News!
From now on I can add to this blog while on the road or in my office!
See you, and it's time to get to your station!
The vicar at bethel!
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Friday, April 8, 2011
Home and family
Had the privilege of hearing our oldest son deliver his first academic Lecture at a classical conference hosted at The Amway Grand Hotel in Grand Rapids. By all accounts his colleagues commended him on his research and presentation.
Praise The Lord!
M
- Posted using M Congrove's blogpress account on I-Pad
Praise The Lord!
M
- Posted using M Congrove's blogpress account on I-Pad
Location:Jack Pine Dr,Zeeland,United States
Monday, January 10, 2011
Pastoral care from the master
From a series delivered to Bethel Baptist Church in South Haven, Michigan. Mark is currently involved in an expository series of Second Corinthians.
1.09.11
Text: I Corinthians 1:23-2:11
Transitions: The apostle charged with among other things being a spiritual dictator for his converts: his response drawing upon the Lordship of Christ. With this in mind, and because God is faithful, more than anything else he might say or do, Paul chose to spare them the difficulty of another painful visit... Postponing it for their own good. Far from acting solely for his own good, the desires for their reclamation compelled to behave accordingly. (1:24) Why visit them and deplete his only source of joy. The letter served as the medicine they needed and the best evidence that his feelings toward them had not changed.
COMMUNION SUNDAY:
Transition: the value of competent pastoral care...
Loving enough to confront: 2:5
Though not identified by name the individual was confronted through the pointed specifics of the painful letter.
The hurt brought by the instigator spilled over into the congregation...
The problems with the "elite" of Corinth:
They wanted what they wanted: the pride of an insatiable appetite for "my wants" I Cor. 6--
They thought they had placed themselves beyond the reach of God's authority: the right group (Grace abounders)' insulated them from his laws...
C.S. Lewis does a good job of illuminating both.
Colson's 7 questions: see Pg. 130-131, The Body
Pastoral enough to pursue...
Te longer game in sight:
You only can supervise what you're willing to analyze
The goal of discipline never designed for repudiation but rather rebuke is meant for reconciliation...punitive and painful leadership is directed to become redemptive and remedial.
Obedience that is tested and authority respected both in the fulfillment of the punishment and the realization of the recovery: 2:8-9
Gracious enough to forgive
Seeing the bigger picture:Re-affirming God's love for Him ensures that he will not succumb to overwhelming discouragement
... And the church might again see it's joy and credibility restored.
... It's leadership respected: creates a loving and healthy environment for the church to grow: Paul's integrity now restored
... And it keeps them less likely to fall into the deadly grasp of Satan's clutches which can all too often present themselves as Angels of light: (Even Job's counselors...)
Application...
In the absence of authority we presume ourselves to be gods with no one else to be sovereign.
In the absence of forgiveness we presume ourselves to be hopeless, with no reason to change.
In the absence of leadership, we presume ourselves to finished with no incentive to persevere.
- Posted using M Congrove's blogpress account on I-Pad
1.09.11
Text: I Corinthians 1:23-2:11
Transitions: The apostle charged with among other things being a spiritual dictator for his converts: his response drawing upon the Lordship of Christ. With this in mind, and because God is faithful, more than anything else he might say or do, Paul chose to spare them the difficulty of another painful visit... Postponing it for their own good. Far from acting solely for his own good, the desires for their reclamation compelled to behave accordingly. (1:24) Why visit them and deplete his only source of joy. The letter served as the medicine they needed and the best evidence that his feelings toward them had not changed.
COMMUNION SUNDAY:
Transition: the value of competent pastoral care...
Loving enough to confront: 2:5
Though not identified by name the individual was confronted through the pointed specifics of the painful letter.
The hurt brought by the instigator spilled over into the congregation...
The problems with the "elite" of Corinth:
They wanted what they wanted: the pride of an insatiable appetite for "my wants" I Cor. 6--
They thought they had placed themselves beyond the reach of God's authority: the right group (Grace abounders)' insulated them from his laws...
C.S. Lewis does a good job of illuminating both.
Colson's 7 questions: see Pg. 130-131, The Body
Pastoral enough to pursue...
Te longer game in sight:
You only can supervise what you're willing to analyze
The goal of discipline never designed for repudiation but rather rebuke is meant for reconciliation...punitive and painful leadership is directed to become redemptive and remedial.
Obedience that is tested and authority respected both in the fulfillment of the punishment and the realization of the recovery: 2:8-9
Gracious enough to forgive
Seeing the bigger picture:Re-affirming God's love for Him ensures that he will not succumb to overwhelming discouragement
... And the church might again see it's joy and credibility restored.
... It's leadership respected: creates a loving and healthy environment for the church to grow: Paul's integrity now restored
... And it keeps them less likely to fall into the deadly grasp of Satan's clutches which can all too often present themselves as Angels of light: (Even Job's counselors...)
Application...
In the absence of authority we presume ourselves to be gods with no one else to be sovereign.
In the absence of forgiveness we presume ourselves to be hopeless, with no reason to change.
In the absence of leadership, we presume ourselves to finished with no incentive to persevere.
- Posted using M Congrove's blogpress account on I-Pad
Location:Pierce St,Robinson,United States
Monday, January 3, 2011
Resolutions
1.02.11 Bethel: South Haven
Text: II Corinthians 1:12-23
Intro: My experience with the residents of the Arizona Boy's ranch: young experts in manipulation.
Theme: a balanced ministry from a balanced life
Background: if you can keep in mind the motivations that lay behind Paul's involvement with these people, we begin to understand his need to correct not only the content of their thinking but their entire reasoning process, and their resulting behavior. 1 Corinthians 2.
The fault of our own generation is to suppose that our spiritual success is only a matter of our own will, the marshaling of our own marketing, or the successful completion of some charlatan's formula.
[See article in Christianity today:]
Trans: In the spirit of commitments that have the best potential for success, allow me to illuminate 3 Resolutions that really matter. What matters in a life resolute for spiritual success?
A LIFE DRIVEN BY A CONSCIOUS INTEREST IN SINCERITY, SIMPLICITY, AND AUTHENTIC CHRISTIAN LIVING.(12-14)
Some 18 months of living in their midst should have convinced them of both the seriousness of their intentions and the simplicity of their integrity. (Acts 18:11ff)
These servants had labored to enter the lives of their church on a personal level and affect a radical and consistent set of changes through the power of the gospel. ( See Bayly and clear note conference).
It's been a theme of Bayly blog that, in order for church officers to fulfill our callings, we must be intimate with the souls God has placed under our care. Not acquainted or familiar with them, but intimate. Sadly, Reformed churches lack the practice of hospitality and fellowship that produce that intimacy, and so we lack the Biblical context God has ordained for the protection and sanctification of His sheep.
Intimacy shows up everywhere in the New Testament church. There are tears, kisses, scrolls and parchment, household qualifications for officers, personal examination of widows and their families, specific rules for children, slaves, husbands and wives, name-specific rebukes and commendations; the New Testament has personal pastoral care woven in and above and below every word of doctrine. It's beautiful!
And think about it: among postmoderns who grew up in broken homes and think Facebook is friendship, what could be more attractive than true Christian fellowship and the organic...truthfulness and love of the Christian home? What would happen if pastors and elders and deacons, and our wives, worked together to ground our churches in such fellowship and love?
This is true Biblical churching and it's the perfect marketing ploy for attracting the lost and sick souls surrounding us. Who needs art galleries, Seattle's Best, or Facebook when the church is led by officers who are faithful to practice hospitality without complaining, welcoming the sick and lost into their homes and talking with them, there?
Hopefully, they could read between the lines of the Message they had penned and get to the real deal of Paul's intentions.
A LIFE DRIVEN BY A PRE-OCCUPATION WITH THE PERSON OF GOD (1:15-20)
There is no vacillation in (my) (our) actions because there is absolutely no vacillation with God and our behavior toward you has been carefully predicated upon the desire to attain a perfected consistency that is found only in the godhead. Experiences and circumstances may invade, alter, and challenge my plans but that never impugns the Character or person of God, or brings him cause to stay his course.
His reasoning: if you have no reason to challenge my understanding of the nature of God, His Son, and His Spirit, then you can trust that my desires for you, your progress, and the challenges that come to you will be undertaken with the same integrity.
A LIFE DRIVEN BY THE DICTATES RESONATING FROM AN INTIMATE RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS CHRIST.(1:21-24)
Think of Paul's understanding of his relationship with Christ:
One redeemed despite his own personal standing: I Tim 1:11-17
One born out of time I Corinthians 15:4
One who was bound to imitate: Eph.5:1
This God, it is He who---
establishes us with you in Christ: speaks of the legal:
Anoints us: speaks of commissioning
Has given us the seal of our present secure identity...
And a pledge (guarantee) of our future inheritance
There's a lot more at stake if we are desirous of living beyond the moment and deeper that frost level.
All of these reflected in Edward's resolutions as he desired to reflect both the depth of his relationship with Christ and the personal delight he found in that relationship. (See Resolutions)
APPLICATIONS THAT WILL WORK
Put away the phoniness involved in a counterfeit relationship with Christ
Put away the pre-occupation of our own needs in favor of a priority of others
Put away the double-minded behavior that comes from a compartmentalized life. (See Gordon McDonald)
Put away the presumption that pressures us to live as lone rangers when God is calling us toward relationships and community.
- Posted using M Congrove's blogpress account on I-Pad
Text: II Corinthians 1:12-23
Intro: My experience with the residents of the Arizona Boy's ranch: young experts in manipulation.
Theme: a balanced ministry from a balanced life
Background: if you can keep in mind the motivations that lay behind Paul's involvement with these people, we begin to understand his need to correct not only the content of their thinking but their entire reasoning process, and their resulting behavior. 1 Corinthians 2.
The fault of our own generation is to suppose that our spiritual success is only a matter of our own will, the marshaling of our own marketing, or the successful completion of some charlatan's formula.
[See article in Christianity today:]
Trans: In the spirit of commitments that have the best potential for success, allow me to illuminate 3 Resolutions that really matter. What matters in a life resolute for spiritual success?
A LIFE DRIVEN BY A CONSCIOUS INTEREST IN SINCERITY, SIMPLICITY, AND AUTHENTIC CHRISTIAN LIVING.(12-14)
Some 18 months of living in their midst should have convinced them of both the seriousness of their intentions and the simplicity of their integrity. (Acts 18:11ff)
These servants had labored to enter the lives of their church on a personal level and affect a radical and consistent set of changes through the power of the gospel. ( See Bayly and clear note conference).
It's been a theme of Bayly blog that, in order for church officers to fulfill our callings, we must be intimate with the souls God has placed under our care. Not acquainted or familiar with them, but intimate. Sadly, Reformed churches lack the practice of hospitality and fellowship that produce that intimacy, and so we lack the Biblical context God has ordained for the protection and sanctification of His sheep.
Intimacy shows up everywhere in the New Testament church. There are tears, kisses, scrolls and parchment, household qualifications for officers, personal examination of widows and their families, specific rules for children, slaves, husbands and wives, name-specific rebukes and commendations; the New Testament has personal pastoral care woven in and above and below every word of doctrine. It's beautiful!
And think about it: among postmoderns who grew up in broken homes and think Facebook is friendship, what could be more attractive than true Christian fellowship and the organic...truthfulness and love of the Christian home? What would happen if pastors and elders and deacons, and our wives, worked together to ground our churches in such fellowship and love?
This is true Biblical churching and it's the perfect marketing ploy for attracting the lost and sick souls surrounding us. Who needs art galleries, Seattle's Best, or Facebook when the church is led by officers who are faithful to practice hospitality without complaining, welcoming the sick and lost into their homes and talking with them, there?
Hopefully, they could read between the lines of the Message they had penned and get to the real deal of Paul's intentions.
A LIFE DRIVEN BY A PRE-OCCUPATION WITH THE PERSON OF GOD (1:15-20)
There is no vacillation in (my) (our) actions because there is absolutely no vacillation with God and our behavior toward you has been carefully predicated upon the desire to attain a perfected consistency that is found only in the godhead. Experiences and circumstances may invade, alter, and challenge my plans but that never impugns the Character or person of God, or brings him cause to stay his course.
His reasoning: if you have no reason to challenge my understanding of the nature of God, His Son, and His Spirit, then you can trust that my desires for you, your progress, and the challenges that come to you will be undertaken with the same integrity.
A LIFE DRIVEN BY THE DICTATES RESONATING FROM AN INTIMATE RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS CHRIST.(1:21-24)
Think of Paul's understanding of his relationship with Christ:
One redeemed despite his own personal standing: I Tim 1:11-17
One born out of time I Corinthians 15:4
One who was bound to imitate: Eph.5:1
This God, it is He who---
establishes us with you in Christ: speaks of the legal:
Anoints us: speaks of commissioning
Has given us the seal of our present secure identity...
And a pledge (guarantee) of our future inheritance
There's a lot more at stake if we are desirous of living beyond the moment and deeper that frost level.
All of these reflected in Edward's resolutions as he desired to reflect both the depth of his relationship with Christ and the personal delight he found in that relationship. (See Resolutions)
APPLICATIONS THAT WILL WORK
Put away the phoniness involved in a counterfeit relationship with Christ
Put away the pre-occupation of our own needs in favor of a priority of others
Put away the double-minded behavior that comes from a compartmentalized life. (See Gordon McDonald)
Put away the presumption that pressures us to live as lone rangers when God is calling us toward relationships and community.
- Posted using M Congrove's blogpress account on I-Pad
Location:Balsam Dr,Hudsonville,United States
Friday, December 31, 2010
Three sermons from Ephesians
11.16.10...
My overall theme...
Give a sense of wonder...something to captivate our soul. Spent yrs, getting to know him but only much later did I learn to delight in Him.
Give you something to care about... Something to capture you compulsion.
Give you something to act upon... Something to build worth passing on...
Text: Ephesians 1: 3-14
Intro: all I really needed to know, I learned in kindergarten pg 3
In wonderful little discovery by Robert Fulghum, he writes, "What undiscovered is that all I really needed to know, I had already learned in Kindergarden. For example,
Share everything
Play fair
Don't hit people
Put things back where you found them
Clean up your own mess
Don't take things that aren't yours
Say you're sorry when you hurt someone
Wash your hands before you eat
Flush
Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you
Live a balanced life-- Learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work everyday some
Take a nap every afternoon
When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together.
Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the styrofoam coup: the roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the styrofoam cup-- they all die. So do we.
And then remember the Dick and Jane books and the first word you learned-- the biggest word of all-- look!
Fulgham concludes--->
EVERYTHING you need to know is in there somewhere. The Golden rule and love and basic sanitation. Ecology and politics and equality and sane living. (p. 5)
Ok, good start for kindergarden, but we are supposed to have put away childish things:
What then... does God expect of us as men and women living in a world with a mandate, when before us lies a culture that has lost it's way...
What does God want us to know that will change us and give us something worthwhile to leave behind?
Trans: What puts us on course toward real fulfillment and consistent joy?
Church history helps us..
1. Westminster confession...the chief end of man... Piper---
2.AW Tozer pulled down several qualifiers:
What we want most
What we think about most
How we use our money
What we do with our leisure time
The company we enjoy
Whom and what we admire
What we laugh at
Trans: Ever wonder what might have become of the delights that allude us?
C.S. Lewis writes:
... We are told to deny ourselves and to take up our crosses in order that we may follow Christ; and nearly every description of what we shall ultimately find if we do so contains an appeal to desire. If there lurks in most modern mind 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 desire 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 sea. We are too easily pleased.
C.S. Lewis... The Weight of Glory
Trans: but to often we settle for the shorter answer rather than sure truth...settle for less rather than more...sound bytes rather than study...
Text: Hosea 4: And yet, The haunting conclusion cast upon Hosea the prophet in chapter 4... My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
Trans: But why?
II Peter, 1:3 partakers of the Divine life..
Text: Ephesians 1:3-14
The list broken down by it's relationship to each member of the trinity:
The Father has...
Blessed us with every spiritual blessing
Chosen before the foundation of the world
Set His mark upon us for holiness and service
Brought us into his family-- to be adopted is to be included.
His pleasure and goodness have been lavished upon us
The Son has...
Provided Redemption through his blood
Proffered Forgiveness of sins, which again lavished upon us
Has brought us a greater sense of wisdom and understanding
Has Made known to us the mystery of His will, it's fulfillment played out under his leadership and sovereignty
The Spirit has...
Opened the eyes to understand what Christ has done for us, grants us the faith to believe on Him, and moves our wills to embrace Him as our Savior.
Marked us with a seal
Sovereignly provided the "earnest money" toward our realized adoption
17[For I always pray to] the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, that He may grant you a spirit of wisdom and revelation [of insight into mysteries and secrets] in the [deep and intimate] knowledge of Him,
18By having the eyes of your heart flooded with light, so that you can know and understand the hope to which He has called you, and how rich is His glorious inheritance in the saints (His set-apart ones),
Paul, in vs 3-14 unwraps our position in Christ...and in 15-23 prays that we will understand it.
(17) That God might give us an attitude of understanding
Nothing more than an attitude adjustment
God wants us to know the..
The Hope of His calling:
Realization: called as much, to something as, for something:
Our hope is living: I Peter 1:3
Our hope is blessed: Titus 2:13
Our hope is sure: Hebrews 6:11
The riches of his glory bound up in the inheritance. Extends to the scope of our blessings... So little of what we will one day enjoy. I Cor. 13:12
The great power for us who believe:
Resurrection power: 19-20
Authoritative power: 21
Leadership power: 22-23
John Stott: " The Christian is living somewhere between the call of God (past) and the riches of an inheritance still future."
We live in the here and now! That's the tricky part, living a kingdom life in a world that has lost its way.
That's a level of understanding and appreciation that most Christians never reach...
Either because of Lewis' conclusion, (1), that they long to continue playing in the filth, making mud pies,...
Or...
(2), As Patrick Morley, notes, much more comfortable fighting over the scraps rather than feasting over the delights of heavenly truth.
Lord, give us something worthwhile to captivate us...
Let me leave you with some applications:
There is little room for doubt when God's plan is the playbook of your life. The value of being in the center of God's plan... Knowing that our hope is not presumptuous, but perfect because it's bound up in the perfection of God.
There's little for fear when God's power is the fuel cell for your life. The value of understanding an eternal view of power, it's relationship to a resurrection and consummation as well the power to reckon sin as dead in our lives.
There's little room for loneliness when God's Son is the sole fascination of our life. [Lost and alone w/o the sag, but never out of God's reach]
R.C. Sproul, shares a precious story about his father who because of a series of strokes was confined to his chair and needed to be carried from couch to kitchen table for meals. Sproul writes, " For 2 years all he could do was sit in a chair with a magnifying glass, reading his Bible. It was my job to drag him, fireman style, to the dining room table each night for dinner. One evening as I took him back to his chair he asked me to stop and let him sit on the living room sofa. As he sat he looked at me and said, "Son, I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." This was the first time I ever heard these words, and I had no idea they we from Scripture. But I knew what he meant, and I didn't like it at all. I answered brusquely "Don't say that, Dad." I took him to his chair in the den without speaking further. About an hour later I heard a crash in the den. I found my father on the floor with blood seeping from his ears and nose. He was in a coma from which he did not awake. It turned out that the words Paul wrote to Timothy were the last words my father spoke on this earth." p.12(Five things every Christian needs to grow: Sproul.)
----------------------->
11.21.10. Bethel PM
Intro: Unwrap a smile, or so the commercial goes...the connection between understanding your calling and manifesting or pursuing a lifestyle that is worthy of such a calling is no small challenge...
Text: Ephesians 1:3-14
Finding the power of a single sentence
John Stott calls this sentence a golden chain, a kaleidoscope, a snowball, a racehorse, an operatic overture and the flight of an eagle: all these metaphors in their different ways, describe the impression of color, movement, and grandeur which the sentence makes in the reader's mind."...pg.9
The Father has...
Blessed us with every spiritual blessing:
Chosen before the foundation of the world
Set His mark upon us for holiness and service
Brought us into his family-- to be adopted is to be included.
His pleasure and goodness have been lavished upon us: a favorite word in the apostles vocabulary: 78x in NT;45 of them belonging to Paul.
Exposition:
I like what Peterson has done in suggesting that through Ephesians God has provided us a map home in the Cosmos... Here it is, how we fit in the world.
Understanding sovereign grace leaves us better because:
It eliminates boasting
Provides an assurance of salvation
It provides the groundwork for holiness
It promotes evangelism.
Through adoption, we become the sons and daughters we were meant to be in mercy that we have no right to see.
All the privileges of family are applied (5) Rom. 8:17
The Son has...
Provided Redemption through his blood
Proffered Forgiveness of sins, which again lavished upon us
Has brought us a greater sense of wisdom and understanding
Has Made known to us the mystery of His will, it's fulfillment played out under his leadership and sovereignty
Exposition:
3words that make all the difference:
Agorazo: the marketplace, : to be in the marketplace: the emphasis is on the price Jesus paid for our salvation; Matt.20:28; Titus 2:14; I Peter 1:18-19
Ex-agorazo: out of... To buy out of the market place; the idea her is never to return; never needing to return to the bondage of sin: Romans 6
Luo: to loose or set free;!to deliver out by the payment of a price: here the thought is to buy us from sin, in order to set us free: Wesley: long my imprisoned spirit lay; fast bound in sin and natures night; thine eye diffused a quickening Ray; I woke, the dungeon foamed with light; my chains fell off; my heart was free; I rose, went forth, and followed thee.
Then there is the consummation under redemption : His purpose is to bring all thing together "again" under Jesus Christ.
Key word missing in most of our English txts that is present in the language.
The word Kaphale: to sum up, as in a scroll, in which all things summed up. The word in 1:10 is an expansion of the word
Remember the narrative:
Creation
Fall
Redemption
Consummation
*** Key word here is Again.
Under Christ which is the head
Martin Lloyd Jones writes, " The perfect that will be restored will be a harmony in man and between men. Harmony on the earth and in the brute creation. Harmony in heaven, and all under this blessed Lord Jesus Christ who will be the head of all. Everything will again be united in Him. And wonder of wonders, marvelous , beyond compare, when all this happens it will never be undone again. All will be re-united in to all eternity. That is the message; that is God's plan. That is the mystery which has been revealed unto us... These things are so marvelous that you will never hear anything greater, either in this world or the world to come." pg. 25: Boice
R.C. Sproul, shares a precious story about his father who because of a series of strokes was confined to his chair and needed to be carried from couch to kitchen table for meals. Sproul writes, " For 2 years all he could do was sit in a chair with a magnifying glass, reading his Bible. It was my job to drag him, fireman style, to the dining room table each night for dinner. One evening as I took him back to his chair he asked me to stop and let him sit on the living room sofa. As he sat he looked at me and said, "Son, I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." This was the first time I ever heard these words, and I had no idea they we from Scripture. But I knew what he meant, and I didn't like it at all. I answered brusquely "Don't say that, Dad." I took him to his chair in the den without speaking further. About an hour later I heard a crash in the den. I found my father on the floor with blood seeping from his ears and nose. He was in a coma from which he did not awake. It turned out that the words Paul wrote to Timothy were the last words my father spoke on this earth." p.12(Five things every Christian needs to grow: Sproul.)
Conclusion:
Boice: the Irishman
------------------>
Intro:
My Sunday school teacher of old!!!
Ed Hutchinson
A paradigm to learn from...
Give men(the church) something to think about
Give men(the church) something to care about
Give men(the church) something to act upon
Trans: what to make of our calling.?
Text: Eph. 4: 1-3
What changes in chapter 4? The language of understanding changes... Eugene Peterson argues that much of the language of the Bible, like that specifically in the letters of Ephesians, is offered to navigate the uneven road found in our experiences and the uncertainties and inequities encountered regularly in our lives.
Fittingly, It is the language of the daily grind. "The toughness of life would be fine'" quipped one well worn survivor, "if it weren't that it was so daily."
We understand the language of the Preacher
We understand the language of the teacher.
Now we have the language of the companion...
Paul changes up the pace in chapter 4
The parekleis, from the word translated "beg"...
"(Paraclesis is the language used with men and women who have already received the word of preached salvation and have been instructed in the teaching of the law but who are in need of comfort, encouragement or discernment in the muddled details of dailiness.)..." p. 1977
The conversation ( which is in parakleis)... This is the language of travel, the conversation of those on the road to a more engaging life.
(Peterson: " This is the style of language that is absolutely required in the church in the process of becoming mature, of growing up in Christ." p.1977
Peterson again
"Paracletic language is the language of the Holy Spirit, a language of relationship and intimacy; a way of speaking and listening that gets the words of Jesus inside us so that they become us." p.1977
"... Becoming mature takes a long time, with many rest stops along the way; it cannot be hurried. Becoming mature is a complex process that defies simplification, there are no shortcuts." p.1977
Trans: unfortunately we crave shortcuts: we want our Spiritual truth quickly, we want it with no "gristle", and we want it pre-chewed and softened for us so we can push it right down.
One man writes, " It is not really difficult in such a world to get a person interested in in the message of the Gospel; it is terrifically difficult to sustain the interest... there is a great market for religious experience in our world; there is little enthusiasm for the patient acquisition of virtue, little inclination to sign up for a long apprenticeship in what earlier generations of Christians called holiness." ( Long walk: p.16)
Trans: The challenge of our age is to finish strongly without leaving those who walk beside us and around us behind...
What we need is that long consistent conversation with someone who can push us to reach higher...and deeper...
Someone who is growing deeper because of us
Someone who is walking authentically before us
Someone who is sharing our challenges with us.
Text: Luke 24:13
Trans: The Eternal value of that one individual walking in concert with us, has not been lost on the God who founded His church with the specific tools to make that a reality. The church was constructed for the efficient reproduction of it's workforce.
Why it is so necessary? ( Benefits of a mentor)
A mentor promotes genuine growth and change
A model to follow
Someone who can help you reach your goals more efficiently.
Critical role in God's pattern for your growth and the church.
Mentor's influence benefits others in your life
We Need leaders: Hendricks,pg. 131 copied
Looking for that one starfish ( pg. 133)
Critical in a world of single handedness: Eccl. 4:9-10
Biking: drafting: My experience being on the road.
The generation before us who need something more from us in the church than shallow conversation, short lived churchy activities, and no connection...
Trans: What does that calling look like in the world of the local church?
Ephesians 4:4-12
What God has put into place:
A unity that holds everything together:
The four offices of the church are provided to outfit the church; specifically, everyday Christians to do the extraordinary things of God...
The equipping proves effective in lives needing daily repair and outfitting:
Think of Ephesians 4:11-12, as equipment supplier for the church.
Specifically:
Apostles
Prophets
Evangelists
Pastor-teachers
To... Equip (outfit) the saints for the work of ministry
That's the play book for the church
The key word here is equip for it controls the crucial understanding for the church.
Explanation
Interpretation
Application:
Longtime pastor-teacher Ray Stedman, the 40 year servant leader of Peninsula Bible church writes in his landmark work, Body life..." what does "equipping" mean and how is it done? The word in the text shares a relationship with our English word artisian-- an artist or craftsman, someone who works with his hands to make or build things. It is a special point of interest that this word first appears in the new testament in connection with the calling of the disciples. As Jesus walked along the Sea of Galilee, he saw two pairs of brothers, Peter and Andrew, James and John, sitting in a boat, busily working. What were they doing? They were mending their nets. The word mending is the word translated in Ephesians 4 as "equipping." They were equipping their nets by mending them. They were fixing their nets, making them strong, preparing them for service, and getting them ready for action.". Thayer adds... " the word suggests... To make one what he ought to be." Body Life, p.116.
(handout, pg... 141)
What's in it for you?
Copied?
Benefits of being a mentor...pg. 146
Application
Investing in others requires me to think beyond my moment's need...We see this as needed development for ourselves and our protege.
Investing in the church requires me to risk involvement and interaction....We see this as needed direction ( employment). One of the strongest demonstrations of pastoral leadership coming from my home church's pastor who constrained my dad to become the financial secretary for many years. It represents a particular memory growing up.
Investing in the kingdom requires me to confront the lostness of my culture....We see this as needed deployment
Modeling that passes the test: Swindoll: Copied...
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12.3.10 Bethel Baptist: S.Haven
Lucille Ball was an original who came to be known as the first lady of American comedy. Sometime before he death she did a remarkable television interview with Merv Griffin, who asked her a very pointed question. "lucille, you've lived a long time on this earth and you are a wise person. What's happened to our country? What's wrong with our children? Why are our families falling apart? What's missing?" Lucy's startling yet matter of fact reply came quickly. "Papa's missing, " she said. "Things are falling apart because Papa's gone. If Papa were here, he would fix it."
Only 41% of today's children grow up in a two parent family
Almost a million children are left with one parent because of divorce every year
Nine out of 10 of these are with their mothers.
From 1950-1980 the annual rate of illegitimate births increased by a staggering 450%. The 715,200 children born without fathers in 1982 represented 19.4 % of all births for that year.
On average American fathers give each of their children a mere three minutes of undivided attention every day.
The husbands and the fathers of many Americans have gone missing in action and many are doomed to become lost to their families and communities, if not their churches. The awe of a relationship bathed in reverence and selfless love gives way instead to battlegrounds consumed in competition and chaotic to those who watch us in hope of finding security and some kind of completeness for their own lives.
Trans: so what possible advice can I bring you?
I. It all begins with dying...
Would you die for for your wife?
What if, getting the love you want means giving all you have, rather than bargaining for what you are willing to exchange, in order to secure what your wife resists offering freely.
Dying to self
Dying to sin
Dying to superiority
THE SOURCE OF COSMIC TROUBLE GEN.3 ???
Is this what Love is supposed to look like?
The question might be best answered by chapter 4
In talking to Cain about murder of his brother we find the same Hebrew word used that is found in Genesis 3:16.
Now try this...4:7
"But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at the door; it desires to have you, ie: to control you, to manipulate you, to boss you around, but you must rule over it."
D.A. Carson comments:
" So here in the wake of the fall: the woman desires to have her husband to control him, and he rules over her with a certain kind of brutal force. There is sin on both sides: she wants to control, and he, being physically stronger than she is, beats up on her. What we have here in Gen. 3:16 claims Carson, is the destruction of the marriage relationship. The tentacles of rebellion corrode all relationships." p.38
What that might look like for old age?
Robert McQuilkin: a promise kept...
But what's in it for me?
As Alzheimer's slowly locked away one part of my Muriel, then another, every loss, for her shut down a part of me. Ministry was changing oaf course, formless public to more private. There was another sense of loss, however, an unassuageably ache deep inside, as I watched my vivacious companion of the years slip from me.
Even in this loss, however, I made a wonderful discovery. As Muriel became more dependent on me, our love seeped to deeper, unknown crevices of the heart. Though she never knew what was happening to her, as I cared for her she responded with a gratitude and cheerful contentment. It was no great effort to do the loving thing for one who was altogether lovable. My imprisonment turned out to be a delightful liberation to love more fully than I had ever known. We found the chains of confining circumstance to be, not instruments of torture, but bonds to hold us closer. But there was even greater liberation. It has to do with God's love. No one ever needed me like Muriel, and no one ever responded to my efforts as totally as she. It's the nearest thing I've experienced on a human plane to what may relationship with God was designed to be: unfailing love poured out in constant care of helpless me. Surely he planned that relationship to draw from me the kind of love and gratitude Muriel had for her man. Her insatiable-- even desperate --longing to be with me, her quiet confidence in my ability and desire to care for her, a mirror reflection of what my love for God should be. That was the first discovery -- the power of love to liberate in the very bondage imposed by unwanted circumstances.
...
Upon his retirement, from Columbia Bible College, Dr. McQuilkin left his students and the faculty with this challenge..
" The decision to come to Columbia was the most difficult I had to make; the decision to leave 22 years later, though painful, was one of the easiest. It was almost as if God engineered the circumstances so that I had no alternatives. Let me explain.
My dear wife, Muriel, has been in failing mental health for about 12 years. So far I have been able to carry both her ever-growing needs and my leadership responsibility at Columbia. But reentry it has become apparent that Muriel is contented most of the time she is with me and almost none of the time I am away from her. It is not just discontent. She is filled with fear-- even terror-- that she has lost me and always goes in search of me when I leave home. So it is clear to me that she needs me now, full time. Perhaps it would help you understand if I shared with you what I shared in chapel at the time of the announcement of my resignation. The decision was mad, in a way, 42 years ago when I promised to care for Muriel in sickness and in health... till death do us part. So, as I told the students and faclty, as a man of my word, integrity has something to do with it. But so does fairness. She has cared for me fully and sacrificially all these years; if I cared for her for the next 40 years I would not be out of her debt. Duty, however, can be grim and stoic. But there is more: I love muriel. She is a delight to me-- her childlike dependence and confidence in me, her warm love, occasional flashes of that wit I used to relish so, her happy spirit and tough resilience in the face of her continual distressing frustration. I don't have to care for her. I get to! It is a high honor to care for so wonderful a person." p.23, A Promise kept.
II. A dying life invests in the living...Eph. 6:1-3
How about inspiring our children to greatness
It all begins with a curiosity about who they'll become
Didn't you wonder when you held that little bundle of depravity what was lurking beyond the selfishness of their teen years and just beneath their fascination with the present? Proverbs 22:7
I have wanted our children to grow into men and women of spiritual greatness.
2. Is given momentum through our investment in their character
Character built upon the content of Scripture and the consistency of an authentic life...
We have determined that our kids would comprehend that the world does not exist or them and that it does not revolve around them.
3. Culminates in their desire to get on with their life
Training that prepares children for service not stagnation
Otherwise known as "stay out of my basement"
Application:
I've tried to think long and hard about what's necessary to get the kids ready for life,
Schooled enough to succeed: competency
Surprised enough to be curious: creativity
Humble enough to be useful: usability
Robert E. Lee once quipped to the mother whose child thrust into his arms: "Mam, you must teach him to deny himself."
Hearty enough to be resilient: Stability
Hungry enough to be godly: spirituality
Illustrate: Harriet Bosch:
Having lost her husband a number of years ago, before his time, this wife and mother of 3 sons and one daughter knows all too well the isolation associated with loneliness. She shared recently with me that her son in. Law, yes, that's right, her son in law never allows her to walk unattended in public--- rather, he is her constant companion ... at her side, his own wife and kids walking behind... This "son"... Taking upon himself, the role of his father in law... Becoming mom's champion, a man of the richest kind for a life has lost its masculinity... Erasing the loneliness of separation and bringing completeness to this wonderful experience known as family.
If only the culture could see it...and find it's way home!
Weldon Hardenbrook
I'll close with this story,
Weldon Hardenbrook writes that on one occasion he was was with friend and found themselves driving home from Los Angeles. It was midday and we were coming down a steep grade. In front of us was a new pickup truck with a family. The mother was driving, and the father was beside her in the cab. In the open bed of the truck were four small children. They had a picnic basket, fishing poles. The children were obviously excited to be going on vacation.
Suddenly, one of the back wheels snapped off. The truck veered sharply to the right and shot off a sixty-foot cliff. My friend and I were the only ones there. We stopped our car and started down the hillside. We ran to the children, doing what we could do. All of them were unconscious.
The mother was seriously injured. It looked as though she had broken her legs and pelvis. But she started to crawling on her belly to each child. We couldn't prevent her.
The father could not restrain her either, although he tried. He was in the best shape of anyone, but he stayed in the truck, and called out to his wife to stop.
The scene is forever engraved in my mind. It says something to me about the fathers of our country. The children of America are lying wounded, strewn throughout our cities. In too many cases, their fathers are leaving them to their mother's care. The children need the father to get out of the truck and join the mother who care for them.
That will change...
Only When we can recapture a vision of just who our God really is?
Only when we can recapture a vision for what our calling should be and how best to accomplish it?
Only when we can recapture a vision for our families-- for our spouses, and for our children....
Finished!
- Posted using BlogPress
My overall theme...
Give a sense of wonder...something to captivate our soul. Spent yrs, getting to know him but only much later did I learn to delight in Him.
Give you something to care about... Something to capture you compulsion.
Give you something to act upon... Something to build worth passing on...
Text: Ephesians 1: 3-14
Intro: all I really needed to know, I learned in kindergarten pg 3
In wonderful little discovery by Robert Fulghum, he writes, "What undiscovered is that all I really needed to know, I had already learned in Kindergarden. For example,
Share everything
Play fair
Don't hit people
Put things back where you found them
Clean up your own mess
Don't take things that aren't yours
Say you're sorry when you hurt someone
Wash your hands before you eat
Flush
Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you
Live a balanced life-- Learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work everyday some
Take a nap every afternoon
When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together.
Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the styrofoam coup: the roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the styrofoam cup-- they all die. So do we.
And then remember the Dick and Jane books and the first word you learned-- the biggest word of all-- look!
Fulgham concludes--->
EVERYTHING you need to know is in there somewhere. The Golden rule and love and basic sanitation. Ecology and politics and equality and sane living. (p. 5)
Ok, good start for kindergarden, but we are supposed to have put away childish things:
What then... does God expect of us as men and women living in a world with a mandate, when before us lies a culture that has lost it's way...
What does God want us to know that will change us and give us something worthwhile to leave behind?
Trans: What puts us on course toward real fulfillment and consistent joy?
Church history helps us..
1. Westminster confession...the chief end of man... Piper---
2.AW Tozer pulled down several qualifiers:
What we want most
What we think about most
How we use our money
What we do with our leisure time
The company we enjoy
Whom and what we admire
What we laugh at
Trans: Ever wonder what might have become of the delights that allude us?
C.S. Lewis writes:
... We are told to deny ourselves and to take up our crosses in order that we may follow Christ; and nearly every description of what we shall ultimately find if we do so contains an appeal to desire. If there lurks in most modern mind 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 desire 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 sea. We are too easily pleased.
C.S. Lewis... The Weight of Glory
Trans: but to often we settle for the shorter answer rather than sure truth...settle for less rather than more...sound bytes rather than study...
Text: Hosea 4: And yet, The haunting conclusion cast upon Hosea the prophet in chapter 4... My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
Trans: But why?
II Peter, 1:3 partakers of the Divine life..
Text: Ephesians 1:3-14
The list broken down by it's relationship to each member of the trinity:
The Father has...
Blessed us with every spiritual blessing
Chosen before the foundation of the world
Set His mark upon us for holiness and service
Brought us into his family-- to be adopted is to be included.
His pleasure and goodness have been lavished upon us
The Son has...
Provided Redemption through his blood
Proffered Forgiveness of sins, which again lavished upon us
Has brought us a greater sense of wisdom and understanding
Has Made known to us the mystery of His will, it's fulfillment played out under his leadership and sovereignty
The Spirit has...
Opened the eyes to understand what Christ has done for us, grants us the faith to believe on Him, and moves our wills to embrace Him as our Savior.
Marked us with a seal
Sovereignly provided the "earnest money" toward our realized adoption
17[For I always pray to] the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, that He may grant you a spirit of wisdom and revelation [of insight into mysteries and secrets] in the [deep and intimate] knowledge of Him,
18By having the eyes of your heart flooded with light, so that you can know and understand the hope to which He has called you, and how rich is His glorious inheritance in the saints (His set-apart ones),
Paul, in vs 3-14 unwraps our position in Christ...and in 15-23 prays that we will understand it.
(17) That God might give us an attitude of understanding
Nothing more than an attitude adjustment
God wants us to know the..
The Hope of His calling:
Realization: called as much, to something as, for something:
Our hope is living: I Peter 1:3
Our hope is blessed: Titus 2:13
Our hope is sure: Hebrews 6:11
The riches of his glory bound up in the inheritance. Extends to the scope of our blessings... So little of what we will one day enjoy. I Cor. 13:12
The great power for us who believe:
Resurrection power: 19-20
Authoritative power: 21
Leadership power: 22-23
John Stott: " The Christian is living somewhere between the call of God (past) and the riches of an inheritance still future."
We live in the here and now! That's the tricky part, living a kingdom life in a world that has lost its way.
That's a level of understanding and appreciation that most Christians never reach...
Either because of Lewis' conclusion, (1), that they long to continue playing in the filth, making mud pies,...
Or...
(2), As Patrick Morley, notes, much more comfortable fighting over the scraps rather than feasting over the delights of heavenly truth.
Lord, give us something worthwhile to captivate us...
Let me leave you with some applications:
There is little room for doubt when God's plan is the playbook of your life. The value of being in the center of God's plan... Knowing that our hope is not presumptuous, but perfect because it's bound up in the perfection of God.
There's little for fear when God's power is the fuel cell for your life. The value of understanding an eternal view of power, it's relationship to a resurrection and consummation as well the power to reckon sin as dead in our lives.
There's little room for loneliness when God's Son is the sole fascination of our life. [Lost and alone w/o the sag, but never out of God's reach]
R.C. Sproul, shares a precious story about his father who because of a series of strokes was confined to his chair and needed to be carried from couch to kitchen table for meals. Sproul writes, " For 2 years all he could do was sit in a chair with a magnifying glass, reading his Bible. It was my job to drag him, fireman style, to the dining room table each night for dinner. One evening as I took him back to his chair he asked me to stop and let him sit on the living room sofa. As he sat he looked at me and said, "Son, I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." This was the first time I ever heard these words, and I had no idea they we from Scripture. But I knew what he meant, and I didn't like it at all. I answered brusquely "Don't say that, Dad." I took him to his chair in the den without speaking further. About an hour later I heard a crash in the den. I found my father on the floor with blood seeping from his ears and nose. He was in a coma from which he did not awake. It turned out that the words Paul wrote to Timothy were the last words my father spoke on this earth." p.12(Five things every Christian needs to grow: Sproul.)
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11.21.10. Bethel PM
Intro: Unwrap a smile, or so the commercial goes...the connection between understanding your calling and manifesting or pursuing a lifestyle that is worthy of such a calling is no small challenge...
Text: Ephesians 1:3-14
Finding the power of a single sentence
John Stott calls this sentence a golden chain, a kaleidoscope, a snowball, a racehorse, an operatic overture and the flight of an eagle: all these metaphors in their different ways, describe the impression of color, movement, and grandeur which the sentence makes in the reader's mind."...pg.9
The Father has...
Blessed us with every spiritual blessing:
Chosen before the foundation of the world
Set His mark upon us for holiness and service
Brought us into his family-- to be adopted is to be included.
His pleasure and goodness have been lavished upon us: a favorite word in the apostles vocabulary: 78x in NT;45 of them belonging to Paul.
Exposition:
I like what Peterson has done in suggesting that through Ephesians God has provided us a map home in the Cosmos... Here it is, how we fit in the world.
Understanding sovereign grace leaves us better because:
It eliminates boasting
Provides an assurance of salvation
It provides the groundwork for holiness
It promotes evangelism.
Through adoption, we become the sons and daughters we were meant to be in mercy that we have no right to see.
All the privileges of family are applied (5) Rom. 8:17
The Son has...
Provided Redemption through his blood
Proffered Forgiveness of sins, which again lavished upon us
Has brought us a greater sense of wisdom and understanding
Has Made known to us the mystery of His will, it's fulfillment played out under his leadership and sovereignty
Exposition:
3words that make all the difference:
Agorazo: the marketplace, : to be in the marketplace: the emphasis is on the price Jesus paid for our salvation; Matt.20:28; Titus 2:14; I Peter 1:18-19
Ex-agorazo: out of... To buy out of the market place; the idea her is never to return; never needing to return to the bondage of sin: Romans 6
Luo: to loose or set free;!to deliver out by the payment of a price: here the thought is to buy us from sin, in order to set us free: Wesley: long my imprisoned spirit lay; fast bound in sin and natures night; thine eye diffused a quickening Ray; I woke, the dungeon foamed with light; my chains fell off; my heart was free; I rose, went forth, and followed thee.
Then there is the consummation under redemption : His purpose is to bring all thing together "again" under Jesus Christ.
Key word missing in most of our English txts that is present in the language.
The word Kaphale: to sum up, as in a scroll, in which all things summed up. The word in 1:10 is an expansion of the word
Remember the narrative:
Creation
Fall
Redemption
Consummation
*** Key word here is Again.
Under Christ which is the head
Martin Lloyd Jones writes, " The perfect that will be restored will be a harmony in man and between men. Harmony on the earth and in the brute creation. Harmony in heaven, and all under this blessed Lord Jesus Christ who will be the head of all. Everything will again be united in Him. And wonder of wonders, marvelous , beyond compare, when all this happens it will never be undone again. All will be re-united in to all eternity. That is the message; that is God's plan. That is the mystery which has been revealed unto us... These things are so marvelous that you will never hear anything greater, either in this world or the world to come." pg. 25: Boice
R.C. Sproul, shares a precious story about his father who because of a series of strokes was confined to his chair and needed to be carried from couch to kitchen table for meals. Sproul writes, " For 2 years all he could do was sit in a chair with a magnifying glass, reading his Bible. It was my job to drag him, fireman style, to the dining room table each night for dinner. One evening as I took him back to his chair he asked me to stop and let him sit on the living room sofa. As he sat he looked at me and said, "Son, I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." This was the first time I ever heard these words, and I had no idea they we from Scripture. But I knew what he meant, and I didn't like it at all. I answered brusquely "Don't say that, Dad." I took him to his chair in the den without speaking further. About an hour later I heard a crash in the den. I found my father on the floor with blood seeping from his ears and nose. He was in a coma from which he did not awake. It turned out that the words Paul wrote to Timothy were the last words my father spoke on this earth." p.12(Five things every Christian needs to grow: Sproul.)
Conclusion:
Boice: the Irishman
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Intro:
My Sunday school teacher of old!!!
Ed Hutchinson
A paradigm to learn from...
Give men(the church) something to think about
Give men(the church) something to care about
Give men(the church) something to act upon
Trans: what to make of our calling.?
Text: Eph. 4: 1-3
What changes in chapter 4? The language of understanding changes... Eugene Peterson argues that much of the language of the Bible, like that specifically in the letters of Ephesians, is offered to navigate the uneven road found in our experiences and the uncertainties and inequities encountered regularly in our lives.
Fittingly, It is the language of the daily grind. "The toughness of life would be fine'" quipped one well worn survivor, "if it weren't that it was so daily."
We understand the language of the Preacher
We understand the language of the teacher.
Now we have the language of the companion...
Paul changes up the pace in chapter 4
The parekleis, from the word translated "beg"...
"(Paraclesis is the language used with men and women who have already received the word of preached salvation and have been instructed in the teaching of the law but who are in need of comfort, encouragement or discernment in the muddled details of dailiness.)..." p. 1977
The conversation ( which is in parakleis)... This is the language of travel, the conversation of those on the road to a more engaging life.
(Peterson: " This is the style of language that is absolutely required in the church in the process of becoming mature, of growing up in Christ." p.1977
Peterson again
"Paracletic language is the language of the Holy Spirit, a language of relationship and intimacy; a way of speaking and listening that gets the words of Jesus inside us so that they become us." p.1977
"... Becoming mature takes a long time, with many rest stops along the way; it cannot be hurried. Becoming mature is a complex process that defies simplification, there are no shortcuts." p.1977
Trans: unfortunately we crave shortcuts: we want our Spiritual truth quickly, we want it with no "gristle", and we want it pre-chewed and softened for us so we can push it right down.
One man writes, " It is not really difficult in such a world to get a person interested in in the message of the Gospel; it is terrifically difficult to sustain the interest... there is a great market for religious experience in our world; there is little enthusiasm for the patient acquisition of virtue, little inclination to sign up for a long apprenticeship in what earlier generations of Christians called holiness." ( Long walk: p.16)
Trans: The challenge of our age is to finish strongly without leaving those who walk beside us and around us behind...
What we need is that long consistent conversation with someone who can push us to reach higher...and deeper...
Someone who is growing deeper because of us
Someone who is walking authentically before us
Someone who is sharing our challenges with us.
Text: Luke 24:13
Trans: The Eternal value of that one individual walking in concert with us, has not been lost on the God who founded His church with the specific tools to make that a reality. The church was constructed for the efficient reproduction of it's workforce.
Why it is so necessary? ( Benefits of a mentor)
A mentor promotes genuine growth and change
A model to follow
Someone who can help you reach your goals more efficiently.
Critical role in God's pattern for your growth and the church.
Mentor's influence benefits others in your life
We Need leaders: Hendricks,pg. 131 copied
Looking for that one starfish ( pg. 133)
Critical in a world of single handedness: Eccl. 4:9-10
Biking: drafting: My experience being on the road.
The generation before us who need something more from us in the church than shallow conversation, short lived churchy activities, and no connection...
Trans: What does that calling look like in the world of the local church?
Ephesians 4:4-12
What God has put into place:
A unity that holds everything together:
The four offices of the church are provided to outfit the church; specifically, everyday Christians to do the extraordinary things of God...
The equipping proves effective in lives needing daily repair and outfitting:
Think of Ephesians 4:11-12, as equipment supplier for the church.
Specifically:
Apostles
Prophets
Evangelists
Pastor-teachers
To... Equip (outfit) the saints for the work of ministry
That's the play book for the church
The key word here is equip for it controls the crucial understanding for the church.
Explanation
Interpretation
Application:
Longtime pastor-teacher Ray Stedman, the 40 year servant leader of Peninsula Bible church writes in his landmark work, Body life..." what does "equipping" mean and how is it done? The word in the text shares a relationship with our English word artisian-- an artist or craftsman, someone who works with his hands to make or build things. It is a special point of interest that this word first appears in the new testament in connection with the calling of the disciples. As Jesus walked along the Sea of Galilee, he saw two pairs of brothers, Peter and Andrew, James and John, sitting in a boat, busily working. What were they doing? They were mending their nets. The word mending is the word translated in Ephesians 4 as "equipping." They were equipping their nets by mending them. They were fixing their nets, making them strong, preparing them for service, and getting them ready for action.". Thayer adds... " the word suggests... To make one what he ought to be." Body Life, p.116.
(handout, pg... 141)
What's in it for you?
Copied?
Benefits of being a mentor...pg. 146
Application
Investing in others requires me to think beyond my moment's need...We see this as needed development for ourselves and our protege.
Investing in the church requires me to risk involvement and interaction....We see this as needed direction ( employment). One of the strongest demonstrations of pastoral leadership coming from my home church's pastor who constrained my dad to become the financial secretary for many years. It represents a particular memory growing up.
Investing in the kingdom requires me to confront the lostness of my culture....We see this as needed deployment
Modeling that passes the test: Swindoll: Copied...
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12.3.10 Bethel Baptist: S.Haven
Lucille Ball was an original who came to be known as the first lady of American comedy. Sometime before he death she did a remarkable television interview with Merv Griffin, who asked her a very pointed question. "lucille, you've lived a long time on this earth and you are a wise person. What's happened to our country? What's wrong with our children? Why are our families falling apart? What's missing?" Lucy's startling yet matter of fact reply came quickly. "Papa's missing, " she said. "Things are falling apart because Papa's gone. If Papa were here, he would fix it."
Only 41% of today's children grow up in a two parent family
Almost a million children are left with one parent because of divorce every year
Nine out of 10 of these are with their mothers.
From 1950-1980 the annual rate of illegitimate births increased by a staggering 450%. The 715,200 children born without fathers in 1982 represented 19.4 % of all births for that year.
On average American fathers give each of their children a mere three minutes of undivided attention every day.
The husbands and the fathers of many Americans have gone missing in action and many are doomed to become lost to their families and communities, if not their churches. The awe of a relationship bathed in reverence and selfless love gives way instead to battlegrounds consumed in competition and chaotic to those who watch us in hope of finding security and some kind of completeness for their own lives.
Trans: so what possible advice can I bring you?
I. It all begins with dying...
Would you die for for your wife?
What if, getting the love you want means giving all you have, rather than bargaining for what you are willing to exchange, in order to secure what your wife resists offering freely.
Dying to self
Dying to sin
Dying to superiority
THE SOURCE OF COSMIC TROUBLE GEN.3 ???
Is this what Love is supposed to look like?
The question might be best answered by chapter 4
In talking to Cain about murder of his brother we find the same Hebrew word used that is found in Genesis 3:16.
Now try this...4:7
"But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at the door; it desires to have you, ie: to control you, to manipulate you, to boss you around, but you must rule over it."
D.A. Carson comments:
" So here in the wake of the fall: the woman desires to have her husband to control him, and he rules over her with a certain kind of brutal force. There is sin on both sides: she wants to control, and he, being physically stronger than she is, beats up on her. What we have here in Gen. 3:16 claims Carson, is the destruction of the marriage relationship. The tentacles of rebellion corrode all relationships." p.38
What that might look like for old age?
Robert McQuilkin: a promise kept...
But what's in it for me?
As Alzheimer's slowly locked away one part of my Muriel, then another, every loss, for her shut down a part of me. Ministry was changing oaf course, formless public to more private. There was another sense of loss, however, an unassuageably ache deep inside, as I watched my vivacious companion of the years slip from me.
Even in this loss, however, I made a wonderful discovery. As Muriel became more dependent on me, our love seeped to deeper, unknown crevices of the heart. Though she never knew what was happening to her, as I cared for her she responded with a gratitude and cheerful contentment. It was no great effort to do the loving thing for one who was altogether lovable. My imprisonment turned out to be a delightful liberation to love more fully than I had ever known. We found the chains of confining circumstance to be, not instruments of torture, but bonds to hold us closer. But there was even greater liberation. It has to do with God's love. No one ever needed me like Muriel, and no one ever responded to my efforts as totally as she. It's the nearest thing I've experienced on a human plane to what may relationship with God was designed to be: unfailing love poured out in constant care of helpless me. Surely he planned that relationship to draw from me the kind of love and gratitude Muriel had for her man. Her insatiable-- even desperate --longing to be with me, her quiet confidence in my ability and desire to care for her, a mirror reflection of what my love for God should be. That was the first discovery -- the power of love to liberate in the very bondage imposed by unwanted circumstances.
...
Upon his retirement, from Columbia Bible College, Dr. McQuilkin left his students and the faculty with this challenge..
" The decision to come to Columbia was the most difficult I had to make; the decision to leave 22 years later, though painful, was one of the easiest. It was almost as if God engineered the circumstances so that I had no alternatives. Let me explain.
My dear wife, Muriel, has been in failing mental health for about 12 years. So far I have been able to carry both her ever-growing needs and my leadership responsibility at Columbia. But reentry it has become apparent that Muriel is contented most of the time she is with me and almost none of the time I am away from her. It is not just discontent. She is filled with fear-- even terror-- that she has lost me and always goes in search of me when I leave home. So it is clear to me that she needs me now, full time. Perhaps it would help you understand if I shared with you what I shared in chapel at the time of the announcement of my resignation. The decision was mad, in a way, 42 years ago when I promised to care for Muriel in sickness and in health... till death do us part. So, as I told the students and faclty, as a man of my word, integrity has something to do with it. But so does fairness. She has cared for me fully and sacrificially all these years; if I cared for her for the next 40 years I would not be out of her debt. Duty, however, can be grim and stoic. But there is more: I love muriel. She is a delight to me-- her childlike dependence and confidence in me, her warm love, occasional flashes of that wit I used to relish so, her happy spirit and tough resilience in the face of her continual distressing frustration. I don't have to care for her. I get to! It is a high honor to care for so wonderful a person." p.23, A Promise kept.
II. A dying life invests in the living...Eph. 6:1-3
How about inspiring our children to greatness
It all begins with a curiosity about who they'll become
Didn't you wonder when you held that little bundle of depravity what was lurking beyond the selfishness of their teen years and just beneath their fascination with the present? Proverbs 22:7
I have wanted our children to grow into men and women of spiritual greatness.
2. Is given momentum through our investment in their character
Character built upon the content of Scripture and the consistency of an authentic life...
We have determined that our kids would comprehend that the world does not exist or them and that it does not revolve around them.
3. Culminates in their desire to get on with their life
Training that prepares children for service not stagnation
Otherwise known as "stay out of my basement"
Application:
I've tried to think long and hard about what's necessary to get the kids ready for life,
Schooled enough to succeed: competency
Surprised enough to be curious: creativity
Humble enough to be useful: usability
Robert E. Lee once quipped to the mother whose child thrust into his arms: "Mam, you must teach him to deny himself."
Hearty enough to be resilient: Stability
Hungry enough to be godly: spirituality
Illustrate: Harriet Bosch:
Having lost her husband a number of years ago, before his time, this wife and mother of 3 sons and one daughter knows all too well the isolation associated with loneliness. She shared recently with me that her son in. Law, yes, that's right, her son in law never allows her to walk unattended in public--- rather, he is her constant companion ... at her side, his own wife and kids walking behind... This "son"... Taking upon himself, the role of his father in law... Becoming mom's champion, a man of the richest kind for a life has lost its masculinity... Erasing the loneliness of separation and bringing completeness to this wonderful experience known as family.
If only the culture could see it...and find it's way home!
Weldon Hardenbrook
I'll close with this story,
Weldon Hardenbrook writes that on one occasion he was was with friend and found themselves driving home from Los Angeles. It was midday and we were coming down a steep grade. In front of us was a new pickup truck with a family. The mother was driving, and the father was beside her in the cab. In the open bed of the truck were four small children. They had a picnic basket, fishing poles. The children were obviously excited to be going on vacation.
Suddenly, one of the back wheels snapped off. The truck veered sharply to the right and shot off a sixty-foot cliff. My friend and I were the only ones there. We stopped our car and started down the hillside. We ran to the children, doing what we could do. All of them were unconscious.
The mother was seriously injured. It looked as though she had broken her legs and pelvis. But she started to crawling on her belly to each child. We couldn't prevent her.
The father could not restrain her either, although he tried. He was in the best shape of anyone, but he stayed in the truck, and called out to his wife to stop.
The scene is forever engraved in my mind. It says something to me about the fathers of our country. The children of America are lying wounded, strewn throughout our cities. In too many cases, their fathers are leaving them to their mother's care. The children need the father to get out of the truck and join the mother who care for them.
That will change...
Only When we can recapture a vision of just who our God really is?
Only when we can recapture a vision for what our calling should be and how best to accomplish it?
Only when we can recapture a vision for our families-- for our spouses, and for our children....
Finished!
- Posted using BlogPress
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Getting started
As the new executive director of the Lakeshore Pregnancy Center in Holland, Michigan I recognize the gravity of the burden we share to defend life. This is my opportunity to connect with those of you and tell the story of God's faithfulness to the local centers, to the unborn children we defend, and the mothers and fathers who face hopelessness and helplessness associated with an unplanned pregnancy.
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