The Advent Call from the Anti-Santa

"John the Baptist has always felt like the right person to get me ready for Christmas -- he's the anti-Santa needed for our day.  Trade the jolly laugh for an in-your-face intensity, the twinkle in the eye for a wildness about to interrupt your life, commanding our attention but always redirecting it towards Jesus.  "Prepare the way for the Lord" is the Advent call to get ready for the coming Messiah."

- Philip Reinders, from Seeking God's Face: Praying with the Bible through the Year  (an excellent resource for private prayer, find it here )

Gospel by Deed (no.1)

       As disciples of Jesus we are encouraged to be content in this life if we have food and shelter (1st Timothy 6:7-9) knowing that God is aware of our needs and will somehow, someway provide for those basic needs (Matthew 6:30-34). While this teaching from Scripture can be a great source of assurance to a believer, I think it can also be a clarifying standard for Christians in determining who truly are the materially rich and poor in our society.

        I say that because I think many Christians are led to believe that this declaration found in 1st Timothy ("If we have food and covering with these we will be content") is just for Christians as though there is one material standard for Christians and then quite another for the world.  On the contrary, this is the Creator’s rich/poor line, or the poverty line, for His image-bearers which He has given first to His priests, the mobile tabernacles -- i.e. Christians -- to model and communicate to the nations as the true assessment for evaluating who is in corporeal need and who isn't.

       In other words, the rich/poor line isn't -- as our US government would have us believe -- $30,000 a year, two cars and a 2000 square-foot home. Rather, the standard is this:  Does one have food, clothes and shelter?

       So, for example, if a person has clothes and a home but no food, then they're poor according to Christ; or another, if they have food and clothes but no shelter, then they're poor. But if they have both food and covering, then they're materially rich and should be content; and Christians should be giddy to love and disciple our neighbors in this standard of material wealth, and thereby worship God and bring glory to His name through our deeds of mercy.  

A Thanksgiving Day Proclamation

George Washington's 1789 Thanksgiving Day Proclamation
    
      WHEREAS it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favour; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me "to recommend to the people of the United States a DAY OF PUBLICK THANSGIVING and PRAYER, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:"
       NOW THEREFORE, I do recommend and assign THURSDAY, the TWENTY-SIXTH DAY of NOVEMBER next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed;-- for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish Constitutions of government for our sasety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted;-- for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge;-- and, in general, for all the great and various favours which He has been pleased to confer upon us.
       And also, that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions;-- to enable us all, whether in publick or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shewn kindness unto us); and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.

GIVEN under my hand, at the city of New-York, the third day of October, in the year of our Lord, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine.

- President, George Washington

Your Treasure versus Your Money

Before Advent season gets rolling just around the corner on November 27th (Advent traditionally begins four Lordsdays before Christmas day), I wanted to strongly encourage any of you reading this blog -- especially if you're a USAer Christian -- to listen to a sermon by Tim Keller, pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, entitled "Treasure vs. Money" that he gave in May 1999. 
       My hope is that it'll cause you to pause, as it did me, and consider Christ and His commands to you concerning your wealth.  My wife and I have listened to it this week and I plan on having us listen once more next week right before the World demands that we all begin living amorally and mindlessly in shopping frenzy and/or the present orgy mode, i.e. the "Holidays".
       Rather, this Advent season, let us as Christians re-form our families by the Spirit and "put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires." (Romans 13:14)

Six Rules for Writing

1)  Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are accustomed to seeing in print.
2)  Never use a long word when a short one will do.
3)  If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
4)  Never use the passive when you can use the active.
5)  Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
6)  Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.

 -- George Orwell

Future Shepherds are found in the Living Room (3)

"If anyone aspires to the office of overseer...he must manage his own household well...for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church?" 1 Timothy 3:2, 4-5
                                                                                        

        In post number two I wrote of how in becoming a shepherd a man needs to be a recognized, proven, faithful leader of his own home first, but also one who has the desire and ability to disciple people in the Word.  What though, does this all mean ultimately, and how does it work out in our congregations?

        In my judgment, we need to return to recognizing men within our own sacred communities and personal relationships who fit these qualifications, and by that I don’t just mean ‘ruling’ elders and deacons either, I mean pastors as well.  Trust me, these men are among us and they (eureka!) didn’t even go and spend $70,000 on seminary!  Sadly though we’ve been so indoctrinated with the propaganda that a man can only be a pastor if he first goes to seminary that we literally can’t even fathom the opposite happening. 

          So what I propose...

Meditation: For One-another

"It is certainly the duty of a Christian man to ascend higher than merely to seek and secure the salvation of his own soul . . . If we wish to belong to Christ, let no man be anything for himself but let us all be whatever we are for each other."

John Calvin

Future Shepherds are found in the Living Room (2)

“The things which you have heard from me…entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”  2 Timothy 2:1-2
                                                                                                  
        In the first post I related Paul's admonition to Timothy to appoint elders by finding faithful men who could then teach others the mystery of the Gospel (2 Timothy 2:1-2).  First comes faithfulness then comes teaching.  These two --faithfulness and the ability to disciple -- aren’t separate or opposed to one other, but they certainly do have a level of priority between them. Unfortunately, in the modern Church we’ve had it completely backwards for the last 100 years (at least) where rather than looking for men who’ve proven to be able to faithfully shepard their own family before entering seminary or even the position of pastor, our churches emphasize the ability to teach first, and cross their fingers hoping that the man has faith or that it’ll perhaps show up for a visit later on.
        Thankfully though, the list the Spirit gives to the Bride for identifying a man who is to be qualified to lead a community of Christ is laid out pretty clearly (Titus 1:6-9; 1 Timothy 3:1-13), and strangely enough ‘real smart’ isn’t first on the list, nor even mentioned. (Weird isn't it?  I was certain it was there too...) Rather the list is comprised of character traits, in other words, fruits of the Spirit that should be known and seen by those in the household of faith around any such man.
        This, of course, doesn’t mean we trip all over ourselves trying to find someone who is nitro-charged holy but without any knowledge. On the contrary, while a shepherd must be shown to have wisdom in leading others – demonstrated in how he leads his own family – he must also have the ability to accurately handle the Word of God for the church around him (2 Timothy 2:15 / 1 Timothy 4:16 / Titus 1:9).