Get In The Battle

Ray Ortlund post:  Why Not This in 2013?

“For morning came, morning and a wind from the sea; and darkness was removed, and the hosts of Mordor wailed, and terror took them, and they fled, and died, and the hoofs of wrath rode over them.  And then all the host of Rohan burst into song, and they sang as they slew, for the joy of battle was on them, and the sound of their singing that was fair and terrible came even to the city.”

J. R. R. Tolkien, The Return of the King, being the third part of The Lord of the Rings (Boston, 1994), page 820.

Get in the battle.  It was what you were born for.  It is what your heart longs for.  It is what 2013 is given to you for.  And if your church doesn’t help you fight, then find a church that will.  But get in the battle.  Through Christ, you will triumph.

Don't Seek Opportunities. Seek God.

Mark Batterson post:  The Longest Lever

Over the coming weeks I want to share a few excerpts from my newly released devotional book titled Draw the Circle: The 40-Day Prayer Challenge. The goal is to help people cultivate a daily prayer habit.  Day 35 is titled The Longest Lever.

Archimedes of Syracuse is famous for his quip, “Give me a place to stand on, and I will move the earth.” He was referencing the lever, one of six simple machines identified by Renaissance scientists. A lever amplifies the input force to provide a greater output force. Simply put, the longer the lever, the greater the leverage.  Let me borrow this simple statement and substitute one word: Give me a place to kneel, and I will move the earth.

In the kingdom of God, humility equals authority. Call it bold humility or humble boldness.  That is our lever. If we try to exalt ourselves, God will find a way to humble us. But if we humble ourselves, God will find a way to exalt us. There is no leverage like kneeling in prayer. If we hit our knees in humble prayer, God will extend His mighty hand on our behalf. He will leverage us in ways that are humanly impossible.

One of our mantras at NCC is: stay humble, stay hungry.  Humility is how we get out of the way of what God wants to do. And if we stay out of God’s way, then there is nothing God cannot do in us and through us.

During our forty-day prayer challenge this year, God revealed his favor in amazing ways.  A church gave us their church building without us even asking!  Someone wrote a $1 million check without us even asking!  And we received the kind of news coverage that money cannot buy. The Washington Post ran a remarkably positive front-page story in the weekend Metro section. A few weeks later, the Today Show filmed one of our weekend services, and the segment aired on the last day of our forty-day prayer challenge. Coincidence? I think not. It had God’s fingerprints of favor all over it.

We were seeking any of those things. We were seeking God.  So here’s my advice. Don’t seek opportunities.  Seek God. And opportunities will seek you! Here’s what I know for sure: Prayer is spelled potential and potential is spelled prayer!

Draw the Circle!

Fresh Start

Tullian Tchividjian post:  On To The Next One ...

Today is the very first day of a brand new year. And for many that means a fresh start.

This is the year. It all starts now. We resolve to turn over a new leaf–and this time we’re serious. This time we’re really going to try, we’re not going to quit. We promise ourselves that we’re going to quit bad habits and start good ones. We’re going to get in shape, eat better, lust less, waste less time, be more content, more disciplined, more intentional. We’re going to be better husbands, wives, fathers, mothers. We’re going to pray more, serve more, plan more, give more, read more, and memorize more Bible verses. We’re going to finally be all that we can be. No more messing around.

Well…I say try. Seriously, try. You might make some great strides this year. I’m hoping to. There are a lot of improvements I’m hoping to make over the next 12 months. But don’t be surprised a year from now when you realize that you’ve fallen short…again.

For those who try and try, year after year, again and again, to get better and better, only to take three steps forward then two steps back, one step forward then three steps back…I have good news for you: you’re in good company!

My friend Jean Larroux sent me this powerful illustration that he got from Jack Miller.

Miller recounts the valiant efforts of Samuel Johnson (a literary giant of the 18th century) to fight sloth and to get up early in the morning to pray. Taken from Johnson’s diary and prayer journal, Jack gives us a record–through the years–of Johnson’s life-long resolutions, failures, and frustrations:

1738: He wrote, “Oh Lord, enable me to redeem the time which I have spent in sloth.”

1757: (19 years later) “Oh mighty God, enable me to shake off sloth and redeem the time misspent in idleness and sin by diligent application of the days yet remaining.”

1759: (2 years later) “Enable me to shake off idleness and sloth.”

1761: “I have resolved until I have resolved that I am afraid to resolve again.”

1764: “My indolence since my last reception of the sacrament has sunk into grossest sluggishness. My purpose is from this time to avoid idleness and to rise early.”

1764: (5 months later) He resolves to rise early, “not later than 6 if I can.”

1765: “I purpose to rise at 8 because, though, I shall not rise early it will be much earlier than I now rise for I often lie until 2.”

1769: “I am not yet in a state to form any resolutions. I purpose and hope to rise early in the morning, by 8, and by degrees, at 6.”

1775: “When I look back upon resolution of improvement and amendments which have, year after year, been made and broken, why do I yet try to resolve again? I try because reformation is necessary and despair is criminal.” He resolves again to rise at 8.

1781: (3 years before his death) “I will not despair, help me, help me, oh my God.” He resolves to rise at 8 or sooner to avoid idleness.

I love the never-quit effort of Johnson. What he chronicles sounds so much like me over the years. Try and fail. Fail then try. Try and succeed. Succeed then fail. Two steps forward. One step back. One step forward. Three steps back. Every year I get better at some things, worse at others. For example, this past year I’ve become a lot slower to “make my point” in conversations with my wife–I listen more and talk less (one step forward). I let things go more quickly, criticism doesn’t cripple me as much, and I’m actually becoming more patient with people–I’m trusting God more (cha-ching, cha-ching). But, due to some relationally painful situations this past year, I’ve also become more closed off to people in order to protect myself (one step back). More than ever, I’ve tended toward relational distance–I trust people less (gong! gong!).

To complicate matters even more, when I honestly acknowledge the ways I’ve gotten worse, it’s actually a sign that I may be getting better. And when I become proud of the ways I’ve gotten better, it’s actually a sign that I’ve gotten worse. And round and round we go. Furthermore, no matter how hard I try, I still get frustrated by the same things that frustrated me 20 years ago: traffic jams, unexpected interruptions, long lines, feeling misunderstood, people who “play it safe”, and so on and so forth. You get the idea. In some ways we get better. In some ways we get worse. And in other ways we basically stay the same.

What I’m most deeply grateful for (as was Johnson) is that God’s love for me, approval of me, and commitment to me does not ride on my resolve but on Jesus’ resolve for me. The gospel is the good news announcing Jesus’ infallible devotion to us in spite of our inconsistent devotion to him. The gospel is not a command to hang onto Jesus. Rather, it’s a promise that no matter how weak and unsuccessful your faith and efforts may be, God is always holding on to you. The glory of a new year (and of every year) is the chronicling of God’s successes perfectly meeting my failures.

It’s ironically comforting to me as this new year gets under way that I am weak and He is strong–that while my love for Jesus will continue to fall short, Jesus’ love for me will never fall short. For, as Mark Twain said, “Heaven goes by favor. If it went by merit, your dog would get in and you would stay out.”

Thank God!

Happy New Year!

Inviolate Faithfulness

Scotty Smith post:  A Prayer for New Year’s Eve

     Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness! Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?” Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases. Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. Ps. 115:1-4

Dear heavenly Father, on this eve of a new year, I feel a wide range of emotions. Sadness and gladness both occupy appropriate space in my heart. Both of these themes are at work in my heart as I reflect on the past year. It’s a good tension—one generated by the gospel, itself.

Looking back over the past twelve months, I quickly raise my voice and with the psalmist, and praise you for your irrepressible love and your inviolate faithfulness. Father, you loved me all year long with an everlasting, engaged, unwavering love—irrespective of anything I did or didn’t do. I praise, adore and bless you for your full and rich affection for us in Christ.

Indeed, you love each of your children as much as you love your Son, Jesus, for you’ve hidden our lives in his. Thank you for your steadfast love and fresh mercies that came every single day this past year—when we were aware of them and when we weren’t; and when we acknowledged them and when we didn’t. You remained faithful to everything you’ve promised us in Jesus. Great is your faithfulness. You do everything that pleases you—all the time, in every circumstance. This makes me so very, very glad.

But Father, it’s precisely because of your love for me in Jesus that I also own my sadness. This past year, there were also times when I joined the nations in saying, “So where is your God?” You usually heard this complaint from me, or saw it in me, when you were busy doing what pleases you, and not what pleases me. There were times when I trusted my voiceless, sightless, senseless, powerless idols, more than I trusted you. I own my unbelief and grieve my foolishness.

But the gladness of the gospel trumps the sadness of the year; for I will not always be a man of two minds and a divided heart. Father, it gives me great peace and unparalleled joy to know that you will bring to completion the good work you have begun in me. One Day I will no longer even be tempted to worship anything or anyone but you. One Day, along with all your children, I will be as lovely as and as loving as Jesus. Hasten that glad and glorious Day.

But until that Day, fill the next twelve months with groaning and growing in grace. Let us see your hand and heart at work everywhere. Bring much glory to yourself as the gospel does its work, in us and through us in this upcoming year. So very Amen I pray, in Jesus’ faithful and loving name.

Indomitable Joy in Jesus in the Midst of Suffering and Sorrow

Excerpt from John Piper sermon:  Sorrowful Yet Always Rejoicing

2 Corinthians 5:20–6:13

We are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. ²¹ For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. ¹Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. ² For he says, "In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you." Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. ³ We put no obstacle in anyone's way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, ⁴ but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, ⁵ beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; ⁶ by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; ⁷ by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left;⁸ through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; ⁹ as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; ¹⁰ as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything. ¹¹ We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians; our heart is wide open. ¹²You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted in your own affections. ¹³ In return (I speak as to children) widen your hearts also.

Let me tell you here at the very beginning what the main point of this message is. The main point is this: What the world needs from the church — let's be specific, from Bethlehem Baptist Church, from each of us who are Bethlehem — is our indomitable joy in Jesus in the midst of suffering and sorrow.

I'll say it again: What the world needs from the church is our indomitable joy in Jesus in the midst of suffering and sorrow.

Letting the Sufferers Know We've Been There

This is the last message in the series of thirty-year theological trademarks of Bethlehem, and I am calling it "sorrowful, yet always rejoicing." Here is what I wrote to the worship leaders to give them a flavor of where I was going in this message:

I believe for these decades this theme and tone has marked us deeply. We are a happy people. But we are not what you might call "chipper." There is a plaintive strain in the symphony of our lives. I think Jesus was the happiest man whoever lived. And O how sorrowful! A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.

Our signature song is perhaps "It Is Well With My Soul." I think that would be a good song to end the service with. God bless and guide you as you build a joyful service that makes all the sufferers know that we've been there.

Not Playing Games in Corporate Worship

I have tried these thirty-two-and-a-half years to lead the staff and the elders and you in the experience of sorrowful yet always rejoicing. I turn with dismay from church services that are treated like radio talk shows where everything sounds like chipper, frisky, high-spirited chatter designed to make people feel lighthearted and playful and bouncy. I look at those services and say to myself: Don't you know that people are sitting out there who are dying of cancer, whose marriage is a living hell, whose children have broken their hearts, who are barely making it financially, who have just lost their job, who are lonely and frightened and misunderstood and depressed? And you are going to try to create an atmosphere of bouncy, chipper, frisky, light-hearted, playful worship?

And, of course, there will be those who hear me say that and say: O, so you think what those people need is a morose, gloomy, sullen, dark, heavy atmosphere of solemnity?

No. What they need is to see and feel indomitable joy in Jesus in the midst of suffering and sorrow. "Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing." They need to taste that these church people are not playing games here. They are not using religion as a platform for the same-old, hyped-up self-help that the world offers every day. They need the greatness and the grandeur of God over their heads like galaxies of hope. They need the unfathomable crucified and risen Christ embracing them in love with blood all over his face and hands. And they need the thousand-mile-deep rock of God's word under their feet.

...

My Soul Sings How Great Thou Art

Living at the Pace of Grace

Scotty Smith:  A Prayer about Living at the Pace of Grace

     Simeon took him [Jesus] in his arms and praised God, saying: “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.” Luke 2:28-32

Dear Lord Jesus, it’s just a few days after Christmas and already many of my neighbors are taking down their lights and trees. It seems like we’re always in a hurry for the next thing. Traffic never moves fast enough, waiters don’t bring our food soon enough, and the mail isn’t delivered quick enough. I’m no exception to this harried and hurried way of doing life.

I guess this is one of the reasons I’m drawn to Simeon, a man who seemed to live at a different pace than I do. We know so little about this “righteous and devout” man, but we do know he was “waiting for the consolation of Israel”—that is, longing for the arrival of the Messiah—anticipating the fulfillment of promises God alone can keep; hoping to see you, Lord Jesus, though he didn’t know your name.

Eight days after your birth, Simeon took you in his arms—you, by whose arms all things have been made and are sustained. Whether or not he expected to die soon, the peace that resulted from that embrace changed everything.

Lord Jesus, it’s only because you have embraced us in the gospel that we have the same peace Simeon experienced; for you are God’s promised salvation for Israel, for Gentiles, and for us. There is no other name under heaven by which we can and must be saved.

In you we find the consolation which can be found nowhere else. You are our forgiveness, our righteousness, our sanctification, our sanity, our hope, and a whole lot more. Hallelujah, for such an all encompassing, all consuming, every-need-meeting salvation!

Lord Jesus, as we stand on the verge of a new year, I very much want the peace of your grace to help me live at the pace of your grace. Slow me down—center me; settle me; focus me on the things that matter the most. If I’m going to be in a hurry about one thing this year, may it be to linger longer in your presence. Everything else will take care of itself. So very Amen I pray, in your glorious and loving name.