Free to Serve

Every Family Does Family Worship

Wednesday night, I sat in on an Equipping Matters class that Doug Young is teaching at MVBC on the topic of Family Worship. This session was called, "Implementing Family Worship." It was practical, insightful, and challenging.

I walked away reminded that in order to have intentional, deliberate, and productive times of family worship, I need to prepare. It's amazing how much thought we give to so many details in our lives--where we are going to go on vacation, how we are going to budget our time at work, what the next project at our house is going to be--and how comparatively little attention we give preparing to lead our families (or even ourselves) in the basic disciplines of Bible study and prayer.

Family worship is more than a few minutes gathered in the living room for a Bible study. It's way of saying that Jesus Christ is the most important person in our lives, and we are going to be spending time in his Word, understanding it and applying it.

And here is the thing: every family does family worship. Every dad is leading their family to worship something. It may be sports, it may be work, it may be technology--but the kids in the home know what is most important to mommy and daddy--even if they can't articulate it.

So the question really isn't, "Are you doing family worship," the question is, "What are you leading your family to worship today?"

What is an accountability partner?

One of the first, strange Christian terms I remembering hearing is "accountability partner"? What, exactly, is this? Frankly, the term can seem a little creepy.

But if you know your heart, you know there is absolutely nothing creepy about having a fellow Christian in your life to help you battle sin. Paul Tripp in his book, Instruments In the Redeemer's Hands has a great chapter on accountability and a great section that explains what it provides:

1) Accountability provides structure. Because life can be so busy, it is helpful to have a person or a group of people with whom you regularly discuss life's most important matters.

2) Accountability provides guidance. Practical, personal input is needed if we are to grow in Christ-like living. 

3) Accountability provides assistance. Sometimes we need more than "input." We need help. We need someone to literally  take us by the hand and walk us through a situation. Accountability can make that happen.

4) Accountability provides encouragement. It's not all about being rebuked. Sometimes it's about being reminded of ways the gospel is actively at work in your life.

5) Accountability provides warning. When someone is rebelling against necessary change, accountability is like a stop sign. To ignore that stop sign is to enter the danger zone.

Whether you like the term or not, do you have an accountability partner? If not, why not? Is it for lack of time, lack of interest, lack of conviction of sin? Look for someone that God may have already have put into your life who can encourage you to follow Jesus more closely.

Mohler on Homosexuality

Writing for CNN a few days ago, Mohler offers an explanation of the Bible's stance on homosexuality. You can read it here. 

Here is how he concludes the piece:

Christian love requires that we believe and teach what the Bible teaches and that we do so with both strong conviction and humble hearts. The Church must repent of our failures in both of these tasks, but we must not be silent where the Bible speaks. Are Christians hypocrites in insisting that homosexual behavior is sin? We, too, are sinners, and hypocrisy and inconsistency are perpetual dangers. The church failed miserably in the face of the challenge of divorce. This requires an honest admission and strong corrective. At the same time, this painful failure must remind us that we must not fail to answer rightly when asked what the Bible teaches about homosexuality. Love requires us to tell the truth.

 

Homosexuality and Same-Sex Marriage

A couple weeks ago, I preached from the Book of Judges, chapters 17-21. It's the end of book, where the reader is exposed to the sin of Israel at its peak. The main point is obvious--Israel needs a good and godly king. More than anything, Israel needs God to come and change their hearts.

One of the most distrubing scenes in these dark chapters is that of the men of Gibeah who demand to have sex with a man. Their demands are pretended in the chapter as sinful. This raises all sorts of questions about our culture's view of homosexuality today. 

What follows are my comments to the congregation I serve, in light of this text, on the topic of homosexuality and same-sex marriage:

"It's like a small group meeting, with the whole church"

A few years ago, we started a Sunday evening service at MVBC. I got a lot of strange looks when I told people we'd being doing this. In an evangelical world where some churches have literally created a drive-through service, and another church is dubbed the drive-in church, what we were doing actually adding a service where people would come, sit, listen, learn, pray, and sing? I had more than one conversation with a local church pastor who said, "Ya, we got rid of that service years ago."

Our Sunday evening service is not an pm version of the am service. It is shorter (we meet for an hour),we open in song (about ten minutes), we devote most of the time to prayer (we pray for about 35 minutes of sharing and actual prayer), and we hear from God's Word (a 15 minute devotional). 

It's kind of like a small group meeting for the whole church!

Last night we heard about a couple guys heading to Central Asia on a missions trip. We heard from a new member who is in college and is looking forward to getting involved at MVBC this Summer. We heard from a young woman who just graduated from high school, and we prayed for her next steps. We reflected on a wedding that was held the previous day. We prayed for an Elder who is battling leukemia. We prayed for a member going through marital difficulties. We got a report from a brother who is stationed in Hong Kong for a few months--and prayed for a new believer he is starting to meet up with regularly. Then, we humbled ourselves and ended the Lord's Day in just the right place--by having the Word of God applied to our lives.

It's kind of like a small group meeting, just with the whole church.

The Nature of Christian Community

Mark Seifred is a New Testament Professor at Southern Seminary. In the follow quotation, he explains what we all need to understand when we gather as the church. Namely, church is more than growing closer to one another; it is about growing closer to Christ:

The church thrives and grows, then, not by binding individuals ever more tightly to its earthly form, as if they existed only in order to come to our meetings and carry out our programs. We must not confuse the present, visible manifestation of the church with our eternal rest. Rather, the community thrives by binding each one more closely to Christ and to his will for her or him. We gather to worship and serve Christ, who sends each forth to different deeds of discipleship and witness in the world, and who will continue to do so until he comes again. In tasks such as these the life of the community is strengthened. Since it is Christ alone who is the basis of our fellowship, our participation in gathered community will depend on how firmly each of us is intent on Christ's purposes and not our own (Phil. 2:2-4).

Culture Change

We talk a lot about culture change at MVBC. That's what we want to see. We want to be a community that can both articulate the Gospel and model the Gospel. We want to both contend for the faith (Jude) and live a life of faith (1 Thess 2:8). 

This doesn't happen through organization. Organization is hugely important, but you can't organize conviction and love. Both are works of the Holy Spirit in our lives. The book to read on this is The Trellis and the Vine. The video below, by Timothy Lane, is helpful, too. He argues that before programs work, there needs to be a climate (i.e., culture) of godly communication, redemptive love, and practical burden-bearing.

So if you want to see community lived out the first thing to do is pray that you and your brothers and sisters are so gripped by the Gospel that you just can't help but model it.

 

Together for the Gospel, Reflections

Last Tuesday through Thursday I was in Louisville, KY for the biannual pastors conference called "Together for the Gospel." It was started by four Christian leaders: Mark Dever, Al Mohler, Ligon Duncan, and CJ Mahaney. Mark was my pastor in Washington, DC for a few years. In 2006, several hundred showed up in the ballroom of the Galt House Hotel to attend the first conference. Last week, approximately 8,000 pastors, laymen, and ladies filled the Yum! Center.

The pastoral staff of MVBC was able to attend. This was the highlight of the trip for me. Over meals we were able to reflect upon the sermons we heard, as well as simply engage in the types of conversations that don't happen as often as they should during the weekly bustle of pastoral ministry. But it wasn't just pastoral staff who were there. A few members of MVBC came, too. One of them told me it was helpful to be a the conference for three reasons: First, the sermons affected him, personally. Second, he better understands the temptations pastors face. Third, he was encouraged to see MVBC pastoral staff spending time together.  

The conference is becoming a bit of a reunion as brothers and sisters I've known for nearly twenty years descend upon Louisville for a few days. 

The sermons fed my soul. Especially this one on suffering preached by Ligon Duncan:

 

More on the Resurrection

In his essay, "Did Jesus Rise from the Dead?" Christian philosopher William Lane Craig helpfully points out that the resurrection made (and makes) all the difference:

It is difficult to exaggerate what a devastating effect the crucifixion must have had on the disciples. They had no conception of a dying, much less a rising, Messiah, for the Messiah would reign forever (cf. John 12:34). Without prior belief in the resurrection, belief in Jesus as Messiah would have been impossible in light of his death. The resurrection turned catastrophe into victory. Because God raised Jesus from the dead, he could be proclaimed as Messiah after all (Acts 2:32, 36).

It is good to remember the importance of the resurrection, not just on Easter Sunday, but every day. Now, may we have the grace necessary to live in light of it.

He is Risen