From “Morning by Morning” by C.H. Spurgeon

January 12
‘Ye are Christ’s’
1 Corinthians 3:23

‘Ye are Christ’s.’  You are his by donation, for the Father gave you to the Son; His by His bloody purchase, for He counted down the price for your redemption; His by dedication, for you have consecrated yourself to Him; His by relation, for you are named by His name, and made one of His brethren and joint-heirs.  Labour practically to show the world that you are the servant, the friend, the bride of Jesus.  When tempted to sin, reply, ‘I cannot do this great wickedness, for I am Christ’s’.  Immortal principles forbid the friend of Christ to sin.  When wealth is before you to be won by sin, say that you are Christ’s, and touch it not. Are you exposed to difficulties and dangers?  Stand fast in the evil day, remembering that you are Christ’s.  Are you placed where others are sitting down idly, doing nothing?  Rise to the work with all your powers; and when the sweat stands upon your brow, and you are tempted to loiter, cry, ‘No, I cannot stop, for I am Christ’s.  If I were not purchased by blood, I might be like Issachar, crouching between two burdens; but I am Christ’s, and cannot loiter.’  When the siren song of pleasure would tempt you from teh path of right, reply, ‘ Thy music cannot charm me; I am Christ’s’.  When the cause of god invites thee, give thyself to it; when the poor require thee, give thy goods and thyself away, for thou art Christ’s.  Never belie thy profession.  Be thou ever one of those whose manners are Christian, whose speech is like the Nazarene, whose conduct and conversation are so redolent of heaven, that all who see you may know that you are the Saviour’s, recognizing in you His features of love and His countenance of holiness. ‘I am a Roman!’ was of old a reason for integrity; far more, then, let it be your argument for holiness, ‘I am Christ’s!’

I hope you find this challenging and encouraging!

Back from Break

I wish that I could claim that I took a little break for the holidays, but in reality I have just not made the time to update the blog.  A lot of changes have happened recently with the move across country from Kentucky back to Utah.  Hopefully some of these changes will spark ideas for writing.  In the meantime, if you are looking for something to create food for thought you should check out Charles Spurgeon’s Morning by Morning/Evening by Evening readings.  They are deep and thought provoking and will hopefully spur you on toward greater faithfulness as it regards to your time in the Word of God. Some of the near-future posts will likely be my own reflections upon Spurgeon’s writing.

Petition Against Freedom of Choice Act

I’m not feeling super original but I have been made aware of a website that is seeking to defend the lives of unborn babies and to maintain state and federal laws that currently limit various types of abortion.  Our new administration has made it a priority to sign into law the “Freedom of Choice Act” which would essentially make all forms of abortion legal which includes not requiring parental consent for girls as young as 12 who are seeking abortions.  The Act would also no longer require clinics to inform women of the dangers of abortion procedures.  For the sake of thousands (and even millions) of babies and young women who are affected by abortions every year, I would ask that you take a few minutes to check out the following website and sign the petition if you feel so led. 

http://www.fightfoca.com/

I firmly believe that as American citizens, we are called to support our administration regardless of who is in office but that we are also obligated to protect the vulnerable and innocent of our nation.  May we band together in prayer and petition and defend the lives of the defenseless.  Feel free to drop a comment.

Excerpt from “Resurrecting the Dead Church”

The following is an excerpt from Frank Fears’ Resurrecting the Dead Church.  It is a quick read that is well worth the short amount of time that it takes to work through.  You can find the book at www.thedeadchurch.com.

It is no mystery why “harvested” Christians are rare.  For decades, most churches have settled for transfer increase rather than growth.  We have augmented that “increase”, by reaching a percentage of our biological issue.  Numerical increase by “sheep swapping” does nothing to extend the kingdom.  Actual conversion grown churches are virtually non-existent.  And reaching our own children is scarcely working the fields which Jesus described as white unto harvest.  While training our children in the fear and admonition of the Lord is our responsibility, the gospel was never meant to be kept a family secret.  We have hoarded what we were told to share.  Refusal to obey the Great Commission is a blatant and shameful denial of our Lord and Savior.  Peter’s denial of Christ was rooted in fear; ours is rooted in apathy.  The pain that our denial causes Christ is no less.  The sin of silence is a cancer that has corrupted our communion with God.  It quenches the Spirit, as perhaps nothing else can.  And we have embraced it.  It has permeated our churches by default, and by open acceptance.  Dead churches are the poisonous fruit of that sin.

Ultimately, the state of any church is the responsibility of the leadership.  “Swapping sheep” and dunking children too small to cross the street unattended is what passes for leadership in most churches.  The “consumer Christianity” mindset has as its priority the entertainment and attraction of members from other churches.  The growth of one congregation is at the expense of others; we redistribute instead of multiply.  The definition of a growing church is one that is attracting more members than are currently wandering off.  Success is measured by how many attend,  how much is collected, and how enthused most are about the “awesome” music, “awesome” building, “awesome” programs, and “awesome” friendliness found at one’s church.

Christ’s priority of seeking and saving the lost is only given lip service.  Feeding the sheep is secondary to entertaining the goats.  Long forgotten is the overarching responsibility of pastor-teachers, evangelists, prophets, and apostles.  All those offices had a common function, in addition to their individual roles.  Ephesians 4:12 tells us that they are to jointly, and in tandem, do something essential to the life of the church, and to the extension of the kingdom.  They are instructed to equip the saints to do the work of the ministry.  After equipping it falls to leadership to mobilize, encourage, and to lead by example.  Church leaders were never meant to be the “professional” Christians; to do all the sharing and all the caring.  The instruction was to equip; to perfect, as in bring to reproductive maturity.  Only then is it possible to lead by example.

The Misconception of Age (Part 2)

“A gray head is a crown of glory; It is found in the way of righteousness.” – Proverbs 16:31

This post follows on the heels of the previous one regarding old age/longevity.  This verse has continued to shape my thinking about life and about my own thoughts on age.

It is my great concern that the older people in our churches, communities, and families are being taken for granted by younger generations.  We view the blue-haired people in the church as cute pew decorations rather than seeing them as the seasoned warriors of the faith that they truly are.  Why should we continue to struggle with all of the age-old questions of how we ought to do things when our churches are full of people who have life experience and years of faithful God-fearing under their belts?

Many people will contend and say something to the effect of, “Why should we listen to older people? All they want to do is make us do things the way they’ve always been done…and who wants to sing hymns every Sunday anyway?”  While this example might be a little exaggerated, I am sure that many of us in the younger generations have wrestled with thoughts such as these at some point. 

However, I might suggest that we would be wise to remember that the zeal of our youth will one day give way to a more determined and static understanding of the church and of the gospel.  This is not the emergency that it might seem to be.  It is only natural that we would grow and mature in our understanding of the way that things ought to be done and we too will hold onto the way that we have grown accustomed to doing things. 

Maybe the problem isn’t necessarily that older people are too unwilling to change, but that as younger people we have failed to realize the importance and the value of the believers who have gone before us.  It is much to my dismay that we treat those with the gray-haired crown of splendor with disdain and disrespect rather than taking the time to honor them as heroes of the faith who have faithfully modeled submission to Christ to the rest of the body of Christ.

May we stop and thank God that we have been blessed with believers who have carried the torch of faith and who have faithfully invested in the church so that we as young adults might experience the fullness of the gospel within the church, the Bride of Christ.