The purpose of the church, the Christian life, believers meeting together, grace-gifts, recognized leadership, and all the spiritual disciplines, is to make us more and more like Jesus. With that in mind, we are to examine and purify ourselves (2 Cor. 13:5; 7:1). While an Oxford student in 1729-1730, John Wesley wrote a list of questions for his own self-examination, and later refined the questions for use in his small groups. This regular exercise in self-examination was one of Wesley's "methods" that gave rise to the nickname "methodist." Today, nearly three centuries later, Wesley's 21 … [Read more...]
PILGRIM HEART
Christianity is far more than a set of beliefs or a compelling intellectual vision; it is also a comprehensive way of life." This premise both motivates and informs author Darryl Tippens, who in his delightful new book Pilgrim Heart presents "an invitation to consider afresh what it means to live like Jesus." Even the Gospel of John, he notes, which so clearly emphasizes believing, practically begins and ends with Jesus' personal call: "Follow me." This call is reflected in the subtitle to Pilgrim Heart -- "The Way of Jesus in Everyday Life." Biblical faith is embodied in a journey, Tippens … [Read more...]
SECULAR SACRAMENTS
If we are very fortunate, every now and then our senses encounter a moment of beauty so transcendently marvelous that the experience becomes for us a portal or gate to the eternal. Wordsworth saw in such moments an "intimation of immortality," a memory of the soul's eternal existence before our birth, when "trailing clouds of glory, we comef we are very fortunate, every now and then our senses encounter a moment of beauty so transcendently marvelous that the experience becomes for us a portal or gate to the eternal. Wordsworth saw in such moments an "intimation of immortality," a memory of the … [Read more...]
STAYING ON COURSE
Captain Francesco Schettino was more than two miles off course when the 114,500-ton Costa Concordia hit a reef this January 2012. The impact sent more than 4,000 passengers on the luxury cruise ship into a panic. It sent a still-unknown number of them to their cold and lonely deaths. There is a reason for rules. In a world filled with hazards and threats, they define the approved course. They show the way that is safe. They mark the path we can trust. Our confused society has given rules a bad rap. Torah, the Hebrew word for "law," means "instruction"--always given, by the way, for the … [Read more...]
LIFE NOW AND FOREVER
This final week of 2004 has seen what is perhaps the largest natural disaster in the world's history, following an earthquake under the Indian Ocean more than 740 miles long and having the force of a million atomic bombs. The quake, which jolted the earth's rotation, spawned monster waves called tsunamis which swept across the Indian Ocean, killing (says the Associated Press) more than 44,000 people in eleven countries from Thailand to Somalia. Human life is fragile and precious, in the big picture and in our individual cases. Immortality is Christ's accomplishment and the Christian's hope. … [Read more...]
GOD’S ‘POEMS’ (2)
April/May 1997 -- Yesterday we noted Paul's use of the Greek word poema (from which we get "poem") to describe God's workmanship in Creation (Rom. 1:20) and in his New Creation in Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:10). I described the divine handiwork in Creation, which we experienced recently in California. It aawed us into silence and then elicited outbursts of adoration. God's "poem" in his New Creation awed us as well these past eight days. For four days at Pepperdine, we joined an estimated 5,000 believers who packed the Fieldhouse twice each day to worship God in song and to enjoy soul-stirring … [Read more...]