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Book Review – Tony Reinke’s 12 Ways Your Phone Is Changing You

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I loved Tony Reinke’s latest book 12 Ways Your Phone Is Changing You.  I suppose I should give a caveat or two.  I loved the content and really everything about this book, but it was very convicting.  Some quick things I would point out:

  • This book includes a theology of technology.  Now this might not readily appeal to you.  But, knowing how what we believe about God and how that relates to technology is an invaluable help to those who want to follow Christ and live in this day and age.
  • The book’s title suggests something obvious (and easily ignored): your phone is changing you. When thinking about an elder or deacon when it comes to money I’ve often asked, do you master your money? or does your money master you?  In today’s day and age, we must come to terms with this: do you master your phone/technology?  or does your phone/technology master you?  And, I think this book is a good starting point to gaze on our hearts when it comes to these questions.
  • My favorite part of the book was a middle section called “Calling All Artists.”  This section helped frame some categories and ways of thinking for those of us who are working in content creation.  There were warnings, cautions, and even probing questions dealing with how we wield digital words in ways that honor God. I needed this section and continue to think about it often.
  • Tony’s writing style will serve you well.  How could I put it?  He’s the right mix of technical information (on a subject like technology in this case) and practicality.  He takes it to places that help you think through what it might mean for you.  And, on the other hand, many readers will probably want him to go further or lighter than he did.  It’s a delicate balance that I feel he’s successfully achieved: the right amount of technical content fused with Biblical, God-consumed, heart-wrenching application.
  • The vision of this book, to take our use of phones out for a spin and consider how this activity might help or hinder our love of God and neighbor, is achieved.  I love reading books that don’t major on minors.  And, Tony is consumed with the majors (loving God and neighbor) to such a degree that the reader is nurtured to green pastures of living.  There’s such practicality dripping on every page too, like questions to ask before you tweet something or interacting with whether or not we confornt sin online.
  • Recently, I’ve encouraged those who want to nurture hearts that are fixed on things above and not on earthly things (Colossians 3:1-4) to think through their use of phones/technology and recommended this as a tool.  We underestimate the influence these things have on us to our detriment.  Like Tony, I’m not necessarily recommending that you ditch your phone.  However, we have some sort of belief or way of thinking about these techonological benefits we enjoy.

So, I’d recommend this book to you.  For the sake of your soul, your family, and your future, please consider these things.  You can take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.  As Tony said at the end, “our greatest need in the digital age is to behold the glory of the unseen Christ in the faint blue glow of our pixelated Bibles, by faith” (p.210).  So, may God grant this.

(Tony has also posted some additional feature articles related to the book’s content, so check those out.)

Book Review – ESV Devotional Psalter

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This past Spring, Crossway released the Devotional Psalter.  I love reading the Psalms everyday.  In seminary, Don Whitney taught me a method of finding the Psalms of the Day (take today’s date and add 30 to it 4x to find the Psalms of the Day, today’s Psalms of the Day would be 19, 49, 79, 109, and 139).  Then, I would take one of those Psalms and read it, using it as a springboard for prayer and helping my heart prepare for the day.

The layout of the text in this volume is splended.  Nice margins, spacing, and typeface help the reader feel like they are a part of something that is special, which is certainly the case when we’re in the Psalms.

But, the reality is that sometimes I’m reading along and the light doesn’t come on very quickly.  While the devotional psalter has an amazing text layout, it also includes a brief devotion to help foster devotional insights, often with a view toward Christ.  Time and again as I’ve used this recently, I’ve been helped by these short content pieces.  Here’s an example of what this looks like on the page:

I was also helped by the video intro from Dane Ortlund:

 

I’d encourage you to grab the Devotional Psalter, especially for your devotions, as a way to warm the affections of your heart around truths that point to Christ and draw you out to worship the One who made you.

 

Paul Tripp on Father’s Day 2017

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I love the consistent Biblical counsel of Paul Tripp.  Yesterday, he posted a video and communicated this encouraging message.  I hope it encourages you.

My dad did a great job of imparting some everyday skills, but he didn’t prepare me for the weightier things of life. I would characterize that as relationship with God and relationships with people.

I think one of the best ways to prepare your son or daughter for life is to help them as early as possible to be enthralled with the stunning glory and grace of God. Talk about God all the time; blow their mind with the glory of God.

You’ll have plenty of opportunities. If you’re building something, stop and talk about the grain of wood. Talk about how beautiful wood is, and how that beauty came out of the mind of God. If you’re nailing something, talk about the force of a hammer and all the physics that goes on there that came out of the mind of God.

If you’re fishing, remind your child of how different a trout looks from a bass. Tell them that that came out of the mind of God. As you’re watching the sun set, talk about the God who rules the day and the night.

This is the Father’s world. This is God’s world; this world is meant to point to him. Your son and daughter may not see Him; there’s a good possibility that they won’t. But the more your child is enthralled with God, the more likely they will be to give themselves to Him.

What could be more important than that?

Then there’s the second great command – love of others.

Human relationships are hard; love is hard. But listen, love is hard not because I’m surrounded by creepy people. Love is hard because of what’s inside of my heart. I’m judgmental. I’m critical. I’m unforgiving. I’m proud. I’m competitive. I’m greedy. I’m envious. All of those are anti-social instincts.

I wish I had a dad who said to me, “Son, you’re going to be leaving this home, you’re going to be building relationships, and the greatest danger to those relationships is you. There are some things inside of you that God desires to help you with, that God sent His Son to rescue you from. And the more you face those, the more you’ll become a person of love, and the more you become a person of love, the more you’ll live a life of blessing.”

I never had those conversations with my father. Oh, I learned a lot of helpful skills. But in many ways, I didn’t know myself, and I wasn’t filled with the awe of God, in the way that would have so much better prepared me for life.

Weekend Recap – Faith Beats Law

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Was privileged to enjoy my friend Luke filling the pulpit for me on Sunday, 6/18.  He preached in our church’s Galatians series out of Galatians 3:1-9.  The sermon was entitled Faith Beats Law.  The big idea was unpacking two conclusive arguments for why faith beats law-keeping as a way to find salvation.  It was a refreshing sermon and delivered with Luke’s wit and zeal.  I hope you take advantage of the free audio and enjoy.

Weekend Preview – Father’s Day / VBS

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We’re making plans right now for the big day we have planned at Crestview on Sunday, June 18 (that’s tomorrow).  It’s Father’s Day.  And, if you’re a father reading this, how about leading out in serving your family these next 24 hours rather than looking for appreciation (but I digress).  For Father’s Day at Crestview, we’ll be having a baby dedication.

During Sunday School, Vivek Jones will be teaching adults and students using the Habits of the Heart book, teaching 1 Thessalonians 4:9-12 on lifework.

During Worship, on top of the baby dedication, Luke will be preaching Galatians 3:1-9 on another installment of how faith is preferrable to law-keeping.

In the evening, we’ll begin VBS (6:30pm-8:30pm).  Register here.  We’re looking forward to having an opportunity to serve families and children.

Looking forward to a big day.

Gospel Friday – United To Christ

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It’s Friday.  Slow down.  Breathe deep.  And think of this: if you believe in Jesus, then it’s not you living today but Christ living in you.  So, as my friend Jared Wilson says, let’s pray that Jesus would be big in us.  Christ lives in you.

On Sharing My Faith

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I recently went door to door helping others hear about Jesus.  I grew up in a tradition that placed this as one of the highest of Christian virtues, but for the past few years had neglected this practice for a variety of reasons.  I know all the criticisms of this: people won’t listen, this is outdated, you’re wasting your time, relationships should be the priority.  But, I went (thanks to the prodding of a good friend).  Here’s a few things I learned:

  1. There are people who will listen.  I just went to one city block and spent an hour and a half.  While there were many who didn’t want any part of what we were about, there were four people who listened, gave us an opportunity to pray for/with them, and invested their time.  That was encouraging.
  2. All people in my town don’t go to church.  It seems shocking because so much of the culture of where I live is rooted in hard-working, moralistic, and doing good to one another.  But, there were people who didn’t have any connection to church and, in deeper ways, didn’t know much of the life that could be there’s because of Jesus.
  3. This practice helped fire my prayer and my worship.  My desperation for God to work and be with me increased.  My love for God in the Sunday morning gathering was affected.  The air was crisper, the fellowship deeper, the singing more glorious, all because I took and opportunity to share what God’s done in my life.
  4. This exercise encouraged people in my body.  I got comments like “that’s inspiring” and “can you teach me how to do this.”  It was a reminder that local church practices of leadership engage others.  How I live matters in the life of the people God’s entrusted to me.  In fact, God’s wired it to work that way.  Pastors who are just pastors in name only are not only not living up to their calling, but they’re failing to give people direction for living.  I recognize my weakness to live what I believe before and with the people now more than ever.

So, I know this may create more questions than it provides answers.  If you’re wondering what I shared it was simply this: the good news for all the world is that even though we’ve messed everything up (and continue to), God has remedied the mess of this world by sending His Son to live the perfect life we can’t, die in the place of sinners, rise so that they can be right with Him, and live.  Now, by banking all of our hopes and dreams in Jesus, we can really live and glorify God with our lives.  I hope this short post encourages you to engage your faith for the good of others.

 

Caring for Cross-Cultural Partners

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There are many priorities that we can easily build into the life of a local church culture.  As a pastor, I juggle many of these often.  And, I’ve found it difficult over time to clarify which priorities are worthy of my time and which ones aren’t.  Enter God’s Word.  God’s Word is meant to help pastors like me navigate how things are to be ordered in the church (1 Timothy 3:15).  I came to a deep conviction from Scripture recently because an entire book of the Bible encourages churches to care for cross-cultural partners.  Here’s the passage:

You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God. [7] For they have gone out for the sake of the name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles. [8] Therefore we ought to support people like these, that we may be fellow workers for the truth. (3 John 6-8)

So, we took some steps at our local church to help support these who have gone out for the sake of the Name.  These are ones who, by and large, are working in another culture to advance the good news among those who don’t know it.
Some things we’ve done:

1) Change your domain name so that it’s not “churchy.”  We transitioned from crestviewbiblechurch.org to crestviewhutch.org to serve those who are in “forward” areas.  Recently, I spoke at an agency that supports international partners and they told me that one thing churches could easily do would be to not list names on the website.  I get it, right?  We want our church people to know who these partners are.  We’re assuming that our people are combing over our internet content consistently.  And, for the most part, they’re not.  We can find better ways to connect our people to our partners than through a webpage.

2) Develop relationships.  I’ve tried, as a lead pastor, to visit each of our partners where they serve.  There’s something unique that is stirred up by seeing them serve in their context.  It’s been helpful to me in helping our people in praying, knowing their needs, and caring for them. But, I try to take every opportunity to deepen relationships.  When we travel near then, I try to connect with them.  When I learn that they’ll be in our area, we set up lunch or dinner and rope in our people to these connections.  We try to get them to stay with our people for long stretches.  We connect their hobbies to the hobbies of our people.  You don’t have to overthink this, but you should probably think about this.  Deepen these relationships.

3) Figure out your church’s part of Great Commission work.  The best thing we’ve done as a church is to figure out what God has called us to do (mission) and how we go about doing it (values).  We used my good friend Matthew Ellison and 16:15 to help facilitate this process, building out of Crestview’s history and how God has wired us for this cross-cultural work.  Our people were energized and had a reason to develop relationships.

You’ve been given a role as a church (3 John 6-8 again!) to serve these partners well.  So, consider how you might up your game in this regard.  And, step in to this practice for the sake of His name and His glory among the nations.

Weekend Recap – Gospel Change

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My 6/11/17AM sermon, Gospel Change from Galatians 2:17-21, is now online.  One of the most famliar verses in Galatians is Galatains 2:20.  Being able to see the power this verse holds in context proved a very valuable thing for me.  But, the main point of this section is that the Gospel is able to transform us.  We fight sin differently, we know life, and we are united to Christ.  I hope this sermon encourages you.

Weekend Recap – Ben Cornish Visit

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This weekend, I was privileged to benefit from Ben Cornish visiting Crestview as he served at our body.  During Sunday School, Ben updated us on the work he does with Teaching Truth International, equipping international pastors with the basics of the faith.  Then, during the AM service, Ben preached Galatians 2:15-16 on The Gospel and Legalism.  The sermon really was encouraging, helpful, and stirring.  There were great depths of application explored and I’m still figuring out where legalism may exist in my heart and life.

I hope you had a great weekend, as well.  Connect with Ben’s sermon if you’d like to continue in our Galatians series.