One Day in My Shoes

Tempted and Tried (Chapter 3)

2015-01-07T18:43:00.000-05:00

This chapter is entitled "Starving to Death" and highlights the first temptation Jesus faced in the wilderness. We all know this one, right? Jesus is in the wilderness starving because He hasn't eaten for 40 days. Satan comes to Him and tells Him to turn the stones in bread and prove just how powerful He really was. It seems simple, kind of odd, and to the point. This would be sin because Jesus was not depending on God's provision and was using His power to get what He wanted rather than doing the will of His Father.

The temptation goes much deeper than that to show us something about us and the temptations that we face. Moore uses the word "appetite" over and over again in this chapter to describe temptation. We want to be fed rather than let God be our Father. We want to be filled with selfish wants rather than being filled by godly wants. We all have an appetite and that appetite isn't necessarily a bad thing. It isn't a foregone conclusion.

"Even in the more mundane sense, we can create an appetite for something such as caffeine or a runner's high that then becomes part of the body's ongoing expectation unless trained otherwise. The appetites are strong, and strong by design." Someone put those appetites there. God did. When He designed you, He designed you to want certain things. What is sin is when those appetites are twisted and perverted to please self and to take glory away from God.

He speaks of sinful appetites in this chapter and speaks of what God does at conversion with these sinful things. "It might be that God frees your appetite from whatever it's drawn toward, but usually He instead enables you to fight it." Oftentimes, we unknowingly expect our old desires to just flee from us because we are now a child of God. This is a lie, but take heart, because God gives you just what you need to fight against your old desires. He gives you Himself. "Pretending the appetites are instantly nullified by conversion is a rejection of what God has told us- that we are still in the war zone."

Moore, does a great job of covering two big time appetites in our culture today: pornography and consumerism. One seems obvious while the other seems out of place. We understand that porn is a bad appetite, but we struggle to see how money is on the same level. The two are tied together. They often use the same terminology and go hand in hand in what a person will do to have it. Sex and food as he describes it are God given appetites. God creates us to enjoy sex within the marital union and God creates us to enjoy food as He provides it for us.

I want to focus in first on pornography. We throw around words talking about porn and I want to throw in a new one. We say porn is a "struggle" or an "addiction" and that is very true, but how about this word for it? Occultism. We become deceived by the sin in an alarmingly similar way to the way a person is deceived into the occult. There is a certain terrible grip that porn can have on an enslaved heart. It is irrational and habitual and it offers you what only God can give you... satisfaction.

He speaks of many ways this happens. Internet pornography is one huge way, but we also forget about things such as romance novels, TV, restaurants, and our own twisted mind. These all can lead us down the sinful road of sexual enslavement. I've been down that road. It is a dark and loathsome road. You hate yourself because you fell again. You vow that this is the last time or you won't ever be trapped again. You repent but not really. You aren't forsaking when the rubber meets the road, you are only forsaking when you are done fulfilling yourself. It is a terrible thing. It is a perverted appetite for sex.

Next, Moore speaks of consumerism. Money is often swept under the rub when sin is the topic. The fact that it gets swept under should alert us to something. Money is powerful and can grab us and enslave us, so we must examine ourselves. This is a personal examination and I would exhort this to also be a church examination. We worship money a lot. We switch jobs because the pay is better. We tell young adults to not get married until they are financially ready and ignore the burning passions they have. We complain about not having enough money on Facebook and Twitter from our iPhones and iPads.

This is a church issue as well. We market church to the outside world. We want the best sign. We want the most put together choir or program. We make sure everything is spotless in our building. We build new buildings. We wear the nicest clothes to church. We put the best looking people at the best positions and push the lesser people in our congregations to the kitchen or to some other ministry. We have the best light show using the top of the line technology and make sure that the church gets nothing but the best.

All of this can be a good thing, but we must examine our hearts. Why are we doing those things? Is it to bring glory to God? Or is it to make sure "Insert Name Here" Church looks good? Interesting note on music by Moore. Are we encouraging musical creativity in our churches or are we simply just taking something that has been proven marketable and placing it on our platforms for "worship"? This works for both sides of the fence, for the conservative and for the contemporary. You can be Wilds music only or CCM only and still have this marketing mindset.

Pastors, deacons, are you encouraging your congregations to write and play their own music? Why do we have to pick our special music instead of writing our own special music? I know, it's hard. I also know, some of the music will stink for lack of a better word. You might have some duds, but it is better than half-hearted "worship" services featuring this week's top 5 CCM songs. or the newest songs from the Wilds.

I understand, this is a very rant filled post, but I think these are things that need stated. We all too often allow sinful appetites to rule us in our daily lives as well as in our churches. God doesn't want that. God wants us to be filled and satisfied in Him. That might mean that you need to repent of your sexual sin. I did it, and God didn't take away the urges. He did empower me though and that is something special. It might mean that you don't get the brand new car and stick with your clunker. The main point is why am I doing what I am doing? Is it to please God, or is it to please me? Those appetites are there. What do we do with them?

Tempted and Tried (Chapter 2)

2015-01-02T13:13:00.001-05:00

One of the biggest deceptions of sin is that it is simply no big deal. We minimize our sin and don't that it is that crucial that we stop. Oftentimes, we neglect that sin has a goal set in mind for us and that goal isn't anything grand. In fact, the goal of sin is to kill us. In order to get this imagery across to us, Moore talks about a slaughterhouse and how they go about killing an animal there. I don't want to be bloody or gory, but I do want to make a point. You don't just pull out a knife or gun and shoot the animal. You soothe it and make it feel comfortable and then kill it. Sin works the same way in our lives.

I can look back at the times that I have gotten into big time trouble, whether it be with my parents growing up, at school, with my wife, and trust me, they have all happened. I didn't just lash out one day and ended up getting really disciplined for it. What happened instead was one day I made a decision to do one wrong thing and the next day I made it again and so on and so forth until God in His grace allowed me to get caught or I would man-up and confess my wrongdoing. Sin wants to lull you to sleep and make you feel comfortable so it can do its deadly work.

Moore breaks down temptation in 3 very helpful ways by asking 3 questions" who are you?, what do you want?, and where are you going?. Sin cares about your identity. " The satanic powers don't care if your illusion is one of personal grandiosity or of self-loathing, as long as you see your current circumstance, rather than the gospel, as the eternal statement of who you are." (pg.28) You are who you because of Christ not because of what you do. The second you forget that is the second you give sin a foothold in your life to twist you and that twisting is meant to destroy you.

In order to understand Jesus' wilderness temptations, we need to understand the context of the passages. The temptations of Jesus come right after the baptism of Jesus. Baptism is a big deal and Jesus' baptism was a very big deal. It was God the Father announcing to the world that God the Son is here. It was a declaration of war against the forces of evil. It wasn't just Jesus getting wet. It wasn't just Jesus laying down an example for us. It was a purposeful act of obedience on behalf of God the Son. Immediately after this big time religious experience, Jesus is in the wilderness being tempted. This is much like how life goes for us today.

Sin is a battle for what we want. Do we want God and all His blessings or do we want the fleeting passions this world can offer? It seems silly that we so often fall when we compare the two, and I think that is the point. Sin distracts us from understanding what is right and what is wrong. For Adam and Eve, it wasn't fruit that they wanted. They wanted to know good and evil. They wanted to be God. For Esau, he didn't just want some stew. He wanted to be filled and viewed God's blessing as something less, so he sold it to his brother.

Jesus was different though. I love the comparison between the first Adam's temptation and the second Adam's temptation. " As He stood where Adam stood, He reclaimed what Adam lost. The first Adam was tested in the God blessed garden and fell. The second Adam was tested in the God cursed desert, and won." (pg.41) It is as though God wanted the world to know that His Son is just like us, yet so much different. He is tempted just like us but He will not succumb to it. We want so many wrong things, but God's Son wanted one thing and that was glory to be given to His Father.

Temptation works because it veils the future to us. No man would look at pornography if he knew his wife would leave him and that his marriage and his relationship with his kids would be in shambles. No man would cheat on his taxes if he knew the IRS would hunt him down and catch him and make him pay for what he's done. No man would dare lie if he knew that one little lie would lead to many big lies that would leave him rejected by those around him because of his dishonesty. Temptation wants you to believe that you can have your cake and eat it too.

"The demonic powers not only will give us what we crave, but they will assist us in covering it over, for a little while. That's precisely the irony." (pg.57) That's an interesting statement that I think holds a lot of water when I compare it to my own experiences. I've looked back at sins I have committed and often wondered, how in the world did I get away with that? That only empowers me to do it again and get away with it again and then the next thing you know, I'm getting caught and I'm so confused as to how that happened now. It is as though the forces of evil are fattening me up until I am ready and expose me for the sinner that I am.

Sin has a process. Sin hasn't changed the formula to fit in with the times, but is using the same ingredients as always because they are just that effective on us. Sin lures us. It entices us and then traps us. You don't trap something unless you mean to do it harm. It wants to grow the sin in your heart until you die. I firmly believe sin would rather us dead than alive and is striving to make that come about in our lives. This is why fighting against sin is so important. Sin wants to kill you and any enemy that wants to kill you must be met with lethal force. Kill sin before it lulls you to sleep and kills you.

Tempted and Tried (Chapter 1)

2014-12-30T10:55:00.000-05:00

For Christmas, my loving wife got me some amazing presents. I got 5 books from her for the holidays and I have been so excited to sit down and read each one. The first one I've picked up is entitled "Tempted and Tried" and is written by Russell Moore. I don't know much about the man and what he does, but the title intrigued me. The temptation he is speaking of in particular is the wilderness temptation of Christ and how Christ overcame that temptation.

The book's title and subject jumped out at me for a number of reasons. One, this is a topic that each man, woman, and child faces on a daily basis and needs great help and instruction on. Two, it is a topic that has freshly been on my mind in personal study as well as conversations with other Christians. Three, because I personally need this kind of study because of my sinful nature. As we go through the book, I will hopefully share some of the struggles and temptations that I have faced and how God through the Spirit has helped me overcome.

In short, for much of my Christian life, I have been a two-faced, sinful creature that has all too often obeyed my lusts rather than my God. I am speaking of sexual sin, but not just of it. I have had struggles with pornography and have had plenty of other struggles too. Thanks to my wife, my pastor, and those who love and care about me around me, God has done some powerful things in my life in exposing those sinful tendencies and overcoming those things that would displease God rather than lift Him up. All this to say, this is why I picked up this book.

The first chapter, as you would expect is filled with reasons why this book is being written. Temptation matters and Moore gets that point across very well. He shares a personal story of how he was tempted. The temptation wasn't anything big or life altering, and I believe that is the point. Temptations hardly are those life-altering leave your wife and kids for another woman kinds of things. Temptation matters because it is a daily struggles. It is little things piling up to be big things.

Moore does a great job of painting the scene of Jesus' wilderness temptation and all that it entailed. It was the Garden of Eden Part 2 and this time, the outcome was totally different from the first. The similarities between the Garden of Eden and the wilderness are striking and fascinating to me. It is as though Satan is trying to make a point that this Jesus is just like every other man that has fallen before him and it is as though God is making a point by showing that this Jesus is human, but is completely different from the first Adam.

Our daily temptations are an assault on us, but not only that, they are an assault on God Himself. This is one thing we forget about temptation. "Temptation is so strong in our lives precisely because it's not about us. Temptation is an assault by the demonic powers on the rival empire of the Messiah." Yes, the Devil wants to destroy you, but more importantly, he wants to destroy God. This is why fighting temptation rightly is so important. We can fight temptation on our own and sometimes be successful, or we can use the Spirit to overcome temptation each and every time because He who is in us is greater than he who is in the world.

"At the core of the gospel message is Jesus, who was tempted and tried in every way we are but who was never anything but triumphant." I love that quote. Why was Jesus triumphant? Was it because He was God? I think there is some truth to that, but the whole truth might lie more in the fact that Jesus in His humanity was so given over to the work of God through the Spirit of God that temptations lost their power. Jesus overcame and we can overcome because the same Spirit inside of Him is the Spirit inside of us.

I find that to be extremely encouraging today. Today I am tempted to feel sorry for myself and to be lazy. Jesus was tempted just like me and He didn't give in, so I don't have to give in either. So today, I'm getting up, doing something, and not letting sin take its hold on me. Why am I doing this? Because Jesus was triumphant. Since Jesus was triumphant in His life, I can be too.

"Do Not" with One Another

2014-12-23T20:54:00.000-05:00

Oftentimes in studying Scripture, we knowingly and many times unknowingly avoid passages where God commands us to not do something. I guess this goes back to who we are as people in general. We don't like being told what to do. We like being our own boss. A small child doesn't like being told "no". They will let you know that they are very displeased too. Sometimes, sadly, this is the picture we get when God tells us not to do something. We become nothing more than the screaming kid in Walmart that was just told they can't have the candy bar.

We boast in our freedoms as Christians and as Americans and nobody, not even God in His Word can tell us not to do something. We twist negative commands to say what we want them to say. We choose our favorite shows, music, and our worldview many times in spite of what God says. We know what God says about those things, yet we choose what we want.

God time and time again does tell us what not to do. He doesn't do this because He wants to control us, but rather because He wants to protect us. It is like the parent that tells their kid not to stick the fork in the electrical outlet. You aren't holding something fun back from them; you are protecting them from some serious Einstein hair. At least 8 times in the New Testament, God specifically tells the church to not do something with one another. They vary, but all have a purpose.

They are the sinful opposites of the other 5 one anothers. They speak specifically to how we treat our fellow man. They speak of the church and how it can be a shining light in the dark world. They aren't holding us back from something fun. They are helping us from falling for death. They are the natural outflow of what it looks like when the church does do what they should with one another. The church that is unified, loves, serves, forgives, and teaches one another will be the church that won't have to worry about this list of don't's. They will not do them automatically.

We are told not to pass judgment. We are told not to go to court with another believer. We are told not to measure and compare ourselves against each other. We are told not to bite, devour, and consume. We are told not to provoke and envy. We are told not to lie. We are told not to speak evil. we are told not to grumble. Crazy thing is all of these are all related. Our thoughts and our words can convey these pretty easily.

This study has made me stop and think when I read in the Word that God wants me to not do something. God gives us these negative commands for a very specific purpose. Rather than trying to find a way around what God clearly states, shouldn't my attitude be to trust and follow my God in what He is saying? Sure, sometimes the world around us makes it seem like we are missing out on something, but in reality, we have God, His Word, His Spirit, and the church. That is enough.

Forgive One Another

2014-11-21T18:38:00.000-05:00

A church that is healthy is one that is forgiving of one another. Let's be honest, as sinners, we still upset other Christians, struggle with our flesh, and do wrong stuff. It will happen and it will always happen until we are with Christ forever. Since we are sinners, we need to have a solid grip on what God calls us to do as we relate with one another, especially in regards to when someone messes up or when we mess up.

Churches today need a heavy dose of grace and humility if there are going to be viewed as forgiving places. Judgment and hypocrisy are 2 words that get used more often than not by the outside world to describe how the church is, and that is a really big problem. We need grace as we recognize that we are sinners too and just because someone else's sin is different than ours, doesn't mean that we can be judgmental to those around us. We need humility is we sin and seek forgiveness and reconciliation with our fellow Christians.

Judgment has its place in the local church. We must judge, but that judgment must be done from a strictly Biblical perspective. Judging though should not excite us. We have met that person in church before. They like pointing out people's problem. That person struggles understanding grace and lacks humility. Forgiveness is a key characteristic of a church and is something that we struggle with more often than we would ever like to admit. We struggle forgiving because forgiving is the godly thing to do. It is easy and makes me feel better to not forgive.

Time and time again though in the New Testament, we are told to forgive one another and the reason behind why we are to forgive one another is because Christ has forgiven us. Whenever I read that verse, it is as though the Holy Spirit is feeding me a big boy helping of humility. Christ forgave me, and Him and I both know how dirty and rotten I am, so I must forgive them that hurt me. Like I said though, that is hard. It is hard for me to say that it is alright that you did that to me, I forgive you. I must remember though that the grace that saved me saved my brother as well, so grace must be given.

The church would be a far better and far more effective place with the gospel if it simply forgave one another. We are to go around preaching a message of forgiveness to the world around us and it is certainly silly for us to do so when we won't forgive those that hurt us. We killed God's Son and yet God forgives us. Think about that for a second. Think about that the next time and brother or sister in Christ offends you and your knee jerk reaction is to just get upset at that person and let yourself continue to be hurt.

This is a hard pill to swallow for us as prideful people. God though would not command us to do it if He was not going to give us all the tools necessary to do it. He has given us His Holy Spirit to lead and guide us in our lives. He has given us His Word to pierce and penetrate our hearts and to show us what godly living really looks like. Pray this one through too. We hold on to things and some quality time in prayer over those hurts that we hold on to can be used by God to loosen are grip on those hurts. We weren't made to hold on to the hurt, but to let it go.

Serve One Another

2014-11-20T11:53:00.002-05:00

I mentioned yesterday that one of the outflows of a healthy church is that they will desire and have a drive to be unified and to love one another. When those are present, you will see a church that is properly teaching and equipping its members. Today, I want to highlight what happens when that occurs. The church shifts from a "me" focus that is so prevalent in our world and sadly our churches today and will now have an outward focus that looks to the needs of those around them, in the church and in the world.

In short, one mark of a healthy church is service to one another. It is not just a suggestion and not just something that is reserved for certain people. Do I believe that God specifically gifts people to be hospitable people? I do, but I also believe that there is a call placed upon our lives as believers to be on the look out and to serve those that are around us. We are called to love our neighbors and if we remember from the story of the Good Samaritan, our neighbor is everyone.

Sadly, the fact still remains that we live in a very "me" centered culture nowadays. This isn't just a world problem though, this is a predominant church problem. We do lots of things because it makes us happy and not because we consider what God wants or we don't consider how we can help and benefit another person. Could it be that this is one of the biggest missing ingredients in our churches today? We have all gotten pretty off base when it comes to the idea of serving. We do it because God gets glory from it, not us.

Those that were great in the Bible served. Think of Paul with me for a second. Paul planted churches, but he also was a tent maker. I think there is a part of him that did it to provide for himself, but I believe a large part of why Paul made tents as he planted churches was to serve those around him. Jesus is the great example in service. Jesus washing His disciples' feet is the prime example of His service. How about the feeding of the 5,000? Did Jesus have to do that? How about each time Jesus healed someone? Did He have to do that?

This idea of serving has been one that God has been trying to teach me for sometime now and I am just now starting to listen. We should all be striving to serve in some area. There are so many ways to do it and I think that is one of the most exciting parts of service. You can bake cookies or write a card or leave a voice mail or shovel a driveway. There are so many things that you can do for those around you to magnify our God. It is important for us to find out how God has wired us so we can serve effectively. Use your talents and use your gifts to benefit someone else, not yourself.

Teach One Another

2014-11-19T15:32:00.001-05:00

If unity and love exist among the church, then the outflow is going to be mutual teaching one to another. This is kind of a lost idea. All too often, we go to church, listen to the teaching and then leave. That isn't the worst thing in the world, but what is is when that is all the teaching the Christian is getting. There is no personal teaching and growth and because of that there is no relational teaching and growth, both of which are so important in the church.

This is one of the least frequent one anothers in the New Testament, but it is incredibly important, especially considering how much bad teaching there is out there in the world today. The church needs good teaching to correct and instruct against that bad teaching. This was at the heart of many of the New Testament writers thoughts and actions. Take the Apostle Paul for just a second. Paul spent a good chunk of his time planting churches, but as he was doing that he was teaching individuals how to do what he was doing and teaching them the Word of God.

We are told to instruct, address, teach and admonish, and exhort one another so that we know the Word of God and so that we can properly use the Word of God. These means that our lives should be about teaching and learning the Word of God. We do that in a number of ways. Personal we read and study God's Word. We should be giving that Word out to those around us. We should be sharing it with brothers and sisters that we come into contact with. We should be putting ourselves under the preaching of God. We should be listening to music that teaches us of God. Our churches, our homes, and our lives should accomplish teaching and learning.

I mentioned at the beginning of this post that teaching is the outflow of unity and love in the church. Take away one of those 2 for just a second and you got some twisted thinking. If you have unity, but no love, you often become the mean and judgmental Christian to those around you. Take away the unity and leave the love and you get a soft and all too often, misleading representation of Biblical Christianity. The point being, it is crucial for us in our churches and in our lives to strive for unity AND love, not just one or the other. If we are going to teach and learn rightly, we must do that.

Teaching then outflows to more characteristics that I will unpack in the days ahead. The church that is unified and is loving will teach the Word of God and that will no doubt lead to serving, forgiving, and to a godly understanding of what God calls us to do and what God calls us to not do. All of these are important. All of these are needed. As you read this and as you leave from this post, I think it would be good for us to examine our own lives for just a second. Am I teaching and learning rightly? Examine our churches. Are they teaching rightly? A healthy Christian as well as a healthy church is one that will teach.

Dangerous Calling (Chapter 15)

2014-10-27T14:59:00.002-04:00

So, what now? 213 pages into the book and Tripp begins the final chapter. He has covered a lot of material in this book and it would be nearly impossible to sum up my thoughts on how this book has impacted me. The reasoning behind me reading it and where God has me now as I finish reading it are evidence that God orchestrates everything so that He can glorify Himself in me and so He can bless me. As I finish this book, I realize that I am blessed. God has done great things for me and that is a good thing. These "great things" have been hard at times, but God gets glory and that is good.

Tripp directs his reader's attention to 1 Peter 5, which is a big passage speaking to church leaders and how they are to lead the sheep that God gives them. Its an interesting thing. Just this past week, I was encouraged by my pastor here to read through 1 Peter 5 and take note of what God is communicating towards those that are in leadership in the church. Tripp lists some final applications for the book and for this chapter in particular.

1. Know your place

Church leadership is a big and important thing. You aren't above the church, you are a part of the church, but you are a big spiritual influence in the church. You are there to help them. This is a big responsibility. This isn't something that should be taken lightly, or taken so seriously that you knowingly or unknowingly usurp God's place in this whole church thing. Christ is the head. You are not. Knowing your place means that you know that, acknowledge that, and live your life in light of that fact. "You are called to be a public and influential ambassador of a glorious king, but you must resist the desire to be king." (p.214)

2. Rest in God's care

"There are times when we are tempted to think that we would be a better head of the church than the one who is the Head, or a better sovereign than the Sovereign, or a better savior than the Savior." (p.215) Can I tell you, this is a hard quote to swallow? This attitude neglects God's care, so when hard times come in ministry, you rely on yourself and that truly gets you nowhere. Resting in God's care is so much better for you because of the fact that God is the one in charge and He is truly the only one that can take care of you. I find a big time comfort in that!

3. Take your ministry seriously

Evil is out there and evil wants to destroy your ministry and you. "You would think that the last thing Peter would have to tell leaders in Christ's church is that they need to be watchful because there really is a Devil, but he does." (p.218) This is an important thing to realize. Just because you are in ministry doesn't mean you are exempt from temptation. That is a "duh" statement, but it is an often forgotten one. Temptation is a real thing and it is a daily battle. Those in leadership need to make sure that they are properly prepared for the attacks that they will face during their ministry.

4. Resist, no matter what

There is no room for getting a little sin in but living for God with the majority of your life. This is a deceptive lie that we believe in our hearts sometimes. We think that just a little bit of sin is an okay thing. We think it is okay because everyone deals with it. Just because everyone is dealing with it, doesn't mean that it is okay to indulge in sin every so often. Don't think you are alone in your suffering. Resist that because that is a big one. Don't let your flesh and Satan make you weak.

5. Trust God's sanctifying grace

"If you and I have been guaranteed a lace in eternity with our Savior, then we also have been guaranteed all the grace we need along the way." (p.223) Grace is a needed ingredient in our life. Without God's grace, life would be overwhelming hard. In fact, life would be impossible and meaningless. As I go to church and minister, I need grace. As I go home and live my life, I need grace. Grace is needed in each and every circumstance of life.

So I've come to the end of this book. It has been a huge encouragement and challenge to me. I love reading books that are fun, but I need to read books that punch me in the face sometimes. This was a punch in the face kind of book. If you have been reading these posts, I would encourage you to buy this book. You don't need to be a pastor or in leadership in a church. This is a great book for everyone in the church.

Love One Another

2014-10-25T21:07:00.001-04:00

This is by far the "one another" that we are most familiar with and with good reason. It is a very important point that God makes in Scripture for us living in the church. We are to love one another because Christ has loved us. We take God's love that He has freely bestowed upon us and we in turn show it to those around us. It is a keystone of the Christian faith and believe it or not, one of the hardest and most often misunderstood commands of Scripture. We really struggle with this one and I believe it is in part to how basic and simple it comes across.

If I say "love one another" to you and you have some basic Bible knowledge, you would know that this is most commonly used by the Apostle John is his epistles. He loves this phrase and uses it rather frequently to the people that he is writing to. Love is a pretty central theme in his writings. Love is a pretty important theme throughout the entirety of Scripture. Why did God send Jesus into the world to die for us? He did so because of His love for us. God demonstrated His love towards us while we were sinners in sending Jesus to die for us. Love is key in Scripture.

Love is also something twisted. We don't get love much. Love is thrown around in so many situations and sometimes love is withheld in many situations. You have junior highers saying they love each other when they are "dating". You have marital love being twisted and redefined so that it is more palatable to everyone. You have fathers and mothers that reject loving their unborn child because they are "an inconvenience". Love is important, but often twisted.

I find it key in studying that God uses unity more than love in regards to the "one another" passages. Unity is the foundation while love is the beginning of the building. You can't love someone in your church if you aren't unified with them. Again, this doesn't mean that you don't have differences on some issues. This means that the gospel is central to your life and God has saved you and that other Christian is your brother and sister and because of that fact, you love them. Unity leads to love. If there is no love in the church you are at, guess what? There is probably little unity there.

This love is important for us to remember. It is the mushy kind of high school love. It isn't even really the best pal kind of love. This is a deep rooted, sacrificial kind of love that views that other Christian that you are rubbing elbows with as more important and worthy of respect and love. This is simply put, the exact love that Jesus showed to us when He went to the cross. We were ugly. We were gross. We were in rebellion against Him. He didn't care. He knew what needed to be done. He could have stopped the arrest, trial, beating, and death that He was inflicted with, but because of His love, Jesus took it all for us.

This love has some important application for us. This love isn't something that we can be picky with. You don't choose who you love and don't love in the church. You love all because Jesus wasn't partial with you. This love isn't just something that is callously given. This love is an all in deal. You love totally and completely. You love when everyone is nice to you. You love when everyone is mean to you. You love the rich. You love the poor. You love them all the same. This is something that is often lost. I can easily love those that I get along with or those that are my age. True Christian love isn't that picky though.

One goal of this love is to be evidence to the outside world of the love of Christ. That is an important something for us to grasp. The world should see that we love one another. We don't just tolerate one another or we don't just put up with one another. Instead, we sacrificially love each person that is around us and when we do that, God is glorified. God is lifted up. God is put out there to those around us. This leads me to a very important thing: our Christian love that we are to show each other isn't something that should just be shown in the church.

I think we accidentally do this in our churches. We are in our comfort zones in the church when it comes to love. Its easy to love there (most of the time). The difference should be that those outside the church should be able to see that love outside the church because that is where you are coming into contact with them the most. So how often do we as churches purposefully show our love for one another outside the four walls of the church? I don't do it much. I'm starting to discover more and more that this kind of love is really important. So love one another. Do it like Christ did it.

Dangerous Calling: Chapter 14

2014-10-23T14:17:00.002-04:00

I was finally able to sit down and do some reading again and it sure felt good. I finished the book and have only 2 chapters left to blog about and will hopefully be able to get the final chapter out soon. I wanted to open by sharing that this book, Dangerous Calling, has been a tremendous read for me. I would encourage pastor and laymen alike to buy it, borrow it, pick it up, and read it. It is helpful to show you your heart, hopefully your pastor's heart, and ways that you can be helpful to your local church going forward.

This chapter is on separation. Specifically, Tripp is getting at is the terrible and sad reality that oftentimes the pastor's public ministry and private life are completely different. "This separation does not necessarily disqualify you from ministry, but it becomes spiritually debilitating to you and your ministry when you become comfortable with it." (p. 201) That is the big thing here, because let's be honest, we are sinners and that separation will exist. It doesn't make it okay, but our goal should not to be comfortable with that gap. We should strive to bridge that gap.

Tripp offers up an answer to bridging that gap and it is exactly what the Bible describes as the cure. We must preach the gospel to ourselves. The same gospel that saves me is the gospel that propels me to Christ likeness in my daily life. I love this quote he offers up. "Pastor, there is no congregation you need to preach to more than yourself." This is oh so true. The church gets pastored but does the pastor ever get pastored? On most occasions, I would say no, he doesn't. the daily reminders of your own sinfulness and Christ's forgiveness are needed if you are going to serve God for His glory in any capacity.

Tripp gives some application of what happens when you allow the gospel to have a daily influence on your life in ministry.

1. I do not have to be anxious that I will never measure up, because Jesus perfectly measured up on my behalf.
2. Because grace allows me to get my identity and security vertically, I am freed from building them on what people think of me.
3. I do not have to be haunted by what may be exposed about me, because everything that could ever be exposed has already been covered by the blood of Jesus.
4. I need to remember that my weaknesses are not in the way of productive ministry, but my delusions of independent strength are.
5. I can rest assured that God didn't get a wrong address when He called me to ministry. My spiritual neediness doesn't compromise the message of the gospel; rather, my need preaches it.
6. There is only one Messiah, and I am definitely not Him!

I think that is a good list for all of us. The gospel is a daily need in my life and that need for God is essential to living out a godly and successful Christian life. I lose sight of the gospel when I seek to do God's work in my own strength. Up to this point, my own strength has accomplished nothing good for God, so why would I willingly try to please Him again in my own strength? It is silly when we think about it, but oftentimes, we do it.

He speaks much about closing that gap between public and private and lists several ways that we can do that, but I wanted to focus in on one that I know is a struggle for me. To close the gap, you must be approachable to your friends and family. "The question is this: are we open to the fact that no one has a better window on who we really are than the people we live with? Do we see this as a benefit and a blessing and therefore take personal, spiritual advantage of these relationships?" (p.211) That is a punch in the gut kind of a question for me.

My wife knows me well. I now live in Pennsylvania again where there are a lot of people that know me well. Am I excited about that, or kind of scared? For far too long, I have been the latter. I don't want my wife to see my heart. I don't want those around me that might look up to me see me as anything less than perfect. Pride is screaming out there and that pride makes me unapproachable. I know for a fact that my wife and I have a greater relationship when I am broken before God and not worrying about how she will think about me. She knows I sin. She sees me sin. She also seeks to help me with my sin and my relationship with God and that should excite me.

As I close this chapter out, I am convicted of that. On many things I am vocal, but on many spiritual fronts, I am quiet. My inner introvert comes out and in this case, it is a really bad thing. This is something that if you are reading this, you can pray for me on. Pray that I become approachable with people and can talk about the things of God with them. Pray that I can share my own struggles and not just hear their struggles. Pray that my public life and private life can no longer be two separate categories, but that the gospel of Christ would so overshadow both that Christ is what people see in me in both arenas.

Be Unified With One Another

2014-10-21T15:47:00.003-04:00

We live in a world today where it is encouraged to be different. You are encouraged to have a differing opinion from those around you. It is so much bigger today than Coke vs. Pepsi or who you decide to cheer for though. Those things don't matter. Sure, I can joke with a friend that cheers for a different football team than I do and I can try to tell people that the better option is Dr. Pepper over Coke or Pepsi, but all in all, those are trivial matters in which we differ with one another.

There are much bigger things where people are differing on today. Specifically, there are many issues where the church is struggling to find common ground and agreement on. Everybody out the has an opinion on Mark Driscoll and Mars Hill and everything that is going on there. Everyone has an opinion on Hillsong and the church's revamped stance on homosexuality. These are big issues where those around us see us bickering and fighting over.

Many things deserve bickering over because Biblical truth is being compromised and the message of the Gospel is being twisted and distorted to something that it is not. After much study, I can now see why the idea of unity is the most commonly used "one another" in all the New Testament. You were probably like me in thinking that "love one another" would be, but you would be wrong. At least 16 times the church is commanded to be unified with one another. It is important.

Unity doesn't always mean total agreement. What it does mean though is that on the essentials we are together and on the non-essentials we are lovingly showing grace to those that are around us. We aren't letting our preferences get in the way of what God wants to do. Preferences get in the way because of pride and most of the time, we are neglecting the simple fact that we are together the family of God. We are all different. We are all sinners. In order for a healthy church to exist, there must be unity.

The New Testament uses several different words to carry this idea of unity out: members of, live in harmony with, welcome, greet, comfort and agree with, submitting to, encourage and build, stir up, be hospitable, and fellowship with. You know what I see as I go through that list? Unity takes effort and it takes time, and those are 2 things that often get pushed aside in churches today. It is foundation to a healthy and function church body.

We as the church are a body. Christ is the head. We all are members of this body. We are to use our gift that God has gifted us with to glorify His name in the church. A healthy church is a church where all the members are properly using their gifts. This makes sense, doesn't it. Imagine with me your body and you start walking and only one of your legs starts moving. That would be a problem, wouldn't it? Well it is also a problem when those in the church are not using what God has given to them. There is no unity in that place.

The purpose behind all of this is the glory of God. God gifts us to glorify Him. The church exists to glorify God. Did you know that it is impossible to glorify God as a church when you are not unified? There is a big time importance to this command and there is a reason that it is stated over and over again throughout the pages of the New Testament. God wants us to fully understand that unity among the church is vital.

One Another

2014-10-19T16:32:00.002-04:00

Its been quite some time since I have been able to sit down at a computer and do some writing. There is a good reason for that as my little family has moved to Pennsylvania and we are trying to get adjusted to life here. Hopefully here soon I can get back to reading and writing about Dangerous Calling by Paul David Tripp, but for now, I want to take some time and write about a study I have been doing.

Its taken some time. Part of that is the craziness and busyness of life and part of that is a lack of dedication to studying this topic out in the Word of God as of late. I have spent time over the past couple of weeks studying all the passages in the New Testament that use the wording "one another". These are foundation passages for church life and life in general and it has been a very fruitful study as I delve into how Christians are to relate to one another and what they are to do for one another.

This is key for me to study. I'm at a point in my life right now where I am vulnerable. My flesh want me to be hurt and upset over life's circumstances while God wants to try me and make me more like Christ. Obeying God rather than obeying my flesh is crucial at this moment, so I knew it would be highly beneficial for me to study a large group of passages that talk about church life. How are Christians supposed to act towards one another? How are we to treat one another?

I highlighted approximately 50 passages in the New Testament that say "one another". I then split these passages into different categories as to what they are talking about and I found 6 different categories. Phrasing could be different but each passage inside a particular category was communicating a particular message and instruction. Some categories were really flexible in the wording while others were very specific most every time that Scripture uses them.

The 6 categories I found were:
- Unify with one another
- Love one another
- Teach one another
- Serve one another
-Forgive one another
- "Do not" with one another

The most commonly used category is surprisingly not loving one another, it is actually the verses dealing with unity. The least used were those dealing with teaching and forgiving. I find it interesting that if you take the first 5 categories (excluding the odd ball of "do not"), you get a pretty succinct list of Christian living inside the church. The church is to be unified. The church is to love. The church is to teach. The church is to serve. The church is to forgive.

I think it is very important that God, in His Word, is highly specific with His church about what is expected of them. Receiving vague instruction is frustrating. Christianity is not so. God makes it clear what a godly group of believers looks like and He even makes it really clear what things should not be a part of our Christian life together. Praise God that He does this in His Word. God is relational and seeks for us to be relational and He aids us in accomplishing that goal.

Hopefully over the next few day I can begin to unpack some of the lessons that God has been teaching me through this study. God cares about how His people are acting towards one another and He makes it pretty clear from His Word that He has a very specific plan for how that is to take place. I've enjoyed learning more about that plan. Church isn't just something that you go to, but as a Christian, it is something that you are a part of and live in the midst of daily.

Dangerous Calling (Chapter 13)

2014-09-25T11:35:00.000-04:00

The pastor is always preparing it seems. Is this a good thing or is it a bad thing? I've wrestled with this in my walk with God and I think many others are with me on this one. I'm preparing messages and lessons and studying the Word so that is good. I am doing this instead of taking personal time to study the Word of God so I can be better equipped for my sanctification so that is bad. Where is the balance? Is there even a balance? Even today as I study the Word on my own, I feel this pull that what I am studying would be good to teach or preach to a group. What's up with that?

"It is difficult to have the responsibility to preach or teach God's Word each week and not have this responsibility dominate your mind every time you have the Bible in your hands." (p.185) I'm thankful for that quote and I second it. It's a hard thing for the minister to do, but it is a necessary thing to do. The temptation is to always feed someone else, but to never feed myself. This is one of those things that my heart can excuse away easily because I have good intentions at heart.

What's going on when I neglect personal worship and replace it with public preparation? Pride is kicking in and with my actions I am saying that I don't need the gospel that I myself am seeking to preach and teach. I lack fear and humility towards God. "A humble and holy fear is a major part of what propels a consistent life of daily personal worship." (p.186) This is a daily battle for me. I think I am okay, so I neglect myself and it leads me deeper and deeper into pride. I have separated the private and the public and elevated the public and neglected the private.

"All of this buys into a dangerous and fallacious dichotomy. It is the belief, whether conscious or not, that my private and ministry lives are not intimately and causally connected. It is beginning to believe that a man who has no personal life of worship can lead people to worship God." (p.187) To be honest, when I'm doing this, I'm not shouting it from the rooftops that this is my heart, but those around me see it. I'm thankful (most of the time, not at the moment) for when they correct me. There is no gap between private and public. My private must fuel my public though, not the other way around.

Each day, I must daily take up the armor of God. I don't take it up for those around me, I take it up for myself. God has called me to that and God has called you to that. I must take up the armor, because I am a sinner. "Private personal worship is an effective tool of grace in the hands of God to kill those things in you that must die in order that you be what you have been called to be and do what you have been appointed to do in your place of ministry." (p.190) I must kill sin and that killing of sin happens when I personally worship God.

All of this has been on my heart lately as I transition from a pastoral ministry to most likely a secular job for some time. I'm not going to be preparing lessons each week. I'm not going to be preaching the Word consistently. I'm not going to have to prepare sermons and lessons. Sadly, for some time, I allowed that preparation to fuel my walk with God. It's going to be cut out now for some time, so I've been thinking of what is going to happen to me. My desire to prepare is going to change into a desire to grow in grace. I'm thankful for that.

Having a baby has helped this in me a lot. Peter tells us that as a baby desires milk, so should we desire the Words of God. Bridget needs milk to grow. She needs milk to live. She cries and goes crazy because she wants that food. We can get upset or frustrated at the situation, or we can realize that she is totally dependent on that milk for her survival. When is the last time I realized that about my need for God's Word? When is the last time I cried or made it known to those around me that I am hungry? God's Word is not something I read so others can worship. It is something I read to worship and the outflow of my worship aids other people to worship. The same goes for you and your walk.

Dangerous Calling (Chapter 12)

2014-09-24T11:24:00.001-04:00

"Pastoral ministry is always, shaped, formed, directed, and driven by worship." (p.167) This is the opening quote from chapter 12 which happens to be on self-glory. Really this is all that needs to be said on this chapter. What you worship and how you worship will define how you carry yourself, how you do ministry. The goal is obviously to worship God with all that is within you like Psalm 103:1 and we like telling ourselves and telling others that we are doing that. As Tripp has stated many times in this book though, there is battle going on between two kingdoms, the kingdom of God and the kingdom of self.

We like glory. We like someone telling us we did a great job. We like high-fives and pats on the back and we even like those congratulatory hugs from those really odd people in church deep down inside when we are being praised for something we did for God. If you've read The 5 Love Languages book, then you know praise, or words of affirmation is one of the 5 languages. It is mine, so this is a big struggle for me. I would venture to say this goes beyond just that though. I think this is a big time pastoral and leadership problem.

We are like the disciples oftentimes. They spent most of Christ's ministry striving to be the alpha dog in the kingdom of God. They fought over it. They asked Jesus about it frequently. Meanwhile, Jesus is giving us the loving example of what ministry looks like by washing His disciple's feet. "There is no way that the disciples would lower themselves to such a position in front of one another, at least not while they were vying for kingdom greatness." (p.172) I fear this is my heart far too often. I will serve, but I want it to be noticed. I won't stoop to do the dirty, gritty work that needs done because that work is meant for something lower than me, or so I think.

What does this produce? Tripp gives us 10 results

1. Self-glory will cause you to parade in public what should be kept in private
My service for God doesn't need to be aired for all to see, because that kind of defeats the purpose of serving. This is dangerous for the day we live in. We Facebook and Tweet what we have for lunch, so why not post the great things I just did for God? Self-glory makes me like the Pharisee made sure everyone heard him throw his tithe into the offering plate.

2. Self-glory will cause you to be way too self-referencing
"Proud people tend to talk about themselves a lot." (p.175) I've heard this stated many different ways before and it is true. I like talking about me. Again, not to bash social media, but this is the culture we live in nowadays. We want our opinions heard and you can't tell me my opinion is wrong or there is a giant hole in my logic.

3. Self-glory will cause you to talk when you should be quiet
Not every opinion needs to be stated the first chance you have to voice it. This kind of person will neglect those around them. Their opinion matters less and less and your opinion becomes the only opinion and in fact, becomes law. I hate when I do this. I feel myself doing this at times, but don't stop it. Why? Because I like my opinion and you should too.

4. Self-glory will cause you to be quiet when you should speak
When I like my opinion and my plans and am way too big on myself and a meeting comes up or a gathering or a conversation happen, I will shut down. Why? Because I'm beyond this or this meeting doesn't matter because I have all the answers and everything all figured out. "Self-glory will cause you to speak too much when you should listen and to feel no need to speak when you surely should." (p.177)

5. Self-glory will cause you to care too much about what people think of you
We like people liking us, but self-glory will take this a step further than it needs to go. We want the praise and we want to be made a big deal. I have this happen to me often, and when that feeling goes away, I look back at that feeling and I notice that it is ugly. This feeling leads to selfishness and can very easily lead to jealousy. Self-glory is a poison that slowly seeks to kill you.

6. Self-glory will cause you to care too little about what people think about you
The opposite can be just as true. I care what people think of me, but I don't care what people think of my plans, goals, and all that. This person doesn't need help because they can do everything on their own. The refusal of help is oftentimes just a polite way of being selfish. In ministry, it can kill unity, humility, and joy when service becomes a duty rather than a delight.

7. Self-glory will cause you to resist facing and admitting your sins, weaknesses, and failures
I know this one to be all too true. When I have a high view of self, I never confess my sin or tell my wife or fellow church members the struggles that are going on inside of me. Oftentimes, I will see the sin that I am committing and struggling with, but my own pride kicks in and says that it doesn't need to be dealt with because of how good ministry life is going. Sin is deceitful and will make you believe the craziest things.

8. Self-glory will cause you to struggle with the blessings of others
Self-glory leads to jealousy and envy. I feel blessed, but then I see someone else getting blessed in a different way and it makes me forget about my blessing and makes me want that other person's blessing. This sounds like a pre-school setting, but all too often this is pastoral ministry and this is church. Jealousy and envy lead to bitterness and that bitterness will result in a burned out, hardened and battle-bruised Christian that has lost that tenderness for God.

9. Self-glory will cause you to be more position oriented than submission oriented
"Self-glory turns chosen and called ambassadors into self-appointed kings." (p.180) God is king and as king has called out to do this amazing work for Him called the Great Commission. We are called to obedience to God and we are called to Christlikeness, but all to often, we seek power and position and forsake the calling that God has actually put on our lives. Sure, you get to be king of your own little castle, but that little castle is temporal and leads you to worship you, not God.

10. Self-glory will cause you to control ministry rather than delegate ministry
If I know what is right and wrong for the place that I am, then no one else can do the work. This is big for church ministry. We are a body able to carry out the mission of God, so it is foolish to think that one man or only certain people can do the work that God has called an entire body to do. This is self-glory though. It deceives us into thinking we can do what we cannot do. "You, when you are full of yourself, when you are too self-assured, will tend to think that you're the most capable person in the circles of your ministry." (p.180)

So what are we worshiping in our ministry and in our church? If it is you, then you have a self-glory problem and that problem needs to be rooted out right away. It is a poison, not just for you, but for the whole church. If one member is weak, then it drives down the entire body. Lofty and deep thoughts in this chapter. I am far too easily pleased with seeing myself get the glory rather than God. All glory belongs to Him, so why would I seek it?

Dangerous Calling (Chapter 11)

2014-09-19T14:33:00.003-04:00

Eleven chapters in and Tripp is just now getting to one of the biggest factors in tearing down a ministry... pride. There are many aspects to pride, and Tripp focuses us in on thinking that we have arrived. We think we are more mature spiritually than we actually are and think we need God's grace less than the people around us that we are ministering to. Tripp sums this feeling up with a personal story and with this quote, "I was incredibly impatient and often quietly irritated." (p.151) He was impatient and irritated at his people, the people he was to minister to and love.

Pride is a dangerous feeling. It is a puffed up view of self that neglects a right view of God. Pride caused Satan to fall. Pride derails men and women daily into thinking that they are mature and that they are good. He points us to the idea of a mirror. A mirror shows us what we look like. Oftentimes, we view ourselves through a distorted mirror, or a carnival mirror. "Remember, no mirror that you look into to know yourself will ever show you you with the clarity and accuracy of the mirror of the Word of God." (p.155) This is key when battling pride.

He spends some time describing other mirrors that we look into to find our spiritual maturity. We use our ministry knowledge to boost our ego and make us out to be something bigger than we are. We use our ministry experience to show that nothing can take us by surprise and that we can whether any storm. We use our ministry success to show off the fact that God is blessing my ministry, so there must be something special about me. We use our ministry celebrity to highlight the people around us that love each and every thing that we do. All these mirrors are fake because they do not truly show you who you are.

Tripp ends the chapter with some dangers to thinking you have arrived or thinking that you are mature when you really aren't. This is what a prideful heart looks like when it is ministering and serving the Lord. It isn't a pretty picture.

You will think that you don't need what you preach
You will not be open to the ministry of the body of Christ
You will expect of others the perfection that you think you've achieved
You will feel qualified to have more control than you have
You won't feel the need for daily meditative communion with Christ
You will take credit for successes that only grace can produce
You will feel entitled to what you could never earn or achieve
You will be less than watchful and protective when it comes to temptation and sin
You will load more on your ministry than you can responsibly handle

1. This was talked about a little bit in the last chapter and it is a large issue. The pastor must practice what they preach and first preach the message to themselves to make sure that they are doing right in the eyes of God. So with any issue of pride, the first step in overcoming it is tied to humility. It takes humility to preach to myself what I am preaching to others.

2. The "arrived" Christian is a self-sufficient Christian and the self-sufficient Christian is a dangerous Christian. The effective Christian, whether they are pastor or laymen needs community in the body of Christ. Without it, the Christian's growth is stunted and pride kicks in really easily.

3. If I think I'm perfect, my view of other's imperfection will be unloving and will be absent of grace. This is big because as a pastor, you should be filled with grace and so willing to hand it out to others that cross your path. You need grace and the person you are counseling needs grace, but if you are "perfect" you will not hand out grace, you will hand out judgment.

4. The prideful Christian likes to be a powerful Christian. They like things done their way and they will make their way a reality and they won't care much about what others think. They have a puffed up view of self and that view of self can cause division and a power struggle in a place that is to be so unified and so dependent on the all-powerful One.

5. The prideful person has read the book several times and knows all the theological facts, so why would they sit down and daily, devotionally read the Scriptures? Sure, they will study for sermons, but that is it. They will look for ways to improve those that are around them, but will neglect the sweet, holy, and perfect communion that is achieved through the study of the Word of God.

6. The prideful person is quick to point out their accomplishments and will want everyone to see and to hear about what they did. There is a "me" focus to their ministry. They will take credit when God does something amazing, something only He can do. This kind of person will also lack thanksgiving for what God does in their life and in the life of the church.

7. I earned this so I deserve this. This is a cultural problem and this is a ministry problem. Pride breeds entitlement. This kind of person forgets what they really deserve and what God has graciously given to him. He is like the man in James that looks into a mirror and then walks away and forgets what he saw.

8. The prideful person isn't watchful against sin. Sin is waiting to pounce and will pounce when you let your guard down and think that you are okay or that you are beyond what that person is going through. You are assured, but not assured in God. You are self-assured and that is dangerous. That is opening up the door to allow your flesh to fight hard and win against you.

9. The prideful person will look at how well things are going and will add more and more things to their list and when they do all the things on their list, you will hear about it and this prideful man will get lots of self-glory lavished on them. This pride is a poison and it isn't just wanting to drag your ministry down, it is seeking to kill you like all sin wants.

This chapter was a stern reminder that I have not arrived neither will I arrive until I am in the loving arms of my Savior, Jesus Christ. I can't depend upon my own righteousness, but I need to daily depend upon the righteousness that has been given to me by God. That righteousness is Jesus' righteousness. May I humbly confess those times that I act like I have arrived and may my heart always and forever depend on my Rock and my Salvation.

Dangerous Calling (Chapter 10)

2014-09-18T14:27:00.004-04:00

Mediocre- of only ordinary or moderate quality; neither good nor bad; barely adequate.

Mediocrity is the subject matter of chapter 9 and I knew from the day I took the book off the shelf that this chapter was going to be a good one for me. How often do I settle for second best or choose (choose is a very appropriate word here) to not give my best effort? Sadly, it is more often than not for me and God is graciously doing a work within me, even now, to rid me of this terrible sin. Mediocrity is laziness and selfishness out into one, and throw mediocrity into the pastoral ministry and it will only breed mediocrity amongst the sheep.

Tripp talks much about mediocrity in the pulpit in this chapter and rightfully so. It is a big concern. "I wonder how many sermons end up being boring restatements of favorite commentaries or little more than impersonal, poorly delivered theological lectures." (p.137) Just from a quick look at that quote, I would say many pastors and teachers fall prey to this. Many pastors today have a preaching problem and this preaching problem shows up in a number of different ways.

1. Lack of solid preparation

2. Lack of passion for the congregation

3. Lack of personal application

Those are 3 I think of right off the top of my head and look, they are even all parallel and semi-alliterated for you!

A sermon takes time. Pastoral ministry takes time. It makes sense that there would be a problem here in the preparation side of things, but that is no excuse. "Mediocrity is not a time, personnel, resource, or location problem. Mediocrity is a heart problem." (p.141) It is easy to just spit out what MacArthur says or whatever your favorite commentary is on Colossians. It is another thing entirely for you to devote time on your own to study the text and know the text. When we fail in our preparation in study it shows that our heart is bent towards other things rather than God.

A sermon takes time, not only because of the study involved, but because you are preaching it to an audience. This audience isn't you and this audience each has their own unique set of problems and issues that they are facing. The pastor is not doing a good job when he is not a student of those that he is shepherding and when he does that, his message comes off as "his" message and nothing more than that.

A sermon takes time, not only for the previous 2 reasons but because God should be challenging you and your thinking as you study and prepare for the message you will be delivering. I love preparing for a message, but if in my preparation I am not being convicted and prodded to growing in grace then it is going to be extremely difficult, if not impossible to instill that desire in the congregation. So what happens when any one of these 3 isn't around? Stale, mediocre preaching.

Tripp spends some time as well touching on the ministry of the church and how that should be pointed towards excellence. "Whether it is children's or youths' ministries, men's or women's ministries, small groups or outreach, whether it is leadership training or short-term missions, public worship or preaching, I will want each ministry of the church to be done in excellence so that they will faithfully display the excellence of the One who calls out of darkness into His marvelous light."

He hits the nail on the head there. Each thing the church does should be marked with excellence, not for ourselves, but because we are doing it for the most excellent One in the universe. God is excellent and the church that is seeking to glorify His name will show forth that excellence in all that it does. This is a high calling for the pastor and the leadership team of a church. It is easy to settle. It is hard to excel. It is easy to continue doing things the way they have been done. It is hard to change some things around because it will help the church.

As I read this chapter, I read it with a heavy heart because so often I just give God my mediocre rather than my all. I don't worship Him with all that is within me like the psalmist wrote in Psalm 103. This isn't just a pastor problem, this is a church-wide problem. There are solutions, which is always the good news. The solution is the gospel. I know that is clique, but a Christian and a church that is so in awe of who God is because of the gospel will not settle for mediocrity, but will strive for excellence.

Dangerous Calling (Chapter 9)

2014-09-17T14:41:00.000-04:00

By lengthy, this is one of the shortest chapters in the book, but by content, this is one of the thickest and easiest to apply portions of the book. Chapter 8 is entitled, "Dirty Secrets" and Tripp speaks mainly of one secret that is shared by so many; pastor and laymen alike. Fear is a big thing to the Christian. As a Christian, we are called to fear God. We reverently understand who He is and what He has done for you and because of that, we respectfully serve and love and worship Him.

This is one way that Solomon, the wisest man outside of Jesus, summed up life. You fear God and keep His commandments. Fear is necessary and oftentimes in our Christian culture, it is forgotten. We do what we want because we want to do it. We go out and drink, go out and get a tattoo, go to the concerts and see the movies we do because we can. I can do what I want. I'm not here to speak of any of those things, but are saying them by way of example. Living with a lack of fear of God is dangerous for the Christian and will lead to a wicked lifestyle. Drinking, tattooing, concerts, and movies are "grey areas" but when you take those grey areas and remove fear for God, they become sinful really quickly.

Tripp uses this chapter to talk about fears that the pastor will face. He does a great job using the chapter to write about some of those. It reminds me of when I was younger and I had that cliche child fear of the dark. I blame Nickelodeon's "Are You Afraid of the Dark?" for giving me this fear. I would struggle to sleep at night because you sleep at night. I would hate parts of camping because there are woods out there and they are dark and scary. Do you know what would have been a silly way to deal with my fear? Looking myself away and never going out at night. Thankfully for the Christian. we can conquer our selfish fears through the power of the Gospel and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

Tripp lists out 4 fears that the pastor will face. There are plenty more and much could be said about those ones as well, but I want to take the 4 that he listed and say some things about them. Avoiding these fears are not an option. These are things that must be faced head-on if a pastor or a Christian in general for that matter are going to successfully live for God.

1. Fear of Me

In ministry, much is expected of you. Some of it is really good things, while some of it is really silly things. It is a fact no matter where God has you serving. People look at you and people look to you. People want your help and people expect to always see you doing what is right. There is little wiggle room to sin and ask God for forgiveness because in a sense, you're different. It shouldn't be that way mind you. Tripp sums this fear up beautifully by talking about his first ministry job in Scranton, PA. He was so scared that he planned to resign, but the church didn't let him because they knew he was just trying to run away. That is the temptation... to run away. Fear of yourself can do that to you.

2. Fear of Others

"Because your ministry will always be done with people and for people, it is vital that people are in the right place in your heart." (p.131) I love this quote. It reminds me of what Trevor Gearhart said to me on a ministry team several times, "People are ministry." They are who you are dealing with so the temptation is to be a people pleaser. People pleasing is living with people holding a wrong place in your heart. You please not because it will further God's kingdom, but that it will in some way further your own. This fleshes itself out in other ways as well. You can be sitting in your office preparing a sermon and you gear it specifically to hit this one person with something. Where is your focus in that? Are you trying to preach the Word effectively or get some glory for yourself?

3. Fear of Circumstances

We aren't in control of what goes on around us most of the time. I look at my life right now and I don't know where my family is going to live and what I will do for work here really soon. Can I tell you... that fear is paralyzing at times. This is where our minds become important. "In the intersection between promise and reality, you have to be very careful to guard your meditation." (p.132) What am I going to spend my time thinking about? The circumstances that I am going through are meant to draw me and my family to a deeper appreciation for God and His promises and to a fuller dependence upon Him. If my mind is feeding me something opposite of that, I need to rid myself of that thinking.

4. Fear of Future

We all fail, but that doesn't make failing any easier. Can I tell you, failing is hard? I remember the first time I really failed something was in 5th grade. I got some bad grades on my report card and to make matters worse, I had quite a few detentions that I got. So the school sent a piece of paper home spelling all that out and I hid it. I was afraid of what my parents would say, do, and react to the circumstance. That was a small failure. Ministry failures can be huge deals. These failures can shift our thinking of the future rather easily. I don't want to do that again. "The more you concentrate on the future, the more you'll give way to fear of the future, and the more you'll be confused and de-motivated in the here and now." (p.134)

My thoughts gravitate towards the future so much. I spent time daily thinking of it, but the problem can lie in that I focus on the future to much and my focus on the future is leading me away from where I am at now. We don't have to be held captive to fear. We can get over it, but the only way we effectively do that is through the power of the Holy Spirit. We own up to our fears, confess our fears, pay attention to how we think, and most importantly, remind ourselves daily of the power of the Gospel. The Gospel isn't a one time thing either, it is a rest of your life kind of deal. Hold on to Jesus daily. Hold on to Him when you fear.

Dangerous Calling (Chapter 8)

2014-09-15T10:52:00.001-04:00

This chapter begins part 2 of Dangerous Calling and deals more with specifics. Tripp starts this off by having a chapter devoted entirely to "Familiarity". This can be an incredibly dangerous temptation for the pastor and Christian alike. The Christian faith can sometimes get stale to us because of the amount of time we spent in it. I think we can understand here that the problem is not the amount of time we are spending studying God's Word, but our own heart is the thing that is getting in the way. This problem with familiarity is one that I have encountered in my own life a time or two.

The first time it really came up for me was in college. Going to Bible college is exciting. You get graded many times on how well you know your Bible. There is a danger in that though and that is what I faced on several occasions. At times, the Word of God became one of my textbooks. Instead of reading it and studying it, it became a requirement to fulfill an assignment. Instead of allowing God to strip away my impurities and change my heart, I allowed myself to become callous to the truths that are written therein and let my heart be as hard as stone.

Another time this happened was in the middle of my pastorate. In a sense, college is small stuff compared to pastoring. Hammering out sermons and lessons and going about my work became the norm. I was seeking to speak to those in front of me and show them why they needed to love God and serve Him more and here I was acting like a huge hypocrite. My lessons weren't changing me, so why would they ever change anyone else? I know from this short time that the times God works through me the most is when He first convicts me about what He wants me to speak on.

"Artists talk of the dynamic of visual lethargy, which means that the more you see something, the less you actually see it." (p. 115) I love this quote. It is powerful and it cuts to the heart. He talks of how you can head of to that new job and that first time you go out you notice everything on your way to work. Give it a few weeks though and you don't notice the trees as you drive by them, you instead just focus on getting there. The same is true of the Christian walk many times. We see God so many times. We see Him each and every time we open His Word. At first, it is exciting, it is fresh. Give it some time though and our hearts change and we begin to see God less and less when we should be seeing Him more and more.

I would encourage you to read Psalm 145 if you have the chance. Tripp directs his readers there to see the wonder and awesomeness of our God. He has a great quote to sum up the psalm. "What is the overriding worldview of this psalm? It is that every human being has been hardwired by God to live in daily awe of Him." (p.117) This is why being in awe of God is so important. If you aren't in awe of God, you will be in awe of something else. You will become distracted.

I love Tolkien's "The Hobbit". One of my favorite books of all time. I kind of like Peter Jackson's trilogy of the book. I did love in the second one, "The Desolation of Smaug" how Jackson did a great good depicting the dragon Smaug. He loves gold. He hoards it. He kills because of it and took over the kingdom Erebor because of it. Well a bunch of dwarves are seeking to get their land back and they try to defeat the dragon. It's impossible for them to do, but their one good attempt is awesome. They melt down some gold and form a gold statue. It is huge. Smaug almost forgets entirely what he is doing because he is focused on this huge gold statue. He is distracted and the statue melts and covers him in gold and nearly kills him.

Make sure your awe is pointed in the right direction, which will always be up. Theology is good, but its horizontal if it doesn't point your heart to the God of your theology. Any church ministry is good, but it is horizontal if it doesn't point your heart to the head of the Church. Tripp makes a good point in the book to focus your heart and your eyes on the right thing. We are all in awe of something, so what is your awe on? He spends the remainder of the chapter giving us the fruit of a life that has its awe on God.

1. Humility
True God-centered ministry will lead our hearts to humility. We see God work and we know that God is doing it and not us. God is merely using us to accomplish great things for the glory of His name. This happens when you have a proper view of yourself and a proper view of God. You realize that you are a sinner that needed saved and you continually need saved. You realize that God is all-powerful and worthy of all our worship and glory.
2. Tenderness
Humility leads to tenderness. You realize that you need grace daily. You realize that the people around you need grace daily. "No one gives grace better than a person who is deeply persuaded that he needs it himself and is being given it in Christ." (p.122) An awe-captivated heart does not look down on others because they sin. They realize that they sin and need grace so everyone around them needs grace.
3. Passion
Passion is a big thing for the Christian and often our passions can be misguided. Our goals are off. We want a bigger church. We want people to like us. We want to grow such and such a ministry. A awe-captivated heart has one passion: the glory of God. They are so in awe of who God is and what God wants to do that their selfish dreams and wishes get pushed way aside for the all-worthy and awesome plans of the God that saved them, called them, and works through them.
4. Confidence
All this leads to a confidence. This isn't a puffed up confidence in self, but a confidence that God is going to do what He is going to do and He is going to do it how He is going to do it. It is a peace of mind that I don't need to stress and worry about whatever ministry I am in because God is working and what God is doing is amazing. This isn't laziness knowing God will work, but a child-like dependence and confidence that our Father will care and provide for us.
5. Discipline
"It is the awesome glory of God's existence, character, plan, presence, promises, and grace that gives me reason to work hard and not give up, no matter whether we are in a 'good' season or one that is stormy." (p.124) It isn't always rainbows and sunshine so how do you respond to life? The awe-captivated Christian will respond with discipline. They will carry on and keep walking on the path God gives them no matter what comes in their way.
6. Rest
I like this last one. All of this leads to rest. It leads to peace. We can busy ourselves with Christianity. This is why so many Christians get "burned out". We work and work and strive and strive and God wants us to chill and relax and watch Him do what He is going to do. This rest knows that God is always with us and He will never forsake us. This rest knows that God is all-powerful and that God is all-loving. This rest is sweet and is ours in Christ Jesus.

So as you spend your days seeking to know God more and you study God's Word more, be in awe of the God of the Bible. Know its facts, but let those facts turn into life-changing moments. Know all you can about God, but don't just make it academic knowledge. Make your knowledge of God application knowledge that transforms your heart into something that can be used by God.

Dangerous Calling (Chapter 7)

2014-09-12T14:37:00.002-04:00

Chapter 7 is entitled "War Zones" and for good reason. The life of a pastor is a life of war. It is very similar in fact to the life of any believer. I think if there is one lesson that is coming to the forefront as I read this book, it is this, a Christian is a Christian whether they are pastor, deacon, or lay person and all Christians struggle. Tripp talks specifically to pastors, but these issues are human heart issues, not just pastoral heart issues. He does spend the rest of the chapter talking about these war zones.

Immediately, our minds rush to the pastor dealing with battles of his congregations spirituality, or getting more people involved, or the occasion man or woman that disagrees with you. Tripp isn't speaking so much of those problems but is talking about the war that is going on in the pastor's heart. To boil it down, the pastor has 2 choices here, either serve the kingdom or God or serve the kingdom of self. Serving each kingdom has its rewards and each has its own path and that path is established mainly by what our heart treasures.

Is your focus in ministry on the right things? Is it on the glory of God or your own glory? Is it on seeing people saved or seeing great numbers come to the church for numbers sake? Is it on using what God gives you to accomplish great things for His name or to boost the offering totals to make yourself feel better? What we treasure shows us who's kingdom we are seeking to serve. This isn't one of those battles that you fight once and then you are over it either. This is a daily battle that will go on for the rest of your life. It is a process and processes like this one can be long, grueling, and daunting, but ultimately worth it because the glory of Christ far outweighs the glory of men.

I want to leave you with some closing remarks Tripp makes in regards to war zones in the Christian's life. These reminders are simple, but useless. You see, oftentimes the most simple suggestions can be the most beneficial for us. I accustom it to shooting a basketball. If I go out and get into a shooting funk and start stinking it up, my response shouldn't be to change the way I shoot entirely. My response is going to be a lot more simple than that. It is going to be a tweaking of the hand here and a conscience decision to follow through there. The same goes for Christian living many times.

1. You live in a dramatically fallen world

These war zones are inevitable because of sin. The point isn't to focus on how sin will always be there, but on how we must daily prepare for battle. The soldier is always ready to battle, or else he should be. The Christian must always be ready for the battles that are ahead.

2. The big battle is fought in your heart

The heart is crucial to Christian living. My body can do right, but if my heart is not in it or if my heart is in it for the wrong reasons, then who is getting the glory, God or me? This daily battle is one that involves the heart because it is the starting point. From our hearts flow the issues of life.

3. You will run somewhere for refuge

How true this is! When faced with trouble, everybody goes somewhere. Some go to a pet sin, while others go to those near and dear friends. The point is simple, you go somewhere when you are in trouble, so make sure you are going to the true refuge and strength. Make sure you cling to God in those times, not to something else.

4. Where you are heading, trouble will be no more

I forget this one a lot. Okay, maybe I don't forget it, but I push it from my mind. This world is not my home, I am only a stranger visiting for a little while. My eternal resting place, heaven, should encourage me while I am here to focus and live for God in each and every circumstance.

And so concludes part 1 of the book. You get a lot of introductory material here and starting next chapter there will be a lot more specifics. Tripp will dive into some of those war zones that we struggle with and will show us our hearts in those matters. This book has been challenging to me so far. It has been hard to write about some of the things that God is convicting me of because my pride gets in the way and I know changing some of these things hurt. Praise God for the work He is doing though. Work hurts, but this work is worth it.

Dangerous Calling (Chapter 6)

2014-09-10T11:59:00.000-04:00

This chapter is entitled "The Missing Community" and Tripp spends a great deal of time talking about how the pastors of a church are a part of the church as well. They too are members of the same body so they need everything that the rest of the church needs. They need growth, grace, love, accountability, and teaching. This can sometimes buck the Christian culture we live in. Christianity can sometimes be privatized. What this means is we live our Christian life on our own and don't let anyone else in. It's dangerous and it is what many pastors do.

Tripp speaks of this in his own life and how damaging it can be. He speaks of life now and has this quote, "I now know that I need to commit myself to living in intentionally intrusive, Christ-centered, grace-driven, redemptive community." Now knowing that means that he spent some time not knowing that. Speaking quite honestly, I find myself on the not knowing that side of things more often than knowing that side of things. Oftentimes, the pastor will sit back and wait for it, when he needs to be going out and getting it. He needs that love and growth that hopefully he is giving out to the church and he should do what it takes to get it.

He spends quite a bit of time talking about the public ministry of the Word versus the private ministry of the Word. The public is easy to understand. It is the teaching and preaching of the Word of God in the church. The private ministry of the Word is the one-on-one interaction amongst all believers that promotes gospel-centered living and really drives home the message of the teaching. At the end of the day, the summary is this: we need each other. Each member needs the other member. The pastor needs help. The deacons need help. The Sunday school teacher needs help and the rest of the church needs help. This help should come and is healthiest when it comes from the other members of the church.

He ends the chapter speaking through a cycle of what happens when the pastor is isolated and not getting the spiritual growth that he needs from the other members of the church.

1. Unhelpful assumptions- It is crazy to think someone can be dropped into a church and just be successful. He will have all the tools but no relationships and that is a problem.

2. Unrealistic expectations- The pastor is a sinner too and needs to be loved and confronted just like you need to be loved and confronted. He and his family and being sanctified too.

3. Reticence to speak with candor- Get to know the man you are wanting to lead you. Find out what his life is like and what his family is like and what his points of struggle are.

4. Absence of timely intervention- Oftentimes, the pastor's struggles are out in the open when it is too late. He reaches a boiling point and his pain and struggles pour out and it can be ugly.

5. Loss of respect in the face of personal revelations- The pastor is lifted up and then he sins, comes crashing down and those around him look at him going, "We never knew?"

6. Dysfunctional systems of restoration- Getting rid of problems rather than weathering through them with grace is often the answer. His heart remains hard and the church remains in disarray.

7. Lack of discernible pastoral repentance and growth- The pastor doesn't just automatically grow. He will get stale just like any other Christian. Look for his growth and help him get it.

8. Carrying problems to the next site of ministry- He is hurt and isn't healed and is going somewhere new to minister. It shouldn't surprise us then that the problems remain.

9. Dishonor to Christ's name- This is the crux of the issue. Jesus is not getting the honor and glory He deserves and His church is struggling to do what they need to do.

Tripp loves giving you deep stuff and loves to confront you where you are. I know I'm 6 chapters into this book, but I would strongly encourage any believer to dive into this book. It is largely for pastors, but is highly beneficial to the congregation as well. You should know how to interact and be a spiritual help to your pastor. I'd encourage you to buy the book, read it, study it and see what God teaches you through it. It has been tremendous to me thus far.

Dangerous Calling (Chapter 5)

2014-08-25T14:29:00.002-04:00

"Pastors, have you ever asked yourself, who am I, and what do I spiritually need?" (p.69)

What a question to start off with! In many situations the person that most often gets neglected spiritually is the pastor, his wife, and the rest of his family. It is so surprising for me to think that and yet it makes a lot of sense. Often, we forget that the pastor of the church is in the church as well. They are a part just like the rest of the church is a part. He isn't lifted up on a platform spiritually. He struggles and he needs help daily. Your pastor sins. I sin. It is a part of life. It isn't okay, but these are the facts.

Since your pastor sins, how can you help him in his walk with God? This can seem intimidating. We view church leadership as almost on this different level than the rest of the church and can I tell you, that makes it difficult to help your pastor and you are quite possibly setting him up for failure as a church. He needs people pouring into his life just like how you and I need people pouring into our lives. He needs discipled. He needs someone to talk to when he struggles with his sin.

His family needs that too. The pastor's wife is a hard job. It is in many senses harder than the pastor's job. Men are normally thick skinned, women are not. I don't say that as a slam, but as a general fact. The pastor's wife can often get discouraged, bitter, angry, and sinful. You know what she needs? She needs someone to help her as she is busy trying to help everyone else around her. This goes to the kids of pastors as well. They need love. They need forgiveness and a little bit of grace.

I want to get to a series of helps Tripp gives to churches to help pour into the pastor's life.
1. Require your pastor to attend a small group he doesn't lead.

He prepares and teaches a lot, but doesn't get taught to much. He deals with people that have problems a lot but doesn't get that small group time with those that are in the church.

2. Pastor, seek out a spiritually mature person to mentor you at all times.

This is a big responsibility for the pastor. It can be hard, but I believe it necessary so that the churches leadership can effectively do the work of the church.

3. Establish a pastor wives' small group.

They know the struggles that each is going through and they can help. They can aid in helping the other women love their husbands, love their ministries, and be with them when they struggle with sin.

4. Pastor, be committed to appropriate self-disclosure in your preaching.

Confession preaching is effective preaching. The church needs to see and hear your struggles and this is a great way to do it. It's hard. It means opening up, but is worth it.

5. Be sure that your pastor and his family are regularly invited into the homes of families in your church.

The pastoral family can often be isolated for many reasons. Break down those walls and invite them over to your house to hangout for dinner or for the night. These help remind us that the pastor is human too. He has interests.

6. Make sure there is someone who is regularly mentoring your pastor's wife.

She needs it. She feels poured out in her walk with God and something that she desperately needs is for someone to pour into her.

7. Make sure your pastor and his wife have the means to be regularly out of the hose and away for weekends with one another.

Marriage in ministry can be hard for a number of reasons, one of which is lack of flexibility to get out and enjoy marriage. They need those getaway weekends that everyone else gets.

8. Make sure counseling help is always available to the pastor, his wife, and their family.

In the church, you have counseling readily available via the pastoral family. They need it as well. Make a plan to get them help when they are deep in the struggles and growing pains of Christianity.

There were so many other good thoughts that we in this chapter, but I wanted to just quickly share these as they really challenged my heart as well as my thinking in pastoral ministry. If I could boil it down, care for your pastor, his wife, and their family. Love and support them by befriending them and pouring into them spiritually.

Dangerous Calling (Chapter 4)

2014-08-21T10:38:00.003-04:00

The chapter is entitled "More Than Knowledge and Skill" and at first glance, I wasn't too excited for this one. It seemed at least from the title that it was going to be really similar to the last chapter. There is nothing wrong with that, I just thought it would be different. It is a good thing that I was wrong and that this chapter is in fact, very different from the previous one.

He spends the time speaking about the disconnect that can occur between the man you interview for the ministry job and the man that you actually see when he is there and the man that interacts with his family. "I'm convinced that the big crisis for the church of Jesus Christ is not that we are easily dissatisfied but that we are all too easily satisfied." (p.59) Tripp hits the nail on the head! This is a human heart issue above all else. It isn't that I get bored with something, but that I get enthralled with the wrong stuff.

He proves his point by sharing a story of a man that got called into a ministry because of his knowledge, preaching, pastoral ability, and all those outward, good, but incomplete things. He talks about how sometime into this man's ministry, the church started to see the cracks in this man's walk with God and with this man's marriage. The wife wasn't happy with how this man made ministry his wife and the man wasn't happy that his wife wasn't loving the ministry they were in. It is an endless cycle that has at its heart our heart, not the outward surface problems.

What went wrong for that family and church? I would say it is the thing that goes wrong for many families and many churches in filling ministry positions. "They were really interested in his knowledge (right theology), skill (good preacher), ministry philosophy (will build the church), and experience (isn't cutting his pastoral teeth in our place of ministry)." (p.61) Less is asked about the heart of the potential pastor and more attention is given to what methods they will use to grow the church. From the outset, these don't seem bad. It is neglectful of one important fact though: the man you are looking to hire, the man that is standing behind your pulpit each and every Sunday is a sinner being sanctified just like you.

It does go back to chapter 3 in that we often think that maturity comes through our knowledge. Our knowledge though, helps us live out our godliness. Look up Titus 1:1-3 sometime and see how knowledge plays a part, but that is just it, a part. "Maturity is a vertical thing that will have a wide variety of horizontal expressions." (p.64) It isn't what you know, but how what you know changes your heart and your relationship with God. That relationship that you have with God will then manifest itself in your day to day dealings with the people around you.

I leave this chapter deeply convicted. Transparency is an easy word for us to preach but a tough word for us to live out. I can teach transparency for a long time, but the moment I have a chance to show my heart, I recoil. I neglect that transparency is a form of protection for the Church. "Ministries are derailed because leaders begin to think they have arrived and don't do the protective things that they warn everyone else to do." (p.68) May that not be my heart. May my heart come to grips that I am better with others around me than I am alone. May I show a godly heart to those that are around me.

Dangerous Calling (Chapter 3)

2014-08-18T12:19:00.000-04:00

Chapter 3 starts to delve into one of the many problems that pastors face in the ministry. The temptation is the be more dedicated to our books than to the people in our pews. It is the pursuit of knowledge and the neglect of relationship. It is the hard balance between studying and living. A pastor is called to study and proclaim the Word of God to the people of God, but how much study is too much study? Is that even a fair question?

This topic is near and dear to my heart largely because I'm not that far off from Bible college where I was graded on how well I wrote about God and how well I explained the Bible. What was often the temptation for me was to judge my spirituality by the grades I got on a paper of on how much the teacher talked about a good answer I gave in class. In my own life, I have been faced with what the carry over of that is. I'm not in school anymore. I don't get grades for my sermons anymore.

"Bad things happen when maturity is more defined by knowing than it is by being." (p.42) I read that and was pricked in my heart. I'm never going to say that I think knowing is more important than being, but in my heart this is how I often think. This is how many of us often think without even thinking about it. When I love the ideas of God more than the people of God, I am walking down a dangerous path.

Tripp attacks this attitude at a good source. Most pastors go to college or seminary and get a job as a pastor. If the driving focus of your schooling is getting good grades and knowing more and more about the ideas of God and you could care less about the people of God that are around you, I would venture to say you are doing Christian schooling wrong. The goal of getting an education in Christian ministry is to be better prepared to interact with the people that God calls you to minster to.We must remember why we have the Word of God and I love how Tripp points me there.

Isaiah 55:10-13
As the rain and the snow    come down from heaven,and do not return to it    without watering the earthand making it bud and flourish,    so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth:    It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire    and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
You will go out in joy    and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and hills    will burst into song before you,and all the trees of the field    will clap their hands.
Instead of the thornbush will grow the juniper,    and instead of briers the myrtle will grow.This will be for the Lord’s renown,    for an everlasting sign,    that will endure forever.”

God's Word changes things and God's Word is meant to turn our hearts to worship. "When the Word of God, faithfully taught by the people of God and empowered by the Spirit of God, falls down, people become different." (p.51) Saved sinners start pleasing God and not sinning when the Word of God is taught. I love learning things but if that is my sole focus rather than living and sharing those things I'm learning, then I'm doing it wrong.

I am very grateful for my time in college. In many ways I felt prepared to handle the Word of God and communicate it to others. People are more important than my selfish pursuit of more and more knowledge that doesn't benefit others. I'm challenged through this because oftentimes my temptation is to selfishly slave away studying in the name of teaching a lesson while at the same time neglecting the very people that I am seeking to reach.

Dangerous Calling (Chapter 2)

2014-08-16T10:37:00.002-04:00

If chapter 1 spoke about the private problems of Paul Tripp, chapter 2 speaks of the universality of the problem in the hearts and lives of many pastors and more than likely, many Christians. This is another chapter that hits me between the eyes because I read these thoughts that he is throwing out there and it is almost as though I check them off like a to-do list. I struggle with this one; I really struggle with this, etc.

“How is the gospel of Jesus Christ forming and transforming the heart of this pastor and his local ministry culture?” (p.30) This question hurt. I struggled to answer it. Can you believe it? This is the fundamental question of my life and calling and I can’t answer it well. The gospel must be the foundation for my life and the gospel must transform my heart so that I can shine effectively in this dark world and in the church that God places me in.

He highlighted a pastor’s conference that he was speaking at and used the testimony of a certain pastor that came his way for some counseling. He gave 9 signs that this man was losing his way and I want to take a few of those and share how these are true in my today. These convicted and these are areas that I know God is calling on me to work on and grow in.

- He ignored the clear evidence of problems

- His ministry lacked devotion

- He wasn’t listening to the people closest to him

- He gave way to fantasies of another life

“This pastor had become what all of us have the tendency in our sin to become- very skilled self-swindlers.” (p.33) I like that term “self-swindlers”. It really speaks to the heart of the matter for me. I can talk myself up and convince myself that I am a good person really easily. Oftentimes I can do this without even thinking. It is scary when this become second nature to me. Who is really my Savior when I am doing that? Me. Who am I worshiping in that situation? Me.

“It is my worship that enables me to lead others to worship.” (p.35) I love leading others to worship. I love showing others that Christ is all you need and seeing their hearts be turned to that. I don’t however do this enough in my own life. In my preparation for a lesson or sermon, I neglect my own walk with God. How can I lead you to worship if I am not at the feet of Jesus worshiping as well?

Calling it being an introvert or whatever, I push people away when I have problems. I call it sin and selfishness. The people around me know my sin struggles. As David Platt has said in his writings before, we all have spiritual blind spots and those around us can help us with those. I know I have blind spots, but I don’t want those near me to point them out. Remember, I think I’m a good person, so you can’t judge me. This pushing away of those close to me does not fly in the face of a God that set up our Christian lives to be filled with fellowship and community in the form the local church.

I dream. It is alright to dream, but when our focus is on the dreams rather than what is right in front of us, we aren’t living where God wants us and has us. I dream in the form sin and in the form of discontentment. I dream of the better job with the better people and the better house and the better everything, but I neglect where God has me, what God is doing, and how God wants to use me.

Two chapters in and God is tearing down so many strongholds in my heart. It has been bent towards sin for far too long, and praise God, He is doing something about it. He is getting my attention. I got miles to go, but this journey has begun and God is the one in control. He always has been, just I have thought I was in control. Praise God I’ve been wrong. Spiritual healing takes time and it takes pain. Both hurt, but in the end they are both worth it.

Dangerous Calling (Chapter 1)

2014-08-14T12:50:00.000-04:00

I was encouraged yesterday by a friend to read Dangerous Calling by Paul David Tripp. Can you believe this is my first Tripp book I've ever read. All I know about him really is he has a bunch of cool quotes that I see on Facebook all the time and that he has a really sweet mustache. I'm excited to see all that is written in here to see how God can grow and strengthen me through it.

I begin writing all this with a heavy heart. God is moving my little family on from the ministry of Mountain Home Bible Church. We do not know at this point where God is taking us next. There is actually a lot of unknowns in life right now and that is weighing heavy on me this morning. All that coupled with God tearing apart my fleshly thinking equals out to one broken down man in need of God's grace. Praise be to Him that He gives it each and every time.

My first thought is Tripp and I are pretty similar. He describes himself and how he interacted with his wife and it scares me because it is as though he is describing me. I'm wondering how he got all this information on me? His ministry had taken his life over. His family was pushed aside and anytime his family would confront him on it, he pushed it away with the typical excuses that he is a pastor, he is fine, he is doing great spiritually.

He summarized what was going on in his heart and life in 3 themes:
1. I let ministry define my identity
2. I let Biblical literacy and theological knowledge define my maturity
3. I confused ministry success with God's endorsement of my lifestyle

If this were baseball, that would be 3 strikes and I would be out. I was told this book would hit me right between the eyes and would strike at my heart, but I had no idea that it would do it so quickly. Normally when I sit down to read a book, I get to about chapter 4 before things start to piece together and God really starts to work on my heart in an area. Here in this book, opening chapter, I'm convicted and seeing my need for grace.

Being a pastor defined me. I thought I was okay or even worse, I thought I was better off than other people because of my role in the church. I found it hard to identify with other believers because in my head, I thought I was better than them because of the title at the beginning of my name. "The false identity that many of us have assigned to ourselves then structures how we see and respond to others." (p.23) Wow, that statement cut me deep. My lack of need for grace made it so I was withholding grace from those around me.

I thought that just because I went to Bible college and seemingly know a lot about the Bible and about what God says in it, I was doing alright. I measured my maturity in a humanly way as opposed to a godly way. "The reclamation of my heart is both an event (justification) and a process (sanctification)." (p.26) You see, even in that theological statement I am failing. My life doesn't back that up all too often. I know I'm saved, but I think that I'm okay living however because of what I know about God.

I have looked around me a lot and have said that I am doing alright because I look around and I see new teenagers coming to church. I see teens getting excited about coming to church. I see teens wanting to spend time with me and wanting to talk to me. "The success of the ministry is always more a picture of who God is than a statement about who the people are that he is using for his purpose." (p.28) God used me, but He didn't use me because of me. I'm still wicked. I'm still messed up in so many areas. God's grace is still there for me.

So my family is transitioning to something new. We are excited about it, but also as you can imagine really scared. God is going to do something amazing in our hearts and lives. Sometimes the hardest part is sitting and waiting to see what God is going to do. I do know that He is going to take this sinner, and He is going to mold me and shape me into exactly what He wants me to be and for that I am excited and ready for the work to begin.

Trials are hard. Sin and temptation are hard. God's grace is greater than both of those though and is enough to pull us through whatever situation we are faced with. I love that thought. It has been such a blessing for me today as I go about my day. Here is to praying God does the same in you. Thank you everyone that prays for my family. Bridget Belle is going to be here soon and her mom and dad are ecstatic. Pray for growth during this time of life.