I absolutely love reading Aesop’s Fables.  You can read many of them at AesopFables.com.  I am not certain that I will stick with it, but I thought it may be a fun idea to post a few of these fables every week and relate them to the gospel.  Today is the story of the Ass and the Image.  (For the immature don’t forget that an ass is a donkey):

An Ass once carried through the streets of a city a famous wooden Image, to be placed in one of its Temples. As he passed along, the crowd made lowly prostration before the Image. The Ass, thinking that they bowed their heads in token of respect for himself, bristled up with pride, gave himself airs, and refused to move another step. The driver, seeing him thus stop, laid his whip lustily about his shoulders and said, "O you perverse dull-head! it is not yet come to this, that men pay worship to an Ass."

They are not wise who give to themselves the credit due to others.

What a beautiful lesson about idolatry this is; why do I think that the world would worship an ass such as myself.  To the Lord of glory belongs all credit. 

I know in Aesop’s fable he is speaking of a wooden image (which is more detestable to worship than a donkey), but I cannot help but think of the colt carrying Jesus and it’s relationship to us carrying the gospel.  What is the colt’s job?  To lower it’s head, trod along, and carry the Lord of glory on his back.  It’s not about him.  It’s not as if the Lord could not walk himself.  It’s not as if the cheers and the “Hosanna’s” are for the colt.  The colt is to do his job and that is carry the King. 

Are we not the same way?  Our job is to bring glory and honor to the King.  It is not to stop and soak up the praises of the crowds.  Our job is not to win converts to our way of living.  Our job is not to give ourselves credit that is due to Jesus.  Our job is to proclaim the gospel, to carry it on our backs to the nations.  Our job is to carry the King to the nations so that they may praise Him and not us. 

God speaks through donkey’s but not so man can worship the donkey.  He speaks through donkey’s so that men will worship Him.  Don’t forget that.

I am convinced that if you pricked Paul Tripp he would bleed biblical wisdom.  I am consistently drawn to the cross with the pursuit of holiness when I read or listen to Paul Tripp.  Here is more biblical wisdom on biblical confrontation:

From God’s perspective, the only reason we confront one another is that we love the Lord and want to obey him.  Our failure to confront one another biblical must be seen for what it is: something rooted in our tendency to run after god-replacements.  We confront unbiblically (or not at all) because we love something more than God.  Perhaps we love our relationship with this person so much that we don’t want to risk it.  Perhaps we prefer to avoid the personal sacrifice and complications that confrontation may involve.  Perhaps we love peace, respect, and appreciation more than we should.  Here is the principle: To the degree that we give the love of our hearts to someone or something else, to that degree we lose our primary motive to confront.  But if we love God above all else, confrontation is an expression and extension of that love.

(Quoted from Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hand by Paul Tripp, p.201)

Two weeks ago I mentioned that I would try Facebook and Twitter to see which one I liked the best and which one seemed to serve ministry purposes best.  The winner by a long shot is Facebook.  I do see how twitter can be beneficial and for that reason I will continue using Twitter as well as Facebook.  As you may have noticed I worked on integrating my blog with facebook and Twitter; as suggested by Timmy Brister. 

Top 5 reasons I choose Facebook over Twitter even though it’s not the sexy decision:

1. More of my students and friends are on Facebook instead of Twitter
2. I am not “famous” enough to really be able to network on Twitter
3. I like being able to carry on a conversation that is more than 140 characters long and without having to use symbols
4. I like some of the applications on Facebook
5. Facebook is easier to follow than Twitter.  I get e-mail sent to me when something pertains to me.  Following every tweet on Twitter would be time consuming. 

If you have yet to add me as a friend on facebook then do it.  If you have yet to add me on Twitter I am @mikeleake. 

Author: Kevin DeYoung

Pages: 128 pages

Publisher: Moody

Price: 8.79

Genre: Christian Living

Quick Summary:

The title of this book tells it all: Just Do Something: A Liberating Approach to Finding God’s Will or How to Make a Decision Without Dreams, Visions, Fleeces, Impressions, Open Doors, Random Bible Verses, Casting Lots, Liver Shivers, Writing in the Sky, Etc. DeYoung’s philosophy is simple, “Live for God. Obey the Scriptures. Think of others before yourself. Be holy. Love Jesus. And as you do these things, do whatever else you like, with whomever you like, wherever you like, and you’ll be walking in the will of God.

It is sad that DeYoung’s approach will come as novel to many readers. But it is not. This approach is certainly as old as Augustine who essentially said, “Love God and do what you want”. Much of this book is given to tearing down the “hyper-spiritual approaches” that don’t work. DeYoung also offers some instruction as to what to do—but if you are looking for magical answers you will not find it. His advice is simple—just do something.

What I Liked:

Adultolescence is an ever-increasing problem. There are those that are 30 and older that still do not have their life figured out. Within the church this is seen as a spiritual “waiting for God’s will”. DeYoung tears down all of the mystical garbage of pursuing God’s will. This is such a welcome addition to all of the books on finding God’s will; as a youth pastor I will frequently be recommending this book to students trying to discover God’s will for their life.

For me personally, this book has come at a very appropriate time. For awhile now the Lord has been opening up the Scriptures and pointing out aspects of church history to shape my view of “finding His will”. I have came to much the same conclusion as DeYoung—he just says it better than I was able to. This book has served to confirm what the Lord was already working in my own heart. I am not certain how this book would do in encouraging someone that picked up in whole-hearted disagreement. I would imagine that it would be used by God to convince them of the simplicity of knowing God’s will and hopefully encourage them to put down the crystal ball and start following Jesus.

This book is short, well-written, and extremely helpful.

What I Disliked:

This book will appeal to 30-somethings and younger. But these are not the only ones that have bought into the contemporary Christian’s “hyper-spiritual” view of finding God’s will. Everyone, regardless of age, needs to read this book; I hope that the books packaging, writing style, and target audience does not prevent this.

This probably says more about my list-desiring heart than DeYoung’s book, but I would have liked a little more information on what to do in knowing God’s will. This book does a great job of tearing down the existing structure but does kind of leave the person asking, “Well, what now”. But maybe that is the spot that we are to be in—absolute dependence on God and asking, “What now”.

Should You Buy It?

I love how Joshua Harris wrote the Foreword. He says, “It is God’s will for you to read this book”. Then he says that such a tactic is actually baloney. But this book is well written and extremely helpful. If you are the type that is constantly wondering what God’s will is, then you need to buy this book. If you work with teenagers or thirty-somethings that are still looking for direction then buy this book. If you have an adult living in your basement that should have a job, be married, and not living in your basement then perhaps you should slip it in front of their Xbox 360 with a note that says, “Read this!!!”  Buy it here for only $8.79

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

I read the ending.  Jesus wins.

When you know that Jesus wins it puts everything in perspective.  If you know the ending of a book the rough parts do not seem so bad.  You read the entire book through the lens of a happy ending.  Well…Jesus wins—hopefully, that’s a happy ending to you. 

Yes, things might seem bleak in our nation.  It may seem like the gospel is dying in Europe.  It may seem like Islam is winning.  But Jesus wins.

Yes, things might seem bleak in your own life.  It may seem like each day is clothed in darkness.  It may seem like your world is coming to an end.  You may feel like a reject, a disappointment to God and society, and a big giant failure.  And things may legitimately stink.  But you know what?  Jesus wins. 

And if Jesus wins and you are “hidden in him” that means you win too.

PS:  That’s why I don’t get too worried about this stuff:

Abraham Piper interviews Paul Tripp.  The first question concerns the difference between adult ministry and youth ministry. The second question is about motivation for obedience. 

This is a repost by Erik Raymond, but every preacher needs to read it: Preachers, Please Sweat Out the Text.

It’s a simple statement but it hit me like a ton of bricks: Why seek fame when you already have it?

Are we called to storm the gates of hell?  Kevin DeYoung points out a few exegetical oops.  This one is Matthew 16:18.

Kevin Bussey wonders why we say “but” if we know it’s truth.

Thabiti makes a good point of 5 things we do that other “religions” do not.

Matt Svoboda offers a profile of the lukewarm.

Greg Gilbert offers some “help” to those wanting to defend the guy you think is really cool.

Abraham Piper gives us 5 foundations for a Truth-Based Youth Ministry.

Greg Gilbert challenges Rob Bell’s definition of the gospel.

Have you ever watched Mystery Men?  I think these guys have:

Posting may be a little slow this weekend.  My father-in-law will be undergoing minor heart surgery on Friday so we will be going to St. Louis for the weekend.  I will also be preaching on Sunday morning at a church on the way back home from St. Louis.  Please be in prayer for Nikki’s dad this weekend.