marriage and men

A couple months ago i wrote a article on godly women, recently i was introduced to a video sermon online that speaks to men in a much needed and accurate way (honestly the best message on men that i have ever heard). The message is by Mark Driscoll from Mars Hill Church it is entitled Marriage and Men. This message is one for all men and all men should watch it. if you are a married man you need to watch this video. if you are a single man you really, really need to watch this video. the sermon if 73 min long so instead of watching an episode of lost or 24 that means nothing, sit and watch the sermon. i will put the link to it below to make it even easier.


http://www.marshillchurch.org/media/trial/marriage-and-men

This is the logo for many of the organic churches. It may not have the whole thing but many of them will have in it the cross with the roots. just thought you'd like to know.

Organic Church?

I just ran across a term that i was unfamiliar with and had to do some investigating on. it is the term "Organic Church" my guess is that many of you do not know much or anything of this type of church so let me briefly catch you up to speed. An Organic Church uses the illustration of plants or food when we call something organic it means that you simply put the seed in the ground and let it grow then the fruit is "organic." that is the principle of the organic church. you basically put a bunch of christian people in a room then the fruit of that will be an organic church. i do not believe that this is the biblical form a church should take. i would say that they go as far in the direction of non-traditional church as the Catholics go in traditional church. (traditional would be defined as having a structured meeting time, programs to facilitate spiritual growth, and church leadership) Where the Catholic church puts in a rigid structure to the service, institutionalizes things like mass and catechisms, and has a priest who intercedes for the congregation. the Organic church removes them. therefore there is no longer any structure to a meeting, there are no developed programs designed to foster spiritual growth and there is no leadership (they would call it hierarchy although i believe in the priesthood of all believers so therefore all believers are accountable to God though still being lead in the church by pastors and elders). This is a dangerous movement because the Bible lays out certain guidelines that are to be followed by a local church. They don't seem to be following the guidelines found in 1 Timothy and Titus along with other passages throughout the New Testament. If they do not follow them or say that they are not relevant i would have to question their view (or views since there is no leadership) on the authority of Scripture. If we are going to throw out guidelines on the structure of a church then why not throw out guidelines on marriage and sin and then where do we stop? Please do not fall into this trap as good as it sounds it is not based on the Word of God and therefore should be opposed by believers.

knowledge leads to worship

This last week was spent preparing a message that I was to give in one of my classes in seminary. The passage I was explaining was 1 Chronicles 13-16. in this account David is seeming to do the will of God by transporting the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem to establish a central place of worship for Israel; however, as he is doing this he breaks two commands of God in regards to how the Ark should be transported (only by the Levites and carried by the poles that were in it). While on their trek to Jerusalem the ox pulling the cart that the Ark is on stumbles and in an effort to catch the Ark Uzzah reaches out and places his hand on the Ark. In response to this God kills Uzzah and David becomes fearful of God (not the fear that is awe/respect but rather fright/scared). Throughout this situation David has an incorrect view of who God is. He doesn't understand that God not only has a will he is accomplishing but also a way in which he wants it accomplished. In the next couple chapters David goes through a transformation of his understanding ultimately a correct view of who God is in regards to doing His will His way. At the end of chapter 15 and nearly all of chapter 16 we see David's expression of passionate worship of God. Instead of responding in an inaccurate fear of God he responds in inspired worship of Him. IN my study of this passage, in conjuction with other situations that have occured in the past couple weeks, I have come to a conclusion that when we come to a new or refreshed understanding of who God is it will motivate the passion of our worship of Him. If we are experiencing dull boring worship the first place to look is not the style of the worship or the structure of the song, the first place to look is our understanding of God. If we have been learning about God the passion of our worship will ultimately be affected by it. There is another area that i have been thinking and wrestling with for a few days is in the area of our corporate worship. the typical Sunday morning service has singing first and then the sermon; however, if it is true that coming to a new or refreshed understanding of God will impact the passion of worship then why do we structure our service in this way? Should we not learn about God through the sermon and then give opprotunity to the body of Christ to express that corporatly through the singing of praise to Him.

submission not death

In my Greek class this semester one of the passages we were asked to translate was Mark 8:34-38. This is the section where Jesus says the line "if anyone desires to follow after me, he must deny himself and take (or carry) his cross and follow me." My professor, as he was working through the text with us, pointed this out. Jesus was not commanding that the disciples sacrifice their lives for him as a martyr (though that would ultimately be the case for all of them, including John though not tortured was sent as an exile to Patmos where he would eventually die.) in the time of Christ carrying your cross was not about the punishment, it was not really even about the crime that was committed but it had to do with the criminal showing their submission to the authority. I believe that this is what Christ was getting at when he made this statment, not that we would seek to be a martyr for him (I do not want to take away from those who have died a martyrs death because of the cause of Christ, this is remarkable and a level of sacrifce that should be modelled but I do not believe that martyrdom is the ultimate end or pursuit that every believer should be striving for) we need instead to consecrate our lives in a way that would prevent us from falling into the same trap that Peter fell into in the few short verses before this verse. Jesus calls Peter out because he has set his mind on the things of man and not on the things of God. In an effort to get the disciples on board and having an attitude of submission towards God's perfect will, that of Christ being sacrificed on the cross Jesus brings to mind an illustration that would be very prevelent in the minds of the disciples. "Take up your cross and follow me." We are fulfilling this teaching of Christ as we live our lives in a way that would demonstrte our submission to the will of God.

the harvest needs our prayer first...

In Matthew 9:35-38 we have the ever popular missionary text that Jesus taught about the laborers and the harvest [note: this post is in no way attempting to diminish mission work. Missions (both local and international) is a very vital ministry and held in high regard by the author.]. As i was looking over this passage today I noticed something, nowhere in this passage does Jesus send the disciples to go collect the harvest that he is speaking about. Later on in chapter ten he does commission the twelve to go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, but in the immediate context of this passage Jesus does not send them out. I do not question at all that there needs to be an increase in the laborers around the world but I do not believe that was Jesus' main point in his teaching here in this text. He does propose the problem "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few;" but notice the semi-colon (at least it is one in the ESV) , it means he does not stop there, he also gives the disciples (and us) the answer, or solution, to that problem. "Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest." After noticing the need for the harvest (wherever it is Africa, New York City, the coffee shop in your home town) the first and only real solution that Jesus gives us in this passage is to pray for God to bring His laborers to come and collect His harvest. It is interesting how it all centers around God it is His harvest to bring in. This passage is not a call to action but a call to faith. We need to be trusting that God will bring His laborers to collect His harvest. However another responsibility is listen to God and desiring to follow HIs will in all we do. So God could call us to be His laborers for that harvest, but our first duty, or rather privilege, is to pray to God out of of a truly compassionate heart for the lost hurting and helpless people that we see.