Another Sonnet

While slowly rambling through a dusty field,
I stopped midway to wipe my sweaty head.
My sandal struck a secret partly sealed
beneath the sun-baked ground no soul had tread.

What is this buried object here amid
the rocks no one would seek? By digging here
with dirty hands a treasure I unhid.
Alone, I hid again while coast was clear.

As joyful heart beats strong within my chest,
my current task I joyfully postpone
on finding such a treasure clearly blest,
I go and sell off everything I own.

What ever could give joy midst such great cost?
Now, I by treasure found am no more lost.

Feel free to let me know what you think!

Sweeter With Time

I once heard (probably from a country song) that love is like a fine wine; it just gets sweeter with time. That has definitely been my experience. I can honestly say that when I got married I had no idea what true love is. I thought that the warm fuzzy feeling and giddiness I felt around my high school sweetheart was love. Although I don’t have a complete understanding as to the depth of love, after 11 years of marriage (to that same high school sweetheart) I have learned that love is more intimate and satisfying than I ever could have dreamed. There is a surety and security in love that is worth more than all the gold in Fort Knox.

When Sabrina and I were dating, our song was “Long As I Live” by John Michael Montgomery. Back then, the chorus was the part of the song that emphasized how I felt. It was that immature but zealous passion to be with her and to declare that I would love her “as long as I live”. As time marches on, the verses have solidified in my mind and heart, and I think I can truly identify that this is the kind of love I really have for my best friend. In honor of her birthday today, I wanted to share the lyrics to our song.

The world's been spinning 'round since time began
An' when it stops, it's out of my hands
So I could swear forever for all it's worth
Or give you every day I have on Earth

No matter if there's mountains you can't move
Or harder times then you thought you'd go through
And the weight of your world's too much to bear
Just remember I'll always be there

The moon and stars aren't mine to give
Neither is eternity
But I'll give you a promise tonight
That I can keep

Long as I live
Long as I breathe
With every heartbeat
I'll need you near me
I won't leave you behind
'Til the Lord says it's time to go with him
I'm yours long as I live
I'm yours long as I live

Sabrina, if you read this, I don’t know how many more birthday’s I’ll get to celebrate with you, but however many, I want you to know that I’ll love you “as long as I live”. And that’s a promise I can keep.

Whom Are You Living For? - Part 2

As promised.

---

So now we must look at ourselves in the mirror of God’s word and answer the question, “Whom am I living for? At home, at work, at school and at church, Whom am I living for?” And if the answer is anyone or anything other than Jesus, we must repent and ask God to give us a heart for Him, a desire to see His Name and His fame spread, and the strength and courage to go out and show Him to our community.

Do you notice that in this passage Paul’s desire is not at all man-centered? While it is man-ward it is completely Christ-centered. Let’s continue reading.

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. 23 I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. 24But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. 25Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, 26so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again.

Please, don’t miss that last line. “So that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again.” In other words, Paul is saying, though I would rather die and thereby gain Christ, for He is my treasure, I’m convinced that, because it would grow you more and give you more joy, thereby causing you to glory in Christ all the more, I will remain and continue with you all. To strip it further, Paul is saying, I would rather die and be with Christ, my treasure, but I know that He will get more glory for Himself if I stay, so if that is His plan, that is what I will do. Again, does your heart beat that way? Would you rather sacrifice your greatest want, greatest desire, if it means that Christ would be more glorified in you? Whom are you living for?

Now, what does this look like lived out. Well, if Christ is truly our treasure then we will seek to know Him more, through His word, through prayer and meditation, and through corporate and private worship. Hereby, we love our God with all our heart, soul and mind. But how do we love God with all our strength? I believe we do that by living out the second part of the Great Commandment - and love your neighbor as yourself. The amazing thing about God’s plan is that when we do the latter, we do the former. As we go into the world and love our neighbors in real, tangible ways, we are loving God with all our strength. God is being glorified and people are being ministered to. It’s a win, win. Scripture says that even when we are reviled for Christ’s sake, we win and God is glorified. The only time we lose is when we fail to go and obey our Master’s command. Let is be obvious to everyone we meet that the answer to the question, “Whom are you living for,” is unmistakably, “for me to live is Christ.”

Whom Are You Living For? - Part 1

This post will be part 1 of my notes for a sermon I had the opportunity to preach this past Sunday at my home church. Our pastor and his family were out of town visiting their son in college, so he asked me to fill in for him. It was an honor to be entrusted with such a great responsibility as proclaiming God's Word to His people. I pray that He would be glorified in all that was said.

These are the notes I used and do not contain every word I said, but the core of the message is intact.

Whom Are You Living For?

Philippians 1:18b - 21a (ESV)

Let us turn to Philippians, chapter 1, and as I speak to you today on what I believe God has laid on my heart and mind to speak, I want to encourage you to ask yourselves a couple of questions.

1. Is what Bro. Chris saying the truth according to Scripture?
2. If it is, what am I going to do about it?

Our church as experienced exponential growth in the last 2 - 3 years. I know you may be asking, “What is he talking about; look at us?”, but I’m talking about growth that is infinitely more beautiful and awesome than mere numbers. I’m talking about spiritual growth and maturity that comes from God alone. God has grown us as individuals and as a collective body of Christ in ways we don’t even recognize. And we have the promise of His Word that He will continue growing us and conforming us to the image of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. In light of this promise, my prayer today is that this message will be an instrument of God to further His work in us and through us to the glory of His great Name. I want you to understand that the purpose of this message today is not to discourage us or beat us down over what we’re not doing, but to cause us examine our lives, individually and as a church body, to see what we must do to grow further in the grace of our Lord and to live this vapor He has given us for His glory. So the question I ask you today is, “Whom are you living for?”

Yes, and I will rejoice, 19for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, 20as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. 21For to me to live is Christ...

Tradition holds and many scholars agree that this letter from Paul to the believers in Philippi was written from the Roman prison during his stay there described in Acts 28. Philippi was a Roman colony whose population was mostly made up of retired Roman soldiers. For this reason, and the fact that there are no Old Testament quotations or Jewish names referenced in this letter, it is most likely that the church at Philippi was a group of Gentile believers. While there is a spirit of joy and gratitude in this letter, it was written to encourage and exhort believers who were facing persecution and pressures by false teaching.

Let us to look at the what is going on here in the passage we just read. Paul is in prison for preaching the Gospel. And he is rejoicing. Why is he rejoicing? Well let us look back to verses 12 - 18.

12I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, 13so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. 14And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.
15 Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. 16The latter do it out of love,knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. 17The former proclaim Christ out of rivalry, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. 18What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.

So Paul is sitting in a prison cell rejoicing because, due to his imprisonment, he has had the opportunity to preach the gospel to his fellow prisoners and even to the prison guards. In fact the gospel has even reached the royal household. He is rejoicing because the brothers and sisters who are not in prison are now more emboldened to preach the gospel and even his enemies are preaching the gospel out of rivalry, which means that while they are preaching the true gospel, there motives are selfish and contrary to that of Paul’s. Nonetheless he rejoices because the gospel is being preached. Then as we come back to our original passage, we see the driving force behind his joy. Paul rejoices because, “For me to live is Christ...” Paul isn’t concerned about whether he will live or die, only that in his life or in his death that Christ is glorified. Does your heart beat that way?

Now if we are not careful, we will try to justify ourselves with the thought that Paul was different than you and I today. We will seek to derive comfort in a false premise that Paul was a “radical” Christian and that we are just “normal” Christians. We will esteem Paul as to having attained some higher level of closeness with God because, after all, he was an apostle. And in doing so, we will excuse ourselves from having to honestly evaluate our lives and answer the question that has been posed to us. The question, “Whom are you living for?”. And then having freed ourselves from the sting of conviction, we will pull the covers back over our heads and drift back to sleep in the bed of our “comfortable” Christianity.

May it never be! The same God who blinded Paul on the rode to Damascus has reached down and ripped us from the miry pit of our sin. The same Spirit that transformed this evil Pharisee, this Jew of Jews, into a “Jesus freak” has quickened us also from the dead and now dwells inside us, giving us eternal life. And the same Jesus, of whom Paul wrote to the Galatians, “... redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming the curse for us...”, this Christ paid for our redemption also with His very blood. That is why, later in Philippians, Paul writes, “Brothers, join in imitating me...”. This is not “radical” Christianity. This is “normal” Christianity. For this is that great commandment: You shall love your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind.

...to be continued

Why Not Here? Why Not Now?

If you gotta start somewhere why not here

If you gotta start sometime why not now

If we gotta start somewhere I say here

If we gotta start sometime I say now

Through the fog there is hope in the distance

From cathedrals to third world missions

Love will fall to the earth like a crashing wave

TobyMac, City On Our Knees

I’m going through Radical by David Platt for the second time now. This time slowly, so that I can take in and digest the truths he has written. And one thing is painfully clear: things have to change. If I’m going to follow Christ, I must follow Him in they way He commanded and not how my culture has deemed acceptable. Jesus has no time for casual Christians. The Father seeks worshipers and has commissioned His children to go find them no matter the cost. And while the cost is great, the reward is greater. See, Jesus is the reward. And He is enough!

While I currently give to international mission efforts, and plan to give more in the future, I’m not going to the international mission fields anytime soon. The fields in Pierce County, GA are white unto harvest and the laborers are few. So the place is here and the time is now to go and make disciples. People right here, right now, are dying without the truth. Sure, we’re in the Bible belt and most people here have at least heard of Jesus. But what “Jesus”? The one Joel Osteen and Benny Hinn preach about, who for a fee will give you your best life now and maybe even heal you? Or the Jesus of the Bible who commanded anyone who would follow Him to deny themselves daily. And have they ever seen the Gospel lived out? Or do they just see people gather week after week in padded pews and climate controlled buildings? As my awesome pastor says, “They see the church, but do they see the Church?” So I will go. For the glory of my Savior, I will go. And whatever comes, He will lead and guide me.

I encourage you to read Radical, thoroughly and carefully. I have seen many reviews where people have taken David Platt to say that poverty is the way to holiness and having wealth is evil. These people have missed the whole heart of the book. Two questions you must answer for yourself while reading this book are, “Is this author telling the truth?” and “If he is, what am I going to do about it?”

Book Study - Pastor Dad

I spent time with my lovely wife last night studying a short book by Mark Driscoll called Pastor Dad. This book gives good biblical insight into the joy and responsibility of being a father. I can tell you that I have already been convicted by some of the things Pastor Driscoll has said and we’re only a couple chapters in. Although painful, I know that this study will be worth it’s weight in gold as I strive to be a better father to our three children. I think Sabrina has been convicted as well and I know that God will use this to help mold her into the mother she wants to be.

In reading chapter 2, the most convicting section to me is on page 9 where it talks about hypocritical fathers who tell there children to do something, but don’t do that themselves. I’m not one to tell my children, “Do as I say, not as I do,” but I am guilty of holding them to higher standards than I hold my self. For example, just this week I admonished my daughter to clean her room. She is very bad about not putting things back where they belong when she is finished with them. I’m the same way. So in essence, just me telling her to clean her room and put things back where they belong was telling her, “Do as I say, not as I do!” I need to hold myself to the same (or even higher) standards than I hold my children to. Otherwise, I’m a hypocrite. So I repent of the sin of hypocrisy and pray for the grace to live out the standards I wish my children to live out, so that they will not only hear it in my words, but also see it in my life.

Since we have our book study on Thursday nights, I’ll make it a point to share what how this book has benefited my wife and I in my Friday posts. So until next time, Soli Deo Gloria!