Please consider using these excellent resources from Elliot Grudem (and Richard Pratt). They include prayers for children as well.
The Sovereignty of God in the Midst of Disaster
Immediately following the devastation due to the earthquake in Haiti, many were asking questions like the following:
- “Where is God?”
- “How can God allow this to happen?”
- “Is Haiti cursed?”
- “Does God hate Haiti?”
Some rush to blame God, even if they have never claimed a belief in God. Imagine that – Atheists blaming God. Pretty ironic. I read this article from John Piper after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina and decided there’s no way I could explain the sovereignty of God in this situation better than Rev. Piper.
On his 89th birthday (August 31) NPR Senior News Analyst, Daniel Schorr, observed that President Bush had “staked out a non-position” on the debate between evolution and intelligent design. Bush had said that “both sides ought to be properly taught in the schools of America.” Then, with manifest scorn, Schorr linked the devastation of Hurricane Katrina with the concept of intelligent design: “[Bush] might well have reflected that, if this was the result of intelligent design, then the designer has something to answer for.”
No, Mr. Schorr, you have something to answer for, not God. God answers to no man. Come, Daniel Schorr, take your place with Job and answer your Maker: “The Lord answered Job [and Daniel Schorr] out of the whirlwind and said: ‘Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me. . . . Who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb, when I made clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band, and prescribed limits for it and set bars and doors, and said, “Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed”?’” (Job 38:1-3, 8-11).
Who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Shall the pot say to the Potter, “This is an unintelligent way to show your justice and your power? Come, Maker of heaven and earth, sit at my feet—I have lived 89 years and have gotten much wisdom—and I will teach you—the eternal God—how to govern the universe”?
No. Rather let us put our hands on our mouths and weep both for the perishing and for ourselves who will soon follow. Whatever judgment has fallen, it is we who deserve it—all of us. And whatever mercy is mingled with judgment in New Orleans neither we nor they deserve.
God sent Jesus Christ into the world to save sinners. He did not suffer massive shame and pain because Americans are pretty good people. The magnitude of Christ’s suffering is owing to how deeply we deserve Katrina—all of us.
Our guilt in the face of Katrina is not that we can’t see the intelligence in God’s design, but that we can’t see arrogance in our own heart. God will always be guilty of high crimes for those who think they’ve never committed any.
But God commits no crimes when he brings famine, flood, and pestilence on the earth. “Does disaster come to a city, unless the Lord has done it?” (Amos 3:6). The answer of the prophet is no. God’s own testimony is the same: “I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the Lord, who does all these things” (Isaiah 45:7). And if we ask, is there intelligent design in it all, the Bible answers: “You meant evil . . . but God meant it [designed it] for good” (Genesis 50:20).
This will always be ludicrous to those who put the life of man above the glory of God. Until our hearts are broken, not just for the life-destroying misery of human pain, but for the God-insulting rebellion of human sin, we will not see intelligent design in the way God mingles mercy and judgment in this world. But for those who bow before God’s sovereign grace and say, “From him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever,” they are able to affirm, “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!” (Romans 11:36, 33). And wisdom is another name for intelligent design.
No, Daniel Schorr, God does not answer to us. We answer to him. And we have only one answer: “Guilty as charged.” Every mouth is stopped and the whole world is accountable before God. There is only one hope to escape the flood of God’s wrath. It is not the levee of human virtue but the high ground called Calvary. All brokenhearted looters and news analysts and pastors are welcome there.
HT: Cameron Buettel
Church
So lately I’ve been thinking a lot about what the church actually is. I usually design our worship service bulletin covers, and our church administrator was wanting me to put something like “Welcome to Church”. I understand what he means, but I think this message can be deceiving. Let me explain…
When I was a counselor at Kanakuk near Branson, Missouri, we had funny little heckles for certain words that were said by the OD’s, the “Officers of the Day”. If an OD said “church” in a sentence, we heckled them with, “Church? That’s the body of believers!” You really had to be there to understand these heckles, but my point is that the church is just that – the body of believers.
As sacred as some buildings and cathedrals are, church is not a building.
As important as weekly corporate worship services are, church is not a worship service.
The church is a group of people. A people called by Jesus Christ himself to go to the ends of the earth proclaiming the gospel about himself. A people announcing – in word and deed – that the Kingdom of God is near.
Now, some of you may think this is all just semantics. Maybe you know that the church is actually the people of God, not a building or Sunday gathering. But I think it’s important that we not only recognize this ourselves but share it with those who become or want to become members of the church. When we place emphasis on a building being the church, that building becomes an idol to many people. When we place emphasis on Sunday worship services being the church, those worship services become many peoples’ only worship throughout the week. Instead of the church being a family, it becomes a group of acquaintances that get their weekly fill on Sunday mornings.
Jonathan Dodson, pastor of Austin City Life in Austin, Texas, is one of my favorite bloggers, not just for his sound doctrine and theology, but for the way he expresses his thoughts in words. Recently, he wrote an article called “Stop Going to Church”, in which he says:
Church is not an event, a place or a plant. It is a family of brothers and sisters united in the Spirit and the Son. The church is a community, people in relationships under grace. So the church is supposed to be a family, but we act more like acquaintances.
Instead of sharing life and truth, joy and pain, meals and mission, we share one, maybe two events a week. Church has been reduced to a spiritual event that happens for an hour or two on weekends, and if you are spiritual, occurs another couple hours during the week in a small group meeting. We spend just enough time “at church” to be religious, but nowhere near enough time to be family.
The dominant metaphor of the church in the New Testament is the metaphor of family. Every one of Paul’s letters opens by addressing the church in familial terms — sisters, brothers, son, and our Father. The use of “brother” is, by far, the most frequent. This sibling emphasis reflects the familial nature of the church. What would happen if we started acting like family?
Born to Die
As we get caught up in all the splendor that is the Christmas season, it is always easy to forget exactly why we are celebrating. So you will often see the bumper stickers “Jesus is the Reason for the Season” or something similar. I’m not really big on bumper stickers, but I do believe we need to continually remind each other why we are celebrating Christmas. There is much joy in opening up a new Lego set or XBox 360 from Santa, but there is an even greater joy in the hope that we have because of the very first Christmas Day (Note: I realize that Jesus wasn’t born on December 25).
We celebrate because of the birth of our Saviour and King, Jesus. But we forget that Jesus was born to be betrayed. He was born to take the place of Barabbas on death row. He was born to be beaten, whipped, spit on, and mocked. He was born to be hung on a cross. He was born to die.
And yet he went willingly, as a lamb being led to the slaughter.
There are many great Christmas carols, hymns, and modern songs that capture the spirit of Christmas while presenting the truth of Scripture. I want to share a song that came out last Christmas, and it is like no other Christmas song I’ve heard. It is appropriately called “Born to Die” by Shane & Shane.
(the audio and video don’t line up perfectly)
When the babe was born,
in a manger on the hay.
God saw a veil torn.
He saw Good Friday.
He was born to die.
Gold laid before the Christ.
Incense, His presence is sweet.
Myrrh to signify victory over death’s sting.
He was born to die.
It came in a dream.
to Joseph late one night.
That Herod sought the King,
but could not take His life.
He was born to die.
He said, “You won’t take my life.
You won’t take my life.
You won’t take my life…
I lay it down.”
We came here today
to celebrate His birth.
But let us not forget
why Jesus came to earth.
He was born to die.
Lessons from Santa Claus
As the youth worker at our church, I am responsible for a children’s sermon each Sunday. I have mixed feelings about these sermons. On one hand, it is incredibly difficult to plan something so short. After all, I am used to doing youth talks that go from 15-25 minutes. I have also done sermons for worship services that can go on for up to 40 minutes. But how do you plan for something that is only 5 minutes long, easy for children to understand, but at the same time have the depth of youth or worship service sermons?
On the other hand, children’s sermons can be quite encouraging – for children and for adults. They make lessons of the Christian faith very understandable and easy to remember. It may be hard to remember everything from a 40-minute, three-point sermon. But it’s quite easy to remember the children’s sermon.
With all that said, I was pleased with my children’s sermon today. Not because I am a great mastermind of children’s sermons (I usually get my ideas from a trusty friend), but because of the implications of it.
My focus was on Santa Claus and specifically on his “naughty or nice” list. As the legend goes, Mr. Claus keeps a list of children (and adults!) who have been naughty and nice throughout the year. Those who have been mostly nice will receive presents on Christmas Day, and those who have been naughty will receive a lump of coal in their stockings.
Unfortunately, many think this is what God is like. God is seated high above the earth with a checklist of those who have done wrong and right. And if you have done mostly good things in your life, you get to go to heaven when you die. If you’ve been naughty for most of your life, then you go to hell. Now, many people will not say it’s as simple as this, but how many religions and faiths around the world are based on achieving heaven through good works? (I’ll give you a hint: all of them but one)
The miracle of Christmas is that God became man. He entered the world the same way we all do – as a baby. And through his perfect, holy life, his shameful death upon a cross, and his resurrection from the dead, he has given us life in abundance. But this life isn’t allocated to those who make God’s “nice” list. It is for those who put their faith and trust in Jesus, those who make him Lord of their life. See there is a greater list, one the Bible calls the Lamb’s Book of Life. And those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life are not those who have lived a better life than the next guy. Those are the names of men and women who have put their trust in Jesus to achieve eternal life.
And so I conclude this post the same way I conclude my children’s sermons:
The next time Christmas comes around and you are worried about whether your name is on the naughty or nice list, think of that greater list – the Lamb’s Book of Life – and take joy in the fact that your name is written down by the blood of Jesus and not your own efforts.
Self-Accountability
After going on holiday for just over a week, I felt like my spiritual life had also taken a “holiday”. I promised myself I wouldn’t give up any spiritual disciples, e.g. prayer and reading of Scriptures. However, I don’t remember opening my Bible once. My thought when I returned home was, If someone looked at the last eight or nine days of my life, they wouldn’t know I was a Christian. There wouldn’t be anything different about my life – no time spent with the Lord, no prayer with my wife (excluding meals).
I think we need to hold ourselves accountable more. Maybe once each month we should be asking ourselves, If someone were to look at the past month of my life, would the light of Christ shine through?
And we’re not just talking about Sundays here. It’s pretty easy to be a Sunday Christian – attend a worship service (or two) and call it a week on our spiritual life. So maybe the better question would be, If someone were to look at the past month of my life, Sundays excluded, would the light of Christ shine through?
Fill that Room!
It seems there is a tendency for some teaching pastors to do everything in their power to fill seats in their church worship services. Maybe they are genuine and want to see souls saved, or maybe they just want to pay the bills. Either way, some will go to great lengths to get “butts in seats”, including watering down the Word. What I mean by this is that sermons are no longer sermons but pep talks or self help topics or life lessons. But they want to keep it “Scriptural”, so they will just add something churchy to it – “Improve Your Sex Life God’s Way” or “Reach Your Full Potential In the Lord“.
I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with teaching on sex. But when you disguise your message or water down what the Word teaches in order to fill seats on Sunday morning, you are deceiving a lot of people. The ol’ bait and switch routine in churches needs to go. I’m sorry, I don’t care if you say, “We are just trying to reach as many people as possible.” The Apostle Peter reached a heck of a lot of people, and it was by telling them the truth found in the Word (Acts 2:14-41), not by gimmicks or games. (The same can be said of youth ministries today, some loading up their youth rooms with “a game room fully equipped with a rock wall, pool tables, and tons of the newest gaming stations and games“.)
Francis Chan, teaching pastor of Cornerstone Church in Simi Valley, California, is one of my favorite pastors to listen to. Not only is he sound in biblical preaching, but he teaches in a way that elicits passion and emotion for the Word. Recently, Pastor Chan spoke to his congregation on why they were not going to go ahead with a major building project. Sadly, this is the kind of attitude many pastors are unwilling to take…
Taken from Cornerstone Simi sermon – “Holy Anguish“
Money quote: “The one thing I don’t ever want to do, you guys, to the day I die is I don’t ever want to water down who God is and whatever he tells me to say. Even if everyone leaves, I don’t ever want to water that down….”
The Church and Hypocrisy
I wanted to direct your attention to a great post by RC Sproul, minister of Saint Andrew’s Chapel in Central Florida and founder of Ligonier Ministries. Sproul addresses a common objection non-Christians have with Christianity – “Why is the church full of hypocrites?”
The term hypocrite came from the world of Greek drama. It was used to describe the masks that the players used to dramatize certain roles. Even today, the theatre is symbolized by the twin masks of comedy and tragedy. In antiquity, certain players played more than one role, and they indicated their role by holding a mask in front of their face. That’s the origin of the concept of hypocrisy.
But the charge that the church is full of hypocrites is manifestly false. Though no Christian achieves the full measure of sanctification in this life, that we all struggle with ongoing sin does not justly yield the verdict of hypocrisy. A hypocrite is someone who does things he claims he does not do. Outside observers of the Christian church see people who profess to be Christians and observe that they sin. Since they see sin in the lives of Christians, they rush to the judgment that therefore these people are hypocrites. If a person claims to be without sin and then demonstrates sin, surely that person is a hypocrite. But for a Christian simply to demonstrate that he is a sinner does not convict him of hypocrisy.
Read the entire article here.
HT: Justin Taylor
Emotion Sickness
I’ve really gotten into old hymns. I’ve discovered that sometimes it doesn’t matter what music is put to the song – whether it’s rock, piano, organ, or no instrumentals at all – because the words don’t change. It doesn’t matter what music you put to “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation/Oh my soul praise Him, for He is thy help and salvation”, because the words to the song alone elicit passion and emotion. You can’t help but have a full and longing heart when you sing about the atonement, sing about God’s love, and sing about the Creator of the universe.
Why is it that many Christians are so afraid of emotion in worship? There is obviously a danger when you are only relying on emotions and your feelings in worship. But if we love God and sing to him as our Saviour, shouldn’t that be an emotional experience?
I’ve been in and out of a number of Presbyterian churches in my life, and I’ve rarely seen passion in singing. No clapping, no hands held high, no dancing (not that those are the only ways to show passion). Maybe it has something to do with where we’ve come from – after all, I couldn’t imagine John Calvin dancing around to Hillsong’s “One Way“.
But think about our distant, distant history. Did first temple Jews stand there singing the Psalms with no emotion, no energy, no passion? I have a feeling that worship and singing in the Old Testament period was a lot more charismatic (yeah, I said it) than we would care to admit. Think of all the instruments that were used – harp, horns and trumpets, cymbals. Think of the experiences they encountered – the parting of the Red Sea and exodus from Egypt, the fall of Jericho, deliverance in the period of the judges. I’m not saying it’s the same exact worship service that charismatic churches have today, but I’m saying there was most likely much more passion and energy in their singing. None of this “pious”, stiff-as-a-board worship that you see in many Presbyterian churches today.
I agree with my pastor, David Meredith, on this one. A church worship service should have solid, biblical preaching and passionate, heart-felt singing.
What do you think?
Thoughts on the Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church Controversy
I have been saddened by the recent controversy at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church (CRPC) in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. I’ve waited a while to express my thoughts on what has taken place. The reason I am so close to the action is that I grew up worshiping at CRPC. My parents were members of CRPC ever since they moved to Florida from Ohio in the late 70’s. They both taught at Westminster Academy, a private, Classical Christian school started by the late Dr. D. James Kennedy, who was the minister at CRPC from its inception up until he died a few years ago.
Since I was homeschooled through 2nd grade, most of the friends I made early on were from Sunday School and children’s choirs at CRPC. I was very involved in Gangway, the youth ministry at CRPC, from the drama team to Youth Evangelism Explosion, including many mission trips along the way. After graduating high school, I interned as a youth leader, leading the junior high boys Bible study, planning and attending youth retreats, and alternating teaching nights with another intern. After going away to Florida State University, I would still return to South Florida to visit my family and worship with the church that helped my parents bring me up in the Christian faith. CRPC was truly a covenant family to me.
When Dr. Kennedy died in 2007, a pulpit nominating committee was elected to search for a new minister, someone who would pastor the flock in a new era at Coral Ridge. The process took months, and it wasn’t until the spring of 2009 that Tullian Tchividjian was voted to take the role as CRPC’s new preaching elder. There was much excitement, as Tchividjian brought with him youth and passion, which is what I felt CRPC needed at the time.
Pastor Tullian Tchividjian
My history with Pastor Tchividjian is very brief, but I was immediately impressed with him. When I was attending university and home on a break, I heard about his ministry with New City Church. Curiously, I attended a worship service and met Pastor Tchividjian afterwards, as my parents knew him from his days when he attended Westminster Academy. Since I was going to be searching for work after graduation, I emailed him to ask if they were looking to begin a youth and student ministry. He emailed me back and said he would love to sit down and chat over a coffee. Unfortunately, I never got a chance to have that chat, as I was away at university for most of the year. But my point in this story is that Pastor Tchividjian was a very approachable, down-to-earth pastor. And I liked that, coming from a big church like CRPC, where chats with Dr. Kennedy were few and (very) far between.
When New City Church merged with Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church and Pastor Tchividjian became CRPC’s new preaching elder, my parents were impressed with how personable he was. He remembered their names (which may not sound like much, but growing up in one of the first Presbyterian megachurches and under the care of Dr. Kennedy, we hadn’t known a lead minister that could remember our names). He preached with passion and conviction. He was what everyone at CRPC thought we needed.
But something changed. CRPC went from a church filled with joy and excitement and hope to a church filled with sadness and many question marks. This was all in a matter of only a few months. Staff members who had been at CRPC for years were fired without apology. The contemporary worship team was replaced with New City’s worship team. A half dozen members even called for a petition to dissolve the relationship of CRPC with Pastor Tchividjian. Just last Sunday a formal congregational meeting was called to vote on whether or not to keep Pastor Tchividjian as CRPC’s preaching elder. While the vote was in favor of Pastor Tchividjian, over 30% of the congregation voted against him. And you don’t have to be an expert on church politics to know that if 30% of your congregation is not with you after over 90% voted to hire you, then something has gone terribly wrong.
My post today is not to point fingers. It’s not spread rumors or gossip. I am across the Atlantic from CRPC, and I haven’t seen or heard what many others have. But I am sad for my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. I am sad for Pastor Tchividjian. I am sad for those who were fired from CRPC. I am sad for the music director and organist who felt they needed to resign. I am sad for the Christian church as a whole, because it is times like these where the world looks at the church, sees division and anger and bitterness, shakes its head, and wants nothing to do with her.
I believe the church is imperfect. And if our mission was to proclaim the church, it would be nearly impossible. But, fortunately, that is not our mission. Our mission is to proclaim Christ, and him crucified for our sins. Our mission is to point people to a holy, righteous, and sovereign King – one who bled, and died, and beat death to secure everlasting life for all those who believe. The gospel of Jesus Christ is not about how good we can be but about how good he is to us, displaying his infinite love and grace.
Imperfect churches are made of imperfect people – people who follow their convictions and may even think that what they are doing is right when, in fact, it is not. However, as Christians, we must not lift up the banner of imperfection and stand behind it every time we sin. We must not cling to the fact that we are still in the sinful flesh. As a friend of mine once wrote, “Like a pair of tight pants after the holidays, our holiness doesn’t suit us during the week if we’re used to leaving it behind on Sundays.” Holiness isn’t something that we can shrug off and say, “Ah, I’m not perfect.” It is something we must always be reaching for. The beauty of the gospel is in grace and forgiveness of sins, but it’s also in the fact that we are made new. We have been born again into a new life with the Spirit. And we must not let the flesh of old control us, but we must seek righteousness and sanctification in our Lord.
I pray for reconciliation at Coral Ridge. I know many have left already, not because they are divided over fellow worshipers, but because they feel they cannot sit under the current leadership. Much has been written about the dissenters at Coral Ridge – some of it true, but most of it incomplete. But regardless of what has taken place in the past, may all who were involved move on to find peace with each other and peace with our Lord.
