From One Degree to Another

A note from the Gospel Coalition website:

A NOTE ON THE USE AND ABUSE OF SERMONS

The instant availability of thousands of expository sermons and addresses prompts us to reflect a little on how they should not be used, and how they should be used.

To take the latter first: many of our Council members avidly read the sermons of others, or, increasingly commonly, listen to them while they are driving or walking or jogging. Good preaching not only opens up texts, but helps us learn how others tackle the challenge of structure, apply Scripture to their particular congregations, relate their texts to the central themes of God and the gospel, and much more. We soon sense their urgency and God-given unction. We are sent back to the study and to our knees to become better workers who do not need to be ashamed of the way we handle the word of truth.

The bad way to listen to the sermons of others is to select one such sermon on the topic or passage you have chosen and then simply steal it, passing it off as if it is your own work. This is, quite frankly, theft, and thieves, Paul tells us, will not inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor 6:10). Yet in some ways that is not the most serious aspect of this form of plagiarism. Rather, it is the deep damage you are doing to yourself and others by not studying the Bible for yourself. Ministers of the gospel are supported by their congregations so they will give themselves to the ministry of the Word and prayer. That demands rigorous study. A faithful minister of the gospel is never merely a biological tape recorder or CD, thoughtlessly parroting what someone else learned, thought through, prayed over, and recorded. Indulge in this exercise and before long you will starve your own soul — and, no matter how good the sermons you steal, your ministry will sooner or later, and deservedly, become sterile, for the stamp of inauthenticity will be all over you.

Justin Buzzard comes with “one helpful suggestion: Listen to many sermons, not just one or two. You will be far less likely to steal, and far more likely to be stimulated and helped, if you listen to five or ten sermons than if you listen to one.”

Well said and worth being reminded of.

On the way to camp, I listened to C.J. preach at the Resolved Conference on the cross. It is worth listening to. I found my heart freshly stirred again with the basic truth of the Gospel.

Randy Alcorn also weighed in on this session.

Worship was an incredible time tonight. There is something special when God’s people come together and the Gospel is lifted up. Addison Road led us in singing and the drama team did a good job setting up Ben Stuart.

Ben opened up God’s Word to Galatians 4:4-6 and brought an incredible message on how Jesus’ coming was perfect in history. Christ then came and didn’t sin and died and rose.

He then discussed 2 questions: Why did Jesus come when He did? Answer: to show us our sin and sending His Son to rescue us. What does this mean to us? Answer: the leader has a plan. God wants us to know Him and not just know Him but make Him known. He closed with an illustration pointing us to the fact that he didn’t want to be a deleted scene on the drama of redemption. We want to fulfill the purpose we were made for – to know Him and make Him known.

We had an encouraging church group discussion and then began prepping for a busy day of ministry tomorrow.

Yes, it is day 3 of camp. Pretty hard to believe really. But we are over halfway done with our week. Had another good morning in celebration. We were happy to cheer with our Missions Coordinator and cheer for Gold Rush (that is our color for the week).

For the AM message, Ben Stuart read from Colossians 3:1 encouraging us to deepen our intimacy with God by setting our minds on things above. He encouraged us to set our minds on the above things and look to God’s Word as a means to deepen fellowship and relationship with God. In this vein, he offered three ways to go about interacting with God’s Word: 1) Consistently — Find a specific time, place and plan. In this time we are getting away from distractions and clearing our heads for God Himself. 2) Creativity — One time a day isn’t enough to deepen our relationship with Him, we should look for creative ways to deepen our intimacy with God. 3) Community — God has blessed us with others so that together we can honor God. We are really being encouraged by Ben’s wielding the Word.

At our work site(s) mid-morning to afternoon, we dropped off half of our team to do some outdoor labor in a garden. They developed a path and weed proofed it as well as spread 10 bags of red mulch. Part of this team also weeded flower beds and a children playing area.

While half of our team did this, the other half worked in our partnering organization’s main office to paint. We finished all the work they had asked us to do and moved furniture back in and got things settled. We were really a blessing to these dear people and they continued to lavish thankfulness on us.

We returned back and are resting up for Worship tonight. (Remember you can listen in live at www.studentlife.com).

Tonight at camp, Addison Road and the drama group All Things To All People did their usual good job of serving us. Ben Stuart began by having everyone singing “Father Abraham” then spent the rest of his time unpacking what the significance of being a child of Abraham has. He took some time speak of the dick and troubled nature of our culture. But God came to rescue His people and specifically He came to Abraham with promises in Genesis 12 and 15. The answer to the question of how we can be declared right like Abraham was in Genesis 15:6 is FAITH. As we believe in Jesus, we can be declared right in God’s sight.

Another great thing that came out tonight was the purpose of the Law being an X-Ray revealing something’s broken and we need the Great Physician to heal us. Coming back to Galatians 3, Ben brought out the truth of how the law functions. As we see our sin, we can become right in God’s sight through faith in Christ.

This morning, we enjoyed celebration with a news type of format. All Things To All People did their regular celebration bits, but the news format was entertaining and fun.

For the spiritual direction of the morning, Addison Road led us in songs like “Made to Worship” and encouraged us to worship God in everything we do throughout this day.

Ben Stuart came and preached from 2 Corinthians 13:14. In the morning messages, he is seeking to get to good, practical, helpful things. His purpose this morning was to encourage us to commune, live, and engage with God. He spent some time unpacking the truth that God is one in three persons–teaching on the Trinity. When God calls us to communion, then, His calling us to Himself and He is already community. He spoke of this through the Hebrew language’s use in the Shema of one God. The word is not one in terms of singularity, but one in terms of composite (like one cluster of grapes). One commentator called this bad grammar but good theology. The goal of spirituality is knowing God, uniting with the three in one. When we embrace this, everything we value is eternal. God existed in perfect community before we ever existed. The beauty of spirituality is not that we’re central, but that we are brought into this loving relationship.

From Celebration we headed to our work site and had a good time at Project Safe. We got two coats of paint on 2 of the 3 rooms they asked us to do. Tomorrow we plan to finish the final room and do some work in a garden they have. This was a great experience.

Our first night of worship drew us in to what is looking light a great week. One central component tonight is the camp theme — “The Way”. It continually surfaced in the drama.

Music was led by Addison Road. Our group has staffed and been with them previously, but they really had a heart to draw us in to worshipping God. Singing songs like “Your Grace Is Enough”, “Never Let Go” and “Mighty To Save”, we were drawn to focus on Christ, the One worthy of our worship and praise.

Ben Stuart, campus minister at Texas A & M (and leader of Breakaway Ministries, the campus ministry at A & M), is our camp pastor. Speaking from Genesis 1-3, he showed us from God’s Word how chapter 1 is not about creation as much as it is about the God of Creation revealing Himself to us. God is clearly seen in what He has made. In chapter 2, this personal God is revealed. “Lord God” was a familiar refrain, speaking of Yahweh, the covenant keeping One. But the world is a mess and Genesis 3 reveals how Eve’s disobedience caused us all to fall into sin. This wasn’t without hope for a seed would come and crush the serpent’s head. This is where we ended…(More to come)

After this, we ended up getting a cool drink and discussing the implications of this message as a group. We all seem encouraged and ready to serve at our project for the week.

Well, we have arrived safely at Student Life Missions Camp in Shawnee. God was gracious to us in travel as we had no incidents. We got in around 10:45 and took some time to stretch our legs and grab some lunch at the mall. After checking in, we joined the rest of the camp population for Orientation. Looks like it is going to be a great week. Some things have changed if you are used to SL camps. Recreation is offered as tracks that one chooses (we don’t choose a track because we are missions). Also, late night has been moved to after church group time. So these changes look like they will assist camp well. We are looking forward to worship this evening. It is warm here (just like back home) in the 100’s. Pray that tonight would be a refreshing time of meeting with God. We are off and rolling.

Respect is such a concept that is lacking in most of our marriages and since we hit on this Sunday Morning, I thought it would serve us well if, for our marriage Monday column, we sought to apply the concept of respect to our spouses.

I defined respect as really an expression of kindness: “Being respectful is a disposition and attitude of treating others with kindness, recognizing their value.” Many times we fail to respect our spouses as we ought, because there is some selfish thing clouding our vision. We have lost sight of the value they are to 1) God and 2) Us. You may think that you would be better off without your spouse at times, but that is nothing more than blasphemy. God has brought you together and man is not to separate you (even a thought of you being independent of your spouse). Therefore, we will respect our spouse to the degree that we value them.

How can we value and respect our spouses? Continue to look for evidences of grace (as C.J. Mahaney would say) in your relationship. There are positives you can find if you get your eyes off the weaknesses. Look at those positives and be an object of encouragement. This will hae an effect on your respecting them.

We want to glorify God in our marriages. Let’s do this by respecting one another.

You can be a part of camp and listen in live to worship services. Here’s the page telling you how.