Grace on Display

Incorruptible love

"Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with incorruptible love."  Ephesians 6:24

 

Do you love Jesus Christ with an incorruptible love?  Something that is incorruptible cannot dissolve, decay, or disintegrate.  I long to say that I do, but I observe my actions and see how my love has been corrupted by pride, lust, covetousness, anger, and a host of other sins.  Like Simon Peter I brashly declare, "Lord, with You I am ready to go both to prison and to death!" and then I turn around and deny my Lord by my actions.

So how can we grow in our love for the Lord so that it is incorruptible?  That's a tall order.  Here are a few things I've been thinking through and pontificating.

One is to spend time daily feeding on God's Word.  In it we find the means by which we can live a life pleasing to God, cultivating an incorruptible love for God.  If you don't have a regular regiment to follow, or a guideline for your times in the Word, let me recommend Mike Bullmore's message, "Feeding on God- Cultivating a Fruitful Life in the Word."

Another helpful exercise is to meditate on the fact that we are loved with an incorruptible love.  God doesn't love us as we love Him.  He is faithful at all times.  His love never fails because God is love (I John 4:8).  God never acts with false motives, but always loves in a way that is consistent with His character.  While our love can grow and fade, His love is eternally consistent.   Our love is often based upon the actions and behavior of others while His love is based upon his unchanging attributes- there is nothing that can separate us from His love (Romans 8:38-39).

Most importantly, we can dwell upon the greatest act of incorruptible love ever shown as God the Father sent God the Son to bear our sin and the just wrath that was our own so that we could be called children of God.  Thanks be to God for delivering us out of the kingdom of darkness into His glorious kingdom of light!  Praise God that though we were dead in our trespasses and sins Christ came to die for the ungodly.  O may we love the Lord Jesus Christ with an incorruptible love!

Reformation Day Post

As you may know, Reformation Day is swiftly approaching and this year is its 490th occurrence.  It marks the day that Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the Wittenburg Chapel door, and helped the church rediscover the Gospel- that we are saved by grace alone and not by works.  It just happens to be the same day that we celebrate Halloween.  In honor of this largely forgotten day Tim Challies, a favorite blogger of mine, is hosting a Reformation Day Symposium in which he asks all bloggers to blog about a significant figure, a theological point, or an event concerning the Protestant Reformation.  If you have any suggestions, I am wide open.  Otherwise I will uncover something from the inner recesses of my mind to unveil.

Thoughts on Friend Day and Evangelism

I've long appreciated the musical arrangements of Travis Cottrell (leads worship at Beth Moore conferences).  At a music conference a year or so ago I had the privilege of meeting Travis and talking with him (briefly).  We were walking through the hallway to the main conference room, and had to pass by another conference filled with inebriated business people.  It was a sad scene.  Here we were on our way to a conference filled with believers to sing about the hope we have in Christ Jesus, and we were passing by thousands who (most likely) had no understanding of Christ at all.  Travis (more to himself than me) asked the question, "How do we reach these people?"  Great question.

In light of Friend day at our church yesterday, the above situation was on my mind.  Friend Day was a fine idea, and something I'm sure we'll do again.  We encouraged our church members to invite their friends to church on that particular day.  The hope was that conversations would begin, and doors could be opened to begin sharing the Gospel with co-workers and neighbors.  As I looked out yesterday morning at faces that I did not know, the question was on my heart, "How do we reach these people?"

 
Let me start by saying that it is not with a new worship musical.  I have nothing against worship musicals, but their primary function is not evangelism.  Otherwise, we'd call them "evangelism musicals."  I'm not sure that corporate times of worship (through preaching, singing, praying, etc...) are the primary means through which God intends for His Gospel to be proclaimed to unbelievers.  This is not to minimize preaching, singing, teaching, praying, etc... Those are CRITICAL in the life of a believer, to the life of a church, and things that the Holy Spirit uses to convert unbelievers, but organized church functions are not the primary way to reach the lost in Grand Prairie (or anywhere).  Again, let me say that it is very possible and happens that the Holy Spirit uses times of corporate worship to shine the light of truth into a sin darkened heart, but it is not the primary means of evangelism.  You are.

How is it that your neighbor comes to understand that Christ's death paid for his/her sins and gave him/her right standing before God?  It happens as you are faithful to proclaim the Gospel, and the Holy Spirit awakens your neighbors heart to their sin and the grace of God.  In Acts 16:13-14, Paul began speaking to some women in the context of a normal event- not within the confines of a synagogue, or temple, but by the riverside.  As he spoke, "the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul."  Paul was being faithful to speak, and the Lord did the work of opening her heart.  We don't have a record of the things Paul spoke, but merely that the Lord opened her heart.  I urge you and me to remember that our job is to be faithful in telling the Gospel.  It is the work of the Lord to open hearts to the truth of it.

Recently, Timmy Brister (a student at Southern Seminary) had a fabulous post on evangelism.  In it he describes how he began evangelizing the lost on his college campus and witnessing to co-workers at UPS.   I've become inspired.  So, in the next few weeks I plan to begin a study in my neighborhood.  I'm not sure what material we'll use, but I'm going to begin a neighborhood study in my home with the desire to invite neighbors to come and study the Bible.  Please pray for me as I begin this endeavor.  I'll keep you posted on how things go.

Unfortunate Mail and Birthday Suggestions For Parents of Youth

There are a plethora of subscriptions for Worship Leaders.  Virtually every Christian music company (Word, Brentwood-Benson, Lifeway, PraiseGathering, etc...) has a quarterly packet they send out with their new octavos (individual choral pieces), musicals for adults, musicals for children, musicals for youth, and collections of songs.  They can be very helpful in finding new music, but also reveal dangerous trends in the Christian music scene.  One such collection for Youth Choir (I need to pull it out of my trash can to review it now) arrived today.
Here is an excerpt from the back cover:

The guitars are loud, but the message of Christ is even louder.  Amp'd is a new collection featuring music originally recorded by today's most popular Christian Rock artists.  This youth choir project takes a quantum leap forward musically and lyrically with a positive response to a negative world.  Unencumbered by expectations, these songs are filled with infectious melodies and uplifting lyrics that are more intense and deliberate in challenging your students with a message they can identify with.

Let me say first of all that I have not listened to the cd that came with the collection, so I am not influenced one way or the other based upon the musical content.  What concerned me about this collection is that it does not live up to the first line of its descriptive paragraph.  Nowhere in the collection is the message of Christ even mumbled.  Instead, you find song after song full of meaningless lyrics that never define their underlying assumptions.  Here is an example, taken from the song "Meant to Live":

Fumbling his confidence and wondering why the world has passed him by,
hoping that he's meant for more than arguments and failed attempts to fly, fly

We were meant to live for so much more.
Have we lost ourselves?
Somewhere we live inside.
Somewhere we live inside.
We were meant to live for so much more.
Have we lost ourselves?
Somewhere we live inside.

I understand the desire to express the meaninglessness of life.  Read the book of Ecclesiastes.  However, no hope is offered in this song.  Never is the eternal hope and meaning found in Jesus Christ even hinted at, and the same is true for every song in this collection.  Very disappointing.
So, I want to encourage parents (if there are any who read this aside from my parents- and I'm not sure that they do...) to be very very selective of what your kids listen to.  The above "Christian" song offers no substantive hope for your student, and bears no message of the atoning sacrifice of Christ.
The good news (apart from the fact that we're not going to use this collection at our church) is that there are plenty of groups putting out lyrically stout, Gospel-centered messages that will appeal to your student.  SO, Christmas is around the corner, birthdays happen every year, and here are some suggestions for your jr. high, sr. high, or college-aged student:

West Coast Revival- California band with a variety of styles, but solid message.
Lacrae- Not my cup of tea, but very biblically based rap.
Paul Baloche- Our God Saves- a worship album- Baloche has recently renewed his efforts to be more Cross-centered.

I'd start with one of the above.  If your looking for something else, let me know.  I'm here to help.

New Song on Sunday- How Great Your Name

This Sunday we are going to learn a new song at MRBC.  It is one that I heard several months back and have desired to teach in G.P.  It is called How Great Your Name, and is written by Will Pavone.  You can download the song and lyrics here for free.  Here are the lyrics:

How precious is the one
Who died upon a cross
And bore the sin and shame that was my own
How precious is the death
In which we’re made alive
A chosen race to become His holy bride
To become His holy bride

Oh how great you are
Oh Lord my God
My hiding place, my solid rock
Crucified, made alive
Risen king now glorified.

So precious is the one
Who died upon a cross
And bore the guilt and the shame that I deserved
So precious is the one
Who broke the curse of sin
And swallowed death when my Savior rose again
O my Savior rose again

Father You demand a righteousness
I could not achieve
Only by Your grace You gave Your Son
To purchase me
^{Copyright 2000 Will Pavone}

What I appreciate most about this song is the cross-centered nature of the lyrics.  It is a joyful expression of our inability to live up to God's standard, and of God's unsurpassed love and grace in giving His Son to die for us.  I sincerely hope that it is a song that will become part of the vocabulary of our church and will be used for years to come.