Visiting Family and Church Activities

When you're attending a recurring church activity, say like your small group, and hear that someone is not there because they have family in town, most folks go, "sure, yeah, that's understandable" and go about their activity.

I was thinking about it this morning (and this is just my thought/conviction)--I'm not sure that's a good thing. If the family is just staying overnight, or you haven't seen them in years, perhaps that's one thing. But what if they're there for a while, or you see them regularly? What are you communicating to your family by skipping God's means of grace for you (encouragement and nourishment through the study of the Word)?

Jesus wants us to put our love for Him and devotion for Him (things that assist in growing in the grace and knowledge of Christ) before all else--doing this equips us to love our family better! Neglecting such means can only cause us to falter from attending to His Word.

And in some cases, can't you take them with you to small group? Our small group brings their kids to it and they play in another room--what better way to show your visiting family the benefits you receive from your church by showing them first-hand?

This all came to my mind because we have my wife's brother and his family coming into town tonight, and they'll be staying until Sunday. The temptation would be to say to our small group leader (an elder) and our pastor, "well, we have family in town and we can't make small group or go to praise team practice." And they'd likely understand--and perhaps the visiting family would not see anything communicated to them by us NOT going to those activities. But what would they see if we did?

The Facebook Fad

So now I am part of the growing sensation which is Facebook. My wife had been on the site for a little while, and I can easily see its appeal. You can connect up with friends from high school, college, grad school, groups or geographic areas of the country--I found some people I hadn't seen in years.

I suppose we all desire connection with others in some way--the internet can be used in a good way to help us to reconnect to those whom we once knew.

Dress Code

Just in time for the summer, my office decided that it was okay for us to wear polo shirts to work, rather than the button down shirt and ties that I've been wearing every day that I've not been in court (which hasn't been often).

However, over the next few weeks I actually will only be in court twice. After that, it's court every day with the exception of about 4 days. Ah, summer in the Valley--I can already see myself swimming through the humidity.

Are You Dull of Hearing?

Pastor David preached on the end of Hebrews 5, where the writer turns to his audience and in one sense rebukes them for not progressing in the faith:

"11 About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. 12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, 13 for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. 14 But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil."

Now this turning point in the writer-preacher's sermon is important because it illustrates the depth of what he has just said on how Jesus is our high priest. Many in that time who came to the faith identified and understood Jesus as their savior, but many were likely not understanding Christ's dual role as High Priest and the significance of that in relation to the Old Testament. An analogy can be made to those Christians today who claim they are saved (and may very well be so, by God's grace) but only hold to such knowledge at a very elementary level.

Pastor David also referenced Jesus explaining the parable of the sower to the disciples when speaking of those who have become dull of hearing:

"10 Then the disciples came and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” 11 And he answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. 12 For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 13 This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. 14 Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says:

“‘You will indeed hear but never understand,
and you will indeed see but never perceive.
15 For this people's heart has grown dull,
and with their ears they can barely hear,
and their eyes they have closed,
lest they should see with their eyes
and hear with their ears
and understand with their heart
and turn, and I would heal them.’


The term "dull of hearing" in the Greek means a type of lethargy, a listlessness that is not just physical, but spiritual. Oftentimes when we think of someone being lethargic, we identify it as a physical condition, not a mental or spiritual one--yet in that lies our downfall. The pleasures of this world gradually hinder our ability to hear and understand spiritual things, because it takes our focus off what is truly important.

A good analogy would be actual loss of hearing: ask anyone in their late 20s or 30s who has lost most of his or her hearing due to listening to music very loud when they were younger, and they will tell you that it didn't happen all at once. They would probably tell you that they listened louder and louder so that they could continue to hear it. So it is with us and the world--the world shows us pleasures and desires and we "turn it up" a little more with each passing instance, while discernment for spiritual things is neglected and our hearing/understanding for it is dulled.

This can happen gradually for us, as we let certain worldly influences and pleasures (TV, things we read, ambitions) desensitize us to our neglect of our walk with Christ. We should not be still on the milk of the faith, but we are, and have not moved on to the meat. In Isaiah 28:9, it says: “To whom will he teach knowledge, and to whom will he explain the message? Those who are weaned from the milk, those taken from the breast? In the next verse it emphasizes how things are built concept upon concept--just like with any other idea structure in life. Theology must be studied to understand the depth and riches of the knowledge of Christ--to understand His salvation more fully, one must grasp the concepts of justification and sanctification and know the distinction.

In being encouraged to move from milk to meat, Pastor David brought out two points or two questions to ask ourselves in seeing whether we are dull of hearing:

1. Can we teach, can we defend the faith?

Now this certainly doesn't mean that we are to become apologists for the faith on a professional level, able to do battle with the fiercest haters of the faith, but it does mean that we should be able to give a reason for the hope that we have in a well thought out response. Does it need to have catch words or certain phrases--perhaps, but the understanding of it should be there--simply saying "God says so" or "that's just what I believe" will not cut it. And it shouldn't, since if we love God and His commandments we should say as David did in Psalm 1, his delight is in the law [2] of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.


2. Does your love of the world and its pleasures keep you from understanding the doctrines of grace?

Sometimes people will often identify the worst sins in the world and quickly think better of themselves than they should. What do I mean by that? Some Christian will say, well I don't murder, cheat on my spouse, etc, so I'm not sinning in such a way that I'm being kept from any understanding! But when did you look a little too long at something you shouldn't have? When did you watch that movie or read that book that degraded or cheapened the faith in your eyes, causing you unconsciously to deny the Gospel and become dull? Such influences and worldly pleasures can make us unable to discern good from evil--we can rationalize and say the entertainment or habit or activity wasn't THAT bad while each time we keep pushing the line we shouldn't cross further and further back.

In addition, such pleasures or desires don't have to be inherently sinful in and of themselves--I'll speak to men for a minute. Is the amount of time that you spend working on your car, your lawn, your job, or golf game stealing from the time you need to be devoting to the Word? There is nothing wrong with ANY of those things, but when we elevate ANYTHING above our desire for Christ, making those things the object of our most attention, we become dull of hearing because we are drawn away from the teaching of the Word to these things which occupy our thoughts.

There's a great line from the Caedmon's Call song (You Created)that goes like this:

"But You created nothing That gives me more pleasure than You"

And this is true! We may try to fill our lives with various things that we think will give us more pleasure, but in the end they will all disappoint--and these things draw us away from the Father and make us dull of His graces!

Now, one caveat to all of this about studying theology and the Word--knowledge can be a great and powerful thing to the believer, as the level of knowledge can directly correlate to the assurance a believer can have (for example, a deeper assurance might be had, by the grace of God, if one understands election). HOWEVER, knowledge cannot be pursued for its own sake--it MUST be couched in a love for the Father and His Son Christ. Apart from it, one may love the study of the object rather than the object of the study--one may look at some scientists who are so interested in researching various forms of cancer that they forget the REASON they are doing so, which is to find a cure.

Jesus is not content to leave us where we are--we were not saved to simply sit on Christ's laurels and wait for heaven, living as if nothing had changed--we are called to advance in the faith, in knowledge and in truth. We must attend to the Word, that by His work and grace we are called to grow in this knowledge and serve Him, not sit and home and watch TV that is at best "neutral" and at worst detrimental to our faith.

Pastor David concluded with Hebrews 6:11-12:

11 And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, 12 so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

Christian, get up from your spiritual sluggishness, and hear the Word today!

Day Downer

I had my yearly review today, one that I had not really been looking forward to. I just got back from a quite fruitless court date (the only case that I could have gotten something from, the person showed up and stated they did not owe the amount sued)--drove about 2 1/2 hours there and 2 1/2 hours back to essentially continue all my cases to a new date.

Right before lunch, I was called into my supervising attorney's office, we had a five minute discussion about things we had already talked about (things where I could improve) and then I was told that I would get a raise that from what I calculated was essentially a cost of living increase. I am grateful for a raise, though it is small and as an attorney, hard to face. I didn't really reply or have any thing to say since it wouldn't have done anything to change it--it's not like the initial negotiation process when hiring. THEY evaluate YOU and tell you how it's going to be. My "grade" was not very encouraging, but what can you do about it but move on and do better tomorrow--it punched me in the stomach today but you gotta get back up!

I'll grant that I've made mistakes (some of which were big) and that I probably didn't pick things up as fast as they wanted, but for all the traveling I do (even being reimbursed), I can't really say that I can stay here at the level of pay I've got (not to mention for financial reasons--student loans just don't disappear!). And I'm certainly not one of those self-esteem needy guys who needs to be puffed up, but I can't honestly remember one time this past year where I was called into one of the other attorney's offices for a positive reason, it was always when I was doing something wrong. So it seems if I'm not having office talks with them, it's a good thing. It's been an interesting experience so far, and I'm trying hard to keep an open mind to learning in spite of the struggle and my frustrations.

I'm glad to be working rather than not working (I did that for 10 months) and I have to find purpose in where my wife and I have been put. But it doesn't make it any easier to wonder why it seems that I've had to struggle harder than the majority of my classmates in making my way in the legal profession. God's got a plan, I know, but the weird schedule and traveling makes me weary at times (traveling 1100 miles this week alone makes me long for the weekend!).

Discipline in the Summertime

Even though most of us are in the working world, it's hard not to fall into the habit of slacking a little in the summer--maybe we sleep a little later on the weekends, put those household things off or whatever.

The thing that we CANNOT do (and I am one of the worst offenders) is to get out of the routine of reading our Bible, worshipping and fellowshipping with other believers on Sunday.

My friend Joey (Family Pastor at GRBC in Virginia Beach) has a great article that describes this tendency and provides several exhortations to battle against the trend of letting things go (in your spiritual walk) during the summer.

The quote from Joel Beeke grips you: "It is impossible to maintain high levels of assurance when we exercise low levels of obedience."

Do you not find, Christian, when you are away from the Word and from the local body that you get discouraged or think that God has left you? Remember, He is always close by--use the means He has provided to affirm your faith and draw near to Him today!

The Headache That Just Won't Quit

I went to bed with a slight headache, and it just recently woke me up--one of those pounding endless headaches that DON'T go away with sleep. I did take something, but I'm afraid it just might be a sinus headache, which is never good. Ugh.

His Works, Not Our Works

Our pastor finished out the passage on Hebrews 5 this week dealing with Christ as our mediator, with this last segment dealing with the perfect nature of Christ.

The sermon focused on verses 8-10:

8 Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. 9 And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, 10 being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.

Pastor David first pointed out in earlier verses in how Christ was heard in His prayers to God because of His reverence--and this is not a manner of prayer so much as it is His status before God as co-equal since the beginning. Jesus was, is and is to come. We cannot have such a status before God or even a manner of reverence as Christ had--we must rely on His reverence.

Moving on to verse 8, some readers may be struck by the fact that Christ learned through obedience. Some may say, "hey, I thought Christ was perfect!" This learning may imply that he made "mistakes" or fell short somehow so that he had to learn, but we have to remember that Christ was sent to suffer and die for us--that was His calling, to proclaim His Gospel and die for our sins. He "learned" obedience by submitting His will to the Father in His suffering--in the Garden of Gethsemene, what does He say? And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” (see Matt. 26:39)

He learned obedience in His suffering, learning submission through the experience--Pastor David rightly pointed out that there are even instances that we as Christians learn in a similar way in our suffering which does not result from sin but is the bitter providence that God has ordained for us. And this suffering that Christ endured, in his full humanity, was necessary for Him to be our "sympathetic" high priest.

In all this, verse 9 emphasizes the consequence of this--that Christ being made perfect, without blemish, is the source for eternal salvation for all who believe. Why? Because He is sacrificed on the Cross once and for all for the sins of those who would believe--His righteousness is imputed, credited to us; while all of our sin was bore by him. He hung on the Cross and endured the wrath of God that was poured out for the sins that believers committed and ever will commit.

The Cross signifies the last sacrifice needed--because Christ was both the priest offering the sacrifice and the sacrifice itself! He is prophet, priest, King and Savior!

He lowered Himself in coming to Earth and dying for us, denying Himself, His glory, His crown and power, to give us life and life everlasting. And in the end, the Father glorified Him, with Christ victorious over death.

And this is why it is not improper to say we are saved by works--but it is Christ's works, not our works. It is the same to say that God in no way lessened His demand for perfection under His law--but in sending His Son, He provided a way to uphold His holiness and power and yet guarantee salvation for His elect. Praise God!

I will close with an excerpt from Charles Spurgeon that was my daily reading this morning:

Jesus, the Redeemer, is altogether ours and ours for ever. All the offices of Christ are held on our behalf. He is king for us, priest for us, and prophet for us. Whenever we read a new title of the Redeemer, let us appropriate him as ours under that name as much as under any other. The shepherd's staff, the father's rod, the captain's sword, the priest's mitre, the prince's sceptre, the prophet's mantle, all are ours. Jesus hath no dignity which he will not employ for our exaltation, and no prerogative which he will not exercise for our defence. His fulness of Godhead is our unfailing, inexhaustible treasure-house.

His manhood also, which he took upon him for us, is ours in all its perfection.
To us our gracious Lord communicates the spotless virtue of a stainless character; to us he gives the meritorious efficacy of a devoted life; on us he bestows the reward procured by obedient submission and incessant service. He makes the unsullied garment of his life our covering beauty; the glittering virtues of his character our ornaments and jewels; and the superhuman meekness of his death our boast and glory. He bequeaths us his manger, from which to learn how God came down to man; and his Cross to teach us how man may go up to God. All his thoughts, emotions, actions, utterances, miracles, and intercessions, were for us. He trod the road of sorrow on our behalf, and hath made over to us as his heavenly legacy the full results of all the labours of his life. He is now as much ours as heretofore; and he blushes not to acknowledge himself "our Lord Jesus Christ," though he is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords. Christ everywhere and every way is our Christ, for ever and ever most richly to enjoy. O my soul, by the power of the Holy Spirit! call him this morning, "thy Redeemer. "

Glory today in your Redeemer!

Bad Burgers!

I went to Kroger's today to get some ground beef and it's the stuff we normally get, brought it home, my wife cooked them up and they just didn't come out right--they were a little mealy, which burgers should never be. Yuck!

Anyway, I have to travel every day this week, though one great thing was today I got to move into my own office! a space of my own with a door and everything! It doesn't have any windows, but at least it does have air conditioning (which the other area I was in did NOT have--the 95 degree days are getting more common).

My wife and I also sang again this past Sunday, and we're enjoying the singing, and not doing too bad on songs we don't know. Keeps it interesting for sure.

Music and Worship

As I've already said before on this blog, I really like music--if you looked at my collection of music, there's really not a lot of genres that I don't have (I mean, other than techo/disco stuff, or real rap--DC Talk isn't quite that, depending on the CD).

I was raised in a Christian home, and surrounded by music from a very early age, since my mom was (and still is) a piano teacher who has lessons in the house. I got to appreciate many different styles of music, from ragtime to jazz to classical, and so on (to this day there are several pieces that I could never play myself but I could tell you if the notes were wrong!)

I want to explore two things in this post, first being what is music and how that translates to being worship and the second being, how do we live a life that involves worship?

But the question comes: what is music (and thus worshipful) and what is just clanging? (I won't use "noise" since the Bible most clearly says, "make a joyful noise.")

Now some may come forward and say (flashing their denominational badges, no doubt, saying in a bellowing voice), "Well, we don't play that kind of music in our church." (and each person might have a definition in their head of "that" music which may offend their sensibilities in the church setting, but that discussion is irrelevant here) But the challenge I would put to anyone is not so much the kind of music (hymns, praise choruses, etc.)we are playing or singing but more the attitude and method with which we approach the playing and singing of that music. What do I mean?

I mean that I could sing a song the same way but yet inside be reflecting two different things--one would be worshipful and truly God-honoring while the other was empty and hollow, with a mind more concerned about getting home in time for the football game later that afternoon. Church-going folks have an easy time "putting on a face" and cementing the facade by singing the songs with gusto while not really even joining with the rest of the congregation in truly communing with the Father in their worship.


How are we to get to the place where we live a life of worship? Is anyone perfect? Can anyone say honestly that all the time that while they are in church that they resemble the former rather than the latter? Of course not. Part of the discipline of being a Christian is asking the Spirit to help prepare you for worship on Sunday, and even better yet, make it a part of your daily routine!

And yes, that means making singing and praising God a part of your day! I have to admit there are times when I get up on the wrong side of the bed and I don't feel like worshiping God or feeling good about anything, truly. Dan Phillips over at Pyromanics had a great post last September about worshiping and prayer, and in it, he talked about how we are to worship even when we don't get a "feeling" to do so or come to an emotional high that validates our worship.

The fruit that is harvested from the means of grace that God provides often means practicing the discipline of prayer, worship and yes, attending church and hearing the Word on a regular basis (not staying at home in your pajamas and listening to a televangelist). It means doing it often when you don't feel like it--I have had times when I didn't feel like it but by the end I was refreshed by the Spirit and ready to take the day head-on.

To this end, I would highly recommend anything by Caedmon's Call, though their worship albums are truly spectacular (they are called "In the Company of Angels"--there is also a Vol. 1). In addition, Chris Rice has compiled a CD of hymns, some of which he has made new arrangements on, which I listen to--no joke--at least twice through a day. (if you go to the link, it is currently on sale at Family Christian Store for $10--and you may want to buy multiple copies and give them to friends/family!)

One of the things that my friend Joey (who is the Family Pastor at the church I attended in Virginia Beach) told my wife and I when we were on the praise team there was that as a member of the praise team, it was important to present a good model of how to worship. The main part of that is not so much singing great or even holding your hand up to appear worshipful, but preparing your heart and spirit for worship so that the Father is glorified when you come to Him in worship. Listening to the above music helps me to worship and helps to bring me to an attitude of being worshipful to God.

There have been those who have said, what you put in is what you will get out, whether it be books, music, TV, movies--I would challenge you to get music (or even listen to sermons) that encourages you to worship and puts you in an attitude of worship towards your heavenly Father. I mean, I love listening to Harry Connick, Jr. when I feel like listening to swing music; Miles Davis when I want to chill out; John Mayer when I want to jam and turn it up while driving. But does this music encourage me to worship? None of this music is necessarily wrong in itself, but does it encourage me to draw closer to the Father with prayers and supplications, to call on Christ as my High Priest and mediator before the throne? Does it prepare me for the Sunday morning gathering--or does it make it feel like any other day? On close examination we would all feel shameful of how little of our whole day we devote to worship, prayer and reading the Word (I know I do!).

Our minds are always taking in information and influences--what is yours taking in? Does it move you toward more worship of the Father and His Son, leave you in the same place or move you further away?

Worship the Father today in all His splendor and grace!

Spring Sports Wrap

I don't write much about sports here, since the sport I would like to watch the most, that being English Premier Football (soccer to us Americans), isn't on the TV much (or at least the cable channels that I get with my package--I have two games that a random sports channel aired a few weeks ago that I still have not watched off my DVR). As the blog indicates, my favorite team is Liverpool, who unfortunately suffered defeat in Athens, Greece recently at the UEFA (United European Football Association) Cup. They lost 2-1 to AC Milan, a great Italian side. I have great hopes with the new American ownership of the club and the re-signing of a few very key players--I think they might be able to contend for the Premiership next year, which will be exciting.

In related news, I recently purchased (actually pre-ordred) the new Liverpool away jersey and I can't wait for it to arrive! I have two jerseys already and this one by far is the best!

I'm not real sure how the arrival of David Beckham from England will affect the American game and Major League soccer, but I hope it encourages more people to watch it on television. ESPN's Colin Cowherd on his radio show did make a good point yesterday when he said that hockey has gotten marginalized because of the drop in TV viewership--viewership means dollars in the terms of TV deals and corporate sponsors. If ESPN/David Beckham can get more people to watch, then perhaps soccer will become more popular in this country. We'll see.

Last, the Red Sox did pull off a great win yesterday, and Schilling almost had a no-hitter. I was glad they did win yesterday, to keep the lead over the Yankees at 10.5 games. As a Red Sox fan, the Yankees winning 6 out of their last ten has got me BEYOND nervous--I understand that it's better for the Red Sox to have a little skid now, but if that lead gets below ten games, there might be a problem! I'm the kind of person that wants to lead to be 20 games and therefore unreachable!

(and yes, for those wondering, it is June and feels like summer already, but summer does not OFFICIALLY start until June 20th.)