Emergence Theory in Church Planting

Occasionally, Coram Deo takes so much flak that I question whether we really have any clue what we're doing. Other times, someone says something that validates our model and convinces me that God is indeed moving in a fresh way to raise up biblically faithful and culturally relevant churches. Today is an instance of the latter.

I just finished reading an article written by someone on the staff of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in NYC. It outlines a way forward for the PCA (Presbyterian Church in America) as they seek to be more effective in church planting. And basically what it says is: the PCA needs to plant churches that look like Coram Deo.

Here is an excerpt from the thesis statement of the article:

From a human perspective, there are three principles that need to be “enculturated” by the church planting networks of the PCA and by our churches to foster the spontaneous expansion of evangelism, church growth and church planting that we dream of.

Principle #1 = Indigenous leaders
The movement from an emphasis on ordained ministers (product) to the identifying, equipping, releasing and coaching of indigenous “native” leaders (process).

Principle #2 = Entrusted with Proclaiming the Gospel
The movement from the control of doctrine to the depth proclamation of the gospel.

Principle #3 = Creating Missional Communities
The movement from our churches facing inward as “bounded sets” to our churches facing outward as “centered sets”.

Sound familiar? The article fleshes out each of these principles in depth. It's 22 pages, but is worth a read for those of you who are interested in the philosophy and methodology of church planting. When Tim Keller and his crew affirm what we're doing, that's a big shot in the arm. Thanks, Jesus!

LENT: Searchlight

Questions asked in the last post: Where is the mysterious work of God in repentance? What is the dynamic of spiritual repentance that differentiates it from natural penitence?

Evan’s response is insightful. I especially like this:

My struggle with repentance starts at knowing myself well enough to see what I should repent of … I wonder if the work of God in one's repentance is illumination, the light on the path, the writing in the sand.

If you are observing Lent – denying usual comforts, reorienting your life in some way around the things of God – then isn’t this your prayer? “God, illuminate my path! Search my heart and test my anxious thoughts. Shed light on my dark ways. I want a clear picture of what my life is about, and where it is headed. How will I turn from my ways if I cannot see them?”

When we are feeling the pains of hunger or the habitual desire to watch TV, our thoughts turn here: Search me, O God.

That God is the one who beckons and arouses the repentance is what makes it spiritual and not natural. Natural repentance is aroused by fear or pride. Regarding fear, I turn from my ways because I dread consequence or loss of approval from others. Regarding pride, I tell myself that I need to turn from my ways because “I’m a good Christian (a pastor, even). I must stop doing this because I don’t want to be like the kind of person who does this. I’m not like that.”

Self-protection and self-worship ride in the Trojan horse of repentance all the time. And you simply will not see it unless God shows it to you. Oh God, search me! Every dark corner and every hidden place.

How does God search and test and illuminate? God has many instruments, I suppose, but we must begin with the sharpest one, “sharper than any double-edged sword … dividing soul and spirit … judging the thoughts and attitudes of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12). The Word of God is “a lamp to our feet and a light to our path.”

This is why a greater devotion to the Bible is a good idea during the Lenten season. When we give up something – food or TV or whatever it may be – we make a clearing in our lives, but unless the clearing is illuminated we walk around in the dark.


A LENTEN PRAYER
Creator of the heavens and earth,
Speak light into our immeasurable darkness.
Expose the chaos of our steps
And bring order to our lives.

Light of the World full of grace and truth,
Open up the kingdom of heaven to us.
Tell us what you hear and see
And give us ears and eyes.

SCRIPTURE READING: John 1

LENT: Sackcloth and Exile

Three threads of thought from the comments: Confession alone is not repentance. “True repentance takes steps toward change and does not merely admit that I did something wrong.” // Regret alone is not repentance. “Repentance is remorse over a broken relationship and a genuine desire to make things right.” // Repentance is “a spiritual poverty that admits that we are refugees from God’s kingdom, that ‘makes straight the way of the Lord,’ by admitting that we’ve lost our way” (good John the Baptist connection!)

It is helpful to distinguish between terms like confession, remorse, and repentance. And between words like desire and action. Sometimes a certain aspect of an idea becomes the meaning of the idea itself in our minds. Regret or admission can pass as repentance, and likewise a show of desire can defraud repentance of true fruit.

This short-changing of repentance is part of our heritage. What we experience on an individual level was prevalent on a national scale with Israel. Naymond Keathley explains in the Holman’s Bible Dictionary:

In ancient Israel repentance was first expressed corporately. When national calamities such as famine, drought, defeat, or a plague of locusts arose, the people did not feel responsible individually for these catastrophes. Rather, they sensed that the incidents were caused by the guilt of the nation. All shared the responsibility and, consequently, the ritual of repentance. Fasting, the wearing of sackcloth (the traditional attire for mourning), the scattering of ashes, and the recitation of prayers and psalms in a penitential liturgy characterized this collective experience of worship.

It was an elaborate remorse, but not always relational in nature. Keathley continues:

With the use of such outward tokens of repentance, however, the danger of sham or pretense also arose. Ritual not accompanied by a genuine attitude of repentance was empty. Against such misleading and, therefore, futile expressions of remorse, the prophets spoke out. Their attacks upon feigned worship and their calls for genuine contrition on the part of the individual gave flower to the characteristic biblical concept of repentance. What was needed was not ritual alone, but the active involvement of the individual in making a radical change within the heart and in seeking a new direction for one's life. What was demanded was a turning from sin and at the same time a turning to God. For the prophets, such a turning or conversion was not just simply a change within a person; it was openly manifested in justice, kindness, and humility.

The term used extensively by the Prophets – shubh – means “to turn” or “return”. So the idea of returning from exile is right on. John the Baptist was cut from the same fabric as the prophets. He called his own generation to make a radical turn in the direction of their lives by pointing them to the soon-coming Messiah. Life as usual is crooked. Right side up is upside down. Make room for the straight path of Jesus.

So where does that get us? In repentance there is an apprehension of where we are (and are not), a feeling of regret that we ended up here, a decision that we will change course, and an act of the will to do so.

Hmmm, that sounds mechanistic. I mean, that is what repentance is, technically, but where is the mysterious working of God in this? What is the dynamic of spiritual repentance that differentiates it from natural penitence? And to Patrick’s question, “How do I get from regret over my sin to true repentance?”


Scripture Reading: Hosea 11 (and 12-14 if you are up for it).

Cracking Up... Literally

I wish to apologize in advance for disrupting the reverent simplicity of the Lent posts. Then again, this IS a blog, and part of the beauty of a blog is that you never know what you're going to get.

This advertisement for one of our church planting partners in Washington caused a laugh-out-loud moment around the CD offices this morning. We were thinking, "Can you DO that? I can't believe they got away with that..."

(Note to detractors: our network is a missional church planting network, which means that we are seeking to reach unchurched people instead of stealing Christians from other churches. While we do not necessarily approve of this ad in every way, we do admire these brothers for their savviness in trying to connect with the culture. You gotta admit: this ad explodes all kinds of stereotypes. Is it in poor taste? Probably. But does it grab people's attention? Yep.)

LENT: What is Repentance?

I intend to focus my reflections on a particular topic during each week of Lent. Part of my aim is to learn more about each one intellectually, but my ultimate aim is to experience more of each one, actually. This week’s theme is repentance.

I have some thoughts brewing, but I’d like to invite you into the blogersation, because this should be a community affair.

So, what is repentance? … How would you define or describe it? How do you do it? How do you know if you are truly repentant? How have you experienced repentance thus far in Lent?

Click the "comments" link below to chime in.


A LENTEN PRAYER (taken from www.hmd.org)
For sins which we ourselves have committed and for sins of omission,for sins of our hands and sins of our hearts, for the hurt we have caused you and our neighbors through ignorance or indifference, We ask your forgiveness
For failure to see your image in someone who is different, We ask your forgiveness
For putting our own welfare and social comfort above the basic needs of others, We ask your forgiveness
For our reluctance to get involved, We ask your forgiveness
For being grateful that we are in some way superior to another, We ask your forgiveness
For teaching that it is better to receive than to give, We ask your forgiveness
For the failure of your Church to be light in the darkness, We ask your forgiveness

SCRIPTURE READING: Hosea 14

LENT: Repentance

This was our focus for the first Sunday of Lent.

The Lenten season is the 40 days leading up to Easter. It is a time of preparation and repentance in which we remember Jesus’ suffering and anticipate his resurrection.

The question you often hear is, “What did you give up for Lent?” For centuries, Christians have observed Lent by fasting or other acts of self-denial. But often this tradition becomes mere ritual, or even a source of pride. We want to recapture a spirit of faith in this season.

Lent is a time of particular focus on repentance, which does not mean that we atone for our own sins, or even that we feel deep shame for them. Repentance is our response to the fact that Jesus atoned for our sins and bore our shame. In everyday language, repentance means to “change your mind” … to reconsider how we are living our lives in light of our calling in Jesus.

So during Lent, we deny usual comforts as a means to deepen our sense of union with Jesus. We give up things that lie at the heart of our consumer lifestyles because we want to be consumed with God. We want to experience something of Jesus’ suffering in the wilderness so that we may exult all the more in his resurrection on Easter morning.

But it begins in ashes. On Wednesday we marked our foreheads with ash as a symbol of our humanity and mortality. Repentance begins with humility.

In the book of 2 Chronicles, God instructs Solomon in a prayer of repentance ". . . if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land (7:14)."

The prayer that is called for here is not prayer for others; it is penitential prayer for the faith community. It is not a call for others to repent; it is a call for us, God’s people, to repent. It is our land that needs healed; it is our wicked ways from which we need to turn; we are the ones who need to humble ourselves and pray and seek God’s face.

Our Hymn of Response: Give Me Christ Or Else I Die

Gracious Lord, incline thy ear; My request vouchsafe to hear;
Hear my never-ceasing cry; Give me Christ, or else I die.

Wealth and honor I disdain, earthly comforts, Lord, are vain;
These can never satisfy: Give me Christ, or else I die.

All unholy and unclean, I am nothing else but sin;
On thy mercy I rely; Give me Christ, or else I die.

Thou dost freely save the lost; In thy grace alone I trust.
With my earnest suit comply; Give me Christ, or else I die.

Thou dost promise to forgive, all who in thy Son believe;
Lord, I know thou cannot lie; Give me Christ or else I die.

First Saturday of Lent

Saturday posts will be sparse. I encourage you to meditate longer on Scripture, spend extra time in prayer, or reflect on your week. You may find these questions helpful as you think about the first few days of Lent:

1. How have the sacrifices I have made affected me (my mood, thoughts, words, etc)?
2. How has God met my needs?
3. What reflections do I have about Jesus, particularly his suffering and death?
4. Is there anything that God wants me to change about how I am observing Lent?


SCRIPTURE READING: Psalm 6

LENT: Starting With The End In Mind

The Lenten season is now in flight, and there are perhaps a few groups of people at this point: latecomers, early goers, and those who are neither here nor there.

Latecomers
If Lent were a marathon, you are just now getting to the starting line while everyone else is turning the first corner. If Lent were a party, you just walked in the door and aren’t quite sure what has already been said and done. Part of you wants to blend in like you know what you are doing, and part of you wonders if you should just go home and try to make it on time next year. Good news for you: The Lent-party is a gospel party! The gospel of Jesus does not discriminate against when or how you got here. It only beckons you to come as you are.

What should you do now that you are here? Set aside some time to gain an understanding of Lent. Read “Preparing for Lent” and “Lent: Giving Up and Taking Up.” When you feel somewhat prepared for the season, dive in wherever we are in our readings and meditations and begin denying and practicing whatever you have decided upon for the Lenten season.

Early Goers
The party has already lost its luster. You are weary of running. You began with enthusiasm, but you have already forgotten at times what you are supposed to be doing, or you may simply feel defeated by how well everyone else seems to be running. In either case, the thought has crossed your mind that maybe you shouldn’t have come. Good news for you: The Lent-run is a gospel run! You are worse than you think, yet there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. You have been set free from “performing" Lent. Indeed, the very thing that Lent beckons us to consider is the death of Jesus, in whom our unfaithfulness and shame was condemned once for all, so that we may breathe easy in the company of God’s family.

What should you do if you have already strayed? Get back on course. Repent of making Lent about what you do or don’t do (or what other people do) and run to the cross where “God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do, by sending his son in the likeness of sinful flesh” (Romans 8:3). In the words of Paul, it’s not that you have already been made perfect, but that you press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of you (Philippians 3:12).

Those Who Are Neither Here Nor There
You are neither here (late) nor there (gone). You are running with the pack, fully present at the party. Good news for you: The gospel is deeper and fuller than you ever imagined! "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart" (Hebrews 12:1-3).

This is what Lent is about: joining the company of God’s people to consider Jesus’ suffering and death; denying and cleansing ourselves so that we may run straighter and stronger; gaining vision and strength from the faithfulness of God in Christ Jesus. Wherever you are today – behind, astray, on course – fix your eyes on Jesus, our brave frontrunner and generous host.


A LENTEN PRAYER (taken from the On Line ministry of Creighton University)
Lord, I know how much you love me. It’s hard for me to feel it sometimes, but I know your love is always with me. Help me to use your love as a way to persevere in my Lenten intentions. I am weak, but I know with your help, I can use these small sacrifices in my life to draw closer to you.

SCRIPTURE READING: Isaiah 53, Philippians 2:1-11

Ash Wednesday Reflections

Considering all the build up in my mind regarding Lent, yesterday was disappointingly normal. I ate, read, worked, played basketball, had people over to my house, and so on. Sure, there was Coke at the office that I didn’t drink, and cake at my house that I had to resist, but other than that, it was Wednesday like any other.

That’s okay. Life is usually normal, and spiritual formation is accomplished through very ordinary means. I say this to encourage you in case you do not feel extra spiritual during the Lenten season. You do not need to somehow conjure up a solemn spirit and somber face to participate in Lent. If self-denial and repentance bring about such things, then embrace what the Spirit is doing in you. Be on your knees before God, and live your life before the face of God.

Delight in the little things: the denial of comforts, the ongoing repentance of thoughts and attitudes, a moment of savoring God’s Word, and especially the ways in which all these things turn your attention to the suffering and death of Christ.

The part of my day that was not normal, but indeed extraordinary, was our Ash Wednesday prayer service. To describe it to you will fail to capture it, for it was a no-frills kind of service. We read Scriptures and prayers aloud, we confessed our pain and grief and sin aloud, we were marked with ashes as a sign of our mortality and humility, and we took communion to remember the suffering and death of Christ.

What I cannot convey is the bond of common humanity and sincere worship that was felt among those in the room. We were wandering in the desert together, all of us burdened by sin and relieved in Christ. When I got home I tried to tell my wife what I had felt, and the only thing I could come up with was, “celebratory repentance.” It was repentant, but it felt good, good like I wanted to sing and dance (except that I do not dance, and even if I did, it could not be called worshipful in any way). In any case, you know how relieved you feel when you let go of a burden or come clean with a sin? I felt that. I also felt angry and grieved by the condition of our world and of my own heart, but over and against my anger and grief was the relief and rest of Christ. He carries our load and pleads our case. By his wounds we are healed.


A LENTEN PRAYER
O Lord our God, long-suffering and full of compassion: Be present with us as we enter this season in which we recall our Savior’s suffering and celebrate his triumph. Give us your holy Spirit, so that as we acknowledge our sins and implore your pardon, we may also have the strength to deny ourselves and be upheld during times of temptation through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

SCRIPTURE READING: Psalm 38

FOR FURTHER REFLECTION: If you would like more guidance in prayer and reading during this season, visit the Online Ministries of Creighton University for daily prayers, meditations, and readings. Click here for the “First Four Days of Lent.” (Disclaimer: I am not in line with some theological views conveyed on this site, but I also want to recognize the insight of the writers and helpfulness of their liturgy during Lent.)

Also, we will be meeting to pray and reflect each Wednesday night from 8:00-9:00. E-mail me if you want directions or information (will@cdomaha.com).

Lent: Ready, Set, Die!

In my previous two posts (here and here), I have been talking about what it will mean to participate meaningfully in Lent. Today is the first day (Ash Wednesday), and I know some of you are still trying to figure out what to do. My advice is this: start simple.

Pick out one thing you can sacrifice as a way of entering into the wilderness with Jesus. Don’t worry about whether or not your sacrifice is a good one. It’s not a contest. Just make your aim to know Christ more fully, and trust him to lead you. Seek to replace that thing with devotion to Christ – his Word and his mission. God may lead you to give up and take up more as you go. That’s good. Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Jesus.

To help you focus your attention on God, I will be posting readings everyday with occasional prayers and meditations. Below is the first prayer and reading. But first, let me highlight a few thoughts as we enter into this season:

The Lenten season is a time of preparation and repentance in which we make our hearts ready for remembering Jesus’ passion and celebrating Jesus’ resurrection.

During Lent, we deny usual comforts as a means to deepen our sense of union with Jesus, and to re-orient our life around the things of God. We give up that which distracts and entangles us so we may consider our strategy for living, and we take up practices that will help us love Jesus with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Whatever you give up, it should be significant, something that you are in serious danger of being enslaved by. Begin with whatever habits or things that lie at the heart of your consumer lifestyle. Forsake them for the sake of being consumed by the God-life.

Whatever your sacrifice or discipline this season, let it be one of faith and not mere ritual or a source of pride. Lent is not about what we do for Christ. It is about a plumbing the depth of what he has done for us.

A LENTEN PRAYER
(from The Worship Sourcebook)

God of love, as in Jesus Christ you gave yourself to us, so may we give ourselves to you, living according to your holy will. Keep our feet firmly in the way where Christ leads us; make our mouths speak the truth that Christ teaches us; fill our bodies with the life that is Christ within us. In his holy name we pray. Amen.

SCRIPTURE READING: Psalm 51, Joel 2:12-18


Reminder: The Coram Deo Ash Wednesday service is tonight at 8:00. E-mail me if you need directions (will@cdomaha.com).

Okay, Okay, Here Are Notes for Romans 7

A couple of weeks ago, we had some technical difficulties, and my sermon on Romans 7:14-25 didn't get recorded. Which isn't that big a deal to me; we roll with the punches around here. But apparently it's a bigger deal than I thought. People have been calling our offices asking what is up. They are using their long-distance minutes to ask us to deliver the goods. People are desperate to know what this passage is saying, and for good reason, because it certainly hits at some core issues of Christian experience. So, OK, I'm posting my preaching notes, which I never do, because they generally only make sense to me. But I appreciate the platform God has given Coram Deo to spread his truth, and I especially appreciate the folks outside of Omaha who consider themselves part of our "extended flock." So, for your sake, here they are. Hopefully they will be useful to you.

Lent: Giving Up and Taking Up

"Repentance is literally to 'change your mind.' In the famous words of Dallas Willard, 'To reconsider your strategy for living based on the news of God’s Kingdom that is available in Jesus.' And that is what Lent is for, to reconsider your strategy for living. To begin a new process of deep consideration and reflection about your life. To reconsider what it means to follow Jesus, to plumb the mystery of Good Friday and Easter Sunday. To reconsider what your strategy for living should be, based on this good news" (Tod Bolsinger, Pastor at San Clemente Presbyterian Church)

I like this approach to Lent. To me, merely giving up a habit or a food or a pleasure does not seem distinctly Christian. People give up things all the time in the name of self-help, or worse, vanity and vengeance. The point of Lent, in my view, is to reorient life God-ward. This reorientation has to do with desert and wilderness.

A “wilderness experience” in our language usually means one has been gone for a while and now returns with new insight or perspective, “a new lease on life.” I think of people who have been overseas, especially in the third-world. They often speak of how different their viewpoint is now – how sickened they are by materialism and excess, how heavy their hearts are for the injustices of our world, and how lonely they are in a world of people who don’t see.

I also think of people who have been on multi-day hikes in the mountains. Something about the still mountain air jolts your footing in life. In either case, what happens is that people are stripped of their usual comforts, removed from the safety of familiarity, and are forced to see the world from a different vantage point (our lives are so small, which is nearly impossible to see from where we stand).

Something like a wilderness experience is my aim during this Lenten season. I want to shake up my life significantly enough that when I reach for my usual comforts, and grasp a fistful of air, that I am forced to cling to Christ – His body, His blood. I want to see just how upside down my world really is as my “important things” prove to be perishable goods, as the light shines on my “righteousness” and exposes the layers of “self” beneath the surface, and as my “busy” life is shown to simply lack organization and priorities, or worse, wisdom.

I want a new lease on life, a view into the vast world of God, a deep breath and long look above the tree line of self-absorption. So in Lent we focus on getting away from the life of flesh and into the life of the Spirit, denying our ways and embracing God’s. One writer sums it up this way:

For centuries, Christians have observed the season of Lent by fasting from food and observing other self-denying acts. These acts help us become more aware of our true needs. When we deny ourselves the comforts we are used to, we are more mindful of our great need for God. Also, when we deny our sinful desires, we become more acutely aware of them, for when they are not fed, they tend to surface in more noticeable ways. Most importantly, these practices make us mindful of our need for salvation by Jesus' death on the cross.

I intend to give up certain foods and activities, not in a way that just makes me think more about those things (of how I miss them), but rather in a way that awakens me to how much I miss God and desire his life-giving Spirit. So whatever we give up, it should be significant, something that we are in serious danger of being enslaved by. Begin with whatever habits or things lie at the heart of your consumer lifestyle. Forsake them for the sake of being consumed by the God-life.

This means, of course, that Lent is not only about giving up things. It is also about adding things, God-things.

• Having given up junk food for a healthy diet, what will you do with the energy you gain?
• Having given up reading magazines, what will you read now?
• Having given up e-mail, to whom will you devote meaningful conversation?
• Having given up lunch, how will you rely on God for the strength of “food from heaven”?
• Having given up TV as a default activity, how will you cultivate quality family time?
• Having given up isolation, how will you immerse yourself in community?
• Having given up shopping, will you see those who need clothing in our city?

When you deny yourself – in the myriad forms of self that inhabit sin – how will you pick up your cross and follow Jesus?

Lent is upon us (tomorrow). You need to set aside some time to pray and think about what measures you will take to reorient your life this season. What will you give up? What will you add? Start with something. You can always subtract and add more as the season progresses. If you are coming to our Ash Wednesday prayer service tomorrow night, make it your aim to have a plan in mind by then, and to dedicate yourself to it as we gather together and enter this season as a community of Christ-followers.

More Pastoral CYA

In yesterday's sermon, I attributed the phrase "the expulsive power of a superior affection" to Jonathan Edwards. Turns out the phrase is actually "the expulsive power of a new affection" and is taken from the title of a sermon by the Scottish preacher Thomas Chalmers.

Sooner or later we will get our citations right. Now, please read Will's stuff on Lent (below)!

Preparing for Lent

"Lent will be this wonderful season of grace for us if we give ourselves to it. And, we will give ourselves to it to the degree we really want it badly. So, in these days before Lent, we need to prepare our hearts. We need to prepare by realizing how much we want to grow in freedom, how much we need to lighten our spirits and experience some real joy, and how much some parts of our lives really need changing." (from the Online Ministries, Creighton University).

Indeed, it turns out there is more to Lent than deciding between coffee and chocolate. I'll be honest with you. Lent is going to require some long thought and hard work on your part, even before it gets started (Wednesday). I have been reading all week, and I am just now getting a feel for it, so to speak.

You can, of course, just decide that you are not going to drink Coke (soda pop?) for 40 days and be done with it, but you will deprive yourself of far more than Coke. You will miss something that God wants to do in you this season. To get started, I highly recommend that you do some reading and praying before Wednesday. I have linked a few articles below that will be helpful.

But first, a refresher on what Lent actually is: The Lenten season is a time of preparation and repentance in which we make our hearts ready for remembering Jesus’ passion and celebrating Jesus’ resurrection. The purpose is not merely an extended meditation on Christ’s suffering and death, but is rather a season to explore and deepen our sense of union with Christ.

The forty day period is symbolic of "repentance seasons" in the Bible:
- The great flood to cleanse the world lasted 40 days (Genesis 7:4)
- The Israelites wandered 40 years in the desert traveling to the Promised Land
- Moses stayed on the mountain of God and fasted for 40 days (Exodus 24:18)
- Nineveh was given 40 days to repent (Jonah 3:4)
- Jesus spent 40 days praying and fasting in the wilderness prior to undertaking his ministry (Matthew 4:2)

A major focus during Lent is repentance, a term which often gets confused with other terms. Tod Bolsinger, pastor of San Clemente Presbyterian Church, offers some clarity on the issue.

Many of us are confused about repentance. Some of us think of it as “penance,” that is, atoning for our sins with acts of contrition. But that is not repentance. We can’t atone for what we have done and need not try. Jesus’ work on the cross is our atonement. Some of us think of repentance as sorrow and shame for what we have done, but that is also inaccurate ... the bible has a different Greek word for sorrow.

Repentance is literally to “change your mind.” In the famous words of Dallas Willard, “To reconsider your strategy for living based on the news of God’s Kingdom that is available in Jesus.” And that is what Lent is for, to reconsider your strategy for living. To begin a new process of deep consideration and reflection about your life. To reconsider what it means to follow Jesus, to plumb the mystery of Good Friday and Easter Sunday. To reconsider what your strategy for living should be, based on this good news.

So give up Coke if you want to, but don't pretend that the absence of a beverage will sufficiently help you repent and draw near to God. I will address the question of what to give up for lent more specifically tomorrow. Meanwhile, start reading the articles below. If you are thinking you don't have time to read all of this, then you are beginning to get a feel for what Lent will require of you.


Honest to God
An insightful article that gets you "in the mood" for Lent. Very insightful reflection as we consider our heart attitudes as we approach Lent.

Giving Up Neglecting God
This article draws from the writings of St. Benedict to help us practice ways of paying more attention to God during Lent. These are practical suggestions for (re)structuring your life in ways that allow you to set your mind more wholly on God.

Preparing for Lent
This is a good article on preparing for Lent in the days leading up to it. I will make this disclaimer regarding this artcile, as well as the rest of the Creighton Collaborative Ministiries resources on Lent: Read with discernment. I am not on board, theologically speaking, with everything on this website. But I have found the authors to be insightful and thoughtful people. You will find a few treasures as you dig through various the links and articles.

Subjective Certainty and the Holy Spirit

This morning we learned from Romans 8:16 that "the Holy Spirit testifies with our Spirit that we are children of God." I made the point that this "testifying" is not formulaic or scientific... in a very personal, almost mystical way, the Spirit of God confirms within our spirit that we are God's children. The Holy Spirit creates an inner sense of confidence that cannot be manufactured; it is essentially a sort of "subjective certainty" about my status as God's son or daughter.

Some perceptive listeners asked the question: what about times of doubt or uncertainty? Is there not also an objective certainty about our salvation? Isn't it possible that, in periods when I don't feel the Holy Spirit's subjective affirmation, I can still be confident of my salvation based on the promises of the gospel?

The Bible's answer is: YES. (And thanks to these friends for asking me to clarify). Not only does the Holy Spirit testify with our spirit that we are God's children (Romans 8:16 - subjective assurance), but God has also given us "his very great and precious promises, so that through them [we] may participate in the divine nature" (2 Peter 1:4 - objective assurance).

At various times in our Christian experience, we may lean more heavily on one or the other. In times of doubt about God's revealed truth, we may lean heavily on the internal witness of the Holy Spirit. In times of doubt about God's personal presence in our lives, we may lean heavily on the promises of Scripture.

When we are most fully experiencing the gospel, however, these two facets of assurance should be working together. The objective promises of the gospel work to assure me that "he who has begun a good work in [me] (i.e. the Holy Spirit) will be faithful to complete it" (Phil 1:6). And the subjective confirmation wrought by the Holy Spirit is not just some random feeling, but rather a settled confidence that the promises of God are true for ME personally, so that I may say with the Apostle, "Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy... the grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly" (1 Tim. 1:14).

Thanks for bearing with my weaknesses in communicating God's truth. You guys rock. (And thank God for blogs, since they allow preachers to clarify things which were left ambiguous.)

Peet's Is... Really Tasty

The coffee snobbery at the Coram Deo offices has reached new heights today with the arrival of our first shipment of Peet's coffee, air-mailed from the West Coast. (Unfortunately Peet's does not deem Omaha worthy of its own store, despite the frigid temperatures that clearly increase coffee consumption.) Notice that this delectable bag of goodness has the date of its roasting printed on the bag, ensuring its freshness and flavor. The kingdom of God must go forward, and its progress cannot be hindered by inferior bean!

Oversight

I intended to give more credit to Tim Keller in my sermon than I did. I mean, I qouted him several times, but I meant to say on the front end that I was borrowing heavily from his teaching about the gospel. It was even written in my notes to do so, but it turns out notes are only helpful if you can keep your place in them.

No Audio for Romans 7

Bad news: due to a malfunction, the audio from yesterday's sermon on Romans 7:14-25 was not recorded. Major apologies, especially to those of you outside the Coram Deo community who have been listening online.

I would perhaps suggest reading or listening to John Piper's sermons on this passage. Granted, it took him 6 sermons to preach this text... but that's why he's a big-shot preacher and I'm not.

The Flesh

Since we've had a thread going on this blog about Bible translation, I figured I'd continue to stir the pot.

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that for the current portion of our Romans study (chapters 6-8), I am using the ESV translation of the Bible rather than the NIV. The change is prompted by the way the NIV translation committee chose to render the word "flesh."

"Flesh" (sarx in Greek) is a complex word in the New Testament. Sometimes it refers simply to the physical body, as in Ephesians 5:29: “For no one ever hated his own body, but nourishes and cherishes it…” (note that the NIV has rendered sarx as "body" in this instance). But even casual readers can see that in Romans 6-8, Paul uses sarx to speak of something deeper and more elemental to our fallen human nature. Different commentators have spoken of sarx in Romans 7 as “the false and fallen self” (John Stott), “human nature as corrupted, directed, and controlled by sin” (John Murray), and “all that belongs to men, apart from the Holy Spirit” (Charles Hodge).

Here is where the NIV translation committee chose, in my view, to interpret rather than to translate. Instead of writing "flesh" for sarx in Romans 6-8, they opted for the term "sinful nature." That is not necessarily a bad translation; it certainly gets at a piece of what Paul is saying. But neither is it an accurate translation. Instead of telling you what Paul actually wrote and making you figure it out, the NIV translators are essentially telling you: "Even though Paul wrote the word flesh, what he meant to say was sinful nature." This rendering is overly limiting. It suggests that our struggle against "the flesh" is an internal battle, as if we are at war with ourselves in some navel-gazing, self-deprecating way. And that is not the case.

Instead, the battle against the flesh is a struggle to live the kingdom life. It reflects the tension of aligning our lives under God's rule and reign. In the words of Herman Ridderbos, “The Spirit… [is to be taken] not first and foremost as an individual experience… but as a new way of existence… being in the Spirit… means you are no longer in the power of the old [age] [i.e. the flesh]; you have passed into a new one, you are under a different authority” (Ridderbos, When the Time Had Fully Come).

If, as the NIV suggests, the struggle against the flesh is primarily a fight against my own sinful nature, then it's a pretty individualistic battle. But if conquering "the flesh" is about reversing the effects of the Fall by submitting to God's rule and reign, then community is essential. My subjective struggles are part of a greater objective struggle. They typify the fight between the “kingdom of this world” and “the kingdom of our Lord and Christ,” which will not be finally resolved until Jesus' return (cf. Rev. 11:15). We who seek for God's kingdom to come "on earth as it is in heaven" must use every resource available to help each other orient our lives around the deep spiritual realities of that kingdom.

So we will preach from the ESV in order to capture the full range of Paul's intended meaning in this passage. Don't throw away your NIV... it's a still good and reliable translation. But Romans 6-8 is a good case study for the importance of reading and studying from multiple translations of the Bible.

Beer and the Bible

Acts 29 pastor Darrin Patrick (The Journey/St. Louis, MO) got a little air time on MSNBC this week because of a spat with the Baptists regarding beer.

The Journey hosts a once-a-month "middle space" type gathering at a local brewpub... and apparently some teetotaling Baptists in St. Louis aren't too happy about it. Check out Darrin's responses for a really good model of engaging the culture like Jesus without dissing our more conservative brethren.

The MSNBC clip is here (click on "Beer and the Bible")

A print article on the controversy from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch can be found here