Lists, Lists, Lists

“All of us would be wiser if we would resolve never to put people down, except on our prayer lists.” – D.A. Carson

In A Call to Spiritual Reformation, his book on the prayers of Paul, D.A. Carson introduces the book with a chapter on lessons he has learned about prayer from other Christian models in his life. Among these is the suggestion to develop a system for prayer lists. I admit that when it comes to keeping and using a prayer list, I fall short. With my poor memory, I either forget to write people and situations to pray for, or write them down and forget to use my list later.

Carson uses a system he borrowed from J. Herbert Kane, a missionary to China in the mid 20th century. He keeps a manila folder in his study (where he does most of his praying) and takes it with him while traveling. The first sheet in the folder contains a list of people to pray regularly and indefinitely for – “people bound up with me, who I am.” He includes his wife, children, relatives, close friends, his church and his seminary.

The second sheet lists short-range and intermediate-range concerns that will not remain indefinitely. These may include forthcoming responsibilities in ministry and opportunities or crises he has heard about. In other words, the first sheet is made up of people for whom he prays constantly. The second includes people and situations for whom he prays for a short or extended period of time.

The rest of the folder is made up of his advisee list (seminary students) and letters. These letters are prayer letters or personal letters, organized in alphabetical order. He tries to set aside time to intercede with God on behalf of these people, and cycles through them regularly.

Carson uses his manila folder. Pastor Mullen uses index cards. Our church bulletin lists prayer concerns and missionary letters weekly. Many missionaries and organizations publish prayer lists. There are many systems to help us to pray with and for others. If you have a system that works, or know of a system someone else uses, please share!

Seeking Clarity

Simon Peter answered and said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." And Jesus said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven." Matthew 16:16-17

In yesterday's sermon, Pastor Mullen made a very helpful observation. God is not looking for us to have spectacular, or even eloquent, confessions or testimonies of faith. Instead, he wishes for us to have a clear confession. A clear confession of who Jesus is, and who he is in our lives.

Perhaps we think that "other people" have amazing stories of God's deliverance to share with others...but not us. And so we might discount or exempt ourselves from speaking to others about our faith. However, this dishonors the work of the Holy Spirit in our own lives.

God wants to use you, not someone else, to speak the gospel to those you know. And I've seen time and time again that he will use you (whoever "you" may be!).

I was once at a dinner party where an agnostic philosophy professor was present. I was confident that, as a ministry leader armed with thick books, I would be able to provide answers to this professor. But he dismissed me and my books quickly. Instead, God used a young girl who was also present, who spoke to the professor with a very simple testimony - yet silenced the objections he was voicing to the Christian faith.

Rich Mullins wrote a great song based on stories in the Bible where God used everyday people...and animals...to accomplish his purposes. The chorus, reflecting on the story of Moses' rescue from Pharaoh's infanticide, speaks to this point:

And a princess pulled a baby out of the water
He was hidden in the rushes
Sleeping in a basket made of reeds
And you never know who God is gonna use
A princess or a baby
Or maybe even you or me

Let's not worry about who we are or aren't. Let's instead think about who our Savior is, and make sure that we can speak with some clarity and even simplicity about Him.

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Click here for the full text to the song mentioned above.

In Control?

"Add to your knowledge self control" (2 Peter 1:6).

We all know that knowledge is not enough. Without putting our knowledge to noble use, it leads only to (self-) destruction.

Yet sometimes our knowledge is hard to put into practice. Especially when it concerns the eternal truths of God's word, with the example of Jesus Christ before us, the gulf between knowledge and practice can seem daunting.

I think that we can view self-control, a virtue commanded throughout the New Testament, as the first important step in practicing what we believe. Self-control includes mastery of our bodies, minds, emotions, and ultimately our choices. It is basically knowing when to say "yes" and especially "no" - and especially to ourselves.

In his helpful book Respectable Sins, Jerry Bridges lists the lack of self-control as one of those faults we live with all to easily. Yet its affects can be devastating. It takes self-control to practice God's word, and if we are controlled by our appetites or emotions (whether sinful ones or not) we will lose the edge we need to obey, to endure. Paul said that he disciplined his body to avoid being spiritually "disqualified" (2 Corinthians 9:27); Jesus said, "By your endurance you will gain your lives" (Luke 21:19).

"Being in control" is a universal desire. We want to control our circumstances, control others, and control ourselves. Two of these desires are misguided, but the third - self-control - is thoroughly biblical.

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If you wish to look up further passages on this topic, Bridges recommends Proverbs 25:28, Galatians 5:22-23, and 2 Timothy 3:3. Titus 2 has much to say on this subject, as do the two epistles of Peter.

Responding to Abundance

My dad (a pastor), in referring to qualities of a good pastor, has said that there seem to be two types of preachers – fountains and rain barrels. I’m not sure if he made that up himself, or if he got it from someone else. Since he considers himself a rain barrel, it would be safe to assume that he was quoting someone else. A rain barrel pastor is one who collects the things other people have said about a certain subject or passage, synthesizes them, and presents them in his own way. A fountain is one who can look at a topic or passage and expound on it in a fresh way – maybe say something that no one else has said before. Examples of fountains are R.C. Sproul, John Piper, James Boice, etc. Though I am not a pastor, I (like most people) fall into the rain barrel category, and even on a blog, my thoughts seem to be inspired from somewhere else.

With that long intro out of the way, my thoughts this week have been gravitating toward interaction with and “rain barreling” of John Owen in his work Communion with the Triune God. Owen talks about the bounty of love and grace Jesus Christ evidences to his saints. For example, Christ gives an abundance of pardon, an abundant richness of the Holy Spirit, an abundance of grace, and an abundance of life. In a way, we are to “rain barrel” the abundance that Christ shows to us, and respond in obedience and love to Him.

What can I, a sinful man, do in response to such bounty from a holy, merciful Saviour? One way is striving for holiness. We are commanded to obey our Lord and King with love – “if you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 15:14). A second way is to produce fruits of holiness – “be steadfast, immovable, always abounding to the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain” (1 Cor. 15:58). The first response has its roots in the heart; the second manifests itself in outward actions stemming from a regenerate heart that strives after holiness.

Our regeneration and justification should continually affect us as we continue to live for Christ. We must always press on toward the goal (Phil. 3) to be more dutiful, loving, obedient, and fruitful to Jesus Christ. I was challenged to examine my heart and motives. Am I putting Christ first in everything? Do I follow his commands and strive toward holiness out of loving obedience to him? How do I think and act differently than the world? Am I putting my faith, trust, and love to Christ first and not to the world? I find these issues a daily struggle and I need to ask daily for God’s grace and forgiveness.

The Jim Kraeger Annotated Bible

This is a Bible I used for a handful of years in the early 1990s. These were particularly formative years in my Christian life and in my growth as a Bible student and teacher.

I call this the "Jim Kraeger Annotated Bible" because a friend at that time - we'll keep him anonymous but call him "Jim" - would often say things that I wanted to remember, and so I scribbled them in the back of the Bible.

Like this:

click to enlarge

Below are the four primary Kraeger quotes. I can't guarantee they weren't lifted from various Puritans (he was a diligent reader), though I generally attribute them to Jim:

1. "Without love, our duties are as burdensome to God as they are to us."

2. "Christ drank a cup of wrath without mercy that we may drink a cup of mercy without wrath."

3. "The prayer that moves God is the prayer that moves me." (NOTE: I have found this to be experientially true, though I bet some would disagree; would love to discuss sometime.)

4. "There are three categories of Christians: those who give Jesus place; those who give Him prominence; and those who give him preeminence."

I am currently trying to track down Jim Kraeger. If you know where he is, send him this way!

The Uncluttered Life

I've been reading up on the topic of simplicity lately.

A recent book entitled Simple Church explains that, in an overwhelming world, simplicity has become a hot commodity. Think of Google's homepage, or the iPod's uncluttered elegance. Think of reality shows that teach you how to organize or discard your many belongings.

More profoundly, I am reading about simplicity in God's word. I am reading about the uncluttered life.

For example, a famous passage in Philippians begins with these words: "Be anxious for nothing..." It then goes on to explain how to accomplish this through thankfulness and prayer. The goal here is a mind free from needless worries.

But we should notice that another famous passage immediately follows, one that ends with these words: "Think on these things." What are "these things"? Well, you'll have to read for yourself. My simple point is this: we should not only avoid anxious thoughts to make our lives more pleasant; we should replace these anxious thoughts to better glorify and enjoy God. If our minds are too cluttered with needless cares, we cannot give our minds over to more noble, and more enjoyable, pursuits.

By the way, I don't find that mental clutter is always a form of worry. At least not obviously so. Often, I find that I am unable to set my attention - and my actions - on those things that truly matter to God simply because I am distracted by so many "urgent but less important" matters. This is true even in - or especially in? - church life. Satan is not necessary upset when we are busy, if it's the kind of busy that draws us away from fellowship with God and service to others.

Jesus was often pushed and pulled in different directions. If you look at him, you'll see that sometimes he handled the "busyness" with grace and infinite wisdom; other times he withdrew, refusing to accept the agendas others set for him.

Let's indeed "think on these things..."

Laying Up Treasures in Heaven

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Matthew 6:19-21

In the preface to his allegorical book on heaven and hell (The Great Divorce), C.S. Lewis states that “if we insist on keeping hell (or even earth) we shall not see heaven: if we accept heaven we shall not be able to retain even the smallest and most intimate souvenirs of hell.” In other words, we can’t take anything from earth with us to heaven – whether it be earthly treasures that can be destroyed, or even our sins. Our eyes need to be fixed on Jesus Christ, the author and finisher of our faith.

Sanctification is God’s way of preparing us for heaven. J.C. Ryle touches on this in his book Holiness. Ryle points out that most men hope to go to heaven when they die, but do many take the trouble to consider whether they would enjoy heaven if they got there? If heaven is a holy place filled with holy people and above all a holy God, it logically follows that holy people would be happy there. If we cling to the things of this world for our happiness and comfort, heaven will not be such an enjoyable place. But if our focus is on Christ, then heaven will be a glorious place indeed.

As we are made holier through the grace of God and the workings of the Holy Spirit in our lives, it is like a foretaste of heaven and the glory that is in store for us. We need the renewal of the Holy Spirit in our hearts and the atoning blood of Christ for not only justification and forgiveness of sins, but also for continuing sanctification and eventual glorification.

“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?”

Romans 6:1, 2

Trusting Our Creator

"My son, do not reject the discipline of the Lord,
or loathe His reproof,
For whom the Lord loves He reproves,
even as a father the son in whom he delights."
(Proverbs 3:12)


When discussing this passage on Sunday, I referred to a quotation by C.S. Lewis from "The Problem of Pain." Several people commented on this, and so I thought I would post the quotation here.

Lewis sets out to illustrate how God can both love us and yet allow (indeed, cause) troubles in our lives. He compares the painful work of God in our lives to the work of an artist:

Over a sketch made idly to amuse a child, an artist may not take much trouble: he may be content to let it go even though it is not exactly as he meant it to be. But over the great picture of his life -- the work which he loves, though in a different fashion, as intensely as a man loves a woman or a mother a child -- he will take endless trouble -- and would, doubtless, thereby give endless trouble to the picture if it were sentient. One can imagine a sentient picture, after being rubbed and scraped and recommenced for the tenth time, wishing that were only a thumbnail sketch whose making was over in a minute. In the same way, it is natural for us to wish that God had designed us for a less glorious and less arduous destiny; but then we are wishing not for more love but for less. (ch. 3)

Lewis proceeds to offer further illustrations from the relationship of a master to a pet (you really shouldn't miss that one!), a husband to a wife, and a father to a son.

During times of great pain, there are no easy answers. And we do not have to have marvelous answers. We need only to trust. God's word, and in this case Lewis's reflections on it, can help us be prepared for such times.


"For we are His workmanship..." (Ephesians 2:10a)

A Humbling Thought

A word that is on my mind as the new year begins is "humility." I was recently given a book by C.J. Mahaney on the topic, which my pride insists was not a subtle hint. Then I heard a pastor repent in front of his congregation, having read this same book, for failing to exhibit humility. This got my attention!

You would think that the church might be a good place to cultivate humility. Hopefully in some ways it is. However, in evangelical America, is humility valued any more than in corporate America?

A fellow pastor drew my attention to an irony in contemporary church life. On the one hand, serving the poor is receiving increased attention: in our denomination we speak frequently about "ministries of justice and mercy." And this is good! It is a reminder of Jesus' call to serve others and not base our "greatness" on outward success but on humbly serving others.

Yet in other areas we still operate with a value system very similar to Wall Street: swelling numbers, polished performances, etc., are considered indicators of success. As indicators of the Spirit's work, these are indeed good things; after all, God desires the gospel to spread and He moves us toward excellence in our endeavors. But when these instead reveal external rather than internal priorities, such pursuits can actually move us away from humility and "true greatness."

How careful we have to be! And how humble.