On a further note, Mark Driscoll and company at Mars Hill Church have released a free Father’s Day gift. He has made his booklet, Pastor Dad: Scriptural Insights on Fatherhood, available as a free download. Also if you want the actual bound book you can purchase a copy here.

I have been listening to Mark teach and preach for a while now and I testify that he is a great father and seeks to honor God with his entire life, including his family. So I am eager to read through his 45 page booklet on how to be a scriptural father.

I encourage all you men out there to check it out. If you have any responses to it you can post them below.

–Wholly Surrender!

Building on the modern devotion to the individual, modern Christianity in practice defined the entire purpose of the church in terms of the individual over and above the glory of God and benefit of the community of people. As a result, the modern church in its various forms defined the church as a place where individual spiritual needs are met. What developed was a view of individual Christians as consumers with felt needs and the church as the dispenser of religious good and services.

Consequently, the gospel came to be seen as – and in many churches still is – a product to be marketed in an attractive manner so as to draw as many customers to the church as possible to consume religious goods and services. Because in this business model the customer is always right, the church tends to sand off any theological edges that consumers find too rough (e.g., sin, God’s wrath, hell). While not denying them, the church hides them so as not to deter or offend the individual customer who is shopping for pop psychology, self-help, and general spirituality.

That is a pretty serious indictment, and the worst part is I have witnessed exactly what he is talking about. In fact there are times I think I have even contributed to such warped theology and church practices. I have to often contributed to the watering down of the gospel and the cultural assimilation of the church either by omission or commission. I am sick and tired of consuming my Jesus like my Krispy Kreme donuts and newest CD. I am tired of letting my pride rule everything in my life including my faith. Aren’t you?

We need a new paradigm, a new spiritual culture, a new commitment to serving our Lord and His Gospel. We need to re-learn what it means to be a new creation devoted to the Kingdom of God. We need to retake work of Christ in our world and make of our lives, lives of service and community rather than self-indulgence and isolation. We need God to restore to us the joy of our salvation, His Glory.

–Wholly Surrender!

So in light of all that I have been asking questions like What is love? Is there such thing as unconditional love? If so who is capable of exhibiting unconditional love? Can love exist without outward expression of said love? Does love exist if it is not received by the intended party? Can love truly be reciprocated or can we just also love that person the way we have been loved? What does God’s love look like? sound like? feel like? act like? And most importantly as Christians how can we ever possibly love like the Almighty God? 

Well before we get any further into to this post let me just confess that as Todd Agnew so eloquently phrased it on his latest album, “I’ve got better questions, than I have answers…”. I believe love is quite possibly the most complex notion next to God himself, and therefore do not propose to have any of this figured out. Rather as I was doing my devotion this morning all these thoughts came rushing back to me again. Here is what I read from Oswald Chambers’ My Utmost For His Highest:

The first thing God does is forcibly remove any insincerity, pride, and vanity from my life. And the Holy Spirit reveals to me that God loved me not because I was lovable, but because it was His nature to do so. Now He commands me to show the same love to others by saying, “. . . love one another as I have loved you” ( John 15:12 ). He is saying, “I will bring a number of people around you whom you cannot respect, but you must exhibit My love to them, just as I have exhibited it to you.” This kind of love is not a patronizing love for the unlovable— it is His love, and it will not be evidenced in us overnight. Some of us may have tried to force it, but we were soon tired and frustrated.

I know that is true of me. So many times I try to force myself to love people like God has loved me, but I seem to quickly to lose sight and strength, and then I fail. I fall short. I miss the mark, and once again the name of Jesus is marred. It is so frustrating and so defeating. It is a constant reminder that He is God and I am not. That on my own I am not able to love as He loves. 

So I find myself once again with more questions than answers. The biggest of which is “How do I love people with God’s true and perfect love?” While I have not yet found an answer I have come to one conclusion. The answer will never be found in a formula or 7 step how-to book. Why? Because God’s love has to come from a regenerated and surrendered heart, and for every believer that timeline and process looks a little bit different. 

The only thing I know for sure is that God does love me and he rescued me from death with that love. I also know that there are people all around me, every day that are needing and wanting and searching to be rescued from death. So although I know often I will fail and fall short I will press on in His strength and love to help rescue the perishing for His Kingdom. For what I can never do alone, He can do through me if I am willing and obedient. 

So here’s to love. 

-Wholly Surrender. 

In Jesus Wants to Save Christians, Bell lays out the cyclical history of Empire oppression which he calls “Anti-Kingdom.” In classic Bell style he dives deep into Hebrew history and culture to show how humanity’s progression East of Eden stands in the way of God’s perfect Kingdom. He then goes on to draw eerie parallels the early Jewish Empire and our own current day America. He sums up his diagnosis with a proposal as to how we might proceed in reversing the eastward movement of our nation and bring the Kingdom of God to our current world.

While Sex God is probably still my favorite Bell book, this one runs a very close second. I would highly recommend picking it up, even if you have not read any of Bell’s prior work. While having read the previous two books would shine a little extra light on the nuisances of Jesus Wants to Save Christians, they are certainly not required. You can pick up Jesus Wants to Save Christians at most local bookstores or on Amazon.

Happy Reading!

–Wholly Surrender!

Matthew 20:22-23

“You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said to them. “Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?”

“We can,” they answered.

Jesus said to them, “You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father.”

This is a great story found in Matthew. In this passage the Sons of Thunder, John and James, are at it again. They boldly request to have a special place of prominence next to Christ in heaven. To which Christ responds with the above scripture. It is an interesting response from Jesus, as usual. He says, “You will indeed drink from my cup.” Inferring that they would follow His earthly track and example. I always took that to mean they would be martyrs such as Christ was, but that is not exactly true for John as William Barclay points out in The Master’s Men:

So, then, both of the brothers drank the cup of Christ. Let us see what that cup was. John went to Ephesus; he lived for almost a hundred years; and died in peace full of years and honour. James’s life was short, and came to an end swiftly and suddenly through martyrdom by the sword – and yet both drank the cup of Christ. There is a Roman coin, which has as its inscription the picture of an ox facing an altar and a plough. The Christian who dies in one heroic moment, and the Christian who lives a long life of fidelity to Christ both drink the cup of Christ. The Christian…must be ready for either.

Until I read that last night in Matt Redman’s book Facedown I had never really thought of it like that. Now that is not to say that John’s life did not hold sacrifice for Christ and the Gospel. After all he was exiled from everyone and everything he knew and died alone. Still it wasn’t the same path as his brother James.

This is a very important lesson for us a Christians. To follow Christ does not mean the same ministry, walk, convictions, passions, methods, purpose, etc… for everyone. Rather on the contrary God has a specific place in His Kingdom work for all of us, and each of us must seek out and fulfill that role. Whether that means risking life and physical safety on the mission field in a Muslim country, or walking with integrity and loving like Christ in the Midwest Corporation, we must be ready and willing to do either.

It is easy to beat ourselves us and say our walk with Christ is not as sacrificial or as important or as meaningful to God as so-and-so’s, but that is a lie and trap from the Devil. As long as we are seeking the Father and walking in step with Him each day we must trust He is empowering us to accomplish exactly what is necessary for His glory. Be careful not to fall into the trap of comparison, especially in service to Christ.

–Wholly Surrender!

The book’s unofficial subtitle reads “This is really about that” meaning our sexuality is really about spirituality or Sex is really all about God. The section I read last night was entitled My Father’s House. In this section he explains the cultural context around one of Jesus’ parables. I have reproduced said section below:

In the first century, generally a young woman would be married in her early teens, often at thirteen or fourteen. It would become known that she was now “of age,” and her father would entertain offers from the fathers of  young men who were interested in marrying her. If the fathers agreed on the terms of the marriage, there would be a celebration to honor the couple and announce their engagement. At this celebration, the groom would offer the young girl a cup of wine to drink.

But she doesn’t have to drink it.

She can reject the cup. She can say no to his offer of marriage. Even though everything has already been arranged, she can still say no. It’s up to her.

Can you imagine the pressure on the young fella?

Here is everybody you love the most, friends and parents and relatives, gathered in a room, watching to see if she will accept the cup.

If she says yes, the groom gives a sort of prepared speech about their future together.

Because if she takes the cup and drinks from it, that only means that they are engaged. They aren’t married yet. Something still has to happen.

Or to be more precise, something has to be built.

If she says yes, then the groom goes home and begins building an addition onto his family’s home. This is where he and his bride will start their new family together. And so he works and works, building a place that they can call home. And here’s the interesting part: he doesn’t know when he’s going to finish. Because he doesn’t have the final say on whether it’s ready. That’s his father’s decision. And so his father periodically inspects his work, looking to see if the quality of what the son is building properly honors his future bride. The father has considerations as well. If he has many sons, and they’ve all built additions, then his house is getting quite large. There are many rooms in it. This was called an insula, a large multifamily dwelling. If the father had built his addition onto his father’s house, then by now, several generations later, this is a large dwelling with rooms for a lot of people.

Back to the story. The future bride is at home, learning how to run a household. She also doesn’t know when the work will be done, so she’s preparing herself for a date that’s coming, she just doesn’t know when.

And then the day comes. The father inspects and tells the son that it’s time. So the son gets his friends, and they set out for her house to get her. But how will he know what room is hers?

He’ll know because she has filled her lamp with oil each night and set it in the window, so that when he comes, he’ll know which room is hers.

And so he goes to get her, and they gather their friends and family, and there’s a giant procession back to his house, where the party starts.

And so when she takes the glass of wine at the engagement party and drinks from it, the groom says to her: “My father’s house has plenty of room; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.

WOW! Light bulb!

Did you catch the parallel at the end there. This is another example of why the church is called the bride of Christ. We are engaged to Jesus and He has went ahead of us to His father’s house to prepare for us a place. He is preparing us home to live with Him for eternity, and one day unknown to us He is returning to take us their. How exciting is that?

Still the important lesson here lies in Jesus’ parable about the 10 virgins. You see 5 of them had their lamps filled with oil and five did not. Five were ready and awaiting His return while the other five were unprepared and missed it. They missed wedding celebration, and when they did return with oil in their lamps it was to late. The time had come and passed and they were left behind.

Is you lamp full? Are you ready for the bridegroom to return? Are you ready to start the greatest wedding celebration of all time?

–Wholly Surrender!

Top 3 Albums:

1. Jimmy Needham- Not Without Love

2. Tenth Avenue North – Over and Underneath

3. Bebo Norman – Bebo Norman

Top 3 Books:

1. Sex God – by Rob Bell

2. Searching for God Knows What – by Donald Miller

3. Porn-Again Christian – by Mark Driscoll

Top 3 Movies:

1. Traitor

2. The Dark Knight

3. Juno

Top 3 TV Shows:

1. Criminal Minds

2. How I Met Your Mother

3. LOST

Top 3 New Websites:

1. i am second.com

2. advent conspiracy

3. noise trade

Top 3 Blogs:

1. Collide Magazine

2. Fact Check

3. iPhone Atlas

Top 3 Causes:

1. World Vision

2. Living Water International

3. International Justice Mission

Top 3 Passages/Verses:

1. Philippians 2

2. John 21

3. John 3:30

I know some of you could care less about what my personal top three are, but at least now it is down for public record.

–Wholly Surrender!

Having said all that if you are a male and still reading this post you need to get you butt on over to the webpage and download your free pdf already. Fine, I will give you the link one more time so you don’t have to scroll back up and find again. HERE IS THE DOWNLOAD PAGE! Now go! Quickly! It is a short and easy read (I read it all sitting here tonight), and one I promise you will not regret.

Also don’t be a typical guy and skip the appendices as the end. They are really impactful.

If after reading you have any further questions, comments, or issues I am always available to talk.

–Wholly Surrender!

Following the example of his first book the subtitle gives a much better feel for what the book is about than does the main title. In Sex God Rob insightfully analyzes the biblical foundations of human sexuality. He looks what is means to be a divinely sexual being in a fallen and broken world. What is most impressive is that he is able to successfully cover this sensitive topic in a way that is relevant to both couples and singles.

The introduction to the book is entitled This is Really About That, meaning sexuality is really about spirituality. I have to admit that at first it threw me for a bit of a loop, but by the end of the book it made perfect sense. Bell weaves together bible stories, hebrew word studies, jewish traditions, modern day pop culture, and real life examples to put fourth a theory of human sexuality that weaves together the answers to so many cultural questions.

If you can’t tell I highly recommend you check out this book. I am already eager to get into his third book. If it follows suit it will be even better than this one. However in the meantime check out Sex God, and if you have already Velvet Elvis is worth your time also.

–Wholly Surrender!

Anyways, I would encourage you to check out this interview. I think both sides of the conversation have important questions to examine.

Derek Webb/Collide Interview

–Wholly Surrender!