Theology

The Anticipation of the Christ

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At North Side, we’re all about discipleship.  In addition to discipling our worship team on Wednesday nights, I am also discipling a great group of college students right now.  These guys come over to our house on Wednesday nights and we get into the Word.  This semester, I am teaching this group, and our worship team, through the gospels.

We are doing a Christology of sorts.  A study of the life of Christ is normally organized around speculations or disagreements instead of simply going to the text.  In this study, I am using 14 main events or categories of Jesus’ life to get a clearer picture of the historical figure and the world-changing Savior.

Last night, we discussed the Anticipation of the Christ.  We actually started in our previous session by teaching through the entire Old Testament in one night.  I told the big picture of God’s plan from the beginning.  The blank page in between the testaments reveal a 400-year period of silence where God said nothing to his people.  While Israel waited to see if God would speak again, God brought a word in the Word himself!

In John 1, the apostle teaches that Jesus was that Word in the beginning at creation, and not only was he with God, he was God.  Just like the light that God created with a simple word in Genesis, at the fullness of time, the Word appeared and was the light of man.  The darkness could not overcome the light, the Word, the God in flesh who dwelt among us.

During this study, we also looked at the reasoning and information concerning the difference of the 4 gospels.  Four gospels were written because 4 authors had 4 specific audiences that they were educating concerning Jesus:

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The Sins of Omission

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If you were raised in church, you were probably warned concerning certain sins. Oftentimes, different churches have certain sins they really highlight to which they really want you to abstain. It seems that Christianity is often perceived as the “thou shalt not” religion.

In your experience, what are the top 5 sins that you have been taught to avoid?
Thou shalt not have premarital sex?
Thou shalt not drink, smoke, or chew (or date girls who do)?
Thou shalt not curse?
Thou shalt not gamble?
Thou shalt not take the Lord’s name in vain?

Did you ever know that there are sins of omission? These are the failures to do the “thou shalt’s.” Take a moment and read James 4:15-17.

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I Wish My Life Would Change

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You want a better life than you have right now.

I may not know you personally, but I am sure of that fact. You want more money in your bank account. You wish your boss saw you were deserving of a promotion. If you are married, you wish your wife saw that you were right all the time. If you have children, you would jump for joy if they just obeyed you the first time you gave directions. You may be somewhat pleased with your life right now, but you deeply wish it was better. You earnestly desire a blessed life.

We all desired to be blessed, but are we willing to receive the blessing?

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Courageous in Lancaster

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I had the extreme privilege to go and minister with Second Baptist Church Lancaster, SC last night. They were having a “Courageous” weekend, and I got to serve their church in some really special ways.

They had a men’s only screening of Courageous on Friday night.  Sunday morning, their pastor, Brian Saxon, had preached on fatherhood.  From 4 to 6, I taught a large group of guys who gave up a Sunday afternoon nap and a football game concerning fatherhood.  We took a 5 minute potty break, but we got into God’s Word and talked about what it meant to lead our homes.

At 6, I got to preach to the entire congregation.  Adam Langley and his crew did a great job leading worship – so wonderful to be led by him!

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Make Up Your Mind

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Joshua was used by God to bring God’s people out of the wilderness into their own land. Once the Israelites had procured the Promised Land, Joshua delivers a final word of instruction. In light of all that Israel has experienced, Joshua challenged Israel to determine if they would follow Yahweh exclusively (Josh 24:14-15).

At this pivotal moment in their history, Joshua decided to lead the nation no longer as a fearless commander facing Israel’s international problems but as a bold preacher combating Israel’s spiritual problems. Before he presented the ultimatum, Joshua appealed to God’s work in the past among the Israelites. As Joshua relived Israel’s history (Josh 24:3-13), he quoted Yahweh’s voice and reminded the people that every victorious battle was due to Yahweh’s intervention and not the Israelites’ strength.

In Joshua 24:14-28, we see one of the greatest moments of drawing the line in the sand and demanding people to choose a side..

Just like the Israelites, it is time for us to make up our minds. Will we serve God, or will we serve some other god that has secured our attention?

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Don’t Misrepresent Christ

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As you can tell from the picture, the Agnews have been hard at work.  Recently moving into another house, we are getting things ready for Baby Gloria’s arrival.  The boys have been a huge help with their tool belts on removing floorings, sanding, and cleaning up.  For some reason, Eli likes to take his shirt off when he really starts working.  Love this kid.

From the entire process of selling our house, buying another one, and working with everyone from bankers, insurance agents, construction geniuses, and servicemen, I have learned a bunch this time around.

While I am learning a bunch about fixing up a house, I am learning more about the witness that I am in Christ.

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“You’re a REALLY Big Bear!”

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Psalm 107:33 He turns rivers into desert,
springs of water into thirsty ground,
34 and fruitful land into salty wasteland,
because of the wickedness of its inhabitants.
35 He turns a desert into a pool of water,
dry land into springs of water.
36 He causes the hungry to settle there,
and they establish a city where they can live.
37 They sow fields and plant vineyards
that yield a fruitful harvest.

38 He blesses them, and they multiply greatly;
He does not let their livestock decrease.

43 Let whoever is wise pay attention to these things
and consider the Lord’s acts of faithful love.

After reading a book about a family of bears one day, my firstborn came up to me and said, “Daddy, I’m a little bear, Mommy is a big bear, and Daddy, you’re a really big bear!”

In addition to his comments causing me to diet the next week, I also realized the power that perception has in the eyes of a child.  I’m a tall dad.  My toddlers think I am ginormous.  When a balloon escapes their grasp and heads towards the ceiling, they came looking for me.  When they want to soar above the crowd, they come begging to sit upon my shoulders.  Contrastingly, when they are in trouble, I can tell that our height difference also causes them to sit up a little straighter when I walk in the room.

Don’t read anything more into that comment.  The fact is they are small, I am big, and that causes them sometimes to have a reality check.  I believe that’s one of the reasons God makes babies so small (in addition to wanting women to survive labor).  He wants children to have a healthy fear of their parents.  The problem only comes when they think they are my size.

Our problems come when we think God is our size. 

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Consistently Inconsistent

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Psalm 92:10 You have lifted up my horn

like that of a wild ox;

I have been anointed with oil.

11 My eyes look down on my enemies;

my ears hear evildoers when they attack me.

12 The righteous thrive like a palm tree

and grow like a cedar tree in Lebanon.

13 Planted in the house of the Lord,

they thrive in the courts of our God.

14 They will still bear fruit in old age,

healthy and green,

15 to declare: “The Lord is just;

He is my rock,

and there is no unrighteousness in Him.”

Consistently Inconsistent

I am one of the most inconsistent people you will ever meet.  I will bowl great for three frames, and then I will reside in the gutter the rest of the game.  That’s not entirely true.  I will reside in the gutter of the lane next to me for the rest of the game.  At New Years, I will begin a steady diet and exercise routine that lasts until someone brings out the meatballs.  I will start a span of regularly responding to emails, and then I will have a setback and not reply to anyone for six weeks.  I crave consistency.

In my spiritual life, I am even worse.  On a mission trip, I will turn into super-evangelistic boy on the field only to revert to an unashamed coward when I return home.  My devotional life will get intense after a convicting sermon only to last until the guilt finally wears off.  An answered prayer turns me into an intercessory advocate until I stop seeing immediate results to my prayers.  I want to do better.  I honestly do crave consistency.

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How to Fix Lethargic Worship

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(Whenever I am trying to remember how big God is and if he can handle my current problems, I look at this picture and remember: God is good.)

1 Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good;
His faithful love endures forever.
2 Let the redeemed of the Lord proclaim
that He has redeemed them from the hand of the foe

3 and has gathered them from the lands-
from the east and the west,
from the north and the south.  – Psalm 107:1-3

How to Fix Lethargic Worship

The cure for lethargic worship is a good memory.

In Psalm 107, the psalmist expresses praise to God based upon his faithfulness in the past. He reminds the worshipers that God is always good and deserves our gratitude.  He had rescued them from the hands of their enemies.  He had rescued them from their circumstances and gathered them back together again.

Have you ever felt in worship that you were just going through the motions?  You stood up and sat down when you were instructed.  You mouthed the words to some songs on a screen or in a hymnal.  You left the same way in which you entered.  The best way to describe your worship was lethargic.

The cure for lethargic worship is a good memory.  God has shown up all throughout your life. When you have called on God, every time he delivers.  The only proper response is worship.  Each new day is a reminder of God’s faithfulness to us.

When we were in the middle of our adoption process, I was forced to remember this fact often.

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A Healthy Fear of the Lord

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Psalm 86:15-16

15 But You, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God,
slow to anger and rich in faithful love and truth.
16 Turn to me and be gracious to me.
Give Your strength to Your servant;
save the son of Your female servant.

Our fatherless society is killing our perception of God.

Whether you like to admit it or not, your relationship with your father often alters the way you view God.  If your father was absent, you might find difficulty accepting that God is near and cares for your smallest concerns.  If your father was a temperamental dictator, you might view God as the angry deity in the sky waiting to pummel you with lightning bolts whenever you step out of line.  If your father was a softy and a pushover, you might find yourself living more loosely because God would never really punish you for breaking his rules.  If your father was simply a detached provider, you might find yourself accepting God’s blessing without ever desiring his company.

Most likely, God is a lot different than you father.  God’s plan is that your father imitate him (Eph. 3:14), but unfortunately, that rarely happens.  We rarely see a combination of both love and holiness.  While God has many attributes, theologians categorize all attributes under those two headings – love and holiness.

This description of God, first mentioned in Exodus, is repeated many times throughout Scripture.  The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and rich in faithful love and truth.  What is so shocking to us modern readers is that someone can be both compassionate and angry.

A common misconception is that Jesus of the New Testament was compassionate and the God of the Old Testament was angry.  How do you explain God’s constant rescuing of idolatrous Israel and how do you explain Jesus chasing religious people out of the temple with a whip?

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