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“All Change Is Not Sanctification…”

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…says Stuart Scott, in a Pastoral Counseling class the elders are viewing. We can easily confuse a change in life for a progression in holiness. But what sets sanctification (our pursuit of holiness) in a class by itself is the truth that it exists to make us more like Jesus Christ. Looking more like Jesus is Biblical change and, thus, true sanctification.

TCT – Spirituality

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Continuing my series of reflective posts on the book Total Church, today we turn to chapter 9 on “Spirituality”. This subject matter provides the authors a good chance to summarize the emphasis of this book. They write (on p.141):

Biblical spirituality is not about contemplation; it is about reading and meditating on the word of God. It is not about detached silence; it is about passionate petition. It is not about solitude; it is about participation in community. In other words, biblical spirituality reflects the dual fidelity we have argued for throughout this book. It is centered on the gospel and rooted in the context of Christian community.

I couldn’t agree more. Too often in the church, we embrace a worldly understanding of spirituality (through Oprah or some other idea that’s popped into our minds) rather than being shaped by what God has ordained to shape us by. Our passion should be singularly rooted in Christ. As that happens, our lives will be changed and community will honor Him.

MM – Surveying the Damage

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In the Danvers Statement, it is interesting to note, when thinking about roles, how the Fall radically affected mankind. They say:

The Fall introduced distortions inot the relationships between men and women.
– In the home, the husband’s loving, humble headship tends to be replaced by domination or passivity; the wife’s intelligent, willing submission tends to be replaced by usurpation or servility.
– In the church, sin inclines men toward a worldly love of power or an abdication of spiritual responsibility, and inclines women to resist limitations on their roles or to neglect the use of their gifts in appropriate ministries.

What this reminds me of, then, is my need for a change of heart through the Gospel.

Empty Religion…

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This weekend at our Crestview, we will be exploring the nature of true religion that honors God. In the morning service, we will be seeing Jesus indictment of the scribes in Mark 12:38-40. In the evening service, we will be looking at the true fast of Isaiah 58 as a model for movement into social action. After this PM message, we will hear a presentation from YouthFriends, encouraging us to be involved in the lives of children and students in mentoring/tutoring relationships.

The thing about empty religion is that it is so easy to deceive others. But we can’t shake the reality of what is in our hearts. I hope that God accomplishes heart change in us this weekend and the result is a deeper love for God and our neighbor.

A blog for those needing help organizing…

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Among other things, Matt Perman’s blog, What’s Best Next, gives us good tools in organizing our lives better. The stated purpose of his blog is: “integrating the big picture with everyday decisions so that we can do things better in life, work, business, and society.” There are lots of helpful things here like filing, managing favorite web pages and managing email accounts. Increase in productivity by availing yourself to his recommendations.

SOW – Bible Conference

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For this week’s featured audio, I would like to commend the audio from our church’s Bible conference this past weekend. The theme was loving relationships in the church. Pastor Joe Braden, from FBC St. Peters, was our guest. Here are the sessions:

11/9/08AM – Foundations for Loving Relationships – Ephesians 4:32-5:2
11/9/08PM – The Enemy of Loving Relationships – Galatians 5
11/10/08PM – Directives for Loving Relationships – Romans 12:9-21

Enjoy.