A proverb is frequently a cliche that went into retirement to get its groove back… (Douglas Wilson, Wordsmithy, p. 52
Author Archives:
Authenticity in Writing
One of our great problems today is that we have gotten caught up in our culture-wide quest for authenticity. We want our jeans authentic (pre-ripped at the factory), we want our apples authentic (grown locally instead of somewhere else), we want our music authentic (underground bands nobody ever heard of), we want out lettuce authentic (organically manured), we want our literature authentic (full of angst), we want our movies authentic (subtitles), and we want our coffee tables authentic (purchased from a genuine peasant while we were on some eco-tour). In short, we are a bunch of phonies. We are superficial all the way down. (Douglas Wilson, Wordsmithy, p. 16)
Lenten Thoughts
“For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.”
to give up something or not to give up something is not the question. do or do not (to paraphrase Yoda). but don’t use your freedom to not give up something as a cover-up for evil (to paraphrase Peter).
for example: if every waking moment of your life you are holding a remote, beating a level or clicking a mouse, you might give that up for Lent and then some.
work of God
a nontechnical haiku before bed:
work of God
new old cold renewed
smells like rain
in this way mr. K will challenge the world
I have been looking (not that hard) for an actual blog name, heretofore, unsuccessfully. But while listening to the 1st or second greatest album of all time it came to me.
a letter from a servant
The author of the Epistle of James is James, the brother of Jesus and yet he designates himself as a “servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ”. This is a rather unique greeting in the New Testament (although it is comparable to Jude and probably for similar reasons). Being the Lord’s brother, a leader in the Jerusalem church (he is listed often and prominently in the book of Acts), James had the credentials to simply announce his authority and get on with the matter at hand, but he does something quite different…
James is writing to Christians who have divided hearts and minds; are angry, “religious”, worldly; show partiality to the rich while abusing the poor; live fragmented lives; Christians who are bitter, jealous, selfish, proud, presumptuous and a host of other things.
James writes to these Christians in order to establish their hearts for the coming of the Lord. (James 5:8) He exhorts them to be patient in suffering and with one another; to be prayerful and praiseful as they wait on the Lord.
…so what does James do…
James sets the tone for his epistle in the very first verse: “James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion:”
Their hearts and ours are established for living in this world and loving one another rightly in these first words of the epistle. It is simply an understanding who we are with respect to who God is and what he has done. James, truly a pillar of the New Testament Church, brother of the Lord Jesus; sees himself as a humble servant of the Lord. This sheds light on James instructions to the poor and rich throughout his letter. Each must not let their circumstances shape their view of life and the world, rather they must see themselves in light of their relationship to the Lord Jesus. The poor must boast in their exaltation, the rich in their humiliation. What is James point? Is he choosing sides? Not at all. James is admonishing these Christians to see themselves not from the world’s perspective, but from God’s. This is precisely what James is doing in his greeting.
He goes on to identify the Christians to whom he is writing as the twelve tribes in the Dispersion. The primary function of this designation is not to locate them geographically or identify them racially or nationalistically. James wants them thinking about these things biblically and spiritually. They are the people of God, citizens of heaven, but away from home. They are on a pilgrim journey. The rest of the epistle teaches them and us how to live faithfully throughout this sojourn.
Thankful to be on this journey with you,
Kendall
Just a reminder: the youth class is currently studying the Epistle of James on Sundays at 11:15am upstairs in the youth lounge.
Old School
“My son, fear the Lord and the king, and do not join with those who do otherwise.” (Proverbs 24:21)
For the past few years I have enjoyed the writing of Theodore Dalrymple, a British psychiatrist, cultural commentator and gadfly! I am currently reading his Romancing Opiates: Pharmacological Lies and the Addiction Bureaucracy. I won’t get into the premise of the book (though its pretty well contained in the subtitle), but in Romancing Opiates there is great illustration of the Biblical/Proverbial truth:
“Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.” Proverbs 13:20
Speaking of a Heroin addict’s explanation of his condition as a matter of falling in with the wrong crowd, Dalrymple says this, “it is odd how I meet people who fell in with the wrong crowd, but I never under any circumstances meet any member of the wrong crowd itself…”.
Now on the surface this seems to suggest that Solomon didn’t get it quite right, at least according to Dalrymple. Is there a wrong or bad crowd that people fall into and are then led to do bad things? Sure, but there is something simpler in view here in the proverb that I think Dalrymple touches on. It is wisdom to walk with the wise, it is foolish to walk with a fool. In other words the choice of companions itself is an indication of where the chooser is in his or her thinking. Dalrymple puts it this way,
A man who says that he is easily led (a second order excuse of those who fell in with the wrong crowd) never uses this characteristic to explain his good deeds, good characteristics, or positive achievements. A man never claims to have been easily led to higher mathematics, the subjunctives of foreign languages, or unpaid work among the poor. People are influenced by the people they admire and wish to emulate: the admiration and the desire for emulation precede the influence.
A fool walks with fools and becomes even more foolish. It is a downward spiral. And we should say as well that it is certainly wise to choose companions who are wise and in so doing you will become wiser still.
A special note to our youth group:
The point of all this is simple. Be careful and prayerful in choosing companions. Your choices in friendship give you a clue not only about where you are headed, but where you might already be. And in keep in mind that companions are not just your flesh and blood friends, but your ipod, your Facebook and…well you get the point.
I am praying for you, especially as you begin a new school year, that God would bless you with friends that point you to Christ and that you would be that kind of friend too.
Fathers & Sons
The father and son relationship is one of the defining relationships in the universe.
In fact, before there was a universe, there was the eternal Father who loved the eternal Son. We should not be surprised, therefore, that Satan has reserved his most fiery darts to alienate Christian fathers from their sons.
from Vision Forum Ministries
Shadrach, Meshach & Abednego
I had the privilege of teaching a couple of days during VBS; one of my assignments was to teach from Daniel 3, which is the story of Nebuchadnezzar’s Golden Image, the Fiery Furnace and the Faith of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.
There were many things that struck me about this familiar text. One very simple thing that came to my mind about this story is that it is a true story. It isnʼt folklore, myth, fable or tall-tale. To view it as such is to find yourself on the wrong side of the Lord Jesus who believed the stories of Jonah, Sodom and Gomorrah and Moses and the Burning Bush were true. Jesus believed that these stories were true and that in them was life. (Matthew 4:4)
These stories are life-giving because they teach us about the life-giver. They teach us about the nature and character of God.
These stories are true and the primary truth to which they testify is the reality of the person and work of Christ.
These stories are meant to shape your story. The stories tell you who you are, because they tell you who God is.
Listen to the response of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego:
“O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”
How did they know God was able to deliver them from the Fiery Furnace? Because the story of the Exodus and all of Godʼs dealings with his people shaped their own view of life. They had allowed Revelation (Scripture) to trump everything else, to shape their decisions and responses. Long before Nebuchadnezzar made his ridiculous decree, the Word of God had already carved out the path in which Shadrach, Meshach andAbednego walked. Their stories (interpretation of life) were shaped by the story of the one who ultimately did rescue them from the Fiery Furnace, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Discussion Questions for Parents & Students:
What shapes your view of life? money? sex? power? fun?
How should the Word of God function in our lives?
Where do we go from here? What are some things we can change and work on together?
Renewing Your Mind
Romans 12:1-2
Every Christian is called to live for the glory of God in every sphere of life. Marriage and Childrearing, Work and Play, we are called to offer our bodies as living sacrifices. Jesus is Lord over all these things and everything in between.
But, the kind of robust living and discipleship we are called to will not exist without a vigorous life of the mind. In the passage referenced above, the apostle Paul commands Christians not to be conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewal of our minds that by testing we might discern the will of God, what is good, acceptable and perfect. The phrase “by testing you may discern” means learning the usefulness or profitability of something by doing it. But notice that the necessary condition that precedes this is the transformation that comes by the renewal of our minds. In this way we are no longer conformed to the world, but to the image of Christ.
The primary way our minds are renewed is by the regenerating work of the Spirit and the Word of God. There is no substitute for reading and reflecting on God’s Word. When (not if) everything else fades and passes the Word of the Lord remains forever.
And it is a fruit of a true encounter with Scripture that leads us to seek out God-honoring resources that expound the Word of God and remind us of the place of the Scripture in the disciple’s life.
With these things in mind I want to share a few resources for your edification. First I am excited to tell you about a new blog “Mere Anglicanism Fort Worth” written by Dr. Dickson, Dean McKeachie and Dr. Jason Runnels. In addition to regular posts we will be archiving each of their Messenger articles on this blog giving you an ever expanding, fully searchable and rich resource.
We have also added a new media player to our website (just click on the “Media” tab). You will now be able to view titles and texts of all sermons making it much easier to search specific topics or texts you are interested in. Downloading/importing to iTunes, etc, is also easier.
Finally I want to recommend a resources for our patens and students. We are currently studying basic Christian doctrines in our Sunday morning bible class and one of the books I have been using as a reference is Doctrine: What Every Christian Believes by Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears. It is an excellent overview of systematic theology with an emphasis on practical application; great beginner to intermediate resource.
Each of these resources are useful and profitable because they will point you Christ in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
mereanglicanism.wordpress.com
