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The boldest prayer request I can think of
…is found in Revelation 22:20:
Come, Lord Jesus!
Yeah, so John is pretty much praying that Jesus would descend from heaven, wipe out everyone who opposes him, bring his kingdom fully to the earth, and ultimately judge all mankind and renew all of creation. Small potatoes, you know.
I guess it’s pretty lame of me to hold back from praying like a crazy man who thinks God can do anything.
Peace the Guardian (Part 2 of 3: Exposure)
Yesterday, we we looked at Philippians 4:6-7 and what it had to say about anxiety. In this passage, Paul writes:
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Clinging to anxiety is a bit like hiding out of doors in the cold. God offers us shelter—peace available in Christ Jesus. But you and I would rather huddle in the bitter windy wasteland, shivering and miserable. Why? Well, we’d rather be miserable than lose control. The way we’ve been running our lives (with anxiety) doesn’t work—but at least we’re running the show. As a nice gesture, we even let God act as a figurehead king. Of course, we’re the ones who are really in charge. We don’t need to bring our troubles before God; we can handle them just fine by ourselves.
However, the Holy Spirit through Paul is showing us a new way of living. There’s a path to come in from the cold. This path consists of letting our requests be made known. In a word, that means exposure. Ironically, we try to protect ourselves from the cold by hunkering down, by protecting ourselves from exposure as much as possible. Show no weakness, show no vulnerability, and you won’t get hurt. Yet the paradox that God places before us is that the only way to survive the winter is by exposure. That’s our pathway, and Paul writes that it is marked by four waypoints:
- “In everything.” Maybe we bring some of our troubles before God. But there are some things that we hold back. Well, God wants to hear all of them. Bring every request before him. Cast “all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7).
- “By prayer and supplication.” Don’t let this be a dry laundry list. Bring these before God as impassioned pleas. God wants us to come earnestly, expressing our desperation, throwing ourselves on his mercy and goodness.
- “With thanksgiving.” Here’s one I struggle with a lot. Thanksgiving is key to trusting God. Thanksgiving points us back to times when God was good to us. Because “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8), we know that he will always be good to us. He will take care of all our needs.
“To God.” This is where humility comes into play. When we leave the wasteland and come into a place of warmth and safety, we are surrendering to God’s kingdom and God’s agenda. In presenting our requests to God, we are taking the step of admitting that we can’t handle life and we need his help. Of course, this is what makes it so difficult.
Tomorrow, we’ll talk about what it means to reach this place of peace and safety. I’m convinced that we have have sold ourselves short when it comes to understanding the incredible peace that God has to offer.
Grow up, Peter Pan! (Part 3 of 3)
If you’re a young man here in America, you’ve probably got a Peter Pan problem. In the first post in this series on Thursday, we looked at a list of symptoms that might indicate how even a Christian young man can struggle with a failure to grow up and take responsibility for the things that God wants him to take responsibility for. Then, in the second post, we looked at the heart issue behind this failure: we insist on maintaining the illusion of adequacy, and thus we only do the things that we are good at (e.g. watching TV, surfing the Internet, or even homework or sports). We aren’t willing to take on things that we’re bad at because it would wound our pride and force us to cry out to God for help.
We were not saved to be mediocre. God did not choose us in Jesus Christ “before the foundation of the world” to merely do the things for which we are adequate but “that we should be holy and blameless before him” (Ephesians 1:4). So often, we settle for legalism. We say and do enough to look like we’re obeying God’s law—enough to assuage our consciences and look good in front of other people. But we’re living a life devoid of faith. We aren’t willing to take risks for God; we’d rather trust in our own flesh than trust in God.
I don’t suppose you want to keep living like that. Here’s God’s way to live:
Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,
whose trust is the LORD.
He is like a tree planted by water,
that sends out its roots by the stream,
and does not fear when heat comes,
for its leaves remain green,
and is not anxious in the year of drought,
for it does not cease to bear fruit.
—Jeremiah 17:7-8
“The man who trusts in man” (v. 5) lives in a wasteland. But the one who trusts in the Lord—he grows and flourishes, bears fruit and stays green even in times of drought.
When we humble ourselves and begin to trust in the Lord rather than in our own adequacy, God’s Word comes alive. When you start doing what God calls you to do, you will quickly find your own wisdom and your own strength to be inadequate. You will find your own sin to be overwhelming. You will find yourself in prayer, often and at length, crying out for help. You will find yourself turning to the Bible for wisdom, guidance, and encouragement—and its words will no longer be boring but will crackle with energy. You will find yourself turning to mature believers for advice, instead of keeping your problems bottled up inside of you.
If you’re waiting for God to flip some switch inside of you to give you the faith to do all of those things…sorry, it doesn’t usually work that way. Here’s the advice that the apostle Paul gives: “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:12-13). First, remember that God is at work in you. He isn’t watching lazily from heaven, waiting for you to make the first move, turning a deaf ear to your prayers. He is on your side. He is with you in this! He wants to see you grow and serve him faithfully, and he will exercise all of his might to make sure you do. Second, you have to get to work. You’re simply going to have to say a prayer, suck it up, and go out and take care of your responsibilities. It will be hard. You will be hurt. But you will finally know what it means to be “happy in Jesus.”
It’s a simple truth, and we tend to dismiss simple truths because we think we’re beyond them. But the fact is that we need to learn to trust and obey, like the hymn says:
When we walk with the Lord
In the light of his Word,
What a glory he sheds on our way!
While we do his good will,
He abides with us still,
And with all who will trust and obey.Trust and obey,
For there’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus,
But to trust and obey.
Grow up, Peter Pan! (Part 1 of 3)
If you’ve ever heard or read anything by Mark Driscoll, you’ll immediately understand why he is one of the most controversial preachers in the church today. He is very firm on his doctrine and is very blunt—often to the point of being crass—in expressing his convictions. Recently, Driscoll traveled to Australia and criticized the church there (at their invitation). One of the most jarring criticisms was of the young men; he told them to grow up, get involved in the church, get married, start families, etc. Driscoll refers to young men who don’t do these things as “Peter Pans.”
Now, let’s set aside Driscoll himself and talk about what it means to be a “Peter Pan.” It’s terrific imagery because:
- Peter Pan tries to avoid growing up and taking responsibility for the things grown-ups should take responsibility for.
- Peter Pan lives off in a fantasy world instead of dealing with the problems of the real world.
Guys, does that sound like you? It sure as heck sounds like me. It’s remarkable—and disconcerting—how much of the sin in my life falls under this heading. But perhaps you’re not convinced. I want to help us all out here by coming up with a (non-exhaustive) list of signs that indicate how you and I may be Peter Pan. Many of these I gathered from looking in the mirror, while a few I gathered from observing other young men around my own age (these are geared toward guys in their college years or 20s). I decided to err on the side of being harsh because I’d rather overstate my case than understate it.
You might be Peter Pan if…
- You spend hours in front of the TV set each day—watching TV or movies or playing video games.
- You spend hours on your computer each day surfing the Internet aimlessly.
- You prefer spending time at the TV or computer over actually interacting with the people around you.
- You always have your iPod earbuds in your ears, even for two-minute walks between classes. You can’t stand the thought of silence (the horror of it!).
- You’d rather listen to your music than talk to people.
- You avoid talking to people you don’t know. You just hang around your own cozy little circle of friends and never show interest in anyone new.
- You typically keep your bedroom door closed and your window blinds shut, blocking out the outside world.
- You use the fact that you’re an introvert as an excuse to avoid other people. (Sorry, introverts—I’m one, too, and I know this is a crap excuse.)
…and you might be Peter Pan if…
- You catch yourself daydreaming frequently—in fact, most of your internal reflections are daydreams.
- You live your live vicariously through your daydreams.
- You let your daydreams become a substitute for real relationships and real action.
- You don’t do things you know are right, and you’re not willing to take risks because you know what will happen if you do; somehow, you have attained God’s knowledge of the future, O wisest of sages.
…and you might be Peter Pan if…
- You don’t get your homework done until the last minute (if at all) and somehow convince yourself that it will take care of itself without you having to lift a finger.
- You don’t go to bed on time because it’s too much work to get off your butt and get ready for bed.
- You don’t clean up after yourself because you’re lazy and besides, your roommates will do it for you, just like your mommy used to.
- You slack off on laundry, grocery store trips, scheduling doctor’s appointments, or anything that will take effort, because it’s just too hard.
- You waste time at work on one frivolous distraction after another (such as reading this blog) instead of actually doing work.
- You don’t keep track of your finances because you know that daddy will always be around to bail you out.
- You whine and complain about any inconvenience (including inconvenient people) that God would dare bring across your path.
…and you might be Peter Pan if…
- You really like a young woman but you’re too chicken to ask her out. You’d rather spend your nights sleeplessly pining after her until she turns into an idol.
- You have every intention of staying single for reasons other than that it will free you up to serve the Lord more effectively (1 Corinthians 7:32).
- You think of a wife as being a “ball and chain” that will keep you from continuing in your carefree, selfish, indulgent lifestyle.
- You’re doing nothing—spiritually or financially—to prepare yourself for marriage and leading a family.
- You’re not actively looking for women whom you’d be interested in marrying.
- You don’t seek advice from older people on dating, marriage, and being a father. You figure you’ll just cross that bridge when you come to it. (It can’t be that hard, right? And it can’t possibly be as important as my studies!)
- You haven’t thought through biblical principles that would help you know how to go about dating/courting a young woman. You’re foolish enough to believe that because the Bible doesn’t use the word dating, God has nothing to say on the subject and you can follow what all your friends are doing.
- You let daydreams of marriage and sex substitute for the real thing. Imagining these things is a lot easier than actually winning over a woman’s heart, so you just stick with what you’re good at.
- You get sexual gratification from pornography, which is perfect for a lazy bum who isn’t willing to handle the responsibilities of leadership and service that are part of the package of sex within marriage.
- You use sexual fantasy as a narcotic to escape the pain of the real world.
- You want a girlfriend because you desperately need someone to love you. You’re needy and clingy. You fear other people rather than the Lord.
- You have a girlfriend, and you desperately need her to love you. You’re needy and clingy. You fear her rather than the Lord.
…and you might be Peter Pan if…
- You are not actively serving in a local church like God has insisted that you do (1 Corinthians 12). You only hang around your buddies in the college ministry.
- You don’t know anyone at your church who is more than four years older than you.
- You don’t seek out friendships with older men. You make no effort to listen and learn from older men.
- You don’t get enough sleep during the week, and especially Saturday night, so you aren’t alert during the sermon to hear the things God wants to teach you.
- You’ve never taken time to leaf through your church’s hymnal and marvel at the rich doctrine found in the hymns inside (assuming your church uses a hymnal).
- You haven’t been baptized and you’ve never really put much thought into it.
- You skip the Lord’s Supper at Family Gathering service (KSBC only) and think it’s no big deal because being able to put off your homework until Sunday night is more important to you. Never mind that Jesus told you to do do it in memory of him.
- You don’t care about church membership. It’s something you’ll get to one day, maybe, if you feel like it.
- You care more about the Indianapolis Colts (or other local sports team) than you do about your church, its growth, and the people in it.
…and you might be Peter Pan if…
- You never spend more than two minutes in prayer, and your prayers sound like a boring grocery list of requests. You never do anything that would force you to depend on God in prayer.
- You never pray together with other believers.
- You never pray for anyone except yourself.
- You don’t read your Bible for wisdom because you don’t need its wisdom to know how to sit on the couch and watch TV all day, or to spend all day studying for your classes. You’re totally adequate for these things, so you’ll stick with what you’re good at instead of, you know, actually trusting and obeying God.
- You don’t memorize scripture because it’s “too hard.” No, it’s not.
- You never share the gospel with anyone because you’re too afraid of what people will think of you. If only that perfect opportunity would just fall into your lap…
…and you might be Peter Pan if…
- You feel more comfortable referring to yourself as a “guy” rather than a “man.”
- Other people feel more comfortable referring to you as a “guy” rather than a “man.”
- People don’t come to you for advice and help for difficult situations in their lives because they know that all you’re good for is your MP3 collection or your knowledge of sports trivia or your knack for acing engineering exams.
Most of these are sins of omission rather than sins of commission. Many of the “bad” things mentioned aren’t bad in and of themselves (TV, music, sports, studies, etc.). They’re bad because they replace something that should not be omitted. Being a Peter Pan is all about sins of omission.
So we’ve identified some of the symptoms, but what is the cancer underlying all these problems? What is behind this menagerie of sins? Stay tuned for the sequel—part two out of three.
Also, if you can think of more signs of a Peter Pan, I’d love to read what you have to say. A woman’s perspective on these would be helpful, too! So please feel welcome to leave comments.
Ramblings on Calvinism
So…
It’s been a nice day outside, and I’m sitting out on the back deck watching robins hop along the roof of the house across the yard from me. I thought this would be a good place to bring all my thoughts together as I wait for a pot pie to cook in the microwave.
Lately, I’ve had a lot on my mind when it comes to the doctrines of grace. I grew up firmly convinced that people were able to come to God on their own for salvation. I guess I believed this by default; I found out, when challenged, that the Bible teaches the opposite. I fought tooth and nail against Romans 9 before grudgingly admitting that maybe God knows what He’s doing better than I do. And finally, the doctrines I once despised ended up becoming precious to me.
Why is God’s complete sovereignty in salvation so important to me? I think a lot of it has to do with boredom. Frankly, I was used to a boring god who needs pizazz and clever marketing campaigns to sucker people into church. That god is almost impossible for me to worship. Happily, I don’t have to, because he’s not real. The true God is fearsome and awe-inspiring, and He’s a lot easier to worship. That’s the kind of God that appears in Calvinistic doctrine, and this doctrine resonates with me because I crave a God whom I can fear. I can’t love a God that I don’t fear.
The thing is, I assent to all of the vaunted “five points” of Calvinism, but I don’t think I’ve really learned to think like a Calvinist. It’s easy to give intellectual assent to a point of doctrine, but it’s much harder to let it soak into your soul so that it becomes the lens through which you view the world. For too long, I’ve allowed this theology to be a collection of beliefs tacked on top of a worldview which doesn’t really differ much from the culture around me. This new-wine-in-old-wineskins tension tears me up inside. It doesn’t work. I need to start thinking like a Calvinist.
And in a sense, just about every genuine Christian does already…at least in our prayers. Any Christian worth his salt has prayed for the salvation of those who have not yet believed in Jesus Christ. “Father, please save my friend Harvey.” When a Calvinist prays these words, it’s very clear what he means; he is asking God to draw Harvey to Himself with irresistible grace, to open the man’s eyes so he will certainly and gladly choose to follow Christ. When an Arminian prays these words, I’m not exactly sure what he’s asking God to do. If the final say on Harvey’s salvation rests on Harvey, well…this is a useless prayer because God’s hands are tied. Let’s face it—Calvinist prayers are much better than Arminian prayers.
Aside from praying, though, I don’t really think like a Calvinist. This is especially true when it comes to evangelism. I’ve heard it said that we should hold to Calvinist doctrine but evangelize like Arminians. I think that’s what I’ve been doing, and it doesn’t really work. When I’ve shared the gospel with people, they usually haven’t responded much at all. I get discouraged about it; the Word of God no longer seems “living and active” (Hebrews 4:12). I just can’t seem to get it into my head that God can save anyone He wants. If someone is His elect, he or she will be saved—period. If I could only start thinking like that, I would be much bolder in sharing the gospel with others because God could save any person if He so chooses. George Whitefield, one of the greatest evangelists of all time, remarked that “this makes me to preach with comfort, because I know salvation does not depend on man’s free will, but the Lord makes willing in the day of his power, and can make use of me to bring some of his elect home, when and where he pleases.”
One truth that is sinking into me is the depravity of the human heart. Sin that I never even used to notice bothers me a lot now. I wasted most of my Saturday watching endless TV like a lazy slob instead of spending time with the Lord and getting work done. A couple of years ago, that would have been par for the course; now, I feel awful when I sin like that. In fact, I feel like a much more wicked person overall than I was a few years back. Everyone tells me that the opposite is true, but when all the hidden filth of the heart—what John Owen called “a standing sink of abominations”—is exposed by a growing knowledge of God’s will…well, the feeling isn’t good. But it is a good feeling to have because it’s the truth.
Unfortunately, I just don’t get the love of God. I tend to think He’s like me, only better—He’s got a longer fuse, but eventually His love will run out and then I’m on my own. So it’s refreshing to read in the Bible that God is more than a cosmic superman. While preparing to teach ABF on Sunday morning (which I should have done on Saturday), I read 1 Samuel 12:22: “For the Lord will not forsake his people, for his great name’s sake, because it has pleased the Lord to make you a people for himself.” That was an instant pick-me-up, because all of a sudden I remembered that God didn’t choose and love His people because they’re more intelligent or skilled or more righteous. He didn’t elect me for salvation because He saw a spark of potential in me that wasn’t in someone else. No! God’s reasons for choosing us are His alone to know; all we know is that it brings Him glory. In his commentary on this verse, Matthew Henry observed that “the fixedness of God’s choice is owing to the freeness of it.” God chose me freely, not based on something in me. Thus, He will not abandon me simply because I’m a screw-up and a sinner.
God’s unconditional election of me is really good news.
So that’s all I have to say for now. My pot pie is getting cold. I guess if you want this put into better words than I can write, listen to the hymn “The Love of Christ is Rich and Free” by William Gadsby. You can find it on Sandra McCracken’s hymns album The Builder and the Architect (or listen free on its website). It’s a beautiful song praising God’s unconditional love.
(P.S. You should really buy The Builder and the Architect because it’s incredibly good.)
