The New George Muller's?

My wife and I have a heart for orphans.  We are in the process of trying to adopt some children from Ethiopia.  In this process, we have come across a number of various people engaged in ministry much like George Muller was in the 1800's.  I would like to introduce you to two of these ministries.  These two strike me as modern day George Muller's stepping out in faith to care for the orphan.

Amazima Ministries International - After her first visit to Uganda in 2006, Katie Davis returned in 2007 and hasn't left.  She welcomes orphans into her life and also works to help other orphan children get schooling help, etc...  She has an excellent blog, my wife loves to read which you can find here.

Iris Ministries - Rolland and Heidi Baker live in Mozambique and care for numerous orphans. A friend of mine introduced me to their ministry.  They care for almost 2000 children among their numerous orphan homes.

While I do not agree with everything about their ministries.  I believe these two examples issue a great challenge to the North American Church to step out in faith and see what God can and will do with his people.

A Prayer

Lord, I pray not for tranquility, nor that my tribulations may cease; I pray for your spirit and your love, that you grant me strength and grace to overcome adversity; through Jesus Christ. Amen.

-A Prayer by Girolamo Savonarola (1452-1498)

C.F.W. Walther on Law and Gospel

"The...difference between the Law and the Gospel relates to the persons to whom either doctrine is to be preached.  The persons on whom either doctrine is to operate, and the end for which it is to operate, are utterly different.  The Law is to be preached to secure sinners and the Gospel to alarmed sinners.  In other respects both doctrines must indeed be preached, but at this point the question is: Which are the persons to whom the Law must be preached rather than the Gospel? and vice versa.

"1Tim 1:8-10 [We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. We also know that law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious; for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, for adulterers and perverts, for slave traders and liars and perjurers — and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine (NIV)]: As long as a person is at ease in his sins, as long as he is unwilling to quit some particular sin, so long only the Law, which curses and condemns him, is to be preached to him.  However, the moment he becomes frightened at his condition, the Gospel is to be promptly administered to him; for from that moment on he no longer can be classified with secure sinners.  Accordingly, while the devil holds you in a single sin, you are not yet a proper subject for the Gospel to operate upon; only the Law must be preached to you.

"To poor, sad-hearted sinners - I repeat it - not a word of the Law must be preached...On the contrary, to such a person the preacher must say: "Do but come! There is still room for you! No matter how great a sinner you are, there is still room for you.  Even if you were a Judas or a Cain, there is still room.  Oh, do, do come to Jesus!"  Persons of this kind are proper subjects on whom the Gospel is to operate."

-from God's No and God's Yes: The Proper Distinction between Law and Gospel a book published posthumously via manuscripts from lectures he delivered between Friday, September 12, 1884, and terminated Friday, November 6, 1885.  Our excerpt is from the second evening lecture delivered September 19, 1884.  The full 39 lectures are available online here.

Wendell Berry on Terrorism and National Security

"The National Security Strategy defines terrorism as 'premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against innocents.'  This is truly a distinct kind of violence, but to imply by the word 'terrorism' that this sort of terror is the work exclusively of 'terrorists' is misleading.  The 'legitimate' warfare of technologically advanced nations likewise is premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against innocents. The distinction between the intention to perpetrate violence against innocents, as in 'terrorism,' and the willingness to do so, as in 'war,' is not a source of comfort"  -from "A Citizen's Response to the National Security Strategy of the United States"

Do I know how to pray?

A Prayer Poem

give me a little of this, 

give me a little of that, 

and pass some of the other to him 

and maybe something from there to her.  

Oh, yeh, and 

in Christ’s name I pray, Amen.

being honest about one’s prayer life is hard.  even harder when that person is a pastor and his congregation is likely to stumble onto his blog.  maybe it is even hard because to write it down and publish it to the web is like confessing one’s sin to the world.  the indictment is made and the truth stares back at oneself.

but such is and has been my prayer life, an endless list of things which i ask for myself and others. but again, if i am honest, mostly i forget others while i never seem to forget myself.  God seems to have other plans, a few weeks ago, after attending a 3-day prayer retreat, God convicted me of my sin and failure to take prayer seriously.

i have been in ministry since 2001, but a pastor since December 2007.  during this time i have prayed very little, and very ineffectively as i am coming to realize.  i don’t trust God to answer prayer, i work out my own prayers to ensure they come to fruition.  i am frequently boggled by what to pray and feel entirely bereft of any power.  turn to the apostle Paul.

in my studies recently i have been struck by how Paul prayed.  granted i have only looked at 1 Thessalonians 1:2-10, 3:9-13, 5:23-25 and 2 Thessalonians 1:3-12 and there are many other passages to explore, which i hope to write on in the coming weeks, but Paul’s prayers are astounding and thoroughly spiritual.

here are my observations:

first, for all the prayer we pray for people to be healed, to be removed from difficult situations to be given material blessing, what strikes me is that Paul doesn’t pray for any of this.  on the contrary, he, first and foremost thanks God that other disciples a) exist and b) are actually following Jesus - their repentance is obvious.  he then goes on to ask God to continue to bring them growth even amidst the persecution and trouble they are experiencing.  how often have i expressed such prayers of thanks for others, especially in the midst of public gatherings?  my hope is to begin such congregational prayers.  i will write on the results and reactions later.

second, Paul seems to have a consistent prayer life, a set time in the mornings and evenings where he speaks with God and listens to God, where he intercedes for the churches around the world.  he is genuinely excited about the work of God in the world and so he keeps talking to God about it and asking God to keep on doing what he has been doing.  i have not, my prayer life has been haphazard, taking my cues more from Brother Lawrence and the practice of the presence of God than from Paul.  this is not to demean Brother Lawrence, the lessons i have learned from him have been very fruitful and i wouldn’t trade them, but there is more as i am finding out.  i have been praying for God to give me a heart to pray, to put a passion in me to rise early and to come often to him in prayer.  He is answering this prayer.

third, Paul earnestly desires that faith be built up and love increase.  he wants to see the disciples of Jesus grow in their faith commitment, in their understanding of Christ glorious riches but he also wants to see a practical outworking of these realities into the lives of every disciple.  often i pray for faith, or love but rarely do i pray for both, however there is not separation in his letter to the Thessalonians.  i believe this is telling, we must pray for both.  

as i reflect on the implications for prayer and pastoral counseling i am struck by the fact that dysfunctional relationships, where we tend to focus on the love aspect, the horizontal gospel, is out of whack because the faith aspect, or vertical gospel, is compromised while the struggles of discipleship tend to be the opposite reality.  as a pastor i must pray about both issues and bring both to bear upon those seeking counsel from the church.  what more could Paul be implying as he prays ‘may God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through.  may your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless...’

finally, all Paul’s prayers are that the ‘name of the Lord Jesus may be glorified in you and yo in him according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.’  more than anything, Paul desires Jesus’ glory, while all too often i have desired my own glory or probably the idea of glory hasn’t even been on my horizons.  i am a selfish, self-focused person, how could my prayers seek another’s glory, without God opening up his word to me and showing me something new.

to conclude, God has opened up his word fresh to me and it involves my body, soul and spirit being changed for his glory and his fame.  i thank my Lord, and incidentally, i am thrilled.  

John Calvin's Worship Planning

The newest issue of Reformed Worship has a great article by Larry Sibley entitled Ten Worship Planning ideas from John Calvin.  His first two points are worth revisiting, as most churches since the reformation have not taken seriously these foundational issues related to corporate worship.  I am quoting directly from  Mr. Sibley:

1. "Remember the necessary practices and include them every week: the Word, prayer, the meal, and sharing. Calvin wrote in his Institutes,
   Luke relates in the Acts that this was the practice of the apostolic church, when he says that believers ". . . continued in the apostles' teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and in prayers" (Acts 2:42). Thus it became the unvarying rule that no meeting of the church should take place without the Word, prayers, partaking of the Lord's Supper and almsgiving.
   
   Calvin treated this passage in Acts as a central norm for Sunday worship. There were to be four elements present: the reading and preaching of the Word; prayers in the language of the people; the Lord's Supper; and a sharing of goods, principally through almsgiving in the service.
   
2. Keep the traditional ordo: gathering, Word, sacraments, sending. Calvin did this, reforming without disrupting the traditional outline of worship. See the green box for the order of worship. Of particular importance is to gather first around the Word read and preached. This sets the agenda for the intercessory prayer that follows and allows the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper to seal the message of the Word. Calvin pointed out that we are created with the need to see, touch, smell, and taste as well as hear; hence the sacraments."

Why are we so quick to dismiss the Sacraments from our weekly worship?  What are we afraid of?  The sacraments are God's ordained way of reassuring us of salvation and strengthening our faith.  We must revisit our core doctrinal documents and reclaim the centrality of the full order of worship given to us in the Scriptures.  Following I will review the pertinent questions from the Three forms of Unity of the CRCNA:

Heidelberg Q/A66 says, "Sacraments are holy signs and seals for us to see.  They were instituted by God so that by our use of them he might make us understand more clearly the promise of the gospel, and might put his seal on that promise.  And this is God's gospel promise: to forgive our sins and give us eternal life by grace alone because of Christ's one sacrifice finished on the cross." 

 

Ursinus who wrote the Commentary on the Heidelberg Catechism said, "The sacraments contribute to the preservation and propagation of the doctrine of the gospel, in as much as God always accompanies the use of the sacraments with the word and its application." (Ursinus, 344)

Heidelberg Q & A 75

Q. How does the Lord's Supper remind you and assure you that you share in Christ's one sacrifice on the cross and in all his gifts?

A. In this way:

Christ has commanded me and all believers to eat this broken bread and to drink this cup. With this command he gave this promise:¹

First, as surely as I see with my eyes the bread of the Lord broken for me and the cup given to me, so surely his body was offered and broken for me and his blood poured out for me on the cross.

 Second, as surely as I receive from the hand of the one who serves, and taste with my mouth the bread and cup of the Lord, given me as sure signs of Christ's body and blood, so surely he nourishes and refreshes my soul with his crucified body and poured-out blood.

¹ Matt. 26:26-28; Mark 14:22-24; Luke 22:19-20; 1 Cor. 11:23-25

In the Belgic Confession we find a great description of the Purpose of the Sacraments:

Article 33

The Sacraments

We believe that our good God,

mindful of our crudeness and weakness,

has ordained sacraments for us to seal his promises in us, to pledge his good will and grace toward us, and also to nourish and sustain our faith.

He has added these to the Word of the gospel

to represent better to our external senses

both what he enables us to understand by his Word

and what he does inwardly in our hearts, confirming in us the salvation he imparts to us.

For they are visible signs and seals

of something internal and invisible, by means of which God works in us through the power of the Holy Spirit.

So they are not empty and hollow signs

to fool and deceive us, for their truth is Jesus Christ, without whom they would be nothing.

Article 35

The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper

We believe and confess

that our Savior Jesus Christ

has ordained and instituted the sacrament of the Holy Supper

to nourish and sustain those

who are already born again and ingrafted

into his family:

his church...

This banquet is a spiritual table

at which Christ communicates himself to us

with all his benefits.

At that table he makes us enjoy himself

as much as the merits of his suffering and death,

as he nourishes, strengthens, and comforts

our poor, desolate souls by the eating of his flesh,

and relieves and renews them by the drinking of his blood

John Calvin expands on these understandings when he writes "let it be regarded as a settled principle that the sacraments have the same office as the Word of God: to offer and set forth Christ to us, and in him the treasures of heavenly grace." (Inst. IV:14.17 – p1292)  Furthermore, Calvin says, "the sacraments bring the clearest promises; and they have this characteristic over and above the word because they represent them for us as painted in a picture from life" (Institutes, 4.14.5); and "It is indeed true that this same grace is offered us by the gospel, yet as in the Supper we have more ample certainty, and fuller enjoyment of it" (Short Treatise on the Holy Supper of our Lord Jesus Christ, paragraph 10).

 

 Louis Berkhof in his Systematic Theology comments on the disuse and neglect of the sacraments.  He writes, "Willful neglect of their use [the sacraments] results in spiritual impoverishment and has a destructive tendency, just as all willful and persistent disobedience to God has." (p. 618)

So why, when John Calvin too great pains to write in 1561 -  "I have taken care to record publicly that our custom [of serving Communion 4 times per year] is defective, so that those who come after me may be able to correct it the more freely and easily."  (Bretschneider, Corpus Reformatorum, XXXVIII, i, p. 213) do so many churches continue to neglect the practice of the the Supper?

Maybe we should recall Calvin's words one last time as an inducement to change our practices,  "we shall perceive that the use should be more frequent than many make it: for the more infirmity presses, the more necessary is it frequently to have recourse to what may and will serve to confirm our faith, and advance us in purity of life" (A Short Treatise on the Lord's Supper, section 29).

Movie Review of 7 Pounds

This weekend, I watched Seven Pounds on the recommendation of my neighbor.  What an interesting film.  It has stirred up a number of thoughts and responses in me over the past few days which I would like to share.  There appear to be two drastically divergent points of view that could be taken on the movie.  On the critical side, the main character, Ben Thomas (played by Will Smith), suffers emotionally after a devastating vehicle accident in which he was at fault and the lives of 7 people were lost, including his fiancée.  As a result, he is unable to continue living and hatches a plan to commit suicide but in a manner that leaves his organs (eyes & heart) to 'good' people.  Along the way, Ben has been donating other vital organs (Lung, Liver, Kidney, Bone Marrow) and his home to "worthy" people who are "good" and deserve a better life than the one they have been given.  Under this vantage point, there is no forgiveness of sins, and the only way to pay for one's wrongs is with one's very life. Additionally there is the trouble of determining who is worthy and who is not.  Essentially, the protagonist is in the place of God and is playing God determining value based upon our actions, a thought many reformed believers would consider doctrinally in error.

However, the movie can also be viewed from a redemptive perspective.  In this view a man is intent on giving others a better life. He is willing to spare no cost, even giving to others his very organs, those things which bring him life.  Like Christian salvation in Christ, the recipients don't get to pick their salvation, they are picked by another.  And like Christ, the hero falls in love with one of his donor recipients and ultimately must choose between himself and saving her.  He chooses others and kills himself in a manner that renders all his organs fully usable for those who need them.  Literally, he has poured out his life for his neighbors.  While every analogy breaks down, and this one is no different, the lesson to be drawn can be quite startling, "How much of myself am I willing to give in order for another to live?"  What does it mean to "deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Christ?"

To answer that question, each of us must search our soul and the Scriptures and come to a conclusion.  However the words, "Spend yourself on behalf of the poor" from Isaiah 58:10 might serve as a point of departure along with the very life and death of Christ for those wanting to answer this question.  While I am still uncomfortable landing wholeheartedly in either perspective, I am indebted to Hollywood for producing a film that truly stirs deep questions about life, death and sacrificial love.  I heartily recommend it to each of you to watch.

Note: Parents, this is not a film for young children and should be viewed prior to watching it with your teens.  Although, I think the conversations which would surely follow among parents and older teens after viewing it would be worthwhile, you need to know what you are getting into first.

Christianity and Psychology

If you follow this link, you will find a wonderful excerpt from Bonhoeffer's Life Together which details the differences between psychology and Christianity.  This is a short (1-page) document well worth the read, especially in a culture enamored with counseling but bereft of an understanding of sin.

Go to article

Quote from Nagel

"Scientism and reductionism are responsible for much of the self-deception of our time."

-Thomas Nagel, Philosopher at New York University

Articulating the Hiddenness of God

I realized in my last post as I reflected on Dr. Rae's lecture that
many of you may not be familiar with the specific problem addressed.
For those unfamiliar with the "Problem of the Hiddenness of God" here
is a basic primer:

The Problem assumes:
1. God exists and should show up
2. If God loves us as a perfect parent, then he must communicate
himself to us since good parents want to be known
3. But God is mostly hidden
4. There is not good reason for God to remain hidden
5. Therefore, God is not loving as we think and doesn't exist

Dr. Rae went on to show that there are reasons for God to remain hidden:
1. Allows us the freedom to grow and love by choice and to respond to
God freely
2. Hiddenness stimulates us to seek after God
3. By remaining hidden, God can't be manipulated by us.
4. God has a personality and it is unreasonable for us to expect him
to behave a certain way just as it is unreasonable for us to expect
others to behave in certain ways

Conclusion:
The pain we feel from divine silence is our problem, not God's. It
is evidence of our immaturity, expecting the world and the divine to
revolve around our needs, whims and desires.

WWU Lecture Review

On Thursday night the University inaugurated its first annual lecture series on Philosophy and Christianity.  The Speaker was Dr. Rae from Notre Dame and he gave a talk in response to the "Hiddenness of God" problem which Schellenberg articulated in the 1990's.  The talk was refreshing as I was under the assumption that Dr. Rae would be defending Schellenberg's thesis.  However, he did not defend but opposed the thesis and did a wonderful job of showing how God's hiddenness is acceptable as part of God's immense sovereignty and magnificence.  It is a human failing to demand that God show up when and how we want, instead of seeking God as he has revealed himself - through Word and liturgy.  This was the main thrust of the lecture.

My critique of his argument is more from a theological than a philosophical perspective. Dr. Rae failed to take the issue of sin seriously in his lecture, albeit that is understandable as part of a philosophical lecture.  But by failing to take the issue of sin seriously, the problem of God's hiddenness is reduced to a philosophical question, without understanding that God's "hiddenness" is the result of our sin, so the problem is really sin and not hiddenness which must be dealt with and when sin is conquered Christ is visible once again to humanity. Ultimately this plays out in the Revelation of St. John as sin is conquered and God is fully visible to all his people forevermore.  

I thoroughly enjoyed the lecture ad look forward to next year's lecture by Alvin Plantinga.  Hope to see you there.

Great thoughts on prayer

I just finished reading The Kneeling Christian by an unknown author.  The book was a quick 105 pages but very encouraging and full of stories about the prayer lives of people in England around the 1930's.  There are countless stories I could share, but I will keep it to these three or four:

1. "One bitter winter a prosperous farmer was praying that God would keep a neighbor from starving.  When the family prayers were over, his little boy said, "Father, I don't think I should have troubled God about that."  "Why not?," he asked. "Because it would be easy enough for you to see that they don't starve!" - pg. 86-7

This simple story teaches a profound truth which the Word of God reiterates in James 2:14-17 "What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead" (NIV).  We shouldn't seek God to meet the needs of others when we ourselves have been given the means to meet their needs.  We must act in Christian love towards our brothers and sisters as part of our lief of faithful service while thanking God for the means he has already given us to do it.  Then we will be able to pray for what we are not able to do.

2. "A young convert asked his vicar to give him some Christian work.  "Have you a chum?" "Yes," replied the boy.  "Is he a Christian?" "No, he is as careless as I was." "Then go and ask him to accept Christ as his Savior." "Oh, no!" said the lad, "I could never do that.  Give me anything but that." "Well," said the vicar, "promise me two things: that you will not speak to him about his soul, and that you will pray to God twice daily for his conversion." "Why, yes, I'll gladly do that," answered the boy.  Before a fortnight was up he rushed round to the vicarage.  "Will you let me off my promise? I must speak to my chum!" he cried.  When he began to pray God could give him tstrength to witness.  Communion with God is essential before we can have real communion with our fellow-man.  My belief is that men so seldom speak to others about their spiritual condition because they pray so little for them." - pg. 87

I issue the same challenge to all of us.  Pray for someone who doesn't know Christ and see if God doesn't open up a burning desire within you to share the gospel with them.

3. "The Moslems in West Africa have a saying, "If there is no purity, there is no prayer; if there is no prayer, there is no drinking of the water of heaven." - pg. 92

Oh to view prayer as the drinking of the water of heaven. To have a desert thirst that only prayer could quench, not just a prayer life of shopping lists and names, but a prayer life that sought God and exalted him because he is worthy to be sought.  Oh that such a spirit of prayer would permeate our lives and our church.

4. "O God, make me pure but not now." -Augustine, pg. 73

How many of us pray prayers like this. I have and still do, much to my chagrin.  What folly, to ask God for something which we truly don't desire.  Our mouth betrays heart. Even when we don't express such nonsense verbally, our lives tell the story of our heart and reveal what sort of brokenness lies within us, how divided we are and our lack of devotion to our Lord.  Is it any wonder that we don't see answers to prayer, when our lives are so duplicitous and we are unrepentant for it?

Religion Lecture tonight at WWU

Title:

Lecture on Philosophy and Christianity: "The Hiddenness of God"

Event Type:

Lecture/Presentation

Location:

Fraser Hall Room 2

Date:

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Time:

7:00 PM to 9:00 PM

Additional Information

Description:

Michael Rea, a professor of philosophy and director of the Center for Philosophy of Religion at the University of Notre Dame, will present "The Hiddenness of God" as the first lecture in the new Philosophy and Christianity lecture series.

The aim of this new lecture series is to engage in an intellectually critical fashion various philosophical issues that arise within the context of theistic religious traditions in general and Christianity in particular. This year's topic?the hiddenness of God?is a hot topic in contemporary philosophy, especially since the publication in 1992 of J.L. Schellenberg's "Divine Hiddenness and Human Reason." The basic thrust of Schellenberg's argument is that if there exists a God of the sort traditional Jews, Muslims and Christians believe in, a God who is perfect in love, then there should not be any honest God-seekers who fail to believe in God. But, since there are many such individuals, no such God exists. This argument will be the focus of professor Rea's lecture.

Cost:

This event is free.

Parking:

For general parking info, visit http://www.ps.wwu.edu/parking/map/.

Pastor's Note:  While I do not endorse the argument Michael Rea is expounding, this is the kind of thinking which we are up against in the culture at large and I would encourage you to go and listen, learn and pray for a response.  For a very technical review of Schellenberg's book see 

This Review

Financial Risk and Moral Responsibility

John Tiemstra of Calvin College writes an excellent article entitled Financial Crisis and a Culture of Risk in Perspectives Journal.  He does a wonderful job in a short essay of discussing the moral implications of risk in investing and banking.  How one views risk, whether as a moral reality or as a commodity to be packaged and sold has great bearing on the future of our economy and our financial security.  I encourage you to read it and reflect on your own personal investment strategies and debt accumulation both in the home and in your business.

Our First Message

Dear Hope in Christ Church,

In an effort to increase my ability to communicate with you and share resources I encounter with you while not cluttering your email, I have started this blog.  I hope you find it a useful place for connecting with me, seeing my thoughts and talking about them.  

For those new to the blogging world, which includes me.  You can either link directly to this site or you can click on the subscribe to link on the side and have the contents emailed to you regularly.

May you be built up to the full stature of Christ.

God's Grace and Peace be with you.  

Pastor Scott