"Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise." (Deuteronomy 6:4-7)
I couldn't help but think of the very obvious and intended application for parents in these verses. One of the main implications that struck me was the fact that Biblical Christianity and Biblical parenting are not compartmentalized. You should not have the Bible as your guide and the topic of discussion only in Sunday school and at church. Here the Bible is to be the topic "when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise." We should be teaching our children, not only at set times for catechism and family devotions but also in the milieu of life. They should know that the word of God and the God of the word are relevant and supreme in all realms of life, not just at church on Sunday.
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Friday, November 03, 2006
A Poem for Your Birthday
"What do you want to be when you grow up?" is the question people regularly ask children. We, as parents, have the advantage of life experience to answer this question. Many parents would answer the question differently if they could answer if for their children. As Christian parents, we should answer differently than parents that are not Christians. What the world wants for their children and what Christians want for their children should be noticeably different. The world may want things like wealth, fame, power, reputation, etc. A biblical vision for what we want for our children should look quite different. I asked myself what I want for my oldest child and it turned into a poem. This poem is my feeble attempt to put into words my mission for my firstborn son:
Tyler, When You Grow Up
When you grow up,
I want you to show yourself a man
When you grow up,
I want you to show mercy as much as you can
When you grow up,
I want you to love God and hate sin
When you grow up,
I want you to fear God and not men
When you grow up,
I want you to know your God and know yourself
When you grow up,
I want you to lead and love your wife
When you grow up,
I want you to train your children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord
When you grow up,
I want you to be a doer of the word
When you grow up,
I want you to speak truth boldly and without fear
When you grow up,
I want you to know that your home is not here
When you grow up,
I want you to find your joy in God and store up treasure in heaven
When you grow up,
I want you to be a passionate man
When you grow up,
I want you to cherish doctrine
When you grow up,
I want you to exalt Christ’s name and avoid self-glorification
When you grow up,
I want you to do risk-taking acts of love
When you grow up,
I want you to set your mind on things above
When you grow up,
I want you to love others enough to say what they don’t like
When you grow up,
I want you to save your life by losing your life
When you grow up,
I want you to deserve nothing in your own mind
When you grow up,
I want you to be genuinely kind
And when you grow up, son, I want you to know,
That wherever your earthly father is, your heavenly father is with you wherever you go
Tyler, When You Grow Up
When you grow up,
I want you to show yourself a man
When you grow up,
I want you to show mercy as much as you can
When you grow up,
I want you to love God and hate sin
When you grow up,
I want you to fear God and not men
When you grow up,
I want you to know your God and know yourself
When you grow up,
I want you to lead and love your wife
When you grow up,
I want you to train your children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord
When you grow up,
I want you to be a doer of the word
When you grow up,
I want you to speak truth boldly and without fear
When you grow up,
I want you to know that your home is not here
When you grow up,
I want you to find your joy in God and store up treasure in heaven
When you grow up,
I want you to be a passionate man
When you grow up,
I want you to cherish doctrine
When you grow up,
I want you to exalt Christ’s name and avoid self-glorification
When you grow up,
I want you to do risk-taking acts of love
When you grow up,
I want you to set your mind on things above
When you grow up,
I want you to love others enough to say what they don’t like
When you grow up,
I want you to save your life by losing your life
When you grow up,
I want you to deserve nothing in your own mind
When you grow up,
I want you to be genuinely kind
And when you grow up, son, I want you to know,
That wherever your earthly father is, your heavenly father is with you wherever you go
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
BACK FROM THE DEAD!
I am still alive. Just been pretty busy. Here is something I was thinking about today:
"God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? (Numbers 23:19)
This verse is full of theology. Yes, that bad word “theology”. It is all about God. It is not man-centered. In fact, it is bringing out the point that man is not to be admired, but that man, unlike God, is sinful and therefore he lies. It also brings out the fact that man is weak and lacking knowledge and wisdom and, therefore, changes his mind about things. It is a thoroughly God-centered verse. It shows that God is true and never lies. It shows that God is omniscient and, therefore has unlimited knowledge of the past present and future in all places. Therefore, He never makes a decision based on a limited amount of knowledge, only to learn that His decision was based on wrong assumptions. That has never happened. It never will. He doesn’t change his mind. He never says that He will do one thing only to decide against it later. He never tells us He will do one thing and decides to do another. He never promises not to do something only to turn around and do it anyway. That has never happened.
The argument I have heard is that theology is not practical or relevant. Therefore, we must find preaching that is practical and nitty gritty. This theology stuff is not relevant and it has nothing to do with how we live our lives. This verse, which is very theological, has immense practical implications and is a testimony to the fact that the argument outlined above is shortsighted. This argument is a perfect reflection that shows how pragmatic, impatient and lazy our culture has become (including most who fill the pews of our churches every Sunday). All one needs to do is ask the question:
“Why does the fact that God never changes His mind and never lies matter to us?”
I answer with another question: What if we really believed that God would never lie and that he never changed his mind?
You guys tell me the implications of such a wonderful truth…
"God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? (Numbers 23:19)
This verse is full of theology. Yes, that bad word “theology”. It is all about God. It is not man-centered. In fact, it is bringing out the point that man is not to be admired, but that man, unlike God, is sinful and therefore he lies. It also brings out the fact that man is weak and lacking knowledge and wisdom and, therefore, changes his mind about things. It is a thoroughly God-centered verse. It shows that God is true and never lies. It shows that God is omniscient and, therefore has unlimited knowledge of the past present and future in all places. Therefore, He never makes a decision based on a limited amount of knowledge, only to learn that His decision was based on wrong assumptions. That has never happened. It never will. He doesn’t change his mind. He never says that He will do one thing only to decide against it later. He never tells us He will do one thing and decides to do another. He never promises not to do something only to turn around and do it anyway. That has never happened.
The argument I have heard is that theology is not practical or relevant. Therefore, we must find preaching that is practical and nitty gritty. This theology stuff is not relevant and it has nothing to do with how we live our lives. This verse, which is very theological, has immense practical implications and is a testimony to the fact that the argument outlined above is shortsighted. This argument is a perfect reflection that shows how pragmatic, impatient and lazy our culture has become (including most who fill the pews of our churches every Sunday). All one needs to do is ask the question:
“Why does the fact that God never changes His mind and never lies matter to us?”
I answer with another question: What if we really believed that God would never lie and that he never changed his mind?
You guys tell me the implications of such a wonderful truth…
Monday, January 23, 2006
To Teach, or not to Teach
One thing I have been puzzled about is the tension between James 3:1 and Hebrews 5:12
Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment. (James 3:1)
For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. (Hebrews 5:12)
Well at first glance it seems that these two texts are contradicting one another. One says that not many should not aspire to teaching because there will be a stricter judgement. The other says that one thing that naturally comes with maturity is to be teachers. These people weren't ready to be teachers because of their spiritual immaturity, but they should have been teaching. So how do these fit together? The Greek word will not help. It is the same Greek word used in both verses. I will let you guys help me on this one too. I know there are some exegetical geniuses out there that read my blog, so let er rip!
Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment. (James 3:1)
For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. (Hebrews 5:12)
Well at first glance it seems that these two texts are contradicting one another. One says that not many should not aspire to teaching because there will be a stricter judgement. The other says that one thing that naturally comes with maturity is to be teachers. These people weren't ready to be teachers because of their spiritual immaturity, but they should have been teaching. So how do these fit together? The Greek word will not help. It is the same Greek word used in both verses. I will let you guys help me on this one too. I know there are some exegetical geniuses out there that read my blog, so let er rip!
Monday, January 09, 2006
Why memorize scripture?
This is from a devotional I prepared for our youth group. One of my resolutions is to memorize the fighter verses (used by John Piper @ Desiring God and Bethlehem Baptist church in Minneapolis) for the year 2006. If you following this program, you will have memorized one strategicly chosen passage of scripture each week to help you fight the fight of faith. It is my goal to do this. Here are some motivations for so doing:
1. To know specifics about God
2. To know specifics about His commands (1 John 5:2-3; 2 John 1:6)
3. To know the promises of God (2 Peter 1:1-4)
4. To be transformed by the renewing of your mind (Romans 12:1-2)
5. To avoid sinning against God (Psalm 119:9-11; Luke 4:1-13)
6. To be strong in times of adversity (Psalm 1:1-3)
7. To be a Christian sage (Proverbs 22:17-21)
Definition for sage: One venerated for experience, judgment, and wisdom.
8. To become what you think about (Proverbs 23:7)
9. To learn, support, and defend sound doctrines of the Christian faith
10. To promote Biblical prayers
Different types of verses to memorize:
a. Verses that tell about the attributes of God ("The Lord is gracious, slow to anger," etc.)
b. Verses that tell about the positive commands (i.e. "You shall love your neighbor...")
c. Verses that tell about the negative commands (i.e. "You shall have no other gods before Me")
d. Verses that aren't commands, but that help you be wise and live life and avoid pitfalls (Proverbs)
e. Verses that tell about the promises of God (i.e. "I will remember their sins no more")
f. Verses that teach solid doctrine and help us understand the gospel and our salvation (i.e. "By grace you have been saved through faith")
g. Verses that are models for good prayers (i.e. the Lord's prayer, Ephesians 1, Ephesians 3, etc.)
It is good for us to memorize all these different categories of scriptures in order to have our minds transformed into the mind of Christ. This, with the Holy Spirit's help will cause us to begin to not only think the way Christ thinks but also to feel the way He feels about things. We will begin to hate sin, love people, and most of all love God more and more. Let's resolve to memorize more scripture in 2006!
1. To know specifics about God
2. To know specifics about His commands (1 John 5:2-3; 2 John 1:6)
3. To know the promises of God (2 Peter 1:1-4)
4. To be transformed by the renewing of your mind (Romans 12:1-2)
5. To avoid sinning against God (Psalm 119:9-11; Luke 4:1-13)
6. To be strong in times of adversity (Psalm 1:1-3)
7. To be a Christian sage (Proverbs 22:17-21)
Definition for sage: One venerated for experience, judgment, and wisdom.
8. To become what you think about (Proverbs 23:7)
9. To learn, support, and defend sound doctrines of the Christian faith
10. To promote Biblical prayers
Different types of verses to memorize:
a. Verses that tell about the attributes of God ("The Lord is gracious, slow to anger," etc.)
b. Verses that tell about the positive commands (i.e. "You shall love your neighbor...")
c. Verses that tell about the negative commands (i.e. "You shall have no other gods before Me")
d. Verses that aren't commands, but that help you be wise and live life and avoid pitfalls (Proverbs)
e. Verses that tell about the promises of God (i.e. "I will remember their sins no more")
f. Verses that teach solid doctrine and help us understand the gospel and our salvation (i.e. "By grace you have been saved through faith")
g. Verses that are models for good prayers (i.e. the Lord's prayer, Ephesians 1, Ephesians 3, etc.)
It is good for us to memorize all these different categories of scriptures in order to have our minds transformed into the mind of Christ. This, with the Holy Spirit's help will cause us to begin to not only think the way Christ thinks but also to feel the way He feels about things. We will begin to hate sin, love people, and most of all love God more and more. Let's resolve to memorize more scripture in 2006!
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