For those of you who enjoyed the previous articles I posted on adoption here is one more- and once again I think it is the best yet.
The article is written by Russell Moore and is entitled “The Brotherhood of Sons.” I don’t remember who pointed it out to me but it is quite good. Enjoy!
This last week my wife pointed me to a chapter on God incarnate in J.I. Packer’s classic work Knowing God. The whole chapter is worth reading as you reflect on Christmas but here is one quote I thought you might enjoy.
We talk glibly of the ‘Christmas spirit,’ rarely meaning more by this than sentimental jollity on a family basis. But what we have said makes it clear that the phrase should in fact carry a tremendous weight of meaning. It ought to mean the reproducing in human lives the temper of Him who for our sakes became poor at the first Christmas. And the Christmas spirit itself ought to be the mark of every Christian all the year round.
It is our shame and disgrace today that so many Christian- I will be more specific: so many of the soundest and most orthodox Christians- go through this world in the spirit of the priest and the Levite in our Lord’s parable, seeing human needs all around them, but (after a pious wish, and perhaps a prayer, that God might meet them) averting their eyes, and passing on by on the other side. That is not the Christmas spirit. Nor is it the spirit of those Christians- alas, they are many00 whose ambition in life seems limited to building a nice middle-class Christian home, and making nice middle class Christian friends, and bringing up their children in nice middle-class Christian ways, and who leave the sub-middle-class sections of the community, Christian and non-Christian to get on by themselves.
The Christmas spirit does not shine out in the Christian snob. For the Christmas spirit is the spirit of those who, like their Master, live their whole lives on the principle of making themselves poor- spending and being spend- to enrich their fellowmen, giving time, trouble, care, and concern, to do good to other- and not just their own friends- in whatever way there seems need. There are no as many who show this spirit as there should be. If God in mercy revives us, one of the things he will do will be to work more of this spirit in our hearts and lives. if we desire spiritual awakening for ourselves individually, one step we should take is to seek to cultivate this spirit. ‘Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.’ (pg. 55-56)
Most of you have probably heard by now that we are producing a calendar for 2008. I am pleased to announce that the calendar will be available this weekend at the Christmas dinner and at service on Sunday. I believe this is an incredible calendar that gives us incredible opportunities!
This calendar is meant to serve two main purposes-
First, they are a way of serving and giving to our community. We hope that by giving these calendars to people in our community the love of Christ will be reflected and that subsequently their will be opportunities for the gospel to be articulated.
Second, it is a way of reaching out to our community by informing them about our church and our desire to serve the people here in the Auburn area.
Here is the plan for distribution-
First, we would like you, those who are part of our body to take the calendars and distribute them to people around you (neighbors, coworkers, etc.). As you pick up calendars for this purpose a donation of $7 for each calendar would help to offset the cost.
Second, we will be distributing the calendars that remain in the neighborhood around the Canyon View Community Center- essentially our church neighbors. By the way, you are also free to grab one for yourself (I know I will).
The theme for the calendar is Auburn and the pictures, taken by Brian Newman and Sarah Moulton, are incredible as you can see below.
The second item I thought I would post on the church and church involvement is our membership covenant. Those who commit to ASGF as members are committing to seek to live out biblical Christianity within the church.
If you are a member or contemplating becoming one I would encourage you to take time to thoughtfully read over and consider each sentence in this covenant.
We are those who by God’s grace have been brought to believe and embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. His death and resurrection is now and always our only hope for salvation and our daily motivation to live for God’s glory. We have professed and proclaimed these realities in baptism and have been brought by God’s providence to this local body. We now, in reliance on God’s gracious aid, solemnly and joyfully covenant with and commit to each other in the following ways:
I will live a life of love and care for my fellow believers in this body…
…by bringing them before the throne of grace in prayer.
…by compassionately meeting whatever needs I am able.
…by encouraging, exhorting, and confronting others as needed.
…by rejoicing and weeping with my fellow believers in brotherly love.
…by seeking to preserve unity and peace in my relationships.I will function biblically within this body corporately…
…by faithfully attending and genuinely participating in the essentials of church life.
…by seeing needs and seeking to meet them in humble service.
…by engaging mentally, physically and spiritually in all aspects of corporate worship.
…by sacrificially and cheerfully giving of my finances.
…by following and submitting to the elders.
…by submitting to and participating in whatever church discipline is necessary.I will join with this body in spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ in Auburn and the surrounding areas…
…by praying for God’s gracious and saving work in those around me.
…by striving to live a life of grace-motivated holiness.
…by faithfully training and instructing my children.
…by genuinely loving and serving those in my community.
…by proclaiming the saving gospel of Jesus Christ to those around me.
Since we are in the middle of a series on body life and the church on Sunday mornings I thought I would post a couple of items in this regard.
First, the New Atttitude blog has recently been doing a series on the church and church involvement. While there have been a number of good posts I thought one this week was especially good (It is entitled Why I don’t Go to Church and was written by Justin Buzzard). It is written with twentisomethings in mind but it is not hard to see the application for all of us.
If you have struggled lately to be committed to Sunday morning services or to Grace Groups I think this might be especially helpful. Here are some excerpts…
There are three reasons twentysomethings share with me concerning why they aren’t committed to a local church.
Reason #1: “I’m too busy”
“I’m too busy.” This is the most common reason I hear for why twentysomethings aren’t committed to a local church. Have you ever used this reason, whether for a season of life or a single Sunday morning?”… What’s the assumption underneath this?Here’s one set of assumptions that might underlie this, “I have more important things going on…more important things to do…more important priorities that I’m committed to.” Perhaps you’re letting other things, good things, crowd out the priority of the local church. Or maybe even not-so-good things..
Questions: You say you’re too busy right now to be involved in church, when do you think this might change, when might your circumstances clear up and give you more time for church? Do you really think you’ll be less busy in your thirties than you are right now in your twenties? What would you say are the 3-5 main commitments that make you so busy, that you devote most of your time to on a weekly basis? You have 168 hours in a week, minus the 56 hours a week you spend sleeping and the 50 or so hours you spend working, what are the important commitments that fill up the other 62 hours?
Over at the Blazing Center Stephen Altrogge recently posted on starting one’s day with a proper perspective. He offers some good suggestions for beginning one’s day with a gospel-centered attitude. Now the key is waking up enough to be aware that you are starting your day.
As always discernment is needed- notice the use of the “c” word and the erroneous thinking reflected in the last line of the post :).
Here’s the post.
How does your morning routine start? Mine proceeds according to the following steps:
- Alarm sounds at approximately 6:30 am, jerking me out of my peaceful slumber.
- Lay in bed for 3 to 5 minutes, wondering if I was hit by a large vehicle at some point during the night.
- Crawl out of bed and stumble my way into the shower.
- Begin internal monologue as I review the previous day and ponder the upcoming day. Anxiety, fear, or frustration set in as I remember all the troubles of yesterday and all the problems of the upcoming day.
- Make large cup of industrial strength coffee.
Do you notice the problem with this picture? Let me point it out for you: I begin my day by listening to myself instead of talking to myself. From the moment I fall out of bed in the morning my mind is churning. I think about unfinished projects at work, people I need to call, ways I sinned the previous day, ways I failed to care for my wife, upcoming events that I need to organize, strategies for improving my fantasy football team, and 10,000 other anxiety-inducing subjects. By the time I step out of the shower I’m already burdened by worry. I’m starting my day by listening to myself.
I should begin my day by reminding myself of God’s truth, and responding to those truths in praise to God. I want my day to start with gratefulness to God. Here’s what I want my morning to look like:
Lord thank you for sustaining me through the night. Thank you for the precious blood of Jesus, which makes me your child this morning. Thank you that I wake this morning, not under your wrath, but under your mercy. Thank you that you have new mercies for me this morning!
I praise your for your sovereignty. I praise you that today you are working all things for my good. I praise you that nothing can separate me from your deep, intense, abiding love. You have ordained all that happens today, and I will rejoice in whatever you bring my way.
Lord thank you for this hot shower, and for hot coffee, and for my wonderful house, and my job. These are all undeserved blessings. Fill me with gratefulness today. Let all I do today be for your glory.
How does your day start? Do you begin your day by listening to yourself or by reminding yourself of God’s truth? Does your day start with anxiety or thanksgiving? Do you speak truth to your soul, or do you let your thoughts run free? Joy is found in meditating on and rejoicing in God’s truth. Let’s start our day with a good dose of truth. And a good dose of coffee.
A week ago or so I posted on the practice of inviting criticism and input from others. Today, Mark Dever, over at Church Matters posted some suggestions on how to give criticism. Here they are…
1. Directly, not indirectly. If you’re anything like me, you might have a temptation to imply something, to presume something, to do anything to avoid a direct confrontation. Be very careful, however, before adopting this pattern, especially in criticism. If you’re not careful, you’ll have people regularly looking at your words and asking themselves what you “really mean.” (more…)
No doubt by now most of you have heard about the ASGF Christmas Dinner coming up on the 15th. This should be a great time being together- don’t miss it!
Here are some details that might be helpful.
Gift Update: As far as the gifts go, our body has stepped up and nearly every gift is accounted for so far! However, we have at least one, and possibly two more families with needs that we have not yet made available. This Sunday keep an eye out for the giving tree and pick up a gift tag if you haven’t already.
BE THERE!
Paul Tripp continues his insightful series on Psalm 27 over at his blog. Here are some highlights from his latest post (never mind- no highlights- I just pasted the whole thing- couldn’t bring myself to cut anything out).
“Do not hide your face from me, do not turn away in anger; you have been my helper. Do not reject or forsake me, O God my Savior.” (v.9)
Do you view yourself as a person in need of help? Do you seek to live more independently than you should? How do you respond when God sends someone your way to correct or confront you? Do you bolster yourself with evidences of your righteousness or do you regularly look in the mirror of the Word of God and admit how needy you actually are? Do you live with a sense of need for the heart-educating classroom of grace or do you think of yourself as a grace graduate? Do you think of others as needier than you? Even as you minister to others, do you think of yourself as one in need of ministry as well? When you seek to understand why you do the things you do, do you look outside of or inside of yourself for the answer?
One of the sad results of sin is that it causes all of us at some time and in some way to buy into the delusion of independence. Independence is what the serpent sold Adam and Eve, but this independence was as counterfeit as the old proverbial three dollar bill. The counterfeit currency of independence is the reward that the enemy continues to wave in front of each one of us. The lie goes this way, “You can be whatever you want to be and do whatever you want to do.” This lie is designed to make me believe that I’m wiser and more righteous than I actually am. It makes me think that I’m a mature person living in a colony of the immature. It causes me to reason that if I do bad things, I do them not because of what’s inside of me, but because of the pressures that I am forced to deal with that are outside of me. This lie is meant to convince me that I’m capable and okay.
Here’s what the Bible makes blatantly clear; the quest for Independence never ends in independence. It always ends in slavery. Why? Because I was carefully designed by the Creator to live in a dependent, obedient, and worshipful relationship with him and in humble, interdependent, relationships with other human beings. The quest for independence is not simply a spiritual mistake; it’s a fundamental denial of my humanity. The pursuit of independence always leaves me addicted to a list of things that I’ve looked to in order to give me hope, life, strength and rest; in a vain attempt to distract myself from the evidence that I’m not, in fact, independent, I get hooked on things that have the ability to distract me, but can never give my heart rest.
The message of Psalm 27 and the rest of the Bible is clear, I’m a person in desperate need of help and if I walk with God for thousands of years I will continue to need his help as much as I did the first day I reached my hand out for him.
Does the way you relate to members of your family picture a person who believes that he’s in daily need of help? Does the level of your commitment to Christian fellowship depict a person who thinks he’s in need of help? Does your personal devotional life paint a portrait of a person who humbly acknowledges his need of help? Is your life a picture of the celebration that will result when you begin to grasp that, by the grace of Jesus Christ, you have been brought into personal relationship with the only source of the kind of help that you truly need; God himself? Do you love God’s truth, love his people, love his gatherings of worship, love the work of his kingdom and love the hymns of his grace, all because you’ve humbly acknowledged the depth of your need and joyfully embrace the heart-transforming reality of his help?
The only way you’ll ever run to the Helper is by running away from the delusion of independence. Why not do that once more today?
