Book Recommendations For April

It's been a while, but as an avid reader I thought I'd return to the blog to recommend a few books that might be worth a read at this time of year.  Click on the links for more info.

First is F2C, a new strategy for evangelism.  Looks interesting.

Secondly, why not check out Mark Driscoll's new book on manhood and masculinity, Sweetheart.

And thirdly, the Good Book Company's latest offer on a Bible which will really help you in a small group setting.

For more information, check out this article.  Enjoy!

Best Christmas Gift Reactions Ever

Just a couple of brilliant Christmas present reaction videos. The first one is  equally hilarious and awful. Ungrateful much?

Then there is the opposite reaction. The full gamut of human emotion in about a minute. From screaming to laughing to crying to...

I've warned Lib to bring a bucket down on Christmas Day because she will definitely react like this to every single present she receives from me. They are that good. (Or could it be the pregnancy kicking in?)

Anyway, have a good Christmas everyone. I plan to blog more/better in 2011. We'll see...

HT: Si

A Job In Ministry IS Throwing Your Life Away...

...or at least it should be.

Sometimes I talk with people about how I work for a church and, underneath the polite "oh, ok"s and "interesting"s, lies another response.

"What a waste! You've got a perfectly good degree. But you're not using it. You could get another job with fewer hours, less stress and more pay. And you live miles from the rest of your family. And you're not even in a proper church with a building or a vicarage or where you get to be called Reverend. You tell people about Jesus as your job? We all do useful things like medicine or web design or manufacturing or teaching (actual teaching, not your Bible thing). It's a bit weird to be honest. You could have done so much better, surely! You're throwing your life away."

It's been a while since anyone put it that strongly but that's often the gist of the "what do you do?" conversation. But are they right?

In some ways, no. I wouldn't say I could do much 'better'. And it's an enormous privilege and joy to work with God's people for their good and the reaching of the world.

But in a massive sense...

YES! After all...

So throw your life away for God and the gospel. Do whatever you can for Him and you'll find that life begins once you give it to Jesus.

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Exquisite World Cup Classical Music

What beauty and skill.  Who knew it was such an ancient instrument?  Feast on this timeless masterpiece (before the World Cup finishes and it's irrelevant).

Optical Illusions

HT: Abraham Piper

Everybody Still Believes In Leadership, They Just Think That They Should Be The Leader...

Take a look at this great little article on authority and leadership.  It's a fantastic diagnosis of the widespread problem of people being anti-authority ("Everybody thinks they should be able to text message the president and boss him around.") and a superb restatement of why leadership is essential and beautiful.

Read Every Team Needs A Leader by Mark Driscoll here.

Be Thinking!

I've been a huge fan and regular user of BeThinking.org ever since it launched.  The hours I spent cleaning Duke Street Church were transformed into worldview shaping experiences, even giving purpose to the very act of sweeping up.  Thinking deeply is under-valued.  Thinking Christianly is a breath of fresh air.

Can I commend to you again BeThinking.org?  Articles and audio on all kinds of topics from science and philosophy to culture and sex.  Check out their new promo.

What would you say to these issues?  Not sure?  Go to BeThinking.org, download something of interest, get a friend to do the same and talk about it together.  Love God with all of your mind!

Get Up & Win The Race

Today is my 14th rebirthday.  I have been a Christian longer than I haven't been.

Now more than ever I can see my own fallenness and failures.  Yet I also know that Jesus has died for me and will forgive me and equip me.  I am more tired than before and feeling more strains on my time and energy.  No doubt this will only increase.  There are decisions I could make which would make life a whole lot easier in the short term but would dishonour God.  I want to stick with the gospel and fulfill the ministry God has entrusted to me.

On Sunday, Martin ended his sermon on Repenting Every Day with a poem.  Read it below.  You could see it as a plea to try harder and earn your way to God.  But nothing could be further from the truth.  It's a call to stick with the gospel and keep repenting every time we sin.  Every time we battle with sin, it's a sign we're on our way to glory.  It encouraged my heart and I hope it does yours too.

If I am still here in another 14 years I pray that I may still be straining for the finish line, knowing that Jesus promises me His winner's medal.  I don't earn His approval; I can get up and keep running because I already have it. 

The Race
“Quit!  Give up, you’re beaten,” they shout and plead.
"There’s just too much against you now, this time you can’t succeed."
And as I start to hang my head in front of failure’s face,
my downward fall is broken by the memory of a race.

And hope refills my weakened will as I recall that scene,
for just the thought of that short race rejuvenates my being.
A children’s race, young boys, young men; how I remember well,
excitement sure, but also fear, it wasn’t hard to tell.

They all lined up, so full of hope.  Each thought to win that race
or tie for first, or if not that, at least take second place.
Their fathers watched from off the side, each cheering for his son,
and each boy hoped to show his dad that he would be the one.

The whistle blew and off they went, young hearts and hopes of fire.
To win, to be the hero there, was each young boy’s desire.
One boy in particular, his dad was in the crowd,
was running near the lead and thought, “My dad will be so proud.”

But as he speeded down the field across a shallow dip,
the little boy who thought to win, lost his step and slipped.
Trying hard to catch himself, his hands, flew out to brace
and, mid the laughter of the crowd, he fell flat on his face.

So, down he fell, and with him hope; he couldn’t win it now.
Embarrassed, sad, he only wished to disappear somehow.
But as he fell, his dad stood up and showed his anxious face,
which to the boy so clearly said, “Get up and win that race!”

He quickly rose, no damage done, behind a bit that’s all,
and ran with all his mind and might to make up for his fall.
So anxious to restore himself, to catch up and to win,
his mind went faster than his legs, he slipped and fell again.

He wished that he had quit before with one disgrace.
“I’m hopeless as a runner now.  I shouldn’t try to race.”
But, in the laughing crowd he searched and found his father’s face,
that steady look that said again, “Get up and win that race!”

So he jumped up to try again, ten yards behind the last.
"If I’m going to gain those yards," he thought, "I’ve got to run real fast."
Exceeding everything he had, he regained eight or ten,
but trying so hard to catch the lead, he slipped and fell again.

Defeat! He lay there silently, a tear dropped from his eye.
"There’s no sense running anymore—three strikes I’m out—why try?"
The will to rise had disappeared, all hope had fled away.
So far behind, so error prone, closer all the way.

“I’ve lost, so what’s the use?” he thought, “I’ll live with my disgrace.”
But then he thought about his dad, who soon he’d have to face.
“Get up,” an echo sounded low. “Get up and take your place.
You were not meant for failure here.  Get up and win that race.”

With borrowed will, “Get up,” it said, “you haven’t lost at all,
for winning is not more than this; to rise each time you fall.”
So, up he rose to run once more, and with a new commit,
he resolved that, win or lose, at least he wouldn’t quit.

So far behind the others now, the most he’d ever been,
still he gave it all he had and ran as though to win
Three times he’d fallen stumbling, three times he rose again.
Too far behind to hope to win, he still ran to the end.

They cheered the winning runner as he crossed, first place;
head high and proud and happy—no falling, no disgrace.
But, when the fallen youngster crossed the line, last place,
the crowd gave him the greater cheer for finishing the race.

And even though he came in last, with head bowed low, unproud,
you would have thought he’d won the race, to listen to the crowd.
And to his dad he sadly said, “I didn’t do so well.”
"To me, you won,” his father said. “You rose each time you fell.”

And now when things seem dark and hard and difficult to face,
the memory of that little boy helps me in my own race.
For all of life is like that race, with ups and downs and all.
And all you have to do to win is rise each time you fall.

“Quit!  Give up, you’re beaten,” they still shout in my face.
But another voice within me says, “Get up and win that race.”

Pleurisy & The Intolerant Troll

One of my posts which gets the most traffic is one I did a couple of years ago about my brush with Pleurisy.  (Read it here.)  Lots of people seem to want to know what it feels like and what to do.  I can tell you now, it feels horrible and phone for an ambulance.

But someone left a comment the other day.  They remarked:

"why did you have to bring religion into it? Keep thy religion to thy self. [insert rude word here]."

Although they inserted their own rude word there.

I keep thinking about this comment.  First of all, I think it's hilarious!  I'm meant to keep my religion to myself but an anonymous commenter is allowed to swear at me!  The intolerance of 'tolerance' is mind-blowing.  Plus the 'thy' stuff - as if that's the 11th Commandment.  Genuinely amused me.

Secondly, it never ceases to amaze me the trolling and nastiness you get on website comments.  That's why I installed the Firefox add-on 'YouTube Comment Snob', which filters out excessive capitalisation, swearing, over-use of exclamation marks, all capital letters, etc.  With a wife who works in customer services, I know the level of horribleness that comes out when you are the tiniest bit anonymous or speaking to an unknown person.  Seriously people, calm down.

Thirdly, how private is private?  I'm meant to keep my religion to myself.  But isn't writing my views on my blog allowed?  I didn't post this person a link to the site.  I didn't pin them down and force them read it.  I just recounted my brief experience with a painful illness from a Christian perspective, put it on the internet and then Google helped Mr Anon to find it.  They chose to read it.

So I'm very sorry that I offended you, whoever you are.  But I hope you are ok and not suffering from pleurisy yourself.  If you are, or at another time of suffering which will inevitably come, I pray that you remember something of what I said, turn to Jesus and have Him take away the fear of death because He's taken away your punishment after death.

I will keep on blogging about God, being very glad to know that all kinds of random people read this.  If you are a random person, you are very welcome here.  Feel free to comment.  Or not.  Just don't feel you need to keep thy religion to thyself.

Is Theology Just God-Geekiness?

I love Doctor Who.  I am a huge fan of Harry Potter.  Lib and I spent ages this weekend discussing the final episode of the Ashes To Ashes / Life On Mars saga.  I really enjoy the detailed worlds that good writers can create and noticing the way it all hangs together.  I enjoy sharing these things with others, like the fun of pointing out to people the many links between Gregory House and Sherlock Holmes - look it up!

But is this basically all I'm doing as a church minister?  Are Christians simply hobbyists about this Jesus character?  Is theology just geeking out over another book, albeit slightly different from the usual books?

My initial answer is, it can be.

There is a very real danger of Christians (particularly those who rightly honour the Bible) to turn simply into Bibliophiles, just loving the Bible and books about the Bible rather than God Himself.  Not that I am in any way trying to draw a wedge in between God and His Word.  Heaven forbid!  We know about God by His Spirit revealing Him through the Bible.  In fact, that's precisely my point.

The Bible is the means by which we discover God.  This makes it utterly essential but still a means to an end, not an end in itself.  When we meet Jesus face to face, not only will death, disease, sadness and war cease, so will Bible study!  Faith will have become sight.  We will know Him and see Him so much more clearly.  As Bavinck says, "Scripture is a passing act."

This means that we shouldn't just dig in to the Bible for the sake of it.  We should go there with purpose rather simply because we should.  We want to know God better.  We want to be stirred up to love Him more and serve Him with greater passion.  We want to be comforted and rebuked by His instruction.  We want to have our whole way of approaching the world shaped by His agenda.  We want... Him!

Which is another reason why theology isn't like being obsessed with The Mighty Boosh or The Office - the main character in Scripture is the actual God of the universe.  The real deal.  "The God who is there."

If I think that a later series of the Boosh will unveil Vince Noir and Howard Moon to be physical representations of the conflict within one man's psyche, I'm free to think that.  I would probably be wrong, but it's a pretty small-scale species of wrong when it relates to a misunderstanding of a BBC Three comedy show.  On the other hand, if we are wrong about God, it really matters.

Stealing Matt Chandler's illustration, imagine I start blogging about how much I love my wife, Libby.  I tell you all about her beautiful straight blonde hair, her love of sports and how I enjoy being with a taller woman.  That's sounds fine.  Unless you know Libby.  She does have very lovely hair, only it's curly and brown.  Height-wise, she comes up to about my nose.  And she's more of an indoorsy person.  If I praise her for her blonde hair, things will not go well for me.

Likewise, we must be careful of thinking things about God which aren't true.  If you worship a God who isn't a Trinity, that's not God.  If you pray to Mother God, that's as inaccurate as calling me Mrs Burley.  If we praise God for promising that we will never suffer, you're trying to cash a cheque that He didn't write.  Theology matters because God is real.  He has revealed Himself.  And we should long to know Him better.

Julie Smith defines a geek as "a bright young man turned inward, poorly socialized, who felt so little kinship with his own planet that he routinely traveled to the ones invented by his favorite authors".  But that could be a definition of sin!  Man turned in on himself, cut off from community, living in a fantasy world of his own creation.

But in true theology we are not just amassing trivia or knowledge so specialised that it is of no use in the outside world, like someone mastering Guitar Hero rather than an actual guitar!  We are dealing with the real God who has really revealed Himself.  And who does so in order that we might honour Him as we were designed to and thereby live rightly in the real world, rather than meander in a Godless world that doesn't exist.

So is theology just God-geekiness?  No!  Theology is just a fancy word for knowing God.  Other people might think it seems geeky, but in reality this is like someone on a sinking ship being mocked for their all-consuming enthusiasm for oxygen. Theology and the Christian life are only truly geeky when they are separated from a living relationship with the God who made us, loves us and came to redeem us.

Theology matters because God matters.  So study the Bible with a purpose - to know God better and then to love and serve Him better in the real world.