George Mueller once said, “if you desire anything for God’s glory pray until you get it”. 

So, what do you think about that?

A few days ago I was listening to a Christian radio station.  During one of the breaks between songs the DJ read something about building relationships with people.  One of the things he mentioned was that people are by nature selfish.  Therefore, if we want to build a good relationship with them then we need to appeal to their desires and interests; we must center the conversation around them.  He continued reading the list naming several good qualities as long as vices and how we must respond to them.  At the very end he said by doing these things we will have influenced them for God. 

Are we really influencing people for God if we cater to their sinfulness and “build a relationship” based upon this premise?  This question extends far beyond the assertions of this Christian DJ.  This question is crucial to our methodology of outreach.  We know that people like sex and violence…so should the church have an MMA night or send fliers heralding “Learn Great Sex”? 

Consider Jim.  Jim is ridiculously selfish (like most of us).  We send a team from our church to canvas our neighborhood.  A team stops at Jim’s house.  We ask Jim why he does not come to church and we ask what it would take to get him to church.  We find that Jim is not the only one that has these problems with the church.  His suggestions seem to resonate with many of the unbelievers in our area.  Here are his suggestions:

1. I hate long sermons; give me 20 minutes maximum.
2. I don’t like boring songs but I also don’t like repetitious cheesy love song either.
3. Never ask me for money; I can stay home and listen to TV preacher’s do that.
4. I want people to be friendly but not overly desperate and acknowledging me in front of everyone else.  Notice me but not too much.
5. If I have to walk too far or park in a cramped space just forget me coming.  I face traffic to get to work on Monday, I don’t want to do the same on Sunday.

These are his suggestions.  So, what is the church to do with them?  Do we say, “well he’s a lost guy and lost people are not to dictate what we do in the church”?  Or, do we say, “he’s a lost guy and if we want to reach him then we need to reach him where he is at”? 

What did Jesus do?  What did the New Testament church do?  If you assume this is an easy answer then you probably have not thought it out well enough.  If you are a “lost people don’t dictate the church” then try arguing from the other side.  Same thing if your not that guy.  

Thoughts?

In his book, The God I Don't Understand , Christopher Wright suggests a change to the lyrics of Stuart Townend’s hymn “In Christ Alone”. Wright suggests that it be modified to capture the greater biblical fullness of meaning (132-133).  The original lyric is:

“…till on that cross as Jesus died the wrath of God was satisfied.

Wright suggests that it be changed to:

...till on that cross as Jesus died God's wrath and love were satisfied"

I disagree with Wright’s suggestion.  I understand that his hope is to recover the idea that God’s wrath and God’s love are “intrinsically connected to one another” (130).  However, I think this change to the lyric would be a tad confusing.  Satisfaction is a propitiation term.  In Townend’s lyric is has to do with the permanency of the wrath of God being removed from us by the cross of Christ; it speaks of finality.  To say that love is “satisfied” in the same context that you are speaking of wrath being “satisfied” would either lower what is meant by wrath being fully taken away or lower the eternal nature of love.  Love is eternal and to speak of it as being “satisfied” in the same way that we speak of wrath being “satisfied” is confusing at best. 

What do you think? 

"If you believe the wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God, you can not speak to them as if you were telling a story."

Well, how do you?

In less than 15 words...how do you demonstrate God's character?

As I am studying 1 Corinthians 9 I find that many believe Paul is defending his apostleship. Many believe that Paul's apostleship is being questioned in Corinth (I think I agree to an extent with this point). 1 Corinthians 9 is then read through that lens as if Paul is defending himself with all of these rhetorical questions. Each question is thought to be a jab and a defense of Paul's apostleship.

Those that have such a view often have a hard time understanding why the change of tone and the seeming change of topic only to pick it back up again in chapter 10. This has led some to question the unity of 1 Corinthians.

But, I have a few questions. What if the presupposition is wrong? What if Paul's rhetorical questions are not defensive jabs but things he expects a reserved "amen" to? What if 1 Corinthians 9 is not departing from chapter 8 and chapter 10. What if Paul is merely using all of these rhetorical questions to show himself as an example of what he has just discussed in chapter 8?

I see verse 12b as the main point of this passage, "Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right, but we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ." Is this not the same thing that he is encouraging those in Corinth to do in 8:13?

Does Paul not say in verse 15 "nor am I writing these things to secure any such provision"? To me Paul is helping them see that his point is not to say, "you need to listen to me, you need to pay me better, I want a wife, and did I mention you need to pay me". All of these leads up to the climax of the passage, "I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings".

As I have read through 1 Corinthians I do not see a distrust of Paul and a deep questioning of his apostleship as the fundamental and root issue. Instead what I see is pride, disunity, a lack of love, exalting of knowledge at the expense of love, and fundamentally a lack of love and submission to Jesus. I think the main point that Paul is proclaiming to the church at Corinth is this: Jesus is enough, live your life in such a way that Christ and his gospel is the foundation for everything you do.

Having said all of that...am I way off base with 1 Corinthians 9? How do you read it? Would you agree with what seems to be the majority that Paul is defending his rights? Do you see what I see? Or do you see something else? Help!

Last night my wife went out to eat with her mother and a two of our youth group girls (I stayed home). My wife ordered a pizza with some red pepper stuff on it. The red peppers were too hot, much hotter than these type of red pepper normally are. She asked if she could replace it with toasted ravioli. There was a mix up between the waitress and my wife. Nikki thought that they would take the pizza off the bill. She got the bill and it was for both items. She asked if there could be anything done. Knowing my wife she asked very kindly and gently. The waitress gets the owner. The owner is extremely rude to my wife. She refused to do anything with the bill and was horrendous in her treatment of my wife; even going so far as sighing heavily and rolling her eyes at my wife.

Nikki came home quite upset. She told me the story and I responded. I called the restaurant to speak to the owner. The owner was actually the one that answered. I briefly explained what had happend (just to refresh her memory). She proceeded to imply that my wife was stupid for not knowing that red pepper are hot. I never yelled or do I think I was overly angry. However, I was very firm. The owner was still being very rude and abrasive towards my wife. (If you know my wife, then you know how out of place this is since my wife is one of the kindest most gentle women). I demanded, again I stress very firmly, that she apologize to my wife. And she actually did. It was a pretty stinky apology--she ended up shifting some of the blame to the waitress. Nonetheless, my wife said very lovingly that she forgave her. End of story.

Here is my question--and I probably left out some details that might help, so ask questions--did I do the right thing? Should I have called the owner and firmly demanded an apology? What would you have done? Be biblical.