William Petruzzo

Gloom Today

William — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 14:16:10 +0000

I was gearing up to write about some thoughts on John 20:17 and was reading Matthew-Henry’s commentary, when I was caught by what he said on another verse entirely. About verse 11 he writes:

“We are likely to seek and find, when we seek with affection, and seek in tears. But many believers complain of the clouds and darkness they are under, which are methods of grace for humbling their souls, mortifying their sins, and endearing Christ to them. A sight of angels and their smiles, will not suffice, without a sight of Jesus, and God’s smiles in him.”

It’s extremely easy to forget that the gloom we are under today is often among God’s gracious means of bringing sanctification tomorrow.

For the believer, it may be that the hardest part is not overcoming that difficulty or pain, but learning to embrace it while it is here as a tool God is using. Learning to believe that it is a tool God is using. And learning to expect and search for God’s gracious hand in it.

These are things that, for me, do not come with any kind of ease, but are a perpetual struggle. Thank you Matthew-Henry for the reminder and a renewed sense of confidence.

Cost Benefit

William — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 20:21:09 +0000

It seems to me that that it’s impossible for anything a human being does to be absolutely without some kind of error. We simply don’t have the capacity to do absolute good, and probably not likely to do absolute bad. Even in doing evil, it seems that there’s usually a hint of something good—however misguided or warped it may be. And likewise, even in the greatest intentions, we mingle in at least a hint of pride, or selfishness or fear.

So, in the less extreme cases, it would seem that most things become a cost-benefit situation.

Obviously, we’re never to choose to do something evil, regardless of how good a benefit it might serve. It would be wrong steal a million dollars no matter how much good that money could do for the poor. It would be wrong for a prostitute to continue her trade no matter how many unlikely people should could share the Gospel with.

But what about things that are good, but with a margin for bad? For example, what about wishing to work hard at your business to glorify God and provide for your family, but with the potential to alienate and neglect them?

I suppose we would have to assess the risk and decide whether the negative effects outweighed the positive ones. (All of this assuming your heart and mind were in the proper place). Frankly, it just seems logical. Even with the right frame of mind, if the good intentions weren’t panning out and family was being neglected, you’d have to concede that even though the intentions and motivation were good, it’s simply something you shouldn’t do.

Reading in the book of Haggai today, it got me thinking about all this stuff. This is what the Lord said to the people of Israel. Haggai 1:7:

Consider your ways. You have sown much, and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes.

Now, the nation of Israel was not in the same position that I’m describing. Their neglect of the temple of the Lord was decidedly wrong. But I think his call to them to “Consider your ways” isn’t too much different than what I think God could say to the church today.

For all of the church’s good intentions and ideas, it’s simply not panning out. The expensive buildings, contemporary bands, the multitude niche ministry programs and corporate services simply aren’t producing the effects we’d expected. Studies continue to confirm this. Our popularly accepted system of church isn’t working. In fact, I think it’s doing more harm than good.

People often defend the church in this way. “Good things are happening”. They’ll often cite people who have personally benefitted from our specific system. But I think this violates logic. Just because a father works hard and provides well for his family, if they are neglected and estranged, the benefit is not justified. It’s nullified. No one would defend his methods. Not for long.

Yet this may well be the case with the church system we’ve accepted today. I believe it should be abandoned.

No Reason Outside Himself

William — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 05:01:53 +0000

God is gracious for no reason outside of himself. Whatever it is that drives his desire to forgive sinners is imbedded somewhere within his being and it isn’t for us to understand. At least not now, not fully.

God forgives to satisfy his desire to forgive. It is as William Gurnall describes:

You know the reason why God stands so long waiting on sinners, months, years, preaching to them; it is that He may be gracious in pardoning them, and in that act delight himself. Princes very often pardon traitors to please others more than themselves, or else it would never be done but God doth it chiefly to delight and glad His own merciful heart. Hence the business Christ came about (which is no other but to reconcile sinners to God) is called “the pleasure of the Lord.”

I discover profound encouragement knowing that God has forgiven my sins because it pleases him, and not because I have in some way convinced him to do so.

Stay Conscious of Your Attitude

William — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:05:27 +0000

I took a self evaluation test today to help develop some observations about my professional habits as a photographer. Here is a short excerpt from the feedback it provided:

“Stay conscious about your attitude. Ask yourself often (even now) what is ruling your heart. Is your good or bad day being determined by things outside of you or by your own decisions? This is a question you need to place at the forefront of your mind until it becomes your default habit.”

Of course, this is talking about my career. But it’s eerily applicable to my day in day out walk with the Lord.

And it does need to be placed ‘at the forefront’ of my mind everyday.

Change is No Enemy

William — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:43:38 +0000

As I said last week, I’m currently reading Dane Sanders’ Fast Track Photographer to help inspire some new thoughts on my photography business. He has quite a lot of interesting things to say. And today, I read something particularly pertinent, no just to a business in the technology industry, but to the endeavors of the church as well.

Sanders writes:

“If you embrace our times with an open mind, you will have a dramatic competitive advantage. Just remember that the day will come when things will change again. An attitude of staying creatively adaptable may be the single most important asset in extending your lifespan as a photographer…”

The landscape of the photographic industry is in a unique place historically. It won’t operate the way it used to and no one really knows what exactly it’s going to change into.

The church is in almost the exact same place. Although, we shouldn’t be competing with each other.

Thanks to massive changes in technology, our culture interacts in a way that is almost completely different from how it used to interact 10 years ago. And, no one really knows how it’s going to interact in six weeks, let alone in another 10 years.

The church is severely dwindling in its ability to reach a culture (not to imply that it is our approach that solely sustains our effectiveness). However, it’s hard to deny that it’s in part thanks to most Christian’s unwillingness to engage the culture in the way that the culture engages itself.

What does that mean exactly? I don’t fully know. But I’m betting it includes (but is not limited to) things like engaging in social networking technologies, not on a corporate level, but on a personal one. Many, many churches are attempting to build a corporate presence on sites like Facebook, Twitter and Youtube. But almost no churches are encouraging their members to sink themselves into these technologies personally.

But that’s where the culture is engaging. It’s not about having bible study in a Starbucks. It’s about going there yourself and doing what you do there. It’s not about having a Facebook page for your young adults ministry, it’s about having the whole young adults ministry on Facebook—from the members (who probably already have Facebook) to the pastors and lay people (who probably don’t).

This is just one (big) way our culture is operating, but the church is failing to. It’s nothing like how we used to do things, but it’s not going back to how it used to be (at least not any time soon). And, like Sanders explains, it’s not going to be like this forever. It will change into something else, and we must change with it.

As the church, we need to abandon our ‘culture’ and be a part of the larger one. It may look completely different, but at it’s core, failing to do so isn’t much different from failing to introduce yourself and build a relationship with the new neighbors next door. In fact, often, they might be one in the same.

More About The Future of Business & Education

William — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:22:00 +0000

A few days ago I wrote about the changing landscape of business and education thanks to the availability of information and the unprecedented level of connectedness we have to that information. Well, I just watched an incredibly interesting video on YouTube which details some of the numbers and figures that make those speculations all the more compelling.

Check it out.

Can’t see the video? Watch it on YouTube.

My Mysterious Counterfeit God

William — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 02:39:07 +0000

I’ve just begun reading Tim Keller’s new book Counterfeit Gods. Literally, the second page of the introduction and I’m already floored with introspection and personal reassessment.

I will share a brief excerpt from Keller’s introduction, though I’m sure there will be quite the slew of quotations in the forthcoming weeks as I creep through the book.

Keller writes:

“There is a difference between sorrow and despair. Sorrow is pain for which there are sources of consolation. Sorrow comes from losing one good thing among others, so that, if you experience a career reversal, you can find comfort in your family to get you through it. Despair, however, is inconsolable, because it comes from losing an ultimate thing. When you lose the ultimate source of your meaning or hope, there are no alternative sources to turn to. It breaks your spirit.”

This resonated with me in some ambiguous way. See, for me, I often struggle with emotions that are difficult to describe in any other way that despair. The trouble is, I’m uncertain what was “lost” that was so deeply important that it continually produces this posture in my spirit.

Keller continues in his introduction to convincingly explain that we experience despair when we have some ‘counterfeit god’ as a foundation for our hope and joy.

If then, I believe myself to be experiencing despair, it would it would follow that perhaps I have set up something less than God as a god. This is deeply troubling, yet simultaneously telling and stimulating. I can only pray that as I explore this these ideas that the Spirit would speak and reveal truth.

I have only read the introduction, but I already feel like this is a book that many of us should be reading. It’s very reasonably priced. You can buy it here.

Challenged by a Brother

William — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 02:46:20 +0000

I have recently been provoked to reassess my convictions on various things. This is good. Introspection and reconsideration are good. Willingness to be proven wrong are good. We either come out the other side more attuned to our convictions, or realizing that we were in error.

This is where I am, although I will not dive into specifics. At least not right now.

But at the same time as I am seeking the scriptures to better understand the way I ought or ought not live, I am also being challenge not to allow myself to read more into scripture than is really there. Personally, when I am thoroughly challenged in my conviction (particularly by a respected brother or sister), I will have the tendency to either produce the fault in myself and so win back their approval. Or, for my own conceit, find the justification for my conviction in scripture, whether it’s there to be found or not.

But reading in 1 Corinthians today, I’m challenged particularly by what Paul writes, using Apollos and himself as an example for the church.

1 Corinthians 4:3-5:

“But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God.”

Paul has established that in spite of what others might say about him, his conscience is clean—however, that is not evidence enough in itself to to ‘acquit’ him of guilt. Rather, he explains that it is God who is the only one who can truly judge. For us this means God’s Word.

I find myself in a similar position to the one Paul describes here. Although I have a clean conscience, I cannot be confident on that alone. When I am challenged by a brother, I must accept that perhaps I have misunderstood, misread, or misinterpreted the only right foundation for a clean conscience.

But it’s in Paul’s next words that I’m particularly struck.

1 Corinthians 4:6:

“I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another.”

Whether in vindicating myself, or in seeking another’s approval, I should be especially careful “not to go beyond what is written”. I must allow no part of myself to be sacred. Instead, faithfully seek God’s word to establish a right conviction—whether it find me affirmed in the area I was challenged, or find me convicted and repentant of some sin.

But all the while, I rest assure that God’s grace in the blood of Jesus Christ is greater than all and he will guide me to truth, eventually. And in that there will be glory and satisfaction.

Confidence from Jonah

William — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 09:13:00 +0000

I read the book of Jonah a couple days ago as part of my Bible reading plan. Now, the point of the book of Jonah is largely resting on Jonah himself. Jonah was a prophet called by God to warn the city of Nineveh that God’s judgment was coming. Jonah, however, wasn’t interested in God’s call and was even less interested in helping the ‘wicked’ people of Nineveh receive grace from God by repenting.

So, as the story goes, Jonah fled from God’s command and boarded a ship. God stirred up a storm which eventually led to Jonah being thrown overboard and being eaten by a “large fish”. He eventually conceded his pride and the fish spit him up.

What I find very remarkable though is just what happens when Jonah goes to fulfill the word God had commanded him in the first place. He goes to Nineveh and preaches the word of God’s disaster to the people. Here’s what it says happened:

The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, "By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish."

They repented. God commanded Jonah to go and warn the city of Nineveh and the people not only listened, but repented. The very next verse details that God relented of the disaster he had set for Nineveh.

While the main theme of the book definitely focuses on Jonah’s disobedience and hard-heartedness, what I really noticed this time was the encouragement and relationship between God’s command for Jonah to preach and Nineveh’s penitent response.

I find encouragement in this. God has sent us into the world with a message for repentance and hope and if we will listen and go, God has people in every nation, tribe and tongue. Someone will listen and be saved.

Learning to Sin

William — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:37:00 +0000

The puritan, Ralph Venning (also the author of one of my all-time favorite books, The Sinfulness of Sin) wrote about the grandness of even the smallest sins committed by our leaders. I thought his phrasing was poignant and worth sharing tonight.

“We may occasion other man’s sins by example, and the more eminent the example, the more infectious it is. Great men cannot sin at a low rate because they are examples; the sins of commanders are commanding sins; the sins of rulers are ruling sins; the sins of teachers are teaching sins.”

I gather that Venning’s thought here is also, in part, why “not many” of us should “presume” to be teachers.

But for us in America, I don’t think the most obvious sins are the ones that are transmitted from leaders to congregations. No, those sins we recognize and usually scorn. It’s the more subtle, insidious ones that make it through. Failure to love. Failure to forgive. Failure to steward wisely, and others.

When our church leaders fail to uphold the ultimate worth of Jesus by their lifestyles and their public and private choices, they expand their guilt by permitting their congregations to do the same. Our elders approve the installation of a $10,000 decorative fountain in the atrium of the new church building; the congregation learns that there is no shame in a $40,000 mid-sized sedan, when a $12,000 used sedan would be more than sufficient.