Heart Soul and Might

If you haven’t yet visited Together For the Gospel blog, you need to. I have really been inspired and intrigued by Ligon Duncan’s 7-part series on “Pastors - Studying and Reading” - I guess primarily intended for pastors, but beneficial for EVERYONE who wants to grow in their knowledge of God and depth of their faith. I have gotten some great ideas not only on what to add to my reading list, but on what not to add to my reading list, and why. All of the contributors to this blog - Mark Dever, Ligon Duncan, Al Mohler and CJ Mahaney - are well-read, well-spoken and humble.

Also, Bob Kauflin’s series (pt. 14 so far) on “What Does a Worship Leader Do?” at Worship Matters is really quite comprehensive and, while primarily written for worship leaders, is great “perspective-giving” reading for any worshipper. I really respect Kauflin’s perspective, and as a worship leader myself, have been challenged and inspired.

My friend and fellow pastor at Fellowship, Reid Monaghan, blogs at Power of Change Blog and is a must read. His perspective is always thoughtful and his insights are beyond his years. His area of primary interest is apologetics and he has done some work regarding The Da Vinci Code that you will want to check out.

I had alluded to Dr. Ben Witherington’s mistaken comments regarding the origin of the ESV translation… Between Two Worlds publishes here Witherington’s apology concerning his comments. I admire his humility, and agree that he should have done more research before making those statements.

HT: Between Two Worlds

A year ago, I was inspired by an evening with John Piper (is anyone surprised?) to consider changing from reading the NASB version of Scripture to the ESV. Piper presented a very compelling and impassioned case, and I made the switch. I have truly enjoyed the last year diving into the Word in this fresh, very readable, highly accurate and literal translation.

Click here to read ESV Blog’s story of the origins of the ESV translation. This is in response to Ben Witherington’s inaccurate account. For perspective, you can read his thoughts here.

Click here for the ESV homepage for more in depth information regarding this beautiful translation.

Wow. I just returned from an evening with five highly talented, working artists who God is using to change the world. Our Fellowship Arts Ministry partnered with Crucible International for the last installment of our Crucible Symposium Series entitled “Exploring Art and Faith”, with a panel discussion featuring Charlie Peacock (Dove Award winning writer, producer, artist), Ron Block (Grammy winning songwriter and guitar/banjo player for Allison Krauss and Union Station), Evelyn Brush (actress), Sharon Perry (dance instructor and choreographer) and David Arms (award winning painter). Dave Durham, the founder of Crucible International, hosted and moderated the panel, probing with provocative questions that explored the depths of their journeys as artists integrating their faith with their art and vocation.

The painting shown here is one David Arms displayed at the Symposium and is also on display at Bennett Galleries, entitled “The Feeling of Forgiveness.” David shared the story behind a number of his pieces - many of his recent works inspired by our Teaching Pastor, Lloyd Shadrach.

Ron Block, who is not only an amazing musician, but a thoughtful writer as well, told the story of his rise to success as the “secret weapon” of Allison Krauss’ band, only to crash and hit rock bottom ten years ago because, as he told it, he had “hooked up to the IV of worldly self-worth.” He explained that, while he was extremely successful in the eyes of the world, his self-worth was completely wrapped up in what he did, not in who he was. If he played good, he felt good about himself. If he played bad, he felt terrible about himself. It was not until he hit ground zero and realized his need to place his self-worth in what God believed about him, that he was able to turn things around. He turned to the “identity passages” in scripture to understand what is true about who he is in Christ - not the deceptions that self believes. Ron, who has 13 Grammys in his collection and played extensively on the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack, also dazzled us with a couple tunes this evening.

I really resonated with what Ron talked about, because I have struggled at various times with my identity being wrapped up more in what I do that in who I am. I too often hook up to the IV of others’ approval and determine my self worth based on whether others approve or not, rather on the fact that I’m a blood-bought child of God who He absolutely delights in. If you have struggled in the same way, I pray that you will find the truth - that God delights in You because you are His child, and that He takes pleasure in fulfilling His purpose for your life. I still battle, but I’m coming to realize in greater measure this truth, as I saturate my life with the promises of God outlined in His scripture.

I was especially compelled by Charlie Peacock’s story as a jazz musician who found Christ and has spent a lifetime working out how his faith informs his art. Being a lover of jazz myself (and influenced a number of years ago by Charlie’s lecture on the life of John Coltrane), I appreciate Charlie’s dogged determination to be true to who he is as an artist even in the face of industry demands for marketability - and even adding a little improvisation in everything he does. His recent jazz release, Love Press Ex Curio, is from his perspective, the jazz record he’s always wanted to do, and is an authentic expression of who he is as an artist. On this project, he wasn’t constrained by his record label’s need to market the project, so allowing him to explore some of the musical edges he’s not been able to in the past. I long to live in that freedom as an artist as well.

While this symposium was an evening of peering into the stories of five highly successful artists, in the end it was always about the glory of God, not the art. The art is a means to the end of glorifying God in all of life. It just so happens that art, by definition, speaks in a way that nothing else can - and so is able to reveal the glory of God in a way that nothing else can. Especially art that possesses all the qualities of beauty. (see my post here on Barbara Nicolosi’s talk concerning beauty) And what became clearly evident was that each of these artists ultimately focus not on their art or their career, but on how their art and their career point to the glory of God.

I will close with a quote from a book to which Charlie contributed (I picked it up tonight), that puts this all in perspective rather well:

“Here’s what I’ve figured out for myself. My life and my art are going to tell a story whether I try to or not. They will tell a story that says: ‘This is what a follower of Jesus is. This is what he is about. This is what he believes. This is what he thinks is important.’ Because this is going to happen and can’t be stopped, I had better make sure I know my role and my job description: a Christian is a living explanation. As I go about living I will either make the teaching about God the Savior attractive or I won’t. I make it attractive by living out what it is. It’s attractive without me. My life and artistic work is to represent it accurately and not do violence to its attractiveness…Be who and what you are. There is no truer starting place for making good and true art.”

Charlie Peacock, Making Art Like a True Artist, from It Was Good: Making Art to the Glory of God, Square Halo Books, 2000, p. 122.

I read Psalm 36 this morning and am always compelled by the following verses:

Psalm 36:7-9 “How precious is Your steadfast love, O God!

The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of Your wings.

They feast on the abundance of Your house,

And You give them drink from the river of Your delights...

For with You is the fountain of life;

In Your light do we see light.”

O, how I long to feast on the abundance of God and drink freely from the river of His delights. To delight in what He delights in… this is my desire. To taste and see that the Lord is good and experience all that He has in store for those who truly treasure Him, cherish Him, value Him above any other. To put my hands down into the fountain of life and draw the water to my lips, drinking to my heart’s content. This is what God desires out of His relationship with me… He longs to be the refuge under whose wings I find shade - and the ever-abundant source of goodness from which I draw my strength. What delights await, O Lord, for those who by faith come to the river, get down on their hands and knees and drink to their satisfaction? The river of delights - love, grace, mercy, forgiveness… May we come to you in our neediness and our complete dependence to simply drink… and be filled.

Ok… so, I’ve written two posts on this book now and have said that everyone should read it. For another, more weighty endorsement, read Mark Dever’s post here at Together for the Gospel - now definitely one of my favorite blogs, featuring CJ Mahaney, Ligon Duncan, Al Mohler and Mark Dever. Mark might be a little tongue-in-cheek on this, but there’s no doubt Humility:True Greatness is catching much deserved attention.

I am definitely not an authority on this subject. Truth be told, this is one of my areas of greatest struggle. The irony is, if anyone claims to be an authority on the subject of humility, they’ve just disqualified themselves from the discussion (for obvious reasons)! No… the reason I’m writing about this is that it provides another layer of accountability for me as pride rears its ugly head on occasion - probably more often than I’d care to admit. Plus, as I mentioned in a previous post, I just finished a great book by C.J. Mahaney called Humility: True Greatness, and in the last couple weeks the Lord has continued to impress this vitally important character trait on my heart. Funny… I was telling a friend a couple weeks ago about this book and the fact that I was able to finish it in a day (it’s pretty short) and he informed me I seemed quite proud of that fact. I was caught.

I am such an utter failure at living in humility, I thought I should just get that fact out there and do my best to encourage us to grow and at the very least, pray you’ll read this convicting and yet encouraging and promise-filled book!

The important thing to realize is that God “opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble”, (James 4:6) and is actually seeking out those who walk in this way. (Isaiah 66:2) I would think that if you’re reading this right now, you are most likely one who wants to be sought out by God as one who walks in humility. It’s not important that we make sure that those around us are walking in humility - it’s absolutely critical that we start with ourselves, take spiritual inventory and check our own heart motives against what God desires. I have to do this continuously since much of what comes out of my mouth or my heart has the potential to be self-seeking as opposed to God-honoring.

In this book, Mahaney does such a great job of laying out a plan for cultivating more humility. He does this by redefining greatness based on what Christ taught in Mark 9:35:

“If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.”

It’s so easy for me to relate to James and John in this passage because I see myself in their desire for position - to sit at a place of importance in the kingdom of Christ. But Christ turns this ambition on its head as He tells us that the path to true greatness is servanthood. That’s not what we want to hear! But, that’s God’s heart. And that’s the example of Christ that we need to follow (see Philippians 2:1-11). Christ’s serves as an example to us in considering others more important than ourselves and becoming a servant. Christ came to SERVE, not to be served. (Mark 10:45) Oh, how often do I wish to be served - and oh, how my flesh repels so often from the thought of serving another. Humility is definitely NOT my natural tendency!

But, I’m guessing that if you’ve read this far, it is your desire to have the mind of Christ and to be found as a faithful, humble servant by your Father. The good news is - no matter how prideful, self-focused and self-loving we are, we can bring this matter to the Father in prayer, and Has promised to be faithful to complete the work He has begun in each of us. (Philippians 1:6) And Mahaney writes:

“The Lord has begun a work in our lives to weaken pride and strengthen humility! And we want to apply all the means of grace to accelerate this sanctifying process in our hearts and lives so that we might be the ones to whom He looks, so that we might please Him.

Ultimately, there can be no effective expansion of your life’s mission and ministry, no fulfillment of the specific purpose He’s called you to, apart from the cultivation of humility in your heart and the weakening of pride in your life.

So ask for His protection, so that from this moment you’ll give more attention, not less, to the presence of pride and the promise of humility, so that whatever maturity is yours will not leave you more vulnerable to pride or to the assumption that your spiritual growth and ministry have somehow been accomplished by your own effort or gifting… Transfer all the glory to Him - and experience the promise and the pleasures of humility.”

C.J. Mahaney, Humility: True Greatness, Multnomah Publishers, Sisters, OR, 2005, pp. 169-170.

Click here for Mahaney’s list of practical suggestions to weaken pride and cultivate humility. May we all, in greater measure, serve one another with a spirit of Christ-like humility as we move toward true greatness in the Biblical sense.

I’ve been reading a number of things recently on prayer and just finished a very short and readable book by David Jeremiah called The Prayer Matrix: Plugging into the Unseen Reality. 98% of this book resonates with where God has been leading my heart regarding prayer over the years, and I would recommend it for your reading list.

We lose Biblical perspective when we see prayer merely as the words we say when we close our eyes and bow our heads, or attend a prayer meeting, or ask for God to bless our meal. If Paul’s words in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 are to have the meaning the author intended, prayer has to be more than words. It was to be our lifestyle. In this passage, Paul says “Pray without ceasing.” This kind of prayer doesn’t end with “amen.” It doesn’t end when we open our eyes or move on to our next agenda item. This kind of prayer is happening all the time - because it is how we live, not what we say. The word that has been resonating with me for quite some time now is “dependence” - because it is as we posture our life in complete and total dependence on our sovereign God that we can pray without ceasing. David Jeremiah says this in The Prayer Matrix:

“We become men and women of prayer when we recognize our desperate need. Our culture teaches that we don’t need God because we ourselves are god. Prayer stabs at the heart of that idea. God tells us that we’re dependent upon Him, and He doesn’t say that just to lord it over us; He’s telling the truth, and we can either accept it by faith or have to learn the lesson the hard way through the difficulties of life…

I have learned, and am learning, that there’s no real victory or joy in the Christian life unless there’s also a sense of total dependence upon God. And that sense of dependence is what makes prayer spring to life.”

David Jeremiah, The Prayer Matrix, Multnomah Publishers, Sister, Oregon, 2004, p. 65.

I know that in my own life, I became much more dependent when I realized my desperate need for the grace and mercy of God to change my heart and make me more like Christ. It is so easy to walk in our own strength - especially when times are good - but God is calling each of us to realize our utter need for Him and to surrender our self-agenda for His eternal agenda. And when we plug into this mysterious, unseen reality of His divine and sovereign plan through dependence, only then can we truly experience all God has for us in this life. Not for our purposes, but for His. We can claim the truth of Psalm 138:8 - “He will fulfill HIS purposes for me” - only as we allow our lives to be shaped by His hand of grace, through dependence. It’s a complete denial of self, and a complete surrendering to Him. This is a life of dependence. This is a life of prayer.

John Piper wrote this article on the eve of his surgery for prostate cancer this week. Everyone responds to suffering differently, and I thought this was an interesting perspective given his circumstances… He certainly has a very high view of God’s sovereignty, which is no surprise if you’re familiar with his writing. This article powerfully shows that he lives what we teaches, and although some will not agree with him theologically, one cannot argue with the faith he holds to God’s sovereign purposes in everything - even cancer. The surgery was successful and John is recovering well from what I’ve read. Let’s pray for his complete healing and recovery in the coming days and weeks.

Lord, I pray that I would have this spirit of faith and trust in Your divine purposes no matter what agent of suffering comes my way. May I cherish Christ to such a degree that, no matter the pain, disillusionment or suffering, I would place implicit trust in Your eternal purposes - to build Your kingdom, edify Your Church, and glorify Your great name.

(HT: Between Two Worlds)