannot find God without God.

We cannot reach God without God.

We cannot satisfy God without God--which is

another way of saying

that all our seeking will fall short unless

God starts and finishes the search.

The decisive part of our seeking is not our

human ascent to God, but his descent to us.

Without God's descent there is not human ascent.

The secret of the quest lies not in our brilliance

but in his grace.

The Temptation of Power

Excerpt from "In the Name of Jesus", author - Henri J.W. Nouwen


What makes the temptation of power so irresistible?  Maybe it is that power offers an easy substitute for the hard task of love.  It seems easier to be God than to love God, easier to control people than to love people, easier to own life than to love life.  Jesus asks, "Do you love me?"  We ask, "Can we sit at your right and your left hand in your kingdom?"  (Matthew 20:11).  Ever since the snake said, "The day you eat of this tree your eyes will be open and you will be like gods, knowing good from evil" (Genesis 3:15), we have been tempted to replace love with power.  Jesus lived that temptation in the most agonizing way from the desert to the cross.  The long painful history of the church is the history of people ever and again tempted to choose power over love, control over the cross, being a leader over being led.  Those who resisted this temptation to the end and thereby give us hope are the true saints.


One thing is clear to me:  The temptation of power is greatest  when intimacy us a threat.  Much Christian leadership is exercised by people who do not know  to develop healthy, intimate relationships and have opted for power and control instead.  Many Christian empire-builders have been people unable to give and receive love.

(pages 77-78)

We Are Far Too Easily Pleased

Excerpt from- The Weight of Glory, author - CS Lewis


If there lurks in most modern minds the notion that to desire our own good and earnestly to hope for the enjoyment of it is a bad thing, I submit that this notion has crept in from Kant and the Stoics and is no part of the Christian faith.  Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak.  We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea.  We are far too easily pleased.


(page 3-4)

Overcoming Temptation: Knowing Your Identity

Excerpt from Tempted and Tried, author - Russel D. Moore


The first step in the cycle of temptation is the question of your identity.  James told the poor and beaten down to "boast in his exaltation"  and told the prosperous and the up-and-coming to glory "in his humiliation" (James1:9-10).  Why?  James understood that temptation begins with an illusion about the self -a skewed vision of who you are.  The satanic powers don't care if your illusion is one of personal grandiosity or self-loathing, as long as you see your current circumstance, rather than the gospel, as the eternal statement of who you are.  if the poor sees his poverty as making it impossible for him to have dignity, he is fallen.  If the rich sees his wealth  as a denial that "like a flower of the grass he will pass away," even "in the midst of his pursuits (James 1:20-11), then he is undone.


Temptation has always started here, from the very beginning of the cosmic story.   When the Bible reveals the ancestral fall of the human race, it opens with a question of identity.  The woman in the Genesis narrative was approached by a mysterious serpent, a "beast of the field" that was "more crafty" than any of the others (Gen. 3:1).  and that's just the point.  The woman, Eve, and her husband were created in the image of God (Gen. 1:26-27).  They were living signs of God's dominion over everything except God and one another.  This dominion was exhaustive, right down to "every creeping thing that creeps on the earth"  (Gen. 1:26).


But here she was being interrogated by a "beast of the field" that questioned God's commands and prerogatives.   Without even a word, the serpent led the woman to act as though he had dominion over her instead of the other around. He persuaded her to see herself as an animal instead of as what she had been told she was--the image-bearing queen of the universe, a principality and power over the beasts.


As the same time the serpent was treating his queen as a fellow animal, he also subtly led her to see herself as more than an empress--as a goddess.  He auditioned her for her role as deity by leading her to act like a god, distinguishing autonomously between good and evil, deciding when she and her fellow were ready for maturity, evaluating the claims of God himself.  The snake prompted her to eat the fruit of the tree God had forbidden to her.  The tree somehow carried within it the power to awaken the conscience to "the knowledge of good and evil" (Gen. 2:17).  The serpent walked the woman along to where she could see herself as if she were the ultimate cosmic judge, free from scrutiny of her Creator's holiness.  At the very beginning of the human story was a question: Who are you?


(pages: 28-29)

Do All Religions Lead to God?

Excerpt from: The Reason For God, author - Timothy Keller


Sometimes this point is illustrated with the story of the blind men and the elephant. Several blind men were walking along and came upon an elephant that allowed them to touch and feel it. "This creature is long and flexible like a snake" said the first blind man, holding the elepant's trunk. "Not at all- it is thick and round like a tree trunk," said the second blind man, feeling the elephant's leg. "No, it is large and flat," said the third blind man, touching the elephant's side. Each blind man could feel only part of the elephant- none could envision the entire elephant. In the same way, it is argued, the religions of the world each have a grasp on part of the truth about spiritual reality, but none can see the whole elephant or claim to have a comprehensive vision of the truth.


This illustration backfires on its users. The story is told from the point of view of someone who is not blind. How could you know that each blind man only sees part of the elepant unless you claim to be able to see the whole elephant?


There is an appearance of humility in the protestation that the truth is much greater than any one of us can grasp, but if this is used to invalidate all claims to discern the truth it is in fact an arrogant claim to a kind of knowledge which is superior to [all others]...We have to ask: "What is the [absolute] vantage ground from which you claim to be able to relativize all the absolute claims these different scriptures make?"


How could you possibly know that no religion can see the whole truth unless you yourself have the superior, comprehensive knowledge of spiritual reality you just claimed that none of the religions have?


(pages 8 -9)

LOVE IN PRACTICE

Let me give two beautiful examples of such observable love.  One happened among the Brethren groups in Germany immediately after the last war.

In order to control the church, Hitler commanded the union of all religious groups in Germany, drawing them together by law.  The Brethren divided over this issue.  Half accepted Hitler's dictum and half refused.  The ones who submitted, of course, had a much easier time, but gradually in this organizational oneness with the liberal groups their own doctrinal sharpness and spiritual life withered.  On the other hand, the group that stayed out remained spiritually virile, but there was hardly a family in which someone did not die in a German concentration camp.

Now can you imagine the emotional tension?  The war is over, and these Christian brothers face each other again.  They had the same doctrine and they had worked together for more than a generation.  Now what is going to happen?  One man remembers that his father died in a concentration camp and knows that these people over on the other side have deep personal feelings as well.

Then gradually these brothers came to know that this situation just would not do.  A time was appointed when the elders of the two groups could meet together in a certain quiet place.  I asked the man who told me this, "What did you do?"  And he said, "Well, I'll tell you what we did.  We came together, and we set aside several days in which each man would search his own heart."  Here was a real difference; the emotions were deeply, deeply stirred.  "My father has gone to the concentration camp; my mother was dragged away."  These things are not just little pebbles on the beach; they reach into the deep well-springs of human emotions.  But these people understood the command of Christ at this place, and for several days every man did nothing except search his own heart concerning his failures and the commands of Christ.  Then they met together.

I asked the man, "What happened then?"

And he said, "We just were one."

To my mind, this is exactly what Jesus speaks about.  The Father has sent the Son!

The Importance of Discerning Idols

Excerpt from Counterfeit Gods by Timothy Keller


The Importance of Discerning Idols


It is impossible to understand your heart of your culture if you do not discern the counterfeit gods that influence them. In Romans 1:21-25 Saint Paul shows that idolatry is not only one sin among many, but what is fundamentally wrong with the human heart:


For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave their thanks to him… They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served created things rather than the Creator. –Romans 1:21-25


Paul goes on to make a long list of sins that create misery and evil in the world, but they all find their roots in this soil, the inexorable human drive for “god-making.” In other words, idolatry is always the reason we ever do anything wrong. No one grasped this better than Martin Luther. In his Large Catechism (1529) and in his Treatise on Good Works he wrote that the Ten Commandments begin with a commandment against idolatry. Why does this come first? Because, he argued, the fundamental motivation behind lawbreaking is idolatry. We never break the other commandments without breaking the first one. Why do we fail to love or keep promises or live unselfishly? Of course, the general answer is “because we are weak and sinful,” but the specific answer in any actual circumstance is that there is something you feel you must have to be happy, something that is more important to your heart than God himself. We would not lie unless we first had made something – human approval, reputation, power over others, financial advantage – more important and valuable to our hearts than the grace and favor of God. The secret to change is to identify and dismantle the counterfeit gods of your heart.


It is impossible to understand a culture without discerning its idols. The Jewish philosophers Halbertal and Margalit make it clear that idolatry is not simply a form of ritual worship, but a whole sensibility and pattern of life based on finite values and making created things into godlike absolutes. In the Bible, therefore, turning from idols always includes a rejection of the culture that the idols produce. God tells Israel that they must not only reject the other nations’ gods but “you shall not follow their practices” (exodus 23:23). There is no way to challenge idols without doing cultural criticism, and there is no way to do cultural criticism without discerning and challenging idols. A good example of this is the preaching of Saint Paul in Athens (Acts 17) and Ephesus (Acts 19:26), which led to such an alteration in the spending patterns of the new converts that it changed the local economy. That in turn touched off a riot led by local merchants. Contemporary observers have often noted that modern Christians are just as materialistic as everyone else in our culture. Could this be because our preaching of the gospel does not, like Saint Paul’s, include the exposure of our culture’s counterfeit gods?

Is Christianity Hard or Easy?

Excerpt from Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis


Is Christianity Hard or Easy?


In the previous chapter, we were considering the Christian idea of ‘putting on Christ’ or first ‘dressing up’ as a son of God in order that you may finally become a real son. What I want to make clear is that this is not one among many jobs a Christian has to do; and it is not a sort or special exercise for the top class. It is the whole of Christianity. Christianity offers nothing else at all. And I should like to point out how it differs from ordinary ideas of ‘morality’ and ‘being good’.

The ordinary idea which we all have before we become Christians is this. We take as starting point our ordinary self with its various desires and interests. We then admit that something else – call it ‘morality’ or ‘decent behavior,’ or ‘the good of society’ – has claims on this self: claims which interfere with its own desires. What we mean by ‘being good’ is giving in to those claims. Some of the things the ordinary self wanted to do turn out to be what we call ‘wrong’: well, we must give them up. Other things, which the self did not want to do, turn out to be what we call ‘right’: well, we shall have to do them. But we are hoping all the time that when all the demands have been met, the poor natural self will still have some chance, and some time, to get on with its own life and do what it likes. In fact, we are very like an honest man paying his taxes. We pays them all right, but he does hope that there will be enough left over for him to live on. Because we are still taking our natural self as the starting point.

As long as we are thinking that way, one or other of two results is likely to follow. Either we give up trying to be good, or else we become very unhappy indeed. For, make no mistake: if you are really going to try and meet all the demands made on the natural self, it will not have enough left over to live on. The more you obey your conscience, the more your conscience will demand of you. And your natural self, which is thus being starved and hampered and worried at every turn, will get angrier and angrier. In the end, you will either give up trying to be good, or else become one of those people who, as they say, ‘live for others’ but always in a discontented, grumbling way – always wondering why the others do not notice it more and always making a martyr of yourself. And once you have become that you will be a far greater pest to anyone who has to live with you than you would have been if you had remained frankly selfish.

The Christian way is different: harder, and easier. Christ says ‘Give me All. I don’t want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work: I want You. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. No half-measures are any good. I don’t want to cut off a branch here and a branch there, I want to have the whole tree down. I don’t want to drill the tooth or crown it, or stop it, but to have it out. Hand over the whole natural self, all the desires which you think innocent as well as the ones you think wicked – the whole outfit. I will give you a new self instead. In fact, I will give you Myself: my own will shall become yours.’

His Self Centered Teaching

Excerpt from Basic Christianity by John R.W. Stott:

The most striking feature of the teaching of Jesus is that he was constantly talking about himself. It is true that he said a great deal about the fatherhood of God and the kingdom of God. But then he added that he is the Father’s “Son,” and that he himself had come to launch the kingdom. Entry into the kingdom depends on how people respond to him personally. He even went so far as to call the kingdom of God “my kingdom.”

This self-centeredness of the teaching of Jesus immediately sets him apart from the other great religious teachers of the world. They tend to be self-effacing. He is self-advancing. They point people away from themselves, saying, “That is the truth so far as I understand it; follow that.” Jesus says, “I am the truth; follow me.” No other religious founder who dared to say such a thing would be taken seriously. The personal pronoun forces itself repeatedly on our attention as we read his words. For example:


I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to be will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.


I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.


I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.


I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.


Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me.


The great question to which the first phase of his teaching leads is, “Who do you say that I am?” He refers back to figures from the distant past and makes the astonishing claim that Abraham rejoices to see his day, that Moses wrote about him, that the Scriptures point to him, and that indeed in the three great divisions of the Old Testament – the law, the prophets and the writings – there are things "concerning himself."


Luke describes in some detail the dramatic visit that Jesus pays to the synagogue of his home village, Nazareth. He was given a scroll of the Old Testament Scriptures and he stood up to read. The passage is from the book of the prophet Isaiah 61:1-2:


'The Spirit of the Lord is on me,

because he has anointed me

to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners

and recovery of sight for the blind,

to set at liberty those who are oppressed,

to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.'


He closed the book, returned it to the synagogue attendant and sat down, while the eyes of all the congregation were fastened on him. He then broke the silence with the amazing words, ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’ In other words, ‘Isaiah was writing about me.’