Our heads need a hammer so our lives will be a nail

Feb 13, 2011: How Much More from Summitview Community Church on Vimeo.

God is familiar with the density of the human head and, at times, He remedies the situation with a rhetorical hammer. One such hammer is the "How Much More?" device used throughout the bible. The argument goes like this..."if we see this good result from these limited conditions, how much more should we expect a great result under better conditions."

"If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:13)

"But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith!" (Luke 12:28)

In Genesis 14, we begin to see Abram's distinctive life emerge from the soil of God's promises. His reckless love for Lot, his willing proclamation of God's ownership and his rejection of greedy and self-sufficient ways stand out like a redwood in Times Square. But, here is the kicker, he had less than we do. He heard mysterious promises and we've see their fulfillment. Abram knew God was up to something big and we know it was the redemption of His people through the slaughter of His Son. Abram witnessed God's faithfulness in his circumstances and we have seen it demonstrated on the Cross.

And, so, here comes the hammer... if Abram was motivated to such great love, worship and rejection of sin by these mysterious promises (Genesis 12:1-3), how much more should we be, knowing their fulfillment in Christ?

Thankfully this hammer, like all hammers, has a purpose greater than noise (or guilt). It's purpose is to drive a nail and that nail, it seems, is a life driven deep into the world proclaiming that, by God's grace, "things can be different."

how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.  (Hebrews 9:14)

Additional Resources
Message Notes
Discussion Questions

The soul that feels "it's no use" needs Good News.

Sin is a least five things.

First, it is common among every living person (Romans 5:12).

Second, we cannot be naive or overly "spiritual", it is attractive. I wouldn't exist if it wasn't. We do what we want to do and when we sin there is a part of us that wants it. Sin's promise of satisfaction is real and it delivers temporarily with horrible repercussions to our consciences, our faith and our loved ones.

Third, it is self-fueling. The tiny drop of pleasure provided by sin leaves us craving for more. Without an alternative, our thirsty souls will return for more. We trifle with this self-fueling to our own peril. Tolkien's Gollum aptly pictures the progressive implosion of our souls. Eventually, our attention will be adhered to the object of our sinful (read God-less) desire.

Fourth, it is, then, horrible. It strips a person of their dignity and it leads them to despise God and use others - the very opposite of the Great Commandment (Matt. 22:37-40). Sin destroys. Idolatry destroys. Unbelief destroys. There is no avoiding the destruction of God's image when we sin. It is anti-God and His purposes. We tend to see only the vilest and fullest expressions of sin as horrible but that is a deceptive device of the devil. Every rape began with a rogue sinful idea. Every murder's root is an undercover bitterness.

Fifth, it is NOT the Christian's master. In Christ, we have been delivered from bondage to sin (Romans 6:6) to walk in "newness of life" (Romans 6:4). But, just as soon as the celebration of our freedom begins, we find that a battle still rages in our soul (Romans 7:14-20). Is this freedom real? How do we experience it? Peter gives us a glimpse in 2 Peter 1:3-4:

[3] His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, [4] by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. 

Here Peter tells us that an intimate knowledge of the one who saved us and what he has promised us in salvation is God's means of deliverance.

This session of "How The Gospel Changes People" (Summitview's Leadership Training) entitled "How the Gospel Addresses Sin" unpacks this idea to provide hope for those who are tempted to feel that sin has won and there is no longer any use in trying to resist it (Jer. 2:23-25).

Additional Resources
Teaching Notes
"Kill or Be Killed" - a series of supplementary messages to "The Mortification of Sin" by John Owen
Leadership Training Resources from Summitview

• Notes
• Messages
  

Religion IS The Problem

October 17, 2010: "The Self-Salvation Project of Cain," Genesis 4:1-16. from Summitview Community Church on Vimeo.

The Church feels like a family when you serve... Mark Driscoll video

We will be most connected where we give the most. It's pretty simple. Invest and you will get a return, sit on your keister and you get nothing and complain about it.

(HT Adrian Warnock, Josh Harris)

Our lives depend on what we see

“No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar or under a basket, but on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light. Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light, but when it is bad, your body is full of darkness. Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness. If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly bright, as when a lamp with its rays gives you light.” (Luke 11.33–36)

According to Jesus, seeing defines our spiritual health and, so, we must be careful how we see. But Jesus isn’t talking about our physical or even our “moral” vision (how we see right and wrong). He is talking about something even more fundamental.

The Lamp: Who’s Lighting It and Why?
To understand what Jesus is referring to, we have to reach back into Luke 11 and Luke 8 for more context. In Luke 8:16 Jesus makes a similar “lamp” statement:

“No one after lighting a lamp covers it with a jar or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a stand so that those who enter may see the light.”

This comes at the conclusion of His explanation for speaking in parables (Luke 8:9-10). The parables act as a filter. They allow “the secrets of the Kingdom” to be revealed to Christ’s humble followers and hidden from the proud and arrogant. So, after making the logical statement that lamps are for lighting a room (Luke 8:16), Jesus states that “nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known or come to light.” A light is being intentionally lit with the same purpose as the parables. This light will reveal hidden and secret things (“the secrets of the Kingdom”). There is purposeful, revelatory action happening in the midst of Jesus’ listeners and, yet, He cautions them to “Take care, then, how you hear for to the one who has, more will be given” (Luke 8:18). The benefits of the revelation are available only to careful hearers.

But isn’t this all just a little too cryptic? What is being revealed? What could hinder someone from receiving this revelation? What or who is the lamp being lit? For these questions Luke 11 is a great help.

In Luke 11, we see three different exchanges with Jesus worth noting. (1) Some in the crowds claim that it is by Beelzebub’s power that Jesus drives out demons. (2) A woman claims that Jesus’ mother is blessed to have Jesus as a son. And, (3) we can infer, some in the crowd demand Jesus to show a sign that he is really the Christ. Each of them sees Jesus wrongly in some typical way. Jesus responds to all of them with this lamp discourse because He is the lamp that they are not seeing. He is the mystery of the ages revealed; the culmination of the secret plan of God. Jesus is the resolution of God’s steadfast love AND his absolute justice. He is the fulfillment of the prophecies. He is the Messiah. He is in plain sight and they have missed Him.

And, when our eyes are not healthy (or “singular” as the word could also be translated), we can miss Him as well; not because he is invisible but because we see what we want to see. We take Him on our terms, not His; not as He truly is. That was the error of each of the people in Luke 11:14-32.

If we take Jesus on His terms, our good (singular) eyes will see Him in truth and this sight will bring light and health to our “whole body.” When we form Jesus into our image, our skewed sight of Him is actually detrimental to our body; indeed it fills us with darkness. Our lives are characterized by our understanding of His identity.

“Life as a Solar-Powered Flashlight” is an attempt to unpack the different ways we take Jesus on our terms and how these terms distort Christ and leave us dark in the midst of Light. Listen to it here.

Additional Resources
Discussion Questions
Slides from the message (a table comparing right and wrong ways to see Jesus)

How Christ wins the life or death war for our affections

Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life. (Proverbs 4.23)

There is a war within the heart of every Christian. It is subtle and the heavy artillery often arrives as whispers.

The ground? What will we love?
The world and its offerings are tangible and immediate. And, yet, every time we foster that romance there is something in us that feels sick. The indulgence was sweet, but desperately unhealthy. And it comes with a crash.

This is sin. James tells us plainly that friendship with the world is hatred towards God (James 4:4). In our souls, we know it and we feel the degrading effects. This unhealthy feeling is a blessing. Cursed is the heart that isn't restless in the siege. But what do we do to address it?

Generally our first inclination is to go on a diet - to stop eating the world's sacchariny smorgasbord. This is good, but it is never enough. We need to develop a hunger and a love for good food.

Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant (Isaiah 55.2–3)

This was the point of Thomas Chalmer's (1780-1847) famous sermon "The Expulsive Power of a New Affection."

An excerpt:

In a word, if the way to disengage the heart from the positive love of one great and ascendant object, is to fasten it in positive love to another, then it is not by exposing the worthlessness of the former, but by addressing to the mental eye the worth and excellence of the latter, that all old things are to be done away and all things are to become new. To obliterate all our present affections by simply expunging them, and so as to leave the seat of them unoccupied, would be to destroy the old character, and to substitute no new character in its place. But when they take their departure upon the ingress of other visitors; when they resign their sway to the power and the predominance of new affections; when, abandoning the heart to solitude, they merely give place to a successor who turns it into as busy a residence of desire and interest and expectation as before - there is nothing in all this to thwart or to overbear any of the laws of our sentient nature - and we see how, in fullest accordance with the mechanism of the heart, a great moral revolution may be made to take place upon it.

The Love of God and the Love of the World are Irreconcilable

This, we trust, will explain the operation of that charm which accompanies the effectual preaching of the gospel. The love of God and the love of the world, are two affections, not merely in a state of rivalship, but in a state of enmity - and that so irreconcilable, that they cannot dwell together in the same bosom. We have already affirmed how impossible it were for the heart, by any innate elasticity of its own, to cast the world away from it; and thus reduce itself to a wilderness. The heart is not so constituted; and the only way to dispossess it of an old affection, is by the expulsive power of a new one. Nothing can exceed the magnitude of the required change in a man's character - when bidden as he is in the New Testament, to love not the world; no, nor any of the things that are in the world for this so comprehends all that is dear to him in existence, as to be equivalent to a command of self-annihilation.

But the same revelation which dictates so mighty an obedience, places within our reach as mighty an instrument of obedience. It brings for admittance to the very door of our heart, an affection which once seated upon its throne, will either subordinate every previous inmate, or bid it away. Beside the world, it places before the eye of the mind Him who made the world and with this peculiarity, which is all its own - that in the Gospel do we so behold God, as that we may love God. It is there, and there only, where God stands revealed as an object of confidence to sinners and where our desire after Him is not chilled into apathy, by that barrier of human guilt which intercepts every approach that is not made to Him through the appointed Mediator. It is the bringing in of this better hope, whereby we draw nigh unto God - and to live without hope, is to live without God; and if the heart be without God, then world will then have all the ascendancy. It is God apprehended by the believer as God in Christ, who alone can dispost it from this ascendancy. It is when He stands dismantled of the terrors which belong to Him as an offended lawgiver and when we are enabled by faith, which is His own gift, to see His glory in the face of Jesus Christ, and to hear His beseeching voice, as it protests good will to men, and entreats the return of all who will to a full pardon and a gracious acceptance. It is then, that a love paramount to the love of the world, and at length expulsive of it, first arises in the regenerated bosom. It is when released from the spirit of bondage with which love cannot dwell, and when admitted into the number of God's children through the faith that is in Christ Jesus, the spirit of adoption is poured upon us - it is then that the heart, brought under the mastery of one great and predominant affection, is delivered from the tyranny of its former desires, in the only way in which deliverance is possible.

Additional Resources
Chalmer's Entire Sermon
What should we seek in the Scripture?
Tomorrow we should feel

"Why do we suffer, God?" The ever-popular question with horrible popular answers, today at NPR

Rabbi Harold Kushner, author of "Why Bad Things Happen to Good People" was interviewed today on National Public Radio. His interview confirms the fact that the problem of suffering is still a very present issue in people's souls and that solid, biblical, hope-giving, God-exalting answers are hard to come by.

Consider his thesis statement in the interview:

"What I realized is, where did we ever get the notion that worshipping power was the greatest compliment we could pay to God? If I, walking through the wars of a hospital, have to face the fact that either God is all powerful but not kind or thoroughly kind and loving but not totally powerful - I would rather compromise God's power and affirm his love.

So the conclusion, the theological conclusion I came to, is that God could have been all-powerful at the beginning, but he chose to designate two areas of life off-limits to his power. He would not arbitrarily interfere with the laws of nature and, secondly, God would not take away our freedom to choose good and evil." - Rabbi Harold Kushner

Let's consider the Rabbi's claims in light of the Old Testament. They are not that simple, not that Biblical and not that hope-giving.

"I would rather compromise God's power and affirm his love."
It is important to note that Rabbi Kushner begins with his intellect being superior to God's (if we are assuming the Bible to be God's revelation). He is subjecting the revelation of God in the Old Testament to his preferences ("I would rather...", "...the theological conclusion I came to..."). If God exists, He is not subject to Rabbi's Kushner's preferences. If (as if we had any say in the matter) we compromise God's power, doesn't that destroy our hope for deliverance? Why pray? Isn't God's choice to no longer "interfere with the laws of nature" arbitrary and cold?

The Old Testament does not compromise either God's power or His love.
God is gracious and compassionate:

The LORD passed before [Moses] and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands,forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.” (Exodus 34.6–7)

And, in the words of Nebuchadnezzar, His dominion is everlasting:

At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever, for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation; all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?” At the same time my reason returned to me, (Daniel 4.34–36 ESV)

Note that reason returned to Nebuchadnezzar when he subjected himself to God - not the other way around.

"He would not arbitrarily interfere with the laws of nature."
This is a facinating statement from Rabbi Kushner. Every year, I would assume, he faithfully celebrates God's deliverance of Israel from slavery in Egypt via a series of God's interferences with the laws of nature - the greatest being the parting of the Red Sea (Ex. 14:21). The Passover is a celebration of God's miraculous keeping of covenant promises. This celebration of the past was meant to solidify a hope for the future. That is why God continually addresses Himself to Israel as the one who delivered them from Egypt (1 Sam 10:18). God was able to deliver then and, one day, He will finally deliver His people from every enemy including evil, sin and suffering (Isaiah 60 and 61).

Again, to satisfy his limited intellect, Rabbi Kushner rejects God's infinite delivering power. It's not helpful and eventually everyone who adheres to this theology will find its limits in despair.

"God would not take away our freedom to choose good and evil."
Here the Bible agrees. But the Bible does not agree with the Rabbi's subtle implication, namely that God is therefore not sovereign over the choices of man. Consider Joseph's statement of God's sovereignty over his brothers intentions to sell harm him by selling him into slavery:

But Joseph said to them, “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. (Genesis 50.19–20, emphasis mine)

Our brains prefer "either/or" statements. They are nice and clean. The Bible is not limited by that preference. "Both/and" ideas exist all over the Old and New Testaments (Acts 4:27-28). Man, therefore, is responsible for evil and God remains sovereign over it - working it together for the good of those who love Him as recounted in the most hope giving (and God's-sovereignty-celebrating) passage in the New Testament proclaims:

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written,

“For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8.28–39)

Rabbi Kushner's fundamental error is that he begins with himself. His intellect is the standard by which we judge God's revelation and actions. Answers that provide hope, fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore are found when you begin where the Bible begins - "In the beginning, God..." God is all-powerful, He is intentional (Ps. 115:3) and He seeks His own glory first for our own good (Ps 16:11).

To examine this more in the life of Jesus, listen to last week's message.

Additional Resources
A much more Biblical and hope-giving NPR Interview

"Who Is This?": the answer to the problem of suffering - Luke Series #10 (Luke 8:40-56)

The problem of suffering and evil has often been presented as one for which the Bible has no answers. The simple truth is, the Bible has the only answers. But we must be willing to accept God on His terms to hear them.

Our intellect must be subject to God's here but that is not bad news for us. Indeed, God's answer to the problem of suffering is the best news we could ever hear.

Find out why here (from Luke 8:40-56).

Additional Resources
Discussion Questions
"Where are you O Lord?" - Haiti
Imperishable, Undefiled and Unfading
If God is Good: Faith in the Midst of Suffering and Evil - by Randy Alcorn

A New Approach to Grasping God's Love

From the Desiring God Blog

(Author: John Piper)

The video below is a message I gave last Monday in chapel at Westmont College. It is a rethinking of an old idea. I used to ask, How is it loving for God to make so much of himself and do everything for his glory? Now I ask: Why does God reveal his love for us in such a way that it turns out to be for his glory?

Or: I used to say: Do you feel more loved when God makes much of you or when he frees you to enjoy making much of him? Now I say, "Why does God make so much of us in a way that winds up making much of him?"

It may not sound very different. But I think many will feel a significant shift. See if it helps.

Additional Resources
Redemption: You are not you own, you never have been and you never will be
Should a Husband give gifts to an adulterous wife?

Redemption: You are not your own and you never will be

Here is a summary of the message from the Rock on February 12th, 2010 entitled "Redemption."
You can listen to it here.

He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (Colossians 1.13–14)

It is easy to think of redemption in terms of freedom. Andy Dufrense finds freedom from Shawshank prison and heads to Zihuatanejo and we call it "Redemption." And, surely, Christ does free us from sin (Romans 8:2 and Hebrews 9:15). The greatest story of redemption in the Old Testament is the Exodus of Israel from Egypt; freedom from 400 years of slavery. But the disquiet we feel when we continue to read the story of Israel, and they are rebellious and complaining on the other side of the Red Sea, is revealing. Something in us senses that they should obey God completely, with gratitude, because He is their Redeemer. And we are right. Biblical redemption is not deliverance from slavery into autonomous freedom, rather, it is the transference of ownership. The redeemer purchases the redeemed at a price.

I realize I'm treading on some cultural high ground here. It is an American value to be owned by none. But just because we value it doesn't mean that it's true. The truth is that none of us are truly free... ever. We all are slaves to something (Romans 7:25). Jesus tells us that anyone who does sin is a slave to sin (John 8:34 - which he said, incidentally, in response to Jews who claimed that they have never been enslaved.) If you can't say no to it... "it" is your master (2 Peter 2:19). Some claim that they will never be a slave to anyone or anything. No one tells them what to do. And, yet, after all this chest puffing they come to realize they are a slave to the identity of never being a slave. So our choice is not freedom or slavery it is Master A or Master B.

In the end, the greatness of redemption is not found in autonomous freedom but in ownership by Christ, who paid the purchase price of our redemption with his blood (Eph. 1:7 and Heb. 9:12). We have been delivered from sin (its guilt and power) but then we were brought into a kingdom with a King. This is great news for at least three reasons:

1. There is no greater master you could see (Rev. 5).
2. There is no greater master you could serve.
   All masters use you for their benefit, but only one died to own you and with only one does his benefit equal your benefit.
3. There is no greater master you could proclaim (again looking to Rev. 5).

The implications of this understanding of redemption are obvious. Paul sums them up in 1 Corinthians 6 and Romans 7:

You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. (1 Corinthians 6.19–20)

Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. (Romans 7.4–5)

May we find life in glorifying the King who purchased us and not pine for some counterfeit form of life back in Egypt, in the domain of darkness.

Additional Resources
"He's just institutionalized" - a very old post. There is a lot of talk of gospel freedom here with that sense of autonomy. I thought about re-writing it to fit the ideas in this post but I think it is better to see my learning process. May all our minds continue to be sanctified by a growing understanding of the Bible.

Mark Driscoll's Sermon on Haiti

HT (JT)

He who is forgiven much loves much - Luke Series #9

Out of the many news accounts of suffering and injustice this week, two tragedies stood above the rest. Our response to them provides some enlightening cultural commentary especially against the backdrop of Jesus' words to Simon the Pharisee in Luke 7.

The immense human suffering in the rubble of Port-Au-Prince, Haiti has captivated the world and aroused human compassion in every geologic and cultural corner... and that is a good thing. On the quieter end of the news, last week marked the 37th anniversary of Roe v. Wade and the legalization of abortion. Since that decision, 50 million little lives have been terminated in their mother's womb. Currently 3,500 babies die in abortions every day. It is a calamity the size of Haiti every 57 days - a tragedy the size of 9/11 everyday for 13,541 days straight.

It is hip to be "for Haiti" right now, but does our check-writing and well-wishing from a distance betray a self-righteous agenda - especially while the ubiquitous, tragic consequences of abortion remain largely unaddressed (or at least with much less zeal)? Can our charitable efforts for Haiti be rightly motivated if we are not moved to action on behalf of the unborn in our neighborhoods? What does it say about our actions in either area if we are happy to write a check but inconvenienced by personally engaging the real people in these struggles with compassion and mercy?


In Luke 7:36-50, Jesus finds himself in the home of a holy man. He is the guest of honor. The party is awkwardly interrupted by a prostitute who throws herself at Christ's feet in cathartic fit of sorrow and gratitude. Simon, the holy man, is indignant and uncomfortable in this display. Although, he has "welcomed" this woman into his house as an act of charity, he wants nothing to do with her (and her sin). Jesus' response to Simon, reveals his self-righteousness and cuts to the issue of genuine compassion.

Genuine compassion is fueled by a knowledge of personal neediness and grace received. "He who is forgiven much loves much" or, say it another way, "He who is forgive little loves little (to self-righteously promote self)."

Find out what this exchanges has to say about our contemporary "compassion" for Haiti and the unborn in this message.

Additional Resources
Overturning and Undermining Roe v. Wade: An Interview with Clarke Forsythe
Doug Groothuis on Fetus Fatigue
Questioning God Over Haiti - at theResurgence.com
Haiti earthquake updates from Compassion International
The Goal of the Gospel - the last Chapter of "The Normal Christian Life" by Watchman Nee
Discussion Questions

He did say it: Luke series #8

“I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.” (-Jesus, Luke 4.43)

“But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back. And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them." (-Jesus, Luke 6.27–31)

Love your enemies. Three of the most radical words ever spoken by Jesus. To this day, it is nearly impossible to repeat these three words without people demanding qualifications and caveats. Interestingly, Jesus provided none. Why? What do we these three words reveal?

1. Having enemies is a given. Luke 6:26 reveals that enemies arise when we don't comprise the truth to gain acclaim. It's a bad sign if we don't have enemies. It may mean we have loved the praise of men more then praise from God.
   
   
2. This, then, is not a command for universal passivity. We must stand for Gospel truth and we must actively seek to bless the enemies that arise from that stance.
   
   
3. When it comes to our enemies, Jesus is demanding something at the level of the heart, namely, love, blessing and prayer.
   
   
4. Jesus has the audacity to command something that, on our own, is impossible.
   
   
5. The Good News of the Kingdom is that the Kingdom of God brings a new economy. In the Kingdom, enemies are loved and the cycle of offense and retribution is broken. All this happens as a result of fundamental change in the heart (Ezekiel 36:26 and Titus 2:11-14), not more religious duty.
   
   

In this message we investigate 1) what Jesus is demanding here, 2) why we should listen, 3) how we can obey this command and, yes, a few caveats.

Additional Resources
How the Gospel Changes Us - a collection of free messages by Tim Keller
Discussion Questions

"Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men" - Luke series #7

The American church is in a state of crisis. Churches are faltering at a rate of 3500 per year and the hypocrisy of American Christianity is notorious. Why is the church no longer a community where lives are transformed from self-absorbed to God-entranced? ... from sadly narcissistic to joyfully generous?

This message in our series "the red letters" looks for answers in the calling of the first disciples in Luke 5:1-11.


Jesus' example reveals the importance of the right message, the right approach and the right leader.

The right message
Jesus was preaching the Gospel of the kingdom of God (Luke 4:18-18, 43). Without a resolve to uphold the orthodox Gospel at the root of all teaching, the church quickly abandons Christ for another Gospel (subtle though it may be). This removes the lifeblood of any fruitful, Christ-exalting church.

The right approach
Jesus preached to the crowds and chose a few "that they might be with him and he might send them out" (Mark 3.14). Our minds tell us, that for big impact, we need big programs and events. Jesus, because he cared for the crowds, focused on multiplying his life through a few. Too many churches are busy and, yet, do not know each other enough to truly spur one another on to love and good deeds. "More time with less people equals greater impact."

The right leader
Jesus revealed that he was the authority even where Peter was an expert (fishing). He is the head of the church. The church is to grow up into one head (Eph 4:15), following His example and teaching for His glory. Any confusion on this is disastrous to the church as, inevitably, a faulty personality or idea rises to take Christ's place.

The message examines the state of Summitview in these areas as well as the attitude that should naturally arise (shown in Peter) when these things are held correctly.

Additional Resources
Discussion Questions

Merry Christmas! Why Christ is the Hope of the World

This message in our series on the Gospel of Luke entitled "the red letters", contrasts the high and proud state of Caesar with the glorious and lowly state of Jesus Christ in Luke 2:1-7. What we find is that Jesus suffered the deepest temptation so he could save to the uttermost those who draw near to God (Hebrews 7:25). He who holds the universe together by the word of his power (Hebrews 1: 3), who wraps the seas in swaddling bands (Job 38:9) was wrapped in swaddling clothes and born in ignominy so he could truly be for all people (Hebrews 2:18, Luke 2:10).


He is able to help us as a merciful and faithful high priest (Hebrews 2:14-15) the only question is "Do we see our need for help?"

See your sufficient Savior this Christmas, but savor him because you need him. Merry Christmas!

Listen to the message.

Additional Resources
Hebrews 2:9-11 and Hebrews 2:14-18
A Way to the Manger: Why Bethlehem Matters - a sermon by Russell Moore
Frailty, Compassion, Incarnation and Love

Glorious and Lowly: How Christ is the Hope of the World

The first message in our series on the Gospel of Luke entitled "the red letters". We begin with a careful examination of the account of Christ's birth during the season of Advent.


Summary
We are born into the world with an economy. We sense that we are lacking. We have ideas of salvation and concepts of the barriers to salvation. If God is in the equation, He is only a means to providing our salvation or removing our barriers. The circumstances of Christ's birth communicate a profound revolution to this economy. They communicate that none of our barriers are truly barriers to "salvation" or God's favor and that God's favor looks much different than we think.

Listen to the message.

Additional Resources
Discussion Questions
Bless the Mother of Jesus, but Mainly Be the Mother of Jesus - an article by J. Piper
The Virgin Birth of the Son of God - a sermon by J. Piper

What Biblical Femininity Is Not

Studying Genesis 3 has revolutionized my understanding of my sin and need for the Gospel... as a man. There is much to learn in contrasting Adam's passivity with Christ's joy-seeking sacrifice. The vocabulary built on that contrast has been a basis for men at Summitview to challenge and encourage one another in biblical masculinity.

This message was developed as an effort to build a similar, useful vocabulary for the women at Summitview.

Some summary points:

• Biblical femininity does not easily give up on the goodness of God.
• Biblical femininity lives by hearing and not by seeing.
• Biblical femininity does not find security in self-exultation.
• Biblical femininity does not subject God’s wisdom to another standard.
• Biblical femininity does not violate God’s word in an effort to provide security.
• Biblical femininity does not find supreme delight in created things.
• Biblical femininity does not lean on its own understanding.
• Biblical femininity does not wastefully cover its shame.
• Biblical femininity does not find its final security in men.

Acknowledging it might be difficult for ladies to take my word on the benefits of this message, here are few endorsements:

"God definitely had something for me in the "What Biblical Femininity is Not" message. I'm now seeing my flesh and my need for Jesus so much more clearly. Somewhere along the way I stopped seeing my continued need for the gospel-the fact that Jesus is my righteousness and that I can lose nor gain anything that matters for eternity because of my justification in Chirst. I sense God transforming my motivations and beliefs from the core as result of the truth I received, now that's good stuff!" -Sandy Stoltzfus

"This talk opened my heart to the freedom of being who God has called me, and me alone, to be and gave me a clear recognition that Satan has been successfully destroying my view of God! I am thankful to be daily choosing freedom from the bonds of constant comparison and concern whether my life is measuring up against other women's. I am striving to wash myself in the precious blood of Jesus, allowing him change my heart as I rest in Jesus' power to turn my scarlet sins into glistening, sparkly in the moonlight, freshly fallen snow (Isaiah 1:18). There has been peace in my life spurred on by peeling away fig leaves of my own accomplishments, pride & self-righteousness as I am clinging to my Savior, exposed and naked, allowing Jesus, and Jesus ALONE, to adorn me with garments of salvation, the robe of righteousness, and the beauty of wedding clothes and jewels (Isaiah 61:10)." -Samantha Alvarado

"Speaking about femininity these days seems a broad and inevitably sensitive subject, and all the more so in church. Mitch didn't mess around when he jumped right in and pointed the Word directly at the root of our greatest trial and temptation as women. We distrust God, which opens the door to fear, which compels us to grasp for security in either self-exultation or idolatry (the worship of created things rather than the Creator). I was encouraged and challenged to remember that Biblical beauty and true femininity is found in not easily giving up on the goodness of God and who He says He is." - Amber Constant

Additional Resources
Ladies beware, there are many gospels...this one is false
Discussion Questions
Message Outline

"Knowing for Good (week 2): Teach what accords with sound doctrine" (Titus 2:1-10)

Week 2 in our series on Paul's letter to Titus. Here we examine Titus 2:1-10.

"There are two things, conscience and reputation; conscience for yourself, reputation for your neighbor. Those who, being clear in their consciences, neglect their reputations, are being cruel."
-Augustine

Summary: "Teach what accords with sound doctrine"

In this passage, Paul reveals the kind of supernatural lives that spring forth from a belief in the Gospel. There is a way that older men, older women, younger women, younger men, teachers and slaves can live that confirms the veracity of the Gospel. Our "reputations" are meant to proclaim the Gospel and, because the Gospel is for sinners, sometimes that happens in the midst of our greatest failures. (There is a pretty good story of my "goober-ness" in this one).

Listen to "Teach what accords with sound doctrine" (Titus 2:1-10)

Additional Resources

Discussion Questions

Burning Out? Do not forget THE END to which we toil and strive

A group of leaders from the Colorado Front Range in our association of churches (Great Commission) met on Saturday (11/7/08) in Greeley for our bi-annual Great Commission Leadership Institute. This is what I said to them.

It's mostly about Jesus, godliness and not burning out.

Additional Resources
(Other messages from that day)
What's so great about the Great Commission? -Rich Thatcher
Regaining "It" in your relationship with God? -Jim Harrington

"Knowing for Good (week 1): Leaders with Sound Life & Doctrine" (Titus 1:5-16)

Week 1 in our series on Paul's letter to Titus. This personal letter from Paul to his church-planting protege examines the place of "good works" in the lives of believers. So, for the next four weeks, we will be examining that connection while asking ourselves the question "What good works exist in our community because we believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ?"

Summary: "Leaders with Sound Life & Doctrine"

The Gospel changes people. It breaks the heart of the self-indulgent and the self-righteous. It creates people who are "devoted to good works" not so they may be seen by men (Matthew 6:1-4) but to point to God, the source of any light in the world (Matthew 5:14-16).

Paul points out to Titus that the first step in creating a culture that lives in accordance with the sound doctrine of the Gospel is to build Gospel-centered leaders.

Listen to "Leaders with Sound Life and Doctrine" (Titus 1:5-16)

Additional Resources

Discussion Questions