Little Communities of the Living Word

I look forward to the start of the Bible studies with the Temple students. Tenth International Fellowship will be working with Tenth College Union on this effort. I am very excited as to the possibilities of such cooperation. The goal is to have multiple small group communities formed by college students that are centered on the written and living Word of God, empowered and guided by the Holy Spirit sprouting out across the student body. These groups are called "communities" because they are not going to be just study groups (though the study of the Word is central and essential). Here are some ideas about what these groups will seek to be. (1) They will be places where students will learn how to read the Scriptures. Through the process of study, students will learn how to observe, interpret and then apply God's Word with increasing skill to themselves and one another. (2) These groups will also be places where leadership and teaching gifts are put to the test. (3) These groups will be places of evangelization. Those who have yet to embrace Christ but are curious about his way can come into these groups and see for themselves brothers and sisters in Christ struggling to understand and bring their lives under the authority of the Word. There will be little place for superficiality. Tangible truth and aggressive love will be practiced. These groups may be the first places where non-believers will witness and experience a sliver of the larger church in action. (4) Above all, these groups will be places where the Holy Spirit will make his presence felt by the Word that he brings. The Word will take root and exert authority over thought and emotion and action; they will be places where the Word of God is lived out and not just taken in. What a joy it will be to have pockets of time and space in the context of the campus where the Lord is present by his Spirit, nurturing, instructing, and revealing himself to those who love him and to those who have yet to know him.

The Difference Between a Struggling Sinner and a Hypocrite in Worship

Some Christians worry that if they do not feel like worshipping on Sunday yet go to church then, they are being hypocritical. This leads me to ask the question: What is the difference between the worship of a struggling but redeemed sinner and the worship of a hypocrite? This is an important question because we have people who do not feel like worshipping but feel that they must feel like doing so in order to worship well. In my view, the difference is this: The struggling sinner may not feel like worshipping but he forces and disciplines himself to worship in order to please, obey and glorify the Lord; the hypocrite, however, may not feel like worshipping but does so to get it over with or look good. In the case of the former, his acts of worship, though strained and imperfect, is still considered worship. But in the latter's case, his acts of worship are not really worship at all.

Just a thought--not the final word.

Why Blog?

Why do I want to have my own blog site? There are several reasons that immediately come to mind. (1) The thrill of the novelty. Blogging is new. And with everything new (and morally okay), there is a some simple pleasure in trying it. Furthermore, it is somewhat cool to see your words on the internet. (2) Techno sloth. Blogging is webpage-making made easy for people like me who are too lazy to want to go the whole way and create their own webpage. (3) For the love of writing. (4) To be visible to friends and family. Here is a place where my loved ones can find me and receive updates on our (Robin and I) lives. (5) To think out loud about the covenanted life. By the covenanted life I mean life that is self-consciously lived in accountability to the triune God who is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In this regard, this blog is a bit like a journal. It will contain some of my own thoughts about how theology relates to and shapes the life that I live 24-7, a life that includes studying, praying, hanging out with friends, cooking, traveling to and from work, watching movies, arguments, and more. (6) Finally, as always, as with all things in life, to give glory to the triune God. Blogs can be extremely self-centered exercises. I am aware of that. You want people to know you, read you, so on and so forth. Worse, you do this from a safe distance, protected by a veil of electronic bleeps and what-not. But blogging can also be covenanted as the rest of life is. It can be another exercise of covenanted living, another part of the life-long, life-wide Gospel work. So this blog will be dedicated to the glory of God, the one who made us beings with an insatiable appetite for communications, the one who is himself the communicator of truth, the one who communicates the truth that is himself. This blog is but a small reflection--amidst many other small reflections--of such a one.

So if you are visiting, thank you for taking the time to hang out here and listening to me (if you did). Feel free to drop a comment or write me an email. Feel free to agree or disagree and/or shed more light. We are all on the same journey, pressing toward the throne that sits at the end of the ages.