My Gravestone

" What do you want written on your gravestone?"

This is a question that is asked by many to get people to think about how they want their life remembered. I have spend some time...not a lot but some...thinking "What would I want on my gravestone?" Or maybe more accurate a question is "How would I want to be remembered?"

I have been reading Dave Earley's book Pastor Leadership Is... and in the chapter about Feeding God's Sheep he has this quote:

At the end of one's ministry in any given place, the preacher should be able to say that he did not shun, he never hesitated, to proclaim the whole counsel of God, that Christ-centered, biblical agenda was evident throughout his preaching ministry; that preaching was not deceptively selective, nor was there negligence in this matter; and from the center to circumference, the truths of the Word of God were declared. (Steven Olford, Anointed Expository Preaching, 91 - quoted by Dave Earley in Pastoral Leadership Is..., 154).

As I read this I thought, "THIS is how I would like to be remembered!" I hope those who have sat under my preaching can say, Rolland "did not shun, he never hesitated, to proclaim the whole counsel of God, that Christ-centered, biblical agenda was evident throughout his preaching ministry; that preaching was not deceptively selective, nor was there negligence in this matter; and from the center to circumference, the truths of the Word of God were declared." If that was on my gravestone, and those who put it there did so because it was true, I would think that would mean I was faithful in the ministries to which God called me.

I am not all that concerned about remembered, nor do I care all that much about my gravestone...after all, when this body passes my attention will consumed with much more glorious things than what this world has to offer. I guess the point I am making is that I desire to be a faithful minister of the Word of God.

I pray that my ministry as a whole can be described as the above. I would think this would be the prayer of every preacher.

What do you want written on your gravestone?

 

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Quote of the Day - 2.25.09

All originality and no plagiarism makes for dull preaching.

Charles H. Spurgeon

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Top Ten Reasons Books are Better than Bible Software

Sell your shirt and buy books.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon to ministry students in his school.

I think Spurgeon had it right. However, I really do not want to see a bunch of seminary students running around without their shirts (that is going to give me nightmars just penning that last sentence). However, I think it still applies today. That is, I think books are to the minister what tools are to the mechanic. I have mentioned this before in a previous post, but I feel I should repeat it. In an age where free resources on the Internet are readily available and where Bible programs are plenty, some may wonder why books should be bothered with. Here are my top ten reasons why books are better than Bible software.

10. You do not need to download an upgrade to a classic, well-written book - ever.

9. Paper cuts build character and you cannot get a paper cut from the Internet.

8. Sneaking a laptop into one's daughter's band concert is harder to pull off and generally frowned upon.

7. CD's will not be usuable in 20 years (or more likely, 3 years - Seriously, how many 100 year old CD's do you really expect to see? I have maybe a dozen books over 100 years old.)

6. Leaving a book on the dash of your car in the summer does not ruin it.

5. Inscribing the inside of a CD makes in unusable.

4. Highlighting on the Internet ruins your screen.

3. Lending a book to your friend does not break several federal laws.

2. Reading a book in the bathtub is not risking electrocution.

1. Books smell better than CD's.

I know these are silly but there is a some truth behind each one (except maybe the paper cut one). For a more serious top ten list, look at this article entitled 10 Reasons Why the Internet Is No Substitute for a Library. This article does a good job with showing why schools still need libraries and people still need to pick up a book.

One last thing about books: As I think about my daughter getting older and probably marrying someone (here is where I break down and cry uncontrollably), I think maybe at some time I will need to give some of my library to her and her husband, if they happen to be involved in ministry. If that is the case, then I am not building just a library right now, I am building an inheritance or a legacy. If my resources now help a young pastor 40 years from now not only intellectually but financially (because books cost money) then it is worth having them.

Do not get me wrong. I have my share of Bible Software and I use StudyLight.org nearly daily. And I think they are great. I just enjoy being able take a book with me wherever I go and know that if it is a book whose content is worthwhile, my grandkids will be reading the same books.

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Orthopraxy Requires Orthodoxy

It is worse than useless for Christians to talk about the importance of Christian morality, unless they are prepared to take their stand upon the fundamentals of Christian theology. It is a lie to say that dogma does not matter; it matters enormously. It is fatal to let people suppose that Christianity is only a mode of feeling; it is vitally necessary to insist that is first and foremost a rational explanation of the universe. It is hopeless to offer Christianity as a vaguely idealistic aspiration of a simple and consoling kind; it is, on the contrary, a hard, tough, exacting, and complex doctrine, steeped in a drastic and uncompromising realism. And it is fatal to imagine that everybody knows quite well what Christianity is and needs only a little encouragement to practice it. The brutal fact is that...not one person in a hundred has the faintest notion what the Church teaches about God or man or society or the person of Jesus Christ.

Dorothy Sayers, Creed or Chaos?

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Filling the Spaces of Creation

This Sunday, I will be leading our Sunday School in a discussion of Genesis. This study will last for two quarters. I am excited about delving into this important book.

The first lesson will be covering the first two chapters of Genesis. Granted, that is way too much ground to cover in one session but Lifeway's material always moves a bit faster than I care to go. Nevertheless, there is still good meat to chew on in the verses we do cover.

The outline of the message is as follows:

Value the Good Environment (1:1, 31)
Appreciate Humanity's Uniqueness (1:26-28, 2:15-17)
Respect God's Plan for Marriage (2:18, 21-25)

In looking at the first 25 verses of chapter 1 and taking a closer examination of the six days of creation, one sees not only God's awesome power in creation, but God's goodness and artistry in the act of creation. One simple example of this is the order in which God created everything and the way in which Scripture records His activity. In verses 4, 7, and 9 the author of Genesis records that God separated areas to make spaces: light and dark, water above and below creating sea and sky, and then separating land from the sea creating dry land. Only after God created all these spaces did He begin to fill them in the order in which He created. In verses 16, 20 and 24 the Bible records God filling up the spaces He just created: Sun and moon and stars to fill the light and dark, birds and fish to fill the sky and seas, and animals and plants to fill the land.

Here is a graphical representation:

Click for larger picture

It is this type of observation which manifests the design of God's creation and how masterfully Scripture captures God's work. God could not create fish with no place to put them. God could not place a cow in the sea without dry land. First spaces, and then filling them.

This is not necessarily a life changing observation from the first chapter of Genesis. But it does shows that God has a purpose for His creation and His purpose is organized, at times symmetrical, and always good for His creation.

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If YOU Build, Will They Come?

In my search for a pastorate, I received numerous questionnaires about my personality and my doctrinal stand. There is one that stands out to me because of the first question on this questionnaire. The first question this church wanted to know about was not "What is your belief in Jesus?" or "What do you hold to concerning the Scriptures" or "What do you believe about salvation?" The first question was not even, "Please give us your testimony." The first question on this pastoral questionnaire was "How would you grow the church?"

My answer was essentially, "I will not grow the church. If the church grows that is God's business. I will teach, disciple and exhort the body to penetrate the world with the gospel. I will provide an example of evangelism. But God will be the one to make the church grow if that is what He desires (1 Cor. 3:7)." While I put it more gracious terms than this, it nevertheless captures what my answer was. They did not call me as their pastor.

In this vein, here is an interesting article which that church may want to read. It is entitled Ten Ways to Grow a Church Without God. Others may have the muscles to this kind of job in their own strength. I sure don't.

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It's Like Cheese, Only Different

Part 2 of Christian Maturity. For part 1 click here.

I love cheese. To make cheese takes time. It has to mature. Below is a time lapsed video in which you can watch cheese mature.


If you would like to watch cheese mature in real time click here.

To get a good cheese one must be patient and realize the final product is worth the wait. Additionally, there are periodic tests to see if the cheese is "done" and ready to consume.

This is similar to the Christian life. It takes time to mature and, while one will never be "done" maturing on earth, there are earmarks of maturity. Paul says it this way:

And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fulness of Christ. As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitter and held together by that which every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love. Eph. 4:11-16

This passage shows Paul's desire to see the church mature more than anything else. First he says that God gave the church leaders for the purpose of equipping believers. This is the issue of maturity. The words used throughout this passage are pregnant with this meaning: "building up," "mature man," "measure of the stature," grow up," "growth." Paul's concern is about mature.

But what does maturity look like. Gary Bredfeldt, in his book Great Leader Great Teacher: Recovering the Biblical Vision for Leadership, uses this verse to summarize maturity:

Maturity is marked by increased unity, knowledge, and Christlikeness, as well as a lessening vulnerability to the deceptions of false teachers. pg. 18

What a great summary of this passage in Ephesians! Paul says that if believers are maturing there will be unity. This is not unity at any cost. A quick glance through Galatians and one will recognize that Paul would reject unity with those preaching a false gospel and a false Christ (Gal. 1:8-10, 5:10-12, etc.). However, for those who hold to the truth, there should be increasing unity.

There should also be a growing knowledge of Christ. In today's terms, this is considered theology. What one believes about God, about Christ, about salvation, or any other aspect of the Christian life is truly their theology. I hear so many people say, "I do not want to hear all that theology. I just want to hear about Jesus." I realize this is an attempt to sound very spiritual, but it shows how little one truly understands the implications of their beliefs. What Jesus do they want to hear about? Do they want to hear about the Mormon Jesus who is Satan's brother and was conceived by the literal sex act between God and Mary? Or do they want to hear the Oneness-Pentacostal Jesus who is God, but not God at the same time the Father and Spirit is God? Or do they want to hear about the Jesus the Scripture reveals? What they "hear" about Jesus is real theology and this must be ever increasing if one wants to mature.

In addition to unity and knowledge, Christlikeness is a mark of Christian maturity. Paul summarizes this concept in Philippians 2:1-11. It could be summarized as humility or selflessness. It could also be summarized by holiness (1 Pet. 1:14-15). Maturity meand becoming more and more like Christ.

Finally, maturity also means recognizing false teachers and falst teachings when one hears it. This is perhaps the most insidious problem in the church today. Today, many are swayed by every novel and shiny fad that is packaged as the Christian faith. In reality, most of these are teachers are simply preying on the immaturity of the average believer. Recognizing false teaching is an essential element of Christian maturity.

None of these aspects are instaneous but there should always be movement closer and closer to the goal of maturity. Cheese will come to a place in the maturation process where it is ready to go on the market to be consumed. The believer, however, is never "done." The Christian is always maturing, always growing, and forever becoming like the One he loves.

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Leaving the Diapers Behind...So To Speak

Babies are pretty cute little critters. The are not hard to read. If they are happy, you can easily tell from the smiles and the giggling. When they are not happy, they make sure everyone knows this. These immature humans have an innocence that is refreshing to experience and watching them mature is one of the joys of life.

This is same for the church. As the lost come to know Christ, there is a great joy watching them mature. However, for many believers, they never leave the "diaper" stage of Christian life. Last night, I was reading Great Leader Great Teacher: Recovering the Biblical Vision for Leadership by Gary Bredfeldt (I will post on this book later - long story short, it is a worthwhile read so far) and came some thought provoking concepts on Christian maturity.

In some previous posts (here and here) I have mentioned that the church uses a variety of ways to measure success in the church, all of which seem to be influenced by the secular world around us. However, it seems like the main, if not only, way Scripture measures success is the maturity of believers.

Bredfeldt shared a several verses on this topic. Two verses from the prison epistles really captivated my thinking (I will make this a two or three part post as I have been informed some of my posts are a bit long). The first verse is from Colossians:

And we proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, that we may present every man complete in Christ. And for this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me. Col. 1-28-29

The first thing of note in these verses is that Paul's main ministry was teaching Christ. He proclaimed Christ and only Christ (1 Cor. 1:23, 9:16; Phi. 1:18) and this is what made Paul a great leader. In fact, it is this concept which Bredfeldt's book encapsulates:

The most powerful means of leading the people of God is by teaching them the Word of God. pg. 18

Paul is first and foremost about teaching believers the one true Son of God, Jesus of Nazareth.

The second thing of note in the Colossians passage is that Paul's goal was not a radical new vision for the body of Christ, nor was his goal to be more relevant to the culture around him. His goal was the maturity of the believers he was teaching. His goal was to present them "complete" or mature in Christ.

The third thing of note in this passage is Paul gave everything he had toward this goal. Paul strenuously worked, not in his own strength, but with all the strength God gave him, to bring people to maturity. Everything Paul endured (2 Cor. 11:22-33) was to bring those he ministered to into maturity for the glory of God.

As one examines Paul's life, it is all about maturity of believers. It is immature faith of the Galatians which causes them to desire to drift back to Judaism and which spurs Paul to write that scathing epistles. The church in Thessalonica' immaturity allowed them to be continually swayed in their understand of eschatology which prompted Paul to write two letters to correct them. In fact, you can see this element in each of Paul's epistles to some extent. He believed that the key to the Christian life was nothing other than maturity.

One has to wonder why many in the church do not use maturity as the measure of their effectiveness in ministry. Is it because maturity is hard to measure? Is it because maturity takes a long time and in this instant-access society we cannot wait for such things? Is it because we do not want to mature and thus we must find other things to justify what we do? This I do not know, but it is something on which every leader should dwell.

But what does biblical maturity look like? How do we recognize it when we see it? I will address this in my next post.

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What The Students Are Saying

In a previous post, I mentioned the annual report for Pikes Peak Bible Institute. I included the following student testimonials in the report. This is what they say about PPBI.

By taking the courses that have been offered through PPBI, I am able to achieve the goal of having a BA degree… The thought of me progressing in the ministry was a near impossibility with my current career and family responsibilities. However, the study time and sacrifices that need to be made for me to go to PPBI are now done without relocating my family to another state. Bill M.

As an ordained minister in our denomination, I am thankful for PPBI for providing much needed education and training. As a father and husband, I appreciate the low cost of such quality education. Juan R.

The courses I have taken at PPBI have equipped me to better teach Sunday School at my church. They have also opened my eyes to the reality that every Christian needs to be adequately prepared to present a well-reasoned and articulated message of the gospel of Jesus Christ to our unbelieving society. Kevin G.

PPBI has been such a blessing! Being able to go to school here in Colorado Springs and study the Bible is great. This school has brought a better understanding of the Bible, Christian faith, and the Baptist denomination. For a person who wants to learn more about God, PPBI is a true blessing. God has used PPBI to reveal more about himself to me, and nothing can compare to a deeper relationship with our Lord. Kevin R.

I have been able to work on my degree wile keeping a full time job, raising two teens, and serving as an elder and leader at my church. I could not have been able to work towards my degree if it were not for PPBI and their convenient classes. The classes have helped me better prepare for the ministry. They have been very useful in the service of my church. Lonnie H.

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Anti-vision

In relation to one of my last posts, I need to talk about leadership. Not to sound like a broken record, but too much of what the church accepts as spiritual leadership is really secular leadership principles "baptized" or "Christianized." It seems to me that many in the church are so concerned about keeping up with the culture in an attempt to be "relevant" that they jettison truth (see the post A Little Leaven Brings A Lot of Laughs ). But I digress...my point is about Christian leadership. If one would pick up any book on Christian leadership you will find a chapter on Vision or Visioneering or something of that sort. However, you will probably not find the following quote from Dietrich Bonhoeffer:

God hates visionary dreaming; it makes the dreamer proud and pretentious. The man who fashions a visionary ideal of community demands that it be realized by God, by others, and by himself. He enters the community of Christians with his demands, sets up his own law, and judges the brethren and God Himself accordingly. He stands adamant, a living reproach to all others in the circle of brethren. He acts as if he is the creator of the Christian community, as if his dream binds men together. When things do not go his way, he calls the effort a failure. When his ideal picture is destroyed, he sees the community going to smash. So he becomes, first an accuser of his brethren, then an accuser of God, and finally the despairing accuser of himself. (Seconardy source, from HERE

I think this quote is worth thinking about.

Now, I am not saying that planning is wrong or that thinking about what God would want for your ministry is somehow evil. I am just saying that most of the time when I am reading a Christian leadership book (yes, I still read some of them) many of them sound like that the leader must decide on a vision for the community, and then drive that home with a ferocious tenacity no matter the cost.

I recently was in a doctoral studies program where one of the main professor's mantra was, "It is hero or zero" (just one of the reasons I am no longer part of that doctoral program). He was essentially saying that if the leader cannot fulfill the vision he set for the ministry, he is a failure. This is just superimposing man's idea of success and vision instead of God's idea. This is exactly what Bonhoeffer is saying.

So many today judge success in the church by building, budgets and butts. How big is the building? How large is your budget? How many butts are in the pews on Sunday? This is a business model of success which judges people like profit.

However, God's idea of success is faithfulness (Gen 15:6, Gal 3:6, Jam 2:23, Rom. 4:3, 20-22) and not number of followers who think you are a hero. God always rewards faithfulness. This means we continue to follow His direction even when it looks like the whole thing is "go to smash."

I would rather be a "hero" in God's eyes than in man's eyes anyway.

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